A Brief History of District 3300

Rotary International District 3300 had in fact undergone a series of canges since its inception two years ago after the formation and establishment of the first Rotary Club - the Rotary Club of Seremban in 1929. Rotary International designated the area comprising Siam (now Thailand) and the Straits Settlements (then Penang, Malacca and Singapore) as “Provincial District B”. In the intervening years Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Klang and Coast, Singapore, Malacca and Penang were formed. In 1935, Rotary International re-designated the district as “District 80” and with that the President of the Rotary Club of Bangkok, His Royal Highness Prince Purachatra of Thailand was appointed as the first District Governor. The District was then extended to include what was then known as French Indo-China which comprised Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

A year later in 1936, with the inclusion of Borneo, District 80 was extended to include Sarawak and North Borneo (later known as Sabah) and Brunei. Sarawak and Sabah subsequently became part of Malaysia. The Japanese Occupation between 1942 and 1946 saw the suspension by Rotary International of all clubs in this District. Rotary International then reinstated them after a resolution in 1946 following an application by all clubs concerned. Klang and Coast, however, did not apply for reinstatement and as a result joined the fold only in 1961. In 1948, the district was again re-designated as “District 46” and subsequently in 1961, as “District 330”.

A very very big District indeed

Following the independence of Malaya in 1957 many more clubs were formed in the countries to the north of the peninsular. In 1981, Rotary International established District 335, which was to include Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Malaysia (which now included the new Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak), Singapore and Brunei remained in District 330.

“District 3300” came into being in 1992; and with its emergence, all clubs south of the state of Negeri Sembilan, namely Melaka (Malacca) and Johor as well as the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak of the former North Borneo, together with Singapore and Brunei, were grouped into the new District 3300. District 3300 now boasts of 74 clubs with about 1,750 Rotarians.