29 July 2009 – UMNO Auckland was delighted to meet YB Dato’ Hamzah Zainuddin, our Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries & Commodities here in Auckland, New Zealand. This is the first visit of a member of the Malaysian Cabinet to Auckland since Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Charity Golf in 2007. The dinner was held at Bing’s Restaurant, Auckland City Hotel. The new Malaysian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Dato’ Hasnuddin Hamzah was also present during the event that started at 7.30pm and ended about three hours later.
Dato’ Hamzah’s visit to New Zealand was intended as an educational visit to seek new opportunities for Malaysia in gaining the knowledge and expertise of New Zealand in dealing with the forestry sector.
In his speech, Dato’ Hamzah also explained about the concept of 1Malaysia which was initiated by YAB Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, our beloved Prime Minister of Malaysia. Dato’ also did not forget to mention that the Government is planning to give more incentives to Malaysians who are based overseas to return to Malaysia and serve the nation.
We were fortunate to have had a dialog session with Dato’ Hamzah in getting better views and information about the events happening back home in Malaysia. Among the questiona raised were about the government’s decision to cancel the teaching of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI), the visions and missions of the new Prime Minister as well as the new incentives that planes to be offered by Malaysia in order to attract Malaysians to work in Malaysia.
We would like to express our gratitude to Dato’ Hamzah and wife, as well as the delegates for having us that night. It was an honour and a privilege for those of us in Auckland.
