Contributed by PP Arthur Yeong
At present, any Rotary Club that can :
(i) get 15 persons between the ages of 18 to 30 to form a Provisional Rotaract Club;
(ii) fill in the Organisation List;
(iii) get the Organisation List signed by the Rotary Club President and Rotaract Club President and the DG; and
(iv) send it off to RI together with USD50.00
can charter a Rotaract Club.
Once they obtain the Certificate of Organisation from RI, their Rotaract Club is legally chartered.
There is at present there is no part for either the District Rotaract Chairman (DRC) or the District Rotaract Representative (DRR) to play in the chartering process nor their input.
The weaknesses in the above process are :
the minimum No of 15 is set by RI without any or without much appreciation of our local situation;
there is no requirement for a minimum number of members in the sponsoring Rotary Club or that the sponsoring Rotary Club must have been chartered for a certain minimum number of years. In short there is no selection criteria for the sponsoring Rotary Club;
there is no selection criteria for the locality of the Rotaract Club;
if it is an institution-based Rotaract Club, there is no requirement that the courses offered at that Institution must be of a certain minimum length (eg at least 3 years or 5 years). Again there is no selection criteria vis-à-vis the Institution;
there is no requirement that the Board of Directors of the Provisional Rotaract Club must be proficient in conducting Club Meetings, Board Meetings, familiar with the Standard Rotaract Constitution & Bye-Laws; and
there is no requirement that a certain number of interest meetings or informational meetings have been held to which prospective members of the provisional Club have been invited.
Whilst the Rotaract Handbook deals in considerable detail on what is expected before a Rotaract Club may be chartered, the fact remains that there is no REQUIREMENT that such pre-requisite conditions have been met. There is no REQUIREMENT that someone certifies that these things have been looked into and found to have been satisfactorily met or carried out.
I humbly propose therefore that before any provisional Rotaract Club can be chartered, ie before DG signs on the dotted line of the Organsation List, the following criteria must have been satisfied :
(1) there must be a list of at least 30 names complete with NRIC Nos, business or home addresses, occupations, handphone Nos and other contact details;
(2) these 30 persons must be paid up members;
(3) the sponsoring Rotary Club must have a minimum of 20 members;
(4) the sponsoring Rotary Club must have paid its District dues;
(5) the sponsoring Rotary Club must have been chartered for a minimum of 5 years;
(6) the sponsoring Rotary Club must assign to the provisional Rotaract Club at least 2 Rotarian Advisors whose tenure must last at least one Rotary Year;
(7) in the case of institution-based Rotaract Clubs, that Institution must offer courses that are at least 3 years in duration;
(8) the Institution must have given its consent and permission in writing for the charter of the Rotaract Club and their use of its premises for their Club Meetings and Board Meetings;
(9) there must have been at least 2 interest meetings organized by the sponsoring Rotary Club or the Rotaract District;
(10) the provisional Rotaract Club must be proficient in conducting Club Meetings, Board Meetings, and familiar with the Standard Rotaract Constitution & Bye-Laws;
(11) at least 50% of members of the Provisional Rotaract Club must have attended at least 1 District event besides the Rotaract Assembly and Rotaract Conference unless no such event is organized in the period under consideration;
(12) the provisional Rotaract Club must have received the DRC and DRR at least once;
(13) the DRC and DRR must have attended the Club Meeting of the intended sponsoring Rotary Club to give a talk on what is expected of them as well as discern if the members of that Rotary Club are generally in favour of sponsoring a new Rotaract Club; and
(14) both the DRC and DRR give their consent in writing.
The DRC and DRR must satisfy themselves that items Nos. 1 to 13 have been complied with and advise the DG accordingly.
