Malaysia Boleh!: APRRC 2007 in Malacca Malaysia

By President Joyce Lee Hui Hui

Asia Pacific Regional Rotaract Conference (APRRC), the brainchild of PDG Alexander Mak from District 3450 Hong Kong, finally hit the Malaysian shores in a coastal town called Malacca.

I remembered attending last year’s APRRC Pilipinas event in Tagatay City, Phillippines last year. Yes, I had made new contacts and expanded my rotaract network with fellow rotaractors from district 3300 Malaysia.

Then, the real work began. Malaysia was the APRRC host for this year conference.

Being a rotaractor, we should not confine to interaction with fellow club members within a limited circle. That is why I personally decided to get involved in the APRRC Committee last year with the district to broaden my horizon.

APRRC is a mega event for Rotaract District 3300 Malaysia. In my opinion, it was a challenge for the Rotaract district 3300 Malaysia to organize the event within a short span of time. Finally, after the late nights and countless bi weekly meetings, the event finally began on August 24th 2007. It was a five days event.

Five days! Wah! Talk about being away for almost a week from home and work!.

August was a hectic month for me. Reason is I had my club installation matters two weeks before the APRRC.

I was glad that my fellow energetic club members (my fellow comrades, thank you!), Rtr Jia Thiam, Rtr Way Wen and Rtr Hannah who also participated the conference with me.

Rtr Jia Thiam and Rtr Way Wen were assign with the logistics team. Both were also appointed Sergeant At Arms (SAA) for the APRRC Opening Ceremony and also for the plenary sessions.

I was selected as rapporteur for the DRR Assembly training (full day) especially for the Asia Pacific District Rotaract Representatives (DRRs). My role was to churn out reports to Rotary International on matters and issues discussed at the DRRs assembly and training.

Day 1 begins with registration of participants from 13 countries. It was a challenge to manage the big crowd. Besides that, there was

1) Long queues at the registration counter especially if one bus of participants just came from KLIA.
2) APRRC logistic committee members had to commute to the airport at least 4-5 times a day.
3) Besides the fellow rotaractor participants, their Rotarian participants had to be taken care of especially when comes to room resort allocation.
4) Logistics, Secretariat, Venue, Liason team had to attend a meeting at 11pm each night, two days before first day of the conference
5) Rotaractor JT and Way Wen manage to get a spacious resort room after August 24th.

For the second to the fourth day, was the Rotary-Rotaract plenary session by key note speakers (Rotarians/Rotaract leaders from Asia Pacific countries). This was one of the main highlights of the conference.

What I personally like is the individual country reports from each Rotaract district presented by each country representatives. You will learn about each places of interest and the geography of the particular district and country.

I learn about MDIO (go to rotaract.net and find out what this means) and issues faced by rotaractors across Asia Pacific. This is the platform, which I hope Rotaract-Rotary issues and gap are bridged for common good.

I can never forget the cultural night event and the after hours party and dance which were one of the best programs in the APRRC. And not forget the House of Friendship.

Despite the late nights, many of the committee members got up early in the morning to continue working.

The dedication showed by all district 3300 Malaysia Rotaractors finally pulled off. During the closing ceremony, I was surprised when PDG Alexander Mak personally shakes my hand and congratulated me.

That was unforgettable. The committee had pulled this off successfully!
Malaysia boleh!