Wong Li Lin is a woman who wears many hats – ballerina, actress, fitness instructor, entrepreneur- she has been there, done that. Her latest role though, might be her most challenging one yet.
Wong Li Lin is now a public servant
According to The Straits Times, Wong Li Lin has recently been appointed as executive director of the Public Hygiene Council (PHC). She was previously deputy director at Thomson Medical group.
The PHC aims to promote good hygiene practices and improve personal and public hygiene standards in Singapore.
Though Wong Li Lin has no academic or professional experience in this area, she is confident of doing a good job at it, because it involves her three passions of educating, promoting wellness and media.
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM / WONG LI LIN
This mummy of 2 is also aware that many will be skeptical of her role, and view her as just another celebrity. She tells The Straits Times, “People see the tip of the iceberg and not the large chunk beneath the water’s surface, which is my very rich work experience.”
“But I’m the sort of person who likes to roll up my sleeves and work. So in the working world, people will then see what I deliver.”
She seems to be super optimistic about her new role though, “I’m looking forward to learning and growing on the job, and contributing to our ability to better ourselves, so that we can better our environment.”
In fact, she already has some great ideas up her sleeve to clean up Singapore, and we call it her 5-point plan:
- To streamline and simplify the process of organising cleanups around Singapore.
- Creation of a one-stop online portal where organisations such as companies or societies can access and view the areas in Singapore that are available for, and need cleanups.
Li Lin wants to focus on the beaches first, as they are popular with the public, and the PHC regularly receives requests for beach clean-ups.
- Setting up a shared pool of cleaning tools such as tongs, to prevent unnecessary expenditure, so that groups won’t need to buy them for use in their clean-up activities.
- Wong Li Lin also wants to subconsciously encourage cleanliness habits in Singaporeans through the use of ‘social nudges’. It means influencing people to do ‘right’ by observing and understanding their habits.
Take the case of racing or running events, which inevitably produce a lot of trash. It has been found that garbage disposal bins near the water points were an effective way to encourage people to bin their trash.
Says Li Lin, “Runners want to run, and they may not break their focus to search for a bin. I want to make it easier for them to throw their trash while not distracting them.”
- Finally, she hopes that her celebrity status and fame, together with social media strategies might help in creating public awareness about the PHC, and the work it does.
She admits, “I have always tried to underplay my profile, but I realise that I am still recognisable. It has only been in the past few years that I have begun to see how it can be put to some use.”
Here’s wishing Wong Li Lin good luck in her new role!
Singapore regularly gets featured in the ‘Cleanest cities of the World’ list, but fact is, it is more of a ‘cleaned city’ than a ‘clean city.’ In fact, just last year, more than 31,000 fines and 1,700 corrective work orders (CWOs) were issued to litterbugs.
Cleaning up is everyone’s responsibility and here’s hoping we can all work together to re-create the clean city that Singapore was once famous for.
(Source: The Straits Times)