On 5 November 2016, the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations held a Presidents’ Forums for its member groups.

President of the SCWO, Dr June Goh, opened the forum with an update on SCWO’s recent activities in the advancement of women’s rights.

This was followed by a video clip that showcased women who had made it to the SCWO Hall of Fame. These ladies were pioneers in various aspects of Singapore’s history including healthcare, law, education and sports.

The main lecture was given by Mr Eric Chin, who had trained as a lawyer, and is currently the director of National Archives of Singapore. The NAS seeks to “Identify and acquire, conserve and preserve, and share our records.”

Mr Chin discussed the importance of good record keeping and governance. As an example, we watched an old clip from Berita Singapura about lady police officers. He cautioned that records suffer deterioration such as paper records particularly those with acidic ink, VHS, video aid and gave us advice on how to keep good records that won’t perish as easily.

He said that he recognised that there may be information overload in the internet age, with multiple emails and instant photos. He declared, “It is impossible to keep everything” but suggested that “archiving demands rigorous selection” and to keep things “in context to fully understand them.” He ended by explaining the important principles of good record keeping.

The Presidents of the various organisations including Dr Jade Kua representing AWDS, subsequently shared about their team’s plans and discussed collaborative efforts.