PETALING JAYA: Puan Sri Siew Yong Gnanalingam (pic) has been elected the president of Soroptimist International (SI), changing into the first Asian to maintain the publish.
Her tenure is for the 2024/25 time period.
“(I) have got good news that I was elected SI president for the biennium 2024/2025. First Asian to take the post in 103 years of SI in 2024.
“Very scary now that I got in. But a lot of sacrifice of time and effort. But hope to contribute to our mission of making a difference to the lives of women and girls we serve by our 3,000 clubs in 126 countries,” she wrote on Facebook.
Soroptimist International is a worldwide volunteer service organisation for girls who work for peace, primarily to enhance the lives of ladies and ladies in native communities and all through the world.
Siew Yong, the spouse of Westports govt chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam, can also be the trustee for the Women’s Institute of Management, Yayasan Sejahtera and Nanyang Press Foundation.
She additionally used to be president for Soroptimist International South-West Pacific.
In an interview, Siew Yong, 74, mentioned she would step in as president-elect in July subsequent yr earlier than receiving her chain of workplace a yr later throughout the Soroptimist International Convention 2023 in Dublin, Ireland.
“The president’s appeal will then be revealed, and I will only take office as president in January 2024.
“Among other programmes will be to visit various United Nations centres,” she mentioned.
She mentioned it was an amazing honour for her to be elected SI president.
“I will do my best to justify the trust and confidence accorded me by the members of the Federation of SI South-West Pacific to lead SI during the 2024-2025 term of office.”
Siew Yong was additionally chair for the twenty first SI Convention 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, the first Asian metropolis to host the SI Convention.
