MEETING OF TUESDAY 22 October 2012

Reported by PE Jeffrey Chan

In the absence of our guest speaker, the Nigerian High Commissioner, who was called away on an urgent matter, Joao Lucas, our member-designate took us on a pictorial and musical tour of his native Portugal. This is where the next R I Convention is to be held– in Lisbon from 23-26 June 2013. Joao’s slides took us all round Portugal, especially its wine districts, with spectacular views, great histories, fine wines, delicious foods (such as Portuguese egg tarts) and friendly and helpful people. The presentation culminated with views and description of Joao’s own home district – a spectacular beach resort where he enjoys sweeping vistas of the sea right in front of his own balcony. The historic city of Lisbon, which has many connections with us here in Malaya and Singapore, beckons. That was sufficient temptation for quite a few to pledge to attend the R I Convention. President Cze Hong has signed up and is hoping to form a group of at least 10 from RCRC. Joao promised that he will make arrangements for the group to go on a short tour of the most interesting parts of Portugal.

Installation Dinner: to inject a dose of reality to the Portuguese euphoria among those present, PE Jeffrey Chan reminded that all going to the Convention must make sure that they are back in Singapore in time for the 34^th Installation Dinner. This will be on Saturday 6 July 2013 at the Grand Ballroom of the Singapore Island Country Club.

Lisbon - Here we come !

(Update from PP C hin Koy Nam on 24 Oct : Re: 10 days trip to Lisbon and RI Convention in June 2013.The tentative dates are from 22 June 2013 Saturday to 1 July 2013 Monday or 15 June 2013 Saturday to 24June 2013 Monday. RI Convention is from 23 to 26 June 2013 but we may not attend the entire convention, more likely just for the opening ceremony on June 23 Sunday.

President Cze Hong shall lead the RCRC group. So far, Cze Hong, Elizabeth, their son Jonathan, Sigrid, Aaron and I are interested. The forthcoming new member Joao Santos Lucas (Portugal national, now resident in Singapore) will provide a unique tour itinerary, which is not going to be where the tourists normally go. Joao has not yet indicated if he will join us on the tour.

Luis has signed on to the RI Convention and arranged a tour for his former RC members from Germany. We will arrange to meet Luis and his friends in Lisbon and possibly outside Lisbon.

Please ask the RCRC members to begin talking to their spouses and children .I will provide the tour details on 10 November Saturday so that the RCRC members can come back with a definitive answer by 17 November Saturday.)

(Update from Rtn Chris Mertz on 24 Oct: Chris &Jean are interested in joining in. Chris will try to get special airfares from Emirates).

Visiting Rotarians: The meeting of 22 Oct saw PDG Graham Jones of the R C of Southport, Gold Coast, and PP Oliver Hennedige of R C Singapore joining us. They were warmly welcomed and participated fully in our fellowship during the meeting. PDG Graham issued an invitation to all of us to visit his club which meets at one of the golf clubs on the Gold Coast. So anyone for golf and make-up a the same time?

Coming events: PP Russi, the Club Secretary reminded that this weekend is the Rotary Foundation l Seminar at Guild House, organised by the R C of Suntec City. The Family of Rotary Retreat at Desaru will be from 23-25 Nov. Also, our charity film show featuring the musical “Les Miserables” will be on 28 December at the Lido Cinema Hall 1. Members are urged to support these events.

Board Meeting: A Board of Directors Meeting was held at the residence of PP Chin Koy Nam on 21 October 2012. Dinner following the meeting was “Muthu’s curry” . It was hosted by Pres Cze Hong. A number of decisions were taken. Foremost were the approvals of budgets for the various committees of the Club. As the Club finances are poor, having incurred a deficit for the Installation Dinner, the Board approved a transfer of $ 7000 from the Club reserves to the operating budget for this year to fund the Club’s programmes. The Board also decided that henceforth all cash gifts from the Club to sister-clubs must first be approved by the Board. Also, the Club is not to be committed to any programmes or initiatives of other clubs unless the Board first approves.

Rotary Flag Day: the Rotary Flag Day is on Sat 10 November. RCRC has been allocated the area of Parkway Parade and Katong I12. Our Interactors and Rotoractors are assisting. Members are urged to volunteer to assist in selling the flags and also supervising the sales by the young people. Those who can please contact PP Eugene Lim.

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"Good meeting starts with good house keeping" says President Low

MEETING OF TUESDAY 09 OCTOBER 2012

Reported by PE Jeffrey Chan

President Cze Hong arrived very early to set up the room for the meeting, including laying out the club desk, checking the seating arrangements and the food to ensure that all went well. These are usually the duties of the Sargeant-at-Arms and well over and above the duties of the Club President. Just as well that our President put in the effort as our guest speaker, Rtn Rewa of R C Singapore, arrived early as well. Rtn Rewa was no stranger to our club. A Rotarian since 1967, he has been involved in many facets of Rotary work. Significantly for the day, he has written 3 books on Rotary Humour  which has sold over 130,000 copies with the proceeds being applied to Rotary causes.

