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The son of a daily-rated worker and a housewife, N Gunalan spent his early years in a small flat in government housing quarters where the families staying there shared bathrooms. In one generation, his family’s fortune was transformed, thanks to education and hard work. He went to university and built a distinguished career in journalism. Now the Chief Editor of Tamil News and Current Affairs at Mediacorp, he is passionate about promoting the Tamil language and using his position to help the community.
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As a kid, Bee Choo STRANGE was enthralled by beautiful postage stamps of birds. Her appreciation of the winged creatures grew into a passion for nature. By her 20s, she knew that she was more than happy to trade the comfort of the air-conditioned life of an office worker for a journey on the wild side. Her nature excursions led to a meeting with a Danish bird photographer who became her husband. The two are close collaborators in the areas of nature appreciation and conservation.
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Eileen TAN entered the hospitality industry at the age of 17, at a time when the idea of women working in the sector was frowned upon. A strong sense of independence led her to work overseas, including a hotel in Tokyo as part of an exchange programme, and postings in China and Taiwan. Currently, she is employed by a real estate company involved in residential, commercial and hotel acquisitions and investments. Since 2020, she has served as a senior manager of the hospitality department for Asia.
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ANG Teck Hua grew up in the Old Airport Road area where his family of 11 lived in a two-room rental flat. His parents were illegal hawkers and he endured unkind words and pitiful stares from neighbours and strangers. He quickly realised that education would enable him to break the poverty cycle. He graduated from the polytechnic and won scholarships to do his undergraduate studies and master’s degree. He went back to school at the age of 56, again on a scholarship, to work on a doctorate in applied psychology.
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Michael QUEK Swee Hai learned the importance of independence very early in life. In primary school, he was already marketing, cooking and washing for his family. Despite losing the use of his right limbs to a stroke at 40, the one-man show lives alone and is gainfully employed in a social enterprise. He likes telling others: “Before saying anything is impossible, remember ‘I’m possible’.”
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CHOO Teck Chuan’s formative years were spent in Geylang, which in the early years of modern Singapore, was considered an unsafe neighbourhood where gang-related and vice activities were rife. He realised early in life that academic studies were not his cup of tea and studied at a vocational institute after his ‘O’ levels. Most people assumed then that he would have a ‘tough’ life but he found his calling in the Singapore Armed Forces. He served illustriously for more than three decades and retired in 2015 as a lieutenant-colonel.
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Daniel PEK Chin Kee lived in MacPherson, one of the early public housing estates in Singapore, for the first two decades of his life; attended school in the neighbourhood, and was an active sportsman. He said he was “mesmerised” by the ocean from his first dive and decided to become a professional diver. He stayed in the industry for more than three decades and he has dived in the Persian Gulf, the United States and Asia in the course of his work.
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