Explanatory notes to :
Item 1 : there must be a list of at least 30 names complete with NRIC Nos, business or home addresses, occupations, handphone Nos and other contact details;
RI’s requirement of a minimum of 15 members is unrealistic as experience shows that most Rotary Clubs lose almost half of their charter members within the first 2 years. A minimum of 30 would give the Rotaract Club a better chance of survival. Further with only 15 members, at least 9 would be Board Members, leaving only 6 members. This number is insufficient to power the 5 Avenues of Service. With at least 30 members, each Avenue can have 4 non-Board members, with one left over who may possibly be the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Item 2 : these 30 persons must be paid up members;
It sometimes happens that people bring their friends who do not mind showing up just for the company or meal. These sporting friends may or may not eventually join the Club. Requiring them to pay is one way of testing their commitment.
Item 3 : the sponsoring Rotary Club must have a minimum of 20 members;
Again, with at least 9 Board Members, and assuming that there are 2 members in each of the 5 Avenues of Service, this leaves a somewhat healthy margin to ensure that there will always be at least 1 Rotarian Advisor attending to the Rotaract Club.
Item 4 : the sponsoring Rotary Club must have paid its District dues;
A Rotary Club that is not in good standing has no business chartering anything and cannot possibly be a good role model.
Item 5 : the sponsoring Rotary Club must have been chartered for a minimum of 5 years;
5 years may be arbitrary but the principle is that a Rotary Club which is too young, say only 2 or 3 years old, may still be finding its own feet and may not have imbibed enough of Rotary to have anything to pass on to the Rotaractors. A Rotary Club or Rotarian which/who has not attended a number of Rotary Conferences and Assemblies may be like the proverbial katak dibawah tempurung. In this age of Information Technology when the best informed is king, it would be a grave disservice if we foist ill-informed Rotarians on our Interactors or Rotaractors.
Item 6 : the sponsoring Rotary Club must assign to the provisional Rotaract Club at least 2 Rotarian Advisors whose tenure must last at least one Rotary Year;
Having at least 2 Rotarian Advisors not only ensures that should one be unable to attend, there will still be a back-up, but also impresses upon the Rotaractors how seriously they are taken by their sponsoring Rotary Club. Further in the unfortunate event that one of the Advisors is less then ideal, his/her partner may exert a moderating influence and keep the RAC on an even keel. In the event of there being only 1 Advisor and he is non-performing or not exerting the kind of benign influence that is desired upon the Rotaractors, the Rotaractors probably have no recourse. The young are very reluctant to go over the head of the Advisor from Hell and plead their cause with the Director of Service to New Generations. The situation is compounded when the Director is himself the Advisor to the RAC.
Item 7 : in the case of institution-based Rotaract Clubs, that Institution must offer courses that are at least 3 years in duration;
Save for the adventurous and courageous, many 1st year students may not join a RAC. Even if they do join, it is unlikely that they will hold office. Some institutions, like Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh (UTP) do not allow foundation or 1st year students to hold office. Hence it is more probable that students will join the RAC in their 2nd year. Hence they may only hold office in their 2nd or 3rd years. In their final year, most students will be reluctant to hold office or be actively involved.
Thus it is probable that if an institution has 3 year courses, the students will be active for at least 1 year. Better still if they have 5 year courses like UTP. Institutions which have only 2 year courses mitigate against the RAC doing well or even surviving.
Item 8 : the Institution must have given its consent and permission in writing for the charter of the Rotaract Club and their use of its premises for their Club Meetings and Board Meetings;
It may happen that after a RAC has complied with all other requirements and has received its charter, that the Insitution withholds its permission. This would be a complete waste of time. If no permission to use its premises is forthcoming, it would be insufferable for the RAC comprising of only impecunious students to pay to use a venue beyond their college walls.
Item 9 : there must have been at least 2 interest meetings organized by the sponsoring Rotary Club or the Rotaract District;
This would be the bare minimum. The more interest meetings and briefings are held, the better informed the potential Rotaractors would be. The best informed is king.
Although students are by nature like sponges, soaking up whatever information is fed to them, it would be unrealistic to expect them to be able to absorb everything about Rotaract at one sitting.
In District 3300, incoming Presidents and their officers attend not 1, not 2 but 3 training sessions before they take office, namely the Pre-PETS 1, Pre-PETS 2 and PETS at the Assembly. And yet we still come across some who do not know when Dues should be paid, or when World Rotaract Week is, etc.
