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President's Blog

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The computer tablet donation is a popped up idea arising from our charity activity “Sham Shui Po Community, Sani-Mist Germicidal Sanitation Service 2020” was in progress on 17 August 2020 and 18 August 2020.  We offered two full days free cleaning service with the help of J Life and LBS Hygiene to 60 subdivided units in Sham Shui Po. Taking this opportunity, I wish to express my sincere thanks to our Rotarian Irene Tse and members of our service committee who pulled us together with J Life and LBS Hygiene, making this meaningful service a success, plus, the full support of J Life and LBS Hygiene.

Our red box donation was also conducted in a creative new idea recommended by PP Arun via our internal private whatsapp group. The result is fruitful. For those who committed to donate, don’t forget, Sergeant at Arms PP Arun will collect your donations in our next lunch. Thank you.

A bit worry to technical problem prior to our 1st Zoom meeting, fortunately, it was smoothly convened and closed after we took our 1st online group photo at 2:00pm when fellow members and guests joined me to rise and drink a toast, in different style of drinks, to Rotary International, coupled with RC Wan Chai, RC Admiralty and Rotary Club of Hong Kong.

Installation Meeting 7th July 2020

It is my honour to host my first luncheon meeting as the President of the Rotary Club. Mixed feelings as prior to our meeting, we were all saddened by sudden news of demise of PP Beat’s wife. We silenced a minute, offering Rotary’s heartfelt condolences to Beat’s family.

Pleasant surprise, we had altogether 95 participants, including 32 RCOHK members, 11 district officers, 3 PDGs, 3 CPs ,8 PPs and 9 Ps from 17 Club, 9 Rotaractors and 22 guests. A big crowd, I can see the smiling faces enjoying the fellowship in a bit low ceiling room of the Bankers Club, hectic, exuberant yet warm.

After a few words of congratulations from DG Eric, our Installation Ceremony formally kicked off with IPP Kenneth’s report of his work last year. In recognition to his distinction achievement, IPDG Wilson presented a President with Distinction Award to IPP Kenneth.  Exceptional good work. Thank you IPP Kenneth for your fantastic leadership. 

When the sash was handed by IPP Kenneth to IPDG Wilson to DG Eric to me, I feel what it means, a succession to heritage - as displayed in the history booklet, “Many FIRSTs in the Rotary Club of Hong Kong”, we gave away to all guests. Thank you, Rotary Historian Herbert, for providing us such epic piece. 

“Renaissance”, the theme of my 44 slides presentation, thank you for all your patience, mainly focused on the momentum that helps us build from strength to strength. It will be challenging, just like the conditions in Hong Kong- fortunately, we were able to hold this event as the public gathering limit was lifted, and unfortunately, the news came up the same day with numerous new COVID-19 cases. We will for sure be more cautious in our coming club meetings keeping abreast of the latest development. My new vigorous board members I introduced to you will definitely give you confidence that we will overcome any challenges.

Having such busy schedule, still we managed to close it on time at 2:00pm when fellow members and guests joined me to rise and drink a toast to Rotary International, coupled with RC Peninsula, RC Kowloon West RC Wan Chai, RC Kowloon Tong, RC Admiralty, RC Hong Kong North, RC Central, RC Harmony and Prosperity, RC Hong Kong Island East, RC City Northwest Hong Kong, RC Queensway, RC Metropolitan, RC Financial Centre, RC Smart, RC Innovation Hong Kong, RC Peninsula East, RC North Point and Rotary Club of Hong Kong.

Thank you everyone for joining us to mark our new chapter.

YIR

P Peter

Fellowship Lunch 2nd June 2020

Today we used our innovation and held a fellowship lunch under the social gathering rules that are still in effect due to the coronavirus pandemic. 3 Tables (booked under 3 separate names), 8 each, limited to 24 participants. No podium, no banners, no microphones or powerpoint facilities. Pure lunch with fellowship spirit. Response was overwhelming: all seats were taken up within 3 days of announcement. My apologies to those members who wished to come but could not get a seat. Our VIP guest was DGE Eric Chak. He gave an extremely interesting talk on how to keep healthy and avoid knee, back and neck pain. The talk was intertwined with questions and those who gave the correct answers received a small present from DGE Eric! The talk ended with a light stretching exercise which members found extremely relaxing. We also took the opportunity to induct 3 new members into the family: returnee PP John Lees (Legal services), Lilian Liu (Audit accounting) and Robert Ip (Business solutions). They were proposed by PP Patrick Yeung, PP Selwyn Mar and PE Peter Lau respectively. A few club announcements were also made: (1) As the Bankers Club will be closed from  August 2020 to October 2020 for relocation, we have arranged with Club Lusitano to hold our luncheon meetings at their premises during the gap time; (2) Due to the disruption in program this year, the Board has decided to carry forward all unused lunch vouchers in the 1st Half of 2020 into the 2nd Half of 2020. The membership fee invoice for the 2nd Half of 2020 will therefore exclude the compulsory purchase of 60% lunch vouchers for the period. Our next meeting will be held on 16th June, Tuesday, and we have invited Ms Jo Hays, CEO of Habitat for Humanity HK to be our VIP guest. As the Government have extended the social gathering rules to 18th June, we will be having the same arrangements as on 2nd June, seats limited to 24 only. Please look out for the announcement and reserve your seats early. See you all then!

