The importance of service clubs
AS I flipped through the pages of the venerable The Borneo Post on Wednesday this week, I came across the news about Lions clubs in Kapit and Song doing something useful for the community.
This prompted me to write this piece, as I was once connected with the service club. I must say that their chapters have chosen an excellent project – health awareness campaign among people of several longhouses in Sut, Baleh. Good on the Lions.
The existence of service clubs such as the Lion, Rotary and Junior Chamber International (JCI) is little known in Malaysia though these organisations have been formed in this country.
In the United States of America, the Lions, for instance, was established in June 1917. Since then some 46,000 clubs have been formed in many parts of the world; there are some 1.4 million Lions excluding the young Lions who call themselves Leos.
The founder of Lions was one Chicago insurance broker, Melvin Jones, who died in 1961. In June this year, the Lions Club turned 100 years old.
I don’t remember reading about any celebration to commemorate the founding of the movement in this country. I might have missed it.
If my memory serves me right, it was YY Lee of AIA who founded the Kuching chapter of Lions International in 1970. I was the tail twister.
We used to meet at the Aurora Hotel, where Merdeka Palace now stands. The role of the Lions Club is not widely known outside their own circle because they operate mainly in the big cities and towns. Their members are mostly business people and professionals working in town. As busy people, they have little time for other pursuits other than sports such as golf and individual hobbies, but many among them are not content with just work; they want to do something for the community.
Most of these clubs are American creations, but not all American inventions are bad. The bad ones are the hydrogen bombs, which were used to kill thousands of Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Lions Club is a good American invention.
In 1917, Jones was so successful in his business that he wanted to do something else beyond the routine of chasing after money. One day, he was thinking to himself, “What if these businessmen and professionals” – men who had the drive and the intelligence and ambition – “could come up with some worthwhile project” that would benefit the community as a whole, life outside the business world would be equally satisfying.
Jones started a club and gave up his job to devote time to empowering volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, to encourage people to promote peace and international understanding. The fundamental ideology revolves around personal service to the community with kindness.
What began as a personal crusade to empower volunteers to serve their communities by one American insurance man has developed into a worldwide movement with 1.4 million members in 46,000 clubs. The Kapit and Song chapters are amongst them. Be proud of that connection.
On a personal note, I must say how I benefited from joining the Lions. In 1971, I was selected by the US State Department to tour the USA for 45 days under the auspices of the International Visitors’ Program. Included in my itinerary was San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I would be meeting with Governor Jose. When I was ushered into his office, guess what? Both were wearing the Lions Club badge and like old friends we went to the canteen for a simple lunch and we talked about what else – Lions. I felt anxious and concerned whether Jose was safe during the recent disaster that hit Puerto Rico.
Unfortunately, I lost touch with him. I pray that he and his family are safe and sound.
Talking about service clubs, I must also confess that membership of JCI had brought me a personal benefit. During the same trip to the US, I was invited to the JCI headquarters in Coral Gables. I had a pleasant surprise – I saw the Old Sarawak Flag marking the association of Kuching JCI with the world body.
While I’m at it, I must tell you of another surprise I had; this time of an unpleasant kind. The official who took me around the building also invited me to lunch. At the entrance of a restaurant I saw this sign ‘No Black or Dog Admitted’. I was told even Senator Goldwater, a Jew, was once refused entry. How did I get in then? By a device – the JCI official vouched for my race: that I was a JCI member from Japan. Apparently, rich Japanese were deemed to be ‘white’ by the stupid restaurant owner.
The point is that membership of an international organisation has some fringe benefits when you are travelling in a country where such clubs exist. You are always welcome no matter what the colour of your skin, except at the above eatery in Coral Gables.
I have not finished with my itinerary in 1971. On the way home, I dropped in at Hong Kong and was met at the airport by an old friend from Kuching, a reporter of the Sarawak Tribune, the late Vincent Tan, who took me to meet the JCI people in the New Territories. I was taken to see the no-man’s land (at the time it was part of China) where the JCI had a project to help the TB patients. Vincent told me how lucky I was not to have my cine-camera snatched away as I was filming. The JCI people had told someone in the New Territories to protect me.
To continue with the service clubs, let me bore you with another story about the Lions. There is a beautifully sealed five-mile stretch of road from Brisbane to Dorrigo in New South Wales, which was built by the local Lions chapter with their own funds.
I don’t expect the local Lions clubs in Sarawak have the means to fund even a mile of sealed road in Sarawak but whatever aid they can offer to the community is always welcome and appreciated.
I feel like going back to the Lions’ den to twist the tail.
The other service club is the Rotary International. I have no space today for this equally important organisation, which exists in Kuching. One Iban headman was telling me that this Rotary Club had done something useful for school children in his area.
My association with a Rotary Club was when I was invited to give a talk to the Rotarians in Hastings, New Zealand in 1961.
There are all good people in those clubs, believe me.