Donate S$500 and Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin will give you one of his books
Into his fourth year of partnership with social service outfit Students Care Service (SCS), Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin came up with a new idea this year of donating three boxes of his books to raise funds.TODAY file photo.
SINGAPORE — For a minimum of S$500, military-history buffs and supporters of Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin can get their hands on an item from his book stash and help raise funds for less privileged students.
Into his fourth year of partnership with social service outfit Students Care Service (SCS), Mr Tan came up with a new idea this year of donating three boxes of his books to raise funds.
He will select a book for donors who contribute S$500 and above.
Within two days of a Facebook post calling for the public to “read and do good”, about S$5,000 has been raised, the former Minister for Social and Family Development told TODAY.
The books are mainly about military history, strategy and leadership, and one he recommended was “Orde Wingate: Irregular Soldier” by Trevor Royle, a biography about an unconventional British senior army officer in World War II who helped change the way war could be fought in the jungle.
Mr Tan — who was an army brigadier-general and head of the Training and Doctrine Command before entering politics — leads the SCS’ Kits for Kids fundraiser, where scale-model enthusiasts donate scale models of tanks, ships, planes and other items for charity.
Kits for Kids, which started in 2014, will be held on Oct 28 and aims to raise S$60,000.
“A lot of people who build models also are interested in military history, so I thought, I have a number of books over the years (that) I might not read again or haven’t read, and they’re just sitting on the shelf. So I thought it’d be good to find new owners (for them),” said Mr Tan.
SCS community partnership manager Rae Mok said proceeds would go towards programmes for underprivileged children and youths with challenges such as learning difficulties and mental health issues.
Mr Tan was coy about his favourite authors and books, joking that people might “start psychoanalysing” his choices.
“Nowadays, it’s very dangerous, you say anything and people (read) so (much) into it,” he said.
After his nomination as Speaker of Parliament this month, which was seen in some quarters as a demotion, Mr Tan had written on Facebook: “May God continue to grant me wisdom, courage and love in all that I do.
“However inadequate as I may be, I hope that I can fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the faith.”
His use of the word “inadequate” triggered some speculation, and Mr Tan later posted that there was “no need to read too much into (it)”.
He let on, however, that he had read “a lot” of British author Kazuo Ishiguro’s works at one point, and is keen to delve back into poetry by W H Auden, W B Yeats and others, which he would read in his student days. He recently started on “A Walk in the Woods” by travel writer Bill Bryson, given by a former colleague at the ministry.
“It’s a mixed bag, and it’s quite a diverse range,” said Mr Tan, who buys books online from Amazon and relies on family members, who borrow books from the Toa Payoh Public Library.
Asked if he has more time to read these days, Mr Tan said ongoing engagements with the social service sector have kept him busy.
“There are things I’ve committed to and many would like me to continue, so I’ll carry on with that,” he said.
The avid photographer will also help raise funds to support the reintegration of ex-convicts.
He will be auctioning off 27 photos — taken on trips to countries such New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Italy — at a silent auction for the Yellow Ribbon Appreciation Dinner on Oct 31.
The prints comprise 25 pieces measuring 66cm by 44cm, which are going for S$5,888 each, and two bigger pieces (100cm by 60cm) with a starting bid of S$10,000.
