| This
is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||||
 | Kingspark News Rotary
Club of Kingspark |  | ||
| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||||
Editorial
(Monkey Business) - By Francis Wann | ||||
| Monkey Business It has been a week of uncertainties and confusion at the BBC headquarters where the future of editorial independence hangs in the balance. It's also been a week of resignations and official apologies as the crisis deepens in the wake of Lord Hutton's scathing verdict which primarily looks into the death of Dr David Kelly who allegedly talked to BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan on the subject of Iraqi weapons in an "unauthorised' capacity. Indeed what happened in the last few days was nothing short of a spoof edition of Yes Minister - only this time it's no laughing matter. Chairman Gavin Davis resigned, and after 20 hours Director General Greg Dyke offered his resignation, saying that his position as director "has been compromised by the criticisms of the BBC management in the Hutton Report." And the Acting new Chairman Lord Ryder has apologised "unreservedly" for errors during the Kelly affair, and to the individuals whose reputations were affected. Prime Minister promptly welcomed the statement, saying he had no doubt the BBC "will continue to probe and question the government in every proper way..." However, journalists and the media have begun to question the future direction of BBC, once the cornerstone for objective and professional journalism. Indeed as BBC's political correspondent remarked: In the end, this is about trust. Back home, our media clearly does not enjoy the kind of trust and recognition and a system with checks and balances. How much faith should we have in our media? Or should we believe what we read or listen? Tim Hamlett, Prof of Journalism at Baptist University, believes that there's been a general deterioration all round. Speaking on RTHK's Radio 3 recently on the implications of the Hutton Report, he remarked that "to some extent the standards really reflect the public life generally that people are more willing to manipulate and to deceive. Consequently it's harder to operate on the old-fashioned basis where "people told the things and we printed them... because they'd take advantage of it..." Well the BBC would need some time to reestablish its credibility and to restore faith in public. As Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell put it, "(We want) a BBC that's nobody's lapdog, that challenges the Government and raises debates - that's all in our interests." Here we still don't have the Freedom of Information Act, and it's entirely up to individual journalists to check the authenticity of the sources, and with a market which feeds more than a dozen definitive newspapers every day, there must be some truth when Tim Hamlett suggested we have to be more sceptical about everything - everything printed I suppose. Including this one. | ||||
President's
Column No Pain No Gain During the Chinese new year we’d heard many blessings with auspicious meanings. Hong Kong seems to benefit the most under the Individual Tourist Visa scheme, but people are generally not aware of the work behind the scene which made it work. These blessings are after all only our tradition, and the true meaning is only to encourage people to work better in the coming year, but some people might have the wrong perception of this protocol. Let me tell you what I saw and heard on an MTR journey from Wong Tai Sin to Mong Kok station: Mother:
The fortune-teller told me that you will have good luck this year. When my friends wish me a good Rotary year, I have to thank them, and I’ll take their blessings as the energy for my self-motivation. I never believe we can rely on luck and fate. As they say "No pain, no gain". Our vocational seminar was held on 16th this month, but the committee had started work three months before that, and during that period we encountered many problems because this year we have organized 16 different topics for the students and there were altogether 32 guest speakers. We wanted to achieve many purposes in our Rotary development, and not just to facilitate the students. 1) To fully utilize our members’ professional skills to serve the community and set a good sample for other clubs. 2) To invite Rotarians from other clubs in order to promote this concept. 3) To involve the Rotaractors in our work. 4) To invite former Kingsparicans to return to our club. 5) To invite non-Rotarian speakers to introduce Rotary movements and to invite them to join. The weightings are as follows: 1) Kingsparicans 25% 2) Rotarians from other clubs 20% 3) Rotaractors 10% 4) Ex-Kingsparicans 5% 5) Guests 40%. I could not say we had a tremendous success, but most of our objectives have been achieved. After the project, I received some feedback from other club Presidents. They will plan similar projects and have asked me to be their advisor. Other speakers would because of this project understand more about Rotary. I believe there is no free lunch, and no reward without diligence. Here I wish you all good luck, but don’t forget it’s only my wish; success will still rely on yourself . | ||||
Shall
We Dance?
