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Honour Singapore

Nation

Happy National Day… Honour Singapore!

SG50! We celebrate 50 years of independence today…it is our Golden Jubilee! Congratulations, People of Singapore, for 50 years of national freedom, independence, and sovereignty! 50 years in which Singapore has moved decisively, in GDP terms, from Third World to First World.  50 years in which we have experienced peace and security, while reading every day about flare-ups, terrorist attacks, and wars in many places of the world. 50 years in which we have enjoyed freedom from natural calamities such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. These have been 50 years of being the master of our own destiny.  We had…
Honour Singapore
August 9, 2015
Uncategorized

Youth is a mindset, not a time of life!

Today, our youth in Singapore got a break from school and celebrated “Youth Day”. While we honour the youth in our nation on this day, let us also remind ourselves of Samuel Ullman’s poem “Youth”, in which he writes that: “Youth is not a time of life – it is a state of mind”. So often in our society, we hear people use their age as an excuse for not pursuing their potential: “I’m too old to do this”, “I’m already an Uncle/ Aunty”, etc. But it is almost always not the truth; it is a perception that limits one’s potential and reduces…
Honour Singapore
July 27, 2015
Community

Running to Help

Over years and centuries, the way societies are organised has moved from “Family and Community” to “State and Market”. But somehow as human beings we feel somewhat uncomfortable about this, and we long for the trust and comfort of relationship in family and community.  It is a matter of being at ease. The State may be able to deliver services and financial help, but it cannot deliver heart.  The market may deliver efficiency through competition and effort, but oftentimes it comes at the expense of being uncaring and unfeeling, and sometimes even unthinking. So we have the challenge of how…
Honour Singapore
July 26, 2015
Community

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri… Be strong and choose to forgive!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all our Muslim friends…our very best wishes to all as you celebrate the end of Ramadan, the fasting month! Hari Raya Aidilfitri is a time where Muslim families and friends seek forgiveness from each other, visit their ancestors’ graves, say prayers at the mosque, and visit relatives and friends to feast on traditional Malay delicacies. In Singapore and Malaysia, children are also given token sums of money from their parents or elders. The most common greeting used by Muslims in Singapore is “Selamat Hari Raya”. Another greeting is “Maaf Zahir Dan Batin”, which translates loosely…
Honour Singapore
July 16, 2015
Family

Fathers! You are very important!

Imagine a little boy running around gleefully, and suddenly he falls and hurts himself.  The mother rushes to him, tells him everything is alright and there is no need to keep crying, cleans the wound, puts some ointment, sticks a plaster on his knee and says, “Next time, don’t run.” If it were the father rather than the mother who gets to the child first, the father probably tells the child that boys don’t cry, cleans the wound, puts some ointment, sticks a plaster on the knee, and says: “Now you can run again.” Mothers and fathers are different. No doubt…
Honour Singapore
June 21, 2015
Leadership

Honour in Leadership

The film "Exodus" is based on the story of a leader, Moses, leading his people, the Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt, an event more than 1,000 years BCE. There were a number of memorable, inspiring quotations of which two are shared here.   COMMITMENT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE The first is an exchange between Moses and his wife Zipporah on their wedding night: Zipporah: Who makes you happy? Moses: You do. Zipporah: What's the most important thing in your life? Moses: You are. Zipporah: Where would you rather be? Moses: With you. Zipporah: When will you leave me? Moses:…
Honour Singapore
May 5, 2015
Uncategorized

Silk Street eyes upmarket transition

The Friday 20 March 2015 edition of the China Daily carried the report: "Silk Street eyes upmarket transition". Following are extracts from the article: "Beijing's famous Silk Street market plans to discard its image as a mixed-bag shopping paradise and transform itself into a top high-end market.  "Silk Street announced on Thursday that it will close all shops that continue to sell poor quality goods or provide bad service and introduce higher-end businesses, including designer clothing and self-owned brands, developing into a high-end shopping place that can compete with shopping malls of international standards. "Located in Beijing's largest business and embassy area, Silk Street…
Honour Singapore
April 11, 2015
Uncategorized

HOW NEW LEADERS CAN SUSTAIN SINGAPORE’S SUCCESS

GIC group president and former civil service head Lim Siong Guan spoke on honour, wealth, leadership and Mr Lee Kuan Yew's legacy at a Business Times conference last Tuesday. Here are edited excerpts of his speech that were published in The Straits Times on 6 April 2015.  OFTEN when visitors come to Singapore, they are briefed on the Housing Board, the Central Provident Fund, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the education system, the health system and so on. While these are critical factors, I believe there is a deeper cultural reason to explain Singapore's success since independence. The explanation lies in…
Honour Singapore
April 6, 2015
Uncategorized

WE HONOUR MR LEE KUAN YEW, WHO PASSED ON YOUNG AT 91

  As Singaporeans continue to ponder the legacy of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, it would do us well to recognise that Singapore is a product of imagination and human endeavour, a mix of ideals, vigour, fortitude and courage, the attributes that make for superior leadership. A highly inspiring poem in this regard is “Youth” by Samuel Ullman.  It is a poem which highly inspired Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic, the largest Japanese consumer electronics company. “YOUTH” by Samuel Ullman Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and…
Honour Singapore
March 29, 2015
Uncategorized

HONOURING MR LEE KUAN YEW (1923-2015)

Honour (Singapore) joins Singaporeans in honouring our founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away early this morning.  If we look at an atlas of the world, Singapore, the country, fits quite nicely into the letter “o” in its name.  Indeed, in most atlases, they have to make a point of enlarging the dot so that Singapore may be pointed out. That is how small Singapore is. When Singapore became, rather unexpectedly, independent in August 1965, it had to find its own way into the future: the dream of a common market in Malaysia was broken, and Indonesia was…
Honour Singapore
March 23, 2015
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