President Cassidy opened the formal part of the meeting at 1.15 with a warm welcome for our distinguished speaker, but in view of the lengthy nature of the report on the speech I will truncate this report by saying that the usual formalities were as usual, except that during Rtn Elissa’s “fine” introduction of Ms Regina Ip, Secretary for Security, our President was promoted from Cassidy to Kennedy! Merely a constonent and human oversight. Our speaker’s topic was, “The Search for a New Equilibrium in Hong Kong”. Ms Ip explained that it was the first time she had spoken publicly on her policy area since taking office. A singular first for our Club! The most serious component in her portfolio, that of balance between individual rights and freedoms and law and order, was the greatest challenge. In spite of T. S. Elliot’s statement, that, “April is the cruellest month”, hardly a month goes by without one security incident or another. For example, in the last two months, Hei Ling Chau, the use of Pepper Foam, the lone Gunman of Chek Lap Kok and more recently the attack on Immigration Department. But following the loquacious Hong Kong style commentaries, accusations and advice the question remains where does the truth lie? According to a regional magazine, HK’s HR performance is given a B+; not surprising given the Government’s efforts to achieve the balance mentioned above. Ms Yip then outlined how at the heart of this policy was commitment to the relevant parts of the Basic Law, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. All disciplined services in fact have been instructed that in dealing with petitions and protests they should presume that demonstrators are doing no more than exercising their freedom of expression, unless specific and reliable information indicates otherwise. Ms Yip then outlined how she thought the Community at large, Legislative Council, and Students could achieve a greater impact in exercising their oversight of executive actions if they adopt a more impartial and balanced approach. There followed an examination of the concept that Freedoms are not absolute, and carry an obligation on the individual to behave. Some examples of misbehaviour recently were examined. There followed discussion of the achievements of the One Country Two Systems, noting that the Government had achieved what many “doom-sayers” thought as the impossible before re-unification. Ms Ip concluded with a supportive summary of the Chief Executive’s Leadership since handover, some literary positive thinking to drive away the monsters of doubt and to discourage the discarding of a pearl which might be worth more than all of us put together. (Chinese literature has reversed this process by throwing bricks in order to attract jade!! In Cantonese “Pau Jewn Yan Yuk”).

Naturally, with weighty matters such as this one can always quote a bit of Sir Winston Churchill. We (Hong Kong) have “nothing to fear for the future”, provided we show a bit more balance in all we think and do.

Rtn Vincent thanked our speaker for a comprehensive and interesting analysis of the balance of things in Hong Kong and for honouring our Club with its promulgation.

 NEXT MEETING 

Speaker - Dr Ian MacRobert, Ophthalmologist -
Topic - "Laser Refractive Surgery". 
 

 ON VOCATION!

With Jagdish Pursram
  Classification – Exporter - Ladies Fashion

Having moved to Hong Kong, from Bombay in my early teens, I enrolled into a little school in Borrett Road, some of you may know as Island School.   Thereafter, I obtained a BBA in Finance at The University of Texas at Austin and decided to return to Hong Kong.  Those of you’ll who visit the US, should at some point spend a day or two in Austin, it’s a fast growing city, home of Dell, and worth the detour.

I run a trading company, like the other 100,000 or so small businesses in Hong Kong.  The business has been in the family since the late 70’s.  We export a range of clothing apparel to clients in Europe, and Australia, where we work with importers/wholesalers, and retailers.

On the buying side, my work involves working with local Hong Kong suppliers, and those in the mainland.  We produce our apparel in over 10 different Chinese cities, as each area has different specializations in terms of quality and price.   Over the years we’ve seen a dramatic shift of production from South China to all other areas, and not just the coastal cities.   On the selling side, maintaining client contact is an everyday affair, and as Europe opens up in the afternoons our time, things do get busy in the office after lunch!

I’m married to Jaya, who most of you’ll have met.  She’s grown up in the land of our ex-colonial masters, Great Britain.  We’ve got a 6 month old son, who most of you’ll have not met, his name is Akash. Family life is entertaining to say the least, and we’re both looking forward to him growing up in the coming years.

