History
In tracing the history of immigration of Chinese into Southeast Asia, when the Chinese from China broke away from the social and cultural context of their ancestral homelands and emigrated to overseas, the rebuilding of social organization and cultural structure at the resettlement destinations were the common problems faced by the overseas Chinese. It was especially so during the post-colonial period and the initial postwar period in which the clan communities of Chinese immigrants in Singapore, despite being under different social and political environment than the ancestral homelands, continued to keep up with the operations of Chinese communities. The founders of Ang Shee, by applying "Worshiping Ancestors" (祖先崇拜) which is one of the principles of social organizations from traditional China, and in conformity with the goal to unite and integrate blood related clansmen, proposed a major program to prepare and organize the Ang Shee General Association. The objectives were to unite the clan relatives and clansmen, promote the spirit of mutually helping one another, cultivate the tradition of respecting the elders, and preserve the Chinese culture and tradition.
By the year 1964, clan elder "WEN MO" (文墨) took the lead to initiate the proposal to prepare and organize the association. The proposal had obtained enthusiastic response from all the clan members. On 24-March-1964, the first organizing committee meeting was convened at the former address of "KIUNG JAI WENG CLAN ASSOCIATION" (琼崖翁氏公会) located at Victoria Street. Clan members present were: Liat Kiat (烈强), "WEN MO" (文墨), "ZHAN FA" (展发), "WENG LI" (翁理), "KE DE" (克德), "MING PEI" (明培), "SHAO MENG" (绍孟), "JIN GUANG" (金光), "SHI ZAN" (诗赞), "GIN SHUI" (金水), "ZHEN BAO" (镇保), "MING CHUN" (明春), "BING NAN" (炳南), "WENG DI" (翁地), "NIAN CI" (念慈) etc. In the same meeting, clan elder Liat Kiat was unanimously elected as the first President, and the detailed rules and regulations had also been formulated for submitting to the government for registration.
On 16-July-1964, the 2nd organizing committee meeting announced that approval for the registration of the association had been obtained. In the meeting, with generous donation from all the committee members, the association collected a total of three thousand four hundred dollars for the first association fund. On 17-August-1964, the 3rd organizing committee meeting passed the resolution to set up various locations for recruitment of members, and the designated members to take charge of this task were:
(1) Sembawang District (三巴旺区): Clan member "JING RU" (镜如);
(2) "XIN BA SHA" District (新巴刹区): Clan member "ZHEN FA" (振发);
(3) "JI NING JIE" District (吉宁街区): "JIN PAN SHAN" (金盘山) group;
(4) Alexandra District (亚历山大区): Clan member "KE FANG" (克芳);
(5) Lim Chu Kang District (林厝港区): "NAN HONG CHANG" (南鸿昌);
(6) "JIN BANG" Road (金镑路): Clan member "MING XIN" (明馨);
(7) Tampines District (淡滨尼区): Clan member "KE DE" (克德).
Due to the constraint imposed during the initial period of preparation and organization, it was difficult to find an ideal location for use as the registered address of the association. The fellow clan members of the "KIUNG JAI WENG CLAN ASSOCIATION" (琼崖翁氏公会), in line with the spirits of harmonizing and promoting friendly relationship among clan relatives and be united to mutually help each other, had kindly agreed to share the use of their association's premises.
On 6-February-1966, the association held its inauguration ceremony. On 25th of February of the same year, election of the first Executive Committee was also held. As everyone expected, clan elder Liat Kiat (烈强) was elected as the President of the first Executive Committee, and with "KE DE" (克德) and "SHAO MENG" (绍孟) as the Deputy Presidents, "WEN MO" (文墨) as the General Affairs Director, "DE YAN" (德炎) as the Deputy General Affairs Director, "ZHEN BAO" (镇保) as the Honorary Treasurer, "MING PEI" (明培) as the Deputy Honorary Treasurer, "MING CHUN" (明春) as the Secretary, "NIAN CI" (念慈) as the Deputy Secretary, and Committee Members included "GIN SHUI" (金水), "WENG LI" (翁理), "SHI ZAN" (诗赞), "JIN GUANG" (金光), "BING NAN" (炳南), "ZHAN FA" (展发), "ZAN SHANG" (赞商), Kang Hai (江海) and "WENG DI" (翁地). On the 10th of July of the same year, Ang Shee General Association held a solemn opening ceremony at the "KIUNG JAI WENG CLAN ASSOCIATION" (琼崖翁氏公会). The curtain unveiling ceremony was personally performed by clan elder Liat Kiat (烈强). Guests of honour that were present included the former Minister Dr. Toh Chin Chye. During the inauguration ceremony, Dr Toh delivered a speech that gave much encouragement to the association. Then, the association had already got more than seventy members.