Rtn Rewa’s talk was on the 4-way test  which was formulated by Herbert Taylor in 1932 as ethical yardsticks for his employees.  Rewa  challenged us to think whether the test can be applied in all situations. When applied to specific fact situations, it became obvious from the examples he referred to that the 4 limbs of the test are mutually exclusive. Telling the Truth may not be Beneficial to All Concerned, and it may not always be the case that Building Goodwill and Better Friendships  translates to being Fair to All Concerned. Thus while the spirit of the Four-way Test is unquestionable, the test itself cannot be blindly applied.

Rtn Rewa’s entire talk was peppered with humorous anecdotes and jokes, leaving it beyond doubt that his books are good company for stressful evenings. He brought some along and sold them all, donating $2 from each book to our Sunshine Box. It was a true pity that so few RCRC Rotarians were present for this most enjoyable talk and the fellowship that followed.

Visit to RC Pasir Gudang and Johor Baru

President Cze Hong announced that he and PP Chin Koy Nam will be visiting the RCs of Pasir Gudang and Johor that evening. They will be exploring the possibility of joint projects.

Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting will be held at 7 pm on the evening of 15 October 2012 at the home of PP Chin Koy Nam at Rochalie Road. President Cze Hong will host the meeting. All Directors are to prepare their reports to the Board. Also, Board Members are invited to propose agenda items for discussion. These should be sent to the Club Secretary and President Cze Hong before the meeting.

Rotary Weekly Meetings Summary for September 25 and October 2, 2012

SEPTEMBER 25 - Prepared by Jeffrey Chan and Tengku

An initial hiccup over the availability of parking at the SCC after the F1 races led to contradictory messages to RCRC members as to whether the meeting was or was not cancelled. Thankfully, with the efforts of PP Koon San and Sigrid, this was clarified and 13 members turned up. There were no guests or visiting Rotarians. The numbers meant that the club will have to pay from Club funds for 7 diners as the Club’s commitment to SCC is for a minimum of 20 persons at each lunch meeting.


Rotary Flag Day

Club Treasurer PP Ron announced that the Rotary Flag Day in aid of the Rotary Foundation will be held on Saturday 10 November 2012. RCRC has been allocated the Katong area for the sale of flags. This area includes major shopping destinations such as Parkway Parade and Katong I12 shopping centres.

'PP Eugene Lim will be in charge of our effort, assisted by Ron'

We will have the assistance of our Interactors and Rotorators. But there is still need for RCRC members to be involved, both as supervisors and also to sell the flags. A number of RCRC Rotarians present volunteered right away. But more will be required. Those able to volunteer can contact PP Eugene. This can be for the entire day or just part of the day.

DAS Fund-Raising Dinner

PN (Designate) Corina reported that the Fund-Raising Dinner for the Dyslexia Association of Singapore on 8 Sept raised $1.3 million. RCRC Rotarians alone contributed around $300,000. These figures are a record. The report generated a cheer and claps from the RCRC members present.

Gourmet Fine-Dining Charity Event

PP Aaron reported that the total collection for the Gourmet Charity Dinner at Prague Microbrewery which was helmed by celebrity chef PP Jeffrey Tan of RC of Manningham, Victoria, Australia, was $11200. The cost (food ingredients, airfares and hotel for the 3 Australian celebrity chefs) was $5615. The amount raised for the charity, the Sunlove Home, was thus $5585. Our thanks to PP Jeffrey Tan and his team for the excellent meal and their contributions to the charitable cause, and also to Prague Microbrewery for the generous donation of the use of the whole of their premises for this event.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE !!

The speaker for the meeting was none other than our own Rtn Tengku Indra. He spoke because he wanted to speak – on a subject that is dear to us all. Reflecting on his life’s journey, he recalled that he was born in Istana Kampong Glam in District 7. This was where the good food was in old Singapore - mouth-watering mutabaks, thosays, soup tulang, mutton soup, numerous kinds of nasi padang and the ubiquitous nasi beryani. These he relished with great and complete abandon for 23 years of his early life. Then he went on to the corporate world and lived the good life, high-flying all over the world and enjoying great business meals at every opportunity. At age 42 he ventured out on his own and for the first time, since he had no more medical insurance cover, he bought medical insurance.

Then he came down hard – very hard. He had to undergo a triple by-pass due to coronary heart illness. Just as well he had medical insurance cover then. But that changed his life. He had to become more serious about what he consumed. But as time went on, he slipped back and just last month, he complained of angina discomfort that laid him low. He landed at Mt. E for a few days. Most seriously, he was unable to attend the RCRC Hari Raya/National Day Fellowship at Mamanda Restaurant which he organised. That was most sad.

