Six
THE PROOF OF THE
PUDDING
IS IN THE
EATING
An outsider glancing superficially through the proceedings of Rotary District conferences and assemblies, or reading the speeches delivered at august Club occasions may be forgiven if he forms the conclusion that most Rotarians apparently live in cloud cuckoo land. For everything that Rotary is or does seems to be viewed through very rose-tinted spectacles. Programmes arranged are always 'excellent', the performance of any given club is always 'wonderful' (as also is 'the world of Rotary' itself), addresses and speeches by the great and important are always 'heart-warming' and 'inspiring', whilst the contributions of those Rotarians who speak from the floor are inevitably 'thought-provoking' and 'stimulating'; the fellowship is unremittingly 'most cordial', and it goes without saying that there is not one Rotary Ann in the world who is not 'lovely' and 'charming'. All this eventually induces a state of euphoria in the minds of those present, which is yet further increased by the impressive ceremonial that invariably attends the opening of any major Rotary function, usually conducted in the presence of royalty or a head of state.
Nevertheless, if the casual observer cares to get beyond the eulogistic tracts and reads the core of the debate and discussion that take place at these Rotary gatherings, or if he delves into the details of club activity as contained in their annual reports, he will begin to realize that beneath all the luxuriant verbiage lies a bedrock of solid achievement in the case of Rotary clubs in general, and of the PJ Rotary Club in particular.
The true nature and extent of this achievement, however, are not immediately discernible if one takes the reports of these activities in isolation from one another. The annual recitation of good deeds done and of projects completed may in places seem trifling - a couple of outings for the under-privileged here, a few donations to deserving causes there, a film premier that raises several thousand ringgit for charity, participation in an anti-litter campaign, the distribution of that Rotarian standby, the Four-Way Test, by various means - all like pure water flowing into the sand. However, when seen as part of a continuum which follows from one year into the next, and if measured in cumulative terms a rather different picture emerges. The PJ Club, within the first fifteen years of its existence, that is to say up to 1975, was responsible for providing PJ's urban community with its first public library, for equipping a couple of its children's playgrounds, and in starting a kindergarten, while at national level, it succeeded in launching the National Kidney Foundation, the precursor of the country's first centre for urology and neurology, to mention some of its more spectacular achievements. Over the period of the last fifteen years which constitute the second half of the Club's existence, not only has it maintained links with its earlier projects but it has also established regular services such as the School Nutrition Programme, vocational guidance services, and the provision of a programme of meaningful activity for the younger generation through the media of the Rotaract and Interact clubs which it has sponsored within PJ's municipal boundaries. And if money talks, the Rotary Club of PJ has over the last thirty years raised well over 1 million ringgit, by various means and in various ways, to support the work which it has been doing. For a voluntary institution whose average annual membership over this period of time has stood at between 45 to 50 individuals, this is something to be proud of.
Although each Rotary club is basically autonomous and has full authority over its own programmes and the manner in which they are carried out, they are greatly assisted by the guidelines and modus operandi that Rotary International provides. To begin with, each incoming RI President chooses a theme for the year, which each and every Rotary club in the world adopts as the guideline for its own activities for the year. These themes generally reflect current world trends and developments - a recent theme (1990/91 - PRESERVE PLANET EARTH) has been concerned with caring for the environment.
Apart from this, each club's activities are based on the four 'avenues' of service, to which the PJ Club has added 'Youth Service' as a fifth. The club committee as a whole, with the president of the year at the helm, is responsible for drawing up the club's goals for its own year, while problems and difficulties or new ideas that may arise in its implementation are discussed, along with organizational issues at the regular district conferences and assemblies. There are also a number of basic conditions which govern the activities chosen and carried out. All projects must be solely for the needs of the community in which a club is based, although exceptions can be made in certain cases where the project in question - such as PJ's Kidney Foundation - has obvious national implications. Equally as vital, a club is wholly responsible for the viability of the project, so that projects must be well within the club's means to undertake. As a general principle a Rotary club does not embark upon a project with a view to managing it in perpetuity. Rotary philosophy is that local needs, as yet uncatered for by others, should be identified, and steps taken to take the necessary action to deal with it. Once established, however, the project will then be taken over by the appropriate authority. As a result of this, a Rotary club will work closely with the local authority or other appropriate body to ensure that its project is acceptable and will not die a natural death for lack of follow-up support once launched. Thus, in the case of the PJ Club, the PJ Library was eventually taken over by the municipality itself, and the School Nutrition Programme has been integrated with the Ministry of Education's own schemes.
It is within this framework that the PJ Club has successfully carried out its programmes over the past thirty years.
Every club develops its own approach and emphases, which in turn will be influenced by the community in which it is set. In the case of the PJ Club, the Club's emphasis right from the start has always been on service to youth. This seems wholly natural for a rapidly expanding urban community like PJ itself, whose youth population, like that of the nation as a whole, is large and expanding, and who in the beginning were lacking in all sorts of facilities. It also may be a reflection of the comparatively youthfulness of the Club's own members, the average age of whom was somewhere around the mid-thirties in the earlier years, and is still on the happier side of fifty. Whatever it may be, the Club has possessed a number of Rotarians who have had an interest in and aptitude for youth work. There was Oscar Fernandez, who was particularly well-known for his skill in handling children. Steven Toh who clocked up three terms as Director of Youth Service, and Michael Chua, who identified himself closely with Vocational Service, have both maintained an aura of youthfulness about themselves, while the equally youthful-looking Ray Hardless became the acknowledged unofficial champion of Youth Service at District meetings.