KUCHING: Captain Zainuddin Bin Tan Sri Hamdan Sirat has been appointed as the new Sarawak Chief Scout Commissioner (SCSC) taking over from Sudaryo Osman.
Captain Zainuddin, 63, a pilot by profession is Sarawak’s sixth Chief Scout Commissioner. He has been involved in the scout movement since his primary school days.
“Eventhough by profession he is a pilot, even in the cockpit, he also put on the Scout’s scarf during the World Scout Scarf Day on August 1 this year. He is a very imminently qualified scout commissioner,” said Sarawak Scout Council President Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom at a press conference after presenting Zainuddin’s appointment letter at Sarawak Scouts Association Building at Jalan Batu Lintang here yesterday.
Zainuddin was appointed as Sarawak Chief Scout Commissioner by the National Scout Association Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and his appointment has been endorsed by the Sarawak Scouts Council as well as the Sarawak Branch of Malaysian Scouts Association.
Mawan said Zainuddin is taking over from Sudaryo Osman, who also was a very experienced man and had contributed very immensely towards Scout movement in Sarawak.
“But for whatever contributions we have made, leadership is seemingly in rotation and it is up to Kuala Lumpur to just appoint someone for two years and after two years, somebody else migth be appointed; so that is what happens now,” he said.
“And it looks very refreshing because the two years rotation may give opportunities to a lot of our young commissioners. They can aspire to become the new leaders and then take over the leadership because there has been a lot of new things happening , and we are looking at ways on how we would be able to transform the Scout movement and we have put that in our agenda already and that possibly will require the input from the various young people from other institutions also in order to really bring the Scout movement into the hearts of the young people,” he said.
Mawan congratulated Zainuddin on his new appointment saying the job knows no boundaries and as a professional pilot Zainuddin will still be flying here and there and so he has to spend less time with his family, he said.
“Everybody not only will be looking forward to his leadership but also should be giving him their full support to carry out whatever have been planned.
“ As people said you have to plan in advance your success and if you don’t plan your success, you plan your failure,” he advised.
“I hope from now on the new team, the new leaders will strive to inject some elements of change in terms of how we move forwards into the 21st century in terms of fulfilling whatever objectives of the Scout movement in Sarawak.
Mawan said in the Scout movement, there is nothing personal, nothing glorious and it is all about sacrifice and it is all about brotherhood.
Meanwhile, Captain Zainuddin thanked the National Scout Council for entrusting him to lead Sarawak Scout Movement. He also thanked the Sarawak Scout Council for endorsing his appointment as the Sarawak Chief Scout Commissioner.
“It is a big task because when you compare Sarawak with Semananjung, we do have communication problems but we are thankful that we have the WhatsApp group that had helped a lot with places like Kapit which is quite a distance from Kuching.
“Whereas for Semananjung it is easier for them to report and to disseminate the information to the branches. So there is a big task before me but we have the agenda to move forward and meet the district commissioners on the ground,” he said.
“I would like once again to thank the National Scout Council Supreme Council and also the state for endorsing me,” he said.
There are 45,000 scouts in Sarawak out of which 17,000 plus are registered and protected by insurance of the scout organisation.
Meanwhile, according to Executive Secretary of the Malaysian Scouts Association Sarawak Branch Haji Mohd Said Bolhassan, this year’s National Sea Scouts Conference will be held in Miri in September.
