Join uniformed bodies to gain holistic development
by Lee Ya Yun

May 20, 2010, Thursday KUCHING: School children should participate in uniformed bodies such as Girls’ Brigade as such activity would help to develop an individual holistically, urged Datin Fatimah Abdullah yesterday.

LET US HELP: Tnay (right) and Chew (second left) give helping hands to Fatimah to tie the Girls’ Brigade’s scarf as Wong (left) looks on.

The Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department said holistic development which included the aspects of cognitive, spiritual and social was essential to produce quality human beings.

“We are actually encouraging a holistic development of our children cognitively as well as their spiritual and social development. And these are the aspects emphasised by uniformed bodies such as Girls’ Brigade,” she told reporters after the courtesy call made by Girls’ Brigade Malaysia (GBM) on her at her office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here.

Fatimah, who is also the Assistant Social Development and Urbanisation Minister, said it is the government’s policy to encourage school children to participate in co-curriculum activities.

The visit of GBM was to brief Fatimah on the Tenth International Conference of The Girls’ Brigade International (ICGB) which will be held here from July 24 to 31 this year.

The team of five was led by GBM conference director Tnay Yong Hua. Other committee members included organising chairperson Evelyn Chew, vice organising chairperson Lau Mee Ting, treasurer Grace Tay and media and publicity officer Phyllis Wong.

Fatimah praised the GBM for instilling good discipline amongst their members as well as improving their social skills.

“One of the good things we know is they help to instil discipline, which is a very important characteristic, amongst our students. Apart from that, they are quite holistic in terms of their activities, whereby their members would be able to improve their social skills, which is important nowadays,” she stressed.

She added: “That’s why I look at the Girls’ Brigade movement or Boys’ Brigade movements as something very important and we encourage the participation of our children in these movements because it helps them to develop holistically”.

The 10th ICGB is a gathering of key leaders of the organisation from different countries once every four years for the purpose of reviewing the work done in the different countries and to map future directions for the growth of the organisation.

The conference will be a platform for sharing of best practices for the wholesome development of girls in leadership skills and imbue in them good Christian values so that they become responsible and useful women contributing to the community, nation and the world.

The week-long conference will be attended by over 250 delegates from 26 countries who would discuss and address common challenges faced by girls between 6 and 21 years old. Participating countries include Malaysia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Bahamas, United States of America, Ireland, Cook Island, New Zealand, Cambodia and Zambia.

The programme also includes tour and sight-seeing in and around Kuching to give participants a chance to learn about the city’s history and culture.

The Girls’ Brigade was founded in Dublin, Ireland by Margaret Lyttle in October 1893. It first came to Asia in 1927 with the founding of the First Singapore Coy and her wings spread to the shores of Penang in 1938. Since then, many Girls’ Brigade companies had been formed throughout Malaysia including Sarawak and Sabah.