Anugerah Desa Perdana 2017 gives recognition to top villages
KUALA LUMPUR: In order to drive sustainable rural development into a high income economy by 2020, the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKLW) has established the Anugerah Desa Perdana, which also recognises leadership excellence at village level.
Anugerah Desa Perdana also aims to train village leaders to always be competitive, innovative and creative.
The award acts as a platform to recognise the contributions and commitment of villagers in developing the village.
For the Anugerah Desa Perdana 2017, Kampung Baru Kemasik, Terengganu was crowned champion for the Traditional Kampung category, and received RM100,000 in cash and a project worth RM600,000.
Kampung Pengkalan Tereh, Johor emerged champion for the Orang Asli Kampung category while Rumah Benggau, Nanga Sut, Kapit, Sarawak was the top longhouse. They each won RM50,000 in cash and a project worth RM100,000.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak presented the prizes during the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) / Federal Village Security and Development Committee (JKKKP) Convention and Anugerah Desa Perdana at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) on Tuesday.
This year, 528 traditional villages, Orang Asli villages and longhouses succeeded at the district-level Anugerah Desa Perdana. From that figure, 159 villages competed at state level. Meanwhile, 23 represented their states in the respective categories for the national-level competition.
From the 23 villages, 14 were for the Traditional Kampung category, six villages in the Orang Asli Kampung category, and three villages in the longhouse category.
Also present were KKLW Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and KKLW Deputy Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi, along with 10,000 JKKK / JKKKP from across the country.
During the same event, Najib also announced two special incentives for the JKKK, Federal JKKK, and Orang Asli JKKK (JKKKOA) – the Group Insurance Scheme for 265,000 members and JKKK Cards to enable them to enjoy discounts on selected agricultural, food, beverage, as well as resort and hotel products nationwide.
He explained that under the Group Insurance Scheme, the government would pay RM10, while JKKK / JKKKP / JKKKOA members would have to pay RM7 a year for, among others, accidental death benefits of RM5,000, and RM2,500 for normal deaths from January next year.
A total of 15 representatives of Village Governance Certificate participants also received certificates for the programme conducted in collaboration with the Village Development Institute (INFRA) and University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).
The JKKK / JKKKP Convention and Anugerah Desa Perdana, which was held at PWTC, also saw lectures and motivational sessions conducted by Professor Dr Muhd Kamil Ibrahim and Datuk Mohd Kazim Elias.