Hi Everybody,
I have put off writing this till the
last minute of the year 2000 hoping to get some inspiration as to what
to write partly as a message and partly a resolution for the coming year
and beyond. First I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and to
all Muslims a belated Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fithri. A Merry Christmas
to all Christian members. It is interesting to note the significance of
these two festivals ? one celeb-rating the birth of someone great giving
rise to a world religon and the other celebrating the end of a period of
great personal and group sacrifice and self-deprivation.
We celebrated the birth of our beloved
society ? the Malaysian Nature Society last year. It serves to remind us
that we have come a long way compared to others. We are the oldest NGO
in Malaysia but our membership has stagnated although there was some lack-lustre
effort to recruit new members many members did not renew only after a short
term with us. We ask the question why? I try to look at the problem from
a business/marketing point of view and wonder whether the MNS as a product
is at the end of its product life cycle. If so then the trend has to be
arrested by new marketing techniques like repackaging it in a suitable
user friendly form. I will continue to pursue this line of thought at council
and hopefully all will benefit in a stronger MNS, well-equiped with more
and better facilities to serve members to bring it to a higher level of
competence and efficiency. Professionalism must come into the picture as
the branch committee can only do so much. There are so many issues and
environmental problems to take care of especially in Perak which takes
a lot of the limited time of the branch office bearers and in particular
the Chairperson who will be the first person the press, politicians and
other societies/NGOs refer to when ever something pertaining to the environment/Nature
crops up. If the society were to do a credible job and uphold its image
there is no alternative but look at the professional aspect.
The month-long fasting month directed
my attention to the significance of Ramadan. A lot of sacrifices and self-deprivation
were made for over a long period in order that the general good (objective)
can be obtained. During the difficult period routine and necessary work
continued to be carried out. While there are reasons to celebrate for
sacrifices made I was made to believe it should be done in moderation lest
aspersions be cast upon the intentions and the quality and quantity of
work done.
The Perak MNS still has a long way to
go before we can truly raise our hands and shout in jubilation. I believe
in the Japanese style of Total Quality Control (TQC) of making continuous
improvements. Of course we can a quantum leap in improving our facilities
but our financial resources especially at HQ level is at its break-even
point and sometimes at the brink of breaking the piggy bank to keep the
Society afloat during the financial crisis period of 1997-1999. Fortunately
our financial wizards provided sound advice and donations and other sources
of funds have stated to come trickling in. In view of this the Millenium
Fund has been started whereby large corporate bodies are requested to “lend”
the MNS funds interest-free while MNS carry out activities and pay back
over 10 years. The funds have startewd to come in so we have to soldier
on and continue to “sacrifice”.
Best Wishes to all.
Cheaw Hon Ming
01.01.01