At the Annual General Meeting on May 13 2001, members requested the Board of Management to clarify the matter of “3+1 Foundation Fund Scheme For New Born Babies”.

Mr. Lee Chun Kong (李振光) President of the Board who presided the meeting explained:

“When Mr. Ho Sai Cheong (何世琩) was elected as the President of “Federation Of Kwong Siew Of Malaysia”, he raised the 3+1 foundation fund scheme when he delivered his inaugural speech and the matter was discussed. However according to meeting procedure any discussion on any matter not mentioned in the agenda for the meeting could not be discussed or minuted.
After the meeting had ended, Mr. Ho called a press conference to announce the formation of the 3+1 foundation fund scheme. Later many members of our board of management including some affiliated members in the Federation came to know of this “3+1 Foundation fund scheme” only through newspaper reports.”

Subsequently at a management board meeting of the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia, our association made clear that we were in full agreement to the concept of the 3+1 Foundation Fund. We also agreed with the President of the Federation of Kwong Siew who was promoting the idea of increasing the child birth rate of the Chinese community.
However there was a need to study the proposal in greater detail and more discussions to come up with a good mechanism to implement the fund. We further suggested that a committee be appointed to begin the process. We found out later that the operation of 3+1 foundation fund scheme lacked transparency and fairness. We were surprised that we were nominated as one of the trustees of the foundation fund. We rejected the appointment and found ourselves criticized and ridiculed by some parties.

At the same time Kwong Siew Associations of Muar, Batu Pahat, Kuantan and Malacca, together with the Soon Tuck association (順德會館) accepted nomination as trustees of the foundation fund scheme even in the absence of a formal meeting to formally establish the foundation fund scheme. In spite of all these our association received a letter from the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia requiring all affiliated Kwong Siew associations to amend their respective constitution to participate in the 3+1 foundation fund scheme. It was also stated that the monies raised for the foundation was to be deposited in the account of the Soon Tuck Association (順德會館) being trustee in the account of the Federation of Kwong Siew Of Malaysia.

Our association had written letters to the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia on numerous occasions seeking clarification on the operational procedures of the foundation fund scheme, its responsibilities and limits of authority of the trustees plus suggestions offered. There were no replies. Moreover there had been no discussion or debate on the matter during subsequent board of management meetings. (Please see attached correspondence from our association as well as the proposed foundation fund scheme – to encourage higher birth rate of children).

The questions raised by our association in connection with the operations of the foundation fund scheme, its responsibilities and authority of the foundation trustees included the following:-

(a) Why was the money raised for the fund scheme could not be directly deposited in the account of the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia.

(b) While the foundation fund scheme had not been registered with the authorities, the trustees at this initial stage did not have the authority to write to the affiliated Kwong Siew associations asking for amendment in their respective constitution to accommodate participation in this fund scheme. Despite repeated calls, the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia did not raise the issue at subsequent board meetings. There were no discussions by the other affiliated Kwong Siew associations to pass resolutions pertaining to the matter.

(c) While the fund was to be solicited from the Chinese communities at large, the benefit was only limited to members of the Kwong Siew associations. This lacked fairness to start with and appeared to have departed from the founding principles.

(d) The appointed or nominated foundation trustees need not necessarily be representatives of the affiliated clan associations and these trustees have the absolute authority to deal with all matters related to the foundation scheme such as selling of properties of the Foundation, amend the rules of the Foundation, investing the funds of the Foundation etc. All these decisions need not have to be approved or accepted at general members’ meetings or emergency members’ general meeting. And top of all these, no trustee was to be held personally responsible for any consequence arising from any decisions.
The extent of the authority of the foundation trustees is way in excess of normal practice and good governance. And it is totally not in accord of the good intentions of Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia.

(e) In 2001, eventhough the operational procedures and implemention rules of the Foundation Fund scheme had never been discussed and approved by the Board of Management of the Federation of Kwong Siew Of Malaysia, some officials of the federation went ahead with the launching and announcement of the fund to the public on Aug 31, 2000.

On May 16, 2004 our President Mr. Chan Chow Yin (陳一賢), officially announced that our association had parted company with the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia. The departure had been discussed and approved by the board of management of our association. The association had specifically listed the following reasons for the departure.

Our association had written to the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia on a number of occasions in which we raised our concern over the operating procedures of the Foundation Fund scheme along with our suggestions to be incorporated for better transparency and operational controls. But we had never received any reply from the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia.
A senior management board member of the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia had instigated some of our association members and even our office staff to oppose our association’s position on the matter taken by our board of management. This constituted an unwarranted interference in our internal affairs.
Upon a request by the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia, the board of management had submitted lots of information about our association to be included in a special anniversary publication of the Federation of Kwong Siew of Malaysia. However the information was never used in the publication. The board of management deemed this as a sign of disrespect to our association.