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 17th March 2020

Last week the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Countries imposed entry restrictions and international travel slowed down to snail pace. However, amidst all this, we still had 4 tables full of members and guests attending this week. A very good show-up in the present climate. We started the meeting with a moment of silence for the lost of two beloved members: A de O Sales and R N Ratnam. PP O Sales dedicated his life to sports development in Hong Kong and helped us to achieve sporting autonomy after 1997. R N has been a prominent figure in the Indian community in Hong Kong and a dedicated member of our Club for 32 years. We mourn their departure and hope they rest in peace. With departures there are newcomers. In the meeting, PP John Lee announced that he will re-join the Club, following PP Selwyn’s example. Thank you, PP John. Your re-joining is a great encouragement to all of us. We also inducted a new member. Ms. Irene Tse, to the family. Irene has been a regular visitor to our Club meetings and have strongly supported our recent face-mask donation project in her personal capacity. Welcome, Irene. I am sure you will become a great rotarian. Irene is the fourth new member this year. According to PE Peter, chair of the Membership Committee, there are 2 to 3 more in the pipeline. Looks like we can expect a year of abundance. The talk by our Elsie Yung was on “Human Resources – What is in it for me?”. The talk gave insights on how the HR role is evolving and gave us a glimpse into the new areas of HR: not just hiring and firing or looking into employment benefits etc. but helping the operation teams to elevate efficiency with their human touch. It was also interesting to note that Elsie studied English, not HR or business, in University but became a highly successful HR professional. Proves that one’s potential need not be restricted by what they study. 

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 3rd March 2020

After the pause in meetings in late February to avoid the coronavirus threat, members were eager to get together again this week. However, we had a rough start as the scheduled speaker, Ms. Myat Thuzar Than, CG of Myanmar, had to postpone her visit following health advice by their Embassy in the last minute. Being agile and adaptive, we immediately changed plans and our Hon. Treasurer, Connie Leung came to the rescue. She delivered a speech on “Trust and Estate planning – Hong Kong and China Perspective” which was well received by the audience. PP Kelvin was quick to spot that the threshold for a trust was only $10 million. I am sure a lot of members are considering one after listening to Connie’s analysis of the benefits to be achieved! The eventual meeting was well attended with 3 tables full of members and guests. Everybody was relaxed, away from the tense climate outside, and we had good fellowship and fun amidst all the announcements. PP Kelvin reported on the recent ad hoc service project that we just did on 29th February: donating surgery masks and hand sanitizers to the POLCCF Dialysis Centre;  PP Mitzi Leung reported on her progress on the establishment of the Rotary Action Group For Peace for District 3450; and PE Peter came up with an innovative face mask holder that he distributed as souvenirs to all attending the lunch. We also admitted one new member in the lunch: Ms Martha Hao who was proposed by PE Peter. Martha was General Manager at Defond Group and currently Chairperson of the Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Device Industries Association and a Council Member of the Hong Kong Internet of Things Alliance (HKIOTA). Her classification is Innovation and Technology. Apart from Martha, a number of potential new members also attended the lunch, presumably observing our performance to see if it is worth them joining us! Such renewed interest is all due to the great work done by the Membership Committee under the leadership of PE Peter. 

YIR

P Kenneth 

Members Meeting 4th February 2020

We started our first lunch meeting in the Year of the Rat today despite the coronavirus threat rampaging in the City. A lot of District events were either cancelled or postponed, but we decided to live our normal life and keep to our luncheon schedule as much as we could. Our guest speaker was Mr Clement Chan, Managing Director of BDO Ltd, which happens also to be our honorary auditor. Clement has served on many public boards, including the SFC, the HK Mortgage Corporation and the Consumer Council. Today, he addressed us on “What it takes to build a Consumers’ Right’s Culture”. Due to the epidemic situation, I must apologize to Clement for a relatively light audience. We did not have any guests (apart from the speaker) visiting us but still had 15 members attending, 8 of which were past presidents. If we did not make up in numbers, I hope that we made it up in seniority.  Clement explained the composition of the Consumer Council, its positioning and its latest strategic goals. It was very inspiring and informative. Apart from the Choice magazines, I was never aware that the Consumer Council was doing so much. During the Q&A session, there was extensive discussions on how vast the products the Consumer Council has been covering (not only consumables, but also service products like insurance, Uber etc.) and whether it should try to expand its activities (and influence) to the Greater Bay Area or not. Clement said that it was one of their strategies to connect more within the Greater Bay Area since in this age of online shopping, failure to do so would be a disservice to the customers. However, how to do it and to what details are still to be formulated.  Our next speaker on 18th February will be Ms. Priyanka Chauhan, CG of India and her topic will be “India: 70 years of the Republic”. I suddenly have a thought: India is a developing country and densely populated, just as China, yet I cannot recall it having any major epidemic as SARS or the coronavirus. Why is it so? Maybe Ms. Chauhan can give us an answer?

