Let me report to you what happened at the 1999 San Francisco Alumni Annual
banquet. I am doing so with a heavy heart:
On each table, there was a hateful and anonymous letter signed by "A group of
concerned alumni who have served the association for over 12 years". The letter
was saturated with personal attacks directed towards the current president,
Niki Rabier (聶聲 1972), accusing her of abuse of power, even of embezzlement.Also,
there were protesting pickets raised behind her as she and our guest of honor, Wong
Yue-Qong (黃汝光 1927), spoke on the podium. Regardless of Niki's being my
distant relative, I am not defending her here. We all know that Niki is our duly
elected president; showing disrespect for her is showing disrespect for the
membership. Just as the one who rear-ends never stands a chance in a traffic court,
those who composed the libelous and anonymous letter will never command the respect
of the membership. I have talked to both sides, understand the frustration of
each, and do not intend to pass judgment on either. However, I think that such
libelous tactics crossed the line of common decency and made a mockery of the Bay Area
Pui-Ching Alumni Association in front of not just the membership but also in front
of friends, families, and guests attending the banquet. In view of the fact that
Niki is at the end of her term limit, I cannot conclude that the opposition
party has the good of the organization in mind, but rather has in mind to seize the
opportunity to embarrass her. In so doing, the membership at large is also
hurt by the arrow shot in the dark, for it is embarrassing to see so many of the
learned members of our association resorting to such tasteless tactics.
I disagree with Cheng Kwok-Fai (鄭國輝 1957) claiming the reason the letter
was not signed was because there were too many names to put on the document. I
think that was a poor excuse, for a few leaders' names would have sufficed. I also
disagree with Chow Wing-Chiu (周榮超 1967) asserting the reason for such a letter
was to expose Niki's alleged impropriety so that it will not happen again in the
future. Instead, I think this would discourage the newer members from serving for
fear of being stabbed in the back. I agree with Yuen Heng-Cheun (袁慶祥 1961) that
the by-laws of the association should be thoroughly reexamined to safeguard
against the alleged abuse of power and impropriety. Hopefully the shooting in the dark
tactics will not be deemed necessary in the new millennium.
No matter how righteous the ends, they should never justify the means. I hope that
all other chapters of the Pui-Ching Alumni Association are in a much more harmonious
state of mind.
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Epilogue:
This article was written in late November 1999. Since then, at least 5 board
members have resigned in disgust, including the then vise president Lo
Shui-Chun (盧遂全 1960). The president elect Lee Wai-Hon (李威漢 1961) will face the
double challenge of both matching Niki's energetic performance in the past two
years and exercising the political skill of Lincoln to bring about a closure to this
unfortunate event and then march on. At the board meeting in February 2000, the
board could not find any evidence to support the embezzlement allegation against
Niki as stated in the anonymous letter. A motion to clear the financial statement
for transfer was passed, a motion to condemn the anonymous letter was not.
Does that indicate the board's willingness to condone such behavior? In the
name of forget and forgive, which actually only the victim is entitle to say, the
editor of the San Francisco Alumni Newsletter has decided that this article is too
controversial for his newsletter.
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