(L to R) 1sr ROW: MS PRISCILLA KREMPL, MR. GOH CHONG CHIA, THE RT. REV DR JOHN CHEW, CANON DR. JAMES WONG, MS POH CHWEE SIAN 2N° ROW : MR. ANG CHEE SENG, MR. RICHARD KOH, THE VERY REV DR JOHN TAY, MR. TANG KWOK WAH, MR. GERALD LIM, MRS. VIVIEN CHEOK, MR. ERIC TAN JR0 ROW: MR. JAMES LEE, REV KINGSLEY PONNIAH, MR. LIM TEIK HOCK, REV DR SOH GUAN CHIN, DR CHAN SHAW YAN 4 ... jJj j J}J £J jJ; ~l Js ;'t!)!) j j .. 'J!J!J!iJ f !)!JfJ!JEjjJ~ !J;~ 1 l~ ~!J~!a I lll!W Prof Ho Nai Kiong, our Guest of Honour, Mrs Ho, Canon Dr James Wong, our Supervisors, Mr Gerald Lim and Mr Tan Soo Kiang, distinguished guests, staff and students Singaporeans are great travellers. We eagerly jump on an aircraft and end up somewhere else. It is an odd experience, if you think about it. The aircraft trip is like suspended animation - every flight is rather similar and we do much the 1 same thing as we make our way to wherever our destination is - fasten your seatbelt listen to the flight safety presentation, order a drink, eat, sleep, read a book, watch the in-flight movies. This predictability is repeated at airports the world over - there again is that similarity - immigratiopbaggage collection, customs and so on. It is rather like an anaesthetic. You step out of one country, pass through the anaesthetic and emerge in another country. You leave your country when you enter the airport and you don't really arrive at your destination until you leave the airport at the other end of the flight. The flight experience with its dull and safe predictability allows you to shake off your thoughts of where you were and covertly prepares you for a changed scene, a new culture. The trip home after a period away from Singapore has its apprehensions. We hope, when we pass through the customs, that all that meets us will be familiar. Our family, our friends, our city, our country - are they all as I remember them? The trip home from the airport is filled with a reality check. "How is everyone?" "I see they have changed the roadway here." "I don't remember that building." We yearn for the way it was. Or perhaps for the way we believed or remembered it was. Of course, Singaporeans have learnt to accept change as part of the wonder of our country. We have been trained to expect things to be a little different every time we return and we know from experience that, generally speaking, the changes have improved our life and our country. Earlier this year, the Permanent Secretary (Education), Mr Chiang Chie Foo, addressed Principals about how we prepare our students for a future of continuous change. He spoke of two "pegs" that would shape our future. These were globalisation and social cohesion. We have to measure up to the world and we need to hold together at home. Rather like the traveller, we want to taste life everywhere else and we want to be able to return home to something that is essentially Singapore. The job of the schools is to achieve these two, almost contradictory goals. We must make our students citizens of the world but they must also be made socially cohesive, loyal citizens of Singapore. As I say, these goals are almost contradictory. By making our students citizens of the world, we risk many dangers which could affect our home. The first is that the world will become more attractive than Singapore and we lose our citizens. Sadly that risk is a real one and often affects the most capable of our sons and daughters. A second risk is that we invite unwelcome foreign influences into our country, into our home. It is rather like surfing the internet: while it is valuable and important, there is always the risk of picking up a virus that will do untold damage to your computer. I think it is easy to see that this risk too, is real. Already we are battling some negative influences that have entered our country through communication channels or travel: social viruses that threaten our social cohesion and our society's values. This is a special concern for a Christian school. Having recognised the risks, however, we cannot avoid taking them because progress is inevitable, unavoidable and absolutely essential. In his National Day Rally 2000 speech, the Prime Minister said, "Singapore has to embark on its own journey of change or be left behind." Returning to Mr Chiang's address, he set an agenda for reaching these twin goals of globalisation and local cohesion. He suggested that there were four mindsets to be overcome. The first was Think Global, Transcend Local in which he urged schools to have an international focus. St Andrew's has always prided itself on such a focus, indeed it is one of the planks 5 of our Student Charter. The second mindset was Connect to Compete where Mr Chiang spoke about the sharing of information, the exchanging of knowledge and the establishing of strategic alliances. St. Andrew's constantly and successfully works at overcoming this mindset too. The third mindset, according to Mr Chiang, was Balance between Order and Chaos. He spoke of making homegrown entrepreneurs, igniting passion and nurturing great dreams and encouraging calculated risk-taking. He stressed that some chaos must be accepted and that order should not be overvalued. This is a real challenge to schools, even ours, where order is too often equated with effectiveness. We must learn to allow things to bubble and rattle a little. How much chaos is acceptable and how much is desirable? How much order is essential and how much is too much? Here I think our Christian tradition helps us answer these questions. At the very moment of creation, God made order out of chaos. However some chaos was allowed to survive. We have free will that allows us to make choices, be they right or wrong. We must make those choices within a moral and ethical framework and, as Christians, God has provided us with such a framework. We must ensure that, amidst the chaos, our students are equipped with the Christian framework that will allow them to operate in a chaotic environment. I have seen people studying the great white sharks off the southern coast of Australia. They must be in the water with the sharks but they do so in a metal frame where they can operate without too much risk. That is the kind of framework I mean for our students. We want them to do what is necessary but do so safely. As a school, order can be overpowering. Rather like the traveller, we want the school to be the same as when we left it. Clearly that cannot be. In a world that is essentially chaotic and is in constant flux, we must expect change even embrace change. The Prime Minister uses a soccer analogy. He contrasts the roles of a striker and a goalkeeper. "Goalkeepers, important as they are, do not score goals," he says. "We need more Singaporeans who are willing to take a shot at goal. .. As a country, we also have to play like a striker." While agreeing with the basic thrust of offence rather than defence, I note that The Prime Minister acknowledges the importance of the goalkeeper. So while the strikers are doing their thing, what is the goalkeeper protecting? We must distill from the past the essence of our school. What is St Andrew's? This essence must be preserved at all costs. At the heart of this essence is our Christian mission but there are other values and qualities as well. Things other than that essence must be allowed to evolve through time. We are now not as good at rugby as we were but we are arguably the top school in cricket. The essence of this is that we are a school that loves sport and we are traditionally competitive. The fact that the sport has changed is, in my view, an artifact that is literally unessential. At this point I would like to praise and thank the Lord for the service of our retiring Chairman, Bishop Moses Tay. Here is a man who epitomises the essence of St Andrew's school - a modest man, a Christian leader, a man of faith, a scholar, a servant of his community, a global thinker and a great citizen of Singapore. We know that things must change and that our great leader must pass his mantle to another but, in our hearts, we wish it could be otherwise. We will miss our good and faithful servant. However, we pledge that the example he has shown us, the values he has instilled in us and the mission he has given us will continue to guide our school. I have often said that St. Andrew's is a great school and our Board needs such leaders to ensure our greatness is maintained. Whatever I could say about Bishop Tay would never do justice to his enormous contribution to the school so I ask you all now to join with me in thanking our retiring Chairman. Thank you. As I say, the Bishop shows us how the essence of what St Andrew's is about can be lived out in Singapore and the world. It is this type ofleadership, Christian leadership that must be a major goal, part of the essence of St.