In 1968, the then President, clan elder "WEN TAI" (文泰), issued a proposal to raise funds as bursary awards, in order to reward the children of fellow association members who excelled in character and learning in university as well as secondary and primary schools and to encourage them to study hard and later give back to the society and the association. In that year, the association already raised more than twenty thousand dollars as the 1st bursary award fund. From then on and up to now, the association has been presenting the bursary awards to clan members' children who have excellent character and academic performance.
By the year 1971, the building at No. 35 Hong Kong Street had changed owner due to change in circumstances. For this reason, the committee led by clan elder Liat Kiat (烈强) for the purchase of new premises was formally set up. Clan elder Liat Kiat (烈强), who took things seriously and personally, donated enthusiastically towards the fund for the purchase of the association's premises. All committee members not only raised a total of more than eighty-one thousand dollars for the fund in a few short months but also ran around everywhere to search for a suitable location. They finally found and bought their own premises at No. 40, Geylang 24A in 1972, and formally moved in at the beginning of 1973. Then the number of association members had increased to more than two hundred.
To better promote the tradition of mutually helping one another among the fellow clan members, the Benevolent Association Committee of the association was established in the year 1970 and had obtained tremendous support from all the association members.
In coordination with the 12th-anniversary celebration, an editorial committee was set up at the end of the year 1977 for publishing the commemorative magazine. With many hard works put in by the editorial committee for the editing and compilation, the 12th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine, which contained excellent pictures and wonderful accompanying essays and thus a valuable collectable item, was published for distribution in the year 1978. In the year 1990, in celebration of the 25th National Day of Singapore cum 25th anniversary of the association, a 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee Commemorative Magazine was also published for distribution. The association had also published for distribution the 45th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine. These magazines had provided complete summary reports of our development in the past and would serve as the fine line of thoughts and references for the future development of the association. All the magazines were distributed to all association members in order to enhance the communications between the association and the members. At the same time, these magazines had also served as the window of our public promotion so as to attract more Weng clan's relatives and members to join the association.
As time progresses and advances, we had entered into the electronic age. In order to attract more youthful clan members to join and pay closer attention to the association, the then executive committee accepted good advice and kept up with time by setting up our proprietary website (www.weng.org.sg) in the year 2007. It had also later opened the Facebook account of the association. In the year 2009, the rules and regulations of the association were also revised, in order to better adapt to and satisfy the requirements of modern society.
In the year 2010, in order to provide to fellow association members a more comfortable venue for activities, and to reduce the burden of daily expenses of the association, the then executive committee passed the resolutions to expand the association's premises, to add more recreational facilities like Mahjong, Karaoke, etc., and also to rent out the unused second floor of the association's premises. The income collected would be used to offset the daily expenses, and the remaining surplus would become part of the association's fund for activities.
The development of the association was the outcome of the active promotion by all the previous Presidents, the contribution by the committee members who took firm footing on their posts, and the sincere cooperation and unreserved support by the fellow association members. But undeniably, the association was also troubled by the issues of succession and growth. Expanding the influence of the association had thus become the focal point that the recent batches of committee members had put priority in. Therefore, the Women's Committee of the association was established in the year 2008 in order to attract the families and relatives of fellow clan members to participate actively in the various activities organized by the association. It had been proven that the Women's Committee had played a major functional role in the annually held activities of the association that could not be neglected. In the year of 2012, the association had also established the Youth Group. As an ideal association of the Chinese community, Ang Shee General Association had erected a framework of binding association members of three generations (i.e. old, middle-aged, and young) together. By doing so, the association hopes to really unite fellow clan members and to undertake the bridging function for the inheritance of the Chinese traditions.