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 21st January 2020

This week we presented our RCOHK International Service Award to Dr. Clement Leung for his humanitarian work for the younger generation in Sichuan.  Dr. Leung is a specialist in reproductive medicine and, apart from his charity work in China, has also been working hard to arouse the public’s attention to the adverse effect that environment pollution has on the fertility of living animals. Environmental pollution is no longer just climate change and bad weather: it affects the very sustainability of many animal species, including the human race! At the instruction of Dr. Leung, the Award prize money of HK$100,000 was donated to Medicare Resources (MR) to support their education work in Sichuan. Mr. Gary So, director of MR, represented MR to receive the cheque. This is the 11th year of the Award which was initiated by our past PP Robert Fung. Special thanks to our Rtn. Anthony Marr who made the revival of the Award possible by a generous donation to the Golden Jubilee Fund for this purpose.

Our speaker for the day was our own PP Bruce Vaughan who addressed us on the challenges he experienced in promoting chiropractic as an alternative medical profession in Hong Kong. His sharing on how his optimism and persistence eventually changed the attitude of people from scepticism to acceptance was very inspiring, especially in difficult times as now. Before becoming a chiropractor, PP Bruce was also a cowboy, looking after herds of cows in Brazil, in his teenage years. After that he served in the military which eventually brought him to Hong Kong which he now calls home. With such a colourful experience, it is no surprise that he is now also an author with 8 books published already (all books are on sale at the Amazon shop). Read his years as a cowboy and his struggle to promote chiropractic in Hong Kong in his first book: “Brazilian Saddle Sores”. 

We had 4 tables of members and guests who contributed generously to the red box. The total collection was HK$2,530. Great fellowship in very cosy atmosphere. Finally, I would take this opportunity to wish all our members a healthy and prosperous Year of the Mouse. Kung Hei Fat Choy!

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 7th January 2020

Housing is a major problem in Hong Kong. It has been identified as one of the primary sources of current social unrest. Apart from difficulties in sourcing land, the long time needed for construction also contributes to the difficulties in resolving the problem. Today, we invited Mr Chan Ka Kui, Chairman of the Construction Industry Council, to give us an overview of the current situation and his vision of a New Era of Construction in response to the challenges.

Mr. Chan said the public image of the construction industry is dull, dirty and dangerous. This makes youngsters reluctant to join causing a scarcity in manpower resources. As the average age of the existing working force is very high, the problem will just worsen. The solution is to move as many construction activities as possible from the site into factories where works can be done under better conditions with automated equipment. This is the Modular Integrated Construction (MIC) method and several pilot projects by the Government and the Science Park are being undertaken to test its practicality. An example of such buildings can be seen at the MIC Display Centre at the Zero Carbon Park at Kowloon Bay. The method promises to reduce cost and time and improve quality.

Another new trend is the use of Building Information Technology (BIM) in the design stage. This allows buildings to be designed and built virtually many times before actual construction starts, making sure everything is in order first and thereby avoiding wastage, abortive works and delays.

When asked amidst all the advantages of MIC and BIM, what are the disadvantages? Mr. Chan explained that both methods will need the design to be finalised at an earlier stage. No more changing the design as they are being built. A small price for lower costs, speedier construction and better quality. 

Today we also admitted a new member: Ms. Connie Lam, MD of the HK Arts Centre, into our Club. Connie is proposed by PE Peter and is well known to PP Sandra and me. Her vocation is “Arts Management” and her joining will definitely bring more colours to our Club. Welcome, Connie!

Since the beginning of this Rotary year, our Youth Services Director, Dr. Ankie Mak, placed a donation box in her clinic to accept donations on our behalf. To date the box collected around HK$3,000 for the Golden Jubilee Fund. Thank you, Ankie. Please continue doing so. We also had 4 tables of members and guests for the lunch who all contributed generously to the red box. A collection of HK$6,150 was achieved making the total donation received for the day to be $9,150. A very good start for 2020.

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 17th December 2019 

Today we held our last Members Meeting of 2019 in grace with the Officer Commanding of The Salvation Army (TSA) Hong Kong and Macao District, Lieut- Colonel Bob Lee as our speaker, sharing with us the visions and concepts of their new educational projects to be implemented in Hong Kong. Lieut-Colonel Lee came with his lovely wife, Lieut-Colonel Wendy Lee and their Development Director, Mr. Wilfred Leung. His speech illustrated TSA’s concept of how education should be delivered, covering not only the Government curriculum, but also other core topics like environment, innovation and socializing: an overall approach. Education in Hong Kong is one of the most pressing issues and it is great to see Institutions taking active actions in improving it. During the Q&A session, the cost to provide such desired education facilities was discussed. I pointed out, and the Colonel confirmed, that extra curriculum facilities are not subsidized by Government and will have to be supported by private donations. Rotarians with a heart in educating our next generation please take note!

TSA used to arrange a children choir to sing Christmas carols in our last meeting before Christmas. This year the arrangement had to be cancelled due to risk in transport because of the uncertain conditions in Hong Kong this year. What a pity! We look forward to Hong Kong returning to normal and we can revive this tradition again next year. 

We had 3 tables full of members and guests, meeting our target of minimum 3 tables for each regular meeting. Rtn. Mark Tse brought his daughter, Lingsi, who is also a Rotaractor. Happy to see members working hard on our succession planning. At the end of the meeting, PP Frankie Lam surprised us all by a call to the Lieut-Colonel to join our Club, stating that it has been a tradition that the Officer Commanding of TSA is a member during his term in Hong Kong. Lieut-Colonel Bob Lee gracefully agreed to seriously consider! We will definitely follow up on this.

