8 December 2017 (Friday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has been selected by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) as the recipient of its ‘Anugerah Citra Sahabat DBP 2017’ for the public sector category.

Azharizan receiving the DBP ‘Citra Sahabat’ Award from Alias as Abdul Adzis looks on.

The award was presented by Education Ministry Secretary-General Dato’ Sri Alias Ahmad to FRIM Research Officer Azharizan Mohamad Norizan at the DBP Innovation Day Award Ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

The award was given in recognition of FRIM’s contribution to a slot on ‘Informasi Hutan oleh FRIM’ in DBP publications, Dewan Kosmik and Dewan Ekonomi, since 2010.

The collaboration with DBP was initiated by the FRIM Natural Forest Programme and Corporate Management Unit (CCU) in 2009. FRIM and DBP also jointly conducted a feature writing course in 2011 to promote a popular style of writing and to ensure continued contribution of articles for the DBP series.

From right: Mohd Izwan, Azharizan, Ismail and Lim after the award presentation ceremony.

The cooperation continues till today with Azharizan as the coordinator who ensures FRIM researchers, particularly from the Forestry and Environment Division, provide six to 12 articles each year. The Forest Biodiversity Division research officers also started contributing articles from 2014. Apart from sharing their respective research findings, the collaboration has helped to enhance researchers’ writing competency.

Also present, DBP Director General (DG) Datuk Abdul Adzis Abas; Natural Forest Programme Head Dr Ismail Parlan; Research Officer Mohd Izwan Ramlan; and Lim Chung Lu, CCU representative.

Abd Latif (middle) with former FRIM Research Planning Director Dr Chan Hung Tuck and Research Officer, Nik Zanariah Nik Mahmood after the DBP award presentation in 2007.

FRIM DG Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod said this latest award is the fifth recognition given by DBP to FRIM.

Prior to this, FRIM was in the top placing for the Kencana Report Award culminating in the achievement of the best annual report for the statutory body category in 2007. The award was presented to Abd Latif, who was then the FRIM Deputy DG (Operation). The Kencana Report Award was initiated by DBP with the cooperation of the Malaysian Statutory Bodies Association since 1999 to be given to statutory bodies for the best use of Bahasa Melayu quality in producing annual reports.

“FRIM will continue to support DBP’s efforts in promoting writing and in upholding the proper use of Bahasa Melayu in sharing scientific research results,” said Abd Latif.