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Mr
Ng Ooi Hooi,President of the Hwa Chong Junior
College Alumni Association;
Mr George Tan, writer, entrepreneur &
alumni;
Members of the Hwa Chong Junior College
Alumni Association;
Ladies and gentlemen.
1.
Good evening to one and all. I am delighted
to be able to speak at this event. At Hwa
Chong, we are in the business of nurturing
young minds. That includes grooming the
next generation of leaders in the Creative
Arts. So it gives me great pleasure this
evening to officially open Talent @ Hwa
Chong and launch the Hwa Chong Literary
Fund.
2. Let me first touch briefly on Talent
@ Hwa Chong. Talent @ Hwa Chong has 2 main
functions. First, it will serve as a book
launch site for all Hwa Chongians, past
and future. In other words, all our alumni
are welcome to use this platform to launch
their published works. Second, this fixture
here in the Library will house the published
works of generations of Hwa Chongians. These
include well-known local writers like Warren
Fernandez, Koh Buck Song, Claire Tham, Dr
Liang Wern Fook, Dr Cherian George, Dr Quah
Sy Ren, Chua Chim Kang, Lee Hui Leng and
many more.
3. Tonight, we are also launching the Hwa
Chong Literary Fund. This initiative complements
our above effort to support creative talents.
The funds will be used for budding writers,
and for the organisation of literary activities.
For example, we can use the resources to
organise a nationwide writing competition
for all secondary and JC students. Or it
can be used to help promising writers publish
their original works. As the funds grow,
we can extend it to all deserving authors
in Singapore and not just Hwa Chongians.
At Hwa Chong, we are always pleased to support
literary efforts, both English and Chinese.
4. This evening, I am also pleased that
one of our alumni, George Tan, from the
class of 75, has done Hwa Chong proud. George
has recently produced 2 successful books,
Soulprints 1 - Breakthrough and Benjamin
Franklin - A Bright Spark!. Even after having
launched both books at the National Library
2 days ago, George has done us a great honour
by agreeing to a second book launch in his
alma mater today.
5. George Tan reflects our Hwa Chong philosophy
- to live with passion and to lead with
compassion. George has forged a successful
career as an entrepreneur and a writer;
this despite a difficult childhood which
he depicts vividly in Soulprints. His writing
has also touched others; Soulprints was
recently ranked number 8 on the Life!bestseller
list for non-fiction. More remarkably, his
desire to inspire and help others is moving.
6. Tonight, we want to thank George for
his donation of 100 copies of Soulprints
to Hwa Chong. We are also grateful for his
contributions to help us set up Talent @
Hwa Chong. We want also to thank all members
of the alumni association for agreeing to
underwrite the sum value of these 100 copies
of Soulprints. The proceeds will go to the
Hwa Chong Literary Fund.
7. Finally, we hope that our alumni will
continue to be as generous and exemplary
as the ones present here today. Thank you
all for being part of this happy occasion.
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