JOSEPHIANS | LUMEN
19
A
Josephian
Through and Through
By Darren Leow and Liam Burridge
The passionate chess player who prevented the Chess Club from closing down during his school days , is the same one who still lives by the SJI motto : Ora et Labora . Mr Kenneth Tan embodies the Josephian spirit even today .
Upon the horrific discovery that our email in its raw draft stage was unintentionally and embarrassingly sent to Mr Kenneth Tan when the internet connection was disrupted abruptly , a gracious and prompt reply from the Managing Director of United Overseas Bank was the last thing to be expected . In a pleasant twist of fate , the vaguely incoherent message was not only deciphered with incredible accuracy but the spontaneous email response breathed a life of magnanimity and humility that brought relief and a growing eagerness to meet our interviewee face to face .
In person , Mr Kenneth Tan ( Class of 1983 ), exudes the same benevolence and brotherliness that were alive in his words . The firmness in his handshakes , the approachability of his entire demeanour as well as the warmth and sincerity in his sharing during the interview are unforgettable . Through his candid sharing , it becomes evident that passion fills his every cell not just now but even when he was a student in SJI some three decades ago .
When asked about one of the most memorable things he did when he was in SJI , he went into detail about the revival of the Chess Club . The Chess Club then , he revealed , was on the verge of extinction but Mr Tan “ raged against the dying of ( its ) light ” in Dylan Thomas ’ s words and decided
to do something to revive it . Mr Tan must have done such a commendable job because by the time he graduated from the school , the SJI Chess Club was one of the most popular and thriving clubs in the school . Chess competitions sprouted in the school and beyond , with boys and girls from other schools coming to SJI to pit their skills against one another and the school team even became chess champions in the national chess championship . Almost everyone was playing chess in some corridor or other during their free time and at any one time , an SJI boy would be defined by the chess set he carried in his school bag ; some even had more than one set . Such is the power of the passion which drives Mr Tan in pursuit of his goals .
Embracing diversity in the SJI community was also something that Mr Tan subscribed to and valued as a student . He fondly recalls the old SJI at Bras Basah Road as a crucible where a wide variety of people from a myriad of backgrounds coexisted and supported each other through good and bad times . They ranged from the supremely brilliant to the average and the goody-two-shoes to ( even ) the rough and tough boys that scared everyone but who were really good hearted kids once we went beyond their initial tough exterior veneer . This good mix , he believes , is valuable , for everyone
possesses their own unique strengths and weaknesses but the ones who emerge successful are those who are able to acknowledge their weaknesses and build on their strengths . Noting that this range of differences is absent in the current SJI given our PSLE T score system , with boys in SJI now not differing significantly in their academics or interests , the richness in the experience and interaction with other people of different backgrounds , is thus inevitably lost . This , he maintains , may not necessarily be an undesirable situation , for other opportunities abound and SJI students now are mostly good-hearted and anchored in very sound values that the school keeps reinforcing .
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Ora et labora - pray and work . These words will stand the test of time .
“
As one who lives by the school ’ s motto : Ora et Labora , which translates into ‘ pray and work ’, Mr Tan breaks down ‘ working hard ’ into doing something that one is good and interested in and putting in the effort to excel in it ; and thinks of ‘ praying hard ’ as keeping true to our Lasallian values , always knowing what is right or wrong and what one should do to make a positive difference in others ’ lives . By keeping to these two key principles , he is of the view that this will propel any SJI boy in the right direction for many years to come , not unlike how this age-old adage has served him well in his previous offices in the fields of military and economics , and now in the financial sector .
These values inculcated in him during his days in his alma mater have also stayed constant , like a guiding star and a moral compass that cannot be dispensed with even though our work and societal environment has changed substantially from the days he was in SJI and will continue to evolve dramatically in the years ahead . Among his takeaways when he left the gates of SJI are the critically fundamental values of always treating others with a clear sense of right and wrong and never taking advantage of a fellow human being for self gain but rather to always attempt to improve society in whatever we do . As he urges Josephians to learn the right values at SJI and have a clear “ north star ”, he advises them to keep these values unadulterated as they leave school and are met with an avalanche of new experiences .
As words of courtesy and handshakes were once again exchanged after more than an hour long of inspiration with Mr Kenneth Tan , there was a strong sense that for this true blue SJI boy , the Josephian spirit is not merely embodied but has become a way of life .
This page ( top ): Mr Kenneth Tan addressing the 161st Speech and Graduation Ceremony
This page ( bottom ): Mr Kenneth Tan with his son , Aaron Tan ( 403 )