Item 10 : the provisional Rotaract Club must be proficient in conducting Club Meetings, Board Meetings, and familiar with the Standard Rotaract Constitution & Bye-Laws;
This is self-explanatory. A proficient President and Board of Directors will ensure that they touch down running, not fumbling. It cannot but be disheartening for new members to see the President and Secretary of their RAC groping around as in the dark during Club Meetings, or for Board Members during Board Meetings.
When the President or Chairman hums and haws, it makes the Meeting unattractive and boring. Members will be disinclined to attend Meetings and hence may not know what is going on in their RAC. Ignorance breeds apathy. Apathy breeds inactivity. Inactivity will breed the demise of the RAC.
Item 11 : at least 50% members of the Provisional Rotaract Club must have attended at least 1 District event besides the Rotaract Assembly and Rotaract Conference unless no such event is organized in the period under consideration;
Rotaract Clubs, like Rotary Clubs, do not exist in isolation. Although each Club is autonomous and takes sole control and responsibility over its activities within the Consitution and Bye-Laws, it co-exists with all other Clubs in the District.
The Rotaract District would be meaningless and defunct if it is not supported by the majority of the Rotaract Clubs in the District. Indeed there would be no quorum to hold the District Board Meetings or the District Exco Meetings. A fortiori when District events are organized – a lack of participation invariably leads to economic loss. More important than ringgit and sen is the loss of opportunity :
(a) to interact and network with and get to know other Rotaractors in the District;
(b) for personal development through exposure to one’s contemporaries’ ideas and different ways of seeing and doing things;
(c) to give of oneself and test oneself against myriad other standards expected by people who appear to be of the same ilk;
(d) to develop social skills and one’s emotional quotient;
(e) to form edifying and mutually beneficial friendships;
(f) to discard complacency when one learns that what is socially acceptable in one’s one club is abhorrent in other clubs; and
(g) for those aspiring to higher office, to gain the requisite exposure that may win one crucial votes at the material time.
Item 12 : the provisional Rotaract Club must have received the DRC and DRR at least once;
There are RACs that despite repeated requests, will not invite the DRC or DRR to attend their Meetings. The reasons are unclear but definitely cannot be healthy, desirable or Rotary in spirit.
A Rotary Club can be terminated for refusing to receive the DG. The DRR is like unto the DG where RACs are concerned. The DRC is somewhere in-between.
Without visiting the provisional RAC, neither DRC nor DRR can satisfy themselves or report to DG on items 1, 2, 6, 9 & 10 above. During such visits, they will also have the opportunity of observing and gauging the Rotarian Advisor, the President, the Board of Directors and Members. Anything undesirable may also be reported to the President or Director of Service to New Generations of the sponsoring Rotary Club so that remedial steps may be taken.
It is not uncommon for Presidents of RACs to resign – this may be prevented by an observant and discerning DRC and DRR.
DG is required by RI to make his official visits to individual Rotary Clubs and we all know that whatever RI does is done with good reason distilled over many years of experience. This wholesome and desirable culture should be inculcated in the Rotaract District as well.
This would also give the DRC something constructive to do instead of just reporting that “all our RACs are doing well” and disseminating information about Rotaract and promoting the formation of new RACs.
If a provisional RAC will not receive the DRC or DRR, that is surely an inauspicious start.
Item 13 : the DRC and DRR must have attended the Club Meeting of the intended sponsoring Rotary Club to give a talk on what is expected of them as well as discern if the members of that Rotary Club are generally in favour of sponsoring a new Rotaract Club;
It often happens that the idea of sponsoring a RAC is mooted by 1 enthusiastic Rotarian while the others in his/her Club are only vaguely aware that their Club is about to undertake something as onerous as sponsoring a RAC. It is imperative that such an onerous undertaking is borne not by 1 Rotarian but by the entire Rotary Club. Otherwise that Rotarian will bear the burden of caring for the RAC in perpetuity. I speak from experience. What will happen when that Rotarian leaves ?
