In this day and
age, giving recognition towards one’s achievements at the workplace or within
society is becoming a normalcy. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the work
that was carried out in order to receive such recognition should be thought of
being an easy task to accomplish.

Recently, the
Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) held an awards night dinner last December
2006 in lew of eleven of its staff members receiving the SRDC’s Excellence
Awards. YB Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Sarawak Minister of Rural Development and
Tourism and Second Minister in Finance attended the dinner and presented the
2004 and 2005 awards to the following recipients:

2004 Excellence Awards Recipients

1. Alex Kong Sien
   Ping
2. Shirley Tiong
   Sieng King
3. James Teo Tai
   Kok
4. Roswati Bt Mid
5. Lipa Ak Maing
6. Edmond Ak Antain

2005 Excellence Awards Recipients

1. Tay Beng Joo
2. Tiong Siik Nang
3. Sylvia Ak Albert
   Tegap
4. Lily Ho
5. Rennie Haslynda

Recipients were
selected based on the Public Administration Development Circular No. 2 2003,
taking into account the criteria as listed below:

• Recipients must
  have obtained more than 85% in the annual evaluation
• Recipients must
  have been in service for one year on the last day of evaluation
• Recipients must
  have contributed to the organisation whereby the quality and productivity was
  beyond their standard job description
• Recipients must
  have been confirmed in the government service
• Recipients must
  have received a recommendation from the head of department

The panel
of judges for the selection of recipients included the Sibu District Officer,
the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Public Health, the
SRDC’s Secretary and the SRDC’s Head of Human Resource cum Secretariat. Suffice
to say, the recipients should be viewed as role models, having a positive
influence towards motivating civil servants to carry out their jobs at a high
level of service. This is in line with YB Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s view that civil
servants should serve with CARE- Courtesy, Accessibility, Responsive and
Effective- so as to offer better quality services to their clients.

Apart from these
Excellence Awards, awards were also presented to the winners of the Compound
Cleanliness and Beautification Competition as well as the recipients of the
Press Appreciation Awards.

Compound Beautification and
Cleanliness Competition

This
competition was divided into three categories, namely, the Longhouse Category,
the Malay Kampung Category and the Chinese Kampung Category. The objectives of
the competition were:

• To create an
  awareness and understanding amongst the longhouse residents on the concept of a
  beautiful environment through the planting of trees and flowers within their
  respective longhouse compound
• To inculcate
  awareness amongst longhouse residents on the importance of maintaining a clean,
  neat and tidy environment within and throughout their longhouse compound at all
  times
• To further
  upgrade the standard of cleanliness, through a well maintained longhouse
  compound
• To further
  cultivate a sense of unity and harmony as a habitual daily culture and way of
  life in community development
• To enhance
  greater degree of cooperation and understanding between the SRDC and the
  residents of the longhouses

The
winners were selected based on several criteria, which included the general
appearance and impression of the building, its overall landscape, cleanliness
and tidiness of the compound and the overall aesthetic effect or influences on
its surroundings.

The panel
of judges are as follows:

Longhouse
Category

1. Cr. Evelyn Holly
   Sebom (Chairperson)
2. Cr. Thomas Jawa
3. Cr. Awang Ak
   Juing
4. Cr. Malcolm Ak
   Maing
5. Cr. Lawrence
   Dana

Malay
Kampung Category

1. Cr. Annuar Hj.
   Bai (Chairman)
2. Encik Wong Boh
   Hua
3. Puan Kalthum Bt
   Hj Akup

Chinese
Kampung Category

1. Cr. Ling Leh Eng
   (Chairperson)
2. Cr. Lau Ka Fook
3. Cr. Ting Hoong
   Hua
4. Cr. Teo Wen Huat

The winners
of the Compound Cleanliness and Beautification Competition are as follows:

Longhouse
Category

1^st place: Rh. Osay, Ulu Balingian (RM
1,600 and a certificate)
2^nd place: Rh. Ranggau, Ng. Assan (RM 1 200
and a certificate)
3^rd place: Rh. Gawan, Pasai Siong (RM 1,000
and a certificate)
4^th place: Rh. Muli, Sg. Siong (RM 300 and a
certificate)
5^th place: Rh. James
Semilan, Bawang Assan (RM 300 and a certificate)
6^th place: Rh. Dieo, Tg. Penasu (RM 300 and
a certificate)

Malay
Kampung Category

1st Ambil Bin Hassan, Kampung Banyok (RM 300 and a certificate)

2^nd Ali Bin Saibi, Kpg. Kedada, Sg. Assan
(RM 250 and a certificate)
3^rd Bibah Binti Arbi, Kampung Banyok (RM
200 and a certificate)
4^th Maimon Bt Mentahar, Kampung Banyok (RM
100 and a certificate)
5^th Rohayati Binti Iskandar, Kpg.
Kedada, Sg. Assan (RM 100 and a certificate)

Chinese Kampung Category

1st Houng Hie Ting, Pekan Durin (RM 600 and a certificate)

2^nd Lau Pick Kiong, Pradom (RM 500 and a
certificate)
3^rd Wong Siew Hing, Lot 29948 Jln Bawang
Assan (RM 300 and a certificate)
4^th Sia Kong Nguang, Jalan Maaw, Sg. Sadit
(RM 200 and a certificate)
5^th Tiong Huo Ping, Telok Bango (RM 100 and
a certificate)
6^th Ting Lik Ang, Telok Bango (RM 100 and a
certificate)

Press
Appreciation Awards

The Press
Appreciation Awards were awarded to the press fraternity in recognition of
their reporting towards all aspects of news and reports pertaining to the SRDC
in 2006. These awards were given out to The Borneo Post, Utusan Borneo, Eastern
Times, Utusan Sarawak, BERNAMA, Sin Chew Jit Poh, United Daily News, See Hua
Daily News and International Times.

Indeed, the
SRDC is a fine example of a government organisation that awards those whom are
deserving of recognition within their irrespective fields and services rendered
towards both the SRDC and society.