Kuala Belait - The Rotary Club in Belait held its 46th Installation Dinner at Plaza Sutera Biru over the weekend, for its executive committee who will serve during the 2012/2013 Rotary year.

Present as guest of honour was Jenny Liew, the Assistant District Governor for District 3310 which comprises Brunei, Singapore and parts of Malaysia.

In his speech, Rotary Club (Belait) President Joseph Mordi highlighted eradicating Polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa and Asia, as the top priority of the club during the service year. The club is working in partnership with other Rotary Clubs initiate projects that address critical issues such as hunger, poverty, disease, illiteracy and relief from natural disasters in all parts of the world.

Coinciding with the event, a contribution for a joint project to Long Tungan Medical Mission was also handed over by Joseph Mordi to Jenny Liew. The January 17 to 20 project will involve members from Rotary Club Miri, Belait, Singapore E-club who will travel to Long Tungan on a seven-hour drive from Miri, Sarawak. Rotary Club of Belait contributed a total of B$1,000 for the project.

The list of newly installed Office Bearers (2012-2013) are as follows - President Joseph Mordi, Vice President & PE Andrew Tan, Hon Secretary Helen Tang, Hon Treasurer Grace Chin, Service Chair Toh Fui Mung, Membership Chair Loo Soon Nin, Rotary Foundation Chair R Gunasegaran, Club Admin Chair Helen Tang and Sergeant-At-Arms Abiye David-West.

There are currently 34,000 Rotary Clubs with over 1.2 million members from more than 200 countries and geographical regions who, through volunteer service, help meet the needs of communities worldwide.

Sakuji Tanaka, a retired businessman from Yashio, Saitama, Japan, is the current President of Rotary International. As president, Tanaka oversees Rotary's top priority of eradicating polio.

Rotary clubs worldwide have contributed more than US$1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours toward eradicating polio. Great progress has been made, and the incidence of paralytic polio infection has plunged worldwide from 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 700 in 2011.

In addition to eradicating polio, Rotary members have long embraced the call for peace by addressing the underlying causes of conflict and violence through thousands of community-based service projects around the world.

Since 2002, Rotary's Peace Centres programme offers graduate degrees in peace and conflict resolution at campus-based centres worldwide. A professional development certificate is offered at Rotary's Peace Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin