East Coast Plan unveiled

[jw5]

HSK congratulates Shanti.

Heng Swee Keat​

23 hrs ·

Incredible run by our national sprinter, Shanti Pereira! Congratulations on achieving your personal best and setting a new national record! This is Shanti’s second SEA Games gold medal — seven years after winning her first when Singapore was the host in 2015!
It has also been a fantastic week for Team Singapore across the various sporting categories, including Quah Jing Wen who also just set a new SEA Game record in the women’s 200m butterfly finals! Keep it up!
#OneTeamSG
#teamsingapore
#teamsg

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 22:44 ·

Our 22-year-old swimmer Quah Jing Wen shattered her own SEA Games record with a time of 2:09.52 in the 200m butterfly final. This is also Singapore’s first gold medal in swimming at this year’s Games!

(Photo by Sport Singapore/ Andy Chua)

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

14 May at 22:44 ·

2 Golds and 1 Silver from our Wushu team today. Kudos to Zoe, Kimberly and Jun Kai!

(Photo by Sport Singapore/ Samuel Ang)

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

14 May at 22:44 ·

Impressive showing by the men's gymnastics team! Four of the six team members are debutants, and this was Singapore’s first medal since 2015! Congratulations!

(Photo by Sport Singapore/ Stanley Cheah Kin Wai)

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

14 May at 22:44 ·

14-year-old Elle Koh, the second youngest athlete in the Team Singapore contingent won Singapore’s second gold of the 31st SEA Games in fencing yesterday. Amazing job!

(Photo by Sport Singapore/ Jeremy Lee)

 

[jw5]

HSK wishes all Buddhists a Happy Vesak Day!

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 09:01 ·

Wishing all Buddhists a Happy Vesak Day!
For Buddhists around the world, Vesak Day marks the birth and enlightenment of Buddha. Devotees are now able to take part in the Three Steps One Bow procession.
May this day inspire the world towards peace and tranquility.
(MCI Photo by Lim Sin Thai)

 

[jw5]

HSK wants you to know your neighbour well.

Heng Swee Keat​

15 hrs ·

How well do you know your neighbours?
During a recent house visit, I met Mr Sukarno and his delightful family. He showed me a plaque that he received from the Traffic Police for public spiritedness. It brought back fond memories of my time in the Police. As Commander of Jurong Division, it was always a joy to give out such plaques to those who had displayed public service.
Besides getting to know our residents better, I also wanted to find out if they know their neighbours well. And I’m glad so many of them do! Many of the residents I spoke to have been living there for decades — some up to 50 years!
I hope our residents can continue to keep the kampung spirit alive as we foster a caring East Coast for all.
#EastCoastCares

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

15 hrs ·

Sukarno was on the way home when he came across a traffic jam caused by a faulty traffic light. He decided to stop and help direct the traffic. He had served in the Singapore Police Force during his National Service, so I’m glad to hear that he put the road safety training he received at that time to good use in this situation!

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 09:15 ·

Mdm Lam has lived in Bedok for 40 years. Her positive spirit was infectious, and it was good to hear that she knows her neighbours and they know her!

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 09:15 ·

Met Madam Yap and her family, Bedok residents for 50 years now. She expressed interest in participating in Qigong or painting workshops. We’ll try to organise more of such activities.

 

[jw5]

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 09:15 ·

Came across a zumba session conducted by the Health Promotion Board, Singapore as part of Bedok’s wellness programmes for seniors after my house visits. Everyone is looking good and healthy!

 

[jw5]

HSK hosted Thai Ministars.

Heng Swee Keat is with Chee Hong Tat 徐芳达 and อนุทิน ชาญวีรกูล.​

2 hrs ·

I hosted Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul อนุทิน ชาญวีรกูล to lunch today, together with SMS Chee Hong Tat 徐芳达.
DPM Anutin was in town for the Changi Aviation Summit. The two of us last met when he was here for another aviation event – the Singapore Airshow 2020 – just prior to COVID-19. How time flies, and what a big difference two years had made. We had a good catch up before he flew home in the afternoon. We also discussed how we can strengthen our bilateral ties and cooperation within Southeast Asia.
Found a picturesque backdrop at Raffles Hotel, where we had lunch, to take a group photo. Glad that borders are re-opening and flights are resuming. Nothing can fully replace face-to-face meetings.
(MCI Photo by Liu Ying)

 

[jw5]

HSK having dinner with Thai Ministars.

