About Us

REMEMBERING PROF LIM KOK ANN, THE FATHER OF SINGAPORE CHESS

WRITTEN BY JUNIOR TAY

Just prior to the SARS outbreak, on 8th March 2003, Singapore lost its ‘Father of Chess’ when Professor Lim Kok Ann passed away at the age of 83 from an apparent heart attack. Prof Lim was evidently famous in Singapore for his contributions to the game of chess. What was not so clear to the younger generation was his contribution to medical science. The older generation remembers the Asian Flu of 1957 where schools were closed and many people bedridden with fever. The Asian Flu was just as contagious as SARs and more significantly, a million people around the world had succumbed to it. However, at the height of the epidemic, a young Singaporean doctor isolated the flu virus. His name ­ Lim Kok Ann. I only got to know Prof in 1992 when Fong Ling ( then my girlfriend and now my wife ) introduced me to him. His passion for chess, his generosity and his bubbly wit was evident for all those who knew him. As for his achievements, I will leave it to his daughter to relate…

THE INSPIRING ACHIEVEMENTS OF LIM KOK ANN

WRITTEN BY STELLA KON

Stella is Prof Lim’s daughter, a well known playwright, novelist, short story writer and poet, whose works are frequently used as literature texts in Singapore schools

Most people know Dr Lim Kok Ann as a spokesman and promoter of the game of Chess. For over forty years, he has taught the game to others, organized competitions, collected funds and generally built up this area of the national sportsfield. It is mostly due to his efforts that in 1992, Singapore could muster a National Team for the Chess Olympiad in Manila, and from our small population, there were three International Masters on that team.

Dr Lim Kok Ann is also known as Singapore’s “Flu Fighter”, because in 1957, he was the first person to isolate a new strain of the virus which causes Asian flu. This was among his other contributions to science, in his chosen field of microbiology the study of very small organisms which cause disease. He has worked beside Nobel prize winners in the world’s leading research laboratories, and has a solid reputation in the scientific community. As a teacher and academic, he reached the top when he became Dean of the Medical School of the University of Singapore. For many years, he was a member of the Senate, the University’s governing body. Long before that, he was known as the youngest Professor in the University of Singapore. But Lim Kok Ann doesn’t regard his life as one of great triumphs, of challenges met and overcome. “I never imagined anything as a challenge in my life,” he said, in the sense of taking something which carried the risk of personal failure. “Maybe I never attempted anything I felt I could not accomplish.”

He described his return to the Christian faith of his youth, as a reevaluation of all he has achieved­ “When I had done all these things, I looked at them and they didn’t seem so important. All those things didn’t really matter much.” What does matter to him? Things like the desire for fame and money have never really been important to Lim Kok Ann. Asked where he learned his sense of values, “I suppose I learned this from my family tradition,” he said, “from the examples of my father and my uncles.”

EARLY INFLUENCES

Lim Kok Ann’s father and uncles were the sons of Dr Lim Boon Keng. Though Lim Boon Keng was eminent in his own time, the young Lim Kok Ann was not much aware of his grandfather’s achievements; he knew more about his eldest uncle, Dr Robert Lim Kho Leng, who was Professor of Physiology of the Peking Medical Board, in Chiang Kai Shek’s China in the 1930s. Robert Lim became Surgeon General of the Chinese Red Cross. He could have used his job, like many other in similar positions of responsibility, to enrich himself, sell off every movable asset, and pocket any foreign aid. Instead, “When Robert Lim retired in 1949, he left the Ambulance Corps with two years’ supplies of tires and batteries,” Lim Kok Ann said proudly. “Robert Lim was the only General who retired without any money of his own.” Millions of dollars of American aid were poured into China through Robert Lim’s personal bank account because the officers of the Rockefeller Foundation rightly trusted his integrity. Kok Ann’s father, Kho Leng, was a bank officer in Singapore. Capable and hardworking, nevertheless, he never got ahead in his profession, was often transferred and never got promoted to Director. “I heard my mother scolding him, ‘you don’t know how to do business!’ It means that he wouldn’t please his Directors by bending the rules, conniving at irregularities.” Like his brother Robert, Kho Leng set Lim Kok Ann an example of total incorruptibility, an idealistic integrity that cares nothing for material wealth.

