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| President's Message |
Dear Member of the Chung Wah Association,
Firstly, I sincerely thank you for your confidence in electing me as your President for the next two years. I want to share my vision for the Association with you, which can be summed up in three words – Harmony, Heritage, and Humanity.
During the recent election campaign, I spoke to many members from a wide variety of background, new and old, young and elderly. I also spoke to many members who have discontinued their membership. Feedback and reaction from them indicated a lack of relevance between them and the Association. Many know very little or nothing about the Association and its purpose, while others expressed a sense of disconnection with the Association. I strongly believe that an effective communication strategy and positively engaging with members is the key to help them discover the relevance of their membership and what the Association can do for them, and vice versa. |
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I believe that positive engagement can be achieved by introducing and maintaining activities for members that can be shared and enjoyed by all, such as karaoke, dancing, table tennis, badminton, chess, taichi, mahjong, card games, etc, at the Balcatta Cultural Centre. An introduction of a weekend charitable market and a café operation will help to bring the crowd in to create the atmosphere, and at the same time, raise funds for the Association. An avenue will be provided for members to offer suggestions on what you would like to see the Association provide for you.
We need to communicate more frequently and more effectively with members. We can use the Chung Wah Magazine to share relevant information with members, informing you of current issues that affect your daily lives. We want to know and understand what your issues are, and how the Association can assist you, or represent your interests. We also plan to use internet technology to reach out to all members, and extend that to the entire Chinese community.
In this country, we are a minority. Nevertheless, there is no doubting the richness and significance of our culture with 5,000 years of history behind us. We need to integrate Chinese culture into the mainstream culture, which is represented by multi-culturalism, as endorsed by the government, to promote harmony amongst all peoples. We must aim to become a major and important player in this area.
In a recent meeting with the state Education Department, I was told that there are about 3,600 children learning a foreign language through community organisations in WA. The 1,200 students spread across our three schools represent one third of this total. This is a clear indication of the significance and pride that our current generation place on our culture and heritage. We need to ensure that we preserve our culture to share with our future generations, so that they can be proud of their heritage, and proud to be Chinese. We ought to provide an opportunity for them to discover their roots.
We currently provide care for about 500 elderly people in the Asian community, most of whom are Chinese. As the demand increases, we need to revisit the Association’s project in developing a home for the aged. Due to steep rises in building costs in recent years, the money for this project raised through the Autumn Centre Fund about 15 years ago is no longer sufficient to build the required facility. The accommodation is only a structure. The home will require a range of services and equipment, etc, to properly cater for its residents. This is a major project that will require a lot of planning, hard work, support, and commitment, to come to fruition.
We need to expand our services to cater for others who need assistance and support, for example new migrants, refugees, and those needing financial and social assistance. We also need to play a bigger and more active part in charitable and community events in the mainstream society. To achieve this, we need to build a strong charity infrastructure and culture within the Association. We can do this by working closely with the government to secure more funding, recruit and train more volunteers, and set up public benevolent and charitable funds to support these activities. Ultimately, we aim to become a service provider of choice for humanity services for the Chinese community in WA.
We need to promote cohesion within the Chinese community to become stronger. We need to establish a strong voice so that the government will become more responsive to our needs and requests. We need to pool our resources together, so that we can achieve better outcomes for our community.
I am extremely passionate to see the Chinese people succeed and lead a good life in this wonderful country. I want to build a strong foundation and a proud heritage for our future generations. I hope you and I can all work together to achieve these goals for a bright future for all of us.
Yours sincerely,
Sammy Yap
President |
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