“Celebrating 75 Years of Women in Policing” – Speech by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Communications and Information & Second Minister for Home Affairs

Minister Shanmugam,

MOS Sun Xueling,

Commissioner of Police,

Colleagues and Friends,

1. I am delighted to join you, to celebrate the 75th year of women in policing. I think Minister Shanmugam would have very much like to give a speech himself, but he has given me the honour and pleasure of doing so. I am of course nowhere near as accomplished as all of our women police officers, but I can lay claim to one small thing: which is that I’m told – and I didn’t even realise this – that when I went to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), there had not been a woman Political Office Holder in the MHA until then. Thereafter, we also had MOS Sun, so I think we were the first in something.

Celebrating the Achievements of Women in Policing

2. Now the story of women in policing in Singapore is an inspiring one, and it began in 1949 with the first batch of women police officers recruited and there were just ten of them. In those days, women officers commonly found themselves restricted to clerical work and supporting roles.

3. That was really because Singapore was a very different place at the time. Back then, women tended to be married off at a very young age and had limited opportunities to receive education, much less join the workforce. They were mainly deployed to the informal workforce, and it wasn’t uncommon that families in those days had to choose between who got the education. And so in the 1950s, only one in three women were literate. It was not until the enactment of the Women’s Charter in 1961 by the fairly new PAP government then, that the equal standing of women and men in marriage was instituted, and married women were granted the rights to hold and dispose of property, among other provisions.

4. So, the overall environment for women was not that great. And for those ten women in the police force, one can just imagine the assumptions and comments that people may have made about them. So, it is remarkable how they persevered, and over the years, proved themselves just as capable as their male counterparts.

5. You heard in the video that Mary Quintal was one of the pioneer women police officers. She found her footing in a male-dominated force, became the first woman to be appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1961 as well, and paved the way for many other women officers.

6. And they of course, include:

(a) Mdm Ng Guat Ting, who was the first woman to lead a Land Division in 1999. If you had known Guat Ting, as I had personally, you’d know she is a force to be reckoned with. But she was not the only one.

(b) Mdm Zuraidah Abdullah, who was the first woman to be appointed Senior Assistant Commissioner in 2013; and of course

(c) Mdm Florence Chua, who became the first woman Deputy Commissioner and the first woman to head the Criminal Investigation Department in 2018.

7. Guat Ting, Zuraidah and Florence are all legends in their own right. We are so proud of them! We are happy that Zuraidah is here with us today.

8. Of course, by now, we have many more outstanding officers who are women. They are among the 1,800 or so women officers deployed in almost every aspect of policing. They excel in the various roles, and building on the legacy of those who came before them, they continue to fly the flag high. We witnessed this most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, when our women officers demonstrated exceptional leadership and resilience during extraordinary times.

(a) Assistant Commissioner Fanny Koh was appointed Deputy Commander for the Inter-Agency Task Force. She led the Home Team officers who were deployed to manage the COVID-19 situation in migrant worker communities. You can imagine how difficult this job was.

(b) On the ground, Assistant Superintendent Nalinee Chua was deployed as part of the Forward Assurance and Support Team at Tuas South Dormitory during the Circuit Breaker. She developed a data management tool to closely monitor the COVID-19 exposure of nearly 7,000 migrant workers. She also regularly engaged them to address their concerns and provide them the necessary care during that difficult lock-down period. I love the fact that women consider ourselves to be very busy and have to do a lot of things, so she developed a productivity tool to free up time to go and look after the workers and to be able to extend care to them.

9. Through Fanny, through Nalinee, you can see that the achievements of our women officers are significant and they will continue to inspire future generations.

