Mrs Pok, Vic Tor, Vic Sent, Wei Shun, Sophia, Ming Nie, family members, colleagues and friends,

Sorrow fills our hearts this sad moment, a sorrow that is deep and personal. Dr Pok Yang Ming has silently closed the door of life and departed from us. Our lives will be empty in the areas that he had brightened for us.

Albert Einstein said, “The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.” In one word, Pok Yang Ming was a man who gave. He gave much to his work, to Ngee Ann Polytechnic and to Singapore. That is why ladies and gentlemen as we are gathered here to say goodbye to him, I would like to speak in celebration of his life. Here was a life that demand notice….a life that exemplified brilliance…a life that inspired emulation…a life that burned so that others’ paths were lit.

I have known Yang Ming since 1987 when he joined the Electrical Engineering Department of Ngee Ann as a Senior Lecturer.  Yang Ming was a strategic thinker, a visionary who was brilliant, innovative and creative. As such, he contributed much to the development of the Polytechnic. He generously gave us his knowledge, his expertise, his skills.

Yang Ming was deeply concerned with improving the quality of teaching and learning on campus and he was very keen to innovate with new technologies in education. He initiated and implemented much in this field during the twenty years that he was at Ngee Ann.

For example as Chairman of the NP-One Steering Committee, 133 assessment modules and 74 tutorial modules were implemented in July 2000. NP-One was recognized and accepted by the Ministry of Education as a suitable case study for an OECD programme.

When I was Director of the International Liaison Unit at Ngee Ann, I took many visitors from all over the world to view the NP-One laboratories. All our visitors were impressed with the system and with how we used it in our teaching and learning process.

Yang Ming also implemented a computerized booking system, a Web-based system to test all first and third year students in their English Proficiency standards, an automated marking system for practical tests and a consultancy project that contributed to the long range objective of expertise in resource planning. His enthusiasm and dedication to the use of technology in improving the way we taught, the way we processed our work and the way our students learned were much to be admired.

Later, as a member of the Academic Standing Committee, he helped implement common modules for mathematics, computer programming and information technology as part of the Ngee Ann Learning Matrix.

Yang Ming did not limit his work to just Ngee Ann. For example, he helped develop the Mathematics On-line laboratory for Ngee Ann Secondary School. In 2001, he contributed to the development of 250 web-based Information Technology self-learning modules which were accepted by MINDEF for the retraining of National Service men. Yang Ming was instrumental in setting up an internet portal to help children with learning disabilities. He also implemented a website for the Dyslexic Association of Singapore. In doing all this he gave his time and creativity not just to us at Ngee Ann but to many others in Singapore.

In 1994 Yang Ming was appointed Head of the Mathematics and Science Centre. He gave his staff encouragement; he gave his staff emotional support and many have spoken highly of his kindness and concern for them, in particular, for their health and well-being.

Pok Yang Ming was living proof of how fine a person can be. He was a good boss to the people in his charge, a loving husband to his wife, and a devoted father to his children. He was also a good friend to many of us and a great colleague. The character of the life he lived might be summed up in a few words: he was sincere, he was earnest, he was loyal.

As Director, Yang Ming led his staff in such a way that he exemplified leadership. He gave energy, commitment and inspiration to his staff and to others with whom he worked. The Ying Ming I remember was a happy Yang Ming, one who not only was cheerful in himself but who gave much cheerfulness to others. He had a beautiful smile, a sense of humour and a gentle demeanour. Yang Ming was bright, logical and systematic in his thinking. He was always willing to share his ideas and information. He was passionately interested in health matters and would advise us on the foods to eat. Many of us found him to be a splendid person of great intellect and big heart.

In June 2004 Yang Ming was appointed Director, Student Development and School Outreach. Here he improved networking with the schools. The SoE outreach programmes impacted 30,000 secondary school students annually. He initiated the SoE Marketing team and tirelessly visited and made presentations to the top management of secondary schools in the hope of convincing them that engineering careers are viable for future graduates. He worked hard to expand the number of overseas expeditions and attachments for the students. Yang Ming introduced and administered the Student At Risk Monitoring System for the Engineering Common Year Programme. This system enabled the engineering divisions to keep track of the students who were not performing in their studies. Typical of Yang Ming he gave much more. For example, he volunteered to be Mentor to 5 student groups to work on Event Management projects in the Innovation and Enterprise in Action module. As always he was dedicated to developing young people and to giving so much of himself.

In his career as an academic he worked with passion, integrity and energy. By his death all the people who knew him will miss a highly intelligent, vibrant individual with a rare friendliness and charm of personality. Yang Ming was a genuinely warm and wonderful individual—one we will miss greatly. Our sorrow is lessened only slightly with the comforting thought that we had the privilege to know him.

Ladies and Gentlemen I would like now to read a poem to provide us a small measure of consolation:

Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what’s to be,
A resting place along the road,
To sweet eternity
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
But never mean to stay…
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey’s quicker,
For some the journey’s slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We’ll make a great step forward,
And find an everlasting peace,
As our special reward.

To Mrs Pok, Vic Tor, Vic Sent, Wei Shun, Sophia and Ming Nie our hearts and prayers are with you at this most difficult time. Adlai Stevenson once commented about a man and his contribution: “It is not the years in a life that counts; it is the life in the years.” Ladies and Gentlemen, Pok Yang Ming lived. We will all miss him. Goodbye, Yang Ming.

Siraj Zaibun Nissa
on behalf of Friends of Ngee Ann Polytechnic