Founder’s address at SJA Sarawak Restoration and 45th Anniversary parade
history will be tarnished by some who might have attended schools but in reality remain uneducated.
Such a controversial departure from the accepted procedures, prescribed by the relevant Act of Parliament, as we have recently experienced was an existential threat to our continued effectiveness and reputation as an organisation. It has undermined the autonomy and integrity of the constituent Districts of St John Ambulance set up in 1972.
We have gone through an unpleasant period of uncertainty, but the Sarawak St John Council and all rank and file decided from the outset to remain steadfast and uncompromising in demanding that the Rules in the Act of Parliament of our organisation are strictly and faithfully adhered to, and cannot be unilaterally changed by anyone in an arbitrary manner, according to his whims and fancies.
The unprecedented and overwhelming loyalty and support shown by so many of you have played a decisive role in ensuring that the Sarawak St John Council and our collective fight for what is RIGHT, PROPER, and ETHICAL ultimately ended in TRIUMPH for us.
During the Interregnum, the Sarawak Council and the rank and file did not give way, not even in the slightest, to the pressures to sacrifice the principles we all hold dear, guided by our relentless faith in ethical behaviour and righteousness. We were completely vindicated in the end.
These were some particularly dark times. It would have been perfectly understandable had we, in a moment of weakness, entertained the idea of compromising before the powers and pressures that were exerted upon us. Indeed, it may well have appeared, at those times, as the better part of valour to do so but the Sarawak Council and all rank and file were resolute and unwavering.
Trials and tribulations are indeed unpleasant ,but we have been refined by fire, hence we ended up stronger, better, and more united. We still stand firmly in the honorable tradition of St John Ambulance by holding fast to our founding convictions.
I therefore wish to place on record my great appreciation of the fortitude and perseverance that each and everyone of you has very admirably shown throughout these trying times. We always are the better from being severely tested.
We thank the National President for rectifying the irregularity after he eventually found out the cause of the Interregnum , and the State President as well .
It fills me with tremendous pride to be able to lead a lawabiding group of the finest and best that our beloved Sarawak can offer.
I am confident this humanitarian organisation and our country will progress and prosper if all our actions and deeds are guided by our conscience, by our faith, by respectable law-abiding and educated leaders, by the good laws of this country and above all by the Almighty God.