Transcript of Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Singapore Indian Association Centenary Gala Dinner

Mr Tamil Marren
President of the Singapore Indian Association

Dr Shilpak Ambule
High Commissioner of India to Singapore

Mr Chandra Das
Senior Advisor, Singapore Indian Association

Dr T Chandroo
Advisor, Singapore Indian Association

Mohamed Irshad
Advisor, Singapore Indian Association

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentleman,

Thank you very much for inviting my wife and myself to join you. We were looking forward very much to coming. It's a special occasion, because IA has been an Association not only with a long history, but with a special role in Singapore culture and society, and of course in Singapore sports.

So, your 100^th year is really a moment worth celebrating. You have gone through ups and downs, but here we are, celebrating a hundred years, and with a very strong membership base as well. Congratulations to the leadership of Indian Association, with the support and advice of your advisors. I also want to express gratitude to your past leaders, and I will come to that in a minute.

A Quick History

 It was a very interesting exhibition outside, very well laid out. It shows how important and interesting the Association’s history has been. And the significance given by the visit of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and subsequently, his daughter Indira Gandhi too when she was PM. As well as other revered Indian personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, who in fact came in 1927, before Nehru did.

But it was really an Association for people who were living in Singapore. It was formed initially at Short Street, and intended to cater to the welfare of Indians who are living in Singapore. Many were sojourners, and some settled here. It was a way of catering to their welfare. And getting sports and leisure going, so as to build kinship with the community. Kinship, regardless of social status, language spoken, and which region in India people originated from - that was important from the start for IA.

Your history has not been without challenges but each time, the leadership managed to revive the Association, rebuild support from members and embark on a promising path.

The histories most worth remembering and reminiscing over are those that involved difficulties, not just those where everything went swimmingly well.

So I do want to recognise, at this point, several of the past leaders of IA, who happen to be here tonight. Mr SA Nathan. Mr SS Dhillon, who of course as you all know did not just contribute to IA but also contributed enormously to Singapore sports over a long period. Mr Leslie Netto, who served in the Association very well over two periods. Mr Eddie Raj, still very much present and here of course, thank you Eddie. And although he is not here, I want to recognise the contributions of Mr K Kesavapany, who led the Association for eight years, over the last decade.

The Association was of course best recognised in Singapore for its sports, especially cricket and hockey, but also football. And there are so many of you who are here today, who were former sportspersons of repute in IA and also in Singapore.

That was a real contribution by IA - grooming of sportspersons. Just to mention a few and I believe most of the names I am going to mention are here tonight as well.

Maimoon Abu Bakar who was a top athlete from 100 to 400 metres and was part of the national women’s relay team that held the 4 x 400-metre record in Singapore for over four decades.

Imran Khwaja in cricket – Imran has also played a leadership role in Singapore cricket, beyond IA, which we are really grateful for. Thank you, Imran.

M. Jeevananthan, who is my generation, and was unusual because anything that involves a moving ball, involved Jeevananthan, and he was outstanding. He was an outstanding national hockey player, national cricket player and also played football very well.

And of course Suria Murthi, one of the most beloved names in Singapore football.

There are others, I'm just mentioning a few names, but IA contributed to Singapore sports very actively.

Building Community

IA was of course not just about sports. I mentioned the very founding objective of bringing together Indians from different social strata - that has continued. And the bonds you have built amongst your patrons and your members are really what has kept the association going. It explains how we've come to 100 years - it was those bonds and the camaraderie between members themselves.

And I'm happy that you're now collaborating quite actively with other community organisations - SINDA, LiSHA, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) - and I encourage you to strengthen those relationships. The Indians are relatively small community in Singapore, so it helps to network and strengthen the links between the different associations.

I am also very happy to learn about some of your recent events, including the Red Dot Sports Festival which you organised during National Day and which importantly reached out not just to the local community, but also to our migrant workers friends. That was a very good initiative by IA. As well as the mega Pongal activity that we saw on the video, where you collaborated with LiSHA. We should continue to bear in mind the welfare of our migrant worker community, and what IA can do is most appreciated.

A word about the IA Women’s Wing. In fact, interestingly, it was Rabindranath Tagore, when he visited in 1927, who first raised the issue of starting a grouping for the Indian women in Singapore at that time. They then formed an Indian and Ceylonese Women’s Club, later a Lotus Club, and then the Kamala Club.

But basically, IA was a hub for the women as well. And the Women’s Wing of IA now has been very active, providing opportunities for budding entrepreneurs to come up, also providing opportunities through your mini fairs for people to demonstrate their talents.

Going Forward  

So where do you go from here - your next 25, 50 and 100 years? I am glad you have set your mind on that issue - it is not too ambitious to think about it. First of course, IA must continue the recovery trajectory in the next few years – consolidating the gains you have made, growing your membership, if possible, but making the Association a place where people want to be a member, and they want to meet each other there, that is important.

I think you have to stay relevant to a changing Singapore because it is going to change dramatically, not just in the next 100 years, but the next 25 years, we will be an older society and we should have activities for the older population. Senior citizens who want to remain young at heart, even playing sports, engaging in games and having a fraternity that keeps them going. And at the same time, you have the challenge of attracting more young members. This is very important. Sports, music, other ways of attracting young members. So I encourage you to do that as well.

I think we should also explore ways in which we can have good collaboration between IA and the other Associations in Balestier Plains, which have always had a friendly rivalry but also camaraderie. The Ceylon Sports Club, Singapore Khalsa Association and SCRC, the Singapore Chinese Recreation Club, find ways of having further collaboration between the different Associations as well.

And finally, I would encourage the Association to pay particular attention to leadership renewal. Start grooming a new generation of leaders. Not necessarily only young people, but a new generation of leaders who can attract new membership and can raise the Association to greater heights, as I'm sure you will.

I wish IA many more fruitful years to come! Thank you to all the leaders, the sportspersons, the captains, those who looked after the grounds all through the years. Everyone who is responsible in hockey, cricket and all the sports, for keeping the tradition going. Thank you very much and wishing you the very best in the years to come.