What about the other uncles, the other sons of Lim Boon Keng? Lim Kok Ann laughs. Two of the uncles were flamboyant characters, though perhaps not ideal role models. The third brother was a powerful influence in the shady world of the Amoy waterfront. The fourth brother, Lim Peng Han, was one of Singapore’s top racing drivers in the 1930’s, an exuberant personality who was a ‘bon vivant and hobbyist extraordinaire’, who enjoyed his life in the collection and appreciation of fighting fish, fighting cocks, fighting kites, matchbox labels, racing cars and beautiful women. And the message from these other figures of Lim Kok Ann’s past is perhaps that “Money is not that important. What is important is to work hard at whatever you decide to do and enjoy doing it!”

Lim Kok Ann was a keen Boy Scout. The scouts were an important influence, with their ideals of honesty and service to others. He also learned ideals from books. “I went on a reading jag when I was about 11,” he remembered. “Every day after school, I would borrow a book from the Raffles Library, which was near Anglo Chinese School in Coleman Street. I’d walk back to Oldham Hall in Barker Road, reading all the way… down Clemenceau Avenue, along the railway track…” He mimes, as he’s good at doing, how he’d look left and right to cross the road and return to reading as he walked along. One sees a visual image of a small “specky” boy walking with his nose stuck in his book, putting the miles behind him and absorbing books by the yard. “I started at A on the Library shelves and worked my way through the alphabet”. Under the letter C, he found the adventures of Simon Templar, aka The Saint whose gallant and quixotic idealism stirred his imagination. He wasn’t then aware that Leslie Charteris, the Saint’s creator, was a distant family relation, being a nephew of Lim Boon Keng’s wife another uncle, though unknown! Other adventure novels by Buchan, Haggard and Wren told the noble deeds of gentlemen imbued with the ethos of the British public school; idealistic chaps who kept a stiff upper lip and always “played the Game”.

CHESS MASTER

Speaking of games, the most important thing in Lim Kok Ann’s life has always been the game of Chess. He became Singapore’s 1st National Champion in 1949 and after his retirement from the medical fratenity, he went on to win the National and British Veteran titles twice over. There’s no counting the hours he spent not only pushing pawns himself, but teaching others, giving classes, coaching. The (then) Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once said that Singaporeans should ‘play Chess, not dum (draughts)’. Lim Kok Ann picked up on that remark. He wanted to make Singapore a chess playing nation, with according to his slogan “A Chessboard in every home”. Over, the years, he succeeded in his aims; to popularize chess in Singapore; to train and build up a core of strong players; and to establish training and selection structures, which would enable chess in Singapore and develop without him. He taught schoolboys and schoolgirls, university students, blind students, using his own teaching system called the Bartley system (having first been used at Bartley School). He wrote regular chess articles in The Free Press and the Straits Times. He set up the Singapore Chess Federation; organized competitions and tournaments, and raised millions of dollars, almost single-handedly, for chess events.

“Singapore’s welfare and survival depends on our own intellectual and social skills not manpower numbers but on brain power. Moreover, mere technological know how would not be sufficient, you need wisdom too. A chess player learns to develop his mental skills wisdom comes from within by interaction with other chess players”.

With these lofty words, backed by his authority as a university teacher, Lim Kok Ann would approach his potential sponsors of chess events, telling them that playing chess is good for individuals and good for the nation. Maybe it was too obvious to need mentioning, that people also play the game for fun.

