Temenggong Lau (right) presents a prize to a lucky draw winner.
SIBU: Sarawak Australian Graduates Association (Saga) Central Region needs to make itself better known to more new graduates and ramp up its membership recruitment drive to ensure its continuous growth.
Its chairman Temenggong Vincent Lau said this during their fellowship night after the annual general meeting (AGM) at a leading hotel here on Saturday.
“Many of the senior members have migrated, and we are in need of more new members. Because of that, we need to update the membership and association information, make the association known to more new graduates, and ramp up our membership recruitment drive,” Lau said.
He added that it was also important to foster fellowship among members, saying: “I hope that a function like this will build rapport and form an effective platform for establishing social bonds as well as business networking among the members.”
Towards this end, he pointed out that for an organisation to continue to grow, especially when the ‘core’ was not there, it was necessary to “refocus”.
The other factor for continuous growth was funding, he noted.
He said previously the late Datuk Robert Lau did allocate a certain amount of grants for the development of the association.
“Now, we will need to look for other ways to source for funds,” Lau said.
He hoped that the association would seek ways to re-establish links between the Sarawak and Australian government through closer ties with the Australian government, national bodies and the consulates.
“We will continue to work together to ensure that Saga Central Region will be able to perform its role effectively and contribute positively towards the development of the community, society and country.”
Earlier, Lau retold the history of Saga, which was established in Kuching in 1989.
The main objectives were to foster fellowship, goodwill and co-operation between Australian graduates in Sarawak and serve as the bridge between Sarawak and Australia/Malaysia, he added.
On Saga Central Region’s activities, he recalled some were organised jointly with other associations.
Among them were the International Music Examinations Board (IMEB) and Swan City Toastmasters for an ‘English Songs Singing Competition’ and ‘English Public Speaking Speech Contest’ and an ‘English Essay Writing Competition’ with The Borneo Post to promote better English usage in Sibu, he
said.
He also noted that Saga was actively involved in the organisation of the 2nd Australian Universities International Alumni Convention 2000 (AUIAC 2000) held in Kuching, August 2000.
Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who was then chief minister, was the convention chairman as well as patron-in-chief for the convention, he said.
Some 1,500 local and international alumni attended the convention in Kuching.
“Later after the convention, some of the graduates in Sibu, led by the late YB Datuk Robert Lau felt that in order to serve the alumni and alumnae in Sibu better, there was a need for a separate charter set up here.
“Therefore, together they initiated the formation of Saga Central Region,” he said.
The fellowship night was filled with musical performances, dances and a humour session.
Among those present were vice chairman Dr Hu Chang Hock, secretary Tony Hii and treasurer Ling Ming Leh.