Rotary was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago to promote fellowship among businessmen; it has since grown internationally and focuses on community service. The document provides details on the history and founding of Rotary by Paul Harris, as well as information about upcoming Rotary events and programs in the local district.

1. Vol 18 Number 34 SELAMAT PAGI 17 April 2010
April is Magazine Rotary Information
Month
History of Rotary International
Paul P. Harris was born to George and Cornelia
Harris on 19 April 1868 in Racine, Wisconsin,
USA. One day in the fall of 1900, Paul P. Harris
met attorney Bob Frank for dinner in a well-off
neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago.
They took a walk around the area and stopped at
shops along the way. Harris was impressed by
how Frank had made friends with many of the
The month of April is annually
shopkeepers.
designated as Rotary's Magazine
Month, an occassion to recognize and
Since moving to Chicago to set up his law practice, Harris had not encountered
promote the reading and use of the
the kind of camaraderie that Frank enjoyed with his fellow businessmen. He
official RI magazine, The ROTARIAN
wondered whether there was a way to channel and expand this type of fellowship,
and the regional magazines, which
which reminded him of the New England town where he’d grown up.
make up the Rotary World Press.
'The thought persisted that I was experiencing only what had happened to
The ROTARIAN has been around since
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others in the great city … I was sure that there
1911 as the medium to communicate
must be many other young men who had come from farms and small villages to
with Rotarians and to advance the
establish themselves in Chicago ... Why not bring them together? If others were
program and Object of Rotary. The
longing for fellowship as I was, something would come of it. '
primary goal of the magazine is to
support and promote key programs of — Paul P. Harris, My Road to Rotary
Rotary. The magazine also
disseminates information about the Eventually, Harris persuaded other local businessmen to meet and discuss
annual theme and the philosophy of forming a club for commercial trade, community, and fellowship. His vision laid
the RI president, major meetings and the foundation for the Rotary of today.
the emphasis of the official 'months'
on the Rotary calendar. The world’s first service club, the Rotary
Club of Chicago, was formed on 23
The ROTARIAN provides a forum in February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an
which both Rotary related and general attorney who wished to capture in a
interest topics may be explored. The professional club the same friendly spirit
magazine serves as an excellent he had felt in the small towns of his
source of information and ideas for youth. The Rotary name derived from the
programs at Rotary club meetings and early practice of rotating meetings among
district conferences. Many articles members’ offices.
promote international fellowship,
The first four Rotarians: (from left)
goodwill and understanding. Regular Rotary’s popularity spread, and within a
Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele,
readers usually have superior decade, clubs were chartered from San
knowledge of the activities of Rotary Hiram Shorey, and Paul P. Harris Francisco to New York to Winnipeg,
and understand how each Rotarian Canada. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been
may be more fully involved in the four formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary International name
Avenues of Service around the world. a year later.
Although each regional publication
has its own unique style and content, As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members’
they all provide Rotarians with up-to- professional and social interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and
date information and good reading in contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization’s
April - and all through the year. dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above Self.

2. LAST WEEK'S SPEAKER
ATTENDANCE
Guest: Ezra Mohd Zaid
Ang Yan Yan, guest of Graham - Malaysian Publishing
Attendance: 60% Fines: $14 ZI Publications is a three-year-old
operation translating and publishing
books ranging from thrillers to business
books, biographies and fiction. He noted
Announcements
that it isn’t where the money is currently
in Malaysian publishing. That would be
Club Service the area of textbook publication which is valued at 70% of the RM1.5 billion annual
turnover of the whole Malaysian book market excluding printing.
- A Fireside chat will be organised on
Friday 14 May at Eco Green, TTDI. It will This to him is an imbalance. Booksellers are upgrading their image and range of
be an evening for sharing Rotary titles. There is now the opportunity to tap trade books in local languages. As of now,
Information with new members. All club ZI is concentrating on English and Bahasa Malaysia books. Ezra pointed out that
members are also welcome to attend. there is really no lingua franca in this country. While one positive result of this
situation is that there are many who can converse in two or more languages, they
- 'Relay for Life 2010' is on 29 - 30 don’t really have the fluency to read good books in any of the languages. It translates
May'10. CP Naga will be assisting the to a lack of demand for books not even for titles that are selling in many translated
National Cancer Society Malaysia in editions. We compare very poorly with Indonesia which he says is 10-15 years
organising the event. RCBKS will ahead of us in publishing. They are able to bring out their Indonesian translation of
participate as a team. world bestsellers two months after they are released. They are open-minded and do
not censor publications. So it is that they have an Indonesian edition of Playboy
Community Service magazine.
