| 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
(Libens, Volens, Potens) - By Francis Wann | ||||
| LIBENS VOLENS POTENS If all goes well, and if they all honour their words, this issue of Kingspark News will be a special edition to mark the tenth anniversary of our club. And size does matter - the number of contributors for this issue is history in itself. Whether you're a founding member, a past president, a novice, or only a friend of Kingspark or Rotary for that matter, there's something for everyone. I went through our list of past presidents and invited them to reflect over the years since they've joined Rotary. Would it be different were it not for the Rotary factor? How would they see themselves, and how would they contemplate the future? Has Rotary made them better men and women? It is of delightful coincidence that in a few days time the Rotary Centennial Bell will arrive at our meeting, a cheerful reminder to the world at large of the work Rotary has been involved at regional and international levels, and a humble reminder to us that there's still so much to be done. My mind has been wandering over the years and though it sounds cliche, I couldn't help checking it out what the world was like ten years ago this month. And to name only a few: race ace Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident on this date, Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president, the Channel Tunnel which was the first land link between Britain and Europe since the Ice Age some 40 million years ago was officially opened, Tony Blair of Sedgefield became the new leader of the Labour Party, and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after twenty years of exile. And they legalised Sunday trading... Here in Hong Kong, Chris Patten was into his third policy address, and in his speech "Hong Kong: A Thousand Days and Beyond", he first mentioned the terms accountability and commitment. It was also the first decade of the Joint Declaration. It was the year when we saw record economic growth both in terms of profits and business opportunities. It was the year when our GDP growths hit our forecast of a 5.7 per cent real increase. It was all inflation, as Patten put it: Those who occasionally suggest that our promotion of competition amounts to socialist interference should read Adam Smith..."(Para 19) I hadn't heard too much about Rotary yet. How did Kingspark begin? I've told other editors and contributors that this would be a special issue. I didn't mention it to John Webmaster, Charter President and brother. His views on club business are often straightforward and at times highly critical, but he seldom reflects on his more passionate thoughts in his column here. Rotary has always been different things to different people. Recently I went to a poetry event where UK's Poet Laureate Andrew Motion talked about how poetry chose him. I wondered, has Rotary chosen us, the same as it chose Paul Harris a century ago? I remember a few years ago before I even joined Rotary, I gave John a pair of cufflinks with the engravings of Oscar Wilde's Roman-themed Latin motto: Libens, Volens, Potens. Not a bad idea to mark the first milestone of Kingspark. Enjoy. | ||||
President's
Column Talking Business In 1969, I carried out a project with my father on Pearl Island N.T., a resort in the old days. The project was to renovate the summer house for a retired professor from H.K.U. One Saturday afternoon, two elderly gentlemen came to visit our worksite, but they were not the landlords. They took a glance for 15 minutes, and asked me who was in charge. I told him it was Dad. One of them told us they had already bought four small apartments for his grandson to spend their vacation next door, and they wanted to renovate them too. After some discussion he invited me to his office for a quotation the week after and left his address on Queen's Road Central. At that time I still didn't know who he was and where the place was as he had not given me his namecard. A week later my father asked me to submit the quotation. I went to his office and I found that it was the head office of a bank called "Kwong On". I asked an Indian guard at the main entrance for Mr. Leung, and he told the manager to take me to the 4th floor. I saw the name and the title engraved on the plate at the door Mr K.Y. Leung, Chairman. At that moment, I was rather frightened because it was the first time for me to deal with a banker. When I opened the door I saw Mr. Leung seated behind the big desk as the other gentleman greeted me and asked me to sit on the sofa. Mr. Leung only said Good morning and kept on reading his newspaper. The man took out a tray of soft drinks, beer & wine and another tray of cigarettes and cigars, but I only took Vitasoy and waited. Mr. Leung then invited me to sit in front of him, and asked me what day was the day, and I said Friday. He asked if there would be horseracing the next day and I said I don't know. Then he asked me the time schedule for Fosan ferry to Macau, and again my answer was I don't know. I told him I wanted to give him the quotation, but he said there was no need to talk to him. At that moment, I thought we had failed as I looked like a fool in front of him. But later I was taken to another floor to talk to a managress Ms Winnie Leung and she studied our quotation for about ten minutes before she received a call and told me we were awarded the