Progress of Women in Policing

10. Five years ago, I had the pleasure and honour of being with you at the 70th anniversary. I recall on that occasion that my own mother, a former woman police officer, was also part of the celebrations. In fact, when I was looking at the video, I recognised some images – the black and white photographs of the women police officers who worked in radio, and communicated messages. I remember having visited one such facility, somewhere in Pearl’s Hill. Life comes full circle. And my mum was very happy to be in the company of other women she had known for decades since they were cadets at the Old Police Academy, and who have become her lifelong friends. It’s the same energy I notice when my mum and her friends get together, that I noticed here this morning. They are still very excited – they are all in their 80s, but you can sense their spirit; you can sense that having been in the police was an important phase of their life. They carry with them the understated sense of pride, and they know that they are made of something more. The fact that they survived a very tough training and served all the way to retirement – they know that they made a contribution towards nation building.

11. So my mother of course was very proud of the fact that there are so many more women police officers today, and many more amongst them have progressed into leadership roles. Today, 20% of the SPF senior leadership positions are held by women. We have officers who hold command positions at the Land Divisions, Airport Police Division, and Protective Security Command.

12. And the SPF continues to nurture future generations of women leaders. For example, 30% of our Neighbourhood Police Centres are now led by women Commanding Officers. Women officers make up about a quarter of the supervisors in the Land Division investigative branches.

13. Our women officers have also established themselves in various specialist vocations which had traditionally been male-dominated. We now have three women officers in the elite Special Task Squadron of the Police Coast Guard. They perform high-risk operations alongside their male colleagues. These include high speed interception of smugglers, and search and rescue operations in the high seas. It’s a tough job.

14. In the Land Divisions, we have women officers leading the Emergency Response Teams, or ERTs, who are the first responders during armed attacks. Their training is rigorous, and they need to know what to do in a crisis. The ERT Team Leaders are of course, as a result, specially selected for their tactical mastery and composure under pressure.

Inspiring Future Generations

15. Because of the successes of our women officers, the SPF has been able to attract talented women to choose policing as a career. In 2019, Assistant Superintendent Shermaine Ang became the first woman recipient of the Singapore Police Force Scholarship, awarded by the Public Service Commission. Since Shermaine, four other women officers have been awarded the SPF Scholarship.

Role of Police Women’s Committee

16. I would also like to highlight the good work done by the Police Women’s Committee, or PWC, to build an inclusive and fair work environment for our policewomen since it was set up in 2014.

17. In 2022, the PWC established Women’s Committees at the unit level. All women officers now have direct access to a local support system, including feedback channels and networking opportunities.

18. The PWC is developing a one-stop information portal tailored to the needs of women officers. This portal will address queries ranging from nursing rooms in police establishments, to information kits on maternity leave and training matters for pregnant officers.

19. In a recent survey, the majority of women officers said they were satisfied with the fair and progressive opportunities provided by the SPF. The PWC will of course continue in its efforts to better support our policewomen.

Our Partners in Safeguarding Singapore

20. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the many inspirational women who have partnered the SPF in different ways to keep Singapore safe and secure. They were featured in the video you had seen earlier.

21. For example, Ms Lai Siu Chiu was the Singapore’s first woman to be appointed Judicial Commissioner and Supreme Court Judge. Ms Lai has just completed her term on the Supreme Court Bench as a Senior Judge this January after more than three decades of dedicated service and contributions to the Judiciary. She continues to be a beacon for women in both the legal service and law enforcement in general.

22. To all the incredible women, thank you for your support and contributions to the SPF.

Conclusion

23. In conclusion, let me just say, that the progress and achievements of our women in policing did not come about by chance. It is the result of the pioneering efforts of the women you heard about earlier, and also, the sustained hard work of generations of policewomen, women who have challenged the gender norms and overcome prejudices, with grit and courage.

24. To all of our women in policing, past and present, thank you for your dedication in safeguarding Singapore. I am confident that our women officers will continue to scale new heights and inspire generations to come.

25. I would also like to extend our gratitude to the families and friends of our officers. We know that they have been the backbone of our officers’ professional success, and without them, it would have been very difficult for our officers to fulfil their professional duties and demonstrate the kind of commitment that they have over the years, whilst also having to fulfil their responsibilities as wives, mothers and daughters, and caregivers in many instances.

26. Once again, congratulations to all our women in policing. Happy 75th birthday!

27. Thank you.