In 1982, after retiring from the University, Lim Kok Ann left Singapore to become the Secretary General of the World Chess Federation, FIDE. Fidel Campomanes had just become the 1st Asian President of FIDE and invited Lim Kok Ann to help him in reorganizing and modernizing the organization. Lim Kok Ann threw himself into the job. For six years, he worked in FIDE’s headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland, at a tremendous pace, administering the world­wide sport of chess with great energy and enthusiasm. He was happy. He was actually being paid, though modestly, to do what he’d been doing all his own life on his own time and at his own expense.

FLU FIGHTER

Lim Kok Ann had a long and successful career as a research scientist. As a young lecturer in Singapore, in 1949, he conducted the world’s first clinical trials of the new Sabin polio vaccine, for the World Health Organization. He oversaw the process of administering the vaccine to thousands of Singapore school children, and collated the results. As a result of these trials in Singapore, the once­ dreaded disease of polio has been almost eliminated throughout the world. Lim had the opportunity of working at major research centres in Australia and America. “My Uncle Robert once gave me this advice for any young scientist,” he said. “Identify the field in which you’d like to work. Find our who is the best man in the field and go work for him for some years. And then find out who is the man’s enemy, and go to work for him for some more years!” The meaning seems to be that Robert Lim was talking about the idealistic quest to pure knowledge, impartial and far above personal bias. “Well, I was able to do something like that, more or less chance. I worked for Wilbur­ Smith in England, and then someone in his lab gave me an introduction to Sir Mac Farlane Burnet, who was his, you could say, friendly rival”.

Lim worked for a spell in the Canberra laboratory of Mac Farlane Burnet, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on cellular immunology. Lim Kok Ann was the head of Microbiology Department at the University of Singapore for nearly thirty years while also working for WHO in Singapore and elsewhere in the world. The ‘Flufighter’ incident, picked up by the newspapers, was one incident in a full professional life. One of the satisfactions of that life, was the technical skills to be used and developed. “I like working with my hands”, Lim Kok Ann said, explaining that his line of research requires a high degree of manual skill: in marking cultures, inoculating animals, and even in handling the apparatus required (American colleagues were once amazed to see him manipulating glass pipettes two by two in his right hand, when everybody else handled them one by one). He also liked Mathematics as a boy. Combined with liking to use his hands, this led to his hobby of Mechanical Engineering in his own home workshop. “I’m fascinated by tools and craftsmanship. In London, I took a night study course in Mechanical Engineering. Then I could talk to the lab technicians, tell them how to make the apparatus, argue with them when they said it couldn’t be done. I don’t want to tell someone to do something that I can’t do myself”.

His most memorable professional achievement was to devise a new diagnostic procedure, while working at the Houston headquarters of the World Health Organization in 1959. It was a simpler way to identify enteroviruses viruses which cause enteritis. There are 49 known types of enterovirus. Health workers around the world, having isolated the virus that was causing enteritis in their area, would send it to WHO in Houston for identification. Forty­ nine different tests had to be run. Lim Kok Ann devised a method for testing for one combination of several viruses, then another combination, and so on. By permutation of the combinations, a result could be ‘shaken out’ in only six tests. It was the principle of the football pools; another instance of the playful element in the Lim character, being put to good use. “We prepared enough test material to last till the year 2000”, Lim said. WHO’s adoption of the Lim­-Benyesh­-Melnick antiserum pools was a seminal event that enabled hundreds of scientists to work with enteroviruses and to discover new ones.

In 1994, Lim Kok Ann made a phone call to Houston, to chat with Marge Watson, who was his colleague in those exciting days more than forty years ago. “I said, ‘You know, Marge, we should have got a medal or something for what we did. WHO never really gave us much recognition for it’. And she said (guffaw of throaty laughter) “Haw haw…But we had a lot of fun doing it, Kok Ann!!’” That has been Lim Kok Ann’s motivation from the start, a combination of idealism, and a youthful, playful spirit. The real and only reason for doing anything is because you enjoy it, because you think it’s fun. And if you do it right, you do it with integrity. In the words of those old adventure novels, “Always play the game!” And when the games are over? Late in life, says Lim Kok Ann, he looked at the things he had achieved, the honours he had gained, and thought, “There must be more to life than this”. The academic honours, the titles and respect, did not mean much. Even the world’s greatest chess players had feet of clay. When seen in close­up: in 1978, at the World Championship Final match between Korchnoi and Karpov, the competition was dominated by arguments over ‘stupid things like the colour of the yoghurt’.