contract. She asked if we had any current account in their bank. I said no, so she opened one for me with a lucky number 9882 - and deposit forty thousand dollars there as deposit. Certainly, I was quite happy with that, but I was also surprised. Why? I didn't believe it, but it was real. Two weeks later after the project commenced, they came to inspect the site with their son & grandson. Mr Leung only smiled, and said hello to everybody. I thanked him for the project, but he said we deserved it and left. I was still puzzled. Then I asked the other gentleman, and the answer was the managress Winnie his daughter. He trusted his daughter's decision and our judgement. He asked if I still remember when I came to his office, my performance simply reflected my character - no wine, no smoking and no gambling. The project was not so important to him compared to a young man's ethics and integrity. This experience really has given me the direction in my future development. | ||||
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By PDG Raymond Wong [Raymond Wong is a past governor and the club'c advisor in the first year - Ed]
Back in the late seventies, I was a young surgeon in Hong Kong, wondering who were those nice people – the Rotarians – who took care of my brother? Are Rotarians only Japanese? What else do they do apart from taking care of kids? In a class reunion of the Wah Yan Alumni, I brought this up casually and one of my former classmates said: "I never know you are interested. I'll bring you to my club next Tuesday!" I was thus invited to attend my first Rotary meeting, and for the next eleven weeks, I attended every weekly meeting (for this particular club, a potential member must attend at least 12 meetings before application for membership), all fellowship functions, and every week I had to stand up and introduce myself and my profession, and I was even asked to thank the speaker once. It was tough, it was fun. I got to know all the 50 odd members of the club in a short time. I became a member of Rotary Club of Kowloon East on 18th December 1979, its president in 1984-85, held district official posts until I became district governor in 1987-88 (and 1988-89 when my successor passed away). The difference between me and the rest of the club (and most Rotarians) is that I know Rotary before I joined. I was willing to contribute, money and expertise to the great Rotary programs, because I know what it is all about. I enjoy every moment of Rotary, both internationally and at home. Through my expertise, I have served as Rotary volunteer in Cambodia, India, Thailand, Nepal, Philippines, Mongolia, Bangladesh, and Mainland China. I have traveled to 15 countries on behalf of Rotary and have represented Rotary International at a United Nations’ World Forum. The best thing about Rotary for me is that I get the chance of meeting many people from various parts of the world, people with the same commitment and conviction as me, to Lend a humanitarian Hand to those in need desperately. Together with my brother in Japan and my sister (a neurologist) in Taipei, we formed an alliance that had for the past 10 odd years completed more than 400 projects and voluntary missions in developing countries. Does Rotary help my practice? The answer is “no”. Rotary kills more time than surgery, as far as I am concerned, and Rotarians always have their own personal doctors. Rotary did, however, help me refine my way of practice, in accordance with "The Four Way Test". I enjoyed every moment in my own club. Arguments, yes, of course, but that leads to more understanding. Regrets….my club spent too much money in China (apart from many other projects we have built close to 100 schools now, in various parts of China)! If we spent more locally we shall have a better image in the community. Rotary will be 100 years old next year and many routines and traditions should be in the waste paper basket. I am looking at a rejuvenated international great organization, with less rituals but more motivation, initiatives and actions. Rotary is “Service Above Self” which speaks for itself. But alas, we had come across too many “selfish above serve”, people who want to take Rotary as a means to something else. That is why I say “motivation” and “Action”. | ||||
By Michael Eyles [Michael Eyles is our Bulletin Secretary - Ed] CP John, that is how many of us in the Rotary Club of Kingspark think of John Wan, as our Charter President. He did subsequently become a PDG, Past District Governor, but we love John as our CP. CP John has told us how he had been a Rotarian before 1994, but had resigned. When you resign from a Rotary Club, you only have two choices, to eventually or sooner join another Rotary Club, or never to be a Rotarian again. There is no “laying on of hands” which marks you out as a Rotarian forever; it was fortunate for us that John was asked to be a founding member of a new club, our club. Founding a new club in any voluntary organization is not easy; the enthusiasm of the founders must be transmitted to new members quite soon, otherwise the club peters out or must be rescued. One of the most difficult tasks that founders have is to commit to a “style” for the new club, this is something which cannot be so much a matter for rational debate as for the feeling that your fellow founders are pulling together. I have no doubt that the elders in our District looked on with nervousness when any new