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Dear Friends of Honour (Singapore)
Thank you for your unwavering support over the years and being with us as we persevere in our mission to promote a culture of Honour and Honouring for the long-term well-being of our nation. As we are fast approaching National Day, the focus on what is critical and crucial for the future of Singapore becomes even more salient. This quarterly newsletter serves to provide you with an update on our key initiatives as well as our upcoming activities.
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| CEO Roundtable on 24 July 2019: We live in a dynamic and changing world. In order to be successful over the long-term, individuals and businesses have to make changes in their thinking and their practices, and this will be both challenging and dynamic. One particular challenge CEOs face is that of corruption, integrity, morals and ethics. As one of the CEOs had told us, representing what appears to be widely held, “Honour is a good idea, but not practical.” As the most serious aspect of corruption may well be the weakening of trust within a company and not just with customers and business partners, we can well understand the dilemma which many CEOs face of whether they can really avoid bribery if they are to succeed in business in a region and a world widely seen as inclined to compromise integrity. At the same time, we have come across companies which have successfully found ways to build relationships and succeed in business while maintaining integrity as a critical value or strategy for the long-term success of the company.
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Someone has said, when the question on the issue before us moves from “Is this a good and right thing to do?” to “Is this legally defensible?”, senior management needs to know they have crossed the ethical boundary in the way they think of their business, and thereby risk undermining the moral underpinnings of the company both in internal management as well as in external relationships. But there are good stories to tell of how companies have successfully steered their way to success with Honour.
It is with this end in mind that we are organising a special CEO Roundtable on 24 July 2019 with the theme "Honour is Good Business" to help and encourage CEOs who wish to conduct their business in such fashion. The CEO Roundtable will bring together leaders of organisations to share and discuss why and how Honour should be an integral part of their leadership philosophy and strategy for sustainable success – to walk the talk, lead with integrity, and honour all whom they work with. It will be held on Wednesday 24 July 2019 starting at 10am and ending at 2pm with lunch. |
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Our three speakers at the forum are Mr Lim Ming Yan (Former President & Group CEO, CapitaLand Limited), Mr Jonathan Asherson (Former Non-executive Chairman, Rolls Royce Singapore), and Mr Peter Ho (CEO, HOPE Technik). The forum will be moderated by Mr Lim Soon Hock (former Vice President and Managing Director of Compaq Computer Asia Pacific). There will be a charge of $300 per person for attendance to help defray our costs as well as contribute towards the promotion of Honour in business, work and life. If you are a CEO or in senior management and would like to attend this special CEO Roundtable, please register at https://honour.sg/ceo-roundtable/ or write to us at events@honour.sg.
Honour Film Initiative: The month of May was an exceptionally eventful month for the Honour Film Initiative. On 16 May, the Honour short film “Pencil” won the Short Film Grand Prize at the Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival. The festival’s principal objective is to “present the best of contemporary and classic film for children, youth and families”, and its mandate is to “feature the most outstanding children’s films produced in every part of the world”. We are grateful that the Honour film “Pencil” has now been added to that list of most outstanding films. |
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| Pencil, which had been awarded “Best Picture” and “Best Screenplay” in last year’s National Youth Film Awards, was also part of a Singapore films showcase to Taiwan in March, funded by the National Youth Council. The film was screened 6 times in three cities — Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan, including at the Golden Harvest Short Film Screening and at the Taipei National University of the Arts. |
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Congratulations to director Gina Tan, producers Joanna Ying Ng and Kenneth Hu, director of photography Cecilia Wee, art director Adelene Wee, editor Lim Jia Yun, music/sound Designer Joe Ng, and the entire cast & crew.
On 8 May, the Centre for Foundation Studies at Temasek Polytechnic invited us to screen a slate of Honour short films at the Festive Arts Theatre at Our Tampines Hub for about 300 Polytechnic Foundation Programme students. The students were to view the local short films and write a report on a selected individual who has demonstrated great resilience to overcome adversities.
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Following the screening, lecturer Ms Rita Gill wrote to us saying, "On behalf of the Centre for Foundation Studies, I would like to thank you for your time and support in conducting the film screening. This collaboration has certainly enhanced our students' exploration of the topic ‘Generation Grit’. They have not only gained a deeper appreciation of our local unsung heroes but also the works by our very own youth film makers from Temasek Polytechnic, Jackson Ho and Joshua Poh. The screening was memorable and an eye-opening one for our students. The feedback from the session has been very positive."
Here is some feedback from the students:
"The screening was amazing, it really gave the unsung heroes of Singapore a limelight. To me it felt very emotional because personally I sympathise with them."
