Anniversary

Launching a new Rotary club…is like…launching a great ship….The sea is said to be a teacher of truth and in sailing we find the salt of reality. Rotarians and likeminded men of goodwill can come to recognize that we are one people around the earth, and that we can do much to bring harmony and understanding between brothers who may dwell across expansive oceans…or perhaps next door.

Wiser, Younger

Should young people be subject to restrictions imposed for their safety by adults, or should they be free to make their own choices, and - inevitably perhaps - suffer as a result?

There are vast differences in the ability of children after puberty to guide their new, more powerful selves through the next few turbulent years. For this reason, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that young people be entitled to additional, protective rights until the age of 18. The idea of remaining officially a child for almost two decades is a catch-all solution, designed to reduce risks for the most vulnerable. Yet it hardly describes the experiences of many young people.

Indeed, we might choose to see contribution and independence as key indicators of de facto adulthood: the degree to which these describe a child's life indicate the extent to which he or she has assumed an adult role, even if it is not always recognised as such. This leads to a number of conundrums. In the West, the principles of rationality and individualism dictate that offspring are brought up to be independent in thought and deed. Yet, largely thanks to lengthy education, Western children are kept utterly dependent upon their parents long after many of their counterparts in the South. There, the situation can be reversed: older family members may well be dependent upon the child for income or labour; yet children often grow up in patriarchal societies, which attach little importance to their views. In parts of Africa, meanwhile, a grown man may not be acknowledged as fully adult if he cannot provide for others. One might be a 'child' at the age of 40!

Given this huge variety of abilities and experiences, it is almost impossible to reconcile young people's autonomy and protection without reference to the individual concerned. And, notwithstanding the UN's definition of childhood, there are many under-18s whose ability to contribute and take responsibility we should, perhaps, be celebrating.

I suggest that such young people demonstrate that autonomy and protection can actually go hand in hand: Part of protecting children is empowering them. Allowing them to take responsibility for themselves and giving them the confidence to learn what are acceptable risks and to learn to protect themselves. Silencing children is not a way of protecting them.

Because vaccine was never in short supply

Thanks to those whose compassion wasn't either.

When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water.

Water management issues affect our food supply, as it takes 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce the daily food intake of one person. To process one whole chicken before it gets to the supermarket, it takes up 27 liters of water. Inefficient agricultural practices such as flooding entire fields, strain water sources.

We know today that our country is facing increasing demands for water, while our water sources are showing signs of stress such as rising pollutant levels or unsustainable rates of water withdrawal which are likely to cause water shortages in places where it is needed. Can businesses “connect the drops” to better understand their relationship to water and develop and implement water sustainability strategies?

Water questions that businesses can answer for themselves:

1. In what keyareasdoes the business directlyand indirectlyrely onand impact waterthroughout the valuechain?


2. What isthe status orvulnerability of water sources used or impacted by the business?


3. What are the business risks linked to the organization’s water uses and impacts, taking into account the vulnerability of key water sources affected by these uses and impacts?


4. What opportunities exist to proactively address costs and potential risks to the business associated with water use and impacts?


5. What are the company’s goals related to water sustainability?


6. How can the organization be best engaged in pursuing a water sustainability strategy?
7. Go to http://www.rotarycyberjaya.org/Newsletters/CONNECTIONS-Aug05-01.pdf

I Asked For Prosperity, God Sent Me to Cyberjaya

You know you have arrived in the heart of Cyberjaya when it feels as if you have entered a foreign country, waited forever for the traffic lights to turn green and see office workers are all in jeans and T-shirts. Nothing is as it appears. There are no yellow courier service trucks making their runs out of the DHL building. Inside the Shell building there is a petrol pump, but the Shell staff members do not refuel there. No, you can’t do any banking at the HSBC building. As you enter the MSC Innovation Centre, innovation seems to have stopped at the gate where the attendant kicks the orange cone to the front of your car, prompting you to stop and gives you a parking ticket before removing the cone to let you in. Lunch time crowd at the Street Mall is more multinational than Malaysian. Café Le Frog at Ericsson building serves no frog meat, but only good food. No one believed that I almost bumped into Michael Schumacher at Cyberview Lodge. But that’s OK, because these are the very reasons I have come to love Cyberjaya.