club was founded and in its first few years until its membership base was secure. Even after ten years, a good number of our own founding members are still with us. John can be intimidating, I believe even some of our newer members realize this. A few of us older guys will remember a particular board meeting in the mess in Central Government Offices. We had started the board meeting with the intention to finish it inside one hour, by getting rid of routine business quickly and concentrating on new stuff. John, because of work pressure arrived late but we had not yet started discussing some new ideas. One board member, now a Past President, then put forward one such new idea, developing his theme deliberately as if he had been thinking about it for a week. We all spoke up adding to this new idea, when John who had been silent, abruptly said “No, no, no, this is all wrong, Rotary is about service not self enjoyment : by all means we must enjoy ourselves in our Rotary, but it is not about aiming to solely enjoy ourselves.” John, having perhaps surprised himself at his vehemence, then carried on for 45 minutes in a torrent of words which captured our attention, made us all extremely uncomfortable, shamed us for having aided and abetted something we had thought worthy, and embarrassed the Rotarian with the new idea. We felt we had committed something like the original sin. We then closed the meeting quickly and left spellbound. “Service above self” is central to John’s character. He is not the only Rotarian with this trait. However, John’s embarking on a career in the civil service was no accident, it suited his character perfectly. With service comes professionalism, objectivity and a certain denial of self. With that comes discipline. And for those of you who may be a little more cynical in outlook, look at it another way : if John could not be a civil servant for the rest of his life, at least he can give service as a Rotarian. I believe that all of us hope that CP John will continue to feed us with bits and pieces of Rotary Information at our regular meetings; will continue to write his letters when he wants; and will continue to update us on Rosita’s health. I know you, John. | ||||
By Eddie Yau [Eddie Yau is our President of our Rotaract Club - Ed]
First of all, on behalf of our club, I wholeheartedly thank the Rotarians who proposed the setting up of the Rotaract Club of Kingspark Hong Kong, especially our charter advisors, PDG CP John Wan, DGE PP Alexander Mak, PP Edward Lau, PP Tom Hui, Rtn Elsa Law, Rtn Rainbow Li and Mr Joseph Leung. Of course, without other Rotarians' effort and valuable advice, our club will not develop smoothly and strongly in the past. As I look back at the club's history, lots of sweet memories flash repeatedly in my mind. I remember that we had a total of 28 charter members initially and I was lucky to be one of them. In the Inauguration Ceremony booklet, I found a quote from PP Edward and would like to share it with you, "As your sponsoring club, we are proud of you and we applaud you. We will do our best to guide you, nurture you and encourage you during your early years so that you can become a worthwhile and meaningful member of the Rotaract club of the District." We were recognized by Rotary International in 1998 for the best project in East Asia/Pacific Region and we have two Past District Rotaract Representatives amongst our members, namely, CP Jimmie Kwan and PP Patrick Yung. I cannot find any word to express my feeling on these events in my Rotaract life. I hope PP Edward would agree that our past performance has been worth the the time and efforts of our fellow Rotarians guiding, nurturing and encouraging us and that we have tried our best to serve our community. May I dedicate our past efforts as our gift to celebrate our mother club's 10 Anniversary? As the Rotaract Club President, it is a great challenge for me to manage a club with such a brilliant history and I hope our tradition can be extended to our new young members. The new Board of Director is made up of both new and experienced members. With the support of the experienced members, I believe the new board will lead our club to a new era and prepare our own 10th Anniversary. In the meantime, I would like to invite our fellow Rotarians to share your valuable experience with our young members through different activities and make them enjoy Rotary and Rotaract. | ||||
A Message from an Interact Club By William Tong [William Tong is President of our Interact Club at Wah Yan College, Kowloon - Ed]
Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong has contributed much to the community, By sponsoring Interact Clubs, it has given the young members chances to obtain experiences and skills to organize activities and serve the needy. As the President of the Interact Club of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, I have been particularly impressed by the spirit of the Rotarians of Rotary Club of Kingspark, Hong Kong. Although they are all successful people in the society, they share and give. They are always enthusiastic in social affairs and considerate to people around them. This positive attitude has taught me a lot. Undoubtedly, Rotary Club of Kingspark is a great success. This is the 10th anniversary of Kingspark, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate President Peter Lo and all the Rotarians for their contribution and success. I wish Kingspark a huge success in the future. | ||||
