NTI/NTU Christian Fellowship

It was the 1982/83 academic year when the first batch of students from NUS had settled down in their new campus at NTI and going into their third year of engineering studies.

As pioneers, we began to put together the policies that govern the student body.

The Student Union submitted a proposal for a points system to be awarded to office bearers of the various student bodies on campus.

These points would be used as selection criteria for various activities including the admission to student hostels as well as the selection of the choice rooms. Religious bodies were excluded as the criteria set by the Student Union are that the office bearers need to service the student body at large.

As president of the Christian Fellowship at the time, I wrote to the president of the Student Union objecting to the exclusion of office bearers in religious bodies on the grounds that we do serve the spiritual needs of the entire student body as all students are welcome to our activities.

For example, we organised a campus-wide blood donation drive to support one of the students who was hospitalised and in critical condition due to leukaemia. The letter was copied to the Director of Student Affairs, Mr Yeo Choo Kok.

Soon I was summoned to the Student Affairs Office to meet Mr Yeo and the president of the Student Union. He welcomed us by name, got us settled down comfortably on the sofa in his office, had drinks served and asked us to share our views on the issue. After listening to both sides, he asked the president of the Student Union to reconsider the decision as he felt that religious bodies do indeed serve the needs of the entire student body.

That session, more than 20 years ago, left a deep impression in me as I experienced first-hand a seasoned politician in action (we knew he was an MP at that time) - he did not talk down to us, gave us a chance to share our views, shared his thoughts and guided us to come to a compromise - exco members of religious bodies were entitled to Tier One points while non-exco office bearers were entitled to lesser Tier Two points.

Liu Fook Thim

SPOKE OPENLY: Former colleagues remember Mr Yeo as being a 'very forthright man'.

Mr Yeo, who was elected to Parliament in 1970, served for four terms in the Delta constituency until 1988. The ward is now part of Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Mr Yeo was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2004, but his condition improved after an operation. He remained healthy and active until a relapse of the cancer in May this year.

His only son, Mr Yeo Yee Peng, told The Straits Times yesterday that his father led an active life after retirement.

'He read a lot of books, enjoyed the occasional game of golf, and spent most weekends playing with my two kids, his granddaughters,' said the 43-year-old.

As an MP, Mr Yeo was involved in a wide variety of community projects, including sports and charitable events. But he was especially interested in education and Chinese culture, and often spoke on these issues in Parliament.

A graduate of the old Nanyang University, the predecessor of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Mr Yeo was popular with the Chinese ground. But he was also fluent in English, having obtained a master's degree in linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968.

He spent his entire career in the university sector, and was director of NTU's student affairs department for 10 years until his retirement in 2001.

Mr Yeo lived with his wife in a three-room flat in Havelock Road. The funeral wake will be on till Saturday at the open space next to Block 22.

Among the first to attend the wake yesterday were his close friends and colleagues, including former MPs Phua Bah Lee and Chng Jit Koon.

Former MP Chan Chee Seng remembers Mr Yeo as a 'very forthright man'.

He told The Straits Times last night: 'He was a very knowledgeable person, and spoke openly on many issues. If he had doubts about a policy, he would say so honestly and without hesitation.'