[last updated 14/08/2020]
Current SHS COMMITTEE (21/04/2018-2020)
President: Dato Sri Robert Jacob RIDU
Vice President: James YONG
Secretary: Audrey NENG
Treasurer: Rosemarie WONG
Committee members:
Arif ARABI
Francis FREY
Anna WEE
Donna YONG
Past Presidents:
(VI) 2016 – 2018 : Dato Sri Robert Jacob Ridu (since 20/03/2016)
(V) 2014 – 2016 : Karen Shepherd (07/03/2014 – 20/03/2016)
(IV) 2012 – 2014 : Hong Boon Kheng (16/03/2012 – 07/03/2014)
(III) 2010 – 2012 : Joseph Ingai Gasing (05/03/2010 – 16/03/2012)
(II) 2008 – 2010 : Mike Boon Chee Khian (28/03/2008 – 05/03/2010)
(I) 2006 – 2008 : Datu Abang Janalak @Aloysius b. Abg Dris (12/08/2006 – 28/03/2008)
BIOS
PRESIDENT: Dato Sri Robert Jacob RIDU
Former Speaker of State Legislative Assembly, Sarawak. Served a full term as Commissioner of Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission Malaysia. Earlier career as Principal and Management Consultant with Touche Ross and HRM, (Chartered Accountants & Management Consultants.). Has MSc in Admin Science & Development Problems from University of York, UK. Passionately interested in safeguarding and promoting Sarawak’s unique heritage, both tangible and intangible. DS Robert joined the SHS committee, as president, in 2016.
VICE PRESIDENT: James S L YONG
James has a BSc(Hons) in Computer Science and MSc in Business Systems Analysis & Design, both from the City University, London, UK. He spent more than 30 years working on ICT, finance & eGovernment consulting in HP, Shell, Cap Gemini, SingTel and Cisco Systems. Based out of Singapore, his territory of focus was ASEAN. He was the author of “E-Government in Asia” (Marshall Cavendish, 2005) and three genealogical monographs. After leaving corporate life, James started JYGlobal Associates (www.jyglobal.biz) through which he still consults for select clients. Since returning to Kuching, he spends more time on his interests in history, heritage, genealogy and writing. He is the creator of FB group “Kuching – Then and Now”. James joined the SHS committee in 2017.
SECRETARY: Audrey Dominic NENG
TREASURER: Rosemarie WONG
Rosemarie holds a 1st class BA(Hons) degree in Fashion (printed textiles) from St Martins College of Art & Design, London and a Diploma in Interior Design from Chelsea College of Art & Design, London. Professionally, Rosemarie is the Owner, Creative and Project Director of the Ranee Artisan Gallery, a retail platform supporting independent artisans, winner of 2015/2106 Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award “Most Outstanding Cottage Industry” (Handicraft Outlet). She also works with various longhouse communities to develop handicrafts, and recently won 2018 World Crafts Council Award of Excellence for Handicrafts (South-East Asia Sub-Region) for a product titled “The Magic of Upcycling”.
She is the owner and key designer of The Ranee Boutique Suites, a 24-room boutique hotel, and more recently restored a heritage icon, The Marian, now a 40-room Boutique Lodging House and The Granary Kitchen + Bar, a warehouse-style dining hall cum event space, Gold Award winner for Design Excellence, “Green Interior & Adaptive Re-Use” from Malaysian Institute of Interior Design (MIID REKA) Awards 2018. Her strong background in art and design coupled with a sound grasp of commercial realities is instrumental in the conceptualisation and management of the many creative projects.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Arif ARABI
A semi-retired company executive having worked with foreign multinational companies almost his entire adult life. Currently serving as a Public Affairs Advisor in a Japanese start-up company in Samalaju Industrial Park. Other activities include : member and Past President of the Rotary Club of Kuching, a founding and life member of Dyslexia Association of Sarawak, life member of Sarawak Association for Mentally Challenged Children, and Secretary of Samalaju Investors Industrial Association. An amateur photographer with a passion for building – new and old, and birds.
Francis FREY
An agronomy engineer (AgroParisTech, ex-Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon) by training, Francis has over 30 years’ working experience in international development finance with a focus on rural development, infrastructure, environment and financial sector projects and public policies. He has served AFD, the French government international development agency for 27 years with postings and assignments in a number of developing and emerging countries. He has been involved in the funding of Asian projects related to cultural heritage conservation. He is now retired and lives in Kuching. He joined the SHS committee in 2016.
Anna WEE Chiaw Sek
Anna graduated in Hotel Management (MHCIMA) from Bournemouth Polytechnic of Science and Technology, since known as Bournemouth University. She read law with University of London distance learning programme. She founded the non-profit Barefoot Mercy in 2011 to uplift lives in isolated villages in Sarawak, which recently won both the Star Foundation Golden Hearts Award and Star-Gamuda Inspiration Award 2017. Anna juggles between being a full-time social advocate at heart, a part-time entrepreneur with a paralegal day job, managing an arbitration practice which specialises in construction law and construction dispute resolution. She believes that the tribal weaving skills, their ancient knowledge of medicinal plants and jungle survival skills should not only be preserved but proudly promoted and ensured of posterity. Anna joined the SHS committee in 2016.
Donna YONG Siaw Wah
Donna is a freelance exhibition developer for short-term exhibitions based in Kuching. She was trained as an Interior Designer at Raffles Design Institute in Singapore and has a passion for the local Culture and Heritage. She was part of the architectural team to restore and conserve the General Post Office building in 2012 during her tenure at Building Consult Integrated, Kuching. She also volunteered to work with various organisations, including the Jabatan Museum Sarawak (2016), Pustaka Negeri Sarawak (2016), and related NGOs. “Our thoughts and emotions were never our own; we think in terms of languages and memories we did not invent, but given to us by our culture, heritage, and society. I believe our rich culture is what defines us as uniquely orang Sarawak.’
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