- James reported on the meeting with The other drawback of the Malaysian market is seen in the statistic that the cost of a
RC Shah Alam on the joint Medical movie ticket is RM10 to RM15 where as a book might cost RM30. In the UK by
Camp project on 16 May'10. We are comparison, a book costs about the same as a movie ticket. It is the sign that there
required to source for doctors. is no mass market for books in Malaysia. Ezra laments the fact that he usually prints
only between one and three thousand copies of a new book at a time. This is for a
Vocational Service population of 27 million. Of the 600 odd retailers in the country a vast majority are in
the Klang Valley. This neglects the other regions in the land.
- CY reported the committee proposes
to organise a Career talk at SMK Taman Having said that he sees a growing market for trade books in BM. There has been
Megah. Tentatively in June'10. More an increase in the proportion of BM titles in notable bookshops like Kinokuniya and
details to follow, Popular Bookstore. This is the focus of ZI. Because of the competition, the
presentation of the content now matters much more. The readership is getting
Other announcements sophisticated about typography and printing. Paper quality is now an issue.
- Yau reminded members on the Mentor A more disturbing aspect of Malaysian publishing is censorship. The authorities
Support Group meeting on Monday 18 have absolute discretion to ban any publication. No explanation is given beyond
May at 7.30pm. citing a threat to national security and public order. The Publishers, Printing Presses
and Publications Act allows the Ministry of Home Affairs to confiscate books from
- Steve reported on the Installation shops without compensation or justification or notification. On the gazette of banned
meeting held last week. The 19th books is a list of 1,200 titles. Given that the publisher of a translated title has a
Installation will be held after the regular considerable outlay, this is makes the venture rather risky. He cited the example of
club meeting on 26 June'10. his translation of “Trouble With Islam Today” by Irshad Manji, a Muslim woman in
Canada. His edition has been banned.
District NEWS Ezra highlighted yet another anomaly in the local BM market. On the one hand there
are many books published on Islam on the other there are rather earthy titles too
vying for the buyer’s ringgit. Their only common denominator according to him is that
District Leadership Seminar “they use letters.” It is difficult, says he, to reconcile the fact that the rate of literacy in
the country is 87% and yet the reading habit is pathetic. He was surprised by the
The objective of the seminar is to government’s appoint-ment of Michelle Yeoh and Datuk Shaikh, our national
provide leadership training to astronaut, as reading ambassadors and the slogan “Come and Read 1Malaysia”.
Rotarians, particularly Past Presidents,
to prepare them for further leadership Still ZI is committed to publishing books that he sees to be an “unparalleled
roles at the District level and beyond. approach to opening the mind, to challenge beliefs and reaffirming half-beliefs.”
This is in line with the objective of the They are doing this with a social objective and yet aspire to turn a profit. They are
Club Leadership Plan (CLP). proud to be among a set of independent publishers some of whom produce poetry
anthologies priced at RM5.00! Not on mushy love but on current issues. There
Date: 23 May 2010
represent a different socio-economic class and their market is growing. So ZI will
Host Club: RC Shah Alam
continue to celebrate diversity by translating into Bahasa books of literary or
Cost: $50
commercial value.
Ezra made a serious topic interesting with his asides and interjections. We wish ZI
the best.

