My Affinity with the Council Negeri ( in 3 Parts)

Part Three

The Auspicious 8th of July 1978

A great day it was . That was the 8th of July 1978, the Dewan debated on the Bill intituled the The Bintulu Development Authority Ordinance. I was doing the translation and by the time the Bill was passed, BDA ( Bintulu Development Authority ) was born and I was witness to its birth, albeit from my interpreter's booth.
I knew then that this Ordinance would give Bintulu a new lease of life. Indeed as history would proove, similar ordinances were copied to spearhead the development of other regions in Malaysia like Langkawi with its Langkawi Development Authority and Labuan with its Labuan Development Authority. Thus my respect to the old man Tun Rahman for pushing the Bill through in the Sarawak Dewan Undangan Negeri session of 1978. And of course to the rest of the honourable Dewan members who said " Yes" and since there were so many of them saying "Ayeas", the "Ayeas have it !". The Bill is passed, so says Tuan Speaker Datuk Abang Abu Bakar. Hooray to the supporters of Tun for having won the day! And for Bintulu - a second chance.

That momentous day was auspicious to me in another way. It embedded in me the realisation that someday sooner I will join this new organisation because it was specifically setup to develop my hometown into a bigger city than a sleepy hollow it was in 1978. It could very well be the chance of a lifetime to partake in this great development effort. A tranformational leadership role.

My persistence and eagerness came to reality in 1980. By then I had completed my 5 years teaching contract with the Education Department. This provided an opportunity to change my career.

Thus on 15/11/1980, I joined the BDA as a Senior Administrative Officer tasked with the development of low cost houses in this new about to be booming town.

The next 12 years were the most energetic and enthusiastic period of my life. This chapter of my life will be talked about in my later blogs when I'll be writing about the development of Bintulu.

Suffice it to say , as a way of conclusion that my affinity with the Council Negeri ( Dewan Undangan Negeri) prooved to be a mainstay in my career development.



P.S. Example of my supplementary income. Much awaited . Hard earned!