By PP Ted Ho
I can still vaguely remember the afternoon when John Wan called me in late 1993. He asked me whether I would be interested in starting a new Rotary club with a group of new friends. Without hesitation, I accepted his offer and attended the first provisional meeting of the Club. Before that, I only met John once or twice so that I could not say I knew him well then. In fact, I was introduced to John by my elder brother Casey who has long been a family friend of his. John took me to a Rotary club and deepened my Rotary knowledge. But in fact, my father is the one who introduced Rotary to me. My father is a Past President of Rotary Club of New Territories. Even though he is not a member to the club now, he still attends some of their functions occasionally. Most of all, many of his good friends that he is still seeing a lot these days have something to do with Rotary back then. It was back in the 70s when I was just a little child. I remember my father would normally dressed exceptionally well every Monday evening. When I asked him the reason, he would tell me that he was going to a Rotary meeting. Later on, my father took me to some of their Rotary programmes. To a little child, I did not know what Rotary meant and what it was then. But the name of Rotary has been in my mind ever since. For the past 10 years since the chartering of Rotary Club of Kingspark on 3rd May 1994, I have seen the ups and downs of Kingspark. CP John has been leading his charter members, including myself, to cultivate the very unique culture of the Kingspark. And I am glad that this culture is still maintained in the Club and I am sure it will be carried on for many years to come. What exactly is the Kingspark culture? Here's my verson: After all these years, I am still very keen on the affairs of Kingspark. I like participating in the Club's programmes, the Club's meetings and most of all, I like to meet other Kingsparicans. To me, Kingspark Culture means: Keep Rotary affordable, enjoyable and reasonable. Regardless of whether you are rich or poor, busy or whatever, it is important to keep Rotary affordable. Asking members for too much money or too much time commitment would just put unnecessary pressure on them. People will turn round and say, "I can't afford it anymore!" Once the unnecessary pressure is on, it would not be enjoyable anymore and people will start doing unreasonable things. I think the same principles or culture should apply to other clubs, Rotary districts or Rotary International. It is actually very simple to keep Rotary affordable, enjoyable and reasonable: just keep Rotary simple. I have yet to see this as a possible future RI Theme: "Keep Rotary Simple." That's the answer. | ||||
By Joseph Chan Ka-lok [Joseph Chan is our Review Editor - Ed] At the RYLA camp, I came to know Jimmie Kwan, Eddie Yau and a few Rotarctors who then became charter members of the Rotaract Club of Kingspark Hong Kong. Having been deeply affected by the RYLA experience and the Rotarians involved, I accepted the invitation from Jimmie to be one of the charter members as well. Through Rotaract, I cam to know John, Alexander, Tom, Joseph and other Rotarians of our club and we have worked together on various projects. Friendship between us has grown through time. As to the rest of the story, I think many of you are a part of it and you probably know better. It is probably too early to draw any conclusion on what I have learnt from the Rotary world so far, for I am still very young in the Rotary world and there are numerous things waiting for me to explore. Nevertheless, there are some observations which I would like to share with you: 1. It is good to talk to fellow Rotarians individually when they would usually tell you something which they would seldom say in a crowd. I don't mean that they would say anything violent or obscene. Rather, they would share with me their past experiences which could in turn shed light on my current or future problems. 2. It is good to attend the lunch meetings. I often find the speakers interesting and knowledgeable. However, I need to arrive at the hotel early and/or stay late after lunch since that would be the only time they can find them to expand on any points or interact with me. 3. It is good to adjust my expectation about punctuality and take along with me a good book or newspaper when I attend meetings with our fellow Rotarians. I believe I can finish most of the books I have bought in the last few years real fast. 4. It is good to check my e-mail frequently in the mornings; otherwise, I will not be able to quickly adjust my schedule to join the happy hour sessions in a few hours time. 5. It is good to take things easy and share my worries with our fellow Rotarians in managing the stress of meeting deadlines for important events in our Club. To be honest, I often find that the deadlines were not really that important. Usually, I could work with other Rotarians to meet most of the deadlines. As regards the rest, well, history whether meeting those deadlines are important. 6. It is good to ignore what I wrote for this newsletter as I usually wrote right before or long after the deadlines given by the chief editor so you can tell the quality of my articles. Happy
Birthday to Kingspark! | ||||
Not
the Editorial