Rotarians are generally aware of the pride and joy of being the sponsor of a RAC. Some may even call it prestige. However, just like raising children, others who see them once in a while are wont to remark how quickly and well they have grown. Similarly with RACs, Rotarians not involved may look and say, “Wow, what a good RAC you have there”.
The onlookers may not see the midnight feeding, the toil of changing diapers, the sitting up all night when the child has fever, the fretting and fussing etc.
Having the DRC and DRR give a talk on, not to put too fine a point on it, the burdens and responsibilities of guiding, advising and developing a RAC should leave no Rotarian in any doubt about the seriousness of the undertaking.
Item 14 : both the DRC and DRR give their consent in writing.
As both the DRR have visited the provisional RAC, they will know and understand the situation on the ground much more clearly.
The consent in writing emphasizes to the DRC and DRR that they must take their positions and responsibilities seriously and they must be answerable to the District (either at the Rotary Conference or at some other appropriate forum) should it be discovered later that the RAC has actually not fulfilled any one or more of the conditions.
This will also give some weight to the respective roles to be played by the DRC and DRR. It will serve to more clearly define the role of the DRC which at present is
stated in the Rotaract Handbook as (where relevant) :
“The DRC is a Rotarian appointed by the DG who helps the DG publicise the Rotaract Programme, promote the organization of new Rotaract Clubs and administers the Rotaract programme within the District”.
Requiring the DRC’s approval for the formation of new Rotaract Clubs would seem to be within the purview of the role of the DRC envisaged by the above paragraph and yet crystallizes that role into something concrete.
Extension of tenure of DRC
I would also like to propose that future District Rotaract Committees be headed by a DRC appointed by the DG (status quo), a Deputy DRC appointed by the DGE and an Assistant DRC appointed by the DGN (in line with the 3-2-1 District Plan).
The Deputy DRC (DDRC) will be appointed DRC in the year following his appointment as DDRC, and the Assistant DRC (ADRC) will be appointed DDRC in the year following his appointment as ADRC. This then will ensure that whoever is appointed by DGE as DDRC or DGN as ADRC will automatically become DRC in the Year that they take office as DG.
As candidates for these positions will hold office for 3 Years, I propose that they be carefully vetted to ascertain their suitability for the post based on :
whether their Rotary Club sponsors a successful Rotaract Club;
if not, what their past involvement with Rotaract is, in case they were from a Rotary Club that did have a successful Rotaract Club and have just joined another Rotary Club that does not;
their number of years as a Rotarian;
their number of years as Rotarian Advisor to a Rotaract Club;
their attendance at Rotary District Assemblies and Conferences;
their attendance at their own Club Meetings;
their attendance at Rotaract Board and Club Meetings as Rotarian Advisor;
whether he/she has conferred with the outgoing DRC and obtained all relevant details pertaining to Rotaract in District 3300 such as the No. of RACs, No. of Rotaractors, contact details of all RAC Presidents etc; and
any other selection criteria thought fit by DG.
The reasons for a 3 year term :
a DRC who has just assumed office needs time to find his feet and way around the Rotaract District. The DRC may well find that many Rotaractors he meets are more well versed about Rotataract than he/she is, simply because they have been in Rotaract for longer than he/she has;
the DRC also needs time to learn to put names to faces and a DRC who cannot do that will not come across favourably;
the DRC needs time to win the relevant people over on his proposed plans and projects;
a term of 3 years effectively and realistically translate into about 27 active and productive months : 6 months to find his/her way around, getting to know the Rotaractors, attending Installations, and another 3 months in the 3rd year because nobody does anything much after March of the Rotary Year;
a term of 1 year will similarly translate into about only 6 months of productive months;
these guidelines if approved and enforced will become entirely obsolete on 1 July 2007 if DGE and DGN do not agree to continue with it. Whereas if the DRC-designate agrees to carry on and he is appointed for 3 years, there is a better chance that something fruitful will take root;
if any good plan can be carried on for 6 years without a break, I am confident that that tree will bear fruit.
