President’s 35 Anniversary Speech - Rotary Club Raffles City · PDF fileAnniversary Speech . Good evening ... sung in both Hokkien and Cantonese. ... The program finale was the much-awaited

RY 2015-16 BULLETIN ISSUE NO.07

President’s 35th Anniversary Speech Good evening His Excellency Ambassador Antonio Morales, IPDG Andre Suharto, PDG Philbert Chin, PDG David Tong, PDG Chris Chen, distinguished guests, fellow Rotarians and friends, It is a pleasure and an incredible honor to celebrate with all of you this evening. The club is now 35 years, Singapore celebrated its jubilee year, and I am celebrating my fifth year here in Singapore this month! I would like to begin by thanking the organizing committee who made the impossible, possible this evening. Dr. Chin Koy Nam, our committee advisor, has patiently guided the group in planning this weekend anniversary of fun and fellowship, and meticulously planned our itinerary in Malacca. He has graciously hosted all our meetings, and my profound thanks to him and his spouse, See Khem. I would also like to acknowledge PP David Ong Choon who worked tirelessly leading up to the event. I am grateful to the rest of organizing committee, our donors and sponsors, program participants for their generosity, the gift of time and love for Rotary. While it seems difficult to think of a project here in Singapore especially with the significant progress seen over the last 50 years, there is always room for which we can do together to help as an organization. Given that this is a milestone year for the club and for the country, we have decided our signature project to be SGD 50,000 Tuition Grant Fund. With raising SGD 50,000 in this current Rotary Year, we aim to give 10 stipends worth SGD 5,000 each to disadvantaged children in our community. We believe this educational grant could help bridge gaps of inequality in our society. We have identified two focus groups, specifically children of ex-offenders from low-income families to break the cycle of inter-generational offending. For that, we are in touch with ISCOS and the Prison Fellowship Group. Additionally, I am very pleased to share that our sister clubs in Peninsula Hong Kong, Taipei Northeast, Makati North and KL DiRaja have generously donated to the Rotary House fund. Let me conclude by wishing our club many, many more years of service; our best days are still ahead of us. Let us keep reaching, keep seeking, and keep on working together to make our communities a better place! Let us all Be a Gift to the World! Thank you! – Sigrid G. Zialcita

Rotary Club of Raffles City

Singapore – District 3310 Chartered 13 August 1980

www.rotaryclubrafflescity.org

35th Anniversary Weekend Celebration

Rotary International Calendar: August – Membership and

Extension Month

Page 1 of 6 Weekly Meeting: The Singapore Cricket Club, Tuesday 12.45pm


About 130 Raffles City Rotarians, Rotarians from our sister clubs and their spouses gathered at the Raffles Room of the Tanglin Club on the evening of Friday 14 August for a time of fellowship. This was the Welcome Dinner for Rotarians from our sister-clubs who had travelled to Singapore to join in the 35th Anniversary celebrations of the Rotary Club of Raffles City. The visiting delegations were led by their respective Club Presidents, viz. President Patrick Yue of the Peninsula Hong Kong; Dieter Brueckner of Makati North, Hardeep Singh of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja and President Tennis of Taipei North-East. The program planned by RCRC for the visitors include golf games, shopping tours, a sightseeing tour to Johor Baru and, after the Anniversary Dinner, a two-day tour to Malacca. President Sigrid warmly welcomed the visiting Rotarians and spouses and underscored the close relationships that we have with our sister clubs. She thanked them all for taking the time to join us in our Anniversary celebrations. The sumptuous dinner prepared by the Tanglin Club featured local delights such as satay, gado-gado, rojak, laksa and soup kambing and a range of wonderful local desserts and fruits. Our visitors and members all lapped all these up with gusto. This does not surprise as many of our visitors had visited us previously, many several times. President Sigrid presented gifts to the visiting clubs and in turn, received gifts from some of them. Taipei North-East brought boxes of Taiwanese biscuits for every member of RCRC. One club informed that they had prepared a whole container of gifts for all our members which unfortunately was delayed in its voyage here. We all look forward eagerly to its arrival. The evening featured a joyous karaoke session with RCRC Rotarians led by PP Johnson Tan and PP Ron Pereira belting out song after song while our visitors rendered songs in various languages – English, Mandarin, Malay, Tagalog and a rambunctious popular Taiwanese song, sung in both Hokkien and Cantonese. The evening ended in a most Singaporean way with RCRC Rotarians saluting and wishing our guests all the very best with several very hearty “yam-sengs”. From the very close and enjoyable fellowship evident that evening, RCRC’s relationships with our sister clubs are indeed extremely strong and close.

By PP Jeffrey Chan Wah Teck, Asst. Secretary

Rotary Club of Raffles City www.rotaryclubrafflescity.org

Welcome Dinner | 14th of August

President Sigrid addressing guests during welcome dinner at Tanglin Club.



The 35th anniversary dinner began promptly at 6:30 pm, with lady guests donned in glitzy long gowns and men in formal attire. Guests excitedly wore the masks provided and gamely posed at the photo booth, while cocktail drinks and appetizers overflowed. The SICC ballroom was teeming with nearly 300 guests by 7:30 pm, and program emcee PP Mohan Pillay officially welcomed everyone and the Guest of Honor, Philippine Ambassador Antonio Morales. After the national anthem was sang, PP Mohan called the Charter President Low Siew Joon, Charter Members PP David Lee Fong Lit and Chris Mertz to lead the toasts for the President of the Republic Singapore, Rotary International, and Distinguished Guests and Visiting Rotarians, respectively. A delectable Chinese and Vegetarian dinner were subsequently served, while photos taken during the Welcome dinner were shown on the background. The dinner program began promptly at 8:00 pm, with President Sigrid delivering her inaugural speech. This was proceeded by the inspiring speech of Ambassador Morales, who commended the club’s unwavering commitment to service. He wittily coined the phrase that “Service is Glamorous” and wished the club many more years of successful service. A short video on the handover and installation ceremony held on the 30th of June was then shown to the audience, and President Sigrid introduced the 2015-2016 Board of Directors and Officers who joined her on stage; only PP Vincent Chen was unable to attend due to a company board retreat held in Penang.


