"The history of the Chamber falls into two quite separate parts: the first one hundred years, from the Chamber's foundation in 1837 up to 1941, and then the post-War era, beginning with the restoration of Singapore after the "Syonan" interregnum. It is a good story and one that is closely interwoven with the history of the island as a whole, from the early days of the immediate post-Raffles era to the emergence of Singapore as a modern republic. It may be of interest, therefore, to record how it came to be written.

The Chamber has always played a full part in all the major events of Singapore history as testified by our Annual Reports. Thanks to Professor E J H Corner, originally on the staff of the Botanic Gardens, our early Reports, which reach back from 1885, were rescued from the offices of our secretaries, Gattey & Bateman, in the Fullerton Building at the start of the Japanese Occupation in February 1942. Corner deposited them for safekeeping at the former Raffles Museum and here they remained until the Chamber reopened for business in 1946. Subsequently, this material has provided an invaluable historical record for several publications.

The Chamber helped fund Donald Moore's The First 150 Years of Singapore in 1969 and, in 1979, itself produced From Early Days: Some long time members of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. Then in 1983, our associates, the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association, decided to commission a study of the rubber trade which subsequently appeared as The Commerce in Rubber - The First 250 Years.

All this activity stirred up interest within the SICC regarding our own approaching the 150th anniversary and how best to mark it. The Board debated the matter and serious consideration was given to commissioning a history of the Chamber. In the end, however, it was finally decided that this special anniversary ought to be marked by something that would contribute in a more positive and substantial manner to the long-term benefit of Singapore. The 1987 SICC Anniversary Scholarship was therefore established to provide scholarships to selected Singapore students, as a visible mark of the Chamber's Singapore identity.

With the Chamber's scholarship fund successfully implemented, when the 160th Anniversary approached, the idea of a Chamber history was re-examined. Our good friends and neighbours, the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, had previously marked their own 150th Anniversary with a well-produced history entitled 1837: Tales of Pioneer Traders in the East, which has remained in print with minor updating. It seemed timely, then, that the SICC should now tackle its own history in similar fashion - the Chamber had survived the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it was generally felt that as we entered into the twenty-first century we should put our story on record.

The author, Roderick Maclean, retired predecessor of Graham Hayward, the current Executive Director of the Chamber, was, to his surprise, invited to undertake this task, and accepts full responsibility for the result, warts and all. Opinions expressed are his own and not necessarily the Chamber's, though he has done his best not to rattle skeletons and to avoid controversy for the sake of controversy.

I should like to add here, that both my successor, Mr Graham Hayward, and Dr Julian Davison have made valuable contributions."

Roderick MacLean
Edinburgh
June 2000