Merry Christmas to all members and looking forward to see you more often in 2020.

YIR

P Kenneth

Annual General Meeting 3rd December 2019

Today we held the AGM for our two operating entities: the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Ltd (RCOHK) and the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Golden Jubilee Fund Ltd.(GJF). 20 Members attended in person, meeting the quorum requirement without the need of proxies we collected beforehand. Thank you all for coming. Your attendance is a great encouragement to all the Board members. Our Honorary Treasurer, Connie Leung, reported on the finances of the companies which were audited by our Honorary Auditor, BDO Limited. I must take this opportunity to thank PP Selwyn for bringing BDO in as our Honorary Auditor. Their involvement has made finalization of the accounts so much smoother than previous years. The accounts were adopted as is by the members present.

The highlight of the meeting was PE Peter Lau’s presentation of his 2020-2021 Board and his vision to further strengthen the Club under his presidency. His plans might seem very bold but, as we say: “Shoot for the Stars if you want to land on the Moon”. PE Peter is bringing his business acumen into his Rotary work. So happy to be part of his team. Note that the 2020-2021 Board still lacks a PE. The PP Council are working on potential candidates but any member looking to contribute more to society can still come forward. 

On Club matters, we announced that we will award the revived RCOHK International Services Award to Dr. Clement Leung for his charity work in Sichuan and the Faith Hope Love School there for the children of the Yi minority community. We have also nominated Mr. Jeffery Andrews to the District for the ONE Humanitarian Award for his humanitarian work in respect of refugees, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.

Christmas is approaching and for the next meeting we have invited the Salvation Army children choir to come and sing for us as in last year (subject to street conditions). Come and join us to enjoy the festival sensation.

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 19th November 2019

Today with the help of our honorary member, Mr. Henry Litton as speaker, we returned to the grandeur of our old time lunches. With 83 members and guests attending, we had to move the venue from our customary Bankers Club to the Hong Kong Club to accommodate all. 

The title of Mr. Litton’s speech was “Is the Hong Kong Community Mesmerized by Slogans?”.  It was a timely expression by a respected legal practitioner on the current situation in Hong Kong. He touched on the five demands insisted by the protestors and deliberated on how some of the demands appear to contravene the Basic Law. On their call for amnesty because protestors are not acting for their own benefit but for society, he expressed that the Law should be blind and hard edged but sentences can always be compassionate according to the circumstances. He  criticised the judiciary system itself as he believed that if the judiciary could work faster, the harsher sentences handed down to rioters who caused damage versus the more lenient sentences to peaceful protestors who were just tagging along would help society form consensus on what actions are acceptable and what are not.

In a twist to the legal arguments in his speech, Mr Litton showed his passion for the younger generation when he suddenly mentioned the milky way and the stars in the sky. How children in the Australian Outback can rely on the stars to lead their way whereas teenagers in Hong Kong can only rely on their iPads or iPhones to guide them. He also mentioned a documentary that described how teenagers found camping in the streets together during the 2014 Occupy Movement gave them a sense of freedom and solicitude. We have a lot to do to mend the deep flaws in our society.

It was a pity that due to time restraint we had to drop the Q&A session. I know that a lot of members were burning with questions to ask. Luckily Mr Litton stayed on for a while after lunch and I hope members had the chance to talk to him directly to discuss.  

To close, I would like to give special thanks to Mr Litton for his generosity in matching the red box collections (up to a ceiling of HK$6,000). We collected over HK$9,000 and, adding Mr. Litton’s donation, made a total collection over HK$15,000 to be used on our service projects.

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 5th November 2019

Kicking off our Honorary Member month, we had Professor Samuel Leong, co-founder of the UNESCO Glocal Peace Centre, speaking to us on “Glocalizing Culture for Peace. Together with Rotary and  our PP Mitzi Leung, the UNESCO Glocal Peace Centre in Hong Kong have been doing a lot of peacemaking work over the years by bringing children of different cultures to work and play together and create mutual understanding and respect.  Professor Leong’s concept is to achieve global peace, we must start locally. When challenged in the Q&A session on how his idea will work in the present Hong Kong chaotic situation,  he gave a very convincing answer with vivid examples of why, in situations of unrest, we need to maintain control and peace within ourselves first otherwise not only that we would not be able to help the situation, we will be intensifying it, causing it difficult to calm down. Bravo to such wise words.

We also had PDG Eugene Fong to come to introduce the ONE Humanitarian Award that is being organised both by Rotary International and Rotary District to us. What a coincidence with our Peace theme for this lunch.  Deadline for nominations is end of November.

We also had a “happy” problem. Due to Professor Leong’s draw, an unexpected number of members and guests attended and the Club had to rush in additional tables, chairs and meals to cope. As a result, the meeting started and finished both by 10 to 15 minutes late. That caused inconvenience to members who had made appointments relying on the punctuality of our luncheon meetings. To those affected, I give my sincere apologies and promise to control the schedule better in the future! 

Following PP Selwyn’s suggestion, we started a new practice on the red box. Red boxes will be placed in each table for volunteer contributions. No more arm twisting by the Sergeant at Arms. We collected over $3,000: good proof that Rotarians do not need pushing to do good deeds. 

