SINGAPORE: Mrs Ann Elizabeth Wee, often described as the founding mother of social work in Singapore, died on Wednesday (Dec 11), aged 93.

Tributes have flooded in for Mrs Wee, who for more than six decades championed social work and advocated for those less fortunate.

Described as an “inspiration to social workers and women everywhere” by the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame, Mrs Wee – the longest-serving head of the Department of Social Work at the National University of Singapore (NUS) – was also recognised for her work with children and young people.

“Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Mrs Ann Elizabeth Wee. She is known as the founding mother of social work in Singapore,” Education Minister Ong Ye Kung wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“Mrs Wee has elevated social work in the public eye. We are ever grateful to her for her contributions, and all the lives she has touched.”

The Institute of Policy Studies, of which Mrs Wee was an Associate Professional Fellow, described her as a “doyen of the social work community” and a “national treasure”.

“She never spoke of, but for, the disadvantaged, performing the role of a participant-observer in their affairs even as she suggested, with scholarly precision and political realism, how policies and programmes could help them concretely,” the institute wrote in a tribute on Facebook.

“Her concerns clearly were a reflection of her deep commitment to her vocation as a social worker which began in post-war Singapore. Those concerns were well taken and an inspiration to us to think harder about a range of social, economic, labour and healthcare policies in our country.”

The Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame, which inducted Mrs Wee into its ranks in 2014, said: “Ann offered help to women who had been abandoned or abused by their spouses and strove to shape a better education system for social work.”

THE FOUNDING MOTHER OF SOCIAL WORK

Born on Aug 19, 1926, in Corbridge, the United Kingdom, Mrs Wee arrived in Singapore in 1950 to be reunited with her fiance, lawyer Harry Lee Wee. They had met at Cambridge University during her studies.

According to an obituary by NUS, Mrs Wee spent four years as a teacher at the Methodist Girls’ School before joining the Social Welfare Department at the university.

To better communicate with families in Singapore, Mrs Wee learnt Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien and other dialects and languages.

In 1957, she started teaching full-time at the university and took over headship in 1967 – a role she would serve until her retirement in 1986.

“As the department’s longest-serving head, Mrs Wee was the driving force behind the university’s decision to introduce a full-fledged honours degree programme, paving the way for social workers to be recognised as professionals, enjoy better career prospects, and gain access to policymaking,” NUS wrote in her obituary. 

But beyond her work as an educator, Mrs Wee spent time working for troubled families. She spent nearly four decades from 1970 on the advisory panel to the Juvenile Court (now Youth Court).

Besides being an advisor on women’s issue with the Ministry of Social Affairs, she was well known among the women in the squatter areas of Singapore in post-war Singapore.

“Her clients had mostly been abandoned or abused by their husbands. Until the Women’s Charter became law in 1961, women had few rights,” the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame wrote.

“Marriages were mostly customary, bigamy was commonplace, and there was no such thing as a divorce decreed by a law court. 

“She did all she could to assist them, even occasionally roping in her husband to help a woman secure maintenance.”

In Mrs Wee’s own words in an animation video series by the National Integration Council about the contributions of foreign-born individuals to Singapore, she said: “More than anything, I wanted to make the world a better place.”

During the six decades in public service, Mrs Wee was bestowed the Public Service Star in 1972 and the Public Service Star (Bar) in 2004.

She was recognised with the Meritorious Service Medal in 2010 and the NUSS Distinguished Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award in 2012, among the many awards conferred on her.

The Ann Wee NUS Social Work Alumni Award was established in 2014 by NUS in her honour.

In 2017, her memoir A Tiger Remembers: The Way We Were in Singapore was published.

The Institute of Policy Studies wrote: “Her legacy as an educator, her role model as an active senior, and her presence as a true Singaporean who married the heart and head to build a better future for so many – these comforts will far outlast this period of grief at her passing.”

Mrs Wee is survived by two daughters and four grandchildren.

NEW CLARK CITY, Philippines: The first time Beckie Liu surfed, she got hit on the head by her surfboard.

But after just 30 minutes of learning to surf in Phuket, she was hooked.

“Ever since then, I haven’t stopped. It’s kind of like getting addicted … you crave it, you think about it every day, it’s really like an obsessive kind of feeling,” said Liu, who represented Singapore at the 30th SEA Games in the women’s longboard category.

READ: SEA Games thrills and spills: 7 stories that surprised Singapore

This meant travelling overseas to surf. Liu, then a student at the National University of Singapore, would go on surf trips to places like Bali.

“I would stay in the cheapest guesthouses, just eat one, two-dollar meals because most of the money would be spent on accommodation and flights,” she said.

