Have (Rotary) Wheels Will Travel

You would recall that in one of my recent postings I said I would be taking a short break as it was the season for dinner, dinner, and more dinner. One of the dinners that I was privileged to attend, as a guest, was the 19th Installation Nite of the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu South (KK South for short).

During the dinner, Mr Robert Liau (2nd left in 2nd picture) took over from Mr Andy Wong (3rd left) as President of the Club for the year 2007-8. Looking on in that pic are First Lady (as the Rotarians call their President's wife) Mrs Jenny Liau (left) and Mrs Cynthia Wong, the outgoing First Lady who is perhaps better known as PS Wong, the general manager of the Sabah Housing & Town Development Authority (LPPB). However, the Rotary system is such that Andy will still be in the Board as Immediate Past President (IPP) so Cynthia will be IPP's spouse.

Others installed that night along with Robert were president-elect Eddie Choong, vice-president Hj Abd Kadir Hj Abdullah, secretary Tan See Ang, treasurer Philip Chong, director of club service Ir Yam Wai Kit, director of community service Dr Ganeshanadha, director of vocational service Mahmod Tahir, director of international service Dr Charanjeet, director of service to new generation Jacek Rubczak, sergeant-at-arms Richard Chin, sports convenor George Chong and bulletin editor Datuk George Ginibun.

The guest-of-honour was Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Raymond Tan who was represented by Assistant Minister of Resource Development and IT, Puan Melanie Chia. Also present were Deputy Minister of Primary Industries and Commodities, Datuk Anifah Aman; and Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) vice-president and former State Secretary Tan Sri Simon Sipaun who delivered the Vote of Thanks on behalf of the guests. I will not touch on what the VIPs said in their speeches as those were already reported in the local press. I can't help but noticed, though, that the Minister commended Andy for his good performance during his tenure as reflected in the club being awarded the Presidential Citation by the Rotary International President.

I also noticed that the installation was attended by representatives of KK South's sister clubs from overseas namely the Rotary Clubs of Yuan Lin South West, Taiwan; Mandaue North, Cebu, Pilippines; Chinatown, Manila, Philippines; and Hong Kong North East. I was told that when these sister clubs hold their installations, KK South would also send their representatives to attend. How nice, and hence the title of this posting, Have (Rotary) Wheels Will Travel.

The 3rd to 5th pictures show Robert presenting local paintings depicting either Mount Kinabalu or the Sumazau dance to (from 3rd pic) First Lady Annabel of Chinatown, Manila witnessed by Past District Governor of the Rotary District 3810 of the Philippines, Rosie Goh (right); president Paul Beekman of Hong Kong; and president "Machine" of Taiwan.

I asked my host how come the Taiwanese club president's name was "Machine" and she explained that it was difficult to pronounce or spell the Taiwaneses' romanised names and so a code was invented to reflect the Rotarian's vocation. Thus, "Machine" signifies that the Rotarian is involved in machinery or similar field, a Rotarian dealing with paint is "Colour" and so on. And it seems this system is fine with the Taiwanese. Something new and unique I just learnt there!

Membership in the Rotary Club is by invitation only and Rotarians are normally drawn upon from different professions or vocations like lawyers, doctors, engineers, consultants, bankers, businessmen and so on but they normally won't have too many from a particular what they call 'Classification'. Thus, the size of a Rotary Club is never big. Obviously they want quality, not quantity. In the case of KK South, they have only 30 members.

The Rotary movement was founded in Chicago, USA in 1905 by Paul Harris, an attorney who gathered a group of men engaged in different vocations. They met in rotation at their various places of business and thus the name Rotary and the logo which resembles a rotating wheel (1st picture on top). The rest, as they say, is history and Rotary today has more than one million members in more than 32,000 Clubs worldwide; thus the term Rotary International. The highest award in the movement is the Paul Harris Fellowship, named after the founder.

The general objective of Rotary, as spelt out by Paul in that first meeting 102 years ago, is the development of fellowship and understanding among the various businesses and professions while promoting international understanding, goodwill, and peace. Rotary Clubs have a basic ideal, the 'Ideal Service' which is best expressed in Rotary's principal motto - Service Above Self. However, the theme changes every year and for 2007-8 it's 'Rotary Shares' and last year it was 'Lead The Way'.

I can't help but get attracted to the fact that Rotarians subscribe to what they call the Four-Way Test of the things they think, say or do; namely, 1. Is it the TRUTH?, 2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?, 3. Will it bring GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIP?, and 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?.


They even have a what they call The Guide to Daily Living! It goes something like this: Before doing the things we want to do, consider first, the Precept of the Guide. Ask Ourselves these 4 questions and act upon them: 1. Have I Spent Some time in self-examination?, 2. Have I Spent quality time with my family?, 3. Have I given the best to my work?, and 4. Have I given some time to someone near and far?

This sounds a bit like the Catholics' examination of conscience before they go to the priest for confession prior to receiving the Holy Communion, but I guess in this rat-race and mad, mad world of ours being more spiritual or God-fearing and doing good to others won't hurt. The world's major religions have their own way of saying the Golden Rule, i.e. Do Unto Others What You Would Have Others Do Unto You and I see similarity between this teaching and the Rotarians' belief, although they are a strictly non-religious and non-racial service and fellowship club.

The Rotarians' Four-Way Test and Guide to Daily Living also reminded me of the teachings of Briton John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church , which goes like this: Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

To sum up, all I can say is, if only everybody practises what Rotary preaches (the 4-Way Test + Guide to Daily Living) , then this world would be a better and more peaceful place to live in! Infact, another Sabah Minister who was guest-of-honour at KK South's installation last year to which I was also invited actually said this in his speech!

Yet another aspect of Rotary which interests me is that the post of President is rotated among club members each year, true to its name, and transition of power is smooth. Besides, since the club membership is small, practically everyone has the chance to be president! Perhaps governments of the world should learn from Rotary!

But only one year? Won't it be too short for the President to implement his plans, I asked? Normally, in an association by the time the chairman warms his seat and get things going, half-a-year is gone. But Rotarians don't have the problem of continuity for they work as a team and even have a President-elect's post who understudy the incumbent president. For starters, they meet every week (as opposed to the monthly meetings of most other associations) during which the Sergeant-at-Arms will impose fines on late-comers and those whose hand phones ring,among other 'offences'. Besides, apart from the normal office bearers, they have directors in charge of different aspects of the club's work so the question of the President being over-burdened doesn't arise.

For further information on Rotary International, please visit www.rotary.org.

Bye for now and thank you for your patience, but I've seen blog postings longer than this.

Cheers! (To Rotary International)

Yoku Boiti!