 

[jw5]

HSK joins Focus on the Family Singapore, to celebrate their 20th Anniversary tonight.

Heng Swee Keat​

22 mins ·

While the COVID pandemic has taken its toll on lives and livelihoods, it has one silver lining: it has allowed us to spend more time with our loved ones, and made us appreciate our family more. For me, it has been a long time since I have been able to enjoy so many meals together with my wife and children!
I am glad that MSF Singapore has designated 2022 as the Year of Celebrating Singapore Families, and is working together with community partners to further strengthen our families. I was delighted to join one of the community partners, Focus on the Family Singapore, to celebrate their 20th Anniversary tonight. Over the past two decades, FOTF has done good work to help Singaporeans in their journey to build strong families. I thank the many staff and volunteers of FOTF for your dedication!
With our collective effort, I am confident that we will build stronger families for generations to come.

 

[jw5]

HSK loves his family!

Heng Swee Keat​

22 hrs ·

I love my family! Took the chance to grab a hold of this sign as my wife and I took a photo with representatives from Focus on the Family Singapore.

[L-R] Mr Choe Peng Sum, Vice-Chairman, Focus on the Family Singapore; Mr Tony Soh, Chairman, Focus on the Family Singapore; Dr Stephen Riady, Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, OUE Limited; Mr Andrew Kwan, Vice-Chairman, Focus on the Family Singapore

(MCI Photo by Betty Chua)

 

[jw5]

HSK congratulates awardees.

Heng Swee Keat​

Yesterday at 22:33 ·

My heartiest congratulations to the awardees of the Family Champion Awards! They have done good work to partner in strengthening families in Singapore.

[L-R] Tay Lay Kheng, DD/HR, Far East Organisation; Ng We Khoon, Director, PA; Tan Chin Hwee, CEO, Trafigura Pte Ltd; Dr Stephen Riady, Executive Chairman and Group CEO, OUE; Alfred Wong MD, Noel Gifts International Ltd; Reverend Daniel Wee, Senior Pastor, Church of our Saviour.

(MCI Photo by Betty Chua)

 

[jw5]

HSK enjoys heartwarming sharing.

Heng Swee Keat​

19 May at 22:33 ·

Heartwarming sharing by siblings Aaron Ng, Chief of Growth at FOTFS (centre) and Delia Ng, COO of FOTF (left-most), on how they overcame their struggles growing up in a divorced household.

(MCI Photo by Betty Chua)

 

[jw5]

HSK visited infectious disease experts at Duke-NUS Medical School yesterday, together with Ong Ye Kung.

Heng Swee Keat is with Ong Ye Kung.​

10 hrs ·

Paid a visit to our infectious disease experts at Duke-NUS Medical School yesterday, together with Ong Ye Kung.
Our COVID-19 response has always been based on science.
This is only possible because we have a committed team who have dedicated their lives to studying infectious diseases and preventing the next pandemic.
These scientists may not be household names, but Ye Kung, my Cabinet colleagues, and I have read many of their findings as we deliberated on our COVID response.
They include Prof Wang Linfa, who developed the first COVID-19 neutralising antibody test in the world, and Prof Leo Yee-Sin, who runs NCID. We also have an excellent team at Duke-NUS, led by Dean Thomas Coffman.
I also came across a few new things – including a palm-size DNA sequencing machine that can be operated from a phone, aptly named MinION!
The next pandemic – Disease X – is not a matter of if, but when, so I am glad we have such a passionate team researching on preventing and treating infectious disease.

 

[jw5]

HSK holds a device.

Heng Swee Keat​

10 hrs ·

Touring the Duke-NUS Medical School Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) laboratory. Ye Kung and I are holding a device called the Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) MinION. It is a small but powerful machine that enables real-time streaming of genetic data.

Its portable size makes it extremely mobile, and easily brought to disease outbreak epicentres.

(MCI Photo by Liu Ying)
— with Ong Ye Kung.

 

[jw5]

HSK holds a test-tube.

Heng Swee Keat​

13 hrs ·

Anthony Tanoto Tan from the EID programme shared that SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells are necessary to protect against severe COVID-19. But analysing these T cells can be a complicated task. Duke-NUS Medical School then developed a simple and rapid assay to help quantify the SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells found in the blood of infected individuals. Only a small sample of blood is needed, which Anthony showed me in a test tube!

(MCI Photo by Liu Ying)
— with Ong Ye Kung.