“(People) think I’m spending a lot of money,” she said. “But if you plan it wisely and you don’t have very high expectations for your accommodation … It’s cheaper than Singapore.”

For Liu, it was not about competing – at least not yet.

“(It was) just pure passion. It’s like euphoria, it’s like being in love and it’s like your first love,” she said.

“You feel like a kid again, that feeling of contentment … It’s magical. The first time I went into the ocean and had the chance to experience what waves are like, the feeling was like coming home to something.”

Her parents were supportive of her surfing, said Liu, but she knew she had to be financially independent to further her dream.

“I think not objecting was already a big support. I think I relied on my parents a little bit in the beginning,” she said.

“After that, when they said no and I had to pay for these trips for myself, that’s when I had to find a way to earn money and go. (I had) to (study) and earn money at the same time to fund my passion.”

READ: Debutants star as Team Singapore surpasses 900 gold medals mark

So Liu decided to start her own business while in university, launching her swimwear brand Haikini.

“When I was young, I really liked sewing my own clothes and I told my mum when I was 12 that I wanted to be a fashion designer,” she said.

“When I started surfing, I found myself wanting to choose swimwear (that is) functional for the sport that also looked good,” she added. “There were very few brands around that time that fit those criteria.”

Drawing inspiration from a trip to Hawaii, Liu took her leap of faith.

“Swimwear is a pretty competitive industry. There are very low barriers to entry – if anyone wanted to do it, they could. It’s just like why, why do you want to do it?” she said.

“For me, I wanted to fund myself surfing, I also wanted to show girls in Singapore what you do in life is not bound by where you are.”

Even though she started from scratch, the business broke even within three months and has been profitable ever since, Liu said.

“I have a really tight community of customers, and they are the ones that really inspire me and motivate me to continue,” she said.

“My mission is to introduce surfing to more girls in Singapore, in Asia, try to increase Asian representation in surfing.”

RIDING THE WAVES AT THE SEA GAMES

A chance encounter on Instagram opened up the window for Liu to compete at the SEA Games.

Liu had commented on a photo of a surfer “dropping on a wave” and as it turned out, he was part of the contingent heading to the Philippines.

“He discovered my profile and told surfing association that this girl can do longboard,” she said. “They told me to do the qualifiers and I just went for them – it was my first time competing.”

She joined Mohamad Nazir Salleh, Michael Lim, Arthur Kor, Michelle Ooi and Nurimran Jaffar in Singapore’s first national team for surfing.

“I kind of reached the point where I was able to push myself in the sport so I was thinking of ways to just be better,” said Liu, who had set herself the goal of competing in 2020.

Liu finished fifth in the women’s longboard event at her maiden Games – no mean feat considering the surf conditions following Typhoon Kammuri.

READ: SEA Games: Singapore athletes unfazed as Typhoon Kammuri delays flights, reschedules races

“The conditions were incredibly challenging. I arrived a month earlier to practice but the ocean could not have dealt us a more difficult hand,” she said. “Due to Typhoon Tisoy (Kammuri), the conditions were windy, waves were big, a little bumpy and messy too. 

“It was difficult to find the right wave to ride but I managed to get a couple of good rides during my heats to get through to the bronze medal round.”

Added Liu: “During the bronze medal match, I had a really bad wipeout. The pressure was on, and unfortunately the time and the waves were not on my side this time.

“Some days you win and some days you learn. You don’t ever lose. This SEA Games experience taught me what I needed to work on for future competitions so I’m incredibly grateful no matter what the results are.”

This has not quelled her competitive fire – Liu plans to continue competing in the future.

After her SEA Games stint, she will return to Bali, where she surfs, manages her business and conducts surf camps for girls.

“I admire those people who can make their passions into their livings as well,” she said. “They say if your passion is your work, you will never work a day in your life. But I don’t think so, because if you are following a passion, you are working every day in your life – every waking moment you are thinking about work and your career. 

“But I would never switch it, I would never say to myself, ‘I’d rather do (something else)’.”

MORE: Our coverage of SEA Games 2019

MANILA: Singaporean swimmer Quah Zheng Wen was given the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for male athletes on Wednesday (Dec 11), having won the highest number of medals at SEA Games 2019, with six gold and two silver in his haul.

“It’s definitely an honour just to have our flag up there representing Team Singapore,” Quah told CNA after receiving news of the award. “It’s a reflection (of my performance).”

But more than winning medals, the 23-year-old was happy to have also qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke events.

“I came with the goal of trying to qualify for the Olympics. Honestly speaking, getting gold … was not what I was looking for at these Games.

“It was a bonus. It’s kind of a testament to how hard I’d been training. I’m glad for that. I’m just happy I accomplished what I set out to do.”

Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien won the MVP award for female athletes.

READ: SEA Games thrills and spills: 7 stories that surprised Singapore

Quah’s performance at the Games have earned the praise of teammate Joseph Schooling earlier.

“For him to come up and step up for three events tonight and do best times – back to back in the space of one hour and ten, that’s pretty darn impressive,” said Schooling last Friday, after Quah stretched him to the finish line in the 100m butterfly final.

Clocking a personal best of 51.87, Quah qualified for the Olympics and came in 0.03s behind Schooling.

“Kudos to him, he’s been having the best meet of all of us so far and we’re just trying to follow his example,” Schooling added.

Quah and his swimming compatriots, including his sisters Jing Wen and Ting Wen, were among the top performers in the Games with 23 gold medals – equalling their best performance in 2015.

With 15 Games records, nine national records and 26 personal best timings, they also surpassed their away record of 19 golds in 2017, the Singapore National Olympic Council said in press release on Wednesday.

Singapore sent its largest away contingent in history to this year’s Games in the Philippines. They won 53 gold, crossing the 900th gold medal mark as the 2019 campaign came to a close.

With 46 silver and 68 bronze, Singapore won a total of 167 medals – 51 of which coming from Games debutants – said the Council.

Quah said he was looking forward to the closing ceremony on Wednesday evening, where he would receive his award.

Additional reporting by Matthew Mohan.

Follow Mediacorp’s coverage of the 30th SEA Games and get the widest Team Singapore coverage with four LIVE channels on Toggle. Go to toggle.sg/seagames2019 for details.

NEW CLARK CITY, Philippines: The lack of “stable governance” within the athletics fraternity has cost its athletes, said Singapore Sports Institute’s (SSI) head of high performance and athlete life Richard Gordon, following the sport’s poor outing at the 30th SEA Games.

“We’ve seen in decline in results over the past three SEA Games. We’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes in terms of trying to help (them) to stabilise,” said Mr Gordon at a wrap-up press conference on Wednesday (Dec 11).

“But they seem to have a propensity for infighting within the fraternity … what I am going to say is that you need to get your act together.”

Singapore’s athletics contingent did not win a gold or a silver at this year’s Games. It bagged three bronze – two courtesy of Shanti Pereira in the 100m and 200m finals and one from Nur Izlyn Zaini in the 100m hurdles.

In the 2017 edition of the Games, the team won two gold medals – one from marathoner Soh Rui Yong and another from high jumper Michelle Sng.

Soh’s nomination to compete in this edition of the Games was rejected by SNOC, while Sng finished fifth this year.

READ: Marathon champion Soh Rui Yong’s SEA Games nomination rejected

“As a fraternity, you need to start working together, you need to start providing stable governance,” said Mr Gordon.

“Because you are providing nothing more than a distraction, which is taking your time, effort and energies away from what you should be doing, which is helping to support the athletes’ development and performances.”

In contrast, he said that there are lessons to be learnt from swimming, which tied its best showing at the Games with 23 gold medals.

In addition to its “planned and very systematic approach”, the sport has been “very stable” in terms of governance, he added.

“They are very stable in terms of their governance and I’d compare and constraint that with several other sports over this past two – maybe one year – where we’ve noted that (for) a number of NSAs (National Sports Associations), there’s been some turmoil within the NSA. 

“This is a distraction, it’s a distraction away from the athletes, away from their performances and their preparation for these important Games. This is not fair for the athletes.”

This year’s SEA Games also saw promising performances from “emerging” sports such as softball, he noted.

The men’s team bounced back from a 8-0 loss to the Philippines earlier in the tournament to beat the overwhelming favourites twice to win gold. 

“I think that’s a tremendous story and I think (there are) many lessons that could be learnt from some of the emerging sports like softball, in relation to some of the traditional sports,“ said Mr Gordon.

“But many of the traditional sports, where perhaps they have lost some innovation, perhaps they’ve lost a little bit of desire, are being challenged by some of the emerging new sports,” he added.

“That’s an emerging narrative that we’re seeing at this SEA Games and is something that we’ll keep a very close watch on over the next few years.”

Mr Gordon also pointed out five Singapore athletes and one team which displayed “extraordinary and exemplary behaviour and performances”. 

They were Amanda Lim, Quah Zheng Wen, Darren Chua, Ryan Lo, Peter Gilchrist and the men’s softball team.

“I would highlight those six athletes and team – one, because I think they are incredibly professional; two, I think they are incredible hardworking; and three, they are very, very humble in what they do,” he said.

“I think they are tremendous role models for Singapore and for future generations of Singapore athletes.”