TALE OF A KAMPUNG BOY: Taib (centre) showing the book at its launching yesterday. At left and right respectively are Affandi and Muhammed. — Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: A humble kampung boy too can climb high in life if he has the ability to conquer all the limitations and go through hardships with courage and confidence, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said.
He said such fine act was how Datuk Affandi Tahir, who was born in Kampung Barong, a small Melanau fishing village in Rajang, had been able to change his own fate.
“Why I regard Affandi as special is that he was the first person from Rajang area to get out from the poverty trap and from a humble background, he later made it to the top slot in his job,” he said.
He said what Affandi had achieved in life was due to his strong determination and high spirit to struggle and come out of poverty.
The chief minister said to reach the top was never easy as it required really good and hard efforts.
He said this at the launch of a book on Affandi and his career entitled ‘From Belacan to FM’ at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
Taib added that what was most important in the book was the bigger picture on the struggle of the rural people to progress.
“This is truly a manifestation on the importance of education to bring about transformation. It is a lesson to learn and it doesn’t stop here.
“In fact, our society should keep on learning and the requirement now is that it has to be done in bigger scale where we have to focus more on science and technology,” he said.
He reiterated that this was to meet demands for professional workforce required by the state for it to be fully developed by 2030.
Taib also revealed that recently he led an entourage from the state to visit India and realised that there were many potential areas that could be jointly developed to produce skilled workers to meet the demand by the state.
He said among others the state was looking at the possibility of getting lecturers and instructors to teach technical education at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
Meanwhile, Affandi, former RTM Southern Region (Johor and Melaka) director, in his explanatory speech at the occasion said the person who inspired him to write a book about himself was actually Taib.
As such he took the challenge and managed to complete it within two years and is now available for sale at RM25 per copy.
At the launch yesterday, the promotion price was RM20 a copy, the proceeds of which were to be donated to Laila Taib Cancer Charitable Trust.
The occasion yesterday was hosted and organised by Corridor Development Corporation (CDC) Berhad which purchased and donated 1,000 copies of the books to secondary school libraries throughout the state apart from donating RM25,000 to Laila Taib Cancer Charitable Trust.
The donations were presented by CDC’s group executive chairman Datuk Muhammed Kassim.