SIBU: Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) made history here on Friday (yesterday) with the ‘Most Number of Remote Control Race Boats in a Single Event’ in ‘The Malaysia Book of Records’ (MBOR) when a total of 614 race boats smashed the previous record of 522 race boats held at Melaka in 2015.
Malaysia Book of Records deputy general manager, Mohamad Alex Edward handed over the certificate of record to SMC chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King and witnessed by Second Minister of Finance Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh after successfully creating the new record for ‘Most Number of Remote Control Race Boats in a Single Event’ at the Borneo International Remote Control Powerboat Tournament 2017 held at Permai Lake Garden here yesterday.
Speaking at the event, Wong said the event would put Sibu on the map of tourism.
“Today we are not only organising Borneo International Remote Control Powerboat tournament but we also achieve MBOR.”
“SMC under the capable leadership of its chairman, Datuk Tiong Thai King and of course guiding from Sibu Resident Hii Chang Kee and all councillors work hard to promote Sibu through Visit Sibu Year (VSY) 2017.
“As you know, Sibu is unknown to the tourists outside Sarawak and outside Malaysia and VSY is held with the hope of promoting Sibu to other parts of Malaysia and the rest of the world,” he said at an opening ceremony of Borneo International Remote Control Powerboat Tournament 2017.
Organised by SMC in collaboration with Sibu Remote Control Sports Club, the three-day (28th to 30th) event was participated by seven countries, namely Dubai, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, USA, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
According to Wong, there would be another significant event called the Borneo Cultural Festival which is to be held in July and other upcoming events in conjunction with VSY 2017.
“With all these events, we hope more people outside Sarawak and outside Malaysia will get to know Sibu better,” he added.
In fact, shattering the Malaysia Book of Records is nothing new to Sibu, which has several events that had entered the record book including Largest Senior Citizen Gathering with 1,500 participants by Foochow Association; Largest Coffee Drinking Event with 5,880 people and Largest and Longest Pulut Panggang with 5.5 metres in length with a 20cm diameter and weighing 160kg, as well as the ‘Largest Chinese Calligraphy Event’ with 6,140 people orgnaised by United Chinese Association of Sibu.
Sibu Resident Hii Chang Kee, VSY 2017 organising councillor Wong Hie Ping, organising chairman Peter Ling, and Sibu Remote Control Sports Club chairman Andrew Ling were among those present.