In our next luncheon on 19th Nov. we will have another Honorary Member, Mr. Justice Henry Litton, coming to speak to us. His title will be “Is the Hong Kong Community Mesmerized by Slogans?”. Due again to great interest by members and guests, the lunch will be moved to the Hong Kong Club to accommodate the increase in numbers. Register immediately if you have not yet done so as only a small number of seats are still available. 

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 15th October 2019 

This Tuesday we had Ms. Alice Mong, Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center, to come and speak to us on the background of Asia Society and how the Hong Kong Center, an architectural masterpiece, came to be established.  The Society was established in 1956 in New York by John Rockefeller with an aim to promote knowledge of Asia to the USA. Today, apart from offices in USA, the Society has a number of offices in Asia including: Hong Kong, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Asked why establish offices in Asia as they seem to conflict the original intent? Alice answered that unlike that of the West, Asia has more diversified cultures and the primary role of the Asian offices is to promote knowledge of different Asian cultures to each other. In addition they also do community services by promoting arts, business, culture, education, and policy in a local sense. It seems that the policy of Asia Society blends well with our Rotary theme of “Connect”. Steve Dekrey gave the vote of thanks and mentioned that Alice was one of his former MBA students. Well done, Steve. Train more business leaders for Hong Kong! The following month in November will be dedicated to our Honorary members. First in 5th November we will have Prof. Samuel Leong on “Glocalizing Culture for Peace” and in 19th November we will have Mr. Justice Henry Litton on “Is the HK Society Mesmerized by Slogans?”. Register early for the talks as seats are limited!

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 8th October 2019

Upon request from a number of members, we held a special lunch meeting on 8th October, the second Tuesday of the month. The meeting was in the form of an “open platform” for any member to express and discuss club matters covering membership, attendance, services etc. any related topic. It was a Club Assembly with no fixed agenda. No speaker was invited.

As expected, the discussions were kicked off by PP Selwyn Mar, first on membership. PE Peter, the Membership Chair, took the opportunity to introduce his strategy of attracting new members. Quality must be upheld as we, being the first Club in the District, have always enjoyed a reputation for high  standards. That should be the way to differentiate our Club from others. PP Sandra expressed that new members must be dedicated to the Club and one way to ensure this is to require that they sign up to one of the Club’s committees upon joining. PE Peter agreed and advised that this has been taken care of. The revised new member admission forms that was recently approved by the Board was tabled  for everyone’s information.

The next topic was on attendance and PP Selwyn expressed that all Board members should act as a role model in this. He suggested that at least 50% of the Board members should be present in every lunch meeting. Luckily that day, we had 70% of the Board members present! 

PP Kelvin and Dr. Ankie gave a short report on the Club services being done. The Art Therapy for dementia elders is now our main project after the successful completion of the Test for Life Mobile Clinic last year. With the current unrest in Hong Kong, we will be focusing more on local projects by involving our rotaractor clubs.

I also announced that, with the help of Rtn. Anthony Marr, we will revive the Club’s International Services Award this year and invited nominations by members for suitable candidates before the end of October.  

The meeting went on with a very cheerful atmosphere. I believe everyone enjoyed the fellowship it offered. PP George Koo was right in expressing that sometimes in our eagerness to secure prominent speakers, we neglect the opportunities to listen to and understand our own members. Point taken and will be considered in the future programs.

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 17th September 2019

Whilst I was absent in the week due to travelling, IPP Donna stepped in again and saved my day. Thank you IPP Donna for your unrivalled support!

I know that Simon Mak, CEO of Friends of the Earth HK, gave an inspirational speech on the environment and what we can do to become more sustainable. All policies work towards changing the mentality and habits of people on how to lead their daily lives in a more environmentally sustainable manner. My trip was a pilgrimage trip that took me to the second or third tier cities in Italy. Throughout the journey, until we reached Rome, the skies were blue and the streets were clean. The residents showed a strong sense of sustainability concepts that we find so difficult to promote in Hong Kong: in one case, the hotel staff came out and demanded that our driver turned off the engine of the tour bus even though it had just stopped for a short while for us to board. It was a great first-hand experience on how serious people in Europe are taking the environmental crisis. Hong Kong has a long way to catch up.

One thing, however, took me by a bit of surprise. We visited 30 churches in 12 days and attended mass every day. Even in the most remote cities, our tour guides were very interested about the situation in Hong Kong and asked us what caused all the unrest. Even a priest, after hearing the confession of one of our members, asked about the situation in Hong Kong and what is to become of it. We are now famous. Hong Kong has definitely made the headlines on the international stage in the past few months. 

What can be done? A difficult question. A statement by St. Benedict which I found in the monastery at Montecassino might guide the way: “Ora et Labora” -  Pray and Work Hard. As with so many things in life, we can only wait it out and hope for the best. May God have mercy on Hong Kong.

