A very good evening to one and all, Good Tidings, Apa khabar semua?, “Vanakkam”, “Da Jia Hao”!  As President of the Management Committee, it is my pleasure to welcome you back to the OPA Annual Reunion Dinner of the 96th edition. 

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I'm just as delighted as all of you to be back at this Paulian Homecoming event.  I'm happy to see that all of you are keeping well and looking cheerful and indeed it's a privilege that we can all come together again to experience the Paulian spirit, as well as to rekindle the lost momentum of this beautiful tradition over the past 2 years. 

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So, here we are to make the best out of it this evening and together, we shall make it a night to remember!

 

With no thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year we are seeing a record number of year groups celebrations. I would like to congratulate the classes of 97 and 72 who are here tonight  to celebrate their auspicious silver and golden jubilees with 10 tables and 3 tables respectively. At the same time, the year groups of 95, 96 and 71 are also celebrating their belated and much overdue 25th and 50th anniversaries tonight.  Congratulations to all of you on the occasion of your significant milestone, I hope you will have a great time tonight, do enjoy yourself and  thank you for maintaining the tradition.

 

As Lasallian, we will be commemorating a very important event this year which is the Celebration of the 170 anniversary of La Salle in Malaysia.  In this respect, I extend my heartiest congratulation to the Lasallian Mission on this auspicious occasion. The Lasallian Mission is our benefactor, it is an institution that has brought education to a higher degree in Malaysia, and have given us a quality and holistic education and this is what makes the difference in all of us today.  I'm sure you will all agree when I say that we owe the Lasalle Brothers, a big debt of gratitude, and this is something that  even words can’t express how much it meant to us.  So, let us not forget this profound debt of gratitude and how we can ever repay is just to take pride that we are Paulians and together we will always spare a thought for our alma mater.

 

Having said that, I'm very proud to say that the Association has always been blessed to be in collaboration with many faithful and caring Paulians to raise funds in support of the schools as well as the needy and deserving students of St Pauls.  Joining the ranks of these "unsung heroes", are 2 Paulians from my Class of 1978, who are none other than Mr. Gerard Chan and Mr. Loh Yah Shang who initiated the C78 Student Welfare Fund to provide food for poor students of both schools.  Recently, they have organised a hugely successful Fundraiser where a significant amount was raised, and I think is fantastic.  I can confidently say that we can now continue to provide food for these poor students for at least the coming 2-3 years. 

 

May I also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dato’ Seri Lee Tian Hock on being conferred the S.S.N.S award which carries the title of Dato’ Seri from Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang Di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan.  Unfortunately, Dato’ Seri is unable to be with us tonight but he is represented by his son, Kelvin, also a Paulian from the class of 2008.  And on the same Honour list, we also have Mr. M Gopinathan and Mr. Stephen Van Huizen who have been conferred the D.N.S and  the D.P.T awards respectively.  Congratulations to Both!  Our felicitations to Mr. Francis Siow who has been named as the Recipient of the OPA Outstanding Paulian Award 2022.  We must take a moment to acknowledge all his hard work and talent that went towards being named as recipient for this prestigious award.  Well Done Sir!

 

Before I end my speech, I would like to acknowledge with a very special word of thanks to all our generous advertisers, donors and those who have helped out in one way or another, in making this event a big success tonight. I am particularly thankful to Dato’ Seri Lee Tian Hock for his very kind and generous cash donations of RM10,000. This is very much appreciated. And not forgetting, I must also specially thank the Class of 1979 for their very kind and thoughtful cash donation of RM6,126 to the OPA.  This group has just jointly celebrated their 60th birthday and it was at this event that this amount was raised.  Happy Birthday to you, members of the Class of 1979 and sincerely, thank you so much for thinking and caring for OPA. 

 

On that note, I shall conclude by wishing you all the very best, stay safe, have a very wonderful evening and a good time ahead!

 

Once a Paulian, Always a Paulian!!

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