Team led by Nordic Group’s executive chairman makes clean sweep at Singapore Recreation Club elections
12 Good Men snag all 12 management committee seats at SRC elections
THE team led by Chang Yeh Hong, executive chairman of Nordic Group, swept up all of the 12 contested positions in the latest elections held at Singapore Recreation Club (SRC) - amid unhappiness over the previous management committee’s handling of club affairs for the past half decade.
A total of 43 candidates battled it out, the highest for any SRC election, making it a watershed moment in the club’s 140-year history.
Chang’s team, 12 Good Men, tallied 2,851 out of 6,115 votes cast for the 4 office bearer posts - president, vice-president, finance member, and chairman of the games control board.
Among the 30 candidates vying for 8 committee member positions, all 8 candidates from Chang’s team secured the top positions in the vote tally ranking.
Citing the election results released on Saturday (Apr 30), Chang, who takes over the presidential duties from Sarbjit Singh, said that SRC members have given his team a strong mandate - not just in terms of winning all the contested seats, but also doing so with a high margin.
In his 2-month-long campaign, Chang reiterated his aim to make SRC “the premier club in the civic district of Singapore”.
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“Our mission is to stand out from other clubs, and the changes we make should be sustainable for the next 30 years,” he added.
The club’s election comes after the renewal of the SRC’s land lease in January this year - a hot button issue that arose in September last year when the lease renewal offer was approaching its deadline with the Singapore Land Authority.
Members had expressed concerns about the depleting financial reserves, with some of it spent on lawsuits by the previous management committee.
Chang pointed out that his team aims to set up a mediation council that allows the club to internally resolve disputes and potentially prevent issues from going to court.
Tan Lam Siong, an advocate and solicitor since 1986 as well as a newly elected committee member, will be leading the setup of the council, Chang noted.
“It is important that we remove animosity, stop the unfair treatment of members, and rebuild the trust and camaraderie within the club,” he added.
Reserve funds spent on lawsuits were a “big waste of money”, said newly elected finance member Wee U-Jin, who is also a regional tax director of Heineken Asia Pacific.
“We will now look at the books and examine what has happened in the past,” said Wee, who has a 23-year financial career. “At the end of the day, we need to be transparent and financially accountable.”
Many members are recognising that the club is growing old and progressive ideas are needed to increase revenue streams as well as contain costs, he added.
“Raising membership costs is one possibility, but alternative options are also promoting more events associated with our national heritage around the Padang, '' Wee said.
SRC will capitalise on the upcoming Formula One (F1) event in Singapore and look towards attracting more corporates and companies around the central business district region, he added.
The 134th annual general meeting (AGM) was held on Saturday along with the release of the election results.
A resolution passed in the AGM now allows women members to convert their membership to become ordinary members, a key move in the club’s direction towards gender equality, Chang said.
Previously, women above 21 years old either had to get lady membership or register as a spouse under an existing member - both of which have no voting rights.
Voting powers are only given to ordinary members, who before this were only men, as well as corporate members. There are currently 4,130 ordinary members and 86 corporate members.
“Ladies will now play a bigger role in the club, and we invite more dynamic women to join SRC,” said Chang.
In the long term, the lady memberships category will be phased out with women and men given equal opportunity to be ordinary members, he added.
“We want to embrace business owners and promoters, financial professionals and financially endowed ladies for networking, entertainment, lunches, talks and so on,” Chang said.
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