The first community library in Batang Ai, Malaysia, was given to the Nanga Ukom longhouse residents at a handover ceremony between the 59th ICCA Congress Asia Pacific Regional Hub (APRH) and the longhouse chief.
The ‘Gift of Love: Batang Ai Community Library’ was a congress-led corporate social responsibility project steered by the ICCA APRH, which evolved from a book-sharing programme into a scheme supported by the Malaysian public and private sectors.
On the implementation of the project Hii Chang Kee, state coordination chairman of the ICCA APRH committee and permanent secretary of ministry tourism (creative industry and performing arts Sarawak), said: “The best way to achieve the Sarawak Government’s three aspirations of economic prosperity, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability is by working alongside the local community.”
The aim behind the library was explained as being a functional space with educational resources to help keep children from Malaysia’s rural areas in school. Addressing education inequality has been a focus of the Malaysian government for several years, with a 2019 UNICEF report noting that one in six children were not attending pre-primary school – after pre-primary, 23,560 of these children on average do not move on to primary school.
ICCA’s ‘Gift of Love’
Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) won a bid in 2019 to adopt ICCA’s ‘Gift of Love” book-sharing programme. BESarawak reports that, after the resulting congress, the book donation concept was scaled up into a community library on a long-term programme.
“Business events are about education which is why they are one of the most effective platforms to change lives around.” stated committee advisor and CEO of BESarawak, Amelia Roziman.
“As a sector that is connected and collaborative with various parties, we have bigger opportunities to make a difference to Sarawak.”
In 2020, ICCA APRH committee’s book donation campaign saw 7,500 books donated in 9 days to the library. Of the 7,500, the biggest donation came from the residents of Raflessia in Petaling Jaya, who donated over 1,200 books.
To achieve the ‘Gift of Love: Batang Ai Community Library’, the project was sponsored by Sarawak Energy Berhad. Additional collaborators in the scheme included Place Borneo, Conference People, the 55th ICCA 2016 Local Host Committee (Borneo Convention Centre Kuching), the Librarians’ Association of Malaysia, Sarawak State Library and CPH Travel Agency.
