SPH Media Trust among President’s commendation recipients for role in Covid-19 fight

SINGAPORE – SPH Media Trust’s (SMT) English, Malay, Tamil Media Group and Chinese Media Group were among the teams and organisations that received the President’s Certificate of Commendation (Covid-19) on Sunday evening for making a significant impact in Singapore’s fight against Covid-19.

Mr Kevin Lim, chief photojournalist from The Straits Times, received the certificate on behalf of SMT from President Halimah Yacob at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio.

President Halimah presented the national awards to more than 100 individuals and more than 450 teams in five award categories at the investiture.

Apart from the President’s Certificate of Commendation (Covid-19), the other four award categories are Meritorious Service Medal (Covid-19), Public Service Star (Covid-19), Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Covid-19), and Medal of Valour (Covid-19).

Around 850 people, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, were present on the occasion.

In his Facebook post, PM Lee thanked those who were honoured, adding: “I was struck by the enormous diversity and sheer scale of their contributions – this was truly a whole of nation effort.

“Many more will receive their awards and recognition at other ceremonies later on.”

PM Lee also recalled how a group of officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with a crew from FlyScoot, had volunteered to repatriate Singaporeans stranded in Wuhan, China. They were awarded the Medal of Valour (Covid-19).

Three people were recognised with the Meritorious Service Medal (Covid-19) – the highest honour.

Among them was Professor Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services and adviser to a multi-ministry task force and other government agencies in crafting the overall strategy for managing the outbreak.

Another recipient was Ministry of Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Pang Kin Keong, for his work as chairman of the Homefront Crisis Executive Group in coordinating the whole-of-government response to the pandemic.

PSA International group chief executive Tan Chong Meng was also recognised for his revamp of PSA’s cargo operations so that supply chains remained open despite the global and local disruptions caused by the pandemic.

More than 100,000 individuals in the community and business sectors and government who went beyond the call of duty to help Singapore battle the pandemic have received national recognition.

PM Lee first mentioned these special awards

in his National Day Rally speech in August 2022,

 when he thanked those who had participated directly in the pandemic fight.

After Singapore eased Covid-19 measures and later exited the pandemic,

a White Paper was published in March this year.

In assessing its performance in its fight against Covid-19, it concluded that while several big calls were made right, the Republic slipped up on a few aspects.

The 92-page document listed eight things that the country did well, such as not letting the healthcare system get overwhelmed, as well as lives and livelihoods being saved.

Six areas that needed room for improvement included over-calibration of safe management measures that were not always consistent, and near-disastrous stumbles in handling

outbreaks in migrant workers’ dormitories.