The meaning that he found in life was Christianity. He was brought up in the Methodist faith, drifted away from it, and then returned to it in middle age. ‘It’s more important to serve God than man”. Back in Singapore and almost fully retired , the high point of his week was the regular prayer meeting with a group of close Methodist friends. He used to teach chess six hours a week at Raffles Girls’ School and to young pupils of Boon Lay Primary School. He plays in the occasional local chess match, with more enjoyment than success. He became the Advisor to China’s National Chess Federation, where he helped mentor Women World Champion Xie Jun. And several times a year, he accepted invitations to officiate at major chess tournaments around the world, as Chief Arbiter for FIDE.

The Arbiter is the Appeals Judge at a chess tournament, the authority who interprets and enforces the rules. His decision is final and cannot be challenged. He needs to be someone whom all parties trust, whose integrity and freedom from bias are known to all. To be such a respected authority, in the sport to which he had devoted so much of his life, is Lim Kok Ann’s final achievement.

SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF ‘PROF’ LIM

WRITTEN BY JUNIOR TAY

ZWISCHENZUGS

Prof had just learned from me that a chess playing friend of mine (whom he was not even acquainted with at all) was involved in an accident and had just landed in hospital, facial bruises, leg fractures and all. So he insisted that we visit the fellow immediately. Armed with both Chess and Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) sets, we whizzed down to the hospital where Prof spent the majority of the time there blitzing with the chap at both forms of chess. It was a funny sight indeed, a bedridden young man and a chatty veteran hunched over a chessboard on a hospital bed, discussing the finer points of the King’s Indian Averbakh and ‘Ping Feng Ma’.

On another occasion, Prof made one of his abrupt phone calls and asked both my wife Fong Ling (then girlfriend) and I out for lunch. Thinking that it was another one of those hawker fare Teochew Porridge lunches at Lau Pa Sat, I got out in my slipper and shorts garb, only to panic after realising that he had made a lunch arrangement with property tycoon Datuk Tan Chin Nam (one of the key movers of the USA-China summit matches) at a posh hotel restaurant. Yikes…Major faux pas…I couldn’t back off from the appointment and was wondering what to do about the social blunder but the light banter between Prof and Datuk Tan put us entirely at ease.

DISREGARD FOR MATERIAL

While walking along Orchard Road with Prof, my girlfriend and I told Prof about our impending wedding and he immediately went to the ATM and withdrew $500. He stashed it into Fong Ling’s hands, insisting that she buy some nice pearls with it to go with the wedding gown.

Once, he called me over to his place where he wanted to find out who was then the most promising junior player in Singapore and why. I mentioned “Goh Wei Ming, who had finished 7th in the Disney World Youth Championships” and that was the last I heard about the matter. Much later, I met Wei Ming at a friend’s place where a chess tournament was held. He was reading Seriawan’s’ Inside Chess’ and I found out that Prof had paid for all his issues of the excellent magazine.

Fong Ling was playing in the Manila Olympiad 1992 when she traded Queens in a position where she had a big advantage to wrap up the game in the ending. After the game, Prof went to the chess store to buy her a book on Capablanca to indicate his pleasure at her style of play.

INITIATIVE

In 1982, on sheer impulse, Prof accepted an invitation to go to Lucerne, Switzerland to serve as the Secretary General of FIDE. He didn’t even consult his wife. “I just told her to pack the bags,” he said matter of factly.

