SINGAPORE – For four years, Mr Shahrin Abdol Salam worked for Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, overseeing the planning of the city’s rail networks and providing strategic advice on maintenance and development projects.

However, the 50-year-old Singaporean said he did not hesitate to say “yes” when he was invited to return to Singapore to rejoin his former employer SMRT to support the transport operator’s growth plans back in 2016.

“To me, it’s a straightforward answer when your country calls you to come back,” he said.

Mr Shahrin – who first joined SMRT as a maintenance engineer in 1998 – served as senior vice-president of plans and development for SMRT Trains upon his return.

He drove efforts to improve rail reliability, and helped the MRT network hit its reliability target ahead of the 2020 deadline set by then Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who wanted trains to travel no less than one million kilometres before encountering issues that caused a delay of more than five minutes.

The rail network, which in 2016 was clocking just 174,000km between such delays, surpassed Mr Khaw’s target in 2019.

On Friday evening, Mr Shahrin received Berita Harian’s Achiever of the Year award at a ceremony at Four Seasons Hotel.

Now in its 25th year, the award, which is supported by the FairPrice Group, recognises Malay-Muslims who have made a mark in their fields.

Mr Shahrin told reporters he was thankful and honoured by the recognition, describing his work as a “call of duty”.

The father of four has been managing director of SMRT’s Thomson East-Coast Line since 2022, leading a team of 1,200 handling the operations, maintenance and project integration for Singapore’s sixth MRT line.

He is also the transport operator’s senior vice-president of strategic relations, and is involved in several international projects, such as the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link, which is scheduled to begin operations by end-2026.

Before he joined Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, Mr Shahrin was managing director of SMRT Engineering Middle East from 2008. In that role, he managed the development of the Palm Jumeirah monorail system in Dubai and Masdar City’s Personal Rapid Transit system, the first such projects of their kind.

Part of the role of a leader is to encourage the development of his staff, he said, noting that his own supervisors had helped nurture him professionally as a young engineer.

“The greatest success to me is to see my colleagues, my staff actually grow and be better than who they were before,” said Mr Shahrin, who is also an active community volunteer in various capacities.

This includes chairing the Ayer Rajah Community Club management committee and sitting on the board of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds).

Also receiving an award on Friday was singer-songwriter Shareefa Aminah, who was named Young Achiever of the Year, an accolade that recognises the achievements of individuals aged 30 and below.

Known professionally as Shazza, the 22-year-old’s track Right Person Wrong Time has been streamed more than 1.4 million times on Spotify since being released in late 2022. 

She made headlines when she appeared on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square in August as part of Spotify’s Equal campaign, which highlights women on the streaming platform to foster equality in the music industry.

Citing Dolly Parton and Norah Jones as among her inspirations, the communications undergraduate at the Nanyang Technological University said she wants to expand her audience to the region and beyond, adding that she hopes other local artistes can do so as well.

“There’s so much talent among us, and I think we need to believe in that more, and believe that we can take it beyond just Singapore or Malaysia,” she said.

Berita Harian editor Mohd Nazry Mokhtar said the Malay daily plans to organise regular sessions for the winners to share their life and career experiences with young people here.

“We hope this will be an opportunity for our award recipients to contribute to the community and be a guide and source of inspiration for our young people,” he said.

Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, who attended the award ceremony, said inspiring examples of excellence can be found in every community here as Singapore values all its members, regardless of differences in race or religion – something that must not be taken for granted.

Mr Teo, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, said this is a time of increased turbulence and uncertainty, pointing to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“All of us are deeply distressed by the loss of so many civilian lives, and the deepening humanitarian crisis,” he added.

Noting that the Singapore Government has contributed $300,000 to humanitarian relief operations and urged the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, Mr Teo encouraged people to contribute to humanitarian relief for the civilians affected.

The stable and inclusive environment in Singapore allows individuals here to achieve “incredible things” in many fields, he said, pointing to past Achiever of the Year winners such as golfer Mardan Mamat, who won the award in 2006.

“The situation in the Middle East is a stark reminder that we must treasure the peace and harmony we have in Singapore, and in our region,” said Mr Teo.