My interests include reading, movies, food, traveling for pleasure, squash, surfing the net, and of course more recently, babysitting! 

 ON VOCATION TWICE IN WEEK!

      Rtn Brian Hodgson – Classification - EeeBarterGum

 My first job after leaving University was working for the The Gruniad (a national English newspaper renowned for its spelling mistakes). I then went to Australia for 3 years and worked for Rupert Murdoch's News ltd. 

I arrived in Hong Kong in 1990 not knowing a sole. I again entered the publishing business and joined the SCMP. I also worked at a travel trade publication and the Chinese edition of Forbes. In early 1997 I founded a Barter Exchange company, the first in Asia. At that time it was not considered a good idea since the economy was booming and nobody had any excess stocks. By December 1997 the story had changed.

In February 1999 I sold my company to an American listed Internet company. We changed the name to Asia4Sale.com and introduced a home shopping network portal and an industrial auction site. In February 2000 Asia4Sale.com Inc. became listed on the NASD OTC market in the US. I now hold the grand title of President of Asia4sale.com Inc., which means I get to do all the media interviews because nobody else likes to!

 I am an avid Toastmaster and have won several Hong Kong speaking titles. I am lucky to have a very supportive wife and two jolly daughters who speak Chinese far better than I do!

THE ELUSIVE ROTARIAN

From PP CK Tsang 

Dear President Cassidy and Hon Sec Patricia,
In recent months, I have talked to a number of our Rotarians who have had difficulties in getting regular mailing of the Rotarian Magazine.  I myself am one.
Let me explain to you my personal experience.  In November 1999, I had not received my Rotarian Magazine for two months although my address with RI has not been changed and is the same in the last six to seven years. Upon the advice of IPP Ram, I emailed to the responsible officer in RI and I have promptly received the back issues and the current issues up to February 2000.  Also I asked the RI officer to double check my mailing address which she confirmed to be correct to ensure I can get continuous mailing of this magazine. She confirmed the address entered into RI database is the same.  After three months, there is no mailing of the regular monthly Rotarian Magazine and I wrote again to RI.  In June, I received my back issues up to June and the RI officer again has been most apologetic and assured me that the record will be again entered into the database.  Now it is early August and I should have received the July and August issues but I have not.  Of course I can write to RI again and chase for these back issues.  But you can imagine that even I take the trouble to do this, this is what I consider to be pain in the something and should not have occurred if RI said that my address is correct for such a long time!
I am not sure what other Rotarians of our Club have experienced so may be we should ask around and then the District should take this up to RI to consider the improvement of this area.
 

KGM WEB WEB SITE

By Phantom 

As you guys know, your Webmaster is not just a pretty face with a great set of legs (Yo Dipo, remember your 50th, man? I've still got residual chaffing from those damn fishnet stockings!). 

Anyway, being as anally retentive as I am, I took the liberty of registering www.rckgm.com and www.rckgm.net to prevent wicked cyber-squatters sitting on our names and preventing us from going public and/or setting up our own ISP one day. I have also set up automatic redirection, so that if anybody inadvertently types our domain name now with the "wrong" extensions (.com or .net), they will be whisked away to our correct domain www.rckgm.org at light speed. Beam me up, Scottie!

Going to the Sydney Olympics? If so, click on the "Rotary Links" at the top of the KGM web site and you will find a logo-link to the Rotary House of Friendship, which has been established in Sydney specifically for the 2000 Olympics. Check it out! 

Finally, in line with common Internet practice, I have added a "Privacy Policy" which can be found under the "Serious Stuff" and "Copyright" hyperlinks! 

However, if you think this stuff is cool (Zzzzzz !), then wait until you see what I've been up to in the next section !  

 ANNOUNCING THE NEW KGM "E-STORE" !!

Yes folks, KGM now has it's own "E-Store" ! Just click on the highlighted "Visit our E-Store" hyperlink at the top right-hand corner of our web site. 

