Ben Cao GanG Mu - NUSS

pResIdent’s MessAge
Dear Fellow Members,
Season’s greetings!
I hope you had a good time
over the festive holidays and
are looking forward to the
New Year.
The last quarter of 2009 has
been eventful for NUSS.
We continued to build
upon Intellectual Pursuit
initiatives. In October, Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS provost
and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), shared with our
members on the challenges faced by NUS, and how the
education at the University has evolved over the years. In
November, we had the privilege of hosting His Excellency,
Dato’ Md Hussin Nayan, High Commissioner of Malaysia to
Singapore, as part of the Meet-The-Ambassador Series. The
session with His Excellency was enlightening, as the topics
centred upon issues faced by both Singapore and Malaysia.
If you missed out on these dialogues, you will be pleased to
know that there will be an upcoming dialogue with Dr Ng Eng
Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence
on 22 January. In this session, Dr Ng will discuss the future of
Singapore’s education. I am sure many of us will be keen to
hear him speak.
We had two significant sporting events in the last quarter. In
October, we saw the finale of the ITIS-NUSS Games held at
Singapore Polytechnic. This bi-annual event involves NUSS,
NUS, NTU and other tertiary organisations in Singapore.
In the same month, we hosted the 24th NUSS-PAUM
games where our sporting members and Persatuan Alumni
University of Malaya (PAUM) competed in seven different
sporting events. Even though PAUM emerged the overall
champion, the games were a great way to maintain the close
ties between the Society and PAUM.
On 5 November, we organised a special dinner with NUSS
members who were recipients of the National Day Award
2009, to acknowledge their contributions to the nation.
I am also pleased to announce the creation of two special
NUSS awards, the Distinguished Member Award and the
Outstanding Member Award, to recognise members who
have contributed to NUSS as well as the society at large.
The judging panel will be chaired by Mr Gerard Ee, NUSS
Advisory Panel Member and I look forward to receiving your
nominations of fellow members for these awards.
We constantly try to reach out to the wider graduate
community outside of NUSS. Through initiatives by the
iConnect Sub-Committee and www.nuss.meetingplace.
com.sg, we hope to engage this segment through relevant
and interesting programs and events. At the last networking
event themed ‘Prime for the Upturn’, held at Union Bar on 24
November, the feedback and turnout was very promising, and
we hope to organise more of such functions in the near future.
It is also our desire to support worthy causes. The Sails
for Smiles fundraising dinner event on 13 November was
organised in support of two NUS medical students, Jiang
Lei and Yee Onn participating in the Clipper Round the
World Yacht Race 09-10. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister
of Community Development, Youth and Sports honoured
us with his presence as Guest-of-Honour. An auction on
the same evening also saw over $12,000 raised for Club
Rainbow. We are touched by the sailors’ bravery in testing
themselves against the elements and their passion to do
good for the underprivileged. I certainly hope this will motivate
many others to step forward and contribute to society. More
details of the event are available on page 13 of this issue of
The Graduate.
We also met with NUSSU leaders to strengthen bonds
with our future potential NUSS leaders. At the meeting, we
announced the signing of an agreement with the National
Youth Council (NYC) to start the NYC-NUSS: Singapore
2010-ChangeMakers Grant. Funded by NYC and SYOGOC,
this grant will allow both NUS undergraduates and NUSS
members under the age of 35 to apply for a subsidy of up to
$4,000 for community activities that promote and celebrate
the upcoming Youth Olympic Games. We believe this initiative
will not only enable us to reach out to younger graduates and
undergraduates, but also encourage further activities centred
on Singapore’s biggest sporting event in 2010. Further details
of the grant are also available on page 16 of this issue.
Looking ahead to 2010, I wish to update you that difficult site
conditions have resulted in a slight delay to the completion of
Phase 2 of the KRGH Re-development. However the project
committee has been working very hard to ensure that we
obtain our TOP within the first quarter of 2010.
The year ahead is filled with much hope and many
opportunities for us to strive for ever greater achievements.
Just like a family, we seek your support to stay connected with
us. Let NUSS continue to be your ‘home away from home’.
I wish everyone a Happy 2010 ahead and all our Chinese
members a prosperous Lunar New Year!
Johnny Tan
President
0