I wrote this without ChatGPT

“Welcome To Singapore” speech at The Indie Summit, by Koh Juat Muay, President IPRS

Good Morning,

It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to Singapore on behalf of the Institute of Public Relations Singapore, the IPRS.

My deepest thanks to Julian Boulding , thenetworkone for inviting me, and to Stephanie Fox and the event team for organising this fantastic summit.

It was lovely to meet some of you yesterday evening and this morning. This is a great crowd. I am amazed by how everyone here wears their international hat and articulate their local experience with such ease. The networkone is indeed the world’s leading independent agencies network.

We are looking at an excellent two days with the best speakers and invaluable time with each other.

My name is Juat and I am the President of the IPRS. I serve on the Institute’s Council along with 9 fellow council members.

The Institute was set up in 1970. A bunch of PR people back in the early days of the emerging nation of Singapore, got together for mutual support and to formalise a professional body – very indie you would say.

The mission is to advance the PR profession and to uphold practice standards.

Today, we have members from across communications disciplines – PR, internal and corporate communications, public affairs, marketing, brand communications, media and journalism from both agency and client sides.

We are concerned and very involved in efforts to bring school and industry closer together. For this we have 10 student chapters with tertiary institutions where we hold talks, agency visits, mentor and coach.

Nurturing the next generation of communicators is critical to the growth of our profession.

The Institute organises ongoing content and networking events: IPRS Learning Luncheons Online; IPRS Accredited Member’s Dinner Dialogues; cross-disciplinary events with partners in the legal, HR and non-profit sectors, and conduct training in foundational and strategic communications skills.

We have two signature events: The IPRS PRISM Awards, one of the oldest PR awards in Singapore, set up in 1986, and The IPRS PRISM Summit launched last year in 2022.

As a Singaporean, I am proud and grateful that this world class summit has made its way here. Thank you.

Singapore - the place is uniquely small and successful.

Singapore - the brand is uniquely independent and successful.

The ability to hold our own within a global network of complex relationships.

There are many studies on how surprising Singapore is from the political and branding perspectives.

Instead, if I may, share my thoughts about Singapore as a first-generation citizen – our mindset, experiences and outlook.

The nation of Singapore was born on the 9th of August 1965. I am just over a year older than Singapore. My father came from the island of Hainan (China) in the 1920s just after the first world war and my mother in the late 1940s just after the second world war.

I am Singaporean and my ethnicity is Chinese. My childhood friend and neighbour was a fun-loving Malay girl. My favourite food is the Indian cuisine, nasi briyani. I read English literature and language in the university, and my favourite movie is Casablanca.

In one of my first roles in PR, as Director of PR and Fundraising for The Salvation Army, I went on a study trip to New York City – returned three days after 911and having been one of those fateful flight routes.

I was fortunate to have worked on projects that took me to Oman, Qatar, Mexico City, China and Japan.

My upbringing in multi-cultural Singapore has helped me to embrace duality and at the same time look for common ground.

The reason for any achievements and opportunities given to me is simply that Singapore is an economic miracle.

We survived the transition from colony to independence in the 60s, the world oil crisis of the 70s, our construction and manufacturing recession of the 80s, the Asian currency crisis of the 90s, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the COVID pandemic of the last few years and now traversing global dynamics to promote economic peace.

Singapore - our people, private and public sectors are always in battle gear, in sneakers ready to run – to safeguard a strong economy, to survive, to grow.

Getting it right, preferably on the first try, tracking results/KPIs, pushing for innovations, creative enterprises, getting ahead in fintech, agri-tech, med-tech, biz-tech, AI, the next frontier.

Singapore will always do something about something: fine-tuning our education pedagogy; bringing in foreign investments, building business infrastructure, housing and transport development; national campaigns for health; cyber security; ensuring racial harmony, upskilling; sending aid overseas. The list goes on.

ESG is top of mind now: Environment, Social And Governance. In the context of Singapore’s economic growth, I would add another E to ESG – EESG. We are doing our best to ensure that the first E (Economics) is informed by how we protect our environment, take care of our society and getting policies and the policing of these policies in place.

It is significant that the summit is held here in - The Green Icon in the heart of the City- PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, a beautiful ‘hotel-in-a-garden’.

The following features are curated and measured:

• 50 varieties of plants in a tropical urban high-rise garden.
• Short building depth to maximise daylight reaching internal spaces.
• More than 50% of guests corridors are with natural light and fresh air.
• Food waste digester converts food waste into greywater not destined for landfills.

Optically, the hotel is impressive, open the door, look in, and it must be equally and honestly so.

One of my fellow IPRS Council Members, Elaine Chan is the Director of Communications and Sustainability at the PARKROYAL COLLECTIONS, Marina Bay, Singapore, another excellent hotel in the group.

Communications is now synonymous with sustainability. What is your organisation doing about it and how are you communicating it.

I believe that PR people are needed in every industry and organisation.

The PR person today is a digital savvy knowledge worker who is also a trusted counsel, well-versed in geopolitics, cultural diversity, social inclusion, and climate change.

I love PR people. A good PR person can smell the blood in a story, spot a disaster from a far and take a situation from crisis to calm.

I believe the PR profession is one of the most important and indispensable.

I joined the IPRS in my early years in PR. I have found friendship and camaraderie among its members.

After more than 20 years of membership, I step forward to volunteer and serve.

Along with fellow Council Members and Past Presidents, we led the Institute through a digital transformation (transform or die literally) to meet the needs of our members as we navigate a constantly evolving communications landscape.

PR is a good profession with good people.

I mentioned the name or rather acronym PRISM earlier on – The IPRS PRISM Awards and IPRS PRISM Summit.

PRISM stands for Public Relations In Service of Mankind – we believe that PR is a force for good.

If I may summarise Singapore in a few words: Pragmatic; Multicultural; Competitive; and Authentic.

The meaning and nuances in these words are found in our political system, in our food, our music, our stories, our social structure, our national campaigns our business ethos and in our interpersonal dealings.

Perhaps this is the formula for success not just Singapore’s success.

I am excited for our industry and believe that good things come out of our willingness to explore, connect, honour each other’s values and take the first step.?

This leaves me to wish you all a fantastic Summit and every success in your business and personal journey!

Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4-QPzFbEzQ