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Dear Friends and Partners of Honour (Singapore),
Happy 2024! May the New Year bring you and your family good health, much happiness, new opportunities and many possibilities! May the New Year bring you fruitfulness, fulfilment and much satisfaction in your many undertakings. Thank you for your support and encouragement for standing with us over the years as we continue to promote a culture of Honour and Honourable Behaviour for the well-being of the nation.
This quarterly newsletter serves to provide you an update on key developments: President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as Patron of Honour (Singapore), our partnership with MediaCorp for airing Honour films, and the Honour International Symposium 2024 for which we wish to invite your interest, your support and your participation.
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Winning with Honour |
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As you may know, Honour (Singapore) was birthed in 2014 as the result of deep reflection as to why Singapore has managed to survive and succeed as a nation coming to 50 years despite so many naysayers, and a prevailing pessimism, on Singapore’s ability to survive, much less succeed, as what is the only city-state in the modern world. We identified the two most fundamental reasons for Singapore’s survival and success as:
First that Mr Lee Kuan Yew, our Founding Prime Minister, had “marketed” Singapore as a people and a government who can always be trusted to deliver on our promises, to work hard, to take pride in our work, to pay attention to quality and excellence; we are reliable and dependable, we Honour our Word, we are Trustworthy.
Second, arising from Mr Lee’s belief that race and religion are visceral – “People will kill each other on account of it.” – Singapore developed a legal and social framework which sought unity, peace, security and stability in all our diversity; we were a people who Honour Each Other, we are Accepting of one another.
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| President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Patron of Honour (Singapore) |
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It is with much pride and deep gratitude that we announce our privilege of having President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as our Patron. We look forward to his guidance and encouragement as we promote the culture of honour for the unity, success and advancement of Singapore and Singaporeans. President Tharman’s call of “Respect for All” holds immediate resonance with our foundational precepts of “Honour Our Word” and “Honour Each Other”. |
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Living out Honour |
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| Honour International Symposium |
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The Honour International Symposium is a biennial symposium that brings together leaders and future leaders in business, government, and community groups to discuss issues of honour and honourable behaviour for successful business, stable homes, and strong nations.
The next Honour International Symposium (HIS2024) is planned for 26-27 September 2024. The theme will be “Honour for Sustainable Success”. We expect to discuss Business Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability and Social Sustainability. Speakers at the Honour International Symposium come from a variety of backgrounds and countries. They will share their thoughts and experiences on the effective practice of Honour in leadership, business, family, and nation. We are currently working through the programme details and will provide updates as we go along.
Block off your diaries now! You can be assured that HIS2024 will be exciting and practical for work and life. Our inaugural symposium was successfully organised in 2016 where we had the privilege of hearing Alibaba’s founder, Mr Jack Ma, share his beliefs on the virtue and criticality of Honour in business via his video message which you can simply click to watch. You may visit http://www.honourinternational.sg/ to learn more about the previous symposiums held over the years in 2016, 2018 and 2022. We had to skip 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. |
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The Leaders Forum is a regular forum that we organise to bring together leaders of organisations, big and small, to discuss how Honour may be embedded in their organisations for long-term success. We have successfully convened eleven such forums so far, reaching over seven hundred leaders over the years. The Leaders Forums in 2024 will be held on the following dates: 4 April, 4 July and 3 October. If you are a CEO or a C-suite Leader and would like to attend one of these Forums in 2024, please get in touch with me at limsiongguan@honour.sg to express your interest. |
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| Honour Champions Community |
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People thrive when nations and societies offer them opportunity to be the best they can be, not just as individuals but as a community.
David Halpern, in his thought-provoking book “The Hidden Wealth of Nations” (Polity Press 2009) sought to make sense of the paradox where “Richer nations are happier [than poorer nations], yet economic growth doesn't increase happiness.” He found the answer to the paradox in what he called “the Hidden Wealth of Nations - the extent to which citizens get along with others independently drives both economic growth and well-being. Much of this hidden wealth is expressed in everyday ways, such as our common values, the way we look after our children and elderly, or whether we trust and help strangers. It is a hidden dimension of inequality and helps to explain why governments have found it so hard to reduce gaps in society.” Governments find it difficult to reduce some critical gaps in society because the solution does not lie in government but in the quality of the relationship between the people and the initiatives they take to cement that relationship. It is highly significant, and worthy of all our support, that the 4G political leadership of Singapore has made “social capital” a special area for focus.
Honour in society, built upon Singapore’s historical experience as a nation, has to manifest in two ways:
First, to Honour our Word – keeping promises, and being trustworthy and dependable.
Second, to Honour Each Other as human beings and citizens of the land, recognizing and appreciating the differences between individuals, whether it be in terms of race or religion, language or culture, talents or abilities, seeking acceptance and unity in the midst of all our diversity.
