Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Dinner with SM Goh Chok Tong at Mountbatten CCC Fund Raising Dinner 2007

I get to dress up tonight because I attended Mountbatten Citizens' Consultative Committee Fund Raising Dinner. The Guest-of-Honour is Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. It was held at Suntec City. 50 tables were all snapped up by friends, supporters and sponsors.

I bought a new gown at Wisma Atria on Sunday. I'm too embarrassed to admit that I have put on so much weight that I looked like a ba-chang (meat dumpling) in my gown. I would have to consider taking up a slimming package after this function. sigh....

Host for the night, advisor to Marine Parade GRC, Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan and I.
MP Lim is always very happy to see me. So much so that I have become a 'porcupine', a target of his jealous female supporters. I don't like politics, and Chris doesn't too. A good leader will know who and what to look for when forming his team. Good leaders don't go for apple-polishers. MP Lim is not blind.

I was at the venue before 7pm. SM Goh arrived at 7.45 pm and was greeted by students from NJC and 7 winners from various beauty pageants.

I was able to get up close (but not personal) to SM Goh despite the tight security and the number of bodyguards around. Anyone trying to get near him will be stopped by his bodyguards. Diners have to pay S$10,000 to eat with him at his table. The seats left and right of him could actually have fetched good bids if offered for auction. But due to security reasons, no one other than trusted men could sit next to him.

The security measures at such functions are a little too much and I doubt it serves any purpose. It is just a show because many people could get close to him. I doubt anyone would want to assassinate him lah. (I didn't say the 'b' word but will this 'a' word get me into trouble. We'll see. hehe.... )

We had an 8-course Chinese dinner. SM Goh donated a bottle of XO and a large bottle of Heineken Champagne. Successful bidders got his signature and a photo session with him. Bidding for these two bottles of liquor was hot. Both raised almost S$28,000!
Chris with the 7 Beauty Queens and event organiser, Athena.

A limited edition watch donated by reknowned Yafiro Group got a bid of S$33,000! One thing I learnt at this auction is : Never offer an electrical massage chair as an auction item to Chinese businessmen. These superstitious guys view it as an electric chair! Geez.....

SM Goh Chok Tong signing a Pledge Card.
There were performances from Broadrick Secondary School, Miss Teen Singapore and Ballroom Dancing by world champions from Thailand, Italy and the Philippines. Boy, these world class champions really deserve their titles! I want to learn dancing now! :)

Thanks to all participants and supporters for a successful fund raising event.

45 comments:

  1. ECL, where are you? (no photo to keep me busy while salesman waiting outside, haha)

    Sorry for the ignorance. What is the fund raising about?

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  2. ECL, you're a real celebrity, mixing in with all the rich and famous!

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  3. I caught a glance of this event on the news on TV, and thought you might happen to be there too. So my guess was right.

    Hope the fund raising dinner managed to meet its target objectives and benefit its beneficiaries.

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  4. Diners have to pay S$10,000 to eat with him at his table?
    Wah....
    what's so special woh? :P

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  5. So were you in the planning committee..?? how much did you have to pay ..?? to eat with them..??
    To be honest.. with you .. i wouldn't pay to attend something like that.

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  6. yenjai dear,
    I have so many photos but Blogger is not letting me upload. I can only upload one at a time at certain time intervals. I'm having problems with my blogger account. I cannot reply to the comments in the previous post. Dun know what's happening. grrr....

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  7. Captain Picard!
    No, I'm not a celebrity .... this is community service. :)

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  8. oceanskies,
    The fund raising met its target. Next, I hope it will benefit the beneficiaries.

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  9. Bernard,
    These are not the big guns, these are the canons! hahaha....

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  10. chen,
    Normally, no one can get near to SM Goh Chok Tong. So to spend S$10,000 to sit next to him, chat with him, eat with him, be splashed on national TV and the media, it's worth paying this money just to be seen with VVIP. It's part of marketing.

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  11. mamabok,
    I wasn't in the committee, Chris was.

    I pay for my ticket too. How much? Can you guess from the photos? :)

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  12. Geez, politicians are like celebrity, hv the same kinda 'power' for fund raising!

    u look great! :)

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  13. pinkie,
    Yes .... only the heavy-weight politicians are like celebrities. The rest are nothing.

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  14. Interesting social functions. I saw some nice photos.

    http://henryleongblog.blogspot.com/

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  15. Woah... u looked so glam. If I din know better, I thot you're one of the beauty queens leh! Luv your smile ;)

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  16. aiyoo Chris,
    How to compare to the young, slim Beauty Queens. Even Chris (Tan and Sim)will ditch me for Beauty Queens now. hahahaha....

