Annex A

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SPEECH BY DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WONG KAN SENG AT THE SINGAPORE DAY DINNER ON 21 APRIL 2007 IN NEW YORK

Fellow Singaporeans,

Friends of Singapore,

A very good evening to all of you.

INTRODUCTION

·        Some statistics on Singapore Day

o       Six months of preparations;

o       Involving almost 100 partners; 

o       Attendance by more than 5,000 Overseas Singaporeans, their family members and friends; 

o       15,000 kilometres away from home.

·        The day programme of the first-ever Singapore Day was an overwhelming success. 

o       Overseas Singaporeans, regardless of how long they have been away from home, got a slice of “Live, Work and Play” in Singapore, right here in New York City. 

·        This would not have been possible without your strong support.

BRINGING SINGAPOREANS CLOSER TO HOME

• Singapore Day is an important initiative of the Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU)’s suite of programmes and initiatives to reach out to and engage our Overseas Singaporeans.
• To keep Overseas Singaporeans informed and in touch with developments back home.
• To help them connect with one another.
• And to excite them about the opportunities in Singapore – opportunities to “Live, Work and Play” in Singapore and the region. 
• Exciting times in Singapore. 
• We are transforming our landscape, remaking our economy, shaping a bold new vision for our future.

• It has been slightly more than a year since I launched the OSU in London.
• In the past one year, OSU’s programmes have reached more than 5,000 Singaporeans in 25 cities. 
• Today, we have just doubled that number. This is a wonderful way to mark a year of outreach and engagement.
• To sustain this effort, OSU would require the support of our partners in the public, private and people sectors; and most importantly, that of our global Overseas Singaporean community.

• One idea is to get Overseas Singaporeans to work with Singapore companies overseas to set up a Singapore Club presence.  
• Idea of a Singapore Club was raised when I met with some Singapore businessmen in Hanoi;
• Idea was also raised by CEOs themselves when I met with them in Singapore to discuss ways that companies could engage Overseas Singaporeans;
• I know of a hotel chain which already facilitates Overseas Singaporeans in Beijing and Sydney to meet in their premise.
• This is where networking will be made.
• This is where ties will be strengthened.
• This is where engagement will be reinforced.
• I look forward to Singaporean entrepreneurs picking up this idea and allowing use of their facilities overseas

A PUBLIC-PRIVATE-PEOPLE PARTNERSHIP                                   

•  Singapore Day is a collaborative effort by the OSU and its many partners from the people, public and private sectors. I thank you for your role, support and participation in this event.
  
• Many of the Overseas Singaporeans who attended the day programme told me that they were impressed by the number of partners that came together to help the OSU to put this event together.

• Many of the partners from the corporate sector are familiar names
• Goodwood Park Group, which is presenting the dinner tonight;
• Asia-Pacific Breweries, who put the Tiger in your beer tonight;
• Yeo Hiap Seng, whose drinks kept you refreshed in the afternoon;
• APL, without whom all our equipment and displays would not have been freighted over to New York;
• SIA, whose tickets I freely gave away today;
• St James Power Station, for supporting our rehearsals in Singapore and flying one of their star performers here, among others.
• Indeed, it is a long list and I am grateful to each and everyone of them for supporting this event. 

• We also have our partners from the people sector.
• The performers blew me away this afternoon with their energetic and heartfelt renditions.
• How some of them had continued with rehearsals back in Singapore even when they were not feeling well so that they could put up their best performance here. 
• To each of you, from Kit Chan to Jonathan Lim to Hossan Leong and Skye, who will be entertaining you tonight – to all our performers and backstage crew, I thank you.

• And how can we forget our hawkers, specially selected and brought together by our very own makan guru, K F Seetoh.
• I hear that the hawkers started preparing their food since 6.30am this morning.
• Thank you for serving your delightful portions today.

• Last but least, special thanks to Eric Khoo, the Creative Director for Singapore Day.
• Eric was responsible for the creative design for the day programme and for putting together a team of Singapore’s top performers and production crew.
• He did all this while producing another made-in-Singapore movie;
• Eric, as many of you know, is one of Singapore’s top film-makers and producers

• We should not forget the many Singaporeans in and around New York who contributed their time in the making of Singapore Day.
• We had volunteers from the New York Singapore Association (NYSA) and our Student Associations; and
• the Overseas Singaporean gallery was put together by the Singaporean curator at the Brooklyn Museum (Traslin Ong).
• Of course, the many thousands of Singaporeans who turned up today – without their support and participation, we would not have had such a resounding success.
• I was told that Singaporeans in the United States of America were so excited about the event that they sent emails to each other to register for it.  Many even received emails from other Singaporeans in different parts of the world on the event. 
• This is an excellent example of how Overseas Singaporeans can reach out to each other and stay connected with Singapore.

CONCLUSION

• The conclusion of a successful Singapore Day is a multi-agency, multi-sector effort in reaching out to Overseas Singaporeans. 

• With an increasing number of Overseas Singaporeans, the need to build up interconnected network among them with Singapore at its core, becomes even more important. 

• The message we want to send to Overseas Singaporeans is this - even though you are away from home, we remember you and count you among us. Home may not be where you are; it is where your heart resides.  Stay Connected!

• Let us now give a toast to all who have made this event a success