PAKATAN RAKYAT LOGO

MIRI: The opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is throwing a dinner on 9 January 2009 to celebrate the registration of the alternative alliance to the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the launching of the party's logo tomorrow. (Saturday 19 December).

The launching of the logo will be in Shah Alam before about 500 delegates.

“ This is a historic occasion for the alliance because this is the first dinner under PR in Sarawak, for that matter in the country. And with the registration of the opposition political alliance of PAS, DAP, PKR and at the state level SNAP the country is witnessing the emergence of a two-party system in the country,” said the PKR Miri branch chairman Dr Michael Teo.

The venue for the dinner is the Boulevard restaurant and it is scheduled to start at 6:30pm,disclosed Teo.

The organising committee is targeting about 90 tables for guests and tickets for the dinner are on sale now. The price is RM38 per person.

He told this to reporters during a press conference at the party's office yesterday.

Also present were the DAP Miri branch chairman Fong Pau Teck, the SNAP president Edwin Dundang, the PAS Miri branch chairman Suan Sambas, PKR bureau chief from KL Dr M.R. Summugam.

Teo said the alliance political leaders will feature during the dinner giving political talks. Among the speakers are the former Perak state assembly speaker Sivakumar, former health minister Dr Chua Jui Meng who is now in PKR, newly appointed PKR state chief Baru Bian and PKR advisor Daniel Tajem. From SNAP, speaking to the crowd will be Dundang himself and senior vice president Kebing Wan.

“This will be one of the many avenues which we willuse again and again to promote, popularise and strengthen PR as a new political alliance between PKR, DAP, PAS and SNAP. The birth of PR after more than 50 years of democracy in the country is the birth of the two-party system in Malaysia.PR is a loyal opposition of the DYMM Agong's government. It is established to operate and behave within the limits of democracy and freedom as provided by the Federal Constitution. It is not against the government. Those who allege so does not understand how a parliamentary democracy operate. Therefore, PR is to provide the people with the choice which political party they want to rule the country. Now with the era of a two-party system on the horizon, the people have a clear choice between BN and PR,” said Dundang.

During the press conference, Teo also explained the meaning of the PR logo.

He said the logo with the orange colour depicts sunrise which means the dawning of a new day for Malaysian politics. The five petals symbolised the five major races in Malaysia that is Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazandusuns and Dayaks.

On another matter, the PR is gearing up for the state election which is due in 2011 but most political observers believe it will be held next year.

“We definitely will work on consensus as far the choice of candidates from the alliance is concerned,” pointed out Teo. ENDS.

Caption: PR LOGO: Teo showing the logo with from left Fong and Dundang.

Calling OKU from Orang Ulu community

The “We Love, We Care, We Share” programme launched collaboratively last year by PBB Wanita & Pemuda Telang Usan and PDK Eda Beran continue its project of helping the needy in society specifically in the Baram parliamentary constituency by giving out Christmas goodies to registered special people or known as Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) locally this Saturday 19 December 2009.

“We invite the target groups to come to the venue which is at Dynasty Hotel from 9am until 5pm to register themselves. Please bring along relevant documents like IC, birth certificate and OKU certificate from the Welfare Department. This project is for the hardcore poor in the huge Baram district,” said the organising chairlady Elizabeth Deng who is also the PBB Telang Usan Wanita chief.

She told this to the Borneo Post during a press conference yesterday. Also present were the PBB Telang Usan youth chief councillor Dennis Ngau Jok.

The main objective of this programme this year is to register the target group who are from Baram district but currently staying in Miri.

"This is to enable the target group receive assistance from the government through the Welfare Department. There are a lot of OKU from the Orang Ulu community who have yet to register themselves with the department. By not doing so, they deprive themselves from receiving government assistance," explained Dennis.

Last year this programme saw the organising committee receiving hundreds bags of rice from generous members of the public in Miri for distribution to the OKU in the Baram district.

Next year, the organising committee may take a different approach to assist the needy in society.

The Telang Usan assemblyman Lihan Jok is expected to officially launched the programme at 4pm on the same day. ENDS.

Caption: Dennis Ngau Jok

holistic approach to education:Hou

MIRI: The ministry of higher education is taking a holistic approach in education to ensure the right quality and quantity of graduates are produced at the right time to meet the demand in the job market.

“We make sure all the courses offered in the institutions of higher learning are of the right quality and we have the mechanism to screen the courses made available to our students to avoid job mismatch,” said the deputy minister of higher education Dr Hou Kok Chung.

He told this to reporters during a press conference after officiating the inaugural Curtin International Business Conference 2009 held at Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus.

He said the jobless graduates scenario in the country is not that alarming, pointing out at least 76 per cent of graduates land a job after six months of graduation.

"We are happy with this statistics because the remainder of the students may be continuing their further studies taking their masters degree and even to doctorate level," explained Hou

He said the government is making the effort to reduce the gap between jobless graduates and the employment available in the market.

One of the strategies is to offer courses that are relevant to the current market needs so that graduates are more employable when they seek for job in a competitive work environment.

