“Life after retirement should be full of gratitude, going slow and doing what you have always wanted to do,” said Ting Kong Siin, the recently retired SCAC Secretary General who always leaves a smile.
After serving for 11 years as the SCAC Secretary General, Ting Kong Siin finally retired in 2018 and he also called it a day for his 43 years working life. “I’ve enrolled into a course at the Methodist Senior Learning Centre with a group of old friends. I also plan to clean up my home. I have been so busy all these years and I need to clean up my stuffs. Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Ting is exceptionally good in translation in both English and Chinese and can be a great helping hand for Board of Christian Literature (BCL). Because of this, the Director of BCL Wong Meng Lei has extended his invitation to Ting to be a Translator for the Board translating books and articles.
Ting Kong Siin, who is always so amiable, is from Sarikei. He was a civil servant and served as the Divisional Engineer of JKR. Then he changed course to serve as the General Manager of Sibu Water Board. Later he joined a local business conglomerate to be a senior staff in Sibu. Finally he chose to serve in the church organisation.
Ting became SCAC Secretary General in 2007. Prior to that, he served as SCAC Secretary for 8 years (1993-2000), Deputy Lay Leader SCAC for 2 years (2001-2002) and the Lay Leader SCAC for 4 years (2003-2006). We can thus say he is very well versed with the operation of the Annual Conference.
In view of this, Ting was invited to fill the post of SCAC Secretary General when Rev. Su Chii Ann, the ex-president, was looking for a suitable person for the post.
Busy yet happy
Being SCAC Secretary General, Ting was extremely busy because he carried many hats. He was at the same time a member of the Board of Director for MTS and MPI, the contact person for the Methodist Centennial Park Management Committee as well as the Chairman of the SCAC Youth Ministry. As a trained Civil Engineer he also helped the Board of Property Management (BPM) in handling many project-related matters and thus reduced the workload of BPM.
“That’s why I was often not in the office. On top of that my office was an open office, and at times it was not convenient to discuss certain issues so I would go to a nearby coffee shop to talk things out. This is ‘talking about business in a coffee shop’ model, ha ha ha.”
The other job of a Secretary General is to assist the President, especially when the President is travelling. Therefore the Secretary General needs to attend meetings of all departments especially those of the Board of Executive. It is most important that he understands the operation and planning of each department so that he can lead to the proper decisions that are in line with the plans of the Board of Executive and the different departments if the need arises. In other words, the Secretary General has the authority to decide on certain matters provided the decision is in line with the strategy of the Board of Executive as well as the related department.
“I would say the President is the one who attended the most meetings while the Secretary General is the second on the list. After all he needs to understand the planning and development of various departments so that he can advise as well as acting as the driving force behind many projects.”
Because of that he was able to assist in the compilation of the survey for the five-day working system for the staff (pastors not included) in the Annual Conference in the shortest time. This plan was approved by the Board of Executive and implemented in May 2017.
Good EQ in the workplace
In his capacity as the Secretary General for 11 years, Ting Kong Siin worked under two presidents, namely President Su Chii Ann for 10 years and President Tie King Tai for 1 year.
Ting talked about the working style of the two presidents. He said that President Su upheld the principles of the Methodist Church strongly. During his term as the President he organized several lectures and talks on the belief of the Methodist Church so that even the Methodist Church in Australia learnt from us.
President Tie on the other hand is a practical type. He emphasizes efficiency rather than meetings. He boldly reduced the number of meetings of various departments from 4 meetings per year to 2-3 meetings per year. The cost of meeting is thus reduced by nearly half. On top of that the number of days of the annual conference was also reduced by one day, and expenses were saved to that effect.
Having been working in the workplace for 43 years after graduating from university, Ting had gained vast experience. He believes that one needs to control his emotions and avoid conflicts with others in the workplace. Calm discussion is the best way to settle disputes.
“When I was young I did not think so but slowly I realise that it is important for Christians to witness in the workplace.”
He thanked God for giving him the opportunity to serve in the SCAC. During his service at the Annual Conference level, he learned to use new communications technologies from e-mail to apps like We-Chat and WhatsApp. He is now linked to long lost university course-mates thanks to these apps.
Compared to his former job as the Divisional Engineer, he enjoyed working as the Secretary General because of the friendly atmosphere, the co-operative colleagues and that he had a superior, the President, with whom he could discuss and consult when necessary.