Development Exhibition Mukah

The Rose's Destination

Mission accomplished - I should say as the rose reached its destination after making sure it was in its original element for more than 24 hours. While coordinating the development exhibition in Mukah in conjunction with the Sarawak Governor's 86th Birthday, the Exhibition Secretariat requested a special rosette for the Right Honourable Chief Minister who was to launch the exhibition. Since I was on my way to Mukah to join the Secretariat I was given a special container to carry this precious flower. There is a danger that while boarding the Malaysian Airlines plane to Sibu that it could land in the hands of one of the flight stewardess who will hypnotize me to give her the roses. Indeed it was a challenging journey. More so for those who have experienced travelling the three hours journey through Mukah's winding and bumpy road.

The Chief Minister arrives at the exhibition

The journey has been worthwhile when the rosette was pinned to the honourbale guest on the night of the Development Exhibition launch. The Development Exhibition which was held at the Mukah Medan Setiaraja parking lot compund from the 6th to 9th September 2007 features 54 agencies with 70 booths - both government and private Sectors with the theme - Development in the Central Region and Human Capital.

The launch of the exhibition was quite impressive with the officiation of the the 3D Model of the Central Region - showing the existing areas of development

"Aaahhhhhh.....!" Everyone at the exhibition looked up in the sky as the balloon was released into the air.

The Chief Minister visiting one of the booth - Curtin University Sarawak Campus

The Chief Minister walked the whole length of the Exhibition area as he made it a point to visit all the 70 booths that were offering the exhibitions. It was an honour for those who managed to get favourbale comments from the Chief Minister

The crowd visiting the exhibition

The development exhibition was indeed a crowd puller as the exhibition materials were of interest to people who were staying in the Central Region. It provided an insight into what development is to take place in the area especially when the Central has been identified as the area for the Development Corridor as envisaged by our Right Honourbale Prime Minister in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Johor have their Iskandar Deleopment Region, the Northern Semenanjung states have their Northern Corridor Economic Region. Thus the theme for the exhibition "Central Region: Catalyst for Sarawak's Development".

The Hotlink Team

I managed to work with the Hotlink team during the exhibition - both the Kuala Lumpur HQ and also their regional representatives. They wanted to participate with the Exhibition and it and they offered a private sector's approach in working and they also got to see how we in the public sector work. The win-win situation was a truly a great working experience.

The impressive Bakun Dam Model was one of the large models presented by Bakun Hidro

Overall, the exhibition was quite successful in getting the people here aware of the development that is set to take place in their area. This once sleepy town will be part of a major development area that is also going to push Sarawak into the next phase of development. They were given a glimpse of it when a large group of marching contigents descended on them - the road was jam packed, the hotels were fully booked, the once quiet coffee shops and stalls were also packed.

Meeting a blogger - Have you read her diary?

During the exhibition I also managed to catch up a blogger friend affectionally known in blogospere as 'Ladybird'. Her blog entitled A Woman's Diary may describe her own perspective in Mukah during the rough and tough moments of the exhibition.

In summary it was another event of great importance to fill in my official diary. The preparations took three months in all - coincinding with the preparations for our Sarawak Pavilion for Merdeka last two weeks. Would I call it hectic? And were there rough times along the way? The answers to these questions are all 'Yes'... the limited financial allocations for the preparations itself was hard to manage and the the lack of accomodation for most of the exhibition participants was equally challenging as we had to compete with the other participants who were involved in the Sarawak Governor's birthday celebration - the medal recipents and the marching contigents. The toughest one is of course is the 'human factor' but then again, when has that never been a problem. Sometimes one has to learn with what one has at hand and just manage it the best way you can....... but anyway, as the puasa month is around the corner, I should expect some relaxing moments soon. Oh wait - the 50th Year Merdeka Closing starts tomorrow and so I am rushing back to Kuching for another round of adventure! And so I say to my friends who are complaining that we are not getting any bonus this year after the Prime Minister's presentation of the 2008 Budget - take heart, the bonus is in the satisfaction of achieving what one has set to do, without expecting anything in return. The smiles of the Mukah folks while I was there is bonus enough for me and the experience of coordinating this major exhibition with a view to improve future ones is another major bonus.

Comments

cyrildason said…
ur a busy busy man dude...
Anonymous said…
Hehehe nice post ter dude..Mine will b cming up soon as I'm still in d process of settling down frm d travel..neway, nice 2 meet u in person n hope 2 c u again in d future.. ;)
Adrian said…
saw ur name in the bloggers meetup this sat. cya there ;)
Borneoguy.com said…
"through Mukah's winding and bumpy road"

Now you know what I had to endure all these years to my school -_-"