In 1995, Fong Ling and I were then studying at the National Institute of Education, training to be school teachers. When Prof asked why we were not playing in the Singapore­ Malaysia International Match which was to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we told him about the impending school examinations which will end on the first day of the event and he told us he will settle matters for us. A few days later, he called me up to pick up a couple of air tickets at the American Express office and we were whisked off to Kuala Lumpur where we made the flight and landed in Stanford Hotel, KL, just in time for the 2nd Round. Both Fong Ling and I won.

PRAGMATIC DECISION MAKING

(Related by GM Dr. Wong Meng Kong in ‘Chess, Medicine and Psychiatry’)

Before joining medical school, I was a medium ranking chess player with a modest ELO rating of 2285 and an International Master title from the World Chess Federation, and the honour of being the only Singaporean to win a World chess event (Asian Junior Championship 1979). My doubts about pursuing a difficult and often unrewarding career in medicine were tossed aside when my mentor Professor Lim Kok Ann admonished me and said, “Chess is for fun. You need a proper job to eat.”

CHESS & LIFE

When asked what chess had taught him in a New Paper interview on May 17, 1995, Prof said, “People compare chess with life. You prepare your forces, make split second decisions, take risks and learn from defeat. All these are valuable lessons in life”.

The Chess Official
(Related by Prof in ‘Indian Summer of a Patzer, Singapore Chess Digest, Nov 1995)

When I officiated in some important FIDE event, I was given to remark, “Those who can, play; those who cannot, teach; those who cannot teach, become arbiters”.

Note: SCF’s new constitution was passed at the Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2022, and pending final approval from the relevant authorities. In the meantime, the following constitution still takes effect.

SINGAPORE CHESS FEDERATION CONSTITUTION

1     INTERPRETATION

1.1 In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “Federation” shall mean the Singapore Chess Federation

(b) “Council” shall mean the Executive Council for the time being appointed under this Constitution.

(c) “Council Members” with reference to the Executive Council shall mean and include the President, Vice-Presidents, General Secretary. Honorary Treasurer and Ordinary Council Members.

2     NAME

2.1 The name of the association shall be the SINGAPORE CHESS FEDERATION and shall hereinafter be referred to as “The Federation”.

3     ADDRESS

3.1 The official place of business shall be 51 Bishan Street 13, #02-01A, Singapore 579799 or such other address as may subsequently be decided upon by the Council and approved by the Registrar of Societies.

4     OBJECTS OF THE FEDERATION

4.1 The objects of the Federation are:

(a) to be the principal authority over Chess activities in Singapore

(b) to represent Singapore in the International Chess Federation (FIDE)

     and international chess organisations affiliated to FIDE.

(c) to develop training schemes for schools and youth.

(d) to organise tournaments especially at national levels.

(e) to participate in international and regional championships.

(f) to promote Chess and the interests of chess players in Singapore.

5     POWERS OF THE FEDERATION

5.1 The Federation shall:

(a) have the exclusive power to represent Singapore at regional and international meetings and competition sanctioned by Singapore National Olympic Council, FIDE or its affiliates.

(b) decide upon the entry of players representing Singapore in international competitions.

6     MEMBERSHIP

6.1 CATEGORIES OF MEMBERS

6.1.1 The Federation shall have the following categories of Members:

(a) Patrons

Persons who are distinguished in public life and are Singapore citizens may be appointed by the Council as Patrons.

(b) Honorary Advisors

Persons who are distinguished in public life or members who have contributed significantly to the development of Chess, may be appointed by the Council as Honorary Advisors.

(c) Honorary Life Presidents

Distinguished persons, and/or members who have contributed significantly to the development of Chess may be elected at a General Meeting as Honorary Life Presidents for Life. Such persons so elected, shall pay no dues but they shall have no say in the affairs of the Federation.

(d) Honorary Members

Persons who are distinguished in public life or who have rendered meritorious service to Chess in Singapore or to the Federation may, on the recommendations of the Council, be conferred for life as Honorary Members at a General Meeting.