"I felt a new light and sense of belonging towards Singapore."
"The stories are really touching, and does show the talent that these young film makers have, and the stories are also truly inspiring. Overall, I really enjoyed this film screening."
"It made me realise that there are many people who are facing challenges but they managed to pull through and persevere and it inspired me to do my best and never give up."
From 11 to 18 May, four Honour short films – Kafan, Son Of, 1276 and Thaiyal (Stitches) – were chosen to be screened at the 29th European Union Film Festival in Singapore, at the National Gallery. The films touched on the theme of honour, especially in the parent-child relationship. If you would like to sponsor an Honour short film or help us reach more schools and students with the films, get in touch with us at admin@honour.sg.
Honour Learning Journey: Since the introduction of our Honour Learning Journey Programme in 2016, we have connected with some 20 schools and reached out to over 5,000 students and 100 educators. Through the highly energised facilitated sessions, the students were able to better understand the importance of Honour for work and life, and gained practical insights on ways of living it out in their own lives. If you are an educator and you would like to explore the use of our films in values education, please get in touch with us at admin@honour.sg.
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| Honour In Action: Honour (Singapore) is working on a pilot programme we tentatively call HONOUR IN ACTION, where the practice of Honour, in its multiplicity of expressions, may become a natural part of the way we live and the way we are. If being a Gracious Society becomes a dominant characteristic of Singapore, we would be mining the “HIDDEN WEALTH OF SINGAPORE” where the quality of relationships among the people will enhance both economic growth as well as establish a social environment conducive to every child and every Singaporean developing their talents and abilities the best way possible. This idea is well described by David Halpern in his book “The Hidden Wealth of Nations” (Polity Press). Such a work of social transformation may take a generation, which is why we need people with the vision, resilience, patience and conviction to come on the journey. If you are a school leader and would like to participate in the pilot programme, please write me at LimSiongGuan@honour.sg to express your interest.
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| Honour Champions Community: On 16 May, the Honour Champions put together a highly energising and engaging session on the topic ‘Building sustainable thriving communities’ with our three invited speakers Mr Richard Hoon (Chairman, Centre for Fathering & Dads for Life), Ms Francesca Wah (Founder, Bringing Love to Every Single Soul [BLeSS]) and Mr Steven Koh (Founder of Community of Learning and Lead for Facebook Community Leadership Circles [Singapore]) to share their thoughts and experience on building successful and sustainable communities. |
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| I would like to personally thank the organising team for their tireless effort in helping bring people together and sharing on the importance of honour and honouring for long-term success, and also for putting together this meaningful and lively event. Should you like to learn more on the Honour Champions Community, please join in the discussion online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheHonourChampionsCommunity/.
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Talks: I continue to speak about Honour, on an invitation-only basis, at schools, companies, and community groups. If you believe such a session would be a boost to the vision and morale of the people in your sphere of influence, do let me know at LimSiongGuan@honour.sg.
Honour International Symposium: The Honour International Symposium is a biennial symposium that brings together leaders and future leaders in business, government, and community groups to discuss issues of honour and honouring for successful business, stable homes, and strong nations. Our inaugural symposium was successfully organised in 2016 where we had the privilege of hearing Alibaba’s founder, Mr Jack Ma, share his thoughts on the virtue and criticality of Honour. You can find the video message from him at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1s8I2xREZs or visit http://www.honourinternational.sg/ to learn more about the last symposium held in 2018.
The next Honour International Symposium (HIS2020) will be held tentatively in July 2020. We are currently working through the programme details and will provide updates as we go along. Speakers at the Honour International Symposium come from a variety of backgrounds and countries. They will share their thoughts and experiences on the effective practice of Honour in business, leadership, family, and life. Do look out for follow-on announcements! In the meantime, should you have particular topics you would like to see covered in HIS2020, do drop me a note at LimSiongGuan@honour.sg.
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Thank you again for your support and encouragement. I would be very happy to hear from you what more and what better we should do. Should you wish to support our efforts financially, donations of any size will always be welcome and deeply appreciated. As Honour (Singapore) is a charity with the status of an Institution of Public Character (IPC), all donations from individuals as well as corporate organisations will enjoy enhanced tax deduction. Also, from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, all donations made to registered IPCs are eligible for a dollar-to-dollar matching provided by the Bicentennial Community Fund.
I look forward to hearing your ideas and feedback. Please get in touch with me at LimSiongGuan@honour.sg.
Wishing you all the very best.
Lim Siong Guan
Founding Chairman
Honour (Singapore)
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