Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry Building, Aug 06

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI; ) is a business

chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations *Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics *Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...

in Singapore. The chamber was originally created to protect and promote the commercial interest of the Chinese community in Singapore but it also played a role in the social, cultural and educational spheres to protect Chinese customs and values. It has raised funds to build schools, and provided assistance to the community in times of crisis. Lynn Seah, "SCCCI's Centennial Celebrations", ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 22 October 2006 The organization has a membership of more than 4,000 companies and over 150 trade associations in Singapore as of 2016.

History

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) was first established in 1906 as the General Chinese Trade Affairs Association by prominent members of the Chinese community. Its original purpose was to look after the trading interests of the Chinese business community, resolve and mitigate differences among the different

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, mea ...

s and champion the Chinese community in Singapore. The first president was Goh Siew Tin. In 1912, it was renamed as Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce when the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was formed. In 1951, the chamber lobbied the

British colonial The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

government to grant citizenship to Chinese immigrants who had stayed in Singapore for eight years and in 1957, the government approved the proposal. In February 1962, remains belonging to civilian victims of the Japanese occupation were unearthed in areas like

Siglap Siglap is a neighbourhood located in Bedok in the East Region of Singapore. The area also encompasses the Frankel and Opera Estates and their names have sometimes been used interchangeably to refer to the approximate same area. The planning su ...

Changi Changi () is a planning area located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah in the East Region of Singapore. Sharing borders with Pasir Ris and Tampines to the west, Changi Bay to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east and the Seran ...

and

Bukit Timah Bukit Timah, often abbreviated as Bt Timah, is a planning area and residential estate located in the westernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. Bukit Timah lies roughly from the Central Business District, bordering the Central Wat ...

. The chamber undertook the responsibility of gathering the remains. It also helped in establishing the

Civilian War Memorial The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, usually called the Civilian War Memorial ( Chinese: ; ms, Tugu Peringatan Bagi Mangsa Awam Pemerintahan Jepun; Tamil: ஜப்பானியர் ஆதிக்க கால� ...

at Beach Road in 1967. In 1962, the chamber started constructing their building at Hill Street and the building was officially opened on 20 September 1964 by Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

. In 1966, the chamber set up the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce Foundation to provide financial assistance to the needy and scholarships to deserving students, and to support cultural activities and public educational political campaigns. In 1977, it was renamed again to Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to reflect its expanded scope of both commerce and industry. In 1991, the SCCCI organised and held the inaugural World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC) in Singapore which was attended by more than 700 delegates from 30 countries. During the second WCEC in 1993, Singapore's prime minister

suggested a Internet enabled network of ethnic Chinese businesses worldwide accessible to the various Chinese chambers of commerce in the world. With the help of

Institute of Systems Science Established in 1981, NUS-ISS previously known as the Institute of Systems Science (Abbreviation; ) at the National University of Singapore runs graduate education, professional development programmes, consultancy, applied research and career serv ...

and Netcentre and a financial grant from the National Science and Technology Board, the SCCCI created the World Chinese Business Network (WCBN). The WCBN was launched on 8 December 1995. *1997: The SCCCI's first Annual Internet Commerce Conference is organized. The event is now known as the Infocomm Commerce Conference. *2001: The

Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, also known as Wan Qing Yuan, and formerly as the Sun Yat Sen Villa, is a two-story colonial style villa in Balestier, Singapore. The villa is now a museum commemorating Sun Yat Sen (1866–1925), the fo ...

is reopened to members of the public and foreign visitors as a new tourist attraction and national education centre after four years of renovation and restoration. *2006: The SCCCI officially launches the Enterprise Development Center@SCCCI (EDC@SCCCI) and ''Chiye Tong'', the Chinese version of the

EnterpriseOne J.D. Edwards World Solution Company or JD Edwards, abbreviated JDE, was an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company, whose namesake ERP system is still sold under ownership by Oracle Corporation. JDE's products included World for IBM ...

portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

, a one-stop online information service for small- and medium-sized enterprises. *2006: The SCCCI unveiled the ''

Dendrobium ''Dendrobium'' is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is a very large genus, containing more than 1,800 species that are found in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asi ...

'' Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry as its floral symbol. *2006: The SCCCI 100th Anniversary Commemorative Stamp Issue is launched. It is the first ever set of postage stamps issued by Singapore Post on behalf of a local business organisation.

SCCCI Building

The SCCCI Building is located on Hill Street, facing the

Armenian Church Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

. The headquarters of the organisation has been sited here since the early twentieth century. Before 1964, the headquarters was a two-story building. The construction of the current building started in 1962 and the completed building was officially opened on 20 September 1964. The architecture is a blend of Chinese and Western styles.

References

External links

*{{official site, https://www.sccci.org.sg/en 1906 establishments in British Malaya Chinese diaspora in Singapore Chambers of commerce Organizations established in 1906 Business organisations based in Singapore

History

SCCCI Building

See also

References

External links