Michael Pang

In 1984, when the members of the Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur were considering what they could do to raise funds for charity, Kiwanian Tony Leow came up with the idea of organising a motor treasure hunt, then a relatively new activity that could involve public participation, as the vehicle for fund raising. Thus it was that the first Kiwanis Treasure Hunt hit the road later that year.

This event proved to be such a success that the Club never stopped organizing a motor treasure hunt each and every subsequent year. The annual Kiwanis Treasure Hunt has since travelled many roads throughout the country and visited many holiday locations. Its choice of a destination, since the 1990s, has been limited only by the size of hotels providing accommodation and dining facilities as the event regularly attracts between 400 - 600 participants.

Some landmarks in the history of the Kiwanis Treasure Hunt include

• The nomination of the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Centre in Petaling Jaya (now known as the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation - National Centre) as the main beneficiary of the Kiwanis Treasure Hunt in 1989 and thereafter for each succeeding year, although each Kiwanis Treasure Hunt also selects other community service projects as beneficiaries as well;

• The decision of the Organising Committee of the 7th Kiwanis Treasure Hunt in 1988 to set RM80,000 (then seen as a considerable sum of money) as its fund raising target, an act that inspired subsequent organising committees to continually raise fund raising targets, thereby resulting in the annual Kiwanis Treasure Hunt raising thousands of ringgit for charity;

• ·The free flow of drinks “on the house” provided by the management of the resort providing the accommodation for the 10th Kiwanis Treasure Hunt to Pulau Besar, Melaka;

• ·The introduction of the “Crack-A-Pot” puzzles in the 11th Kiwanis Treasure Hunt to Langkawi, as a way to keep treasure hunters busy on the long journey there;

• ·The hosting of the prize-presentation dinner for the 1994 hunt in the gigantic aeroplane hangar used for the LIMA exhibition in Langkawi;

• The 1997 hunt in which a large number of hunters did not “follow the tulips” as instructed, and ended up in Penang to submit the Q & A sheets and treasures, when the finish control was in Juru;

• The introduction of theme Kiwanis Treasure Hunts in 1996, as a means of avoiding the use of the number 13 in the title of the hunt and thereafter Kiwanis Treasure Hunts have been organized around themes, which are listed below:

1996 - “Thriller” (thrills, spills & excitement, etc.)

1997 - “On the Mother Goose Trail” (nursery rhymes, children’s tales)

1998- “Wira Challenge” (sports, in honour of the mascot of the Malaysian-hosted Commonwealth Games)

1999 - “Conquest of the Wild” (nature)

2000 -“Millennium Hunt, Part One - The Century Past” (a celebration of the 20th Century)

2001 -“Millennium Hunt, Part Two - Through Space & Time” (a celebration of our world, past and future) 2002 - “A Musical Journey” (music)

2003 - “It’s A Wonderful World” (travel)

2004 - “It’s A Mad, Mad World” (in and around our zany planet)

2005 -“Lights, Camera, Action” (movies & TV)

2006 - “Chill Out” (leisure and recreation)

2007 - “Go The Distance”, the slogan for the year for the Club, adopted as a working theme for the Hunt.

• ·The inclusion of the popular bingo (first played at the resort in the 1993 hunt) and in the introduction of after-the-Hunt games, contests and activities around the theme for 3 days/ 2 nights hunts, which was first introduced in the “Thriller” Hunt and a mini-golf tournament whenever a golf course was available.

Neither massive traffic jams nor an epidemic - when the SARS outbreak made Johore Bahru, the chosen destination for the 2003 Hunt unsafe, a quick decision was made to switch the venue to the Klang Valley – has been able to stop the annual Kiwanis Treasure Hunt from running its route. It appears that only the will and the desire of the members of the Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur will decide if this proud tradition is to carry on.