"We also advise students to choose courses properly in the universities so that they are marketable," said Hou

The government have a programme under the ministry of human resource called Train and Place programme currently going on for jobless graduates in the country seeking to reduce the unemployment rate among fresh graduates in the country.

At one time, the jobless graduates was said to hit a record high of 80,000.

Earlier in his speech at the official opening ceremony of the conference, Hou said the government recognises the need for successful human capital development and is committed to spearhead a concerted effort to transform the national education system at all levels from pre-school through higher education.

“Developing human capital with attributes such as desire for knowledge, critical and innovative thinking, creativity and competitiveness, reinforced with high moral and ethical values, to meet both the national and international level demands, becomes a national mission,” said Hou.

Present at the opening ceremony were the Pujut assemblyman Andy Chia, the pro vice-chancellor and chief executive of Curtin Sarawak Professor Dr John Evans, the dean of Curtin Sarawak Professor Joan Gribble, the conference convenor Shamsul Kamariah Abdullah, the chairman of Curtin Sarawak Sdn Bhd Datu Dr Hatta Solhee and the city mayor Lawrence Lai.

There were about 100 participants and a total of 108 paper presented during the conference, themed “Business Sustainability in the Era of Globalisation”. ENDS.

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Caption: OFFICIAL LAUNCHED: Hou beating the gong to signal the start of the conference with other guests looking on from left Chia, Evans, Kamariah and Hatta.

Curtin's researcher wins big

MIRI: Lew Tek Yew, a lecturer in marketing and management at Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak campus was presented the Best Paper Award at the recent International Conference on Business and Information (BAI 2009) held in Kuala Lumpur.

The award was presented to Lew in recognition of the high quality of his research paper submitted to the conference entitled ‘The Relationships between Perceived Organisational Support, Felt Obligation, Affective Organisational Commitment and Turnover Intention of Academicians Working with Private Higher Educational Institutions in Malaysia’.

Lew’s paper was among 16 papers shortlisted for the award from a total of 500 paper submissions from 32 countries throughout the world. Each submission was peer-reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers.

The aim of the annual BAI Conference is to serve as a forum for scholars of the business and information disciplines to discuss and exchange views. It is jointly organised by the International Business Academics Consortium, Academy of Taiwan Information Systems Research, and College of Business, National Taipei University.

Last year, Lew also won the best paper award at the 4th National Human Resource Management Conference 2008 organised by the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia, and the State Government of Negeri Sembilan.

Lew’s research interests lie in human resource management (HRM) practices, services marketing, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, perceived organisational support (POS) and employer-employee relationships.

He has produced a large volume of publications including book chapters, refereed journals and conference proceedings, at the national and international levels.

His publications have covered varied subjects such as urban tourism marketing, the relationships between HRM practices, POS, affective organisational commitment and turnover intention; transformational leadership amongst enterprises in Miri, antecedents of needs and job satisfaction among bank employees, managing expectations and perceptions of service quality among local and international students in an offshore branch campus of an Australian university, enhancing Miri's image as a new tourist destination through the media, and adoption of deep learning approaches by students pursuing higher education in Sarawak.

At Curtin Sarawak, Lew teaches management and marketing related subjects, including Principles of Management, Organisational Behaviour, Human Resource Management, Marketing of Services, Consumer Behaviour and others.

Prior to joining Curtin Sarawak, he was engaged in the banking industry, dealing in commercial credit processing and evaluation, management and marketing of financial services.

“This award recognises not only my own achievements but also the exceptional research performance and significant research contributions of Curtin Sarawak academic staff as a whole. Since establishing its first offshore campus in Miri, the university’s research output has been recognised at the national and international levels. Such awards will motivate our academic staff to continually excel in research and contribute towards Curtin’s reputation of producing quality research and its strategic aim of becoming one of the top 20 universities in Asia,” said Lew.

Kenyah Sarawak Cultural Festival at Usun Apau-Lihan

MIRI: The Kenyahs in Sarawak have been given the challenge to host the Sarawak Kenyah Cultural Festival in Usun Apau if they want to see their signature event be included in the nation's tourism calendar by the president of the Federation of Orang Ulu Associations of Malaysia (Forum) Lihan Jok.

He was responding to the request made by the Kenyah National Association (PKKS) that he support the community's bid for the event to be included in the tourism calendar of the ministry of tourism.

“I will support your call for the cultural festival to be included in the tourism calendar on one condition that the event will not be held in Kuching, not in Sibu, not in Bintulu, not in Miri but in Usun Apau, ” said Lihan who is also the Telang Usan assemblyman.

He said this when launching the association Jogerthon Card yesterday.

Also present were the president of the association Marcus Gau Lian, the organising chairman Kennedy Chuk Pai Ugon, the Kenyah community leader Paul Kalang, the Telang Usan PBB youth chief councillor Dennis Ngau Jok.

“In order for the event to have its significance and be able to draw tourists especially foreign tourists you must have it in Usun Apau, the original home of the Kenyah. Although now it may seem an impossible dream for your association to have the event in Usun Apau, which is practically inaccessible due to its mountainous region but that is the challenge I put forth to the Kenyah renowned for their adventurous and persistence spirit,” said Lihan.

