The handing over ceremony to me as the new Resident of Sibu also appeared on TV.

Photo taken with the Chinese community
leaders of Sibu. The man in the street can
approach these leaders for help if he
encounters problems.

Giving a speech during a sports meet in Sibu.

Lunch with the State Secretary of Sarawak.
Sibu was the host of the inter-divisions sports meet.

Officiating the launching of the Sibu
International Base Jump event.

Interview with the press during the Kite
Festival in Sibu.

Cheque presentation ceremony to the
winners of the Road Safety Club for primary
school.

Giving out prizes to the winners of a
bodybuilding competition.

ATPISOM (Anti Trafficking of People and
Smuggling Of Migrants) was one of the
causes that I supported while was the
Resident of Sibu.

For this weekend engagement, Hive account@galenkp has asked us to write about our greatest achievement for the past 5 years. Truth to be told, I was quite reluctant to join this weekend engagement for 2 reasons. Firstly, I do not want my post to be perceived as me blowing my own trumpet as I shared about my success and achievements. Since I had made a resolution not to let other people's opinions and perceptions limit what I want to do, I decided to go ahead and share, In addition, I hope that the story of my struggles and achievements will inspire others in similar situations to follow their dreams. Secondly, since joining Steemit and now Hive, I have not shared about my occupation or the fact that I used to be the Resident of Sibu. Now that I am retired from the Civil Service of Sarawak, I feel it is time for me to share the invaluable experience and knowledge that I had acquired over a period of 35 years.

My Humble Beginnings

I am the youngest of 10 children and was born in Tebakang, a small village without electricity and piped water supply located about more than 40 miles from the capital city of Kuching. One year earlier before I was born, my elder sister Magaret passed away from cholera while she was still a baby. As such, I never had a chance to meet her. As far as I could remember I had a very happy and carefree childhood. I had a wonderful time playing with other children from the village. There were so many sweet memories of us playing gleefully in the river as well as other children's games such as hide and seek, catch and hopscotch.

I was sent to Kuching to study when I was 7 years old. Both my parents had no formal education and so my siblings and I were the first generation in our family to attend school. Adjusting to life in the big city was tough. I missed my parents, my friends and my rural lifestyle. I yearned for the river especially and missed climbing trees. In addition, I had a tough time catching up at school. The majority of my classmates who were from the city had already 1-3 years of schooling in kindergarten whilst I had never attended kindergarten before. In fact, my Primary One class teacher thought that I was underage since I was completely clueless at school.

I realized quite early on that education was my ticket out of poverty. I was a studious and conscientious student. In my Secondary School, I was practically a bookworm concerned only with studies and did not take in sports or other extra-curricular activities. I was very lucky to get a scholarship to study for my Economics degree in Kuala Lumpur. At the University, I was a student leader and was active in various activities. In 1983, I managed to win a Japan Air Lines summer scholarship which enabled me to study Japanese Management at Sophia University, Tokyo. After a series of evaluations, only 5 undergraduates from 5 universities were selected for this program. I was given the honor to represent the Agricultural University of Malaysia. I decided to further my studies after working for a few years. Out of my own initiative and expenses, I graduated from Herriot-Watt University with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) through part-time study. It was a tough three years to balance a career, family and part-time study and all the while caring for my autistic son.

Retiring As Resident Of Sibu

Sarawak is divided into 12 divisions and the administrative head of each division is the Resident. As the Resident of Sibu, I was the highest-ranking government official and the face and representative of the government to the people in Sibu. I was responsible for the overall administration of the Sibu Division and all heads of government departments and agencies reported to me. I was appointed to this post in January 2018 until my retirement last year. This would explain my absence from Steemit/Hive as I was totally absorbed in my tasks and had no time to write.

As you can see from the above, I came from a very humble background and I will never forget my origins. Despite my high position and having widely travel, I am still a kampung (village) boy at heart. I don't think that I am the smartest boy from the village of Tebakang. I was very fortunate to be given the opportunities which others might not have.

There are two important lessons from this. Firstly, if you are given an opportunity, make full use of it and really work hard. There are so many others like you but who had not been given the same opportunity as you. It will be such a waste if you do not make full use of the opportunity to fully develop yourself. Secondly, where possible people from all walks of life should be given equal access to opportunities. Of course, it is easier said than done. I like to highlight the fact that the educational facilities in the rural areas are much worse than those in the urban areas. As such, I feel that more opportunities should be given to rural students who are at a disadvantage.

Coming from a humble background and experiencing much hardship while I was young has molded me to show more empathy to the people that I served while I was the Resident of Sibu. I was able to relate to the problems and difficulties that these people experienced. This has greatly impacted my management style where I treated them as part of the solutions rather than problems and I value whatever inputs that they might have.

Finally, I hope that by sharing my story I am able to inspire others who may be facing tough situations to continue to reach for the stars. It does not matter where you are right now, what matters is where you want to go.

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The Weekend Engagement

The weekend engagement is a challenge created by Hive account@galenkp. It is a fun contest where you can write about a range of topics with a prompt provided. I like to take part because I get a lot of interactions with other hive members and you don't have to crack your head to think of what to write. Hive account@galenkp is also the founder of the Weekend Community.