Family who foiled robbery gets Public Spiritedness Award
SINGAPORE — Shocked by cries for help coming from outside their house, twin sisters Adrienne and Marienne Chew, 21, called for their father and they rushed out to see a man strangling a woman.
While their father, Vincent, 52, shouted at and chased after the fleeing man, the sisters tried to calm the woman. Because of their actions, the woman escaped with a few bruises and scratches, while the man was caught and eventually sentenced to five years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for attempted robbery.
The Chew family was among the 85 members of the public who received the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) National Day Public Spiritedness Award for their contributions to keeping Singapore safe and secure.
In total, 105 Home Team officers, 13 Home Team volunteers and four Home Team teams were also awarded the individual, volunteer and team awards at this year’s Home Team National Day Observance Ceremony, held at the MHA headquarters at Irrawaddy Road.
Asked what went through their minds that made them go to the woman’s aid despite the potential danger to themselves, the sisters said they were angry with the man for causing distress to the woman and they did not want to live with the regret of not helping someone in need.
Marienne added: “When help is needed, help is to be rendered.”
Mr Chew, a scuba diving instructor, said: “It’s important because although Singapore has (a) low crime (rate), it doesn’t mean (there is) no crime. We were the first (helping) hand there ... as long as we do our best, I think we can (help) keep crime (rates) down.”
Ms Michelle Lim, a lecturer at the Institute of Health Services, was another public spiritedness award winner. The registered nurse was having breakfast one Sunday in January when she got an alert from the myResponder mobile app about a cardiac arrest incident nearby. Launched last year, the app notifies active community responders within 400m of a cardiac arrest case to respond to the incident and also lists the locations of Automated External Defibrillators across the island.
The 50-year-old assisted another man in rendering cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the collapsed patient.
“Being the first to be there and assisting, while waiting for the ambulance to come, makes a lot of difference. For this instance, rendering help actually saved somebody’s life,” said Ms Lim. “I always feel that it’s a civic duty to save lives regardless of race or religion. You never know if someone else might be saving my life or the lives of my loved ones (one day).”
Speaking at the ceremony, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam stressed the importance of partnerships between the Home Team and the community, as he pointed to the official launch next month of SG Secure, a national movement to better prepare the community for crises.
“The entire concept (of SG Secure) has to be embedded in the community, and it can only succeed if we educate, convince and persuade the community to be part of this major national movement,” he added.
