KUCHING: Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and wife Toh Puan Ragad Kurdi Taib graced the MBKS Chap Goh Mei community luncheon to conclude the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration yesterday.
In his remarks, Taib said the event was an occasion for the community to realise how much their lives had changed amid the prevailing peace and harmony in the state.
He took pride in seeing Sarawakians, irrespective of race and belief, live harmoniously while the city, with all its urban seats presently held by the opposition, has continued to see development.
“This is something that is not easy to achieve in our society. I am very proud to see how the Chinese, the Malays, the Ibans and the Bidayuhs all work together despite their differences and beliefs.
“Kuching is an area where the opposition has won… but the city has been run very well because the mayor knows how to serve the people, meeting their needs. It’s not an easy job to do,” he said when addressing the local community at the event held at MBKS Jubilee Hall (Dewan Masyarakat) at Jalan Padungan here.
The luncheon also celebrated the first anniversary of Taib as the Head of State. Taib took his oath of office as the seventh Yang Di-Pertua Negeri on March 1 last year.
While aspiring to see Kuching further developed and organised, Taib lauded Datuk James Chan for doing a good job since he was appointed mayor of MBKS nearly seven years ago.
He said the city council ought to make its services more sophisticated in order to meet the growing needs of Kuching’s sophisticated people.
Saying city dwellers also have higher aspirations, he hoped the council would keep up its good work to seek continued success in delivering quality services.
Earlier, Chan said Kuchingites would not enjoy the upgraded Jubilee Hall had Taib not granted the council RM15 million for the project and Jalan Mendu would continue to experience flooding if Taib did not get federal funding to upgrade the drainage system.
He thus called on the community not to take what the government had done for granted.
“I used to hear ‘who cares’. If the government has done anything, it is their job and responsibility. But I think we should follow what our elders and ancestors used to advise – be humble and grateful.”
Under his leadership, Chan said MBKS was accorded the United Nations Tourist Award, World Health Organisation’s Public Sanitation Award as well as other national and state awards.
“I was also able to champion Kuching city through the various international invitations to do presentation in symposiums and conferences.”
He hoped everyone would join hands and work together to maintain Kuching as a liveable city in the region and the world.
Among those present were Assistant Minister for Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil and wife Datin Lee Chai Foong, Chan’s wife Datin Catherine S’ng, Taib’s daughter Dato Hanifah Taib-Alsree and husband Datuk Syed Ahmad Alwee Alsree.