Nine
THE ROTARY STORY
CONTINUES (1992/3-1998)
(cont'd - 8)
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A Tale about Paul Harris Fellowships
To Rotarians, the idea of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) is an honour
that every member of the Rotary movement aspires to achieve. Such an honour
can be bestowed by the Club on distinguished persons whom the Club feels deserve
the award, as was the case with Datin Paduka Hajjah Zaleha Ismail, the Minister
of National Unity and Social Development, Dato Siew Nim Chee, an entrepreneur
and philanthropist, and Rotary Ann Dr. Teresa Fernandez, who were all
worthy recipients of the award at the last Club's Installation Night in July
1997. However, ordinarily, members can still subscribe to become a PHF by
contributing US $1000.00 to the Rotary Foundation. Subscribers who have not
paid up their subscriptions in full are known as Paul Harris Sustaining Fellows
(PHSF) until such time that they have completed their payments. The Rotary
Foundation is the source for the funding of international projects, such as
the Ambassadorial Scholarships and Polio Plus. Because of the significance
and prestige attached to the PHF in Rotary circles, each Rotary club endeavours
to enhance its standing by having more PHFs and PHSFs from among its members.
In the mid-1990's PJ Club was able to make a significant breakthrough in recruiting the largest number of PHFs and PHSFs largely through the efforts of a senior Rotarian who was then the Club's Chairman for PHF contributions. However, in his enthusiasm to recruit as many PHFs from among Club members as possible, the Rotarian, instead of adhering to normal RCPJ procedure which meant routing PHF funds through the Club's Charity Foundation Account, decided to channel the subscriptions he received directly to RI. The consequence of his actions was a review as to the correctness of the procedure by the incoming Board of Directors, who, despite its insistence that he should continue in his post, nevertheless felt that the Chairman should comply with Club regulations in future. Regrettably, matters did not end amicably there and then. A feud that arose out of this issue between the incoming President and the Chairman erupted into a paper war which has still not found a solution to this day. This episode just goes to show that despite all the lofty ideals of the Rotary Club as a service-cum-community-based organisation, Rotarians, like the rest of their fellowmen, are people with human frailties and foibles and in the end, such shortcomings do tend to come in the way of goodwill and better understanding.
Grooming the New Generation
Youth Service, the fifth avenue of service that RCPJ emphasises, incorporates
not only the activities of Rotarians, but also those of Interactors and Rotaractors
too. Realising the possibility that many among the two youth groups will eventually
become future leaders, the Club, as in previous years, embarked on or continued
with several significant and meaningful projects to develop and nurture their
leadership skills. One such ongoing programme already well-known among the
Interactors for achieving this goal by providing management expertise among
incoming office-bearers was the Seminar and Workshop on Leadership Training
programme. In the highly successful August 1994 session with seven Interact
Clubs held at Sekolah Menengah Assunta, PJ Club decided to include a Teacher
Advisers' Workshop in the agenda. Besides laying down guidelines for new Interact
office-bearers, the joint workshop sought to inform Teacher Advisers about
the significance of the Rotary movement and its relationship with Interact
clubs. Later RCPJ Youth Service Committees that served between 1995 and early
1998 which organised Interact Leadership Seminars made the Teacher Advisers'
Workshop a permanent feature and also included sessions for Probationers to
help newcomers fit into the Interact club.
Noting the importance of oratorical skills, especially in the English medium as an essential prerequisite of a successful leader, the Youth Service Committee of 1993/4 decided to add a Workshop on Debating Skills and a Great Debate among its list of major projects. With Mrs. Jagjeet Singh, an English language expert as the Training Coordinator, the Workshop, open to all schools in District 3300, attracted 200 participants from ten schools. This was soon followed in February 1994 by the Great Petaling Jaya Debate which saw Sekolah Menengah Subang Jaya (2) emerging as champions and Sekolah Menengah Bukit Bintang (L) as runners up in the event. Hailed as landmark projects which landed the District's coveted Best Service Award for Youth Service for that year, PJ Club decided to hold both projects annually to encourage greater usage of the English language among schoolchildren in attempts to stem its declining standard. It also felt that apart from providing a language forum, the Debate would also foster a competitive spirit among secondary students of the District.
Not only does the Youth Service Committee invite PJ Interactors to attend District Interact Conferences, such as the one held at the Nam Wah Chinese School in Sitiawan, Perak, in November 1995, as a way to enable them to mingle with their peers, but it also provides scope for them to participate directly in dialogue sessions with leading Rotary personalities and even take the rostrum to address large delegations on a higher plane at District Conferences of Rotary Clubs. A case in point was the 5th Joint District Conference of Districts 3300 and 3310 organised by RCPJ and held in Kuala Lumpur between 22 and 24 November 1996. Besides helping out as ushers and flag bearers at this conference, three Interactors from each of the Districts' clubs had the pleasure to participate in the dialogue session with the RI President, and Guest of Honour, Luis Vicente Giay. To cap it all, Elaine Koh, the Chairperson of ICC, was given the honour to address the Conference delegation on the topic entitled "Vision of the New Generation" in which she was highly lauded.
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