“It is in line with your festival's theme, The Spirit, Pride and Patriotism of Usun Apau. Your ancestors started in Usun Apau and now you the descendants of the mighty Kenyah warriors of Usun Apau must make an annual pilgrimage to the land of your ancestors to celebrate the spirit of Usun Apau,” he added.

Lihan gave the meaning to the acronym APAU by saying A stands for Adventurous, P stands for Persistence, A for Accommodating and U for United.

“These are the characteristics of the Kenyahs, said Lihan and he urged the Kenyahs to strive hard like their forefathers in order to progress like the other races, never to give up but to strive on for excellence in life. The Kenyahs are well known to be accommodating that is you like to be friends to everybody. Above all, the Kenyahs must be united even though there are so many sub-groups within the community. You must be proud to be a Kenyah, that is the patriotism of Usun Apau. If you are not proud to be a Kenyah, you are not a Kenyah,” said Lihan who is a Kayan, consider historically the cousins of the Kenyahs, for these two tribes traditionally live side by side harmoniously until this day.

The 2nd cultural festival organised by the association saw more than 700 participants from its eight branches taking part in the three-day event held at the Civic Centre.

Lihan announced a grant of RM10,000 to the association for next year. ENDS.

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Caption: USUN APAU FOR KENYAH: Lihan (fourth from left) receiving a souvenir from Marcus. Also seen are Dennis (3rd from left), Paul (3rd from right).

Native issues taken up by international NGO-star reports

International NGO sees red over 'green projects'
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: A London-based organisation wants the international community and governments to stop classifying energy-production projects as “green” if such projects affect the lives of native communities.

The latest report from Survival International, a global organisation involved in protecting tribal people, said native people and the envi­ronment were suffering more now because of so-called green projects being implemented by governments and rich corporations.

Survival International director Stephen Corry, in an e-mail to The Star yesterday, furnished a copy of the latest report entitled The Most Inconvenient Truth of All, in which the RM9bil Bakun Dam and RM3bil Murum Dam projects in central Sarawak were cited as among global projects that had harmed the indigenous people and environment.

The report also criticised similar projects in places in Africa and other continents.

“Bio-fuel is being promoted all over the world as the alternative green energy to fossil fuels.

“However, in the pretext of going green, the reverse is actually happening.

“From South America to Borneo, we are seeing the destruction of massive areas of jungles and the ruin of ancestral homes belonging to tribal people.

“Projects that victimise the people and harm the environment cannot be promoted or marketed as green projects,” said Corry.

Corry said the world community must see through the hidden agendas.

The report called for a complete global re-look of hydro-electric dam and bio-fuel projects because these were causing even more harm to the people and environment than previously.

Orang Ulu request for ministerial post

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By Lucas Jalong Bato

MIRI: The Berawans supported the request made by the delegation led by Orang Ulu Baram paramount chief Temenggong Pahang Ding to the top BN leadership to include an Orang Ulu assemblyman in the state cabinet.

On Thursday the delegation made the request through the deputy chief minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu whom they met at Miri airport before his departure to Kuching. He was in Miri to officiate the Sarawak Kenyah Cultural Festival.

A Berawan headman TK Edmund Abang of Long Terawan said the Berawan community would like to see the assemblyman from Telang Usan Lihan Jok be included in the state cabinet at least holding the assistant minister post.

“Among the four Orang Ulu assemblymen Lihan is the most senior and deserved a shot at serving the community as an assistant minister. He has proven to be a hard working assemblyman for our constituency and if appointed as an assistant minister he would be more effective in serving the people,” said Edmund.

A councillor from Baram district council Garry Hashim believed Lihan would make a good assistant minister representing the Orang Ulu since the last time the community was represented was during the late Dr Judson Tagal who was the Ba Kelalan assemblyman.

A free lance tour operator Mathew Mawit agreed that an Orang Ulu should be included in the state cabinet in the spirit of 1Malaysia.

A youth leader from the Berawan community Alexander Laing supported the call for Lihan to be appointed as an assistant minister.

“I believe he will be a dynamic assistant minister because even while as an assemblyman he has served the people in his constituency tirelessly,” said Alexander.

During the recent minor cabinet reshuffle, the Orang Ulu was not included even though all its assemblymen are in the Barisan Nasional.

During the last state election in 2006 the Orang Ulu constituencies of Telang Usan, Ba Kelalan, Belaga and the new constituency of Batu Danau saw all BN candidates from the Orang Ulu community winning comfortably against the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Meanwhile a former state cabinet minister from the Orang Ulu community Datuk Joseph Balan Seling when contacted by phone, pointed out that it is not easy for the top BN leadership to please everybody when it comes to appoint ministers in the cabinet.

“I am confident that the chief minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib has his reason because he has to see the overall political situation,” said Balan.

The Orang Ulu community has a political secretary to the chief minister Robert Laing Anyie.


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Caption: HOPING: From left: Edmund, Garry, Mathew, Alexander.