All the above will admittedly make it more difficult to charter a RAC. Although that is partly the intention, the more important goal is to ensure that District 3300 has strong and vibrant RACs.
The instances of RACs :
becoming defunct - being “put to sleep” as it is euphemistically called,
being closed down in the RY when the DG hails from its sponsoring Club,
not functioning properly or at all,
and their members doing everything except that which is Rotaract or Rotary in spirit or principle,
whose sponsoring Rotary Clubs are too proud to admit there is a problem or too proud to listen to constructive advice,
which are neglected by their sponsoring Rotary Clubs
are an embarrassment to, and a blot on, this otherwise wonderful District of ours.
The above proposals are proactive and concrete steps to rectify what is perceived to ail Rotaract in our District. They may not produce the desired results immediately. It may take 3 or 6 years or maybe 10 years. However long it takes, let the treatment and healing begin now.
Let us take Interact as an analogy. We now have 173 Interact Clubs in 3300. That is more than double the number of Rotary Clubs.
RI District 3450 Hong Kong Macau & Mongolia has approximately half as many Interact Clubs as Rotary Clubs. RI District of Pune, India has a similar ratio.
I am suggesting that the ratio in our District is unhealthy as our Interact Clubs have become unwieldy. There are just so many of them leading to so many Interactors.
Why do I say this ?
About the only District event organized for Interactors is the District Interact Conference. It is difficult to organize much else. The reason is : the Interact Chair has no direct contact with the Interact Clubs except perhaps for those sponsored by his home club. He needs to go through individual sponsoring Rotary Clubs.
What is so difficult about that ?
When I was Interact Chair I wanted to compile an accurate and up to date record of the number of Interact Clubs and their correct names in the District. I thought that would be simple enough. So I emailed all the Presidents, Presidents-elect and Secretaries of Rotary Clubs that sponsor Interact Clubs. After many, many reminders, the response remained dismal. It took me two years to accomplish a seemingly simple task.
What took the cake was a Rotary President whose Club sponsors one (1) Interact Club. He did not reply to my emails and he happened to be the last chain in the link – the one last statistic I needed to complete my task. When I saw him at the Rotary Conference and asked him if he could confirm that his Club sponsored 1 Interact Club, he prevaricated and finally said he would need to confirm with a senior past president.
When I saw him that same night at the fellowship dinner with his “senior past president”, I approached them both. My jaw fell when they both said they needed to confirm with their New Generations Director ! Can you beat that ? This Rotary Club has only 1 Interact Club but the President and senior past president do not know for sure !
With so many Interact Clubs, information cannot be promptly and efficiently disseminated to the Interactors. Similarly information cannot be easily obtained from or about them.
Hence it would be difficult to do much for the Interactors. Why do so many attend the Interact Conference ? One good reason is : many Interactors join Interact for that sole purpose. How do I know ? Interactors who have left school and are now working and maintain contact with me tell me that they joined Interact so that they can attend the Interact Conference to meet girls, not for any other noble reason.
Another reason may be that all Rotary Clubs know there will be an Interact Conference every year.
But try to organize something new at the district level and one may well find it near impossible to get the information to filer through to the Interactors.
The Interact Chair of RI District 3450 PP Louisa Pang led a delegation of 20 Rotaractors to visit Ipoh in 2004. They have about 54 Interact Clubs and about 110 Rotary Clubs and they have a well organized and well administered Joint Interact Council that maintains contact with each and every Interact Club. So information flows easily both ways.
What has this got to do with Rotaract ?
I humbly suggest that we do not want our Rotaract District to go the same way as our Interact District. The above proposals may make it difficult to charter a Rotaract Club. So be it. Better that we have fewer Clubs but that they be better Clubs.
If I could, I would close down some of the existing Rotaract Clubs that their sponsoring Rotary Clubs cheerfully tell me are in “the ICU”. I think we should take them out of ICU and give them a proper burial.
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Chairman
District Rotaract Committee 2006/07
Arthur Yeong
