Professor Looi's speech on Annual Dinner of 43rd anniversary celebration of the Singapore Hew Clansman Association
8 Apr 2012
Mr Hew Wan Tat, chairman of the anniversary celebration committee
Committee members and members of the Singapore Hew Clansman Association
Representatives from the various guilds and associations
Friends from the Chinese chess circle
Ladies and gentlemen
Tonight marks the 43rd anniversary celebration of the Singapore Hew Clansman Association. I am honored to be present on this auspicious occasion, and am indeed delighted to witness the joyful and harmonious atmosphere of this gathering. I am sure every one of the 600 guests present here this evening would like to join me to say: “How much I love this occasion and I love you all”. Indeed, everyone present here tonight is a lovely person.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have always held a high opinion of the Singapore Hew Clansman Association, which commands strong support of the guilds and associations and whose members are so cordial among themselves. Every year, I look forward to this day. I would like to take this opportunity to convey my best regards and congratulations to Mr Hew Wan Tat and his management team on their strong spirit of co-operation. I hope that this team spirit will be emulated by other organizations to make this world a better place, where people live in perfect harmony, co-operation, happiness and prosperity.
Tonight, if you could bear with me, I would like to touch a little on the origin of The Chinese chess and the study of Sunzi’s Art of War in Singapore.
Twenty-seven years ago, I was once the president of the Singapore Chinese Chess Association. Later I also became president of the Malaysia Chinese Chess Association. I have always taken a keen interest to study the origin of the Chinese chess. Today I have reason to believe that the Chinese chess owes its origin to ancient Chinese philosopher Jiang Taigong. It was said that when Jiang tried to kill time as an angler in his farm house, he also studied the art of war. He wrote the words "chariot, horse, general, soldier, official and elephant" on the pebbles he had gathered to play a game of war between two rival states.
Later, encouraged by the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, the war game using pebbles became a popular pastime among the ordinary people as well as the soldiers. During the Song Dynasty, the war game gained popularity and pebbles to indicate new military weapons were added to the game, which began to take the form of today’s Chinese chess.
The Chinese chess is a great art. It is said that in the wars fought in this world, there were no two wars which were completely identical. Likewise one set of chess game differs vastly from the other. In a set of chess game, as in a battle, one needs to act quickly according to the changing situation in order to triumph. This is the most important philosophy of “cause and consequence” in the art of war. In the past decades the Lion City owed most of its achievements of success, which won worldwide acclaim, to the chess game philosophy. This is to say that most of Singapore cases of success reflected the rules and theories of the chess game. In the 20 years in the early Singapore history, the whole nation helped in promoting the chess culture. It is unfortunate that the chess culture has been on the decline in recent years. Nevertheless, with the support of the Chinese and English media of Singapore, the chess culture has been given a new lease of life as seen in the positive response to the Chinese chess competitions in Singapore recently. Each of these competitions attracted between 500 and 2,000 spectators.
I remember when I first moved to Singapore from Malaysia in 1974, I went to the Chinatown liaison centre to watch a Chinese chess competition. At the opening ceremony, I was surprised to see the republic’s then Foreign Minister Rajaratnam, who was there to perform the opening ceremony. There were not more than 70 people present at the scene. Nevertheless I was deeply impressed by the cordial atmosphere of the scene. Ten years later, the Singapore Chinese Chess Association organized Chinese chess competition twice a year. For six years consecutively, the competition was opened by a Singapore government leader. The prize giving ceremony was also performed by a government leader. The annual Straits Times Cup sponsored by the Straits Times newspaper received financial support of more than $100,000 from the Guinness Stout of the United Kingdom – thanks to the Singapore government backing of the event. Here I would like to mention the two outstanding personalities in the Chinese chess circle at that time. The selfless contribution of the late Kan Chun Ching, former general secretary of the Singapore Chinese Chess Association and chief judge of the Chinese chess competition Than Min Sian had brought about a “golden age” in the Chinese chess activities in Singapore, which perhaps could be enhanced by the principles of the Sunzi’s Art of War.
The Chinese chess and the Chinese Sunzi’s art of war do not allow the slightest judgment error and they emphasize that every step taken is for the future. They stress on theory and overall planning and never letting go a good opportunity. But the profound knowledge of these two cultures is difficult to grasp. If we can fully understand the quintessential qualities of these two Chinese cultures, we will truly be in a state of enlightenment. Perhaps Singapore can be the student to try to fathom the depths of these two cultures.
However, without hard work and experience of at least 10 years, guidance and direction, it is by no means easy task for Singapore.
I have studied the Sunzi’s Art of War for 50 years and have lectured on the subject for 22 years. I have given 680 talks on Sunzi’s Art of War and have been invited by 20 universities in mainland China to lecture on the subject. This evening, I am prepared to share my experience with you on this subject and I hope that I will be of help to you.
We, as students of the Sunzi’s Art of War, are impressed by the efforts of the Singapore government to apply the teaching of the art. We are tempted to ask: has the Sunzi’s Art of War made Singapore what it is today?
We all remember, former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee once said: “If you don’t study the Art of War by Sunzi, how can you become the Prime Minister of Singapore?” Dr Goh’s words indicate the weight of this world class classic. The Sunzi’s Art of War is a pair of unseen wings that will help us soar in the sky in search of our objective.
－
－
－
－