Duo rewarded for their contributions
Published on: Tuesday, October 21, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: They may have no honours nor titles to their names but the untold deeds of these two men brought them together for a simple appreciation ceremony on Monday. Forestry Officer, Indrapurwandita Sunjoto, was a victim of a revenge attack when he tried to stop several indigenous men from the Ulu Segama Malua Forest from hunting wild animals in 2009. The indigenous men returned with a vengeance the same day to his Kawag Forestry Office, where Indrapurwandita faced a near fatal attack while trying to stop the group of 10 to 15 men from burning the office.
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But after two weeks in hospital, Indrapurwandita, boldly returned to the remote post and worked hard to lead his team to attain Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for the 220,000ha Forest Reserve. As for his assailants, Indrapurwandita said: "Only one man was charged. The Lahad Datu magistrate ordered him to pay a RM500 fine for assaulting a government officer." A testimony of his hard work by the Forestry Director Datuk Sam Mannan read as follows: "He was the one who nearly died … by the way, under his management, the whole of Ulu Segama and Malua is now FSC certified. He is the man." Meanwhile, retired psychiatric hospital assistant, Tang Cheng Eng, perhaps helped hundreds of mental patients throughout his service from 1975 to 2000. But his work to help those in need continues to this day, where he cares for more mental patients at the Sabah Mental Health Association's Day Care Centre. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Both men received a certificate of appreciation, a RM1,000 token and a made a bunch of new friends from RCKK.
