|
KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2007-08 Rotary Year : Issue 9 : 1 November |
||
| This
is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong |
||
 |
||
| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan |
||
|
Editorial (Light
Refreshments ) - By Francis Wann |
||
|
District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship |
||
|
Light Refreshments
We must have gone mad. So the Communist Party¡¦s 17th National Congress has ended with a host of resolutions and declarations. In line with modern management, grannies are out, and new faces are in. But the bottom line is of course you toe the party line. What the party line is has often puzzled me in more ways than one even when they reassured me that it¡¦s all contained in the Basic Law which is supposed to be our mini-constitution. Now the Basic Law is de facto our bible and whatever questions they raise, our chief executive can always give a classic answer ¡V everything must be done in accordance with the Basic Law. Now I understand ¡V you can¡¦t possibly go too wrong if you¡¦ve got Basic Law on your lips here and there. But mind you, it must be done with political sensitivity and absolute correctness . Look at the new darlings on conclusion of the Party Congress and you would get the hint . The fun doesn¡¦t stop here. In the next two months we are going to witness the double bill first, ie the District Council elections in November and the Legco by-election in December. Watching the two ex civil servants doing their talkshows is inevitably a pleasant pastime. The two iron ladies do carries the kind of charisma and charm not found in many other legislators. What a lot of fun watching them slinging mud at each other! Well you¡¦d get slightly lost when they begin to get serious on statistics, and universal suffrage. Well Anson Chan has announced her election platform just now. it must be a job with a lot of perks ¡V and fringe benefits. You only have to look at the long list of candidates which incidentally includes Mr Chan Yat-tung, the infamous Bus Uncle. Now that really gets the pan democrats scratching their heads as more candidates into the fray would upset the carefully calculated strategies, and would of course divert at least some of the votes. After all, it doesn¡¦t take a genius to work out your election platform with something flashy and eyecatching . Poor Martin Lee was caught unawared when he found his name all over the news these days. It must be embarrassing for the founding member of the Democratic Party as he¡¦d have never thought the pro-government, pro-Beijing Nationalist would help give him so much publicity. His article in The WallStreet Journal must have fooled everyone, including his allies in the party. When he told the media he was prepared to stand by his word ¡V and pay for it, I smiled. And I believe Martin must be the one who had the last laugh¡K Compared to these big things, issues like minimum wage and tax cuts and small class teaching must look like something petty. Now that the court has accepted to begin judicial review of the report on the Government¡¦s interference of academic freedom, you might as well declare death to our academic freedom. The new head of HKIEd Anthony Cheung, was visibly optimistic about the future of our education, and may he be the only one indeed. And the game of musical chair continues¡K |
||
|
President's
Column
DG 2010-11 Nominating Committee This year the district has decided to have 9 representatives from each area to form the nominating committee to elect the DG for 2010-2011. Area 8 (our area) has 4 final contenders namely: PP Peter Lo (RC of Kingspark HK), PP Leung Hoo Lau (RC of Kowloon East), PP Anckes Hung (RC of Kowloon West), and PP Rainbow Li (RC of Kwun Tong). The deadline to submit our final nomination is Nov. 23rd. Our board has unanimously approved to forward the final nomination of PP Peter Lo to the District's selection board. Congratulations, PP Peter! Future Kinsparicans to Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) PE Joyce Mak and Hon. Sec. Kennedy Tsang have been nominated by the board as part of our future Kingsparican leaders to the Rotary Leadership Institute, which is to take place in Hong Kong on Nov. 10th. According to RLI website, RLI was "¡Kestablished in 1994 to assist in improving the Rotary knowledge and leadership skills of the future leaders of clubs and districts¡K Rotary Leadership Institute is a recommended unofficial affiliate of Rotary International, but not an official program of R.I. nor under its control..." (http://www.rotaryleadershipinstitute.org/AboutUs.htm) Congratulations PE Joyce and Hon. Sec. Kennedy! Rotary World Peace Fellows Night The board consented to reschedule our Nov. 1 lunch meeting to Nov. 2 as a support to our District's initiative to Rotary World Peace Fellows Night. It shall take place on Nov. 2, 07 at Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel from 6:30pm to 10:00pm. Rotary World Peace Fellows Night is to feature fellow graduates of Rotary Center for International Studies in peace & conflict resolution to share their life experiences & stories. This year the District has the privilege to invite two female Peace Scholars, who are both working in countries that are at war, to share with us their stories. Amy Tay from the U.S. is working in Iraq and Miho Kishitani from Japan, in Sudan. This is the first ever organized by the District; approximately 150 Rotarians are