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Building named to recognise Hong Kong entrepreneur's S$100 million gift
Singapore and Hong Kong, 4 September 2007 - Hong Kong Entrepreneur Dr Li Ka-shing has revealed today, while unveiling the Li Ka Shing Building at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) together with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, that his S$100 million gift to School is a tribute to all those who choose to serve the people.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Professor Shih Choon Fong, President of the National University of Singapore (NUS), said Dr Li's magnificent gift to LKYSPP enhanced its capacity to nurture future generations of policy makers and leaders and the building was named after Dr Li as recognition of his generous gift to the School.
Professor Shih said, "We take to heart the essence of his gift - hope for the future, and faith in the graduates we nurture for leadership and service."
The Li Ka Shing Building is one of the three buildings at the School's historic Bukit Timah Campus overlooking the Botanic Gardens valley and houses the School's executive education programmes as well as its faculty and researchers.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of LKYSPP, said many Asian economies were ready to take off and as they prepared to do so, their main challenge was to develop institutions of governance and regulation to keep pace with their rapid growth.
"Dr Li's gift to our School will help Asia meet this challenge by providing scholarships in perpetuity for building leaders and policy makers throughout Asia. Dr Li's gift is therefore more than a gift to one school. It is a gift to the entire region."
Dr Li's donation will create an endowment fund to support academic activities by offering more than 40 post-graduate scholarships annually and establishing chair professorships. These scholarships will continue its perpetuity and, over time, create a distinguished alumni group of policy makers throughout Asia.
Addressing Minister Mentor Lee, scholars and guests attending the ceremony, Dr Li said, "To choose to serve your people as their best friend and devoted servant is a most noble and conscious choice. It requires the very best of what you have to give."
Dr Li also drew inspiration from Pericles and quoted the great Athenian statesman as saying that, "Great leaders have their vision of what to do and know how to articulate it. And they are incorruptible.
"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others," Dr Li quoted.
The gift of S$100 million from the Li Ka Shing Foundation (50%) and Dr Li's group of companies, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited (25%) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited (25%), will be complemented by a dollar-to-dollar matching grant from the Singapore Government.
The Li Ka Shing Scholarships offered by the School will benefit students from Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries and regions, as well as local students in Singapore.
This academic year, five LKYSPP students have been awarded the Li Ka Shing Scholarships. The recipients of the five full scholarships are professionals from both governmental and non-governmental organisations.
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| 1. Dr Li Ka-shing and Minister Mentor of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew unveil the plaque at the opening ceremony of the Li Ka Shing Building, while professor Shih Choon Fong (far left), NUS President, and Professor Kishore Mahbubani, LKYSPP Dean, look on. |
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| 2. Dr Li and Mr Lee shake hand after opening the Li Ka Shing Building. |
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| 3. Addressing guests and scholars attending the opening ceremony, Dr Li pays tribute to those who choose to serve the people, which is a most noble and conscious choice and requires the very best of what they have to give. |
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| 4. The Li Ka Shing Building is one of the three buildings at the historic Bukit Timah Campus of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. |
At the Dedication Ceremony of the Li Ka Shing Building
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
4 September 2007
Minister Mentor Lee, Distinguished Guests, School Officials, Faculty and Students:
It is an honour to be here - to join with you in celebrating the mission of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
I believe in the future of this institution and in its mission to be a centre of excellence for research and education in the field of public policy and public management. I am pleased to be part of this noble endeavor. Success here will be defined by the influence of those who learn here. It will be defined by their service to others. It will be defined by their influence in their communities and nations.
To choose to serve your people as their best friend and devoted servant is a most noble and conscious choice; it requires the very best you have to give. To be a leader, your life, your energy - the gifts you have been given are dedicated to others. And this is no easy task. It is humbling. It is fatiguing. But it could also be rewarding in your enduring influence.
Now, what will that influence be? Will you be known for your honesty? Will you be known for your dedication to justice? Will you be known for your efforts to promote peace and opportunity? Will you be an influence for hope? Will you be a champion of freedom and a voice for the silent? Will you have the courage to stand for what is right even if that is not what is popular? Will you be incorruptible and strong enough to stare down the temptation of ambition and unprincipled wealth?
Your life will become a monument to your vision. It will endure and be inscribed in history in the same way that the life of Pericles, the honest Athenian statesman, is remembered. Pericles said that great leaders have their vision of what to do and know how to articulate it. And they are incorruptible. He said, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."
This is more than a principle for me. It is a life well lived. And achieving it is the objective of this school - a school which takes the name of a man who is internationally respected and has dedicated his own life to serving others, to building a nation of peace, opportunity, and promise.
Finally I like to share with you this: in my own life, the observance of the purist principle of self governance is to do more than is required and less than is allowed. It has always held me in good stead. I believe it will for everyone as well.
Thank you.
About Li Ka Shing Foundation
The Li Ka Shing Foundation was established in 1980 to nurture a culture of giving. Dr Li believes that this can be accomplished by focusing on capacity empowerment through education and the building of a caring society through medical and healthcare projects. The Li Ka Shing Foundation and other private charitable foundations established by Dr Li have supported numerous philanthropic activities with grants, sponsorships, and commitments of over HK$8.4 billion.
For further information, please visit: www.lksf.org
About the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is an autonomous, professional graduate school of the National University of Singapore.
Its mission is to help educate and train the next generation of Asian policy makers and leaders, with the objective of raising the standards of governance throughout the region, improving the lives of its people and, in so doing, contribute to the transformation of Asia.
In addition to being one of the fastest-growing public policy schools in the world, it has one of the most diverse student bodies and faculty.
It also pursues an ambitious research agenda aimed at furthering the understanding of the key challenges faced by contemporary societies in dealing with a rapidly changing world. As Minister Mentor Lee said at the conference marking the official opening of the School:
"This School is the venue for scholars, officials and students from the world over, especially from China and India, to gather, research and exchange ideas on how societies are best governed in a globalising world. All participants will benefit from a rigorous study of policies that have succeeded and those that failed."
Although the school was formally launched in 2004, it has inherited a rich legacy left by its predecessor Public Policy Programme, which was set up in 1992 and developed in partnership with the John F Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. To this day the school continues to maintain a strong partnership with the Kennedy School. For more details on the LKYSPP, please visit www.lkyspp.nus.edu.sg
For media enquiries, please contact:
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Li Ka Shing Foundation Mr Jeremy Lau Email : Jeremyl@hwl.com.hk Phone : (852) 2128 1207 Fax : (852) 2128 1766 |
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Ms Chin Yeok Tsui Corporate Development Executive Email : yeoktsui.chin@nus.edu.sg Phone : (65) 6516 6197 Fax : (65) 6778 1020 |
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National University of Singapore Mr Chew Kheng Chuan Vice-President Endowment & Institutional Development Email : kc.chew@nus.edu.sg Phone : (65) 6516 1085 Fax : (65) 6464 1474 |