Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry Ms Low Yen Ling,

Mr Ng Siew Quan, Chairman of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

I am delighted to be here for the award ceremony of the 6th Singapore Chinese Cultural Contribution Award (SCCCA).

This is the 6th year of the SCCCA which recognises and commends outstanding individuals and organisations who have made extraordinary contributions to the promotion, enrichment and development of Chinese Singaporean culture.

I am honoured to take over this term as the Chairman of the Judging Panel from Professor Eddie Kuo and like to extend my appreciation to Mr Paul Tan and Professor Quah Sy Ren for their service in the past terms. I am delighted to have new members Mr Low Eng Teong and Mr Choo Thiam Siew on board the Judging Panel, together with Ms Quek Yeng Yeng, Ms Woo Mun Ngan and Mr Teo Han Wue to provide our “contribution” to the Award.  I would like to extend my appreciation to all judges on the panel for their hard work in making the final selection.

Today, we witness the conferment of the 6th SCCCA to Mr Goh Boon Teck and Nam Hwa Opera.

This year, we received 30 nominations with 22 nominations for individuals and 8 nominations for organisations. Of which, 47% of all nominations were submitted for the first time.

It is not easy spending a lifetime perfecting one’s passion. Mr Goh Boon Teck, the recipient of this year’s individual award has done so. He is the Chief Artistic Director of Singapore’s renowned bilingual theatre company, Toy Factory Productions Ltd. For the past 33 years, he has been actively involved in the industry as a director, writer, and designer for theatre productions. 

Boon Teck has brought Singapore’s theatrical production works to Asia and beyond. Titoudao – which he wrote and directed in 1994 – travelled to Cairo, Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou. Beyond achieving new heights in his productions, Boon Teck is also passionate about grooming the next generation of theatre practitioners. Under his leadership, Toy Factory had launched the playwright incubation programme “The Wright Stuff” in 2017 to provide one-to-one mentorship for emerging talents in their pursuit for artistic excellence. 

The recipient of this year’s organisation award is Nam Hwa Opera which was founded in 1963 and celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Standing by its mission to preserve, develop and promote traditional Teochew opera in Singapore, Nam Hwa Opera has presented traditional works as well as experimented with and incorporated new technologies to engage audiences. 

To allow members of the public to appreciate the beauty of Teochew opera, Nam Hwa Opera regularly holds workshops and outreach performances at schools, community spaces, voluntary welfare organisations and other charitable institutions. Going beyond Singapore, Nam Hwa Opera participates in international performances and cultural exchanges and has performed in Korea, Cambodia as well as Guangdong – the artform’s birthplace in China.

With the conferment of the 6th SCCCA, I am glad to announce that nominations for the 7th SCCCA have begun. I look forward to the support of our friends from the arts and cultural sector to nominate individuals and organisations who walk alongside us in the journey of promoting Chinese Singaporean culture.

Thank you.