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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Welcome to a new SIROM
Biennium 2009-2011! A month has flown by since our
8th Biennial Conference which was held from
27th-29th March, 2009 at the Sandy Beach Resort in
Penang. Our theme for the Conference, 'Towards
Equity and Equality', provided a forum for renowned
speakers to discuss the issues and explore the
possibilities of initiating changes and positive
development for Malaysian women. Impressed by these
challenging and inspiring speakers, there has been
a request to invite them for luncheon talks to be
organised by SIROM.
There were more than 80 participants from almost
all the clubs in Malaysia. It was exciting to have
with us participants from our immediate neighbour
Singapore and from as far as Japan and Australia.
It was an honour to have our Federation President,
Leigh Ellwood Brown and Federation Constitution
Convenor, Anusha Santhirasthipam with us at the
Conference.
There was good attendance at all the sessions, like
the Laughter Therapy workout session; workshop
breakout session; Sisterhood's Friendship Evening -
Aloha Nite; "Age Without Getting Old" talk and the
abovementioned Forum.
About 20 Soroptimists and friends went on the
Heritage Tour organised by members of the host club
and visited SI Penang's Project Blossom as
well.
The Conference provided an opportunity to renew old
acquaintances and promote new ones. For all the
first-time participants, the well-planned and
stimulating programmes would have been a memorable
experience. I am positive that the participants
would have new ideas to take back with them and
share their knowledge with their club members.
On 29th March 2009 (Sunday), the Breakfast Meeting
that SIROM EXCO held with Club Presidents was an
enlightening experience for all. I must confess
that I was pleasantly surprised to see such good
attendance from all the Club Presidents at 8 am
especially after a late GALA Dinner the previous
night. Each EXCO member clearly stated her role in
SIROM and her expectations from the 12 Club
Presidents gathered at the Meeting. On their part,
Club Presidents gave their input on, "What SIROM
can do for us". It was an opportunity to share
views on various issues: membership, training,
funding, publicity, electronic technology, service
projects, fundings and the Constitution. There were
suggestions for Speakers' series and a permanent
meeting venue for SIROM.
Following closely, we had the first SI South West
Pacific (SISWP) Interim Board Meeting (IBM) held in
Malaysia from 10th - 13th April 2009 (Friday to
Monday) at the Eastin Hotel in Petaling Jaya.
Malaysian National Representative, Puan Sri Siew
Yong Gnanalingam together with her committee
members, mainly from the Klang Valley, organised a
successful IBM. This gave the 35 Soroptimists in
Malaysia the opportunity to attend as observers and
see for themselves the workings of Soroptimism at
the Federation level. I would like to thank
President Leigh Ellwood Brown for having decided to
hold the IBM in Malaysia. I am positive that this
would be an incentive for more Malaysian
Soroptimists to attend the Conference of Clubs to
be held in the Gold Coast, Australia in April
2010.
On 17th April 2009 (Friday), we in Malaysia had a
further advantage when Federation Website Convenor,
Christine Johnston, obliged us with an extra
tutorial on the technicalities of how to utilise
the Website for the maximum benefit. There was good
representation from all the Klang Valley clubs.
As SIROM President, my main objective for the new
Biennium is to consolidate all the 14 clubs in the
Region of Malaysia, to increase membership in clubs
and to encourage the formation of new Clubs. I am
glad to note that there are plans being undertaken
to establish one more club in the Klang Valley, SI
Sentul, by the end of this year.
I would like to see more training sessions for the
members in conjunction with each Council Meeting,
if possible. I would like to visit clubs to study
their respective needs. My concentration would be
the Clubs in East Malaysia: SI Miri and SI Likas. I
would ensure a smooth flow of communication between
Clubs, Clubs and Region, Region with Federation.
There would be a revamp of the SIROM website to be
effective and user friendly.
My immediate task is to attend to our SIROM
Constitution. With the SIROM Constitution Convenor
and her committee having started work on it, we
would be able to complete the task and submit our
draft to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) soon.
I would like to encourage Clubs and their members
to be interactive and communicate with SIROM
office-bearers regularly, so that we can have
better feedback to SIROM from all Malaysian
Clubs.
I look forward to visiting all SI Clubs once the
SIROM Extension Convenor has worked out a schedule
with all Clubs. Meanwhile, let us all live up to
our SI Ideals.
The Sincerity of Friendship
The Joy of Achievement
The Dignity of Service
The Integrity of Professions
The Love of Country
Datin Indira Naidu
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