Thursday, March 03, 2005

Reporting news – AGM

On 27 Feb 2005, Penang Island played host to what should have been the highlight of any ham member in Malaysia – The 2004 AGM and the election of the new committee.

Instead, what many of us witnessed was a major travesty of justice. The catalyst of this particular event was the balloting procedure designed by the 2003/2004 committee. - Sending of ballot papers received late dute to Dates and holidays during the CNY holidays
A major point of contention was that the official address for the balloting procedure was altered to an address in Penang in lieu of the one in our constitution. When queried, the Committee chose to ignore this infringement and proceeded with the AGM and election, claiming that it was insignificant. There are other infringements but this is a cardinal point to show that the incumbent and incoming committees care more about ‘convenience’ than about being right and abiding with the constitution. Any person in MARTS who should arbitrarily wield the constitution that binds us must in good faith reconsider his position.

We feel that those in elected positions who choose to serve the society and its members should worry less about their ‘rights’ and power and think more about their obligations and responsibilities – two terms that were never mentioned at this meeting.

Despite numerous protests from at least 5 members highlighting this infringement, the committee chose to proceed, pass the decision to the floor, and then arbitrarily choose to proceed – in that order.

In retrospect, an election is held to choose members who best exemplify the ham spirit and show the greatest aptitude to serving its members. This years elections saw 11 candidates, of which 9 were elected. This is indeed a poor showing and does little to reflect the ideals of democracy. It further shows poor representation of the diverse and varied interest groups in our ham fraternity. Due to the poorly run balloting and administrative skills of the outgoing committee, only 11 members stood for elections.

It is interesting to note that of the 11 members standing for election, 9 were standing for re-election. As one astute member pointed out, what have the 9 members done in the previous term to justify their re-election. As a matter of principle and a point of morality, we feel they should step down on this point alone.

Further to this we also see a conflict of interest in the inclusion of the remaining 2 members with a critical association with MARES. These members are respectively the technical advisor and the secretary of MARES. While reeking of complicity, it is just poor judgement that these two candidates should run, amounting to a conflict of interest.

One other critical observation of the past ‘election’ was the emphasis on representation of Mike and Whiskey class members. If this point is taken to its obvious conclusion, there would be more whiskey representatives aboard.

In our current time, we see self-regulation movements in areas of banking, taxation, local politics and many other areas that were previously controlled by the government. Marts and the ham community is and foremost one of the first self-regulating organizations in the world. That means we impose self limits on ourselves. Why move us back into the stone age by limiting representation?

In the final analysis, every ham member has to ask himself. Are you proud of your elected leaders? Are you convinced at least some of them are in the position to lobby your interests, rights and obligations? If the answer is no, you have an obligation to yourself and the future generations of ham to change the status quo.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We left KL for Penang at 4.15am and made our way up north. We were full of energy despite the early morning trip, cheerful and in high spirit looking for a change, a better MARTS 2005

I was disappointed and taken aback with the proceeding of the AGM, never before have I seen such unjust from our elected council members conducting the proceeding so partial that one can sense the controversy and spotlights their intention.

Repeated pleas from various party including myself , seeking a postpone of the balloting and a fresh election to be held at a later date because the council members were

1. not sure how to proceed when its members ask for a ‘Null and void AGM’ due to manner council choose to conduct the proceeding which itself is contravene the Society’s Act.
2. they were 9 nominee in the nominee form sent out to members and during the AGM, members were introduce a new nomination form with 11 names.

or open the election to the members on the floor who attended the AGM (with or without the same propose nominee – afterall we as members have the right to elect our council) and we can then move on with the voting of the new council members not forgetting the votes which members have submitted thru proxy. This was outright rejected!!

The council choose not to consider my plea, as a member, but would rather take their que from a representative from another transmitting club seated at the front row as to what to do next!! . I ‘m utterly disappointed with our V. president’s loyalty and integrity , he should instead seek his committee’s opinion, hence I question is action, Why? Is this a plot?

Our vice president & council was ‘waved’ on to proceed, declaring that even there is a technical error – which contravene the law, the council choose to proceed and even challenge its member to do what needs to done.

I quote “ As members, you can do what you want ( referring to making official complain to ROS) and as council members we choose to continue, we carry on”

It seem clear to me from then on that the council members were not interested in our views, not too mention safeguarding MARTS , a society with a 50 years history. Instead of listening , they acted . True to their words, 2 police report is made. Let me remind you that they, the council, is our ‘keeper’ or are they hoping that we, as true Malaysians usually do, withdraw into the comfort of short memory and lupa kan saja ….

I just can’t help thinking that is unfortunate event is just the tip of an iceberg and that there could be a bigger agenda … is the charade ending anytime soon?

Anonymous said...

Aye Aye, Said the matey on deck!
And I say, aye aye, as a member of MARTS, I cannot agree more! WE CANNOT STAND ASIDE SEING INJUSTICE AND THEN SAY IT IS ALRIGHT!

The nonchalant manner in which the council conducted themselves speaks for itself. Till date, I cannot think of a reason sane enough to explain their actions.

I for one, decided to leave my family in KL for that day to see to my responsibility as a member in having a say in our Society. It is as though that I have been slapped in the face. It is as if you went to a family reunion, only to be told by your parents that you do not have a say any more, because, they have decided that your interest in the family does not matter.

But alas, although the proceedings of the AGM was , farcical, I still think that MARTS as a Society has hope!
This is because, that this site, independant, created by members who care, has drawn the best from those others who care more.
Let us stand united to keep our antenna up straight!

Anonymous said...

Dear Editor,

Can we have all the names of the new MARTS council up on the page.It is not publish any where on your page and also it is not on the official MARTS web page.

Thank You