Meeting held at 5.00 pm on 1 July 2004, Ballroom, National Convention Centre, Canberra

Present: A. Kaur, I. Metcalfe, Lily Rahim, Cliff Goddard, Noraini Othman, Tony Reid, John Drabble, Wang Gungwu, Virginia Hooker, Tony Milner, Carl Trocki, Michael Leigh, John Butcher, Ben Tipton, Ian Proudfoot, Sukhan Jackson, Clive Kessler, Vicki Crinis, Risa Tokunaga, Yasuko Kobayashi, Peter Kell, Benjamin McKay.

1. Apologies

Apologies received from: Robert Cramb, Brian Ridge, NicolasTarling, Rita Camilleri, Harry Aveling, Tony Shome, Fadzillah Majid-Cook, Janelle Mills.

2. Confirmation of minutes of meeting held on 3 December 2003 (Armidale)

Minutes confirmed: Proposed by Ben Tipton, seconded by Ian Metcalfe.

3. Matters Arising

Matters arising were discussed under agenda items.

4. President’s Report

Amarjit Kaur delivered a verbal report.

5. Secretary’s Report

Lily Rahim delivered a verbal report.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Lily Rahim presented her report and tabled a statement of receipts and payments.

7. Malaysia Society Colloquium (Clive Kessler)

Lily Rahim will be the convenor and a small organising committee will be set up for the Malaysia Society Colloquium on “Islam in Malaysia” to be held at the ANU, 26-27 November 2004 in conjunction with the Australia-Malaysia Conference. Virginia Hooker to arrange rooms in the Asian Studies Faculty at ANU and talk to Residential Colleges.

The issue of halal food for Muslim participants was raised. Lily Rahim noted that there will be at least six Malaysian academics/researchers attending the upcoming Colloquium and some of them have raised the issue of halal food.

Amarjit also stated that the registration fee for the 2004 Malaysia Society Colloquium would be $20 for members and $40 for non-members. This fee is to cover morning and afternoon tea and other colloquium costs. It is hoped that non-members will be encouraged to join the society and take advantage of the member registration rate.

The Australia-Malaysia Conference was briefly discussed. Information will be circulated to members and placed on the Malaysia Society Web Site as soon as details are available.

8. Elections for the positions of President and Secretary Treasurer for 2005-2006

Amarjit Kaur was nominated for re-election as President by Clive Kessler and seconded by Virginia Hooker.

Ian Metcalfe was nominated for Secretary/Treasurer by Cliff Goddard and seconded by Lily Rahim.

Both nominations were unanimously endorsed by the meeting.

9. Other Business

The issue of a change to the Society’s name was raised and Tony Reid proposed that the name be changed to “Malaysia and Singapore Society”. Michael Leigh suggested that the name could also include Brunei. There was general support for a change to “Malaysia and Singapore Society” but not for the inclusion of Brunei, at least for the time being. After some discussion, Tony Reid put the motion that a postal ballot of paid-up members be undertaken, asking if they approve of the suggested name change. This motion was seconded by Lily Rahim and unanimously approved by members present. Tony Reid was asked, and agreed to provide a short paragraph outlining the arguments for the proposed name change which would be circulated together with the postal ballot by Society president Amarjit Kaur. Results of the ballot will be presented to the membership at the Malaysia Society Colloquium in November.

The meeting closed at approximately 5.45 pm and members adjourned to the Flavour of India restaurant for an excellent Malaysia Society Dinner.