Visit to Johor Branch

One of the matters that require needful attention is the state of affairs of RISM branches.  This had been raised by some Councillors in the previous sessions’ Council meetings as well as in the last RISM Annual General Meeting on 25^th June 2011.  The need for secretariat staffs, proper office space and premise are among the issues raised, but in the final analysis it apparently boils down to money matters in providing the concerned resource and facilities.

In conjunction with attending the invitational annual dinner of SISV in Singapore on 9^th September 2011, I and the Treasurer General had subsequently made a visit to the Southern Branch on 10^th September 2011, to better appreciate Branch operations. We were hosted to the visit by some of the Branch Excos including the Branch Chairman himself. From my observation, the office is something which the branch could be proud of – clean and orderly – a reflection of it being well taken care of.  If only other “deprived” Branches could have at least the kind of office space and facilities, then I believe there wouldn’t be much of a grouse coming from some of them, but obviously much has to be done to own such an office space.

Next, we visited the new office space that will be taken up at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Skudai.  This is located in a bungalow and is well placed to conduct professional activities of the branch, the only flaw probably being its distance from Johor Bahru city centre, where many Exco members probably reside.  Anyway, its proximity to UTM would certainly attract the attention and interest of students, which should be one of the target groups of RISM.  It would also appear timely for the Johor Branch office to be moved to the UTM campus, whilst income could be generated by renting out the existing office space in Johor Bharu.

The Johor Branch apparently has clearly lined up their activities for the 2011/2012 session. This should be applauded as it evidently is very well-planned.  The finances too is in very good shape as the branch had carried out and had meticulously plan to undertake income generating activities.  These without doubt were among the good practices which could serve as a model for other branches to adopt as well. In a nutshell, the Johor Branch has done well, and I hope they could at least sustain this, whilst endeavouring to move forward.