Honouring Our Seniors: SMOU’s Lunar New Year Home Visits - SeaVoices - Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) Publication

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19 Mar 2026

2 mins

Honouring Our Seniors: SMOU’s Lunar New Year Home Visits

During the festive Lunar New Year season, the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) made a heartfelt effort to reach out to senior members who were unable to attend the union’s annual Lunar New Year Luncheon & Hong Bao Presentation. Determined that no member should miss out on the festive spirit, SMOU brought the celebrations directly to them through a series of home visits.

During the festive period, SMOU officials visited 16 senior members, extending warm greetings and appreciation for their longstanding support of the union. The visiting delegation included SMOU General Secretary Ms Mary Liew, President Mr Rahim, Vice President Ms Siti Ainul Nellisa Mohamad, Assistant General Secretary Mr Gwee Guo Duan, Assistant Treasurer Tan Geh Ting, Secretary Mr Terence Tan, and Young SMOU (YSMOU) Chairman Mr Dominic Yong.

Each senior member received a festive gift package that included a lohei set, a hong bao, essence of chicken, and a New Year goodie bag filled with mandarin oranges, mint coins, and red packets—symbolising prosperity, unity, and good fortune for the year ahead.

The visits were filled with warmth and lively conversations, as senior members fondly shared stories of their seafaring days and their experiences with the union over the years. These moments of reminiscence rekindled memories and strengthened bonds between generations of maritime officers.

Among the most senior of the members visited was 94 year-old Mr Han Seng Juan, who has been an SMOU member for 47 years thus far. Together with his wife and daughter, they shared a lot about Mr Han’s experience as a seafarer and as an SMOU member, where they have joined many activities together as a family.

During the visits, SMOU also shared about the union’s upcoming 75th anniversary celebrations, which will feature a series of engagement initiatives, such as our grand anniversary gala dinner, which provides more chances for our senior members to reunite with their friends and ex-colleagues despite missing the luncheon this year.

The Lunar New Year home visits reflect SMOU’s enduring values of caring and sharing, while reinforcing the strong sense of community that binds its members together. As SMOU celebrates this milestone year, it continues to honour the contributions of its senior members, whose dedication has helped shape the union over the decades.

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