Service is Glamorous | 15th of August

Philippine Ambassador to Singapore, Antonio Morales, was the event’s Guest of Honor.

RCRC 2015-2016 Board of Directors



Another video clip was shown on the club’s significant activities over the last 35 years, and PP Mohan Pillay acknowledged the club’s Charter President Low Siew Joon, PDG Philbert Chin and Charter members PP David Lee Fong Lit and Chris Mertz. This was eventually followed by the gathering of past presidents who sang heartily and blew the 35 candles of the specially made cupcakes for the event. The first part of the program concluded with warm personal greetings from the Presidents of our visiting sisters clubs: Patrick Yue of the Peninsula Hong Kong; Dieter Brueckner of Makati North, Tennis of Taipei North-East, and Hardeep Singh of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja. President-elect Nidhi Swarup began promptly the second part of the program at 9:00 pm, which was kicked off by a melodious song rendition of “Beautiful Sunday” from our sister club, Peninsula Hong Kong. This was then followed by a wonderful dance performance from our sister club of Makati North. We were also privileged to have Ms. Louraine Motoomull, spouse of Rotarian Kernan Motoomull of Makati North, to render three songs that evening. Ms. Louraine was formerly a lead vocalist of a band some years back, and is now a full time owner of a cargo logistics company and an IT company in the Philippines. Rotarians from our sister club, KL DiRaja, also delivered a humorous skit performance. The program finale was the much-awaited dance performance of our RCRC lady members including President Sigrid, IPP Corina Lai, and RTN Judy Tan and RTN spouses Yvonne Wong, Chng Siew Chin and Low Elizabeth. The dance floor was quickly filled with guests at 10:00 pm; all danced merrily to famous songs in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The fun-filled event ended at 11:00 pm.


Service is Glamorous | 15th of August (Cont.)

(Left to right) Charter President Low Siew Joon, Charter Member Chris Mertz, PDG Philbert Chin, Charter Member PP David Lee Fong Lit

RCRC Presidents 1980 -2015



Two buses took Rotarians and family members from RC Taipei Northeast, RC Peninsula Hong Kong & RC Raffles City through the Tuas checkpoint. There was no traffic and we went through uneventfully. Food packets and water were distributed to all on the buses. RTN Gina Teo and her team were to be congratulated on thoughtful items packed into the goodie bags. Bus A carried mainly the Taiwanese Rotarians led by President Tennis and was looked after by PP Dr Chin Koy Nam and RTN Chng Mark and spouse Siew Chin. Bus B carried the HK Rotarians led by President Patrick accompanied by RCRC members and spouses, namely PP Johnson Tan, RTN Stanley Yap and spouse Karen, AG Low Cze Hong and spouse Elizabeth, RTN Gina Teo and RTN Karen Tan. On arrival in Malacca, we had a short city tour and a walk about as the hotel rooms were not ready at the Casa del Rio, a nice Spanish style hotel by the river and a short walk to Jonker Street. Lunch was at the hotel restaurant , the River Grill where Peranakan food was served. We were delighted with the hotel and food. After check in late afternoon, we were taken to Bei Zhan restaurant for dinner, consisting of suckling pig, fish, prawns etc. Drinks and merriment followed and all were happily toasting each other. Following dinner, we were directed to walk to Jonker Street to visit the Sunday night market. It was free and easy and an interesting experience. However, a thunderstorm later at 9:00 pm caused an early end to the evening's event. Most retired to rest after a long day, having been up at 6:00 am . On 17 August, buffet breakfast was held at the hotel, with more moments of fellowship ensuing. The Bus A group was taken to the Peranakan Heritage Museum first as it could not accommodate the entire group.

By AG Dr. Low Cze Hong


Malacca Tour | 16th - 17th of August



It was an interesting look at the history, practice and life of the Peranakans. We returned to the hotel to wash and check out at noon, and then to lunch at a nearby restaurant. After lunch, we left for some shopping along the way as we were too full to go for the Durian plantation party. At a local shopping mall, we we let loose for an hour to walk and get our food digested. However, shopping was interesting and cheap. An hour's drive to Ledang took us into a durian plantation, where baskets of durians and other fruits were waiting for us. All enjoyed the fruits and outing. On the way to Johor Baru, we stopped at Yoyo store where more shopping was to be had for local produce such as cakes, sambal sauces etc. At Johor Baru, we went to dinner and again was treated to a sumptuous meal that included suckling pig! Drinking and toasting took place and we were thanked by our visitors for a wonderful time. However, an unfortunate incident happened as we left the restaurant; RTN Gina had her handbag snatched by a motorcyclist as she left the restaurant. She lost her passport, IC, money,handphone and credit cards. The tour guides were extremely helpful and helped her to make a police report, contact the Singapore Representative for emergency travel document and took her back to Singapore separately, while we went through uneventfully with our visitors arriving after 11 pm. Gina got back the next day at 4am. Apart from this incident, it was a very successful 35th Anniversary offsite event for RCRC and our visitors.

By AG Dr. Low Cze Hong


Malacca Tour | 16th - 17th of August (Cont.)


Documents

President’s 35 Anniversary Speech - Rotary Club Raffles City · PDF fileAnniversary Speech . Good evening ... sung in both Hokkien and Cantonese. ... The program finale was the much-awaited