Lift posters in Bishan East – Sin Ming greet residents with a humorous pun and useful mental health advice!
Instead of promoting community events, these posters encourage residents to practise deep breathing during their 20-second lift rides.
Elysa Chen Shiyun, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, introduced this innovative concept to connect with residents beyond traditional grassroots outreach methods.
“I live in a HDB flat myself. You’ll typically see MPs inviting residents to dinners or events through lift posters,” Ms Chen told Petir. “I find our people stressed out, high-strung, and caught up in a fast-paced lifestyle. So,[instead] I taught my residents how to do deep breathing in the lift.”
“In those 20 seconds in the lift, I want people to reflect and think of something good that happened that day—to practice some self-care and well-being,” she added.
These simple wellness techniques, which include shoulder rolls and gratitude practice, were part of the “Let me LIFT you up” poster campaign that Ms Chen launched last year.
The campaign seems to have worked for residents.
“Some residents told me that when they sent feedback emails about issues that they weren’t happy about, they’d say, ‘I’m angry, but before writing this email, I did some deep breathing.’ That showed me the message was getting through.”
How to pronounce ‘Elysa’? A simple trick does the trick
Elysa’s warm and bubbly personality shines through in practically all of her interactions, including how she teaches residents to pronounce her name.
When she first introduced herself to residents, many seniors had difficulties.
“The aunties struggled to pronounce my name. They would say: ‘uh, uh, uh, Eliza? … Elsa? Like let it go…'”
Throughout her life, Ms Chen had always responded to whatever names people called her. But seeing her senior residents struggle, she decided to teach them an easier way.
“I spell my name as A, L, I, C, E; Alice, like Alice in Wonderland. And Sir like Yes, Sir, right at your service. That really helped,” she said.
That whimsical approach has really sunk in, with residents eagerly calling her by name at events, and asking if they are pronouncing it correctly.
“Residents would approach me at food rescues and MPS, calling out ‘Alice-Sir!’ Then they’d ask, ‘Correct?’ and I’d respond, ‘Correct, correct, correct,'” she said.
“It was so nice to connect with residents this way.”
The puns came fast and furious in Bishan East – Sin Ming. For Chinese New Year, Ms Chen found another way to bring some fun and laughter to the Year of the Horse with posters asking “Hello Neighhh-bour! How have you been?”
The next step for Ms Chen’s poster campaign is to encourage daily acts of kindness.It can be holding the lift door, checking in on a neighbour, or offering a listening ear.
“One Member of Parliament cannot lift an entire community alone. We must do it together,” she said.
Ms Chen’s poster campaign has also sparked residents’ interest in volunteering in the community.
“I realised we can all do kind things for one another without needing an official programme,” she said. “If everyone does one kind act a day, when we accumulate them, we can reach one million [kind acts] in one month. That’s the fun goal I have set for our constituency.”
Performing kind acts “gives us an endorphin rush and an oxytocin brush,” which also benefits people’s mental health, she noted.
Ms Chen said the lift posters help her connect with residents she does not usually meet.
“Who comes to Meet-the-People sessions? People who need help. Who comes to the community club? The same regular group keeps coming. Even if people are very busy, everyone needs to take the lift, right?”
“So, they will see me and know I’m their MP. They will know that if they need help, they can come and find me.”
