[a hit]
in the papers today...



THANKS, Singapore Polytechnic.

That is what Singapore Idol finalist Taufik Batisah told his alma mater in a telephone voice message yesterday.

He had called a poly spokesman but could not get through, after finding out what it had done for him.

It had rallied 20 student volunteers to hand out flyers in Orchard Road on Sunday, urging people to vote for him at the finale in the Singapore Indoor Stadium tomorrow.

For two hours from noon, the students walked the stretch of Centrepoint, Orchard Cineleisure and The Heeren, handing out 5,000 flyers.

They read: 'A birthday wish for our 50th anniversary... First Singapore Idol from Singapore's First Poly. Vote Taufik. A Singapore Poly graduate.'

The spokesman told Life! yesterday that the flyer idea was born when e-mail urging support for Taufik was seen circulating among staff members.

They had discovered that he graduated in July 2001 with a diploma in marine engineering.

'He called to say thank you and left a message asking us to call him back so he can thank us personally again,' says the spokesman.

The poly has also hung a giant banner, measuring 12m by 6m, screaming 'Vote Taufik' on a wall of its School Of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

It faces Dover MRT station, which should be visible to many train commuters.

But fans of Sylvester Sim have not been sitting idle.

A small group of teenage girls was also spotted in Orchard Road last Saturday handing out flyers.

Life! spoke to Sim at MediaCorp's make-up room on Sunday and asked if he was aware about this.

'They were actually waiting for me at MediaCorp's reception in the morning and gave me one of their flyers,' he says. 'I didn't know what it was till I took a closer look. It was a shock to me.'