President's Corner

Dear Friends and Members,

I hope all of you had a good Easter break and got back to Singapore in due order. At the time of writing of this article, there is an ash cloud covering most of the European continent obliging all planes to be grounded. This allows for some of us to stay a bit longer in Belgium, while for some visitors to Singapore, it means an obligatory prolongation of their stay. This happened to two groups of “extraordinary” visitors: some tourist with among them a Minister of the Brussels Region, as well as a parliamentary delegation who was flown into Singapore as a better safeguard compared to staying in Thailand with an ongoing red shirt protest. Those amongst you who joined the Easter brunch did undoubtedly follow their discussions and constant tracking of the cloud with amused interest.

But what can one visit when stranded in Singapore? There is the obligatory Zoo and Night Safari. Jurong Bird park and Bukit Timah nature reserve is also a good alternative for nature lovers. The Marina Bay area, Singei Buloh or Pulau Ubin are other points of attraction. From a more touristic point view Chinatown and Little India are of course of interest. Kids love to go to Sentosa. Culturally we can think of several musea and cultural events. In order to be considered really Singaporean, a weekend-long visit to shopping malls should be envisaged. A comparative study of the Orchard Road Area compared to the “Rue Neuve” or “de Meir” could be the outcome of a week of obliged stay in Singapore. Or maybe H.E. Van Remoortele has succeeded to arrange some impromptu visits to the Parliament, the Istana or a meeting with some Belgian or Temasek related business captains. A comparison of the democratic systems of Singapore versus Belgium could be another outcome, but I guess this study will only be read abroad.

I hope that by the time this article reaches you, all of them will have gotten home through a direct or less direct flight (using the much discussed Greece or Turkey flights). They should have taken back their political positions and will have started the discussion game again around BHV.

For me, unfortunately, it was probably the last time I could represent the Belgian community in such cases. Indeed, like for many of us, the time to go has (probably) come. In my case the destination is yet unsure, but it looks like I will no longer be in a position to take full responsibility for the BLAS and support it as should be expected. Therefore it is with deep regrets that I have to announce my resignation as president of BLAS. It has been a very interesting year during which I learned a great deal about running this kind of social activities. I would like to thank all the members of the committees who supported me in this task, and without whom none of the activities would have been possible. On the 25th of May we will have the yearly AGM during which a new committee will be voted. All candidates should report to our secretary Bieke at least one week in advance.

Yet the year is not yet over! Until then I hope to see you all at the upcoming events like the Tennis tournament, the kids/teens activities and G2G, the beach/dive weekend and last-but-notleast the CARRALLY. Start thinking of building your teams and prepare for a creative and fun day!

See you soon,
Dirk Verbiest