MHA National Day Awards Investiture 2024 – Speech by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Home Team Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening.

1. Today, we are recognising 981 Home Team officers. They will receive the National Day Awards. They have shown dedication to the Home Team’s mission.

2. We recognise 63 recipients of the Commendation Medal, and 253 recipients of the Efficiency Medal. They have demonstrated dedication and professionalism in the course of duty.

3. Let me share a few examples.

4. Elric Toh from Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) – he expanded YRSG’s TAP (Train and Place) & Grow initiative to the food services industry and led the development of the Grow Movement to support the upskilling of ex-offenders.

5. Elric has shown dedication to building connections with industry partners. This has helped to create opportunities for ex-offenders, giving them a second chance through sustainable employment.

6. Look at Lieutenant Colonel Neo Jia Qi from SCDF . He has led innovation projects to enhance SCDF’s operational readiness: Automated Medical Store Project to streamline store management, he’s collaborated with IBM on the use of Augmented Reality to improve equipment checks, Open Government Products to develop a mobile app that digitalised equipment checklists for shift handovers.

7. Jia Qi has also contributed to the smooth running of key events and exercises for SCDF, such as the NDP 2024 and Exercise NorthStar 11.

8. I will also mention Assistant Superintendent Koo Zhi Wei from ICA . He introduced QR code scanning for motorcyclists at the land checkpoints. This involved several layers of testing and gathering feedback to enhance clearance efficiency.

9. Zhi Wei also drove system enhancements at the automated motorcycle lanes. He has helped to improve the user interface for officers to have better oversight of operations. For example, he introduced visual cues to indicate successful fingerprint capture for motorcyclists.

10. These enhancements, together with the implementation of QR code clearance, have reduced immigration clearance time for motorcyclists by about 30% .

11. We would also like to recognise 665 Long Service Award recipients. With at least 25 years of continuous service, they have shown their commitment to the Home Team’s mission and values.

12. One example is Deputy Superintendent Hamzah Bin Mohamed Hussein from the SPF . He is receiving both the Long Service award and the Commendation award.

13. In his 26 years with the SPF, Hamzah has served with dedication across planning and operations roles, mostly with the Airport Police Division.

14. He has contributed to Singapore’s civil aviation security, and he was involved in planning for Terminals 3 and 4 and now also for Terminal 5.

15. He has helped to operationalise Terminal 4’s Police Patrol Robots.

16. Contributions made by Hamzah and our other award recipients are notable and commendable, especially given the challenges that we face: the uncertain global developments, including geopolitical tensions and conflicts; and our very tight manpower constraints.

17. These awards recognise the excellent work that many of you have done, serving the Home Team, in spite of the challenges.

18. In closing – congratulations, and thank you, to all our National Day award recipients.

19. Thank you.