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 3rd September 2019

We were very fortunate to be able to get hold of Dr. Leo Cheng and his wife Hilary during their short stay in Hong Kong to come and talk to us on the humanitarian work of the Mercy Ships which provide free surgical operations to the sick and poor in Third World Countries on board their floating hospital. Dr. Leo, a cancer surgeon, has been using his annual leave from his hospital job in UK to serve on the Africa Mercy for the last 12 years .He has been on the vessel 16 times. The Africa Mercy is the flagship vessel of the Mercy Ships and has been bringing hope and healing to the people of West Africa since 2007. We had 3 tables full of members and guests, all who were deeply moved when seeing the many cases of patients suffering from oversized thyroid and neck tumours and other deformations that were cured, restoring their health and dignity. Also glad to know that a new Mercy Ship is being built in Tianjin which is expected to come into service in 2020. Being so close to us, this new ship will definitely provide opportunities for our Rotary Clubs to participate in its humanitarian missions (Rotary District 1260 in UK is a major sponsor of Africa Mercy).

Mrs. Hilary Cheng, wife of our speaker, gave an inspiring Positive Peace Sharing Moment for the lunch. She expressed that in Church, we give blessings to each other by shaking the hands of the persons next to us. This simple gesture brings us closer and promotes harmony of peace. A good example of how easily we can promote peace in our everyday life.

We also had our happy moments. Happy birthday to PE Peter and Director Seishu who were the birthday boys present in the meeting. And a new member - welcome Elsie Yung to the Rotarian family. Elsie is a very respected Human Resources professional and her classification is “People Development“. Nowadays management of people is one of the most difficult tasks. Our Club will benefit a lot from Elsie’s participation.

The speaker in the next lunch meeting on 17th September will be Mr. Simon Mak, CEO of Friends of the Earth HK. After listening to medical attention to humans, let’s go further to medical attention to the Earth itself. Please mark your diary for another interesting talk. 

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 20th August 2019

While P Kenneth and PE Peter were handsomely representing RCOHK in Mongolia and checking our signature project, we gathered for our Rotary luncheon at the Bankers Club overlooking beautiful Victoria harbour. A full house celebrated many things – PP Patrick Yeung’s birthday, the Club’s continued awarding as a certified green club, a media article featuring RCOHK’s organisational resilience. Thank you, our service support partners and Rotarians.

The theme “Rotary connects the world” was well represented in the talk from our honourable guest  Consul General Kim of the Republic of Korea. The CG began his speech by sharing that he had decided not to issue a travel warning to Hong Kong despite the recent protests, winning over the audience immediately. He then took us through the economic relationship between Hong Kong and Korea, insights into the current political situation in the Korean Peninsula, then finished off with his forward looking view on the trade tension between Korea and Japan.

In the Rotary luncheon, we covered current topics involving 3 influential economic power houses in North Asia – it is truly good to be a Rotarian where we can learn in the fellowship of business leaders. Special thanks to PP Connie for inviting the guest and being the enthusiastic host throughout, and PP Frankie for giving an impressive vote of thanks in RCOHK style – thorough, candid comments based on quantitative rationale and facts, the similarities between Rotary HK and Korea, and respective achievements.

We learn a lot from each other, within our club, inter-club, locally and internationally. Rotary connects the world, indeed.

YIR

IPP Donna 

Members Meeting 6th August 2019

We pride ourselves to be the first choice of visit for oversea rotarians visiting Hong Kong. Today we had Rtn. Alan Cheng from Rotary Club of Vancouver visiting us. Originally we also expected P Arvind Batra and Rtn. Raj Jain both from the Rotary Club of Jaipur Central, India. However prior to coming, they inquired about the safety in Hong Kong and eventually cancelled their visit. It is really sad to see Hong Kong’s image dropping to that equivalent to a Third World Country!

As our Club has registered as a Rotary Peacebuilding Club, I initiated a Peace Experience Sharing Moment into the Lunch Meeting. PP George Koo followed up on it to discuss the dire situation in Hong Kong. PP Selwyn asked what I think we could do. I replied with a quote from the senior partner in my previous Partnership Firm: “Work hard and pray hard”. We all need to have faith in Hong Kong.

Our speaker on the day was Mr. Sam Kong from the Hong Kong Productivity Centre (HKPC). His topic was “Industry 4.0”. Industry 4.0 is dubbed the fourth industrial revolution that makes use of the latest IT, AI and IoT in manufacturing to deliver products just in time and tailored to need. HKPC have been working in partnership with Fraunhoter IPT of Germany to assist SMEs in Hong Kong to upgrade themselves to meet the Industry 4.0 criteria since 2015. Hong Kong is pushing hard on innovation, but innovation without a high value manufacturing base to follow up makes it difficult to realize all those great ideas we have. It was great to hear the work HKPC is doing in this area.

I will be away for the next lunch meeting on 20th August, joining DG on his trip to Mongolia. IPP Donna has kindly agreed to step in for me. Thank you Donna. In the next two weeks there will be a  host of events. Starting on 14th, Wednesday, we will have a Club visit to the Rotary Club of Admiralty as part of our “connect” efforts. On 19th, Monday, we will be holding the fellowship event “ Age 5 Masters meet The Masters” at the Opera Art Gallery at Wyndham Street where we will be awarding prizes on behalf of the Rotary Club of Kherson, Ukraine to the winners of the Stamp of Friendship International Art Competition. On the 20th, Tuesday, will be our regular lunch meeting. Our speaker on that day will be the Consul General of Korea. Given the recent situation between Korea and Japan, his speech will be very interesting. Then on 20th, Tuesday again, after the lunch will be a fellowship event to visit the European Office in Hong Kong for a deeper understanding of this entity that has made the news since the announcement of Briexit.  There must be an event that you like!

