Letter from Baba Colin Chee, President, The Peranakan Association Singapore
(This is a monthly column to TPAS members and guests)
Dear Nyonyas and Babas,
As I write this letter from my hotel room overlooking Austria’s famed lake-town, Hallstatt, my wife Linda and I have already spent some 15 days traversing much of Croatia, a hint of Bosnia, and a glance of Slovenia.
We have self-driven over 1,300 km across beautiful undulating countryside, crossed fog-covered mountains and explored some very old towns in autumn weather. We are only halfway through our journey across part of Europe.
And every day I have been waking up to about a hundred WhatsApp messages from TPAS’s General Committee (GC) members. These more than match the mileage we have clocked up so far!
In many ways it reflects the kind of youthful enthusiasm and energy that your young team is bringing into TPAS.
More importantly, it tells of this GC’s aim to make a difference in what we do, befitting our commitment – It is not going to be business as usual.
The GC is now five months old since we were elected in late May. We have two major events remaining before this year closes: the annual Baba Nyonya Convention that will take place from 23-25 November in Tangerang, Indonesia, and our Christmas Malam Jolly on 21 December at the Chinese Swimming Club Ballroom.
We thank you for your overwhelming support for these events.
Also important to TPAS is the inaugural event that we are organising for our young babas and nyonyas on 18 November at The Peranakan Museum – a children’s colouring workshop on Peranakan motifs conducted by Australia-based artist Gabby Malpas. It is so important to interest children in our culture when they are young.
Later this year, we will provide you with a calendar of confirmed and tentative events for the 12 months of 2019.
In the frenzy of all this activity, it is sometimes easy to forget that our non-profit association is being run entirely by volunteers, many of whom hold down full-time jobs or run their own businesses.
To help TPAS do its job better, we call on members to also volunteer your time to serve the community. Do not hesitate to contact us. Also, please do not shy away from us when we tap on your shoulder.
We are especially gratified that 160 members have so far responded to our call to update your personal particulars. It goes a long way to help us reconcile our membership database, and, most importantly, to help us to stay connected with you.
TPAS has close to 2,000 members. During this digitalisation phase, we would like to encourage more of you to quickly update your particulars if you haven’t done so.
We also ask for your understanding and patience when you receive a call after office hours or during the weekends from Agnes Ng, our Asst Hon Secretary.
The task has been made onerous as there are still tens of existing members, especially those living overseas, who still have not registered their email addresses or phone numbers. We will be reaching out to our overseas members through their respective overseas Peranakan associations, if any, as well.
Please contact Agnes at secretariat@peranakan.org.sg to update your particulars.
The GC’s recent call for membership updates has also led to a perplexing and potentially difficult situation – we have received responses from a few individuals who we have absolutely no record of membership. The GC will soon decide what to do about this.
In the meantime, Linda and I will continue to enjoy a cold but golden autumn in Europe. We are both wrapped up to weather the average 7 deg C chill, as you can see from the most recent photo of me accompanying this letter.
Have a lovely rest of the year. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement. I am sorry if I have not been responding to your messages to me these past few weeks. I promise to catch up when we return in mid-November.
Sincerely,
Colin Chee
Unity. Stability. Growth
It is not going to be business as usual
30 October 2018