By 8am, he is at work at the Muslim Missionary Society Jamiyah Singapore, starting a 12-hour day packed with meetings for the 18 social service programmes the organisation runs.

The Jamiyah president is 82.

Mr Abu Bakar's involvement in community service began in the 1950s. He has helmed Jamiyah for 38 years, and in that time introduced services such as a free clinic and a free legal counselling service for the needy.

For his long-term commitment to improving the lives of the underprivileged, he is the winner in the category for individuals for this year's President's Social Service Award, the nation's most prestigious recognition for volunteers, given out annually since 2001.

Mr Abu Bakar said he was honoured to get the award, but insisted it was also for his Jamiyah colleagues, because 'I alone cannot do everything'.

The organisation now has $25 million in funds and assets, and its education, social and welfare programmes help up to 4,000 beneficiaries, about half of whom are non-Muslim.

The kitty is a long way from the $5.60 it had when Mr Abu Bakar was elected Jamiyah president in 1970. Back then, it set about raising funds and publicising its work by going from kampung to kampung to sell food fair coupons at between 10 and 50 cents each.

Mr Abu Bakar's other priority then was to get the education programmes going because he believed education to be the key to progress and community development.

But as he was then holding down a full-time job at the advertising firm Leo Burnett, he carried out his volunteer work from 5.30pm to midnight, and used his annual leave to run Jamiyah projects.

Since retiring as Leo Burnett Singapore's finance director and company secretary in the early 1990s, he has thrown himself fully into working with Jamiyah. He does not draw a salary but gets a monthly allowance of about $700.

He smiles broadly when talking about his work, saying: 'You feel very happy. That's the reward you get. Money alone will not make you happy.'

He is a hands-on leader. Colleagues say he once stayed till 2am to oversee an exhibition being set up and was the last to leave on Hari Raya Haji when Jamiyah gave out food at its headquarters.

Retirement is not in his vocabulary, but he is in a hurry to 'do as much as I can' for the organisation.

Along with Mr Abu Bakar, three groups also received awards from President S R Nathan at an Istana ceremony on Thursday.

Among them was Nanyang Technological University Welfare Services Club. Its 700 members are involved in six regular projects, including weekly visits with 400 elderly, visually handicapped, hearing-impaired and intellectually disabled folk, as well as youth and children.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.