SIF supports push for ties with overseas Singaporeans
I REFER to the Oct 9 editorial in The Straits Times as well as articles on the launch of the Majulah Connection (MC).
Singapore International Foundation (SIF) is delighted with the creation of the MC, which is designed to facilitate business
links between Singaporeans at home and abroad. It has enormous potential for concrete economic outcomes.
The editorial suggested that such an idea can take root and thrive only on cultivated ground. SIF agrees.
Some media and press articles have given the impression that the value of engaging overseas Singaporeans and the fount
of goodwill that exists among them towards Singapore have been realised only through the recent creation of the Singapore
Overseas Networks (SONs) and its successor, the MC.
In fact, the importance of overseas Singaporean communities has been recognised for a long time and formal efforts to build
relationships between them and Singapore have been ongoing since 1991, when the SIF was founded.
The basis of any collaboration between overseas Singaporean communities and Singapore is friendship, trust and mutual interest.
From 32 overseas Singapore clubs and business associations in the early 1990s, SIF now has relationships with 87 such groups
worldwide.
None of these groups owes its existence or success to the SIF or Singapore. They were formed spontaneously by Singaporeans
living abroad who want to keep the Singapore spirit alive and to bond in a foreign land.
For a long time, many of these groups harboured a sense of suspicion and distrust towards any attempt by Singapore to get
involved with them.
In its early years, the SIF encountered much cynicism and was held at arm's length by many groups. It has been a long,
hard process of providing support, showing sincerity, winning trust and proving that the SIF has no ulterior motives in wanting
to develop links.
The SIF's relationship with many of these clubs and business associations has matured and deepened so that greater engagement
has become possible.
We have, in recent years, worked with clubs to organise meetings in Singapore for club members and overseas Singaporean
students, visits by members of the Government, live Web chats with distinguished persons on issues of importance to Singapore,
and annual SIF overseas conferences focusing on social and business links.
When the Economic Review Committee (ERC) set up the SONs in Boston, San Francisco and Hongkong, the SIF encouraged overseas
Singapore clubs and business associations to brainstorm ideas for the ERC.
Without any official support, four groups in Shanghai, Manila, Brisbane and Sydney worked very hard to produce four sets
of recommendations for the ERC. These efforts were recognised, with a number of ministers being asked by the ERC, during their
visits overseas, to hold dialogue sessions with club members.
When the Remaking Singapore Committee (RSC) was set up, the SIF offered all the overseas clubs the opportunity once more
to contribute. This time, 15 cogent sets of recom-mendations were received, which the SIF has collated and forwarded to the
RSC.
All these are encouraging signs that overseas Singaporeans are coming back on board.
The MC is a welcome additional platform to link Singaporean businesses at home and overseas. It is also timely in that
many overseas Singaporeans are now more positive about contributing to Singapore.
The SIF is actively contacting overseas Singaporean business associations that it knows well, to encourage them to support
the MC and to make it a success.
Some overseas Singaporean clubs and business associations have asked if the MC is a duplication. The SIF has assured them
that it is not - it is a business network that rides on the heartware supported by the SIF and the foundation will be working
with the MC for the benefit of all Singaporeans.
The potential contribution by overseas Singaporeans is barely being tapped even now and a lot more can be done.
The SIF looks forward to working with many other agencies which are involved in forging links with overseas Singaporeans.
TAN CHI CHIU
Executive Director
Singapore International Foundation