(e) Life Members

Ordinary Members who have made a one-time payment equivalent to ten years’ annual subscription at Ordinary Member rate.

(f) Ordinary Members

Ordinary Membership shall be open to Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents of age 20 years and above as on the 1st day of January of each year.

(g) Associate Members

Associate membership shall be open to all persons of age 20 years and above as on the 1st day of January each year. Associate Members shall have all the rights and privileges of Ordinary Members except that they are not eligible to vote.

(h) Junior Members

Junior Memberships shall be open to persons of age below 20 years as on the 1st day of January each year.

(i) Affiliation Members

Affiliation Members are those clubs, organisations or such bodies with interest in Chess. Affiliation Members are eligible to vote, provided their Delegates to any general meeting are Singapore citizens or Permanent residents of age 20 years and above as on the 1st day of January each year.

6.2 APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

6.2.1 Application for Membership shall be made on a prescribed form to the General Secretary who shall present it to the Council for approval.

6.2.2 Membership shall be for one year ending on the 31st day of March. Renewal for membership shall be made between the 1st day of April and the 30th day of April.

6.2.3 The Council shall have the power to accept or reject such application or renewal for membership without assigning any reasons.

6.3 SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION OF MEMBERS

6.3.1 The Council may suspend or expel a Member if the Member has conducted himself by word or act in a manner, which in the expressed opinion of the Council, is prejudicial to the interests of the Federation and/or injurious to its reputation. Such Members shall be given the opportunity to present his case in person before the Council, and may, within 30 days from the date of the Council’s decision, lodge a Notice of Appeal to the Chairman of the Appeals Committee.

6.3.2 The Appeals Committee shall consist of 3 persons and 2 reserves. The Appeals Committee and the Chairman thereof shall be appointed by the members in any General Meeting. Such persons shall be past Council Members.

6.3.3 The decision of the Appeals Committee shall be final.

6.3.4 Any Member who has been expelled may apply, after a period of 2 years, to the Council for reinstatement, and any such Member may be reinstated conditionally or unconditionally as the Council at its discretion deems fit. The Council shall not be bound to reinstate the said member.

7     SUBSCRIPTION

7.1 The entrance fee and subscriptions for all types of memberships shall be determined from time to time at a General Meeting. Any such revisions shall apply from the beginning of the following calendar year. The subscription shall be payable in such manner as the Council may from time to time decide.

7.2 Entrance fee is a one-time payment for all new applications.

7.3 Membership subscriptions are payable annually. Any Member who fails to pay due subscription within one month of notice or by the last day of May, whichever day is earlier, shall cease to be a Member.

8     MANAGEMENT

8.1 EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

8.1.1 The Federation shall be managed by the Executive Council consisting of a President, three (3) Vice-Presidents, General Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and six (6) Ordinary Council Members.

8.2 ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

8.2.1 The members of the Executive Council other than the General Secretary shall be elected for a two-year term from among members with voting rights. The Executive Council shall then appoint the General Secretary, who shall be a member with voting rights, to the Executive Council. The General Secretary, while being an Executive Council Member, shall be paid a stipend. The amount of stipend and other terms and conditions of engagement of the General Secretary, shall be set by the Executive Council and the General Secretary shall not have voting rights in such matters. The Executive Council shall have sole discretion to employ on its terms and conditions supporting paid staff such as an Executive Director to assist the General Secretary.

8.2.2 The Honorary Treasurer shall not be re-elected for consecutive terms.

8.3 DUTIES OF THE COUNCIL OFFICIALS

8.3.1 President

(a) The President shall preside as Chairman at all Meetings of the Federation.

(b) In the case of a tie of votes, he shall have a second or casting vote.

(c) He shall represent the Federation in all matters pertaining to the Federation.

8.3.2 Vice-Presidents

(a) The Vice-Presidents shall assist the President in his duties. One of the Vice-Presidents shall act as the President in his absence.

