18 December 2011
Honourable Chairman, Dear Friends:
First, I would like to thank the LLG Cultural Development Centre for giving me the Lim Lian Geok Spirit Award this year.
In my life, I benefited a lot from mother-tongue education and Nanyang University, but have given back very little. Compared to those who have tirelessly worked for the mother-tongue education and Nantah, my contribution is indeed nothing. So, the honour of this award should go to all of them.
A university is not an ivory tower. Modern facilities alone do not constitute a good university. What matters is its spirit, its capacity in bringing up graduates that empathize with the people and work for the progress of mankind and world peace.
Not long ago, I came across an article about the National Southwest Associated University of China during the Resistance War against Japanese Invasion. In those difficult years, the lodgings for teaching staff were partitioned only by cloth-curtains, classes were conducted in thatched cottages, and students had to queue up for a seat in the library. Yet, the Southwest Associated University brought up not only courageous fighters against the Japanese aggressors, but also talented professionals including Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
ஆசியா வரலாற்றிலேயே நெடுநாள் அரசியல் கைதியாக 32 வருடங்கள் இருந்த சிங்கப்பூரின் முன்னாள் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினரான சியா தை போ (70) என்பவர் யார்? எதற்காக இந்த தண்டனை?
