Dear Fellow Rotarians,
The month of July came and went rather quickly. My wife, Betty accompanied me on my travel schedule to various places in our district i.e. Kuching, Bintulu, Miri, Kuala Belait and Singapore. In the course of my travel itinerary, I had attended 10 clubs visit and 13 club installations. I had the opportunity to make new acquaintances with Rotarians and friends whom I had never met before. It was a wonderful experience for me. Through my club visits and installation, I had come to a realization that each and every clubs vary in their own unique practice in term of Rotary ritual and protocol. Whilst some clubs are formal and traditional, others are hybrid or are neither formal nor traditional. I believe, we need to take away the outdated ritual and meeting format in order to stay relevant in today’s world. To me there are no fix rules of what is right or wrong in term of Rotary rituals and protocol as long as members are comfortable with their practices. Our ultimate goal is to be able to attract talented, thoughtful, and generous people to join the Rotary club and carry out meaningful Rotary service.
We are living in the digital age, we must learn to let go the past and adapt the present, only then we can make ourselves relevant. “Evolve or diminish”, the choice is yours.
August is Membership and New club development month. RI President Mark Daniel Maloney had called on all clubs to form a membership committee to devise and action plan to grow our membership base or club extension. As we all know that each individual club cannot afford to be stagnant while the clock is continue ticking forward. We must grow Rotary in order to continue and expand our humanitarians service.
To attract new member and retain existing members in this fast-changing world, we must apply flexibility and innovative approach in meeting format, frequency and time, at the same time carry out impactful and meaningful projects that involve family members, community leaders and volunteers.
Jeff Yong
D3310 District Governor 2019-20