After 14 years of leading the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) as its President, Mr Milan Kwee tendered his resignation with effect from 1 October 2018 at the monthly Management meeting on 18 September 2018. Majority of the Management members tried to persuade him to change his mind through the Management WhatsApp Chat to no avail.
He went on to announce his decision to bow out at the Annual General Meeting on 29 September 2018 citing the following primary reasons:
- He wanted to give way to younger, more energetic and smarter members to take over.
- After 14 years at the helm, he did not wish to hog his position.
The representatives at the meeting accepted his resignation and showed their appreciation for his contribution to the development of taekwondo and the STF with a resounding applause.
Following his resignation, Ms Ng Lee Noi (Asst Hon Treasurer), Ms Juliana Seow (Hon Treasurer) and Dr Ho Mun Wai (1st Vice-President) threw in their towel for various reasons.
An emergency meeting was called on 5 October 2018 to, among other things, consider the way forward. Various options including one to appeal to Mr Kwee to return as the President were considered. After some deliberations, the Committee decided to invite Mr Kwee back as the Advisor to STF out of respect for his decision to leave. But this decision did not go well with Mr Yeo Soon Keong (Committee Member) and Dr Lee Chee Wee (2nd Vice-President) who decided to quit.
Nevertheless, in the interest of not disrupting the administrative operation of the STF for too long, The Committee elected Mr David Koh as Acting President, Mr Lee Thiam Poh as the Hon Treasurer and Mr Sebastian Lee as the Asst Hon Treasurer.
On 8 October 2018, Mr Kwee turned down the invitation to return to the STF as the Advisor choosing instead to ‘spend more time with my grandson and allow the younger an opportunity to work, without any hindrance from me whatsoever, to bring STF to greater heights of success’.
Mr Santos Rivas will replace Ms Juliana Seow as the representative of JH Kim (Main). We are still awaiting the replacement for Ms Ng Lee Noi who represented Edgefield Secondary School.
The STF would like to put on record its appreciation to Mr Kwee and all the other Management members who had decided to leave for their contributions to the development of taekwondo and the organization.