Former RCRC Rtn Baldev, his good friend and cardiologist, made it clear that if he wants to continue enjoying life as he does, his weight must come down. That means exercise. Also giving up the pleasures of copious eating. Similar advice was doled out by PP Jimmy when he visited. The choice was stark. He had no choice. So he went on a strict regime. In just over a month, he lost 6 kgs. He looks better, feels better and is all charged up again to plunge into Rotary work. Next month the will be conducting a training programme for our Interactors and Rotaractors on public speaking. He will also be the keynote speaker for the forthcoming New Generations/Vocational Service Committee’s seminar on employment opportunities.

Tengku’s message was clear. We have 4 stages in our lives, viz; the “shiok stage” (conscious unhealthy lifestyle); the “alamak stage” (unconscious unhealthy lifestyle); the “paranoid stage” (conscious healthy lifestyle) ; the “okay stage” (unconscious healthy lifestyle). He has gone through at least 3 of these stages. We, like him, need to progress to the “okay” stage as early as we can. The cost of non-compliance can be dear. We may, again like him, suddenly find ourselves missing out on Rotary Fellowships. This means missing out on some truly great meals.

Tengku’s message was somewhat distressing to Rotarians - given that it was delivered in the midst of a delicious buffet lunch at the Cricket Club. Some Rotarians (PE Jeffrey?) suddenly found their chicken curry and gula melaka not tasting as nice as they normally do. Maybe RCRC as a club needs to move quickly through Tengku’s 4 stages of life. Maybe we should try to reach the “okay” stage, even now. The jury will have to be out on whether that actually takes away one of the great experiences of Rotary. But maybe the compensation is that we can savour the joys of Rotary for a longer period of time.

R C Pasir Gudang

President Cze Hong will be attending the Installation Dinner of the R C of Pasir Gudang this weekend. They have approached us to support one of their projects and President Cze Hong has agreed. He informed that he hopes to strengthen ties with this club as it is nearer to us and it would be easier to do projects with them rather than with clubs further away.

Rotary District 3310 Conference 2012-2013

The 22nd Rotary District 3310 Conference will be held at the Phuket Graceland Resort & Spa, Patong Beach, Phuket from 24-26 May 2013. It is hosted by the Rotary Club of Garden City. The theme is “Making a difference: Peace through service”. This conference will give Rotarians the opportunity to broaden our understanding of Rotary both locally and overseas, establish social networking with other Rotarians and hence meet our fellowship expectations. It may also allow other Rotarians from the host country Thailand to attend our conference to share their experiences with us and to learn from other one another.

Registration forms can downloaded from the District 3310 website. President Cze Hong has already registered. He informed that accommodation is severely limited and late registrants may have to stay in hotels away from the venue. He urged RCRC Members to register for this conference and to do so early.

Family of Rotary Retreat 2012

The District Family of Rotary Committee is organising a Family of Rotary Retreat at the Lotus Desaru Beach Resort, Johor on 23rd - 25th Nov. 2012. The Retreat aims to bring together all members of the Family of Rotary which include Interactors, Rotaractors, Rotarian & family members, Rotary Foundation Alumni and spouses of the deceased Rotarians in one single event.

This will be a time of great fellowship, fun and good food.

President Cze Hong urged RCRC Rotarians are urged to participate in this event together with their families. The dates fall within the year end school holidays. Registration forms are available at the District website.

OCTOBER 2 -  Prepared by Luis Coronado   The session started with a BOD meeting at noon. No guests attended our lunch today. His Excellency Dr. Simeon Selby Ripinga joined us informing of his forthcoming relocation from Singapore back to South Africa. Our meeting was presided by Dr. Cze Hong Low who also prepared an interesting video on how to prevent and treat Dry Eye Syndrome.

Sigrid Zialcita reminded all Rotarians that we can still join the every year/every Rotarian contribution of USD 100 to the Rotary Foundation. Anyone wanting to make the contribution should email Sigrid and/or our treasurer Ronald Pereira.

Sigrid also reminded participants of the Nov 23-25 Family of Rotary Retreat. Rotary Foundation Seminar on Oct 27 and Malacca trip on Oct 20 to coincide with visit to Dr. Koy Nam Chin’s clinic.

Luis Coronado reminded the participants of the 2013 Rotary International Convention in Lisbon, Portugal. He has already registered and mentioned that there is a discount if registrations are made prior to December 31. Hotels are also being booked fast. Side trips could be organized to Oporto once the group is confirmed.

Thomas Graf mentioned that the date being considered for 2013 installation is July 6. He also reminded everyone that Tengku Sri Indra will be giving a presentation to the Rotaractors on public speaking on October 27 with venue to be confirmed.