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Women and
Rotary
History |
The histories of Inner Wheel in Malaysia and Singapore are, much like the Rotary counterpart, almost identical. In 1972, Immediate Past President of the Kuala Lumpur Rotary Club, Balbir Singh, suggested that the incoming secretary should try to encourage the other clubs in the area to join together and form a District. There were only five clubs at that time: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Taiping and Kota Kinabalu. Honorary Secretary, Jean Khoo wrote to all the clubs but only three clubs were responsive, namely, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Taiping. In 1974, Jean, President of Kuala Lumpur wrote to all the clubs again. This time Ipoh was in favour but Kota Kinabalu and Singapore were not! In 1978, at the thirtieth anniversary celebration of the Ipoh club, President Dr Bakshish Singh , in her address stated that, one of her projects for the year was to try and establish a District. The Guests were asked to consider this idea, go back to their members and make a decision. By this time two more Clubs were formed in Singapore so there were now three Clubs in Singapore, namely, Inner Wheel Club of Singapore, Inner Wheel Club of Singapore East and Inner Wheel Club of Singapore West The results were positive. International Inner Wheel was informed. The International Inner Wheel President, Mrs Joan Pyke included a trip to Malaysia in her itinerary for the year. On her return to London Datin Joan Salleh reported all were in favour of forming a District. As there was a simple majority to form the District the plans went ahead. The first District Chairman was Dr Bakshish Singh; Vice Chairman-Helen Jayasuria, from Kota Kinabalu; Honorary Secretary, Jean Khoo-Kuala Lumpur; Honorary Treasurer, Nancy Yew-Kota Kinabalu; International Service Organiser, L. Kanasingam-Taiping and Extension Officer Julie Larson-Kuala Lumpur. An interesting fact is that the District number 330 was designated by International Inner Wheel to correspond with the Rotary District number at that time. The first District annual General Meeting was held in the home of Dr Bakshish Singh. The second was held at the Royal Selangor Club. By 1987 the District had more then eight clubs and functioned as a District for more than two years. This made the district eligible for representation on the International Board. Malaysia/Singapore was thereby admitted to the International Board. The first Board Member Representative was Dr Bakshish Singh, who sat for one year. Dr Bakshish was followed by Lam Lee Pin, 1988/1989, Annie Foo 1989/1990, Jean Khoo 1990/1991, Jeannette Tong 1991/1992, Dr Bakshish again sat for another year 1992/1993, Datin Joan Salleh 1993-1995. Joan was the last one to represent Malaysia/Singapore under the old constitution. In 1995 the structure of the Inner Wheel Board changed. Subsequently the District 330 representation in the International Board is via "Board Director." The following represented District 330 as Board Director - Jean Khoo, Jessie Wang and Nancy Ho. Districts |
Inner Wheel
clubs in Malaysia and Singapore share the administrative duties
of District 330. | Where the two countries were once united, thence independent, and united again under the International Inner Wheel. Clubs | During the travels through our part of the world by Jim Davidson, Rotary Clubs were formed in Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh, Klang and Singapore. Not surprisingly, some 33 years later, those same Rotary clubs were directly or indirectly responsible for forming the first Inner Wheel clubs in their respective countries. District 330 continues to represent clubs in Singapore and all clubs in both Peninsular Malaysia and in the states of Sarawak and Sabah in Borneo. There are 4 clubs in Sabah, 3 clubs in Singapore and 12 clubs in Peninsular Malaysia from penang in the north to Seremban in the central area. |
acknowledgements to the webmaster and
committees of District 330. |
researched and posted by RGHF Webmaster Greg Barlow, Malaysia. July 2011.
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