Letter from Baba Colin Chee, President, The Peranakan Association Singapore
(This is a monthly letter to TPAS members and guests)
Dear Babas and Nyonyas,
AGM PACK
This year’s AGM Pack has been mailed out to you. Some of you may already have it. Others will soon receive yours. Please spend time reading it before the AGM on 26 April 2020.
However, in light of WHO’s declaration of a global pandemic, your GC is now monitoring the situation even more closely. We will decide whether we continue with the AGM as planned or to defer it. We will keep you updated and alerted through all our channels – website, Facebook, email and snail mail, as appropriate.
Whichever decision we take, the AGM pack will continue to be valid.
OUR FOREBEARS
We celebrate our 120th Anniversary this year. As we do so, it is important to ask ourselves: What are we here for?
Our forebear, The Straits Chinese British Association (SCBA), was founded on 17 August 1900. Its aim was to speak for the Straits Chinese community in Singapore, then a British colony. The SCBA subsequently underwent two name changes – as the Singapore Chinese Peranakan Association in 1964, and then again as The Peranakan Association Singapore (TPAS) in 1966, when we also became a strictly heritage and cultural association.
TO BECOME A PATHFINDER. KEEPING OUR CULTURE ALIVE
Today we continue to uphold the same aim from 120 years ago – to speak for our community. At the same time, we have built for ourselves an enviable reputation as a credible community historian and faithful custodian of our Peranakan heritage and culture.
However, at a time when our community is encountering fierce headwinds of modernising change, it may be time for our Association to rethink this role.
Can our Association also take on the role as a pathfinder to help keep our culture alive? How can our young find relevance in our shared, centuries-old heritage? How do we ensure transmission to our young who must be our torchbearers?
It is for these reasons that we are paying particular attention to this year’s 33rd Baba Nyonya Convention in November 20-22. Not just because we are hosting. More because we must regenerate our heritage and culture for generations to come. Or it dies.
This year’s Convention must serve as the fulcrum for change.
WE HAVE TURNED A CORNER
It is hard to believe we have come this far from when we were elected as a General Committee (GC) on 27 May 2018. We were drawing down from our reserves for several years before then. By end-2018, we had locked in our remaining reserves and managed to eke out a surplus of $7,183.
In 2019, your GC is happy to report we managed to turn our finances around with a surplus of $43,610.
Key reasons for the surplus included membership rising by 165; donations for the magazine’s publishing cost; loyal magazine advertisers; donation tables at our Malam Jolly; revenues from The Peranakan Voices performances and some from our events. Most importantly, we spent prudently and judiciously.
SERVING MEMBERS
In the 22 months we have been in office, we organized altogether 34 events.
In 2019 alone, your Association blazed through a total of 26 events for members and collaborated with many inspiring partners. The Peranakan Voices gave six performances. There were several high points. They include our inaugural Baba Nyonya Literary Festival; the Peranakan Identity Forum titled “Who Am I?” which touched on the DNA profiles of Singapore Peranakans; the return of our afternoon tea dances Joget Siang; the launch of the Dalam Dapor cooking workshops; our popular topical talks and re-enactments of key Peranakan festivals; not forgetting our special tie-up with W!ld Rice for Emily of Emerald Hill; and our magazine, The Peranakan, deservedly won a national publishing award.
Best of all, we welcomed our youngest members with our first Junior Members event in collaboration with the NUS Baba House in November!
We take particular pride that the association’s administration has been successfully stabilised and revamped, as we said we would in our 2018 pre-election manifesto. We digitalised our membership database, cut waste, brought in greater governance, and streamlined our workflows. We harnessed technology to increase our productivity and sped up our decision making.
But we most certainly would not have been able to achieve these without the help of many dedicated volunteers. They freely gave their time and talent, they stepped up willingly, and their passion for the community and our culture is strong and palpable. Also, our Friends donated generously, our magazine’s advertisers graciously stuck with us, and our members never failed to encourage and critique us. Kamsiah manyak manyak!
AGM 26 APRIL 2020
This General Committee is offering itself for re-election at the coming AGM, with a few changes to beef up our core competencies.
This year’s AGM will be held at the auditorium of the Asian Civilizations Museum (ACM). It is a bigger venue and sponsored by the ACM. However, we are mindful that there will be many among our members who might be concerned about COVID-19 and not turn up.
We understand your concern, even though we assure you that all the necessary precautionary measures will be taken.
You can, however, still participate in the AGM by way of completing and mailing your Proxies and/or Nomination Forms to reach us at The Peranakan Association Singapore, Raffles City P.O. Box 1640 Singapore 911755 by no later than 2.30pm on 12 April 2020. This is not the ideal arrangement. But it will enable you to still exercise your vote, in absentia, on who you want to serve you.
Thank you very much for your support. Take care of your health, and we look forward to seeing you on Sunday, 26 April 2020 at 2.30 pm at ACM’s Ngee Ann Auditorium, 1 Empress Place!
Remember, we will update you on whether this AGM will be deferred or continue as is.
Blessings,
Colin Chee
Unity. Stability. Growth.
Keeping the Culture Alive
14 March 2020