Years of unhappiness culminate in 4-way fight for top post at Singapore Recreation Club

THE Singapore Recreation Club (SRC), one of the oldest social clubs in Singapore, is seeing a 4-way fight for its top job in the latest elections this week, coming after unhappiness with the stewardship of the incumbent management committee - most notably with matters related to the lease renewal of the club’s site at the Padang.

This is the most heated election in the club’s nearly 140-year history with the highest number of candidates contesting, noted Johnny Goh, who was the club’s president for 22 years until 2015. 

“After years of financial and leadership problems, members are finally starting to wake up,” he said. 

A total of 43 candidates are gunning for the various office bearer posts - president, vice-president, finance member, chairman of the games control board, and the other 8 committee member positions. 

Three 12-man teams, one 5-man group, and 2 independent candidates make up the 43 contestants for the elections that will run from Thursday (Apr 28) to Saturday (Apr 30).  The release of the election results, together with the 134th annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Saturday.  

The incumbent team, Sincere-To-Serve, is led by presidential candidate Robin Tan this time. The current president, Dr Sarbjit Singh, who was with this team in previous elections, is stepping away from the club. He has been leading SRC as president since 2016, before which he was vice-president since 2014. 

“If elected, we intend to restore the reserves for the future generation of members through renewal of memberships from the remaining 1,000 members who have not done so yet, and through a number of sporting and social events,” said Tan. 

Opposition rising from troubles

Matters hit a boiling point last year when the club, located on Connaught Drive, was approaching its lease expiry. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) offered SRC a 30-year extension for a sum of S$18.4 million. 

A proposal was then made by the incumbent management committee for ordinary, women and corporate members to pay a levy of S$6,700 for the renewal costs. About 74 per cent of members subsequently voted against this. 

Eventually, a levy of S$2,500 per ordinary member was agreed upon, and SRC managed to collect about S$9 million in Jan 2022. They paid the rest of the required renewal amount from its reserves. 

“Why should members pay more because of the previous management’s mistakes. The reserves were built by previous members for such land renewals,” said Chang Yeh Hong, executive chairman of Nordic Group and the presidential candidate representing his team, 12 Good Men. “We intend to bring good corporate governance, full transparency and accountability if elected.”

Chang noted that his team has a good mix of chartered accountants, lawyers and business owners who will be able to lead SRC effectively. 

“SRC is in a prime location in the city, with good facilities and is walking distance away from the MRT. The city view from the club is one of the best. Subscription rates, membership fees should match the features its offers. There should be no reason why reserves are low,” he added. 

Goh was suspended from his presidency after a complaint lodged by Singh in 2015. That year also saw the start of a series of lawsuits by Singh against Goh and Abdul Rashid Mohamed Ali - who was the general manager of SRC before resigning in August 2014. 

SRC members that BT spoke to said an estimated S$2 million of the club’s reserve funds were used to pay off these lawsuits. 

In December last year, Singh told The Straits Times that SRC had some S$13.8 million in its reserves. Goh recalled that when he left in 2015, the club had about S$24 million in investment bonds, and about S$3 million in free floating cash. 

Currently there is about S$5 million left in the reserves after the renewal, and there are 4,130 ordinary members and 86 corporate members. 

Both finances and membership have slumped in recent years, said presidential hopeful Johnson Teh, who leads the SRC United team. 

The youngest in the slate of presidential candidates, 46-year-old Teh, noted that his team has a combined 252 years worth of membership experience. 

"Many active members were expelled under the current leadership, and the financial reserves have been badly deteriorating," said Teh, who runs a private equity fund. "Our target is to build the reserves to S$15 million by 2025." (* see amendment note below)

Independent candidate Lim Fatt Seng, the last of the presidential hopefuls, currently holds the finance member position in SRC. 

Lim declined to comment when approached by BT, but noted in his 2022 message to members that the club's finance department, led by him, has managed to see cost savings of S$4.35 million during the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021. 

Goh warned voting members to pick candidates from the same team for all positions, rather than to “mix-and match” different team members for different positions, lest there be ideological disputes with the next management committee. 

“Voting members should read the manifestos of the different parties, and vote members of the same party across all the various positions. If there are too many different positions filled by opposing parties, it may not bode well for the club’s future,” he noted. 

* Amendment note: The article previously quoted Johnson Teh saying that his team's target is to build the reserves to S$50 million by 2025 when in fact it was S$15 million.