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| In-coming District Governor, Philip Chong [Left] with District Governor Haji Andre Suharto |
Members of Rotary International
District 3310 witnessed the installation of the 2015 – 2016 District Governor
(DG), Philip Chong Mau Kiong by Rotary District Governor Haji Andre Suharto at
the 25th Rotary District Assembly of District
3310 held in Johor Baru recently. The newly installed DG who hails from Kudat,
Sabah, is married to Len Nyuk and has 3 sons and 2 grandchildren. A Past President of the Rotary Club of Likas
Bay, Kota Kinabalu, Chong is a veteran businessman involved in mechanical and
electrical contact work for the past 33 years.
Rotary International exists in more
than 200 countries with 538 Districts, 34,000 clubs and over 1.2 million
members. It is an organisation that
promotes local and international friendship of professionals and businesses to
work together, advocating high ethical business practices, service to the
community, international peace and understanding. Rotary District 3310 covers Brunei
Darussalam, Singapore, Johor, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak with 62 clubs and a
membership of 1,800 members.
It is Rotary International’s goal to
get polio completely eradicated this year and Chong said that District 3310 is
working to support this last dash to achieve a polio-free world. On 23 Feb 2016, the date that marks the 111th
anniversary of Rotary International, a “Cycle for Polio” project to raise funds
for polio eradication will be organised throughout the District. In addition, on-going efforts are made to
support the Avoidable Blindness project, especially in the rural areas in this
District.
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| DG Andre Suharto [Left] installing the in-coming DG, Philip Chong |
Rotary’s youth extensions are the Rotaract
Clubs for youths aged 18 to 30 and the Interact Clubs in schools. The Sabah Invention and Design Exhibition
(SINDEX) that promotes creativity and inventiveness among the youths, was
co-founded by Chong and Tsen Kui Loi.
Through the SINDEX initiative, student participation has achieved
acclaim both nationally and internationally.
The various Rotary clubs usually have
their own signature projects, either organised on their own or shared with
local agencies, NGOs or international partners. In his term as District Governor, Chong aims
to advance bursaries to needy students, in particular to high achievers in
secondary schools. They will be
identified through local schools and the guidelines for the Rotary Bursary will
be released in July 2015 through the Rotary clubs in the District.
“With the blessings we have received,
it is not too much that we give back to the community and quoting the in-coming
Rotary World President, K. Ravindran, to Be
a Gift to the World,” said Chong. He
also called on fellow Rotarians, NGOs and members of the public to come forward
to serve together to make this world a better place. This year, Rotary International, under the
current International President, Gary Huang, has introduced Rotary Day to bring
Rotary closer to the general public, its beneficiaries and benefactors.
A version of this was published in The Malaysian Insider on 27 April 2015
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