KOTA KINABALU: The activities organised by Outward Bound Trust of Sabah have benefited more than 70,000 participants, 30 percent of whom are from overseas, mostly from China, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
OBS, which was set up in 1985 with a one-off grant from the Sabah State Government as an independent non-profit outdoor education centre for experiential learning and personal development, held its 30th annual general meeting on 25 June this year.
Its first course was conducted in September 1985 and attended by 30 participants.
One of the main reasons why OBS is such a preferred choice for overseas participants is that OBS has one of the best natural sites in the world for outward bound activities.
Furthermore, overseas clients have been most impressed with the high level of professionalism, warmth and friendship displayed by staff of OBS.
The former Executive Director of OB international, Ian Wade, described OBS as a “national treasure and a jewel”.
The 30th AGM, which was chaired by the Deputy Chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, witnessed several important landmarks for OBS.
Firstly, Dato’ Seri Tengku Dr. Zainal Adlin was re-elected as Chairman of the Outward Bound Trust of Sabah, a post which he has held for 28 consecutive years.
It is believed that Adlin is the longest serving Chairman among all the 55 Outward Bound Centres spread over 40 countries in the world.
Also re-elected were Tan Sri Simon Sipaun as Deputy Chairman. Dato’ Dr. Hashim Bin Abdul Wahab, Dr. Philip Yap Tain Nyen, Datuk Rajah Indran, Datuk Mohamed Fowzi Hassan Bin Mohamed Razi and Datuk Dr. Mohd Yusof Bin Ibrahim were re-elected as council members.
Other members of the Board are Datuk Awang Zaini Haji Suntim, Ms Chai Moi Len, Stephen Hendriks and Datuk Gabriel William.
The second was the announcement by the Chairman about the impending retirement of Datuk Gabriel William on 31st August, 2014 after serving OBS as its Executive Director since April 1999.
Tan Sri Simon paid a glowing tribute to Gabriel for transforming OBS into one of the best outward bound centres in the world during his 15 years tenure as the first local to hold the post of Executive Director. All previous three Executive Directors are foreigners.
During Gabriel’s tenure as Executive Director, OBS was given the honour of hosting the Outward Bound World Conference in 2000 which was attended by 150 delegates from all the 55 outward bound centres in the world.
Gabriel also organized two International Goodwill (Muhibbah) Challenge Programmes (2002/2008) attended by participants from all over the world.
OBS is the only school that offered such a prestigious programme thereby earning a commendation from Outward Bound International.
Under Gabriel’s leadership OBS was also involved with several major international events like the Eco-Challenge (2000) for which it received commendation from the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
Gabriel was also responsible for OBS to be admitted as a full member of the international Association of Schools and Institute of Administration (IASIA), a global organisation comprising 200 members in 80 countries whose activities and programmes focus on public administration, management and development of human capital.
OBS is the only outward bound school which is a member of IASIA. In 2010 OBS, in collaboration with IASIA, organised an Experiential Conference on “Good Governance” which was attended by 150 senior government officers and CEOs of Companies. The four key note Speakers were from India, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Prior to being appointed as Executive Director of OBS Gabriel served for 30 years for the State Civil Service. He retired in 1999 as the State Deputy State Secretary.
Simon also announced that the person to succeed Gabriel as Executive Director will be the incumbent Assistant Director Benjamin Benedict who has been with OBS for 18years.