OPENING CEREMONY OF THE PENANG SMEs OLYMPICS 2022
SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG, YAB TUAN CHOW KON YEOW
FOR THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE PENANG SMEs OLYMPICS 2022
16 July 2022
Stadium USM
Dato’ Seri Lee Kah Choon
Chairperson, 50th Anniversary of Penang’s Industrialisation Celebration Organising Committee
Ng Sang Beng
Founder and CEO of Aemulus Corporation
Distinguished guests
Participants
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
A very good morning to all of you.
I would like to give my warmest greetings to everyone here and to specially thank Aemulus for hosting this event, Dato’ Seri Lee Kah Choon (Chairperson, 50th Anniversary of Penang’s Industrialisation Celebration Organising Committee), and all of the participants and attendees of Aemulus-hosted Penang SMEs Olympics 2022 for your time and dedication.
This year 2022 marks the Golden Jubilee of Industrialization in Penang. With the tagline of “50 Years of Excellence and Beyond”, 13 focused themes have been identified to mark our celebration.
InvestPenang and Penang Development Corporation (PDC), being the lead agencies for this celebration, have planned and coordinated a year-long event with industry leaders to showcase Penang’s transformation journey and the vast opportunities ahead. The Penang SMEs Olympics 2022 we are having this morning is one of them.
With the painful Pandemic that took us all by storm for the past two years, most of us were hit hard by the harsh reality of being homebound. “Adapting” was the only option. But what was most overlooked during those trying times was not only our mental health but our physical health as well.
With that in mind, Aemulus together with 12 other SMEs joined effort to make this Olympics event possible with the hope that we can highlight the importance of sports for our physical fitness and to build a stronger community.
And if we receive good response from everyone today, which I believe we did, judging from our attendance, we may be able to organize a bigger scale Olympics for our Penang companies in future.
Hence, I would like to commend Aemulus Corporation, which is driving the Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) theme under this celebration, for organizing this industry-led initiative here today.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
I know that everyone is all set for the main event. So, I will keep this brief and only share a few tips on how you can make the most out of your experience today. There would be a relay of sports tournaments going on. As such, we can all anticipate the great performance our participants will be putting on later.
Having said that, I must note that we are in this not to compete against each other but more as a friendly match as a get-together for all. It’s not about who wins or loses but a form of appreciation for these in-person physical interactions that we have missed out for the past two years.
For our spectators, please give your loudest cheer for our participants because your support would be their greatest strength. Please also be generous with your applause. We hope that everyone stays safe and keep yourselves rejuvenated at all times.
In addition, let us all keep in mind our Penang2030 Vision to be “A Family-focused Green & Smart State that Inspires the Nation”. Don’t forget to do your part as an Earth citizen to recycle and keep the cleanliness of our surroundings, not just for yourself but for others as well.
Once again, thank you to everyone for investing your time in this event. I believe that it will benefit all of us in one way or another. The battlefield is now set. I will now pass the floor back to our organiser, Aemulus.
Thank you.