8.3.3 General Secretary

(a) The General Secretary shall keep a record of all the proceedings of the Federation and deal with all correspondences.

(b) He shall maintain an up-to-date register of Members.

(c) He shall keep all records, except financial, of the Federation and be responsible for their accuracy.

(d) He shall be responsible for the annual submissions to the Registrar of Societies.

(e) He shall submit at the Council Meetings any matters for discussion received from members of the Federation.

(f) He shall prepare the Annual Report of the Federation for presentation to members.

(g) He shall issue timely reminders to members for membership fee that are overdue.

8.3.4 Honorary Treasurer

(a) The Honorary Treasurer shall be in charge of all the finances of the Federation and shall receive and pay out money on behalf of the Federation.

(b) He shall keep a book of accounts to be produced when required.

(c) He shall report on the financial position of the Federation at every Council Meeting and submit a Statement of Account and Balance Sheet at the Annual General Meeting.

(d) He shall obtain the approval of the Council before spending more than $1,000 on any one item.

(e) He shall normally not keep more than $500 cash in hand.

8.3.5 The other Council Members shall assume specific portfolios and responsibilities as designated by the Council.

8.4 COUNCIL MEETINGS

8.4.1 The Council shall meet as often as it deems necessary, normally once a month for the dispatch of ordinary business and for carrying out the objects of the Federation as this Constitution empower it to perform.

8.4.2 The General Secretary shall give at least seven (7) days’ notice for Council Meetings. The President may direct that a Meeting be called with less than seven (7) days’ notice.

8.4.3 Any Council Member who is absent from three consecutive Council Meetings without explanation satisfactory to the Council shall thereof deem to have vacated his position. A successor may then be co-opted by the Council to serve until the next Annual General Meeting. No more than 5 members may be co-opted into the Council during its tenure.

8.5 QUORUM AND VOTING

8.5.1 At least half the number of Council Members shall form a quorum at all Council Meetings.

8.5.2 All decisions of the Council shall be made by a majority vote of those Council Members present and voting at the Meeting. In the event of a tie, the Chairman of the Meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

8.6 POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

8.6.1 The Executive Council, subject to the provision of this constitution, shall have the power to:

(a) Carry out the objects of the Federation

(b) Fill any vacancy on the Council

(c) Appoint Sub-Committees as from time to time considered advisable.

(d) Appoint Patrons and Honorary Advisors.

(e) Enter into contracts for the purposes of and incidental to the carrying out of the objects of the Federation.

(f) Frame by-laws, regulations and/or standing orders not inconsistent with the Constitution.

(g) Act in a manner deemed expedient should the occasion arise for which provision is not made in the Constitution or by-laws made there under.

(h) Approve the application of any new members and accept the resignation of existing members of the Federation.

(i) Accept the resignation of any Council Member.

(j) Co-opt members to assist the Council in its administration.

(k) Take disciplinary action against members who violate the Constitution of the Federation.

(l) Authorise publications or release official statements on behalf of the Federation. Such publications and statements shall be consistent with the objects of the Federation.

8.6.2 In the event of any question or matter pertaining to day-to-day administration that is not explicitly provided for in this Constitution, the Council shall have the power to use its own discretion. The decision of the Council shall be final unless it is reversed at a General Meeting of members.

9     GENERAL MEETING

9.1 NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING

9.1.1 At least fourteen (14) days’ notice in writing must be given for any General Meeting.

9.2 QUORUM AT A GENERAL MEETING

9.2.1 The quorum of a General Meeting shall be twenty (20) or fifteen (15) per cent of voting members, whichever is lower.

9.2.2 In the event of there being no quorum after half an hour of the stipulated time of the Meeting, the Chairman of the Meeting shall after that half an hour, declare the Meeting convened even without a quorum. However, the Meeting shall have no power to amend any part of the Constitution.

9.2.3 Members entitled to vote are:

(a) an Ordinary Member

(b) an Affiliation Member represented by a Delegate who is a Singapore citizen or Permanent resident of age 20 years and above as on the 1st day of January each year.