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  17. Got put on weight meh?..You look orite la..too skinny not nice dy..

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  18. eve,
    I look ba ba (meaty)! hahaha....

    Yeah, better not be too skinny. The wind blows and I would be blown away. hahaha...

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  19. ha...so high class dinner ah...
    never imaging before....
    Guess ur entrance ticket 500 to 1k..
    ( don't laugh if i guess wrongly^^)

    btw, all the $$ go to which charity organization?

    P/s: Everytime come to ur side my pc become super slow....ai..time to change *sob sob*

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  20. Waah.. looks like you are also pretty well connected eh? Though I should have guessed all along.

    Glad that you are a strong supporter of community causes and giving back to the community. We do need more folks like you.

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  21. Wah, high class dinner leh!
    You looked 100% tai-tai, also high class leh.
    What ba-chang, never see the string that usually ties the ba-chang...hahhaha

    Very elegantly dressed. :D

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  22. ah hong,
    Nothing much lah! The food is so-so. Charity events can be boring if there are no interesting programmes except the mc calling you to donate.

    Funds raised goes to the beneficiaries of Mountbatten constituency.

    My website is giving you problems? I think something is wrong. A bug or virus. Have to check it out.

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  23. cool insider,
    No lah! I'd prefer not to be well-connected. I succeed through my hard work, others might think I got it through connections. Never! And I never will bow to any force!

    If I share what I have with the community, it benefits the country as well. I do it for the love of Singapore.

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  24. hahaha tigerfish,
    The strings are hidden under the gown. I have to hold my breathe and tightened the corset. hehehe...

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  25. WAH.

    Chio chio de aunty, this time you lugi lah.

    You let ham ham de uncle take photo with 7 beautiful young gals while you took photo with a uncle?

    Aiyo.... lose liao lah this time.

    Oh ya.... where is ham ham de uncle's blog huh? Not up yet? He still busy chatting with that 7 gals issit? :P

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  26. dk,
    You must be nice to hhdu becos he got the phone numbers of the 7 beauties!

    haiz.... this type of event usually only lao uncles and young chio bus go mah. I stood out like a sore thumb at such events lah! hehe....

    I'm supposed to teach him how to publish but I dun have time leh.

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  27. hey funny thing, I love those off shoulder dress like tt too, kidna audrey hepburn type, elegant and not way too over the top, you looked great, hot momma ! :)

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  28. awww.... meltingwok,
    Thanks.

    This dress makes the wearer look not only elegant but sexy. hehe...

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  29. Let me try to make a guess where you were sitting. You said you got close, and from the angle where you took the photo of SM Goh, you were sitting at his table?

    I suppose it was a fulfilling and meaningful experience to know how your attendance of the dinner could have helped the beneficiaries of the Mountbatten community?

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  30. oceanskies,
    hahaha.... you love to play guessing games huh.

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  31. Err.. it is just one way to train the mind to think intuitively. *winks*

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  32. oceanskies,
    You can be so humourous sometimes. I like you to be in such cheerful mood.

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  33. Oh...but I wasn't cheerful exactly leh...maybe I just decided to show my humorous side.

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  34. I know that I am guilty of sounding serious... at least some of my readers (the younger ones) think so.

    I wonder if when I show the humorous side of me, do I seem more approachable?

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  35. oceanskies,
    You are serious most of the times. lol...

    You have a sense of humour, so why not show that side in your blog. You are serious in real life, you can relax a little in your blog.

    You would look more approachable. :)

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  36. Hmm. I just want to be more congruent, and be myself. *winks*

    Aren't you too?

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  37. i rather spend the S$10,000 doing something else :P

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  38. oceanskies,
    I want to be a different person when meeting different people. Make them confused. hehehe....

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  39. chen,
    It's hard to place a value on such donation. Imagine how many less fortunate people would benefit from it. If you spend it on something material, it only makes you happy.

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  40. Please be different if you wish. Actually, I think in essence, Eastcoastlife will still be Eastcoastlife. I suppose the only challenge is whether others can really understand (or at least seek to understand) the real Eastcoastlife?

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  41. Excuse me! You look pretty damn hot in that black dress. Cuse me while I go get some water to cool off.

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  42. oceanskies,
    I doubt anyone would want to understand Eastcoastlife. hehehe...

    It would be scary if anyone wants to 'study' or understand me. For what purpose? I'm not political.

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  43. Simple American,
    Oh, I looked meaty (plump) in that dress. I was supposed to look sexy! :)

    ReplyDelete