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 16th July 2019

Today we had overseas visitors, Rtn. Mike Hebert and his wife Diane from Rotary Club of Brunswick, North Carolina. We also had Ms. Elike Hon, our ex-member who initiated our signatory “Test for Life” project whilst she was with us, Rtn. Jones Chan from RC Admiralty and Rtn. Sherman Chan from RC Lan Kwai Fong plus other guests by members.

The speaker was our own PP Kelvin Mui. The title of his speech was “Design and Business”. IPP Donna has always said that our own members are masters in their fields and their insights are as good as any prominent speaker we can get from outside the Club. Listening to PP Kelvin’s speech proves that point. He took us through the process when he approaches a project, be it a shop, an office or residence. His principle is the design has to be balanced between irrational desires and rational facts. E.g. in a shop, how to balance the desire to show as many merchandise as possible and still keep the shopping environment spacious and comfortable? In offices, how much common areas should be provided so that it encourages collaboration but at the same time allow sufficient space for focused work? PP Kelvin’s studio get around these problems by using statistic approaches like measuring the time spent by staff on focused work and collaboration discussions and plan it accordingly. Such scientific assistance to their artistic design work ensures that the completed environment will play its part in enhancing the business, making it more profitable or efficient.

The Q&A part was also interesting.  PP Selwyn Mar, who used to run one of the largest department stores in Hong Kong, asked how to design and improve the business of a “Tai Pai Dong” or a street stall in “Women’s Street”? The vote of thanks was given by Rtn. Dr. Ankie Mak whose clinic was designed by PP Kelvin himself. She said the environment of the clinic is so comfortable that her patients tend to stay on after their treatments for their daily gossips. Nothing better to a professional than commendation from his customers! 

YIR

P Kenneth

Installation Speech 9th July 2019

DG Wilson, VIPs from the District, Presidents and Past Presidents from fellow clubs in Area 2 and Area 7, all guests, welcome to our Club Installation Lunch. 

It is indeed my honour to be elected as the President of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong, the first club to be chartered in District 3450. I joined Rotary quite early, admitted in 1991. In those days we met every Tuesday at the Mandarin Hotel and often had 8 to 10 tables full. PP Vernon told us in our Annual Gala Dinner that Radio Hong Kong used to broadcast the speeches made by our speakers. Those were before my days, but I do remember groups of reporters waiting outside our dining area for an interview with the speaker after he or she delivered the speech.

I am a surveyor and was made a partner in my firm at the age of 30, the youngest in its history. After I was made a partner, I was told by my senior partners that I now had to go out and find jobs for the firm. So they ushered me into the Rotary Club to establish connections. I made a lot of good friends in Rotary, but I never managed to get a job from it. However, Rotary did open my eyes as it allowed me to establish a network beyond my industry and build up my confidence in social connections. These assisted me greatly in the build-up of my career. For this, I am indebted to the Club. So after I retired and Donna asked me to take the role of President-Elect, I could not find any excuse to turn it down and therefore deliberately took on the challenge.

We pride ourselves in doing community services. Last year we had a full year of activities including visits to Guizhou to see the Left Behind Children, medical support visits and improvement works to Elderly Homes for the Salvation Army. We started an Art Therapy project together with our Rotaractors to assist elders with dementia. We eventually managed to accomplish our pledge to retro-fit a 6 by 6 Land Rover into a mobile clinic suited to roam desert terrain and deliver it to our partner Club in Mongolia to provide cervical cancer screening services after more than 3 years of hard work.

I found that Rotary is more than doing services. RI President Mark Maloney said: “you do not have to choose between Rotary and family. You can have both”. To ensure I can have both, I deliberately asked my wife, Ellen, to come and join me today as endorsement of her support for me to act as President. There is also truth in P Maloney’s statement from a different angle. Rotary is not just a club that brings professionals together to uphold business ethics and pay back to society by doing community work. The Rotary principles can also be a way of life. The 4-way test: Is it true? Is it fair? Will it build goodwill and friendship? Will it be beneficial to all? These principles can be applied in life and business also. Nowadays, social inequality has caused confrontation on a worldwide scale. A “Us” versus “Them” mentality keeps spreading. In EU, locals reject immigrants. In America, the working class are indignant that they are stripped off by the elites in Wall Street. In Hong Kong … I do not know what to say. Why should society be seen as so unfair? So lack of goodwill? Applying the Rotary principles in life could make our society more stable and sustainable.  

In the coming year, we will continue with our existing work and at the same time adopt “Peace Making” as the core theme in planning new services. We have already started by registering as a Peace Builder Club with the Rotarian Action Group for Peace and will be setting up a Peace Committee in our Club to drive the movement. Initially, we intend to work with our Rotaract Clubs and Interact Clubs to build peace by providing mediation skill building to youngsters so that when they have disputes, they can think in each other’s shoes. We believe that if one can understand the underlying restraints of the other party, disputes can be avoided and mutual agreements can be more readily made.

