Let me first take the opportunity to greet all members a very prosperous Lunar New Year -- the auspicious Year of the Rat.

In reviewing the work of the Society in the previous year, I am pleased to say that we have made substantial progress and achievements. 2007 was an eventful year for our Society.

Some changes took place in the Committee. We welcomed two new members, Mr. Freddie Tay Kit Poh and Mr Harsono Ng Yong Seng, joining the Committee. Mr Tay serves as the Chairman of the Publicity Subcommittee while Mr Harsono will take charge of our website. For the retiring committee member, Mr Chen Poh Seng, we wish to thank him for his contributions to our Society.

Our 6 th AGM took place on 29 March 2008 during which we welcome aboard Mr Freddie Tay as our new Treasurer taking over from Mr Ong Chu Meng who stays on in the Committee. Three new Committee Members, Mr Patrick Chow, Mr C.C. Chin and Dr Tan Eng Chaw joined us giving fresh infusion of talent and energy. We thank the past services of Mr Chua Leong Kian, Dr Liow Yock Fang and Mr Ng Siong Tee and wish them the very best for their endeavors. Regrettably, our request for Mr Kitson Ng and Harsono who are associate members to serve on our Committee was not approved by the Registrar of Societies. Harsono will continue to be our website manager and Kitson will continue to give strong support to our Society.

Last year, we saw significant developments in both our Society as well as the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum in Melaka. Our Society moved to new premises at 6, Pioneer Place , in Tuas. For the first time, we have proper office and meeting facilities. In order to strengthen the research efforts of the Society, our Society set up the Cheng Ho Research Centre and the Nanyang Research Centre in Melaka and Singapore under the auspices of the Museum and the Society, respectively. A well-known scholar on Zheng He, Prof Zheng Yijun from China was appointed the Director of the Cheng Ho Research Centre, while Mr Lim How Seng was appointed Senior Research Fellow of the Nanyang Research Centre. Both of them also concurrently hold the post of Deputy Director of the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum in Melaka.

In addition to the above, our Society has established a private research library to house materials on Southeast Asia (Nanyang), overseas Chinese and on Zheng He in the Pioneer Place premisses. At present, our holdings comprise two important collections, the Zheng Hesheng collection (on loan to our Society) and my own collection. We now have the largest collection of non-English, mainly Chinese and Malay/Indonesian, research materials on Nanyang, overseas Chinese and Zheng He studies.

For the coming year, we envisage our Society becoming more dynamic and proactive. We will move into an expansion phase based on strategic planning. Apart from on-going house-keeping activities such as updating and upgrading this website, we will be carrying out a major exercise to catalogue our library collection, We plan also an education-cum-publicity programme to reach out to the young in the region. We have specific plans to launch the following major projects:

(1) To work with the Malacca State Government to construct a Cheng Ho Treasure Ship by the side of the Melaka River across the road from our Cheng Ho Cultural Museum. The Ship will accommodate exhibition halls on Cheng Ho’s voyages and the history of Melaka as well as hosting a multi-media show on “Image Melaka”;

(2) To engage prominent artists in countries visited by Cheng Ho to collectively paint a 100-meter-long scroll featuring various aspects of Cheng Ho’s voyages; and

(3) To raise funds to support our research projects on Cheng Ho and Southeast Asia .

Dr. Tan Ta Sen
President, International Zheng He Society
Director, Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
1 March 2008