3. Today's Programme NEXT CHANGE
Mr David Fong 24 April (Sat) 7.30am
'Innovation' Business meeting
8 May (Sat) 7.30am
David has over 30 years experience in the finance industry in England, Hong Kong, Speaker: Adriana Aris
Singapore and Malaysia. The last 16 year had been in private equity/venture capital. Topic: USS Nimitz
In 2000, he co-founded iSpring Capital Group, a Malaysia based investment
management and advisory firm. Since 2001, has been managing a venture capital 15 May (Sat) 7.30am
fund for Mavcap, a Government owned venture fund. David has been active in the Medical Camp briefing
venture capital industry in Malaysia since 1996 and has served on the committee of
the Malaysia Venture Capital & Private Equity Association at various times and is
currently the chairman. He has also been actively involved in various entrepreneurial CALENDER of EVENTS
development programmes and now sits on various working committees to provide
Fireside chat
Industry Feedback on regulatory policies. Date: 14 May 2010 @ 7pm
Venue: Sri Wangsaria Condo,
Meeting Room (Ground floor)
Medical Camp
Date: 16 May 2010
Venue: Shah Alam
REF Values Education Program
Date: 8 - 9 June 2010
Venue: SMK Sri Permata
Mentor Support Group Trip to Taiwan -
Committee Meeting RC Chungli Chung Shing
- 12 April 2010 Anniversary
Date: 18 - 23 May 2010
The 1st Mentor Support Group The objective of these meetings is to:
committee meeting was held on • See how mentor interaction with Relay for Life 2010
Monday 12 April'10. A total of 18 people mentee could be improved and if the Date: 29 - 30 May'10
were present for the session which was “scripts” should be changed; Venue: Bukit Jalil Stadium
chaired by Yau. The group meetings
will be held periodically ie every 4 • See if additional resources could be
RCBKS 19th Installation
months and ideally 2 to 3 times peryear included in mentor program to benefit
Date: 26 June 2010 (Sat)
mentees;
• Share what works with other mentors; RC Bugis Junction Installation
• Warn other mentors of pitfalls and Date: 10 July 2010
things to avoid
• Discuss effectiveness of milestone Duty Roster
events and see how these can be
improved. 17 April (Community Service)
Sargeant-at-arms Graham
Desk Duty Niklas
Introducer Siew Hwa
Words to Grow by .... Thank Speaker Ee Lay
Fines Angie
30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You 24 April (International Service)
name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of
these in the Air. Sargeant-at-arms Sunny
Desk Duty Teng Yoong
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back Introducer -
Thank Speaker -
But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If Fines Thomas
you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked,nicked, damaged or
even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive
for it.”
Visit our Blog @
WORK EFFICIENTLY DURING OFFICE HOURS AND LEAVE ON TIME. GIVE THE http:// rotaryclubbks.
REQUIRED TIME TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS & HAVE PROPER REST. blogspot.com

4. Board of Directors 2009/10 District NEWS
President Group Study Exchange ( GSE )
Frances Po To District 5180 Sacramento, USA
21731618(0) 15 Oct to 13 Nov 2010
President Elect
Tan Poay Lim A team comprising of one Rotarian as Team Leader and four Non Rotarian Team
77277127(0) Members will visit District 5180 Sacramento, California, USA 15 Oct to 13 Nov 2010
and a team from District 5180 Sacramento, California, USA will visit District 3300
Immediate Past President/PR Malaysia from 20 Nov to 20 Dec 2010.
Elsie Low
77281807(0)
1. The District GSE Committee invites Rotarians from Rotary Clubs in District 3300
to apply for an opportunity to lead a GSE team to California, USA. The Team Leader
Vice President/Membership Director
must
Dr Sanjay Doshi
23008030(0) ¨ be an experienced Rotarian, especially in international service, well informed
on Malaysia and on Rotary.
Honorary Secretary
Cecelia Matuya
¨ be willing and able, physically and otherwise, to keep pace with the vigorous
56342870(0)
program of GSE.
Honorary Treasurer
PP Graham Bennett ¨ assume complete charge of the team, possess outstanding interpersonal
012-2918619 communication skills.
Club Service Director ¨ build a well-informed, motivated and a cohesive team.
PP Karen Chong
012-2893380
2. Rotary Clubs are encouraged to promote this GSE program to the community by
Vocational Service Director inviting young professionals to apply as candidates for selection as team members.
PP CY Fong
78032276(0)
¨ a Malaysian citizen, 25 – 40 years of age.
Community Service Director
Ho Ee Lay ¨ employed in a recognized business or profession.
019-3395688
¨ in good health.
International Service Director
Susan Lim
012-2325860 ¨ of a sound, general educational background and
cultural awareness.
New Generation Director
Ghaurry
¨ open minded, tolerant and flexible.
23003757(O)
Rotary Foundation Chairman ¨ able to travel for four to six weeks with their employer’s
PP Sunny Khoo consent.
22849089(O)
3. Closing Dates
Bulletin Committee Team Leader application : 30tApril 2010
James Lau/ Karen (Editor/Production) Team Member application : 15 June 2010
Poay Lim (Speaker’s Programme)