Dorothy Yeo
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority

Mention "Home Team officer", and the picture that often comes to mind is that of a uniformed officer, such as a policeman, paramedic or firefighter, who comes to the rescue of people in distress. But sharing the front-line with men and women in uniform are thousands of non-uniformed Home Team officers who are equally dedicated to helping those in need. Someone like Dorothy Yeo, for example.

Dorothy is Supervisor (Citizenship) at the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

In March 2003, she received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and learnt that a pair of premature, newborn Singaporean twins in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, required urgent medical attention. Their father, Mr Ng, a Singapore citizen, wanted to fly them over as quickly as possible and had approached the staff at the Singapore Mission in Vietnam for help.

A life-saver in action

The necessary citizenship documents had to be submitted and processed to enable the newborns to travel. However, the Vietnamese authorities could only issue the birth certificates one month later.

Knowing that time was critical, Dorothy took the initiative to do what she thought was necessary to expedite the citizenship application process. Instead of having Mr Ng go through the normal procedure of submitting the original birth certificates and application forms, she asked the Singapore Mission to fax over the citizenship application forms and the babies' hospital records.

After confirming Mr Ng's relationship with the twins based on their hospital cards, she brought up the case to her supervisor and the deputy registrar for in-principle approval.

To her great relief, the request was granted. From there, she worked with MFA to prepare all the necessary documents to facilitate the babies' evacuation.

It took less than 24 hours for the babies to be airlifted from the time Dorothy received the hospital records and citizenship application forms by fax.

"It was a stressful day, rushing to get everything done fast," she recalled.

When the original birth certificates were eventually produced four weeks later, ICA issued the twins their citizenship certificates. Dorothy subsequently learnt that the babies were faring well.

Sharing her thoughts on the whole incident, Dorothy said: "It's part and parcel of my duty. My main concern was for the kids to be treated and to survive. Two young lives were in my hands."

A stellar service provider

As an ICA officer, Dorothy always tries to satisfy her customers while taking care not to compromise Singapore's security or breach policy guidelines. Knowing how to strike that balance comes with years of experience.

Dorothy, who has been with the organisation since 1971, receives many requests from customers wanting her to expedite their citizenship applications.

For genuine, urgent cases like the one above, Dorothy will do her utmost to help. "We won't break the rules. We'll still follow the normal procedures. But we'll put them on a fast track," she said.

However, there are times when she has to turn down her customers. She said: "If it's strictly a no, we have to put it across in a very nice manner."

Dorothy's winsome ways have turned many demanding customers into appreciative ones - even when she did not grant their requests.

For her stellar service, Dorothy was given the Ministry of Home Affairs Star Service Award 2003 and Excellence Service Award 2004 - STAR Award.

— Contributed by Mrs Kelly Wong, ICA, and Strategic Planning and Development Division, MHA