Story and pix by Chan Lilian
THERE is a Chinese proverb which says: ”A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.”
Parents play an important role in nurturing and caring for children so that their lives are filled with beautiful memories and colourful histories.
Chief Minister’s wife Betty Chew Gek Cheng, who is the Persatuan Wanita Mutiara (Association for wives of Penang State leaders) chairperson, congratulated the 23 children and their parents for winning the top three prizes and 20 consolation prizes in the colouring contest organised by the Communications Division of the Chief Minister’s Office which is the publisher of Buletin Mutiara.
The children were certainly thrilled with the appearances of Mr. Clown and the Penang State mascot which is the CAT.
It was indeed an achievement for them to be picked from 3,000 participants to receive the prizes.
In her speech, Betty said: “Buletin Mutiara was started in 2009 and called Suara CAT.
”In 2011, it was changed to Buletin Mutiara and printed in four languages – Bahasa Malaysia, English, Tamil and Chinese. Why do we need Buletin Mutiara when we have so many newspapers available?
”Sometimes, not all news can be featured as the space is limited as newspapers cover the world and Malaysia. So, with Buletin Mutiara we can give more space with details and reach more people in Penang so they understand and know the State Government closer,” she added.
First prize winner Lim Hui Xin, a 11-year-old student of SRJK (C) Sum Sun, transformed a white piece of paper with three cats into what is ”Truly Penang” when she added icons of Penang and her artistic skills gave the state many shades and tones.
It was not surprising that she came out tops because, according to her parents, she had represented the country in international drawing and colouring contests previously.
Buletin Mutiara’s Chan Lilian spoke to her father, Lim Kean Seong, who works in Jabil Circuit to gauge readers’ response to the state’s fortnightly publication.
“I get the papers through my office mates. It is helpful as some of the information can’t be sourced elsewhere.”
Another reader, S. Thirumagal, 26, and her husband, T. Selvam, 40, from Farlim, were at the prize giving ceremony at Komtar with their four children. One of them won a consolation prize.
“We get the mixed version of Buletin Mutiara in our post box. We like it because it has information about what is happening in Penang. It gives us a mixed view of certain issues. Sometimes, we cannot get those explanations on current issues as they are not reported in the other papers.”