ICA officer, 26, becomes his mentor’s Group Leader at Tuas Checkpoint after a month of mentorship

“I thought she was scary at first.”

That was Weng Qi Hua’s impression of his mentor, Nur Jaliyana Binte Abdul Jallal, on his first day of on-the-job training at Tuas Checkpoint.

It was January 2024 and Weng was in the final month of his training under the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority’s 26-week long Basic Course (Inspector).

Speaking to Mothership together with Jaliyana, he added with a sheepish laugh, “I told her this before: I didn’t see her smile on the first day so I thought, ‘Oh gosh, I better behave myself.’”

This prompted Jaliyana to quip, “My first impression [of him] was like wow, I got a noisy mentee.”

She added with a smile, “But OK la, he’s a very nice guy.”

From mentee to Group Leader

As an added twist, Weng would assume the role of Group Leader, post-training.

According to Weng, their team is involved in handling the entire checkpoint’s operations, including immigration clearance for all travellers.

Jaliyana was one of the several mentors Weng had at the checkpoint.

She was assigned to familiarise him with the ins and outs of immigration clearance procedures, along with other senior officers who guided and supported him in building his leadership and management skills.

He added that it was both “unique” and “humbling” to be trained by Jaliyana, given that she was chosen to train him based on her experience, instead of her rank.

At that point, Jaliyana had already accumulated five years of experience under her belt at Tuas Checkpoint, having been posted there since 2018.

This included having to handle incidents such as the case of a Singaporean fugitive, Teo Thiam Leng, who crashed his car into the motorcycle arrival zone at Tuas Checkpoint in April 2022, after being pursued by Malaysian authorities across the Second Link, The Straits Times reported.

Some things we have to learn by heart

Weng, a recipient of the MHA Uniformed Scholarship (ICA), was Jaliyana’s first mentee.

“I’m grateful that I have been entrusted to undertake this role,” she said.

To teach Weng, she adopted the method that her own mentor had used on her – by explaining things to him first, then asking him questions at random moments afterwards to see if he had the procedures of immigration clearance ingrained in his head.

Mentors are also given an on-the-job training checklist that they must go through with their mentees.

“[There are] certain things that we have to learn by heart,” she added.

The important thing is to ensure Weng is able to answer any question posed to him by fellow officers while on duty, she added.

Apart from immigration clearance, these questions also pertain to the procedures for situations whereby a person or vehicle attempts to evade inspection.

All officers must be certain of their procedures at all times, Jaliayana emphasised.

Memorable incidents while on duty together

It has been over a year since then, and while Jaliyana has been posted out to Changi Airport, the two remain close work buddies as a result of their mentor-mentee relationship.

Their strong working relationship was also driven by the fact that, “somehow, whenever I’m deployed with him, [Weng] will attract all kinds of different and somewhat intriguing cases,” Jaliyana cheekily quipped.

On Weng’s very first shift at the bus hall in Tuas checkpoint, both of them encountered people who were suspected to be beggars under the employment of a syndicate.

Such people are typically people with hearing or speech disabilities and the money that is “earned” from begging in Singapore is used to support the syndicate, Weng said.

Still work buddies even though they are posted to different places

Going through such experiences together means that they both have a better understanding of each other, not just as colleagues, but also as friends.

While Jaliyana has since been posted out of Tuas Checkpoint, both of them remain close and still reach out to each other.

Qi Hua said he texts Jaliyana occasionally to seek her views on how she would handle certain situations.

When she was first posted to Changi Airport, Jaliyana also confided in Weng that she found her new role in the baggage handling team challenging.

Although she was already proficient in her previous job role in Tuas, handling immigration clearance, her new posting presented her with different responsibilities and new learning experiences.

In response, Weng offered Jaliayana words of encouragement and motivation to help her persevere in her new posting.

In the meantime, Weng himself has been assigned a mentee of his own and is guiding her using the same guiding principles that he was taught by Jaliyana.

“I think in some way, [Jaliyana] has influenced the way I teach,” he mused.

“As a mentor now, [I need] to make sure that the mentee is more or less at least prepared to handle the most basic kind of cases that [will happen] very often at clearance,” he said.

Working at ICA has become a lot more dynamic due to the sheer number of travellers

Weng noted that since the re-opening of Singapore’s borders following the Covid-19 pandemic, the record number of travellers between Singapore and Malaysia also means that there has been an increase in the number of cases as well.

“With the sheer volume of travellers from diverse backgrounds coming into Singapore, immigration work has become more dynamic than ever,” he added.

It helps to have colleagues whom you can trust and joke around with.

“We will try to joke around to lighten the mood. It helps in our day-to-day work,” he said with a smile.

To find out more about a career with ICA, one of the top 300 employers on the Singapore Opportunity Index 2025, click here.

This sponsored article by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority made the writer thankful of the work that goes into protecting Singapore’s borders.

Top images via ICA