It has been my dream for a long time, to write a book on my life story. I drew inspiration from the memoirs of our former Minister Mentor and it is a story filled with pain and struggles beginning from my earliest childhood. There were poignant experiences from which I drew insights into life, and they have shaped me to what I have become today, as a Vice President, Quality Management with a multi-national organization.

My story begins in 1957. My biological parents moved from Malacca, Malaysia to work in Singapore and shortly after that, I was put up for adoption to a Singapore family residing to what is now known as Dairy Farm Estate. Till today I have no clue as to why I was put up for adoption being the oldest in the family of 7 siblings. My siblings, of 3 sisters and 1 younger brother, now live in different parts of Malaysia, while 1 younger sister and 1 younger brother live with my biological parent in Kota Tinggi, Johore Bahru where they operate a successful timber business.

My adopted family, both my parents have since passed on. There were 4 siblings of 2 elder sisters and an older brother with me being the youngest in the family.

My adoptive father came from China and in order to make ends meet to support an ever growing family, he established a few businesses, both legal and illegal. He owned a small provision shop, rooms-to-let as well as an illegal gambling (mahjong) den.

From an early age I was "groomed" to run the businesses including being a lookout for police should there be any raid take place. I am also the handyman, a jack of all trades, supplying maintenance services like repairing leaking roofs and water pipes, changing blown light bulbs, painting jobs and many more. At times I was also roped in to be a mediator for any disputes among the tenants.

At age 13, I was enrolled in the nearby Catholic School of Boys’ Town English School. It was a school run by the Brothers of St Gabriel and was reputed to be a home to boy gangs as well as boys from broken families seeking refuge to study and stay. To be accepted by the “establishment” I had to join a gang so as to be well protected from bullies or thugs.

In 1975, my adoptive mother who was my pillar and support in life passed away and it was the saddest moment of my life. It was also the turning point in my life. I had to stop school at that time to look after the family businesses but I had the tenacity and the will to complete my education by doing part-time studies. After my studies I was conscripted in the Singapore Police Force to serve my national service and that was one of the factors that had turned my life around.

I worked hard after my National Service stint as a production operator and rose to the rank of senior position. I spent 25 years in the industry and throughout this time I studied part-time collecting a total of 38 different certificates, diplomas, a Bachelor’s Degree in business, a Master’s Degree in business excellence and now was conferred with a Doctorate Degree. It is my belief that life long and continuous learning is one of the most important career developments one can achieve in one's working life. Having just completed and qualified as a Tony Buzan's Qualified Instructor, my next educational goal is to complete my Innovation Qualified Trainer program in my area of interest and for personal development.

I now worked for a German company, called TUV SUD PSB Pte Ltd, (f.k.a PSB Corporation Pte Ltd) as a Vice President, Quality Management. The satisfaction here is also due to my interest in the job support from the organisation, the trust given by my bosses and my own goals of continuous learning. Afterwhich, I will scout around for another education courses that can continuously develop my brain power and knowledge.

To this end of my story, I would like to impart my strong personal belief with a short quotation;

“If you belief that is possible to achieve something that can add value to you and determined with a strong passion, then you must put your heart and mind to wholeheartedly learnt it, never every stop along your learning journey, most importantly, you must understand it and towards the end, you must implement it effectively to make it happen right the first time.”