The Hainan Hwee Guan celebrated its 170th anniversary last night. For the early Hainanese immigrants, the Hainan Hwee Kuan was a safe harbour, helping them find housing and job opportunities.
The Hainan Hwee Kuan still plays an important role today— uniting the community and promoting important values of hard work, resilience and community spirit. I thank all members who have contributed!
Speech by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong at Singapore Hainan Hwee Kuan 170th anniversary gala dinner on 13 December 2024.
加坡总理兼财政部长黄循财在新加坡海南会馆 170 周年庆祝晚宴上发表演讲
It is always a pleasure to come and join our Hainanese community events, because here you can feel the warmth and the kinship. We may all come from different backgrounds, but we are Sook Ki. We are part of one Hainanese family, and in Singapore, it is extra special because as a community, we are one of the smallest dialect groups in Singapore. And so the bonds are stronger, the ties are even stronger, and that is why the Hainanese community always sticks together. And I am very happy that even in this gathering, I see many young people joining us. I saw some of the scholarship recipients from the Hainan Hwee Kuan and also many students from Yu Ying Secondary School. I think they are here with us as volunteers. We should recognize them. Thank you all for joining us. Hopefully there will be more joining the activities of the Hwee Kuan and continuing the traditions of our community and keep our communities strong and vibrant.
But most importantly, as a community in Singapore, we are not just a Hainanese community, we are a Singaporean Hainanese community. We have something special in Singapore, because we are multi-racial and we are multi-religious. We are in a Singaporean environment, and we learn to live harmoniously with all our different communities, not just different dialect groups amongst the Chinese community, but our Malay friends, our Indian friends, and we uphold our Singaporean identity together. So I hope we will continue to do that as a Hainanese community, keeping ourselves strong and vibrant, but also working closely with other communities to maintain the harmony and the unity that we have in Singapore. And then finally, as we enter the end of the year, I just want to wish all of you good health and happiness and best wishes as we look forward to 2025.