Shania 1B Najib 4B

Buzzing Like Busy Bee

Our Right Honourable Prime Minister Datuk Patinggi Najib dropped by Sri Aman after stopping over at Rumah Manai, Lubok Antu last year. This time the longhouse in Sri Aman visited was Rumah Radin at Lachau. The date also coincided with my daughter's birthday. Both were highly anticipated events but duty came first as I made preparations to attend the function and worked with my colleagues in Sri aman to ensure a smooth event. Certainly the Prime Minister's coming to Sarawak is part and parcel of a birthday present for Shania as he picked a good date. It was fortunate that during the Chinese New Year Celebration in Sibu earlier we celebrated Shania's Birthday in advance to coincide with her cousin Jason's birthday, Jason's parents' anniversary and of course Valentine's Day.

Shania blowing the her 7 birthday candles early on an Annivesary, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year 2010. 1Birthday for all Days.

It was off to Lachau that I drove safely and slowly on Monday morning of 22nd February 2010. I had the choice of going straight to Rumah Radin Ulu Lachau or to SK Saint Martin, the place where the Prime Minister's helicopter will be landing. After seeing a legion of photographers at Rumah Radin already, I knew my chances of getting a good photo would be dashed by these shark hungry journalists. Call it bad experience - everyone wants the best angle and the best shot. So, put about ten to twenty photographers plus a few television crewmen and cameras in a longhouse, i predicted havoc an mayhem. So i proceeded to SK Saint Martin to record the Prime Minister's and Chief Minister's arrival. I was not dissapointed as I manage to enjoy seeing eight to ten helicopters landing at the school - a sight to behold. The first to arrive was our Deputy Chief Minister, YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu anak Numpang with YB Datuk Douglas Uggah and YB Senator Dato' Sri Idris Jala. They were greeted enthusiatically by the school children who were witnessing history (and becoming part of one). The helicopters, the VVIPs landing at their school would be something to remember through their growing years.

YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, YB Senator Dato Sri Idris Jala and YB Datuk Douglas Uggah greets the students and teachers at SK St Martin

The Prime Minister has landed ~ the helicopter which was bringing the Right Honourable Prime Minister and the Right Honourable Chief Minister landing at SK St Martin. They kept telling me that the helicopter's model was a Blackhawk but it looks white to me.

SK St Martin's compound was becoming like a mini airshow as helicopter after helicopter landed

Finally, the VVIPs emerged from the Blackhawk and one can notice that our Right Honourable Prime Minister was already promoting 1Malaysia with his cap and shirt

As the Right Honourable Prime Minister made his way through the students and teachers, I saw a familiar face. He was Cikgu Dennis who shook hands with the Prime Minister in Lubok Antu at Rumah Manai in my 1Malaysia Rumah Manai post. See his picture below.

In June 2009 - Cikgu Dennis greeted the Prime Minister at Rumah Manai Lubok Antu after the Batang Ai By-Election. Is that the same batik shirt Cikgu? Truly an ardent fan of our Prime Minister.

On arrival at Rumah Radin the ceremony went on smoothly as we can see a section of the crowd here. I did not manage to get a lot of meaningful shots inside the longhouse. I did not want to add to the already many flashlights blasting their ways into the VIPs' eyes

The VVIPs going through the programme book before the start of the official function

In the usual manner after the welcoming speech by the local Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Member YB Encik Mong Dagang, followed by the Right Honourable Chief Minister of Sarawak, it was the Prime Minister's turn to give his much anticipated speech. He did not disappoint as he announced a few projects for Sri Aman - one that would lift Sri Aman's dark corners to become lighted areas. His twitter mentioned of the mission to light up 95% of Sarawak by 2012. Apart from that there was a few announcements of road projects to improve connectivity in the Sri Aman District especially under N.26 Bukit Begunan constituency. However the most interesting part of his speech was on how he remembers his late father's passion for reaching out to the rural people. The late Tun Razak was famous for his 3Bs, when he travels outstation and deliver speeches - the 3Bs in Bahasa Malaysia are "Berbush Jacket, Bertongkat and Berdehem" (Wearing Bush Jacket, Walking Stick and a few Ehems in his speech). Najib also amused the crowd when he explained that he was trying his best to pronounce the names of the predominantly Iban area carefully while announcing the projects so as not to utter the word of the place wrongly. That included Lachau, Sri Aman.

So basically everyone was happy at the end of the day as the VVIPs made their way home. The longhouse partied after that with the remaining guests including me. And one knows how that ends. I can hint the Bs that started rolling in was Beer of course apart from other Bottles. But that was not the B I wanted to talk about in my Shania 1B and Najib's 4B post. As i remember correctly the first B was Shania's Birthday, the 3 Bs were Najib's BerBush Jacket, Bertongkat and Berdehem. So where did Najib's fourth B come in? Like an answered prayer maybe the extra B was handed to me by Encik Aliff of the State Development Office Sarawak from the Prime Minister's Office. I tried to make sure I was not drunk when I read the contents but the words were clear as the extra "B" from Najib would bring cheer to about 120 young boys and girls of SK Nangga Klassen. That "B" would be the Bridge.

Thank you YAB Prime Minister. A perfect birthday gift for everyone who will benefit from the Bridge. Our Prime Minster delivers, no doubt about that.

Youtube contents of the visit as reported by TV3 on 22 February 2010. The clips in Saratok and Lachau were jumbled up by TV3 I think. It was here and there. I can see at 2:33 was before the landing at SK St Martin, 2:44 was the entrance to Rumah Radin, 2:46 I can see myself standing behind the Police's Waja with Mr. William Manggoi. Hehehehe....