Pres. Henry celebrated Rtn Kishu's birthday by asking him who does he wish to lead his birthday song. Naturally he chose the best singer in the absence of PP J.L., which is PP Tim. Pres. Henry then gave Kishu his birthday present.

Next Pres. Henry announced that our club received two awards from the district that is the Community Service & Best Bulletin awards. He said that the awards are now in the safe custody of PP John who forgot to bring it to the meeting. In any event the Community Service award goes to PP Hubert who was not here today so it will be given to him next week.

He then asked VP Robert to come up to make his report as Sergeant-at-arm. VP Robert reported a harvest of $800 despite the low number of turnout.

Pres. Henry then told us last week we had a debate on the GST but before we got a conclusion from our Judge (Uncle Peter) we ran out of time. Therefore before we made the conclusion we would like to hear the expert's opinion that is PP Tim's views on this issue. He then asks PP Tim to come up to give us his views.

PP Tim very graciously came to the rostrum to give his views. He said that this whole issue to GST (Goods & Services Tax) was brought up many years ago even pre-1997. There were talks of wholesale sales tax. At that time things were going quite well with money coming in on land premiums and spending were within bounds. But since 1997 things took a turn for the worst. For 4 to 5 years we have been experiencing a deficit. This means we were not able to cover our spending with the existing incomes. So Donald Tsang at that time thought we must address this issue. So they set up a committee under the leadership of PDG Moses Cheng and he also served in this committee as a member to look into this problem. They took two years to look into the issue of a broad base indirect taxation. They looked at 14 types of taxation and concluded that the most viable tax was a GST. But that was only a technical point of view and not on a policy level, which is in the ambit of government. And then Donald became CS & Anthony Leung became FS. Frankly, Anthony was paying only lip service to the whole idea of GST. And deep down he was not a converter. But he did believe that something has to be done. Then came Henry Tang. For some unknown reason he was quite keen on this idea. If you remember in March his policy speech he devoted a whole long paragraph to the GST in which he said that he has established an internal task force to look into this very seriously. The government is getting more serious in trying to implement GST now. In fact they are seeking expert advise from oversea experts & economist in implementing the final phase of the GST. In fact the government has conducted an internal survey on the opinion of its sources and found a slight shift in sentiments on this issue. They found that a 33% of those respondents were in favor of GST which is an improvement on previous surveys. Perhaps the GST is not a bad thing after all. Because we are already paying something like GST anywhere we go to whether we like it or not such as in Paris, London or New York. . This all boils down to public education. How can government make this more palatable to the general public?

Pres. Henry then asked PDG Uncle Peter to finalizing the opinion of this meeting. He asked for other opinions from the floor. After more replies & opinions from the floor, he asked for the show of hands. How many are for the GST. Almost everyone raised his hand with a few hands raised against. Therefore the majority won.

Pres. Henry said next week (23rd June) we will auction off all out gifts received on our 50th anniversary celebration from our sister clubs. Pictures of these gifts will be posted with its suggested prices on our web and next week's Tung Feng Bulletin. The next week is the 30th June, which is the last meeting of this year. Pres. Henry will give away those 100% attendance awards & hand over his presidency over to Rudy.

He then closes the meeting & asked everyone to stand and proposed a toast to RI coupled with the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East.

Council on Legislation

The following letter was tabled at our board of directors meeting held on the 10th June 2004 for discussion. Due to time constraint, the board decided to leave the matter to our district representative, PDG Moses Cheng to debate at his discretion, the 427 resolutions/enactments at the council to be convened in Chicago, Illinois, USA, from 13th to 18th June 2004.

"Dear President, The above Council on Legislation will be held at Chicago between 13-18 June this year. I have the honour to have been elected to represent our District at this council.

I am given to understand that you have been supplied with the proposed legislation and resolutions which will be considered at the Council. If you have not yet received a copy then the quickest means to obtain one is to download the same from the RI website: www.rotary.org

I shall be grateful to have your views and those of your club, if any, on any of these proposed enactment and resolution before my departure to Chicago.

Whilst at the front of the publication you may find an index carrying a brief description of each proposed legislation, I am enclosing herewith my own observation on some of the proposal which may be of direct relevance and interests to clubs.

You may let me have your views by :

(1) sending me a letter at the above address;
(2) faxing your letter to my office (fax no. 2810-1179);
(3) sending me an e-mail at mc@pcwoo.com.hk

or, if you prefer, give me a call at my office at 2522-2570.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours truly in Rotary

Moses Cheng"

I. Membership of Rotarians

Qualifications for membership

· Enactments 70 and 71 propose to remove the requirement that an active member of the Rotary Club be engaged as a proprietor, partner, corporate officer, or manager with executive capacity.

