Remember we used to have a District Committee for Bumiputera Membership Development ? It was eventually disbanded and the reason I was told by a Malay PDG then was that in 3300 most bumiputras were Malay and it was not in their culture or habit to join clubs. I am not sure if we ever had a Women (or Lady) Membership Development Committee. Yet we have ladies joining Rotary.
My humble opinion is that people will join Rotary and leave Rotary for their own reasons. We may try to increase the reasons for their joining and reduce the reasons for their leaving but each one must find his (for brevity I will use this pronoun) own motivation for joining and staying in Rotary.
Of course conduct that is generally unpleasant or unacceptable must be avoided. Disparaging remarks, rudeness, sexism, racism, nepotism, in short anything that will fail the Four Way Test of all that we think, say and do, must be eliminated. Conversely, every kind of good conduct must be encouraged and emulated.
Other than that, I think it is ultimately a simple question of whether we induct the right candidate or not.
Let us ask ourselves : are we deliriously happy with Rotary in 3300 in general and with our own Rotary Club in particular ? If the answer is not “yes”, why have we not resigned ?
I cannot speak for anyone else but personally I have to admit to certain sporadic unhappiness with Rotary but these episodes do not last very long. I had wanted to resign about 6 months after I was inducted. Why did I not resign ? Will that shed some light on the subject ?
I did not resign then because I found a past president (in Ipoh-Kinta as it then was) I could talk to and who appeared to understand what I was going through. So whenever I had notions of giving up, I would go to him, bellyache to him, sometimes raving and ranting, and he would always put things into perspective for me. And the urge to leave subsides.
Another reason is that I feel I have discovered my niche in Rotary. I have found something which makes being a Rotarian meaningful and valuable. This makes it worthwhile spending my time and effort attending the Regular Dinner Meetings of my Club and all its activities. For its sake I put up with some of the things that may make others leave.
I know that these two reasons may not be good enough for everyone to remain in Rotary, which brings me back to my point : we have to induct the right candidate.
That then begs the question : what constitutes a right candidate ?
I cannot answer that. Everyone will have their own answers.
I can only guess that the right member genuinely believes and practices the tenets and principles of Rotary like Service Above Self, He Benefits Most Who Serves Best, Every Rotarian An Example To Youth, that we may one day achieve World Peace and Understanding and so on.
He may also be someone who believes that together we can make the world a better place, with the rich helping the poor, the healthy helping the sick, the privileged helping the under-privileged and so on.
He may believe in equality among peoples, justice, human rights and so on.
Unfortunately these are traits that may not be easily discernible or visible. They do not appear in neon lights on human foreheads.
Ultimately the right candidate, whatever strengths and weaknesses he has, whatever he believes in or eschews, has to be the one that will not leave or resign.
MDR Chair Comments
Thank you PP Arthur for your illuminating and insightful thoughts. Couldn't agree with you more. We did have a Women's Membership Committee for a few years that proved more successful than the Bumiputra Membership Committee.
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