17 April 2019 (Wednesday) – The Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources (KATS), YB Dr Xavier Jayakumar, graced the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Award Day ceremony held at the campus in Kepong yesterday.

Xavier (left) and Abd Latif delivering their speeches.	Abd Latif (second from left) presenting a souvenir to Xavier, while (from left) Samsudin, Zurinah and Khali Aziz look on.

He was accompanied by KATS Secretary General Datuk Zurinah Pawanteh, Deputy Secretary General (Land and Natural Resources) Dato’ Suhaimi Mamat, Biodiversity and Forestry Management Division Under Secretary Dato’ Wan Mazlan Wan Mahmood, FRIM Director General (DG) Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod, Deputy DG (Research) Dr Samsudin Musa and Deputy DG (Operations) Dr Khali Aziz Hamzah. Also present were Institute Members, KATS representatives, FRIM top management officials and staff.

The event was held by FRIM management to celebrate FRIM’s outstanding staff in various fields. A total of 119 FRIM staff received excellence awards in 10 different categories based not only on their commitment to work, but also on their involvement in social activities, sports and their team spirit.

From left: Wan Tarmeze, Fadzureena, Elizabeth and Adnan receiving their awards from Xavier (in blue shirt).

Dr Wan Tarmeze Wan Ariffin and Dr Raja Barizan Raja Sulaiman received the FRIM Best Scientist Awards this year while the Best Research Award was accorded to the ‘Developing and implementing a national access and benefit sharing framework in Malaysia’ research group, led by Dr Fadzureena Jamaludin. Dr Elizabeth Philip and Adnan Mohammad received the DG Award.

In conjunction with this event, FRIM also held its Monthly Assembly and Appreciation Ceremony to honour nine retirees in 2019 and those about to retire for their service and contributions.