KINGSPARK NEWS

Club Number: 30119

2007-08 Rotary Year : Issue 10 : 18 November

Contents

Editorial (The Election Fanfare) - By Francis Wann
From the Charter President (Time) - By CP John Wan
Letters to Editor
The Board

District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship

EDITORIAL

The Election Fanfare

I remember in the last edition, I lamented at the decision to invite Fanny Law to speak in a district event. It was not the first time I questioned the collective wisdom of our club but of course it remains my humble, personal opinion.

You might think that I have a genuine distrust towards our Government whatever it says or does. When my honorable brother was still in the civil service, I used to joke about the kind of insensitiveness and inflexibility of the Government whatever the subject.

Over the past few years I¡¦ve witnessed Rotary inviting personnel from New China News Agency as guests of honour who invariably made no speeches on all occasions, and I began to wonder if Rotary¡¦s gone red, or if it¡¦s simply a public relations exercise.

Don¡¦t get me wrong. I have no personal grudge against our political window dressing if that ultimately makes it easier for us to achieve our goals, but sometimes I fear that we might be barking up the wrong tree.

And talking about politics, I seem to be getting slightly annoyed by all the district council candidates these days. First, their appearance is funny enough, and I can¡¦t help wondering why on earth someone in their average mind would want to display a glowing banner right across their body. They are the most visible political animals and will remain so in the next few days. Chances are that they suddenly appear in front of you and want to explain their political platform to you in detail, and chances are that you¡¦ve heard that before, maybe from someone else.

Excuse me, Sir. I know you¡¦ve got a lofty objective and I know you¡¦re dedicated to serving our little community, and you care about our blocked sewage and illegal structures and an MTR station right on our doorstep. No? I didn¡¦ t realize you¡¦ve got such noble aims. Are you sure if you get elected you¡¦ d fight for universal suffrage in 2012, and you¡¦d fight for the introduction of minimum wage law, and you¡¦d fight for more democracy?

Why is there suddenly an influx of election hopefuls lurking behind me? To be honest, their presence does pose a nuisance sometimes, however sincere they are. Unlike legislative councilors, their existence is solely at the mercy of the government, and despite an imminent revamp of the roles of district boards, their functions are indeed extremely limited. Of course theoretically they can discuss anything and question any government officials at meetings, but in reality, who cares?

Perhaps not only our district council, I¡¦m getting a bit tired of all the fanfare about the two overexposed heavyweights for the legco by-election some two weeks away. Now they bring in the image consultants and experts on presentation skills, and they have their own advisors on every single issue. They must have forgotten that whoever wins in this game, she is merely one out of a total of sixty legislators. The pan democrats might be in for a shock if after all these high profile publicities and media attention, their candidate can¡¦t make it in the end.

And what if she can? She¡¦s not as interesting as Longhair, and not as symbolic as Martin Lee, and perhaps after a brief honeymoon in the Chambers, her voice would disappear into obsolesance¡K

Return to Contents

From the Charter President

Time

I was looking for a little bag which holds pens of different colours, erasers, pencil sharpeners and related items. It was started by my wife - who was much more orderly and systematic than I - and I kept it for various reasons. It used to lie about in the living room under a cushion, and I had no problem finding it and the items inside, until one day I decided to clear the sundry items on the sofa in the living room. I remember putting away the little plastic bag in a place, a safe place that I would be able to find, but I must have been too careful and thoughtful. I could not find it. So, like the woman in the New Testament, I began looking for it all over the flat. I found a few things I thought I had lost, but I could not find the little bag. Not yet.

One of the things I found was a bound copy of Kingspark News from the Founding Issue (2 May 1994) to the 30 June 1995 Issue. I believe Past President Edward Lau had a copy. He packed one when he left Hong Kong for San Francisco; and I bet he still has not unpacked that box.

In those days, Kingspark News was published weekly in hard copies, initially sent by post to readers, and later by fax. I remember keeping all soft copies on floppies, but with house moving and as time goes by, I am not sure whether I can still locate those floppies, and even if I could, I am not sure whether the data are still readable. Most computers todate do not have a slot for these floppies anyway.

The top story of every issue covers the main programme of the week before, or a summary of the speech of the main speaker. Our club had some interesting speakers. I picked up, for example, a past president from another club speaking to us in January 1995 on the two common scales for measuring earthquakes. The Rotarian told us that earthquakes are the shaking of the Earth's surface resulted from the sudden release of stresses built up in the Earth's crust. Seismologists had devised two scales. The Richter scale, named after American Charles Richter, measures the magnitude of an earthquake at its epicentre based on measurement of seismic waves and the amount of energy released on a point scale, such that each point on the Richter scale represents a tenfold increase in the amount of energy released over the previous point. The other scale was known as the Modified Mercallie scale, or the MM scale., named after Italian Giuseppe Mercallie. This scale measures the intensity of an earthquake based on observed phenomena.

I was tasked with thanking the speaker, and this was what I said, "We have just witnessed a Rotarian giving an excellent vocational talk. Every Rotarian in the club would be asked to give one to the club every now and then so that members will learn more about each other's profession. We should all learn to copy him."

A few months later, in May 1995, this same Rotarian gave a speech to a wider audience in the capacity as District Governor Nominee (1996-97). He spoke on leadership, stressing that a keader is one who serves. Kingspark News picked up his speech in the 22 May 1995 Issue. The Rotarian was none other than PDG Y K Cheng. When he gave his earthquake talk, we greeted him as a Past President from the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East.

That was more than 12 years ago. A lot has certainly happened in between. A lot of water has passed under the bridge. We should consider bringing him back for another speech to the club.

Rotarians take pride in calling themselves leaders. One feature of leaders is that they come and go. Some would be remembered more or longer, and time would tell how long they would be remembered and the reasons therefor. Mark Anthony said in his speech after Caesar was killed, "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." Rotarians believe on the other hand that the good they do would benefit people, needy people whom they might never meet in their lives. Rotarians do not seek to be remembered by their names, but they beleive many of those who had benefited from Rotary, through The Rotary Foundation in particular, would remember Rotary and the object which has held Rotary for so long.

Time has shown that Rotary's Ideal of Service is still relevant after more than one century; and there is no better time than now, in this month dedicated to The Rotary Foundation, that every Rotarian should make an effort to contribute to The Rotary Foundation

Return to Contents

Letters to Editor

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.

Return to Contents

The Board

President : Marvin Lai
President-Elect and Membership: Joyce Mak
Vice-President and Public Relations: Michael Eyles
Secretary : Kennedy Tsang
Treasurer : Ted Ho
Rotary Foundation : Patrick Wong
Club Administration : Edward Lau
Service Projects : Peter Lo
Sergeant-at-Arms : Alexander Kar

Return to Contents