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Western Australian
Singapore Business Council
Western Australian
Singapore Business Council
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Speech
given by Mrs. Cecilia Wee At Observation City Ballroom on 18/2/2000 For
“Contact Singapore” Chap Goh Meh get-together
Good
evening ladies and gentlemen, fellow Singaporeans, ex-Singaporeans and friends. “Kong
Hee Fatt Choi” to each and everyone of you here tonight, and may you be
blessed with “good health, happiness and success in all that you do in the
year of the dragon.” In
Teochew, “Sing Chia Joo Yee”, in Hokkien, “Kong Hee Fatt Chai”, in
Mandarin, “Gong Xi Fa Chai”, and in Malay, “Selamat Tahun Bahru”. We
are here to celebrate the Chap Goh Meh get-together hosted and organised by Joy
Ang - the director of “Contact Singapore”, and her team of able staff. I
for one am very happy and please that the Singapore government has allowed Joy
to remain in Perth to keep the “Contact Singapore” office open. Now,
let me introduce myself. I am Mrs Wee Chong Jin, wife of the retired chief
justice of Singapore, and I am also the president of the “Australian Singapore
Business Council Inc”, in Perth WA. Many
of you here may not realise the existence of such a council and that is why I am
here tonight, through kind courtesy of Joy, who is also a member of our council
(a very active one too). Joy has always been ready to assist in our council work
whether at a committee level or at a function level. We are very fortunate to
have her on our council. Now,
let me highlight a few of the objectives of the WASBC: To
promote and present the interest of our members in commercial and trade matters
between Western Australia and Singapore. To
provide information services for members in relation to Singapore. To
develop and enhance communication networks between Australia and Singapore
corporations. To
provide assistance for Australian corporations and business people doing
business in Singapore. To
provide assistance to Singapore corporations and business people doing business
in Australia. To
foster friendship and cultural understanding between the business communities
and people of Australia and Singapore. To
promote trade investment, technical and economic corporation, and tourism
between the countries. Besides
these objectives, we also organise the yearly Singapore national day celebration
here in Perth for the benefit of our members, their families and friends. This
year, we have already tentatively booked the Hyatt hotel ballroom for August 11th
Friday for the 35th Singapore national day. Last
year our 34th Singapore national day celebration was held at the
Hyatt hotel garden terrace. It was a very successful night and we sold out, as
seats were limited to 250 people. This
year, it will be held at the Hyatt hotel ballroom, which can accommodate up to
500 people. The door prize and raffle prize winners will each get a return air
ticket to Singapore. There will also be many other attractive prizes to be won,
so please put your name down as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. We
are a voluntary organisation and each of our committee members was elected at
the AGM to serve in the council, which comprises of nine members. The president,
the vice president, treasurer, secretary and committee members - who will form
sub committees for membership, corporate membership, publicity, legal advisor,
and social committee. We are still looking for someone capable, to enlist for
this sub committee. At the moment, all our committee members “Ta Pow” or in
Malay “Sapu Suma” and “Tamba” whenever we have a function, in other
words “all hands on board”. Last
month, we held a buffet at the Red Castle Hotel on the 27th January
to celebrate “Australia Day” and “Hari Raya Puasa”. It was again a full
house with well over 170 people, mainly members, family and friends. We in fact
had well over 25 people gate-crashing. Fortunately the chef jumped into action
and raided the kitchen ladder and there was enough food for all. After
dinner, all of us adjourned to the tower block roof garden, which had a
panoramic view of Perth to watch the fireworks. As
our council grows in membership, we will require more active friends and members
to join us in sub committee work. We will be able to organise poolside BBQ
parties in the near future, with beauty; personal grooming sessions; cooking and
perhaps a mahjong party or two for the ladies, golf competition for the men, and
dancing parties with couples intermingling with each other. There
will also be networking evenings once a month for the male members to discuss
mutual business interest. We
also encourage our members to pass their work around to support each other’s
businesses. We
have some application forms available and I would like to invite all of you to
join us as members and together we will be able to enlarge and build a stronger
council, so that we will be able to organise more functions for our members’
benefit. We
have been given the loan of an air-conditioned office at the Red Castle Hotel
and we have available updated magazines and news bulletins from Singapore. The
latest alert in Singapore is for those citizens of Singapore who have children
attaining age 21, to remember to take the oath of allegiance before reaching 22
years of age or they may lose their citizenship. If they are Singapore born,
they are alright. And
now, let us enjoy the lovely dinner Joy has planned for us and “Kong Hee Fatt
Choy” again.
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