KUCHING: New Sarawak Tribune Executive director James Alexander Ritchie on Tuesday donated 200 copies of the book Sarawak Books of Facts and Records worth RM40,000 to his Alma mater to be distributed to the teaching staff and students to enable them to learn about the history of Sarawak.
The Sarawak Book of Records was initiated by the late Datuk Amar Laila Taib, wife to the former Chief Minister of Sarawak and current Sarawak Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in 1993.
Chaired by Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing, project Executive committee comprised Dato Robert Voon, Dato Stephan Wan, Datu Seri Ang Lai Soon, Datuk JC Fong, Datuk Amin Satem Datuk William Chang and Dato Sri Tra Zehnder..
The main 100-man committee includes journalists, writers and photographers such as then Sarawak information Department’s Datu Aloysius Dris, Dato James Ahip, Benedict Jimbau, Dr Chang Pat Foh, Dr Chou Chi Ming, Diana Rose, Ho Ah Chon, Ik Pahon, Jimmy Drahman, Lim Siak Khiaw, M. Rajah and Peter Wee.
The book has 10 chapters covering famous Sarawak personalities and founding fathers, the environment, arts and culture, entertainment and literature, history of Development in Sarawak, enterprise, sports and games and human feats and achievements,
Wong who has been principal of St Thomas for 10 years said he looked forward to having old students supporting the school..
Ritchie who passed his Higher School Certificate (HSC) at St Thomas in 1969 said, “This is a small contribution to the school so that St Thomas’ will always aim high and be a role model for other schools in terms of having a good grasp of general knowledge and being well versed with the history of Sarawak.”
Over the last six months Ritchie has donated about 1000 books of various titles to the ASTANA, Chief Minister’s Office and various Sarawak Government Ministries. Ritchie will also donate 1,500 books on the Sarawak Book of Records to the rural schools and libraries and 2,000 books entitled :Abdul Taib Mahmud–41 years in the News” to Parti Pesaka Bumiputra (PBB) to honour their past president Tun Taib who was PBB President for 36 years from 1981.
