KUCHING: Teachers have been urged to teach the importance of democratic governance to their charges so as to educate them on democracy.
Acting Head of State Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar said the Malaysian democratic system inherited from the British, and based on the Westminster democratic system has been serving the country and Sarawak well over the years.
“It is crucial for you as teachers to teach your students the importance of democratic process to your pupils as it will help them to understand the kind of political system which we have been practicing in the country in the past 60 years,” he said to teachers and pupils of SK Udin, Sarikei at the Astana Negeri Sarawak here on today (Aug 28).
Mohamad Asfia, who is also the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker said the DUN is the highest lawmaking body in Sarawak and that the Speaker plays a crucial role in managing the meetings of its elected members.
“In Sarawak, the Governor is the head of the DUN. He is the ‘head’ so to speak. And the Speaker is like the chairman of the meeting,” he explained.
As such it is in Sarawak’s ordinance that in the absence of the governor, the Speaker will assume his duty, such as the current situation whereby he as the Speaker, assumed the role of acting governor, as the Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud is currently recuperating overseas.
Mohamad Asfia also hoped that teachers will teach their pupils and students the importance of Sarawak’s history including before the coming of the Brooke administration.
“It is very sad that the school curriculum only focuses on Sarawak history dated back to the Brookes’ era. But it doesn’t mention Sarawak’s history before that,” he said.
Earlier, Astana Negeri Sarawak’s senior administrative officer Riziandy Nawawi in his welcoming speech, thanked SK Udin teachers for their efforts to visit the Astana to provide learning exposure to their pupils during the current school holidays.
SK Udin headmaster Leonard Lee Ambrose Lawrence led nine teachers and 23 pupils to visit Astana Negeri Sarawak on the same day.
Besides Astana, they have visited the DUN Complex, Borneo Cultures Museum, Petro-Sains at Dewan Suarah Kuching, Sarawak Cultural Village and the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC).
