"Grow beyond 50 with quality" 

DG Lee tells RCRC Club Assembly

VISIT OF DISTRICT GOVERNOR OF ROTARY DISTRICT 3310

Raffles Room, Tanglin Club, Tuesday 18 September 2012

Report by PE Jeffrey Chan Wah Teck

The annual DG Visit is always an important feature of the calendar of a Rotary Club and RCRC is no exception. This year, our DG, Lee Kong Hwee and his spouse Nana visited our club on the evening of Tuesday 18 Sept. The occasion of a DG visit is also a club assembly and fellowship and more than 40 RCRC Rotarians and spouses, plus an incoming member, as well as representatives of the Interact and Rotoract Clubs of RCRC, turned up at the Tanglin Club to meet DG and his spouse and to hear from him.

In line with the usual protocol, the evening began with a private meeting between DG, the Club President and Secretary with the PE in attendance, while the other members and spouses enjoyed the fellowship. Thereafter President Cze Hong officially delivered the club report to DG, highlighting the strength of the club and its completed as well as proposed activities and directions. He reported that RCRC now has 43 members and has a slew of programmes all lined up for this year. Additionally we have sponsored 2 Interact and 2 Rotoract Clubs all of whom are strong and enthusiastic. The oral report was supplemented with a most enjoyable slide presentation of the many club events this year.

 President Cze Hong officially delivered the club report to DG,            
highlighting the strength of the club and its completed as well as 
proposed activities and directions.

Following this were reports made by the Treasurer and the Directors. The Club finances are good, although PP Ron, the Treasurer gave notice that members who have open accounts after the end of September can expect love calls from him.

Treasurer PP Ron Pereira promising  his "love letters."

Other Directors reported on various programmes and plans. Highlights were the fact that the club has so far offered 10 PHF to RI so far this Rotary year and has raised nearly $200,000 for the Dyslexia Association of Singapore, which was established by the Club in 1991. There are plans for a charity film show on 1 Nov in aid of the Sunlove Home and the Crohn and Colitis Society, although the intended file (“Skyfall”) must now be changed as the distributors have disallowed that film from being used for charitable fund-raising. There are also firm plans for a medical mission to Sabah in March next year.

The dinner that followed was a sumptuous affair. Tanglin Club has never failed RCRC in the fare that it lays out and that evening was no exception. During the dinner, the New Generation group delivered reports on their activities. Entertainment during the dinner was provided by President Cze Hong’s slideshow of his recent Northern Italian holiday.

Listening attentively to the DG

In his speech, DG Lee congratulated RCRC on our stability and the quality of our fellowship. He urged RCRC to grow beyond the planned 50 members and bring in good quality Rotarians who can render good service. 

Chairman of Membership Development PP David Ong calling for high quality
and compact membership around 50

He informed that he has set out 4 priorities this year, viz. Rotary Information, Fellowship, Rotary Foundation and Publicity. The latter is linked directly to membership. He urged RCRC members to regularly refer to the information posted on the District website. In relation to Rotary Foundation, DG urged RCRC to consider taking the lead in a matching grant project. This can be used as a learning experience to understand the operations of the matching grant scheme. It will also be good if RCRC can produce at least one major donor for this Rotary year. Donations can be designated to the DDF (“District Dedicated Funds”). The DDF provides future DGs with the resources to assist clubs who would like to engage in District Matching Grants Projects.

To responses that there are hardly any opportunities for charitable projects in Singapore, given the very active role by the government in social assistance, DG  expressed understanding but urged RCRC to continue to try. He noted several times the excellent fellowship in RCRC, which was very evident and urged that this should be preserved. He mentioned that he has been urging every club in the District to have a member in charge of publicity. This is necessary to ensure proper recognition of Rotary’s good work which in turn would attract good people to join the movement.

DG at the VIP Table

International Service Director PP Johnson Tan wearing his
favorite Presidential Turquoise Blazer

The evening ended with DG distributing Rotary pins to all RCRC members and many group photographs.

September 11, 2012 Lunch Meeting


Fellow Rotarians today we had the meeting presided by PP Aaron Tan. Guests attending from Holland Frank Geerdink and from U.K. Alan Hawkes. Our guest speaker Amit Kumar presented various ideas regarding our website with the focus of having more RCRC members return to visit the page with relative frequency.

PP Jimmy also gave us a detailed report of the DAS event and the funds collected.

Please be reminded of the DG visit to RCRC next Tuesday for dinner at the Tanglin Club.

PP Tengku after some absence returned to our lunch meeting today and had a good briefing with the webmaster as well as our bulletin editor.

Meeting of 4 September 2012


Our guest speaker Rtn Dr Leonard Bernstein (not the composer) spoke on “The Imperatives of Early Childhood Education” to a gathering of 21 members and guests. Among the guests are 2 potential members, Joao Luca and Arun Shennai. Tony Weldon from Melbourne joined us as guest of Leonard Bernstein. Rtn Bernstein presented numerous research findings to make the point that early childhood education is an imperative if future problems in adult life are to be avoided. Central to early childhood education are the words that the child hears from his family as these words shape his ability to view the world. He traced the co-relation between socio-economic status and early childhood education, noting that high SES families tend to use more positive words when speaking to their young children e.g. “good”, “well done”, “now clever” etc. Lower SES families tend to use more prohibitive language such as “don’t”, “stop”, “come back” etc. Rtn Leonard also stressed that one important learning in early childhood education is self-control. Additionally, children need to learn through play, not formal teaching. Statistically, lack of access to early childhood education can result in serious issues in adulthood, such as greater propensity to criminality.