Happy New Year again! Chief Editor Francis has asked me several times to write about films. I have been hesitant for there are already many practising film critics giving their views in various newspaper and magazines and they are really professional. Moreover, although I like watching movies, I don't know much about scriptwriting or film production. My comments would therefore appear superficial and lack of insight. Nevertheless, Francis encouraged me to try and so I promised to write an article on a film which I've enjoyed very much and would like to share with you. The film is called "Shall We Dance?" It was publicly released in 1996 in Hong Kong as a Category I film and its VCD and DVD versions have been widely available for a few years. It is a Japanese film directed and screenplayed by Masayuki Suo, the director of another popular Japanese film called "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't" (its title in Hong Kong is "Five Sumo Youngsters"). The cast includes Koji Yakusyo (Koji), Tamiyo Kusakari (Tamiyo), Naoto Takenaka (Naoto), Akira Emoto and Eriko Watanabe. It won 13 prizes in the Japanese Film Award including the best film, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, screenplay, art work, lighting, music, sound recording, editing and filming. Koji was a middle-aged man who had a wife, a daughter and a stable working life. Although he was a successful man by Japanese standard, his life had been too rigid and boring. Because of this and attracted by the young and pretty dancing teacher, Tamiyo, Koji suddenly joined a social dance class in a dancing school owned by Tamiyo's parents. When Koji was learning dancing, he met his colleague, Naoto, in the dancing school and found the other side of Naoto. Of course, there were other students of different backgrounds who learnt dancing with Koji and Naoto and it created many comedic and touching scenes for the audiences. Before Koji appeared, Tamiyo was a very pessimistic person plagued by her unhappy past experiences. However, the interaction between her, Koji and other students enlightened her life and encouraged her to develop her career in dancing again. On the other hand, Koji, Naoto and other students also regained their drive and courage to face up challenges in life again. The theme may not be very original, but it is full of fun, joy and passion. The cinema was filled with laughter from satisfied audience when we saw it. Tamiyo is a professional dancer in real life. Throughout the film, you can appreciate her elegance and passion. For the other characters, although they are not professional dancers, you will notice that they have put great effort to learn dancing. Their stupid body movements in the film not only give you fun but also shorten the distance between them and those who don't know dancing. Well you may think that it is a film for the middle-aged. In fact, it is widely popular with audiences of various generations and backgrounds, and many people took up social dance after its release. I think it is because most of us have encountered some failure or difficulties and have felt frustrated before. By watching this film, we, like the characters, can regain our self-confidence and stamina in hard times. Besides, it encourages us to develop our own hobbies to enrich our mind and social life. | ||||
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Life as an Interactor By President Eddie Ng (Eddie Ng is President of the Interact Club at Wah Yan College - Ed) Time really flies. Just five months ago when I became president of the Interact Club of my school, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, I set a target for myself - I’m gonna make our Club a flamboyant and memorable one this year. In June 2003, with the advice of Bryant, the then president, I attended the HKIMUN 2003 together with 3 other fellow students. The event kickstarted my ‘Interact year’. After two months of hard work and preparation, we did enjoy the four-day camp very much and 2 of us were even awarded Outstanding Delegates, which was really a great start for us. Then, our Interact Club took part in the 38th JIC Bazaar held in August 2003. Despite the fact that we were only asked to take charge of the school’s stall one week prior to the carnival, our team was able to plan and make everything ready on time. However, the bazaar only lasted for less than 2 hours, as bad weather marred what was meant to be a joyful and crowded afternoon. My proposal was also completed by the end of August, which I believed was the one with most activities of the widest variety ever. August to September passed with a blink and I found myself officially taking over the Interact Club. My first official job was to recruit as many members as possible on our school’s Joint Recruitment Day. We were satisfied with the result. We recruited more than 130 members on a single day, which was more or less the same as last year’s number. In the same month, we held our Annual General Meeting at our School Hall on 26th September and also the Casual Wear Day on 30th September. While other fellow students were still reminiscing about their last summer, my mind was already full of Interact issues. October was the month which I believed I had made most phone calls in my life. Contacting Presidents of Interact Clubs in other schools and the like had taken up most of my time. Fortunately, by the end of October, I managed to finalize the list of the projects proposed for our Year Plan and start the preparation work. The highlight of the month was the World Interact Week, during which five functions were held. We sent a letter to the Rotary Club of Peninsular Sunrise to talk about Interact; we organized an Interact Exhibition to let students know more about us and Interact; we invited Rotarians to attend our Interact Executive Committee Meeting and were invited to join their dinner meeting, which has enhanced the interaction between both parties. Finally, the Joint