To finalize, please let me introduce to you my Board Members: To start, IPP Donna Buckland who has also kindly consented to be the Programme Director; Hon. Secretary Janice Leung who we all rely on 

to keep ourselves in line and in compliance; PE Peter Lau who has kindly agreed to take on the Membership Committee Chair shouldering the arduous task of getting new members. Peter is out of Town and cannot join us today; PP Dr. Frankie Lam, our Foundation Chair and link to the RI Foundation; Priscilla Law as Vice President and Public Relations Director; Connie Leung as our Hon Treasurer. Connie is in China and cannot join us today either; we have a strong services team consisting of PP Kelvin Mui as Services and PPE Director, Dr. Ankie Mak as Youth Services Director and Seishu Tanetani as International Services Director. Both Ankie and Seishu are also overseas and cannot join us today. I am deeply indebted to all of them for their unrivalled support and pledge herewith that I will do my best to keep up with the great work that my predecessors have done in keeping the Rotary Club of Hong Kong thriving for the past 88 years. 

Thank you.

Kenneth Poon

Installation Lunch 9th July 2019

Today we held a modest lunch to conduct my installation as the 89th President of the Club. Before the lunch, we had a meeting with DG Wilson and other members from the District to report on our work in the last year and our plans for the coming year. I would herewith express my thanks to DG Wilson for his acknowledge of the great work done by IPP Donna and his encouraging words regarding my plans. 

Over 50 Rotarians, guests and Rotaractors attended. I am particularly happy that my wife, Ellen, and my daughter, Stephanie, attended also to witness my installation. The ceiling in the Bankers Club is a bit low therefore the venue was as noisy and exuberant as a Chinese restaurant but it was great to see everybody enjoying the fellowship.

The Installation eventually started off with IPP Donna reporting on our work in the past year. Instead of speaking, she used a video and it was amazing to see everyone quieting down to watch it. Good move, Donna! She was followed by a speech from IPDG YC, then by my installation speech and finally an address by DG Wilson. The message from DG was membership growth is important (and encouraged by RI) but membership quality is equally important. Take good care of your rotaractors and encourage them to join Rotary when they feel they are ready as it will be definite that they share our same value. The whole Installation process, including the mini raffles draw, ran smoothly. Thanks to the hard work by our Executive Secretary, Yancy!

The event was closed by a toast to all the Clubs who had members present. These include: RC Admiralty, RC Central, RC HK Bayview, RC HK financial Center, RC Kowloon Golden Mile, RC Kowloon Tong, RC Lan Kwai Fong, RC Mandarin HK, RC Metropolitan, RC Peninsula, RC Peninsula South, RC Smart HK, RC Victoria, RC Wanchai and Rotaract Club of HKU.

Over the past few days, I attended a number of installation dinners and found that every Club has their own style. Some started with singing the Rotary song and some held a solemn oath taking pledge by the new Board. The only part that is the same is the passing of the sash from the IPP to IPDG to DG and then to the incoming President. Great diversity with a common core!

YIR

P Kenneth

Members Meeting 2nd July 2019

Today was my first luncheon meeting as President of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong. A bit clumsy in my handling but I will improve at it. I was warned that attendance might be light as it was the first working day after a long public holiday weekend. And what a holiday it was, as we witnessed half a million people protesting down the streets and riots in the Legislative Building until mid-night! Many must have been worried and stayed up late at night to witness the events. 

I took the advice and arranged a “Review and Preview” session instead of inviting a guest speaker. IPP Donna gave a review on the magnificent work done under her leadership in 2018-2019 (her full report is uploaded on our website) and I took the chance to have a direct discussion with the attending members on what I planned to do in the coming 2019-2020 year and invited their  comments. The meeting was attended by 15 members and we had a very good discussion with members proposing many ideas on how to raise members’ commitments and attendance. Our senior members shared their valuable experience on how they managed to run the Club when it had near to a 100 active members. Very inspiring and helpful for my future running of events.

The next meeting will be our Club’s Installation Meeting on 9th July, Tuesday. We expect visitors from District including DG Wilson and Presidents from friendly Clubs to attend and witness the event. Looking forward to meeting you all on this big day.

Yours In Rotary

P Kenneth 

Membership Fellowship Sustainable Service meeting 18th June, 2019

The final luncheon meeting of the Rotary year 2018-2019 was dedicated to our members.

We celebrated our long serving members. There are 25 members in our club with over 25 years of Rotary under their belts, with the longest serving member being Rtn James Wu with 52 years in service. Collectively there are over 880 years of Rotary. As a club, we have approx 1280 years of Rotary service among our current members.

A wise man said it’s not the number of years in your life that matters but the life in your years. I do hope that our members have filled and will continue to fill their years with more meaningful Rotary fellowship and service life.

Guest speaker Dr. Kit Sinclair helped us reconnect with international rehabilitation service projects RCOHK supported in the past. A good session to understand occupational therapy - it was wonderful to see Rtn Adrian reconnecting with Dr. Sinclair and PP Vernon.

Members are our biggest asset. Our members define our prestigious club - a diverse hub of business leaders. The achievements our club enjoyed this year in Rotary service making global and local impact, is owing to the members’ continuous support. It was my true previlege to have served you as your club president - I will sign off on that note and look forward to a great year ahead under P Kenneth’s leadership. 

YIR / P Donna