I must say that after God created the rest of world, He saved the best for Malaysia’s first intelligent city, Cyberjaya. But its true beauty is still hidden. From Google Earth, Cyberjaya is a large mass of land under construction. I guess that satellite picture was taken the year when I came to Cyberjaya in 2001 to start my new career with a start-up company. Today, Cyberjaya is a vast contradiction. Setia Haruman’s premium real estate lining the magnificent Putrajaya lake provides a sneak preview of Cyberjaya’s true beauty to come. That lakeside is my stretch of heaven on Earth and my all time favorite jogging track - the awesome panorama, the therapeutic tranquility and the cooling breeze keeps me running for hours. The start up company that I have served since has grown good for listing in such a short period, and if it does get listed, its CEO and owners will certainly join the many who have gained from the innovative opportunities in Cyberjaya. Ten years before, I could not even imagine so many MNCs locating in Cyberjaya, providing so many employment opportunities and so many start-ups thriving.

Cyberjaya is truly a city borne out of creative innovation and innovation is what makes it prosper. Take for example the job that I am doing with public key infrastructure (PKI). PKI is cryptic stuff that belongs to the domain of cryptographers. Some enterprising folks with innovative ideas decided to create value with it, and Cyberjaya provided that fertile environment. Today, PKI secures our Internet transactions such as Internet banking transactions and assures the millions who rely on the security and trustworthiness of the Internet to do business. And ten years ago, I could not make a decent presentation about PKI as I could not fully decrypt how it works and its business value. But again that’s OK because enduring the growing pains of a new career and those of a new city has its rewards.

Abel Ahing: Engaging Young People In Community Building

Communities abound with opportunities for young people to contribute, but their participation is too often marginalized and tokenized. In our effort to raise young people, they are often the objects, seldom the subjects of adults’ actions. Our country’s youth programmes tend to start with their needs and problems (drug abuse, smoking, bohsia, etc) instead of with their gifts, talents, knowledge and skills.

The actions of adults often deprive our youth of the experience necessary for fulfilling their roles as citizens and contributors to the community. Our communities suffer when we fail to empower all members of our society, but especially when we fail those who represent our nation’s future.

To be successful in our work with young people, it is necessary for us to re-examine how we view young people and their role in our society. Initial feedback from the Cool-to-Care programme of the Rotary Club of Cyberjaya Centennial, suggests that young folks from as young as six years old, express strong yearning for purpose, for meaning, for ways to be useful to the wider community, especially in non-patronizing, intergenerational efforts.

Adults need to reconsider the traditional approach of talking down to young people and patronizing them. Whether grade A students or drop-outs, young people can help build our communities when they are engaged as individuals with skills and capacities, with ideas and enthusiasm.

In consideration of the above factors, the Cool-to-Care Programme was initiated and being continually developed to help children build their potential as productive, responsible, caring and contributing member of society through positive experiences. Through positive experiences in service, youngsters build assets and competencies that allow them to function and contribute in their daily lives. The mission of the programme is to:

1. Teach children that it is indeed cool to care, rewarding them for responsible behavior, fair play, safety, and community service.


2. Foster in young people, habits of service, the ethics of care and service, and a commitment to the common good.


3. Engage youngsters in meeting their basic personal and social needs to be safe, feel cared for, be valued, and be useful.

Rewarding participants for both effort and accomplishment is an important aspect of the programme. Awards are given to deserving young people for various accomplishments, including reporting vandalism, preventing or stopping bullying, taking pride in school grounds, and showing safety or fair play. Other awards include fire awareness and safety around the home, voluntary work within the community, taking first aid training and assisting the fire, police, or ambulance services. Eventually, the programme will incorporate the Anugerah Remaja Perdana award, which is the equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, operated by the Rakan Muda Programme.

The Cool-to-Care Camp held during school holidays is another core component of the programme. The camp provides experiential learning opportunities in a safe environment. Camp programme is being continually developed to raise children’s self-esteem, to promote the development of the attitudes, skills and information to make good life choices, to recognize and resist the direct and subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. These outcomes are promoted through five core values continuously reinforced throughout the programme: Responsibility, Effort, Attitude, Community, Honour – R.E.A.C.H . Visit

cooltocare.rotarycyberjaya.org for more information.

Our hope is that by developing better life skills and by serving something greater than themselves, young people will help meet vital community needs, and become responsible and engaged citizens.

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