Expand beyond the State, Chinese leaders told
Published on: Monday, July 06, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Chinese community leaders in Sabah should expand their scope of activity beyond the State by extending their reach to the whole of Malaysia, said the Minister of Special Tasks, Datuk Teo Chee Kang."Malaysia has been established for 52 years, and Sabah is our home. Although we are born and raised here, Chinese community leaders should not merely aim to gain a foothold in Sabah but should also widen their horizon throughout Malaysia to play a bigger role on the national platform," he said, Saturday.Speaking at the inaugural Installation Ceremony of the Executive Committee and Youth Committee of The Federation of Jiangmen Associations Malaysia, he said the establishment of the Federation was a significant achievement because it showed that Chinese community leaders in Sabah were equally capable of helming a national Chinese organisation.
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"This is something we should be happy about because the leadership of our Sabahan Chinese leaders is duly recognised by the Chinese community in Malaysia," he added.From another perspective, Teo, who is Tanjung Kapor Assemblyman, said the newly-inaugurated Federation of Jiangmen Associations Malaysia signified a "home" for Jiangmen folks in Malaysia. "The Federation has 42 constituent member associations comprising five in Sabah, six in Sarawak and 31 in Peninsular Malaysia."According to him, the timely emergence of the Federation was a positive outcome of the 3rd World Youth Congress of Jiangmen held in Kota Kinabalu in 2012.Teo officiated at the installation of Founding President Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen. Other Executive Committee members include Deputy President Datuk Liew Poon Siak from Kuala Lumpur, Vice-President Datuk Yik Phooi Hong from the Perak Ku Kong Chow Association, Secretary-General Datuk Wong Yit Ming from the United Sabah Sze Yip Association and Treasurer-General Peter Ma Kin Yee from Sze Yi Association Keningau.
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The story of the inauguration dates back to June 2012 when The United Sabah Sze Yip Association was appointed by the Jiangmen Municipal People's Government to organise the 3rd World Youth Congress of Jiangmen.In retrospect, Teo said the historic event saw the signing of a memorandum to establish Friendship City between Jiangmen (China) and Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), as well as a Memorandum of Friendship between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak with the aim of uniting all Jiangmen people in the country.
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Since then, he said, Wong has travelled all across the nation for the past three years to carry out her pledge in the memorandum."Establishing the Federation is no easy feat because East and West Malaysia are separated by the South China Sea. To travel back and forth is time-consuming and physically demanding."Nevertheless, Wong has taken up this challenging and arduous task to unite the 42 associations to form the Federation," he noted, adding that he has confidence in Wong's leadership.The Minister also drew attention to the Youth Committee formed by the Federation to train the younger generation as successors, "as well as to take part in the biennial World Youth Congress of Jiangmen organised by the Jiangmen Municipal People's Government.""The Congress provides a platform for Malaysian youth to facilitate exchange, collaborate and explore business opportunities with their counterparts from other countries," he said.In her address, Wong said the Federation is still at the early stage of growth. "Give us time to realise the goals of the Federation. We have a collective responsibility to support and nurture the Federation to ensure it continues to progress and play its role in safeguarding the interests of members," she said.Wong gave credit to her Deputy Yik and Vice-President Liew for their great assistance in getting the federation officially registered on May 25 this year.Located in the central south of Guangdong Province, the Jiangmen region is popularly known as Wuyi, meaning five counties within the jurisdiction of Jiangmen, namely Taishan, Xinhui, Kaiping, Enping and Heshan. Prior to Wuyi, Jiangmen was also known as Siyi (four counties), Liuyi (six countries) and Gugang Zhou."Today, China has standardised the name to 'Jiangmen Wuyi', which I think overseas Jiangmen Chinese should adopt as well. This is the reason why we decided to name the body as The Federation of Jiangmen Associations Malaysia to prevent confusion among the younger generation concerning their ancestral homeland," Wong explained.In jest, she said, some have joked that Jiangmen has 'three wives and four concubines', which is a Chinese idiom."Actually, what they really mean is that the jurisdiction of Jiangmen encompasses three districts (Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui) and four county-level cities (Taishan, Kaiping, Heshan and Enping)."Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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