Rotarian-Interactor Project was held in November. We also held the first flag day in this academic year. Our Interact Homepage was completed and began running in this month as well. My schedule started to swell towards November. On average, I had at least 3 meetings a week. I did enjoy the work very much in the beginning. I even accepted several other invitations from other schools or organizations to join their programmes. However, as time passed by, I started to feel jaded and finally exhausted. I wanted to take a rest, but I just could not stop. I was, and am, the top PIC of 3-4 of our planned programmes. My daily work was to prepare agenda and look into every single detail of the projects. Another flag day was held in this month. I finally had a chance to take a break in December, when we had the mid-year examination. Luckily my December was still enjoyable. Although I still had plenty of meetings after exams, I have learned to face them in a more positive way and to enjoy the meetings. I have always tried my best during these meetings and I found myself more confident than before. Now, I am more convinced that I can make our Interact Club a colourful and remarkable one this year. This objective has kept up my momentum and driven me to push myself even harder. I want to make the club even better and to derive satisfaction in the process. I understand that I have still a long way to go, but I fully believe in my committee members’ abilities to keep making the club one of the best ever in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. These are my feelings as President of the Interact Club of my school. Last but not least, may I take this chance to thank my Interact Advisor, Mr. Dominic Ko; my teacher-advisor, Mr. Lai and my committee members for their advice and support during the past few months. I hope the next half-year report will be a better one. Finally, the Walkathon 2004, jointly-organized by Interact Club of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong and Pun U Association Wah Yan Primary School, will be held on 29.2.2004 (Sunday) at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong from 0930-1230. All proceeds will go to the School Development Project (SDP) of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong and Lifeline Express. Each participant will receive a notepad as a memento. SDP souvenirs will be available on that day. Please show your support by attending such a meaningful event. For more updated news, please refer to our Interact Homepage. Looking forward to seeing you on that day. | ||||
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A Time to Heal Last week marked the 57th anniversary of the death of Rotary founder Paul Harris; and Past President Cliff Dochterman who is Chairman RI Centennial Operations Committee had this to say - “Honor Paul Harris. One specific way to remember the anniversary of Paul Harris' death is to check if your own club is properly registered and planning Rotary International Centennial activities. Has your club actually registered a Centennial Community Project? (Over 5000 clubs have already done so, and you can still do it.) Have you created and registered a Centennial Twin Club? Are you making plans for next year's Centennial Volunteer Month? Planning to attend the Centennial Convention in Chicago? Joining in the Centennial Parade in Chicago? Writing a club history? Planning to take part in the United Nations Centennial Peace Seminar? Organizing a public information, billboard, media program to tell the public what Rotary is and does? Planning to have one club meeting each month next year dedicated to some Rotary Centennial History program? And planning many other Centennial activities. To give proper honor to our founder - let's all make the 100th Anniversary of Rotary one of distinction, significance, and dignity. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” In the same week, our district leadership were busy following the RI bylaws for dealing with a challenge to the letter, and have reached a conclusion on who is to be the governor in 2005-06, Rotary's Centennial Year. Many clubs and Rotarians have asked why there have been so much said about what transpired at the Nominating Committee and in the clubs before and after the votes were cast, or who did what to whom and at what time and date; many have argued strennuously the legality of the challenge; while many others do not really care what was going on. One would question what the District in general and the District leadership in particular have accomplished in the past two months to advance the spirit of Rotary or to put more Rotary into the membership. I hope each Rotarian will find an answer in his or her daily supplication to his or her Creator; and I would say no more. After all, the least said, the soonest forgotten. There are murmurs in certain quarters, particularly those litigious minded, that the challenge saga had yet to conclude. True, the integrity and mindset of the key protagonists could significantly affect the course that would ensue, but we sincerely hope that we have seen the worst. Very soon, and the sooner the better, the DG would announce that PP Peter Wan of RC of Tolo Harbour has been elected governor for 2005-06. We would then congratulate the governor nominate and wish him all the best for the future so that the people who badly need our service can continue to benefit from the service and benevolence from our district and membership. It is now a time to heal. The efficacy of the process will depend on the skill, honour and leadership of the present and future leaders and their vision and keeness in promoting Rotary into and beyond our centennial year. | ||||
Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response fro the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||||
Chief
Editor : Francis Wann The Board of Directors President
: Peter Lo | ||||
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