It involves Honour-driven Individuals who seek to be the best they can be according to their talents and abilities, Honour-driven Families with close relations among members of the family built on love and understanding, Honour-driven Communities displaying care and concern, graciousness and consideration, between people in their daily interactions, Honour-driven Organisations and Businesses where honour and goodwill prevails in relationships with customers, workers and business partners, and Honour-driven Nation where there is mutual trust between the people and the government, and respect for state institutions that seek to deliver fairness and justice for the benefit of all. In all these dimensions, relationship, respect and trust are recurring attributes.
Weaving the wisdom of David Halpern with the impact Honour (Singapore) seeks to achieve for the well-being of society, the instincts most people already have about the importance of honour and trustworthiness need to be drawn out into thought and action. Honour, built on trust and connectedness and activated by concern and consideration, makes for happiness and success for the individual, the family, the community, the workplace, and the nation.
We in Honour (Singapore) are acutely aware that if the world of family, society, business and government is to benefit from greater trust between people, and care and concern for one another, the virtue of honour has to become a habit and a natural part of each of our lives. And this will not happen unless there are significant numbers of people who resolve to be "Honour Champions", as meaning they believe so much in the value of Honour for life and living that, whether it be in social or business circles, they will champion the idea and practice of Honour as best they can.
Honour (Singapore) enables and encourages this through the formation of Honour Champions Groups, these being groups of people who find fellowship and common interest, and decide to come together to share their individual thoughts and experiences on promoting honour at home, in the neighbourhood and at the workplace. We welcome all who are prepared and convicted to identify themselves as Honour Champions to join this movement of Honour Champions Groups united together in the Honour Champions Community.
We currently have Honour Champions Groups for HR professionals, for young professionals, for agility practitioners, for sustainability advocates, for trainers and coaches, for poly students, and for SME leaders. We will be happy to create any number of new Champions Groups to meet the needs of more Honour Champions.
Please contact us so we can meet to discuss how you can join or lead an Honour Champions Group, and succeed as leaders, influencers and multipliers of Honour. Should you wish to learn more about the Honour Champions Community, please visit our website at https://honour.sg/community/ or write me at limsiongguan@honour.sg. |
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| Honour Film Initiative and Youth Outreach |
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If you should visit our website or our Facebook page, you will notice that we are having a major presence in sponsoring short films on the theme of Honour. The film producers are young people who express their perspectives and observations on the practice of Honour in a whole variety of life situations, through film.
We continue to be inspired and often surprised by the ideas the young people have brought forth. We now have a collection of seventy plus short films, all of which you are encouraged to watch, and even download and share. We are also happy to announce a new partnership with MediaCorp where our current films and new films will be available for viewing on their platforms. You may watch it here at meWatch: https://www.mewatch.sg/show/Honour-Singapore-426541.
The 12th Honour Film Screening was held on 2 November 2023 at the Capitol Theatre that was played to a full house with over 600 participants in attendance. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and touching as we unveiled a brand-new slate of short films and documentaries. We believe these short films on the theme of Honour can help promote a gracious society where people look out and care for one another, to the benefit of all of society.
You can easily access them on our website or Facebook page. If you or your organisation would be keen to support this film initiative by means of sponsorship or donations, please get in touch with us at admin@honour.sg We also welcome sponsors for any specific Honour Films which may particularly appeal to you or your organisation.. |
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Thank You and Wishing you a Happy 2024 |
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On an administrative note, we are glad to report to you the annual audit of our accounts for our financial year of 1 June 2022 – 31 May 2023. The auditors have found them to be in good order; you may find a copy of their report here.
I continue to speak about Honour, on an invitation-only basis, at schools, companies and community groups. If you believe such a session could be a boost to the vision and morale of the people in your organisations, do let me know your interest at limsiongguan@honour.sg.
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We at Honour (Singapore) humbly recognise that all we have been able to do has been possible only with the support and encouragement of many donors and partners. We have created 'The Honour Donor Roll' on our website to publicly thank our generous donors and supporters who have helped us so much over the years. Every donation is important, though we are especially acknowledging a special group of Founder Donors who support us with a donation of a million dollars and more. If you can be a Founder Donor, we will be so very grateful for your extra-generous support.
We welcome donations of any amount from both corporates and individuals, with the donations qualifying for tax deductibility as we enjoy the status of an Institution of Public Character (IPC). We are also happy to share that there is a dollar-matching grant from the Government, effectively doubling your donations and support. Sponsorship donations are also welcome for the Honour Film Initiative and our other programmes and initiatives.
My deepest thanks to you for all your help and encouragement over the years. And may I again wish you and your family a blessed time of peace, happiness, good health and much fulfilment and success for the New Year.
My very best wishes to you and your family.
Lim Siong Guan
Founding Chairman, Honour (Singapore)
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