expected to support the function, and we, RC of Kingspark HK, are proudly to support this District initiative. Please then DO NOT go to Miramar Hotel on Thursday Nov. 1, but to Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel on Friday Nov. 2 at 6:30pm, instead. Kingspark Camp A date is finally confirmed for "Kingspark camp" on Feb. 16, 2008. However, this year's Kingspark camp is a one-day event, and we shall combine our Lunar New Year's celebration with a day of fun. Possible activities are Lunar New Year Walk to bring us all good luck and fortune for the coming year, in particular the "Laisees" to all non-married Kingsparicans and family members to truly make their wishes come true, instantly! Further details are to follow. Ho Tung Secondary School Mentorship Program PP Dominic Ko shall take a lead for this program. This is a program for Rotarians to mentor Ho Tung students to elevate their level of horizons in life in general. 20-25 students shall participate in this program, and each Rotarian is to mentor 5 students, so a total of 4-5 Rotarians are needed to support this program. PP Dominic shall communicate to all Kingsparicans more in due course. Thanks, PP Dominic. District Family Sports & Fun Day The board has approved to become a Sponsoring Club for this year's District Family Sports & Fun Day to be held on Sunday Dec. 9 at Kowloon Tsai Sports Ground. In addition to the usual track and field events, there will be lots of games for the family, lots of prizes to be won including a $25,000 prize for the winning Area Team, plus live performance during lunchtime, and so on. Our Sports Captain Rtn Raymond will invite members and their family, Rotaractors, Interactors, and students from Ho Tung, our Adopt-A-School Partner, to participate. Thanks, Rtn Raymond. Siron Ng - Applicant of Ambassadorial Scholarship The board has reviewed the qualification of Siron Ng, recommended by PP Raymond Sin, the District subcommittee Chair of Ambassadorial Scholarship, and approved to forward the endorsement as a sponsor for Siron to the District to further compete for RI's ambassadorial scholarship this year. Siron is a very bright young man; following is a brief of his achievements and aspirations: "To become an outstanding researcher in behavioral finance and charity finance, who conducts valuable and ground-breaking theoretical research, to promote world peace and address humanitarian needs of the world" Education The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) expected: Dec 2007 Bachelor of Social Sciences: Major in Psychology, Minor in Economics - Kunkle and Pommerenke Grand Scholarship (2007) - Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program Award (2005) - Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship (2005) - Chung Chi Scholarships for Distinguished EAS Students (2003; 2004) - Dean's list (2003/04; 2004/05) - Overall GPA 3.71/4.00" |
||
|
From
the Charter President
Some of you may be aware that I operate a personal website on which I put up a letter series. These letters began nearly ten years ago when I had a reason for so doing. The reason has long gone, but I have kept the series going for better or for worse. The series has become highly irregular in terms of frequency of publication and even relevance; and readers have noticed and told me that these days I hardly wrote except when I was away, away from Hong Kong, that is. I was amused and amazed when I read from the news from United States New York Times the passage of a Robert W Shields who had written 37.5 million words between 1972 and 1997. The editor suggested that Shields must have had his "spiritual death" in 1997 when he stopped writing his diary then, even though he lived on until 15 October 2007 whe he died of a heart attack, at the ripe old age of 89. In his best years, he wrote 3 million words, but he could go down to a mere one million in a slow year. The New York Times article noted that Shield had made records in the number of words written by a single person and that his records exceeded those of a few people who had known for keeping colourful diaries. To reach a million words a year, one would need to write over 2,700 words a day; and to achieve three million, over 8,200 a day. It could be an obsession, or a serious attachment in Buddhism speak. My letters typically run from 1,000 to 3,000 words a piece, and I did them weekly or biweekly when I had something I wanted to talk about, as opposed to writing something for the sake of putting words on paper, or in modern day parlance, typing something on a screen. When I left my office as governor, I put all the letters and some other materials into a book which was distributed to members in the district, first for a modest sum to the Rotary Foundation, but later free. I met a distributor at a club meeting in the early days and gave him one with a view to having it placed in his bookstore for whatever purpose. He quickly came back with a polite reply that he had already too many books of the genre and suggested that I tried other distribution channels. Thus ended my dream as an author. I am going away for a few days, and I am packing my laptop because I needed to do some work. I may or may not write a letter. In the meantime, I wish you well. |
||
|
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. |
||
|
President :
Marvin Lai |
||
| Return to Contents | ||
| Send
a message to Chief Editor Francis
Wann 2004 to 2006 Issues, Back Issues, Home |
||