Author: Valentine Tawie Salok

Any organisation that lacks strong and organised leadership will not augur well for the long-term survival as well as the future of such body. This is taken seriously in the scouting world whereby scouting leadership is seen as the main asset and key to scouting success. Good leaders would help

One of the Dayak Bidayuh National Association’s (DBNA’s) vital contributions to the Bidayuh community in the state are its ongoing efforts in the Bidayuh language development. These are actually great attempts with good results. Dating back to June 2000, thanks to DBNA, the Research and Development Movement of Singai (REDEEMS)

The year was 1983. After serving for about five monthsin a rural secondary school as its youngest ever Principal – I was then a few days short of my 29th birthday – I was taken upriver for a longhouse visit, my first in the area. It was on the invitation

Smokes here, smokes there, smokes everywhere so much so that a non-smoker like me (I do smoke pipe occassionally) has nowhere to hide – no area is really free of smoke. Perhaps, only ‘our’ bedroom is the closest thing to a 100 per cent smoke-free domain. By ‘our’ bedroom I

Lady luck in gambling does smile sweetly to you, now and then but not all the time. Learning how to bet in cards or dice games from a young age in the longhouse, and thus following longhouse’s intepretation of the rules, I had to adjust to the various rules of

This year’s Malaysia Day on 16 September truly reminded me of its first celebration in 1963, of which I was privileged to partake. Then aged 9, I was among over twenty kids from our Nanga Assam Primary School in Saratok’s interior, joining the parade in Saratok town. However, the detail

WHILE  having a weekend retreat from Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB), the Brunei capital to Sarawak’s border town Limbang in mid 2000, a friend and I dropped by at a music joint to unwind for the evening.“A bottle or two will be just fine pare (friend),” said Tony, my Filipino colleague

On August 16 last week loyal legion of Elvis Presley fans and impressionists paid tribute to their idol by having a gathering to mark 41st anniversary of The King’s untimely demise at the age of 42 in 1977. Celebrated the world over, and rightfully centred at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee,

News that Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authoriy (SALCRA) was about to enter into a joint venture in oil palm plantation with Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners in Saratok-Saribas region in the mid 1990s invited a lot of skeptical views from the public. Later it was found out those giving