Dear All:
Shortly after the 2015-16 District Nominating Committee (DNC) made a decision on the selection of IPDG Hj Andre Suharto as our district’s 2016-17 Vice-Governor, which was promptly announced by DG Philip Chong, some Rotarians though a minority, expressed reservations on the possible illegality of the procedures used in the selection. Some even thought the vice governor was not necessary. I must stress that during the DNC deliberations, IPDG Andre, though a DNC member himself, played absolutely no part in the deliberations that led to his selection.
To ensure that our DNC has not made a mistake or done anything illegal in its selection procedure, we took the trouble to check with Rotary International. See below Chonticha’s reply, which is self-explanatory and a model of clarity. I’ve done the correct thing by insisting on the selection of the 2016-17 vice governor, which is a necessary appointment resulting from the decision of the 2013 Council on Legislation. The selection of the vice governor, contrary to what some think, is not an optional extra but a legal requirement of Rotary International. Our district has been remiss in not also selecting the 2017-18 and 2018-19 vice governors but when I take office on 1 July 2016, I will require the 2016-17 DNC to select three vice governors in succession: for 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20, in addition to selecting the 2019-20 governor-nominee designate.
I must put on record the wise decision of the 2015-16 DNC, especially PDG Chris Chen, the DNC Chair, promptly and bravely to act on my request to select a suitable candidate for the 2016-17 vice governor. And I, like most everyone in the district, am delighted we now have IPDG Andre as our district’s first vice governor. Congratulations, once again, to IPDG Andre!
I’ll leave you to read the rest of Chonticha’s message below.
PP Brown: Kindly post my message and Chonticha’s reply on the district eGroup.
Thanks and regards,
Michael Yee
District Governor 2016-17
From: Chonticha Yurai [mailto:Chonticha.Yurai@rotary.org]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 5:07 AM
To: Michael Yee <>; PP Ir Vincent Tan (RC Likas Bay) <>; IPDG Hj Andre Suharto (RC Kuching Central) <>; DG Philip M K Chong (RC Likas Bay) <>
Subject: RE: District Vice Governor
Dear All,
The decision from the COL about the vice governor became effective in July 2013. This means that the 2013-14 DGs were the first set of DGs that had to initiate the selection of vice governors at the same time as the selection of the DGND; thus, the selection of the vice governor is only required for the 2016-17 vice governors onwards.
The nomination process of a vice governor is not mentioned or provided in the RI Bylaws. Therefore, it’s up to the district to determine the specific steps. It might be a good idea for your district to add something to nominating committee’s term of reference via a resolution at a district conference to address this specific task.
Now for D3310, if the selection of the vice governor was done in within the Rotary year of 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, as of this date, D3310 should now have had vice governors paired with 2016-17 DG, 2017-18 DG and 2018-19 DG. With all the background, I’d like to point out that although the selections did not happen, it is fixable, and I am going to now address the issue with the nomination of IPDG Andre as the 2016-17 vice governor and other matters.
First, there is no RI policy that says that a vice governor must not be a member of the nominating committee. I also understand that the nominating committee was well aware that the nomination was for 2016-17 vice governor; therefore, there is no RI policy that would say the nomination of IPDG Andre is invalid although it was done by the same nominating committee tasked to select the 2018-19 DG. Furthermore, article 8.050. in the RI Bylaws is only relevant to the selection of the COL rep; thus not relevant to the selection of a vice governor.
With that, the district is still able to ask the 2015-16 nominating committee to select the 2017-18 and 2018-19 vice governors if the district feels that it is necessary – RI has no policy against it. Another alternative is that the next year’s nominating committee can also be tasked with the selecting of 2017-18 and 2018-19 vice governor in addition to the selection of the 2019-20 DG and vice governor both. This is up for the district to decide.
Second, the selection of the vice governor is required every year, and it must be happening at the same time as the selection of the DGND.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have additional questions.
Thank you,
Chonticha
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Chonticha Yurai
Senior Coordinator | Club and District Support, Asia/Pacific