SRI AMAN: Batang Ai’s first community library is now under the guardianship of Nanga Ukom longhouse residents.
The ‘Gift of Love: Batang Ai Community Library’ was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project undertaken by the 59th International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) Asia Pacific Regional Hub (APRH) Committee.
Originating from a book-sharing programme, the project was then expanded into a life-changing initiative with the support of the public and private sectors.
The State Coordination Chairman of the 59th ICCA APRH Committee, Hii Chang Kee, lauded the feat between the State government and local community.
“The public and private sectors have a bigger responsibility than ever before for the development of Sarawak through community outreach.
“The best way to achieve the Sarawak government’s three aspirations of economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability is by working alongside the local community and our business events sector is leading the way in showing how the right intentions and partnerships can make a big impact on people.”
Hii who is also Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts said this at the library’s handover by the Organising Committee of the 59th ICCA Congress Asia Pacific Regional Hub (APRH) to the longhouse chief recently.
The library seeks to provide a functional space with educational resources to help retain more rural children in school.
Yet, as simple as the goal sounds, the methods to achieve that goal needed international expertise and a stamp of approval from the ICCA.
ICCA’s Asia Pacific Regional Director Waikin Wong said they (ICCA) had spent years advocating positive societal impacts through business events.
“Sarawak raised the bar for the global business events sector when they announced this initiative as a congress-led corporate social responsibility project.
“It’s time for sector players to think about how they can make an impact in their own community and we hope that more initiatives will be taken by destinations to transform global economies and societies.”
Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) adopted ICCA’s ‘Gift of Love” CSR programme.
The main congress in Kaohsiung was hosted as a spoke-and-hub model and Kuching was the hub for Asia Pacific in 2020.
As congress host, Sarawak took a step further from the book-donation-only concept to build an actual community library that works with the local people on a long-term programme.
“Business events are about education which is why they are one of the most effective platforms to change lives around,” stated Committee Adviser and CEO of BESarawak, Amelia Roziman.
“As a sector that is connected and collaborative with various parties, we have bigger opportunities to make a difference to Sarawak.
“This is our motivation and we hope that the library will inspire more business event organisers to replicate this library or create something similar,” she said.
The 59th ICCA APRH Committee’s viral book donation campaign in 2020 saw 7,500 books being donated in nine days to furnish the library.
The biggest book donation came from the residents of Raflessia in Petaling Jaya who generously donated over 1,200 books.
The ‘Gift of Love: Batang Ai Community Library’ was sponsored by Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) in collaboration with Place Borneo, Conference People, the 55th ICCA 2016 Local Host Committee (Borneo Convention Centre Kuching), the Librarians’ Association of Malaysia, Sarawak State Library and CPH Travel Agency.
For more information on the library, members of the public can email Rose Bruce at rose@sarawakcb.com.
