Datuk Surina Saad
KANGAR: “Smile when you reach the place of work, this is what I practise early since I joined the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and now, after 31 years, it is a motivation to carry out my responsibility the whole day,” said Perlis police chief, Datuk Surina Saad.
Surina, 56, said she also encouraged her subordinates to smile every day they arrived at the place of work so that they could give their best service as security personnel.
“With a smile, we can build a positive aura the whole day. You will be lazy and stressed out in the office if you begin your day with a sour face,” she told Bernama recently.
The first woman chief police officer of Perlis said she practised three things before commencing work, namely, being grateful to God for giving her the opportunity to continue to live, thanking her parents for giving birth and raising her properly and a mandatory smile when reaching the office.
But behind the smile and gentle demeanour, the mother of a child was a firm person in her duty and would not compromise over the implementation of the law.
The Seriab, Perlis-native said she returned to serve her place of birth by bringing three messages, firstly, boosting the integrity among the police and civilian personnel so they they could work well and were looked up to by society.
“Secondly, changing the negative perception of society of the police by using a community-friendly approach so that the public will not be afraid of the police presence but on the other hand would be prepared to share problems and information.
“My third mission is protecting the good name of the Perlis police contingent headquarters and PDRM, which is my priority,” she said. Surina said the satisfaction she sought by serving in the security agency was to carry out her duty in the best possible manner with utmost responsibility for the country, race, religion and PDRM.
“I will only take pride wearing the police uniform when I am successful in carrying out my responsibility well because society places high hope on the police to maintain national peace,” she said.
Narrating on what prompted her to join the police force, Surina said her interest grew after viewing the film, Policewomen, which was popular in the 1970s.
“I was amazed when I saw how a police woman who went incognito in the film (to successfully carry out her tasks) and I subsequently joined PDRM in Dec 17, 1989 despite early opposition from my family.
“But my family started to understand and accepted my job as a police officer after I successfully completed my training at the Kuala Lumpur Police Training Centre (PULAPOL) and began my first job as an Investigation Officer at the Sentul district police headquarters (1992-1995),” she said.
Surina said, when she had free time, other than being together with her family, she liked angling for climbing perch (puyu) at the Seriab River, and to read.
“My hobby is angling for climbing perch as it gets rid of work stress..in 20 minutes I can catch 10 puyu fish,” said the former Bukit Aman, Special Branch, E5, principal assistant director.
Surina began her duty as Perlis police chief on Sept 3, 2019 to replace Datuk Noor Mushar Mohamad who retired three months ago. — Bernama