Fair Play

You’re a medical technologist—how did you get into this line of work?
I first did biomedical science in Republic Polytechnic, and decided to pick up forensics as my second major in university before venturing into this. While I was choosing my line of work, Covid-19 was already in the scene so I thought it could be an interesting chance to experience a different side of work by doing Covid testings.

How was it like being on the front line during this Covid-19 period?
It’s still not over, as you know. Even when cases from one place seem to die down, there’ll be a surge in another section. It’s been a hectic past few months—I don’t actually remember what day it is anymore, I only go by dates now (laughs). It was a scary experience at first, because we know Covid is contagious but we weren’t too sure how it spreads; now that we know masks can stop the spread, work has been a little less stressful.

Your dress sense is very colourful—what do you think is a colour that best describes your personality?
Here’s a fun fact: I don’t have a favourite colour (laughs). I love all colours! If I had to just choose one, I’d choose to be the happiest colour, so that’d be yellow.

What has been the biggest learning lesson you learnt during Circuit Breaker?
Circuit Breaker’s obviously been quite a different experience for me because of my line of work. Initially, I thought that staying home would be really boring, especially if you stayed alone within these four walls. But I’ve learnt that not everything needs to be full of colour; it’s important to have a little black and white in your life: you don’t need to always be bright to show your best self.

What’s one of the most memorable holiday experiences you’ve had?
It was in Spain—we parked our car in one of the narrow alleys overnight and when we woke up the next day, our car was gone! (laughs) I’m the researcher in the family, so I knew that car theft rates in Spain were a little high, but it was so odd to not even see a single shard of glass that we were all left very confused. We found the car in the next alley: it was with the tow truck guy! It’s one of those experiences where you get to see your family react to different situations and learn more about them, which is something you don’t get to do enough in daily life.

Is there a habit you’ve realised you’ve left behind over the years?
This is something very simple but I don’t wear a watch anymore. My family’s always been strict about punctuality and tried to ingrain the habit of wearing a watch, but I slowly realised how constricting it can feel to always feel like you’re chasing time. I prefer to live in the moment then worry about the upcoming things.

On that note, if you had to choose between having more time or money, which would you choose?
Time is money, so I’d always choose having more time. Time is the only currency you have to spend with your loved ones, so it’s very precious to me.

If you could introduce a new law in society that everyone has to abide by, what would it be?
Rather than a new law, a change I’d like to propose is to include a jury in our justice system. I personally feel that not having one can be dangerous, because every decision that’ll be passed will solely be the judge’s opinion, who is also a person with their own thoughts and prejudice.

What’s something that you feel should be included in our education curriculum?
Being comfortable with talking about racism. As we grow up, we’re often taught to tolerate differences, but I think we should learn how to embrace them instead, which should start from a young age. Rather than treating it as a touchy topic, it’s something that society should discuss openly.