Abd Karim: Kuching Waterfront should be managed by single entity

February 22, 2019

Abdul Karim (third right) visits a booth which showcased ideas for the Kuching Art Mural together with (from right) Dr Sim, Abdul Wahap and Wee at the Chap Goh Mei festival that was held at the India Street Pedestrian Mall on Wednesday.

KUCHING: Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah feels that the whole stretch of the Kuching Waterfront should be managed by a single entity.

Currently, he said the Kuching Waterfront is jointly managed by Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) “which does not make sense”.

“I feel that there should not be more than one entity to manage the Kuching Waterfront properly as it may affect the development and tourism plans in the area,” he suggested at the Chap Goh Mei festival at India Street Pedestrian Mall on Wednesday night.

‘Branding Sarawak beads to give it cultural identity and value’

October 13, 2017

Abdul Karim (second left) admiring the bead necklace at a booth of BIBCO 2017. With him are Heidi ( first left) his wife Zuraini Abdul Jabbar (centre), guest of BIBCO 2017 Dato Wee Hong Seng (second right) and Crafthub Sdn Bhd director Rosemarie Wong (first right) .

KUCHING: Beads from Sarawak should be branded as ‘Sarawak Bead’ in order to give the beautiful crafted ornaments a recognition especially its cultural identity and origin.

Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said that with proper branding and identity, Sarawak beads would have more value and become more precious handcrafted ornament.

“This will not only be rewarding to all bead makers and workers in the state but also recognition of their handicraft work which not many can do,” he said before officiating the 5th Borneo International Beads Conference (BIBCO) 2017 at The Waterfront Hotel Kuching yesterday.

What About Kuching poised to become iconic city festival

July 26, 2017

Abdul Karim (centre) together with WAK 2017 festival directors and representatives from various participating groups after launching the festival yesterday.

Abdul Karim launching
What About Kuching 2017 yesterday.

KUCHING: The state government and the Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Ministry will provide all the necessary support to ensure that What About Kuching (WAK) 2017 finds success and will become an iconic festival for the city in years to come.

Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah lauded the effort behind the community-initiated festival that celebrates the arts, culture and lifestyles of the people of Kuching.

“This is not something by the government. They (Kuchingites) came up with the proposal themselves,” he said during the official launch at the Old Courthouse compound yesterday.

Clarion call to remember athletes from our past

May 3, 2017

MIRI: The contributions and sacrifices of veteran state athletes must never be forgotten.

The call was made by Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah who said these athletes had to overcome hardships and difficulties.

“In applauding today’s heroes like Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Datuk Nicol David and Pandelela Rinong Pamg, sometimes we tend to overlook the contributions by our sports legends who achieved their triumphs during a time when there was limited or no facility at all.

“I believe that it is the responsibility of all – the government including my ministry, the media, the NGOs and, most importantly, the sports associations – to be aware of the welfare and wellbeing of our veteran athletes, especially those who are no longer able to be active in their games.

“I know that these veteran sportsmen and sportswomen did not do it for the money; to them, it’s all about state and national pride. This said, we all must not let them live in poverty. In fact, I call upon all the associations to ‘put a little bit of pressure’ upon the government in finding ways to help these individuals.

Galeri: 43rd Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championships

March 07, 2016

The best boy and best girl swimmers posing with (from left) Kuching City North Commission mayor Datuk Abang Wahab Abang Julai, Asas president Dato Wee Hong Seng, Sarawak Sports Corporation CEO Dr Ong Kong Swee, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, organising chairman Anthony Kong (fifth right) and team managers after the awards presentation.

Instil culture of hating crimes — Abdul Karim

May 28, 2012

IT IS LAUNCHED: Abdul Karim (third right) together with (from left) Wee, Acryl Sani, Abang Wahap
and Liew (right) during the launching of state-level Crime Prevention Month 2012. 
— Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: Teenagers and youths in the state are encouraged to join Rakan Cop and Malaysian Crime Prevention Club as part of the efforts to promote crime prevention activities among the younger generations.

Minister of Social Development Tan Sri William Mawan said that the early involvement of teenagers and youths in the two bodies would be the best platform to prevent them from being involved in crime.

In his text of speech read out by Assistant Minister of Youth Development Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah when launching the state-level Crime Prevention Month 2012 at Kuching Integrated Recreational Centre here yesterday, the Senior Minister also said that it was everybody’s responsibility to maintain public safety and peacefulness in the country.

On a personal note, Abdul Karim who was representing Mawan at the function said, “We must try to ensure there is a culture of working together in our community to prevent crime and how nice would it be if we were to live in a society where crime rarely happens.”

He said he believed these were achievable considering there were already countries such as New Zealand as well as Japan which had very low crime rate.

Due to lesser crimes, the number of police personnel required in the countries was very small, he added.

“The culture of the communities there is such that they work together to ensure crime are not committed. If it happens, the community will work hand-in-hand to ensure that it does not happen again,” he said.

He added he was made to understand that New Zealanders would despise those who build fences around their houses because they think people who do so were trying to isolate themselves from society, which he said demonstrated the strength of their community’s spirit in preventing crimes.

In urging the people to be more proactive in crime prevention, Abdul Karim said they must try to instil the culture of hating crime and having the desire to see that the city was safe from criminal activities.

Also present during the ceremony were state police commission Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Kuching City North Commission Datuk Bandar Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai, Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Datuk Patrick Liew, India Street Pedestrian Mall chairman Dato Wee Hong Seng, state information director Resat Salleh and Kuching district police chief Roslan Bek Ahmad.