* Enactments 72-76 propose additional qualifications that may describe an active member of the club such as involvement in the community, and holding a position of public service.

· Enactment 77 proposes that active members may retain their classification as active members even after losing their recognized positions of executive capacity.

· Enactment 88 suggests that honorary membership should be modified to include friends of Rotary for permanent support of Rotary causes.

New members and Additional membership statuses

· Enactment 78 proposes a new type of membership, labeled as "Senior Active Membership" while Resolution 83 proposes to adopt a "first level member" status in the club.

· Resolution 79 proposes that the new Council on Legislation allow Rotaractors as provisional members.

* Resolution 86 proposes that the RI board encourage two-gender membership in clubs.

* Resolution 87 suggests that clubs should only admit members after consideration by the membership committee.

* Enactment 89 suggests that honorary member be prohibited from proposing new members.

* Resolution 90 requests that membership recruiting through the media be limited.

Termination of membership

* Resolution 80 proposes that termination of members should be decided by all the members of the club in joint consultation with the board.

* Enactment 82 amends the provisions surrounding termination of membership for non-payment of dues.

Other issues that affect membership

* Club Meetings: Proposed legislation includes allowing members to control the frequency of club meetings, such as, meeting less than the required once a week.

* Attendance: Proposed legislation regarding attendance generally suggests a less stringent requirement of club attendance, looser requirements of making-up missed meetings, and broader qualifications for excused absences.

Membership of Rotary clubs within Rotary International

District Meetings

* Proposed more relaxed requirements for district conferences for Rotary Clubs such as discontinuing the practice of sending a president's representative to each district conference, and also allowing for district conferences to be held outside the district boundaries.

Rotary International Finances and Per Capita Dues

* Proposed legislation includes provisions that request reconsideration of per capita dues, and even reduction of per capita dues for various reasons, such as for low-income countries, and for spouses who are also Rotarian.

A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending divorce, and asked, "What are the grounds for your divorce?"

She replied, "About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by."

"No," he said, "I mean what is the foundation of this case?"

"It is made of concrete, brick and mortar," she responded.

"I mean," he continued, "What are your relations like?"

"I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, and so do my husband's parents."

He said, "Do you have a real grudge?"

"No," she replied, "We have a two-car carport and have never really needed one."

"Please," he tried again, "Is there any infidelity in your marriage?"

"Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don't necessarily like the music, but the answer to your questions is yes."

"Ma'am, does your husband ever beat you up?"

"Yes," she responded, "about twice a week he gets up earlier than I do."

Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, "Lady, why do you want a divorce?"

" Oh, I don't want a divorce," she replied. "I've never wanted a divorce. My husband does. He said he can't communicate with me."

 

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Photographs of our Meeting
on
16th June, 2004

PP Tim giving us his thoughts on the GST issues which may affect our lives.

(L to R) PDG Uncle Peter, PE Rudy & Pres, Henry at the left head table.	(L to R) PP John IV, John V, Dir Laurence at the right head table

Birthday boy Rtn Kishu clutching his present & being sung to by PP Tim & Pres. Henry.

A belated birthday present was given to PP Andrew.

(L to R) PP Andrew, Program Chairman Dr. Tony, Dir PP Stephen & PE Rudy.

(L to R) PP Taj, VP Robert & PP Tim.

PDG Uncle Peter made his judgement as to whether our club is for or against the GST.

Program Chairman Dr Tony gave us his views on the GST issue.

Group Photo of our meeting with PDG Uncle Peter, Pres. Henry, Our speaker PP Tim & other members of our club on 16th June, 2004

We have many items for auction next week. Here are some pictures to lure you to make a bid for them with the suggested price. If you think you like to bid for them, please do show up at out meeting next week. All proceeds will go to our Club Service Fund.

OR

You can make a bid by email to me John Kwok.

John Kwok at geeon@netvigator.com

Souvenir from HKNE of two metallic golf balls on a wooden platform. Starting bid at $300.

A beautiful Japanese Warrior head piece of metal on a beautiful pillow. Starting Bid at $1,000.

Happy Anniversary Silver plate. Starting bid at $150

Happy Anniversary signature book. Starting Bid at $50.

Square Porcelein Plate with Kabuki theme. Starting Bid at $1,000.

Pewter Viking Ship in glass case. Starting bid at $500.

Golden Peach Longevity Theme in glass case. Starting bid at $350.

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