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Enhancing The Learning Culture - The Pustaka Negeri Sarawak
What better way to usher in the new millennium than the launching of the new Sarawak State Library or Pustaka Negeri Sarawak. The concept of the Pustaka incorporates a spectacular library park and recreation area where education and nature interweave to create a "paradise" within the city.
At the stroke of midnight on 31 December 1999, as if welcoming the dawn of the new millennium, our Chief Minister officially launched the Pustaka Negri Sarawak. It gradually lit up, accompanied by a chorus of songs and crackle and boom of fireworks in the air. It was a spectacle to cherish in all the hearts and minds of Malaysians in Sarawak. At a total cost of about RM50 million, the Pustaka and its surrounding park will be completed in several phases of development.
The beginning
Why this theme park came to life is not by accident. The Chief Minister and the State Secretary have a vision - creating a place where education, like Information Technology can take place in an attractive natural environment which is conducive to learning. From this vision, a concept was created to construct a Library Park.
"This project is not rigid or just factual. We are allowed to explore different ideas and potentials to incorporate as much of local materials and resources in the park," said Mr. Stanley Chai, an architect with JKR since 1983 and is one of the key people involved in building the Library Park.
He finds this project most unique as compared to the other projects he had been involved in for the past 15 years.
A glimpse of the past century
In the 19th century, most tasks were accomplished by muscles of men rather than by technology. Then, 99% of the world's power source comes from non-electricity sources. In the last century, i.e. the 20th, some of the inventions which help create a more comfortable and convenient lifestyle for us all are the automobile, the jet plane, the electric toaster, microwave oven, atomic energy, electric toothbrush and space travel, to name a few. A probe into deep space is common today.
These are stuff that sci-fi writers only dream of in 1800s, let alone before that. Other inventions worth mentioning are the radio, TV, video camcorder, communications satellite, radar and now the digital camera plus the hula hoop, McDonald's, KFC, antibiotic, artificial heart, plastic surgery and last but certainly not least, the computers and the World Wide Web.
We must also not forget the downside of the past century, namely the two world wars which were fought by men and women, who sacrificed their lives so as to ensure a better and more comfortable lives for all of us today.
Looking to the future
The point is that those wonderful creations and inventions are not just wonders themselves but are created by the human minds in a span of a single century, with some of the most exciting and bewildering inventions taking place during the latter half of the 20th century.
Given the fact that we have transformed the world in just a hundred years making it unrecognisable from the world inhabited thousands of years before, the prospects is chillingly mind-boggling! Achievements in many years to come are boundless.
Pustaka Negeri Sarawak
In preparation for what is to come, and to get the future generation to prepare themselves for whatever challenges is forthcoming, the State government has presented us with the most suitable gift of all, and that is the new Pustaka Negeri Sarawak - a sophisticated resource centre which is suitable for all of us to cruise into the digital age - alaf baru, the new millennium.
It belongs to all Malaysians in Sarawak and together we will look after it as a responsible and forward-looking individual, to safeguard its existence with pride and joy. This is an investment which our Chief Minister has envisioned for the Malaysians in Sarawak. With such an infrastructure, the impetus for learning and discovering new knowledge will be limitless. The way is now open for us to reach out for the new millennium. |
