Honour To Serve

Service With A Heart

The State Civil Service saw the launching of a new mantra two days ago during the Chief of Minister's Address at Four Points, Sheraton Hotel. Aptly put ~ "Honour to Serve". The trip to Kuching for the event was a breath of fresh air for me - I would be away from the political storm of N.29 Batang Ai for a while. And also to some reliable Internet connections. For a simple blogger like me anything I publish in the blog will be percieved as either pro or anti of certain people or parties. I took time off from the Blog World as I had been adviced during nomination day (Sunday) by a Sarawak National Party member, "Be careful, your blog is being watched, the Barisan Nasional people are monitoring all bloggers. I am saying this as a friend". I looked at him blankly and responded "I understand." But does he understand what this blog is all about (or what blogging is all about) and not all blogs are politically motivated. The ripples of N.29 Batang Ai By-Election seem to be knocking on Nadai Nama Nama's doors. But I respect his personal opinion and I hope he can substantiate it as I recieved a different feedback.

The encouragement I got was from one of the contesting candidates whom I discovered was an IT Savvy person. Thank you Mr. Mussen and hopefully I can get the nod from the other candidate if he has a facebook account or other Internet abled account.

Anyway, back to the story: this is my first time to Four Points Hotel - in the above picture ,YB Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot, the State Secretary of Sarawak (and my former boss) briefs the Chief Minister as he gets a red carpet welcome.

During the progress of the function, I am quite happy to note that WiFi Connection is free at the Four Seasons as I am able to surf the Internet and update my Facebook at the same time. Some heavy duty sites are unaccessible due to slow loading

During his speech the Right Honourable Chief Minister did mentioned about the emergence of a different set of challenges especially on the advent of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) implementation. There was a launching ceremony for the new State Civil Service logo "An Honour to Serve" and the pinning of the new logo badge on the VVIPs on stage. The Chief Minister's vision was made clear in his speech and the question and answer session allowed him to share his view on what makes a model Government Servant. In a nutshell, it was adviced that one must not be a Money Grubber, one needs to be resourceful, innovative and one who can think outside the box. We serve the government of the day and implement its policies via the necessary delivery channels within the set rules. If the rules are deemed to be a hindrance to development, the officer must have the ability to convey it to the top management for reviewing and revision. When it comes to the people, they are to be treated as humans and not just statistics or numbers.

The logo launching - the oyster like encasing opens to reveal the small badges that represent the logo

Which brings me to the point.......the By Election in Batang Ai does not mean that my blog will be focusing on the day to day events there - the administrative functions of Sri Aman Division does not grind to a stop as other areas in our Division need our attention too. I have to give credit to the officers in my Planning and Development Section who responded quickly to the needs of the recent fire victims of Rumah Steele in Stumbin, Sri Aman when the longhouse was burnt down by fire. It was fortunately no lives were lost.

The fire victims from the 13 doors longhouse had to seek temporary shelter at the Saint Barnabas Chapel nearby - having to make do with the simplest neccessities. Its quite alarming in a way as there has been four longhouses fires here since October 2008.

Our office responded in getting donations to the victims and coordinating other agencies to provide the water tanks and supply. In the above picture one can see the delivery of foodstuffs to the longhouse fire victims (to Tuai Rumah Steele) from the Resident Office's representatives led by Mr. Bujang Ladi (striped brown shirt), Mr. Micheal Edward (behind Mr. Bujang) and Mr. Anthony Sinju (Blue shirt behind Mr. Bujang).

And that is just a minor fraction of what we do in the Civil Service. Shuffling papers and sign documents? Certainly not. An HONOUR to Serve! H: the Heart must be there to serve the people O: Obedient to serve the Government of the day N: Neutral and not biased in carrying out our duties and implementing projects or programs O: Obligation in carrying out our duties within the set of rules outlined by the General Order U: Understand one's role in the wider picture of things allowing us to think out of the box R: Responsible in our actions and ready for anything. That my friend is Service with A Heart!.... I like the sound of it!