By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 8: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has been appointed as the first chancellor of the International College of Advanced Technology Sarawak University College (i-Cats UC).
i-Cats UC Pro-Chancellor and Sarawak Skills Development Centre (Sarawak Skills) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Husain, as the representative of i-Cats UC, made the official announcement today by reading the instrument of appointment.
“This is the instrument of appointment of Chancellor for i-Cats University College. The i-Cats UC Board of Governance is pleased to appoint the Right Honourable Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, the Chief Minister of Sarawak as the first Chancellor of i-Cats University College.
“This appointment is in appreciation and recognition of our honourable Chief Minister’s role as the architect of Sarawak’s economic and social development.
“In his role as the Chancellor, i-Cats UC will benefit from his broad spectrum of visionary insights to facilitate the development of industry relevant courses and programmes for the benefit of the populace.
“This will go a long way to facilitate our mutual objectives for Sarawak to become a high-income and developed state by 2030,” he said during the ceremony to mark Sarawak Skills/ i-Cats UC’s 23rd Convocation and the official launching of i-Cats UC at i-Cats UC’s West Campus here today.
In response, Abang Johari shared with the crowd about his early involvement in Sarawak Skills in the 1980s when he was the Minister of Industrial Development.
At the time, he said, it was a tough task for him when the then Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud assigned him to set up a skills centre that will provide the manpower needed for the industries entering Sarawak.
However, through his struggles, two industrial parks namely Sejingkat Industrial Park and Samajaya Industrial Zone were developed in Kuching city.
“Indeed, I am very honoured to be the first Chancellor of this university (college).
“I’m very pleased to see the transformation of Sarawak Skills from then in the late 1980s. I could see the development of this institution together with i-Cats, which is now a university college,” said Abang Johari after receiving the instrument of appointment from Abdul Aziz.
Among those present at the ceremony were Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong and Sarawak Skills executive director and i-Cats managing director Hallman Sabri. — DayakDaily
