On 7 April 2020, the first day that Singapore went into circuit breaker mode, Mohd Fahmi Aliman quietly stepped into his new role at NTUC.
He joined the organisation as Director of Operations and Mobilisation Division Secretariat.
As the country braced itself for the new reality, the 48-year-old former Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) officer got ready to tackle his latest mission.
“Coming to the Labour Movement, I want to help low-wage workers and be their voice. I can do that, I can be that bridge. I would love to take up this challenge,” said Fahmi.
Having dedicated 26 years of his life to the army, Fahmi knows that understanding the terrain is the first step in winning any battle.
“You're learning along the way. And that is really challenging for me. You start to think about how you want to help, how you repackage, and how you structure your support so that you can help people. And the issues are complicated,” he said.
Before joining NTUC, Fahmi was deputy chief executive of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS).
He was also chairman for M3@Bedok, where he got to understand the needs and issues of the Malay and Muslim community better.
“My key takeaway is that you really need to do the outreach because not everybody will understand what kind of help is out there.
“You need to explain to them the help that we can give, and the nearest programmes or nearest facilities that they can go to get certain things done,” shared Fahmi.
There was an incident in particular that cemented this belief. During one of his house visits, Fahmi met a mother-of-two who worked part-time.
Her husband was in jail, and she could barely make ends meet.
“I asked her, ‘Have you asked for any help from Family Service Centres?’ She said no. ‘Have you gotten any help from the mosque?’ She said no. ‘Did you get any help from MENDAKI?’ She said no.
“Then I asked, ‘Why not?’ Her answer was that she didn’t know that there was all this assistance. Ironically, the mosque was just across her house.
“So it really struck me – the outreach must happen, you got to do it. You cannot assume that people know everything, or that they know where to get help. If you need to go house to house to find all these unknowns, then so be it.
“You're like the bridge between these people and the help that is available to them,” he said.
Fahmi is a father-of-four, three boys and a girl. Contrary to the stereotype, however, he is not a strict army dad.
“My wife is the discipline master at home. For me, I try to inculcate values to my kids. I preach motivation,” said Fahmi.
One thing he insists on is a yearly family meeting to reflect on the past and set directions for the future.
“I will come up with an agenda, then we talk about it. ‘What have you done this year? What are the lessons learnt? What do you intend to do next year?’ It is the thinking process. I started that, and I inculcated that to my kids.”
A big believer in continuous learning and stepping out of your comfort zone, Fahmi wants his children to always strive for better.
He has seen firsthand how this attitude enabled his own mother to improve her life and uplift her family.
She was not educated and worked as a janitor. But she knew this was not going to be enough to support them.
“She trained to become a chef – because she knew how to cook – in one of the factory canteens, which was quite big. And then from there, she learnt how to manage the canteen.
“And because of that move, that bold step to lead, she earned money to educate my brother and me. It was really that resilience, that fortitude to do well, to improve, that made her do that,” recounted Fahmi.
It is this same mindset that he brings with him to NTUC.
Barely three months into his new job, Fahmi is determined to make a difference in workers’ lives by advocating for lifelong learning to stay relevant.
But this has been his mission ever since.
“When I was a battalion commander, I always told my guys, you got to continue, keep improving yourself within the unit. If you're not learning, something is wrong. You must have this mentality that you cannot just be status quo.
“When I was in MUIS, I preached the same thing. I totally believe in this. It's consistent. And so, I will hold dear all these values and apply this across, wherever I am.”
Just as a leader leads by example, Fahmi sets the same standards for himself. Leaving the army was a big leap, but it was something he needed to do.
“I could have just stayed there. I was very comfortable and was in a very good position. But the calling came, and I thought, you know, you're not going to live forever, so you got to do something closer to your heart, closer to the community. That's the reason why I took the leap,” he said.
When asked what was most challenging about this new adventure, Fahmi joked: “I realised that I needed to buy a long-sleeved shirt. And pants. In the army, every day you're in uniform, right? You don't need to worry about what to wear.”