PE Jeffrey, who chaired the meeting in the absence of President Cze Hong delivered a vote of thanks

District Governor’s Visit

The DG visit is confirmed for 18 September 2012 at the Tanglin Club, commencing at 6.30 pm. This is a Club Fellowship and all members and spouses are urged to attend. Please confirm your attendance with Sigrid.


All Directors are to prepare their presentation to be made to DG and the Club.

Manila Flood Relief

PP Wee Koon San, who is also the District Treasurer, reported that the Sunshine Box collection last week yielded $420 for the District’s initiative to provide relief to the victims of the recent floods in Manila. To this PP Russi, PP Jimmy Daruwalla and Rtn Percy and other members pledged additional amounts which brought the amount raised to just under $1000. PP Koon San proposed that the Club make up the amount to $1000 which can be sent to the District for the District 3310’s Manila Flood Relief Fund. PP Ron had suggested that part of the $1000 donated by Rtn Ho Kok Koh on the occasion of his cessation of membership be applied to this. There was wide support from those present for this proposal.

Reported by: President-Elect Jeffrey Chan Wah Teck, SC

Meeting of Tuesday 28 August 2012

Report by PE Jeffry Tan

In a departure from the Rotary norm of no proselytising during Club events, PP Eugene Lim put on his hat as an employee of Trans-World Radio (TWR), a Christian broadcaster, as the speaker for this week’s meeting to speak about the work of TWR. PP Eugene showed video clips of TWR’s work in spreading the work of God and its humanitarian work to save souls for Christ. He also provided a tutorial to us all on the beginning of our world. The unabashedly Christian message about Salvation did resonate with the 18 members and guests present, quite a number of who are already Christians of different denominations. Thus the departure from Rotary norms can be forgiven in the same spirit that the Almighty forgives all us sinners.

Among the guests present was Joao Lucas, guest of PP Chin Koy Nam. Joao was previously a guest speaker at our club and has expressed interest in joining the club. We look forward to welcoming him as a member.

Collection for Manila flood Victims

President Cze Hong proposed that the club support the District’s initiative to collect funds for the relief of victims of the recent floods in Manila. Some members wondered aloud whether this would mean additional burdens on the club if our sister-club, RC of  Makati North, also makes an appeal to join in their efforts for flood relief. It was noted that our club finances this year are weak compared to previous years. Club Treasurer PP Ron replied to a suggestion that the contribution to the District be taken from the Sunshine Box by informing that there is no money in the Box and the amount presently there would not be sufficient for the Club’s charitable commitments so far this year. Pursuant to a suggestion that a Sunshine Box collection be made for the District ‘s Manila flood relief initiative, over $450 was collected from the 14 club members present. President Cze Hong declared this as a record Sunshine Box collection for our club at any one meeting.

National Day / Hari Raya Fellowship

The club’s annual Hari Raya Fellowship this year was conjoined with the club’s National Day celebrations. This was on Saturday 25 August and the venue was the Mamanda Restaurant at the “Rumah Kuning” (Yellow House), the official residence of the Bendahara (Chief Minister) of the old Johore-Rhio-Lingga  Sultanate. This was part of the Istana kampong Glam, the ancestral home of our Rtn Tengku Indra. 35 members and spouses attended this Fellowship which was arranged for by Tengku Indra. However, most unfortunately, he took ill that day and was unable to attend.

The fine fellowship of the evening was facilitated by the excellent Malay food and salubrious surroundings with all its trappings of royalty in a completely sans alcohol environment.

Tengku Indra, as heir to the Sultanate, had promised to confer datukships that evening. In his absence President called on all grandfathers present to identify themselves and then proceeded to conferred datukships on each and every one of them (the Malay word for grandfather is “datuk”).

To round off the evening and to add meaning to the event and its surroundings, PP Jeffrey gave an impromptu talk about the Johore-Rhio Empire, tracing its origins to the Fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511, the establishment of Singapore as a British possession, the end of the Sultanate and the tragic story of the Kampong Glam area and its Istana, all of which are now State land.

Visit to the Jamiyah home

A group of Rotarians accompanied by Interactors and Rotoractors made the annual Hari Raya  visit to the Jamiyah Home for aged persons on the afternoon of 25 August 2012. As in previous years, the group performed for the residents, had tea with them and then distributed “zakats” (cash gifts) from the club to the residents. The Jamiyah Home is operated  by the Jamiyah Society which is an Islamic missionary society. Its residents come from all the races in Singapore. Most of them were admitted to the home because they were destitute.  The residents look forward eagerly every year to this annual visit by our club.

District Governor’s Visit

This is a major club event and is a Club Fellowship. All members and spouses are thus encouraged to attend. The visit is now confirmed for the evening of 18 September 2012 commencing at 6.30 pm. The Venus is the Tanglin Club. All directors are to prepare to make presentations to DG about their plans for the year. In the light of this DG’s Visit the club meeting scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday 18 September is cancelled. Please inform Rtn Sigrid  if you are attending and whether your spouse will also be attending.

Club Major Project

As previously announced the Club’s Major Project for this Rotary year is the charity premiere of the latest James Bond film “Skyfall”. This will be held at the Lido cinema on the evening of Friday 1 November 2012. Further details and the tickets will be issued in due course. The proceeds of this film premiere will benefit the Sunlove home and the Colitis and Crohn society.