This is a detailed description of what had transpired during the meeting based on my observation.
The meeting started at 2 p.m. at Hotel Istana with attendance of around 250+ members. I attended this meeting for the 4th time since becoming a member in 2007. This is the first time I am proposing a motion (refer to attachment) to be discussed at the AGM. I had this heavy responsibility to be present at the AGM as my seconder was unable to be present. If neither the proposer nor seconder is present, the motion will lapse.
The meeting started with a short prayer and followed by the President’s speech. The President’s speech took almost half an hour. Before the President speech, some members requested the Council to reveal the name of proxy holders and the number of proxies held by proxy holder. My name was mentioned with one proxy. Some council member has 497 proxies. Then, the next agenda was to consider and accept the minutes of the 24th AGM held on 25 September 2010. Some members queried on typographical error in the minutes.
After this the following agenda was to receive the annual report of the Council. This time some veteran members queried on the corporate governance of the Institute whereby some Council members had poor attendance for the Council meetings. I also noted that one of the Council members had attendance of 0/11. This was totally unacceptable to some members and they expressed their unhappiness during the meeting. They were quite a number of issues raised by members on the annual report in which I cannot remember at this juncture.
The following agenda was to receive the financial statements of the Institute for the year ended 30 June 2011 and the report of the auditors thereon. There were quite a number of issues raised by members concerning the financial statements disclosures. This took quite some time before the meeting was temporarily adjourned for a short break at 5 p.m. +.
After the short break, the meeting continued with the tabling of 4 resolutions (refer to attachment) by the Council. Resolution 1 was on the recognition of local university degree for admission into MIA membership. Some members raised concerns on this admission criterion. When voting was called for by show of hands, 59 members voted for resolution 1 and 25 members (including myself) voted against resolution 1. The moment I knew the result, I was not confident on my motion 1 (related to resolution 1) as the majority had voted for this resolution.
Then, when resolution 2 was tabled, this was deliberated and discussed by members. This took quite long as members questioned the Council revoking resolution which has no effect. Some members also requested the Council to withdraw resolution 2 – 4. When vote by show of hands was requested, majority of members (including myself) objected on resolution 2. Then, the President requested a poll to be conducted. I casted my vote (against resolution 2) for myself and for my friend who appointed me as proxy. The outcome of the poll was 751 members (including proxies) voted for resolution 2 and 451 members (including proxies) voted against resolution 2. Majority of members had no choice but to accept the decision as the resolution 2 proposed by Council was won by proxy voting. I felt that there was higher probability that my motion will be defeated by proxies voting if this mechanism is used.
After the outcome of poll for resolution 2 as known, resolution 3 was tabled. Resolution 3 according to the Council was meant to replace the revoked resolution 2. I voted against resolution 2. The outcome of the votes by show of hands was 48 members for resolution 3 and 14 members against resolution 3.
Finally, when resolution 4 on the issue of separate register for the AGM was tabled, there were some debates by members. After members had completed speaking, the President called for votes by show of hands. 34 members voted for resolution 4 and 29 members (including myself) voted against resolution 4.
It was 7 p.m. + and after 5 hours of waiting, the next agenda was the tabling of motion 1. I was the speaker for motion 1 and was called by the President to identify myself and explained motion 1. My heart started to beep faster as I was a little nervous having to speak in front of many senior members and some VIP Council members. I was feeling hungry for this long hour AGM. Before I stated speaking, I clarified with the President whether I should just explain the rationale or explain the rationale and speak whatever I wanted to say about motion 1. I knew the rules of the meeting that the explanation of rationale must not turn into speech. The President allowed me to speak whatever I want to speak on motion 1 but I was told to cut short whenever necessary in the interest of time.
I started by criticising the unfairness of the Accountants Act, 1967 whereby local universities graduates with 3 years experience can be admitted as members of MIA. I also commented that the Act was already outdated. Halfway through, my mind went a little blank as I was not reading from my self-drafted speech and I felt a little nervous. I managed to calm myself and focus on what I needed to say. I started to express my thoughts on what strike my mind and articulated the issues involved. Besides, I also made comparison of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) standards on education which prescribed the criteria of a professional accountant. Finally, I humbly persuaded and urged the members to consider the motion for the future benefits of the accountancy profession.
I noticed that the President managed to rebut some of my points. When the President opened comments to the floor, I noticed that there was one lady member supported my motion by speaking in favour on what I had said earlier. It was very encouraging to note that there were some members supported by motion although there were some who were not in favour. When the President called for votes by show of hands, 59 members (including myself) supported the motion and 14 members objected. Then, the President demanded a poll to be conducted. From this moment onwards, I knew that my motion was going to be defeated by proxy voting if one of the council members who held 497 proxies voted against this motion.
Suddenly one of the members raised the issue of lack of quorum. The President asked for a count to be conducted as most of the members had left the hall when the meeting was going on. I was doubt as I noticed there were some members casted their vote and I sought clarification on whether the poll had started. I was told to be patient as the count on quorum was still on-going.
Finally, the President announced that there was a lack of quorum as the attendance was around 80+ members. The required quorum was 100 members present throughout the meeting. Praised God. Lack of quorum saved the day for my motion. It was announced that the votes by show of hands and poll conducted would not be counted due to lack of quorum. In accordance with the rules governing the meeting, the meeting was adjourned to a future date to be decided by the Council.
At this juncture, 7 motions including my first motion had yet to be decided on the outcome. It has to be tabled and deliberated at the adjourned AGM to be decided by the Council. I still have one more fighting chance.
Yours truly
LIM FANG HAU
Membership no. 28424
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