9.2.4 An Ordinary member may also be a Delegate whereby he shall have two (2) votes.

9.2.5 An Affiliation Member should nominate its Delegate in writing to the General Secretary before the Meeting.

9.2.6 No Ordinary Member shall represent more than two (2) Affiliation Members.

9.2.7 Voting shall be by ballot. Unless otherwise provided, a motion or resolution at any General Meeting shall be carried out by a simple majority of those members present and voting.

9.3 CONDUCT OF MEETINGS

9.3.1 The President shall be the Chairman at all meetings of the Federation. Should the President be absent the Chairman shall be a Vice-President, failing him, a Member elected by the meeting.

10     ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

10.1 The supreme authority of the Federation shall be vested in a General Meeting of the members presided by the President.

10.2 The Annual General Meeting of the Federation shall be held in Third Quarter (i.e. July, August, September) of each year for the following purpose:

(a) To receive the Executive Council’s Annual Report and the Audited Accounts for the preceding financial year.

(b) To elect officials of the Executive Council for the ensuing two (2) years.

(c) To appoint an Auditor for the ensuing year.

(d) To transact any other business of which at least 7 days’ notice in writing has been given to the General Secretary.

11     EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

11.1 An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened by the Council or on receipt of a written requisition by at least fifty (50) or 20% of Ordinary and/or Affiliation Members whichever is lower. The objects and reasons shall be stated in the requisition. Upon receipt of the requisition, the Council must convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held within twenty-eight (28) days from the date of receipt of such requisition. Requisitioning Members must hold membership for at least one (1) year.

12     FINANCIAL YEAR

12.1 The financial year of the Federation shall end on 31st day of March of each year.

13     AUDIT

13.1 The accounts shall be audited by an auditor to be appointed at each Annual General Meeting.

14     AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION

14.1 No amendments to the Constitution shall be made except at a General Meeting by a resolution, which shall be carried by a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes properly recorded at the Meeting. Such amendments shall only take effect after the approval from the Registrar of Societies.

15     DISSOLUTION

15.1 The Federation shall be dissolved by an Extraordinary General Meeting called for this purpose with a minimum of three-fifths of the total voting membership of the Federation for the time being resident in Singapore voting either in person or by proxy in favour of the resolution for dissolution.

15.2 In the event that the Federation is being dissolved, the funds of the Federation shall be used for the settlement of all its debt and liabilities and any surplus shall be handed to the Singapore Sports Council for safe-keeping until another Federation is formed.

15.3 A Certificate of Dissolution shall be given within seven (7) days of the dissolution to the Registrar of Societies.

16     PROHIBITIONS

16.1 Gambling of any kind and the playing of mahjong whether for stakes or otherwise, are forbidden on the Federation’s premises. The introduction of bad characters and paraphernalia for gambling or drug-taking onto the premises is prohibited.

16.2 The funds of the Federation shall not be used to pay the fines of Members who have been convicted in a court of law.

16.3 The Federation shall not engaged in trades union activity defined in any written Law relating to trades unions for the time being in force in Singapore.

16.4 The Federation shall not attempt to restrict or interfere with trade or make directly or indirectly any recommendation to any arrangement with its Members which has the purpose or is likely to have the effect of fixing or controlling the price of discount, allowance or rebate relating to any goods or services to be supplied by them.

16.5 The Federation shall not hold any lottery, whether confined to its Members or not, in the name of the Federation or its Council Members, Council or Members.

16.6 The Federation shall not indulge in any political activity or allow its funds and/or premises to be used for political purposes.

16.7 The Federation shall not raise funds from the public for whatever purposes without the prior approval in writing of the Head, Licensing Division, Singapore Police Force and other relevant authorities.

Amended on 14 & 21 January 2001, 30 November 2003, 26 June 2004, 29 June 2009, 02 August 2015.