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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Bor Butt Ti Mah Bow Tan said "Hi!"....</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Oct-29 11:08 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>23512.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Bonding over Hainanese favourites
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Congress of clansmen paves way for deeper ties and collaboration </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Yen Feng
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At the opening ceremony yesterday of the three-day World Federation of Hainanese Associations congress are: (from left) Mr Huang Pei Mao, adviser to the congress' organising committee; Mr Pan Jia Hai, organising committee chairman; National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan; Minister of State for Community Development; Youth and Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, who is also Hainanese; (cont'd next picture)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->'JIAK bui bor?' asked Mr Mah Bow Tan of the thousands of Hainanese gathered at Singapore Expo yesterday.
His question, meaning 'Have you eaten?' in the Hainanese dialect and doubling as a greeting, drew immediate applause from the 2,500-strong crowd from as many as 28 countries, some as far afield as Suriname in South America.
The Minister for National Development, himself a Hainanese, was at the biennial Congress of the World Federation of Hainanese Associations being held here this year.
The event, the largest since the maiden one in 1989, gives clansmen a chance to get together to share stories, trade contacts and enjoy cultural shows like dance and opera.
The night before, at the event's welcome dinner, costumed secondary school students from Hainan pranced on stage between platters of steamed kampung chicken, a Hainanese favourite, and steamed rice.
Later, event compere Fu Yingying burst spontaneously into a Hainanese song, then said: 'Please forgive me for interrupting the programme. I just felt like singing.'
Nobody minded. The audience egged her on, shouting: 'More, more!'
Hainanese Association of Thailand president Jaturong Danchaiviroj, 78, said that though he was born in Thailand, he felt at 'home' among the clansmen.
Yesterday, the bonhomie carried on.
Mr Mah's reference to food struck a chord not only with the foreign delegates, but with the Hainanese from here too. He noted that although the Hainanese community here had branched into various industries, it was in the food business that many had excelled.
He cited as examples Mr Ngiam Tong Boon, the Hainanese bartender who invented the famous Singapore Sling cocktail at the Raffles Hotel, and Mr Loi Ah Koon, who set up the first Ya Kun Kaya Toast coffee shop in 1944.
He urged visiting delegates to try local Hainanese coffee and chicken rice, adding: 'Let this fellowship run deep, like a cup of aromatic coffee, to be passed down from generation to generation.'
Singapore Hainan Hwee Kuan president Foo Jong Peng said in his address that kinship was the reason the clan had sponsored a trip by a group of surgeons to Hainan this year to perform operations on children born with cleft lips.
Kinship also underpins the free legal advice the clan here dispenses to abused China brides from Hainan. It also gave out $1.5million in study grants this year.
After a night of fun, the delegates got down to serious business yesterday: plans were made to raise money for a Chinese-language school for Hainanese immigrants in Vietnam, while the Malaysian Hainanese Association said it would give scholarships to needy Hainanese in Indonesia.
Mr Han Min Yuen, a delegate from Brunei, said such collaborations would 'encourage the flowers of friendship to bloom' among the clansmen.
Today, the last day of the congress, the delegates will tour Singapore.
Hainanese in Singapore number about 220,000, said the clan.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Congress of clansmen paves way for deeper ties and collaboration </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Yen Feng
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
At the opening ceremony yesterday of the three-day World Federation of Hainanese Associations congress are: (from left) Mr Huang Pei Mao, adviser to the congress' organising committee; Mr Pan Jia Hai, organising committee chairman; National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan; Minister of State for Community Development; Youth and Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, who is also Hainanese; (cont'd next picture)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->'JIAK bui bor?' asked Mr Mah Bow Tan of the thousands of Hainanese gathered at Singapore Expo yesterday.
His question, meaning 'Have you eaten?' in the Hainanese dialect and doubling as a greeting, drew immediate applause from the 2,500-strong crowd from as many as 28 countries, some as far afield as Suriname in South America.
The Minister for National Development, himself a Hainanese, was at the biennial Congress of the World Federation of Hainanese Associations being held here this year.
The event, the largest since the maiden one in 1989, gives clansmen a chance to get together to share stories, trade contacts and enjoy cultural shows like dance and opera.
The night before, at the event's welcome dinner, costumed secondary school students from Hainan pranced on stage between platters of steamed kampung chicken, a Hainanese favourite, and steamed rice.
Later, event compere Fu Yingying burst spontaneously into a Hainanese song, then said: 'Please forgive me for interrupting the programme. I just felt like singing.'
Nobody minded. The audience egged her on, shouting: 'More, more!'
Hainanese Association of Thailand president Jaturong Danchaiviroj, 78, said that though he was born in Thailand, he felt at 'home' among the clansmen.
Yesterday, the bonhomie carried on.
Mr Mah's reference to food struck a chord not only with the foreign delegates, but with the Hainanese from here too. He noted that although the Hainanese community here had branched into various industries, it was in the food business that many had excelled.
He cited as examples Mr Ngiam Tong Boon, the Hainanese bartender who invented the famous Singapore Sling cocktail at the Raffles Hotel, and Mr Loi Ah Koon, who set up the first Ya Kun Kaya Toast coffee shop in 1944.
He urged visiting delegates to try local Hainanese coffee and chicken rice, adding: 'Let this fellowship run deep, like a cup of aromatic coffee, to be passed down from generation to generation.'
Singapore Hainan Hwee Kuan president Foo Jong Peng said in his address that kinship was the reason the clan had sponsored a trip by a group of surgeons to Hainan this year to perform operations on children born with cleft lips.
Kinship also underpins the free legal advice the clan here dispenses to abused China brides from Hainan. It also gave out $1.5million in study grants this year.
After a night of fun, the delegates got down to serious business yesterday: plans were made to raise money for a Chinese-language school for Hainanese immigrants in Vietnam, while the Malaysian Hainanese Association said it would give scholarships to needy Hainanese in Indonesia.
Mr Han Min Yuen, a delegate from Brunei, said such collaborations would 'encourage the flowers of friendship to bloom' among the clansmen.
Today, the last day of the congress, the delegates will tour Singapore.
Hainanese in Singapore number about 220,000, said the clan.
[email protected]
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