On 7 November 2017, the Society was honoured to have Minister Ong Ye Kung, Minister of Education (Higher Education and Skills) and Second Minister (Defence) for a special Keynote Fireside chat at the residence of our President, Dato Paul Supramaniam.

Minister Ong is widely seen as one of the core members of Singapore’s Cabinet and the PAP’s fourth generation (or “4G”) leaders. We commenced with a sit down dinner, where members ( there were 45 attendees) had the opportunity to interact with Minister Ong over nostalgic Oxbridge college fare of roast beef wine and mushy peas.

This was followed by an elucidating “State of the Nation” analysis, with Minister Ong examining Singapore’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Minister then fielded a wide array of questions from enthusiastic members, ranging from education, Sino-US relations, transport, Singapore politics, the recent changes to the selection of our Head of State, ASEAN and his own upbringing (as the son of a Barisan Socialis politician).

We concluded the evening with a vote of thanks to Minister Ong’s for his direct responses and openness and left with a sense of optimism for Singapore’s future.