Q : Kuching is the State capital of Sarawak, a city rich in history, and now a modern day metropolis of two Cities—Kuching City North and South. How do the two Municipalities work together to ensure that Kuching City maintains its status as one of the best, if not the BEST city in Malaysia?
A : Kuching City is under two authorities which are Kuching North City Hall (DBKU) and Kuching South City Council (MBKS). Now, your question is how do we make Kuching City the best city in Malaysia. It happens that the Mayor of DBKU and I were best friends in school. And we have been very close since we were in school and the bond between us mayors still stands strong. Seeing that we are always keeping in touch with each other, both the managements and staff members also have that same strong bond between two municipalities.
And what we are doing as respective mayor of the North and the South of Kuching is to serve the people and their benefits. Apart from that, we also maintain the impression of the city by making sure that the city is clean, beautiful, secure and everything else. If our landscapes in the South part of Kuching are looking good and beautiful, the other part of the city will be even better and even beautiful with that, it goes vice versa if the other side looks better, we will definitely improve our landscape here. Therefore, it is a complementary role for both authorities to sustain and improve the status of Kuching city.
Q : Kuching is a historical City with a charm that goes back to the days of the White Rajahs and a 17-year-old Era under the Colonial government. What is your working relationship like with the Kuching heritage authorities especially in preserving the old buildings, monuments and artefacts?
A : In the South part of Kuching, we do not have any building heritage. But maybe in my mind I can say that we have this Dewan Masyarakat and there’s a time that we wanted to destroy it and build something else and I told them not to do it. Instead I maintained the old Dewan Masyarakat and extend with a new one. The reason why I maintain the old Dewan Masyarakat is because I know that there are old folks who have remembrance and happy memories there and that cultivates the bond with the people living in the MBKS area. If you’re talking about how the council looks into heritage, we are definitely following the government to ensure all these heritage items should be preserved and will have a status of the city itself.
Q : You are the fourth Mayor of Kuching City South and best known as a “hands on” Mayor who constantly visits troubled sites sometimes in his tee shirt and shorts, to understand the situation and problems faced by people. What kind of problems do you face when you go visit these sites?
A : Being a mayor of MBKS, I have to go out and mingle around with the community and when I go out to the markets or anywhere else, I felt uncomfortable wearing a suit and tie to talk to the community. Therefore, I will just go as ordinary man and it doesn’t matter if anyone recognizes me or not, as long as I feel comfortable walking around as an ordinary person.
Not to belittle the mayor’s position but I feel informal and the local people who are very down to earth would be very friendly and open when I dress as what they are dressed – plain and simple.
In 2008 when I became the mayor, the biggest problem I faced was the hawker’s problems where no one wanted to go to the Stutong Market which the government has provided for the people. As a mayor, I should go to the market and promote the place in order to get people to buy their groceries and others. And it is easy for me, as whoever wants to conduct an interview with me, just go to the market and find me.
I would go to the market every week to advertise the market to bring hope to the place and also to the hawkers to let them have faith that this is the place for them to sell their fresh products. Today, Stutong Market has become one of the most successful markets and the cleanest market in Malaysia. I am “hands on” because I believe sincerely that you need to go to the site and see for yourself. My councillors too practise this kind of style to go out if there’s any problem to determine what is the problem and what is the solution. The important thing is to serve the people.
Q : How has Kuching City Day changed under your leadership? What have you got in store for the City Day Festival?
A : When I first became the Mayor of MBKS, the Kuching Festival to me was just a normal food festival organized by MBKS with no special attraction. I wanted to change the atmosphere of the Kuching Festival by bringing in more people especially the young generation to have the opportunity to be a part of the festival. It must be the people’s programme with the organizing done by us. And we created a show that is free to the people to come and be entertained, we also open more stalls for the people to participate and try to sell their products. It is like an entrepreneur spirit that I try to cultivate in the festival.
After that, I added in more activities such as Kuching Got Talent to attract the young generation to showcase their talents on stage and Zumba to unite the people to dance and enjoy themselves. We have a lot of activities for the young generation and the old generation to enjoy during the Kuching Festival. With all that, it has become the people’s festival and this is what I want to do with it. Apart from that, we have invited the friendship cities from China, South Korea and Japan to come to Kuching Festival and to organize their cultural aspect of their cities.
We also have to support the government and play a role in tourism by promoting Kuching, Sarawak. We have to go out and brag our state as a part of promoting. I once went to a press conference and talked about Kuching city being the best city, the cleanest city and the cheapest city.
Q : How do you want to be remembered by Kuching City folk? What is your slogan?
A: My slogan for MBKS is “My City, My Future” and I look at Kuching, the first slogan I used for Kuching is “Kuching City, My City, My Home” which then turns into “My City, My Future”. The reason why I said “My Future” is it is for our generation which we are still sustaining it and improving it.
Our city growth is different from Singapore’s buildings, Kuching is a bit like a village, slow but a nice moving village. We have all the natural environment around Kuching which is why I said that Kuching City is the best city. The weather, the food, the sceneries, the heritages, the parks, the unique culture and many others are the wonders we have in Kuching.
Q : Do you have any so-economic projects that will highlight MBKS’s annual contributions to City’s under-privileged?
A : For MBKS, we do something unusual which no other city does. We allow the foyer for the NGOs to use the place with one condition that is to keep it clean. If they organize any runs, they must donate to charitable bodies. I organize the CSR in my own way with no charges which can bring the people closer and allow them to use the council’s facilities free of charge provided that the NGOs also contribute to the charitable bodies.
Q : It’s your 10 anniversary as Mayor of DBKS and Kuching is what it is today because of your effort in making Kuching a well-disciplined and Green City. Can we expect more from you in the coming years if your tenure is extended?
A : It is all up to the government whether they want me to continue on as a mayor or not. It is God’s will if the government allows me to continue this mayorship. Right now, my tenure as a mayor has been extended for 7 months which is until the end of this year. As a mayor when I’m doing my work, I want to know where will I be at that time if my tenure is extended until the end of the year then I will make sure that I will do my best of work until the end of my tenure as mayor of MBKS.
We have launched this iPeople app for the community. It is very easy and simple to use when there’s something wrong in their area, they can just report using the app and the staff of MBKS will go and figure out the problem and solve it. We are sincere that by launching this app, we serve the people and the government. We also prioritize the facilities for the handicapped in order to make their lives better with facilities for them.
Q : At 68 years old, do you call it retirement years or do you think you can carry on with the work no matter how old you are?
A : Well, we have to follow the example of our Prime Minister, Tun Mahatir at 93 years old. As long as you can still contribute towards the people, the city and the government then it is good enough. Let’s take the job as a mayor as an example and if the Chief Minister feels that this person can still make the city better, then it is his decision to decide whether he wants that person to continue being a mayor. For my part, if I can still serve and do much better, why not? But if there are other people that can run as a mayor, it’s okay as long as the Chief Minister decides who is the best man for the job to make the city better and beautiful.
