1. Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us.

Introduction

2. Temasek was incorporated on June 25 in 1974. Today is our 35th anniversary. Today is also designated as our Community Day when our staff will visit and help out at charities and philanthropic organisations.
3. Temasek has been involved in helping out charities and philanthropic organisations for many years and in many ways as I will elaborate later.

Temasek Cares

4. To commemorate our 35th anniversary, we are launching Temasek Cares. This is a new programme with a mandate to improve the lives of the underprivileged, poor and needy individuals, families and communities in Singapore, or their caregivers.
5. Temasek Cares will support programmes to build people, build capabilities, build communities and rebuild lives. The aim is to identify and support those who are under-served by existing programmes, and help them and their caregivers acquire skills and capabilities for a better future.
6. Temasek will make a grant of S$100 million to the Temasek Trust, as an endowment gift to fund Singapore community programmes under Temasek Cares. This is made possible by funds which Temasek had set aside over the past several years, from a share of positive wealth added as its contribution and commitment for the wider community.
7. We are very pleased and honoured that eminent leaders from the public and business sectors of Singapore, and from a rich diversity of backgrounds and cultures, have accepted our invitation to serve on the Board of Temasek Cares. I am confident that the Board will guide Temasek Cares in its mandate. On behalf of Temasek Holdings, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Mr Richard Magnus, founding Chairman of the Temasek Cares Board, and the founding Board members – Mdm Halimah Yacob, Ms Pang Cheng Lian, Ms Rajamanickam K Vemala, Mr Mohd Salleh Marican, Mr Benedict Cheong and Mr Goh Yong Siang for their commitment to join us in service of the under-privileged, poor and needy in Singapore.

Other Programmes

8. Involvement in social programmes is not new to Temasek. As a long term investor, we have an interest in the lives of the people in the countries in which we invest. Successful communities are part and parcel of the economic and social well-being of a nation. They enhance the long-term prospects for businesses and investors.
9. Over the last 35 years, we have committed and contributed around S$1 billion directly and indirectly to the communities in Singapore and around Asia. These include sponsorship for the training and upgrading of nursing and education in Hainan (China), Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. We also contributed to the construction of hospitals and medical facilities in countries affected by the 2004 Tsunami such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
10. In Singapore, our donations have helped to sponsor exchange programs for Singapore students in all three of our universities and the establishment of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations based at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
11. The philanthropic organisations we sponsor include the Temasek Foundation, the Singapore Millennium Foundation, the Singapore Technologies Endowment Programme, and the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory. Temasek Foundation supports programmes in Singapore and other countries in Asia. Since its establishment in 2007, Temasek Foundation has sponsored 54 programmes across 12 countries and supported 43, 500 beneficiaries. The Singapore Millennium Foundation or SMF has sponsored more than 200 scholarships for postgraduate and post-doctoral research since it was first endowed in 2001, as well as focused research programmes in Singapore institutions such as the Institute of Mental Health and the National Cancer Centre. We are proud that several of the young scientists sponsored by SMF have won scientific recognition in both Singapore and Asean for their work. For example, Dr Lisa Ng of A*STAR was awarded the ASEAN Young Scientist Award 2008; Dr Tan Min Han of the National Cancer Centre was awarded the Singapore Youth Award 2008 in the Science and Technology category. The SMF has committed funding of over S$25 million for research in areas such as bio-fuel, liver cancer, Parkinson’s disease, neuromuscular disease and mental health. The Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory is focused on basic and applied research, while the Singapore Technologies Endowment Programme has been organising youth camps in Singapore for over a decade. In May 2007, we also established the Temasek Trust with an initial gift of S$500 million. The Trust serves as an independent trustee to oversee the long term management and distribution of the major endowment gifts that we have donated for community purposes.
12. Apart from making personal donations themselves to various charitable causes, our staff have been consistent and quiet volunteers over many years. They contribute their time and energy to the underprivileged in Singapore, including their longtime support of the elderly residents at the Singapore Leprosy Association. As an organization that believes in, cares for and empowers its people, Temasek has also been matching donations or fund raising efforts of our staff volunteers for various worthy causes. Incidentally, Temasek Cares was the name of our staff volunteer group until they decided to adopt a new identity called Touch last year.
13. Thus, on this 35th anniversary, it is our privilege to recognise and reflect the volunteer spirit of our staff over the years, through the re-establishment of Temasek Cares as a new independent IPC to complement their heart for the less privileged. Once again, thank you for sharing this milestone with us.

###