Brief History of N2 Area

In the beginning....

In 1993, I proposed to Division N Governor Ricky Ch'ng (National Semiconductor Toastmasters) to have two Areas instead of 1 Area for Toastmasters Clubs in Penang.

I was then the IPP of National Semiconductor Toastmasters and volunteered to be the new and first N2 Area Governor.

TT Khoo (YMCA Penang) became N1 Area Governor and Sukdhev Singh (Taiping) became N3 Area for Clubs in Kedah and Perak for the term 1993-94 in the first year of District 51.

At the first District 51 Semi-Annual Convention in Bangkok in 1993, Dunstan Chan (Kuching) and I were the only two Area Governors outside Thailand in attendance. Show how much of enthusiam and the subsidy of our trip was Sin Dollars 100 only.

How to divide up the Clubs in Penang into two areas?

An initial proposal was to group all community clubs into one Area and all inhouse clubs in another Area. Eventually, it was decided best to use geographical division.

N2 would cover the clubs meeting in Bayan Lepas FTZ area while N1 covers the Clubs meeting in Georgetown which included Penang Toastmasters, Butterworth Toastmasters and YMCA Penang Toastmasters.

MIM Penang which meets near Padang Brown was caught in the middle but considered "south enough" to be part of N2 Area.

In the first year of Area N2, there were "7 clubs". Three were firmly established Clubs - National Semiconductor Penang (655), PDC (7371) and MIM Penang (6728).

Intel Penang(9699) was trying to get chartered officially. Two other Clubs, Applied Magnetics Toastmasters and B. Braun Toastmasters have started to have meetings but decided to close down. Hewlett Packard Toastmasters which met during lunch hour did not get chartered and discontinued.

So by the end of the year, there were left only 4 but very active clubs, fondly known as NS, PDC, Intel & MIM. We bought each installation tickets from each other and once, in 1994, even had a joint Area N2 Club installation dinner.



There were clubs added and removed from Area N2 but NS, PDC, Intel & MIM stood together closely over the years. In 1996, Bayan Baru which was sponsored by PDC also became a N2 Area "permanent fixture" club.

Clubs that were once part of N2 Area primarily because these clubs were chartered by N2 Clubs are Texchem, Bukit Mertajam Country Club, Dell APCC, Komag, Penang Seagate, Bayan Baru Mandarin, Vistana.

NS was later renamed Hong Leong and MIM was renamed Camaraderie. Eventually both clubs closed down.

Today, Area N2 covers Bayan Baru, Intel Penang, Intel Speak Up and MAS Tanjong.

One of the traditions in N2 Area is that Clubs prefer to hold their own club installations and that N2 Area Governor is given the role of Installation Officer to give more opportunity for everyone to do and learn more.

Another is to have regular Area Council Meeting and for clubs to hold election of the next N2 Area Governor during an Area Council meeting before the Annual District Convention.

Honor List of N2 Area Governors:
2009 Parthiban (Intel Penang, Penang)
2008 Khor Siang Kheng (Intel Penang, Penang)
2007 Koay Kah Hin (Bayan Baru, Penang)
2006 Mah Swee Chin (Bayan Baru, Penang)
2005 Yoon Peng Yew (Intel Penang, Penang)
2004 Melissa Teoh (Bayan Baru, Penang)
2003 Ong Swee Keat (Bayan Baru, Penang)
2002 Andy Lim (Komag, Penang)
2001 Rosalind Chan (Bayan Baru, Penang)
2000 Mah Ting Keong (Komag, Penang)
1999 Joachim Xavier (Bayan Baru, Penang)
1998 Margaret Chan (PDC, Penang)
1997 Pauline Ang (Hong Leong, Penang)
1996 Lee So Cheran (PDC, Penang)
1995 Sunalini (Butterworth, Penang)
1994 SL Liew (National Semiconductor, Penang)

Distinguished Area Program
2009 Distinguished Area (as of April 30, 2010)
2008 Distinguished Area
2007 President's Distinguished Area
2006 President's Distinguished Area
2005 President's Distinguished Area
2004 ?
2003 Presidnet's Distinguished Area
2001 President's Distinguished Area
2000 - not distinguished -
1999 - not distinguished -
1998 Distinguished Area
1997 Select Distinguished Area
1996 Distinguished Area

Note: In 2001, there was a net growth of 1 club with the chartering of Penang Seagate by efforts of N2 Area Governor and members of N2 Clubs.

In later years, however, net growth was due to new clubs charted by other Areas but added to N2 Area at the end of the term in June and then moved to another Area the next term in July 1 to achieved PDA. This is not a good ethical practice.

I hope Area N2 will again start to charter our own clubs for the PDA and our own growth and as a center of excellence for Toastmasters International. Just my 2 cents.