24th May 2007
By Tan Ben Jane, Administrator of INSAP
The Modern Agriculture Biotechnology Bureau (MABB) Resource Centre celebrated its first Appreciation Dinner at The Courtyard Garden Restaurant, Kuala Lumpur on 11th May 2007. Jointly organised by the Modern Agriculture Biotechnology Bureau (MABB) and the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (INSAP), the event was graced by the honourable president and spouse, YB Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Ting and Datin Seri Wendy Ong, and the MABB chairman, Dr Chan Kook Weng as well as all the respective working groups and strategic partners of INSAP and MCA. In total 55 people attended this special evening.
The dinner served as an acknowledgement and appreciation for all MABB volunteers’ hard work and time spent on the development of standards and their tireless effort in facilitating MCA. The common trait among all these professionals is that they freely give what little spare time they are blessed with, in order to better our community especially the farmers and the fishermen. Besides expressing gratitude to the MABB working group, it was also to recognize the continuous co-operation and support from INSAP strategic partners in assisting INSAP and MCA to enhance public welfare.
In his opening address, Dr Chan expressed gratitude and appreciation to the MABB working group as well as to advise the members to contribute their fullest support towards the activities of MABB. He believes that this will ultimately benefit the MCA as well as the nation. He also highlighted a few issues which MABB was working on, e.g. the fishermen in Sekinchan, Biosafety Bill, etc.
At the dinner, a pre-arranged farewell song was dedicated to Sdr Ho Ying Chan, INSAP’s Research Assistant in Economic Affairs who has successfully been awarded a scholarship to pursue a Masters in Public Policy. He will assume his studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore in July 2007. INSAP thanks Ying Chan for the trust that has developed between us, thus enabling us to work so well together in recent national issues. We will definitely miss him.
Throughout the night, the atmosphere was elegant, special and fun. We hope that MABB’s effort can continue to be self-sustaining. Besides MABB, all working groups and strategic partners of INSAP and MCA’s support has been most welcomed and appreciated. The renewed intangible gifts today and continued giving in the future will provide invaluable support and present unquestionable opportunities for an improved quality of life in Malaysia.