Six
THE PROOF OF THE
PUDDING
IS IN THE
EATING
(cont'd - 2)
It is not surprising, therefore, that a strong Rotary-sponsored youth movement directed towards community service quickly developed amongst PJ's secondary schools and that this led, after the first decade, to the formation of a PJ Rotaract club catering for school-leavers and young men up to the age of twenty-eight. The first two Interact Clubs were started in the mid -1960s. In 1969 a third joined up, which set a new precedent by being the first Interact Club whose members were all girls. Coincidentally or not, within the following couple of years another two schools became added to the list, and with the addition of a further two other schools in 1974, PJ's seven public secondary schools had all got Interact clubs. Finally, in 1979, the number rose to eight, when the newly-founded Taman SEA Secondary School also established an Interact club.*
*The eight schools are Assunta (Girls), Bukit Bintang, Catholic High, La Salle, Sri Aman, Sultan Abdul Samad, Taman Petaling and Taman SEA. However, in 1985 Taman SEA was passed over to the newly formed Rotary Club of Subang as it fell within its geographical jurisdiction.
The spawning of these Interact clubs, all under the sponsorship of the PJ Club, imposed a heavy commitment on the PJ Rotarians. Two Rotarians were attached to each club, and one of them was required to be present at every Interact club meeting that was held. Since there was an Interact gathering at least twice a month, this in itself was a considerable undertaking. Leaving aside the perennial Interact club activities throughout the whole year, there were also the calendar events like the annual Intro (duction) Nights, the installation ceremonies (from 1986 onwards much time and energy has been saved by conducting these on a joint basis) and also Interact Club District conferences held every year at different centres around the country, and coming to PJ about once in every five or six years. All this adds up to considerable dedication and devotion to duty on the part of those Rotarians allocated to the service of youth, as well as time and leisure consumed. The establishment of the Rotaract Club of PJ in 1969 added another round of engagements to the calendar of the Rotarians involved.
In passing, it should be noted that the Interact clubs have by and large functioned well and flourished. The Rotaract Club, on the other hand, after an initial flurry of successful activity, has been less stable, one of the major problems being to replenish the membership after the annual exodus of those who are superannuated at the age of twenty-eight.
In 1970 PJ became the first club in the District to establish Youth Service as a new fifth avenue of service. This was a development which came about as the inevitable culmination of the expanding Interact clubs of PJ and the founding of the Rotaract Club in the previous year. It was also a development which led to the shedding of a few tears.
Matters came to a head at the 30th Annual District Conference of 1970, which was hosted by KL Rotary and held in Kuala Lumpur, thus enabling the PJ Rotarians to attend in full force. The general growth and success of the seven Interact clubs of PJ, the fact that one of them was an all-girls club - the thin edge of the ladies' wedge - and the establishment of the Rotaract Club justified the PJ delegation in calling for more attention for youth service in general, and for the expanded organization of the sponsored clubs in particular. Hence president-elect Keith Randall led the way (after having already used the formation of the Assunta Girls School Interact Club as his ammunition for calling for the admission of lady members into Rotary), by proposing the expansion of the Interact organization through the creation of regional Interact councils, which would be financed by the already existing Interact district councils, and making out a case in general for greater Interact and Rotaract autonomy.
This provided fuel for a general discussion on youth service which became as heated as any debate at a Rotary International assembly can ever become. As the discussion progressed, it became clear that some clubs, especially those in Singapore led by P.P. Leonard Rayner, were opposed to the move, mainly on grounds of financial accountability. George Wismer then added more fuel to the flames by proposing a formal resolution to the effect that the Rotaract and Interact clubs and Youth activity in general should be placed under their own Rotary directors and committees as a fifth avenue of service, so as to ensure that they received adequate attention. This resolution would doubtless have been defeated in the face of the opposition of the Singapore contingent had not the Rotary establishment lent it their support. The incumbent D.G., Kenneth Ping-fan Fung of Hong Kong, and two P.D.Gs (the prestigious Thai Bhichai Rattakul of Bangkok and Malaysia's own Brig Young) spoke in favour of the resolution. It was finally passed after some modification with the help of the highly respected veteran P.D.G. of Singapore, Teh Teck Eng, who in a most statesmanlike manner sorted out the issues and put things in perspective.
Youth Service, once established in PJ, became probably the most active of all the avenues of service, but it also worked in close liaison with Vocational Service in the field of vocational guidance and with Community Service where student awards and scholarships were concerned. Vocational Service had long conducted a series of talks, seminars, quizzes and the occasional case-study in connection with careers for school-leavers, and these were integrated with Interact and Rotaract activities. Scholarships and awards were the traditional field of Community Service, many of them being funded by contributions from overseas. One of the Community Service's main contributions to Youth was its Students Loans Assistance Scheme, by which interest-free loans were granted to deserving, needy students enabling them to complete their studies. The number of recipients involved in this particular aspect of service was no doubt small, but equally without doubt the value of enabling gifted students to complete their studies, which without this support they would have been unable to do, is unquantifiable.
Important as Youth is, the heart of all Rotary activity is centred on the community in which it is situated itself. Community Service is therefore at the very heart of the Rotary movement. In the context of PJ Rotary it has been intimately related to the development of PJ as an urban community. Constituting a highly-visible residential area inhabited by an affluent middle class, one does not think of PJ in terms of deprivation and poverty as one might do in connection with Pudu or Chow Kit. But the pockets of poverty and hardship are there, and their victims are largely dependent on voluntary organizations for relief. There are also the deficiencies in amenities and infrastructure that one might expect to meet in a new and fast-growing urban community such as PJ was, ranging from a paucity of bus shelters and pedestrian crossings to health clinics and recreational facilities. The Club's approach throughout has been selective but well-considered. In the first place, it has been instrumental, usually with the full cooperation of other interested bodies in providing or in improving public amenities. It ahs also been responsible for the establishment of kindergartens and in providing for the needs for the school-children of poverty-stricken parents.
