News
The Launch of the Overseas Singaporean Portal
Posted on Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 06:00 PM The Overseas Singaporean Portal (OS Portal) was launched by Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Wong Kan Seng in Shanghai on 26 August 2006. The aim of the portal is to engage Overseas Singaporeans, to connect them back to Singapore and with each other. The OS Portal is managed by the Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU), Prime Minister’s Office, and is part of the Singapore government’s overall efforts to engage its citizens overseas. Speech by Mr Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, 26 August 2006 at Regent Hotel (Shanghai) Introduction Fellow Singaporeans, and Friends of Singapore; a very good evening to you. I am heartened to see so many of you here this evening. This is wonderful way to round-up to my visit to China - being in the company of Singaporeans makes me feel as if I am already home. 2. Indeed, “home” is what I am going to talk about tonight. We are gathered here tonight to launch the Overseas Singaporean Portal (www.overseassingaporean.sg). For those of you who spend most of your time away from Singapore, be it in Shanghai, Bangkok, Sydney, New York, London or Berlin, or wherever you may be, this is your Portal. It is set up to help you stay connected not just to one another but to home in Singapore. The Portal has been brought to you by the Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU) which I first announced in London in March 2006. Let me now tell you a little more about the OSU. Stay Connected 3. The OSU is a project which I am closely associated with. It has the full support of the Government, and it resides in the Prime Minister’s Office. I believe in and share the unit’s mission – to create an interconnected Overseas Singaporean diaspora with Singapore at its core. There are now more than 140,000 Singaporeans spread across the world. The Overseas Singaporean diaspora is rich in its diversity of experiences, knowledge and networks. You add to the rich fabric of our nation. It is important for us to remain engaged with one other. We must stay united in our diversity, as we always have been since the dawn of our nation. 4. In an increasingly globalised world, many Singaporeans will follow in your footsteps to go overseas to study or work. Among you are some of our best and brightest talent. We want you to stay connected with Singapore, to know what is happening back home. At the same time, you can also share with fellow Singaporeans in other countries and Singapore what you are doing. Together, we can build a strong and interconnected Singaporean community that is not constrained by geographical limits or by Singapore’s small size. 5. The OSU has a number of initiatives to facilitate this sharing and networking. In Singapore, the OSU has partnered a number of top private sector companies and the public service to keep our young Overseas Singaporean students updated on employment opportunities in Singapore and the region. 22 Singapore-based companies, including Franklin Templeton, Allen & Gledhill, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, CapitaLand and Temasek Holdings, have come on board to offer internships in more than six different sectors such as banking and finance, hospitality, transport and engineering. The public sector too has also included Overseas Singaporean students in the Civil Service Student Internship Programme which covers all government ministries. Another 30 companies, including the Parkway Group, SingTel and Venture Corporation are in the pipeline to join the internship programme. I strongly encourage all our Singapore-based companies to join us in this partnership to offer internships to Singapore students. 6. Earlier this month, the OSU launched the Distinguished Business Leaders Series (or DBL for short) in Sydney. The DBL Series seeks to bring our top corporate leaders to you, the Overseas Singaporean community. The business leaders, some of whom have been Overseas Singaporeans like you, will share the secrets of their success, highlight the business and employment opportunities in Singapore and the region, and regale you with personal anecdotes during the networking event. Mr Liew Mun Leong, President & CEO of the CapitaLand Group, who is also here tonight, was our first distinguished leader who spoke at the inaugural DBL event in Sydney. The OSU will be bringing the DBL Series to you in Shanghai and to other major cities where there are significant communities of Overseas Singaporeans. www.overseassingaporean.sg 7. While the activities and events such as the internship programme and DBL series can keep you engaged on a regular basis, we want to have a tool that will allow you to be engaged on a continual basis. Here, modern technology can come in handy and in a very significant way. The Overseas Singaporean Portal is probably the single most important initiative by the OSU to help you, our Overseas Singaporean community, connect with one another and with Singapore. The Portal has been designed, in consultation with a number of Overseas Singaporeans in various cities, with three main pillars to cater to your needs:
8. The current Portal is just the beginning. Over time, we want it to evolve into a portal owned by you, and driven by you, for your compatriots overseas. It will need your support and contribution to help it grow and evolve. We have catered for a few terminals tonight for you to surf the portal and we look forward to your inputs as to how we can further improve or how you would like to contribute to the portal. Many Overseas Singaporeans have played a crucial role in helping OSU set up the Portal. I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge some of the OSU’s key partners in bringing the Portal to you: The IT team from NCS and IDA -- which include some former Overseas Singaporeans. They have worked enthusiastically and tirelessly in the past few months to adapt the latest tools in the market to suit your needs. Our copy writers and OSU officers have spoken to numerous Overseas Singaporeans to find out what information they needed the most while overseas and to make a seamless transition back home when they decide to return. Last but not least, our sincere appreciation to our fellow Singaporean from San Francisco Mr Hizam Haron, an award-winning designer who worked passionately to design the Sg brandmark that you see behind me. This brand-mark has been designed by an Overseas Singaporean for the Overseas Singaporean community. We hope that the brand-mark will henceforth be something that will identify and distinguish all our Overseas Singaporean events and activities. It is yours to adopt and use – an enduring symbol of the interconnected, united and of course global Overseas Singaporean diaspora. Conclusion 9. The age of globalisation and the onset of the internet have redefined all boundaries of time and distance – reshaping not just economies but fundamental human relationships and the development of our society. Its forces are powerful, at times beyond our wildest imagination. We will do well to harness this to our advantage - to use this tool to bring us closer together, to stay together as one people, overcoming the constraints of physical distance. It enables us to be united as one by the Singapore spirit, even though we may be physically apart. Let us celebrate our new found proximity and connection. It now gives me great pleasure to bring to you, your very own Portal – www.overseassingaporean.sg 10. Thank you. |
|
Copyright © 1996-2008 Ong Tay & Partners. Ong Tay & Partners Online was launched on 8th November 1996.
Viewing this pages is subject to the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy Statement herein.
This site uses an open source software called Postnuke.
Page created in 0.454937934875 seconds.