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NUSAAI Scores 10!

The NUS Alumni Association (Australia) Inc (NUSAAI) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a dinner based on a ‘decades’ theme by taking a walk down memory lane through our favourite decades of the 20th century.

This ranged from the days in the 50s when girls wore poodle skirts with layers of petticoats, and boys shaped their hair into ‘curry poks’ with Brylcreem to the 60s with the Twiggy look, bell-bottom pants and the Twist.

We also remembered the 70s when the world caught disco fever and grooved to Saturday Night Fever with the Bee Gees, and cheered during the first Star Wars movie as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo saved Princess Leia from the evil clutches of Darth Vader.

We reflected on the 80s, the decade of the fitness craze, prime-time soap operas, and when ‘greed is good’, culminating in the sobering stock market crash of 1987.

We acknowledged the World Wide Web as a key phenomenon of the 90s, connecting people throughout the world to bring about a global community, and remembered the hope for a more peaceful and better life in the new millennium at the close of the 20th century.

To mark this special occasion, our guests-of-honour were the Singapore High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Joseph Koh and his lovely wife, Mrs Peifen Koh. As bonafide NUS alumni (science honours graduates from the class of ’72), Mr and Mrs Koh were enthusiastic participants of the event. The High Commissioner shared his memories of NUS campus days and reflected on the joys of grandparenthood, a new experience now enjoyed by many alumni of ‘baby boomer’ years.

The High Commissioner offered the analogy that an alumni network is like a spider web Ð a network that requires constant renewal otherwise the silk of shared memory will lose its adhesiveness.

NUSAAI was also well supported by our ‘parent’ organisation, the NUS Office of Alumni Relations with souvenir gifts and a special message from its Director, Associate Professor Teo Choo Soo.

In keeping with NUSAAI tradition, the key feature of the event was a ‘Decadent Personality’ contest whereby each table was required to field a contestant representing a personality from a favourite decade or a decadent personality.

The winner of the ‘Decadent Personality’ contest was Dr Patrick Tan for his convincing portrayal of ‘Shanghai Tang’. Dressed in a blue brocade Mandarin gown, wearing sunglasses, a white scarf and hat, and waving a Chinese fan to great effect, he evoked memories from a distant past as if he had strolled into the future from an ancient decade Ð a decadent era of China’s past.

Running a close second was Mrs Nancy Choo for her Wonder Woman personality conjured through impressive creativity and resourcefulness. With the hems of her dress hitched up to her waist to create a bloomers effect, wristbands made of AlumNUS decals, and a star headband made from party decorations, she whirled onto the parade of contestants with a flourish and credible hand actions that would have made the real Wonder Woman gasp in wonder and admiration.

Third was Dr Julian Pierre for the sheer audacity of his Dolly Balloons personality. Dressed in a blonde wig, a gold shawl, lipstick and two huge balloons, he was an overstatement of glamour personified.

Special mention must be made of Vincent Chee. While the personality he intended to portray was not clear, what was clear to dinner guests was that he was not a pretty sight. Like the cross-dressing character played by Michael Hui in the hilarious Chinese comedy Chicken and Duck, Vincent was a captivating sight, dressed in a red shawl and carrying a red handbag, and assisted by ‘props’ borrowed from the restaurant kitchen Ð well, that’s two very large eggplants that could no longer be used by the restaurant for its fish curry.

The event culminated in dancing to the music of our favourite decades and was a rip- roaring, unrelenting success from start to end with the enthusiastic participation of dinner guests spurred on by our very capable emcee Belinda Khong, the ‘queen of repartee’. It was certainly an event that engenders the type of ‘sticky’ networking that renews relationship ties.

By Linda Han