Date: January 25, 2018
Honorable Dr Tony Tan,
Mr JY Pillay,
Distinguished guests,
And Friends of SIAS,
You are here because you are special to SIAS. In your own special way you have all supported SIAS in our mission to advocate sustainable and stable stakeholder relationships in the investment community, safeguard and protect investor rights, empower investors through education and timely information as well as promote fair and transparent corporate governance standards, regulations and practices.
I am indeed pleased to welcome all of you to this lunch reception to honour our first Chief Patron, Dr Tony Tan. Throughout his long illustrious public service, whether as a modest MP or holding the highest office as President of Singapore, he had developed strong relationships with his constituents and the people of Singapore. He is also a Patron of many charities. Clearly, he has a heart for small people – the man-in-the-street.
My colleagues and I at SIAS are therefore delighted that Dr Tan has so readily accepted our invitation to join us as Chief Patron to serve the retail and typically minority investors.
Although our Constitution provides for it, it has taken us some 19 years to appoint our first Chief Patron and we could not find a better leader and mentor. We thank God for His kind acceptance!
From Day 1, when we began our journey as activist to tackle the Clob issue, we have chosen a consensus and not a contentious approach to resolving issues. It took a while for everyone to realize that we are about tripartism – bringing regulators, corporations (both boards and management) and investors together for the betterment of all stakeholders.
With Dr Tan and all our friends here, we believe we are well-positioned to make SIAS a role model in constructive and value-accretive investor activism.
On this note, I will conclude and ask you to relax and enjoy yourlunch. Bon appetit!
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and blessed Lunar New Year!
Thank You