When you get there, you will find logo-links to Amazon.com, Land's End, Dell Computer, Brooks Brothers, Hanes, Asia4Sale and many other reputable merchants. Not all of the links work yet, as some are still pending final merchant approval, but I expect to have all links live within the week. Additional merchants will be added in future weeks but, if you currently shop on-line at merchants which are not currently listed on the KGM E-Store, please send me a brief e-mail to pinto@selpro.com.hk and I'll see what I can do about adding them to our "E-Store". 

This is how it works. If you click on any of those logos, another new window will open where you can shop at those merchants as you would normally. The difference is that if you enter those web sites through the KGM E-Store, our Community Service Fund will earn a commission on any purchases which you make OR, as in the case of auction sites such as eBay, a flat referral fee for anybody who simply registers through KGM.  Pretty cool stuff, huh? 

In fact, if you are already a customer of any of the listed merchants, it would probably be a good idea to re-register with them, so that we are absolutely certain of getting a commission.  

However it will not cost you OR the club a single penny for your participation. What a terrific deal ! Everything to gain and nothing to lose. All credit card transactions and deliveries are handled directly by the merchants. We just sit back and wait for the cheques to arrive in the post. Hence, you can still buy your favourite goodies at the same prices, but KGM will earn a few bucks.  

Please tell your family, friends and business associates (both in Hong Kong and overseas) about this great new facility, so that KGM can raise additional funds for our Community Service work.

A special vote of thanks goes to Rtn. Brian "E-Bah-Gumm" Hodgson for giving me the idea to embark upon this added feature.  

And, once again, KGM leads the way in District 3450 ! 

   FROM OUR TREASURER

(a.k.a. Financial Director) 

There are eight (8) members who have yet to pay their Semi-Annual dues of $1,500 for the period June to December 2000 by the deadline of 31 July 2000. This is despite numerous direct emails and announcements made in the club bulletin. 

The final (extended) deadline for payment is Wednesday 30th August 2000 (this week). The names of members who have not paid their dues on or before that date will be "posted" in next week's bulletin and referred to the BOD for action. 

This is NOT a drill. 

  VISIT TO MUM, THE ROTARY CLUB OF KOWLOON

10 members in total turned out for the very convivial visit to KGM’s Mother Club.They were President Cassidy, PP CK Tsang, PP Vince, IPP Ram, VPNanu and Rtns. Lal, Ashok, Miranda, Norman and Elissa. Scribe, alas, had an important business engagement. I’ll try for a more comprehensive report next week

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

PREPARED BY NORMAN ENTERED BY VINCE

To preserve the beauty of this majestic document, these statistics appear at the end, which is not a bad idea considering that I haven’t appended a spreadsheet yet.

My uncle, a policeman in Wigan, once appended a bedspread and a bed-sheet at the same time when patrolling the high street of Wigan on a windy washing day. He never talked much about it however.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Le President

“When you give of yourself, you receive more than you give.”

           Antoine De Saint-Exupery  (Writer)

QUOTE AU MILLIEU

L’Urchine

 “A little pot boils easily.”

Dutch Proverb

QUOTE A LA FIN

 “Si il se passe, c’est a vous mes amis”

 Roughly translated (not you Carola I know your French ‘is quayt goude) this implies that if you have a powerful quotation and you wish to share it, then if “it’s to be” published “it’s up to you  my friends”.

Joke of the Weak

There are moments in our lives when we observe greatness, or brilliance or some other manifestation of superior mental agility. We experienced this last Wednesday and as it has been the custom of both English (Louis) and Australian (Vince) gentlefolk of the literary persuasion that such sunshine, when it suddenly bursts forth unannounced into our sometimes mundane lives, must not go unacknowledged. President Cassidy’s contribution to this worldwide compendium of lightning wit is therefore recorded:

In calling for competitors for a coming District swimming event, one wicked wag volunteered PP Vince, to which PC replied instantly, without even the twitch of an eyelid:

“He’s a surfer, not a swimmer!”

Classic stuff!

BRAIN TEASER

Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man’s father is my     father’s son.”

Who is speaking and in what circumstances? 

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS