Postal Dept hosts Gala Night to mark 100th anniversary
By James Kon

Minister of Communications (R) presenting
 a souvenir to an Indonesian delegate.

The Department of Postal Services hosted a Gala night to commemorate 100 years of Postal Services at the Royal Berkshire Hall of JPCC yesterday evening.

Present as the guest of honour was Pehin Dato Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Hj Apong, Minister of Communications. Also present were Pengiran Hj Yakub bin Pengiran Hj Othman, Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Postmaster General Awang Hj Abdul Kadir bin Tengah.

In his welcoming speech, the minister said the changes in globalisation and the advancement of information technology and info communication have provided challenges to the postal services. The main concern is how postal services will continue to survive in the current environment, which is filled with challenges and competitions.

"To our understanding, a number of countries have managed to turn the challenges or problems into opportunities and successfully brought in profit from the postal services.

"And in this context, I believe with creativity and commitment of all staff under the department together with support and cooperation from other sectors, we are also capable of exploring opportunities that could raise the revenue for the postal services thus, making the department self sustainable financially," he said.

Since a few years ago, the Department of Postal Services had already looked into ways of providing new services such as payment centre and to identify new products.

In the 20-year roadmap ahead, the department has taken serious concern on the challenges faced and will continue to offer numerous services so that the roles and functions played by the department will still continue to be relevant in facing the change in times, he added.

The department has placed its vision to become a business, information and services centre.

The minister urged all staff especially in the Department of Postal Services to be committed in realising the vision. The success of realising the vision lies in the change of mindset and behaviour of those concerned and a large part of the success depends on having quality human resources that are needed by business oriented services.

Following the speech, the minister viewed a documentary in tribute to 100 years of postal services.

The minister then presented souvenirs to ASEAN Pos CEO, former Postmaster General and former Deputy Postmaster General.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin