| 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
(Hardselling Rotary) - By Francis Wann | ||||
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Hardselling Rotary
PDG Jason Yeung (Kowloon West) who is at the helm of a new Rotary Image Committee admitted that we have seen significant drop of our membership over the past few years as a result of years of neglect. The public perception about Rotary has not been the most gratifying, and though the world over recognizes our work, and our contributions towards humanitarian causes, we have not been accorded the kind of image we deserve, or we thought we deserve. The committee represents the first official concerted effort to get things done. Asked why he was chosen to do the job, Jason said Peter wanted someone senior and active (Senior Active?) to head the committee to give it enough clout and of course respect. Would it be a high profile task force as promised? Jason said the first acid test of the committee work would be at the district installation next month on July 12 at the Convention Centre. Apart from the usual procedures and speeches and all the razzledazzle, what might make news would be a PolyU study commissioned by Rotary District 3450 which should identify our goals and roles ahead. Hopefully it's going to rise above the noise level. Image does not come cheap. The research carries a price tag of $ HK100,000 and let's hope it's worth every dollar. Dr Howard Cheng Chi-ho, Associate Head of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, will be in charge of the survey officially entitled "Study on the Social Life of Children from Lower Income families". Will the report make Rotary academically more respectable, or justified? Research findings seldom make interesting reading nor headlines. There's no shortage of media and public relations professionals within Rotary, and they should know only too well the media is always hunger for news. How do we turn our stories into news might be the real task ahead for the Image Committee. Meanwhile let's put our faith in the committee. It's too early to predict what might come out of the study. It probably will not be anything spectacular or earthshaking, and you can expect a lot of doom and gloom in the report. In these few weeks, the committee should be visiting the 42 rotary clubs and listen to their suggestions and look at their signature projects and, as Jason put it, publicise them. Yes we probably have so much to be proud of, and much of what we've done have gone virtually unnoticed. We've been talking about PolioPlus over the past decade, and sometimes we lose sight on the importance of other, equally impressive projects at both district and regional levels. The Rotary Institute at Mai Po, for example, is not even mentioned in their official documents. With a bit of imagination, we might make a mountain out of molehills. It's time we blow our own trumpets. | ||||
President's
Column
I believe all of you should know that we are going to have our formal Sister Club visit to Rotary Club of Taipei Chung Yuan, Taipei on Friday 10th June. This is a special visit because it not only marks the beginning of our 3-Clubs Alliance, but also starts to pool the resources of our 3 Clubs to complete a community service project in the host city. Although we already have a large delegate which includes PP Ted, PP Tom and Mildred, PP Edward and Alice, PP Raymond, IPP Peter, PE Dominic and his family, VP Sunny, Michael Au and Vita, Marvin, James and me, I strongly encourage you to join us because this is the only formal Sister Club visit we shall have this year. Please support our alliance arrangement because it enables you to meet your overseas friends without spending a lot of time and money! If you are unable to participate on the above events due to your busy schedule, please make necessary arrangement to join our coming exciting events including the International Conference to celebrate Rotary in Chicago from 18 to 22 June, Joint Installation with our Rotaract Club on 7 July, District Installation on 12 July and our Kingspark Camp from 22 to 24 July. They are all important events and carry special implication to Kingsparicans. Hope to see you all in the coming activities to enjoy Rotary and our fellowship. | ||||
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More on Image
How can such a generous act be so badly received? To paraphrase an editorial from Asian Wall Street Journal, "only the ignorant or the biased would fail to give [Mr Li] credit for his generosity." If our district leaders think we have an image problem, they can think again. Since HKU announced the decision of the University Council to name its medical school after Mr Li, politicians had wasted no time to develop tactics and antics over the matter that are calculated to attract maximum media coverage. The media responded with predictabilitly and efficiency, giving some principal players the exposure they had courted and causing pain and confusion to others. Sadly, wrong facts, half-truths, mis-truths and emotive arguments were deployed, always personal, that served no other purposes than polarizing an already divided community, when what we needed most was peace and harmony within the community. Who were right, who were wrong, who had won, and who had lost? Nobody. There can be no winners in such situations. Fortuitously, we are seeing more balanced views lately from more statesman-like doctors, and hopefully, the foul air would blow off soon. One hopes that the community, particularly the HKU alumni, the doctors, the university management and the media could all learn from the process. Notice I have not mentioned the politicians in the same breath. The object of university is to enlighten the individuals and uphold virtues. The educated take pride in being able to identify truths and articulate them with precision and humility without fear or favour, and to separate facts from information. They ask the right questions and would not tolerate mediocrity and those who seek personal gains. It is the same with Rotary, in particular the Rotarians amongst us. In bad times, do we question why we have done so badly and attempt to apportion blame when we should be finding out how we can do better, how we can take our services to people who badly need our services, and how to take our services to them faster? As long as we believe what we are doing is right and condcive to devlopment of humanity and promotion of world peace and international understanding, we must not retreat in the face of dangers and difficulties. Rather, we should charge forward with renewed faith and vigour. Considering that many Rotarians are HKU alumni, has anyone asked where these Rotarians were when their alma mater was under attack, left, right and centre? | ||||
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 from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||||
Chief
Editor : Francis Wann The Board of Directors President
: Thomas Chan | ||||
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