Brief History
In the 80s Rotary International only allowed men to join its organization. At that time the first Rotary Club in Bali was the Bali Denpasar Rotary Club, with GGR Past President Soerjo Wibisono. He really wants to create a new club with female members. Apparently this idea was also widely discussed by Rotary International so that in 1989 the Rotary International Council signed an agreement that women could become members of the Rotary Club. Since then, the strong intention of several members of the Bali Denpasar Rotary Club to invite women to become members of the Rotary Club has reappeared even though some members do not agree. With further discussions, an agreement was reached and RC Bali Denpasar finally invited several women to a meeting at Sita Restaurant which coincided with Kartini Day on April 23 1991. The meeting discussed the formation of a new club with female members. President Arnold Muti, who led the Bali Denpasar Rotary Club at that time, appointed Past President Radom Iskandar as the new GSR club. The meeting was attended by at least 43 people consisting of 19 candidates or future members of the Rotary Club and 22 members of RC Bali Denpasar. At that time the invited candidates did not clearly understand what Rotary was. However, they came with the enthusiasm to serve the community.
After few subsequent meetings, a club name and logo were created. During early nineties, Rotary Clubs was allowed to create its own logo. The meeting place chosen was at Banjar Taman, so the name of the club was adapted to its location, namely the Rotary Club of Bali Taman. The logo was created with a location concept as well, where Bali is famous for several mascots such as the Pucuk Rejuna Flower and the White Starling Bird (Jalak Bali). In one of the meetings the members appointed Mrs. Sri Sudito as the first President of the Rotary Club of Bali Taman. After long preparations, finally on September 17th, 1991 the Rotary Club of Bali Taman was officially formed with membership registration number Rotary International ID 28300.
Over time, one of the members, Makiko Iskandar, who was also the wife of the late Past President Radom Iskandar from RC Bali Denpasar, offered her place to be used as a club meeting place, with a more comfortable room. So since 1996 the Rotary Club of Bali Taman has held regular meetings at Ayodya Restaurant, Sanur. In 2020 Restaurant Ayodya underwent major renovations, so RC Bali Taman moved its meeting location to Jl. Imam Bonjol no. 182 – Denpasar (PMI Bali Province Office). For 29 years, Ayodya Restaurant has been used not only for meetings, but also to hold several events and activities without being charged any fees by the owner.
Charter members hold a special place in any organization. Expressing appreciation for their role and dedication is important. Here is the list of our charter member in a recognition video below.
Rotary Club of Bali Taman is a solid club consist of members from various backgrounds and professionalism. After its birth on 1991, the club eagerly grab one of the remote village called Pesaban in Karangasem region – Bali, to adopt as Rotary foster village. It was started with building kindergarten for the village in 1992, then a water & sanitation project in 1996 with Rotary Matching Grant to provide clean water for the villagers. This project still sustain til this day where more than 2.500 people have access to clean water in Pesaban village. On 2019 they build waste bank to empower women, collecting recyclable waste, sorting and selling them to region waste bank. All the money they earn goes back to the community in the form of excursions or village events.
On 1997, Rotary Club of Bali Taman successfully created their signature project, presented for all women in Bali, called Women’s Health Mobile Clinic. This project was funded by Rotary District 2710 – Japan, and still sustain to this day. For further info regarding this project please click here.
Having a good relationship with Japan, Rotary Club of Bali Taman got a chance of building a monumental project in 1998, funded by Rotary Club of Hiroshima East as their 40th years anniversary project. The project is building a blood bank facility in the center of Sanglah Public Hospital, the main hospital of Bali province. You may find Rotary logo still standing in front of this building to this day. Overtime together with other Rotary clubs in Bali, they manage to fill up the blood bank center with the latest machinery.
Another project that made this club proud is the education project that was lasting to 17 years, which was begin in 2002. During those years Bali Taman have given scholarships to 150 elementary students per year. It ended in 2019 where the Indonesian government successfully conducted free education for all elementary students in Indonesia.
Moving over to a new decade after being chartered, in 2003 with the urge of gender equality and club member diversity, Rotary Club of Bali Taman start accepting male members to the club. The decision made the club remains solid and even stronger by time.
There is a major occurrence in the club milestone in 2014, where a humble and generous philanthropist, Past District Governor Tsutsui from District 2710 donate a large sum of fund to Bali Taman in order to run the signature project, WHMC, further. The old bus was replace with newer one, and this project still sustain to this day, serving more than 30.000 women in Bali.
To top up the tremendous success of this club growing, one of the charter member named Makiko Iskandar committed to donate to The Rotary Foundation in average of USD 50,000 per year, resulting her to be inaugurated as Arch Klumph Society member in November 16th, 2017. Due to this, Rotary Club of Bali Taman benefited with high District Designated Fund that can be used for grants in the consecutive years. Starting from this decade, Rotary Club of Bali Taman regularly make Global Grant projects yearly with higher impact and broadened reach.
Apart of Disease Prevention and Treatment project held with WHMC and their 2.500 scholarship for Basic Education and Literacy cause, Rotary Club of Bali Taman is also well known with its water and sanitation projects, where they have built 110 reservoirs around Bali to help thousand people getting clean water to their door. Furthermore Bali Taman have also built more than 500 toilets in Karangasem regency to help government reach the goal of Open Defecation Free for Bali.
Rotary Club of Bali Taman strive to be a solid vibrant club in its district and will continue to serve the community. Come and join us to make world a better place for everyone.
Milestones
Club Presidents
Rotary Club of Bali Taman club presidents play crucial role in the smooth operation of the club and organization. Their pivotal role in shaping the club’s identity, ensuring objectives and goals are meet and serves its members effectively. Here are Rotary Club of Bali Taman’s club presidents from 1991 – 2023 :