I called up Joseph Chan our reviews editor first. Joseph was relatively new to the club but was a veteran Rotaractors of considerable standing. He was, in fact, a founding member of the Rotaract Club of Kingspark when it was chartered on 28.7.1995 with 28 members. Joseph was then Club Service Director. (Kingspark News July 31 1995). Since then he has been in a number of jobs including the civil service and is now in the insurance business. I assigned him an article for this edition, and a profile of someone worth writing, Rotary-related or otherwise. Next I sent PP Edward Lau an email who wasn't in Hong Kong explaining the special edition. He was enthusiastic about the idea and indeed suggested that I made use of his private collection of Kingspark News archive. Edward returned to HongKong on April 28 and immediately we met over coffee and we touched on a range of issues. The old boy of Columbia University is just as energetic as he was after a lapse of over eight years. We talked about how he first started and our beliefs. He left me with two complete volumes of the early Kingspark News, and I'm sure they should make passionate reading. Naturally he promised something for this edition. It wasn't easy to track Anwer down and when I managed to get him he was somewhere on the Mainland. Starting another company, I was told. Without being asked, he suggested he would if he had time. I gathered it meant if I see his article, I'll see his article. Fingers crossed. PP Ted Ho was an easy nut to crack, and indeed you should be amazed when you read this issue. My accountant friend has been quick in his promises but rather slow in action, at least by my standard. It was Monday 19th and I was trying to contact Bulletin Secretary Michael Eyles. Finally we met at Some Place Else and he was also excited about the idea. I would like a profile on CP John and asked if he would do it. I remember some two years ago Alex ran an interview of him and I certainly didn't want to repeat. Yes Michael said he'd write from his personal points of view. Unfortunately DGE Alex was too busy to write, and said in his email that "I don't really think that I have got the time to write this article. I still have to find time to write my article for the April issue of the DG Newsletter and have a lot of things to do regarding the District Assembly and the Rotaract Conference. Will find time to do it some other time, but no promises''. Well I took that as a promise. You never know. PDG Raymond Wong's response was almost immediate, and he even offered photos. Indeed his was the first to arrive at my inbox. I told him Kingspark's been receiving news from Kowloon East regularly and it's about time he put pen to paper and start writing for us. Anyway Raymond has been with Rotary long enough to share a thing or two with us. PP Raymond Sin promised, and so did Dominic who would write something about his involvement with the Rotaractors. Rotaract President Eddie, President William of Interact Club of Wah Yan, and Ivy who this year is in charge of MUNA would no doubt make their presence felt in our special edition. Never in the history of KingsparkNews has there been so much going into one single issue, at least not under my editorship.Try read between the lines and understand how they grow with Rotary. The stage is set, and all I could do is wait. The time now is just past 12 midnight, and I understand some articles would never come, or couldn't make it in this edition. But even so, it's a hell of a lot, and I'd put my feet up and wait for the launch. The rest is history. | ||||
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So We Are Ten
Francis was certainly rather serious and committed to the Club Bulletin and we are all indebted to him, but he did not sound too sanguine even as he began his editorial and sent off his special article at mid-night last night. For the records, the articles in this issue, apart from the regulars (editorial, president's column and this column), are laid out in the strict order they were received, so that readers can draw whatever conclusion they would. The careful reader may ask why Kingspark News is in its 12th Volume when we are about to celebrate only ten years of service. Here is the answer: we issued the first newsletters when we were a provisional club, so that Volume 1 comprised only the bulletins issued before 3 May 1994. The weekly bulletins issued before the end of that Rotary year (1993-94) all went into Volume 2. From 1 July 1994 onwards, it was one volume each year, and so on. Small things, but in a way, reflect the care and attention to details of the early editor and publisher. My views on how a club bulletin should be produced or contain are pretty well known, but I have always maintained that the webmaster must not interfere with the editorial independence of the Bulletin itself, which publication is primarily for the membership and their interests. I have yet to find out how many members or friends Francis had cornered and who agreed to do what, other than what he told us at mid-night last night, but this Special Edition, as he calls it, speaks for itself. On its own, it certainly boasts the largest number of articles in any one recent issue, beating a previous issue by one article. On a personal level, I am moved by what some contributors have writtewhich could last me for a while. See you at the Party tonight. | ||||
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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