Seed collector travels to Germany to learn tree-climbing

Photo: Bernama

SEGAMAT: Seed collector Azamuddin Kassan (pic), 54, who is with the Johor Forestry Department went all the way to Germany to strengthen his tree-climbing skills.

With these skills, he now provides training to tree climbers at the department.

"I was in Europe for a year to attend a tree-climbing and seed procurement course at the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) in 1995 to attend climbing courses and seed procurement,” he said.

He was met after demonstrating his skills at tree-climbing and procurement of forest tree seeds before the Tengku Mahkota of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and other members of the Johor royal family at the "Kembara Mahkota Johor (KMJ) 2023” at the Sungai Bantang Eco Forest Park, Bekok, here Sunday (Aug 6).

Azamuddin, who has served in the Forestry Department for 28 years and is tasked with collecting the seeds of the cengal, keruing, kelat and meranti trees, also express the hope to be given the opportunity to demonstrate his skills before the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar one day.

"Today is my first demonstration before a royalty. I was indeed nervous knowing that all eyes are on me.

"Even with 20 years of experience, and attending a course in Germany to master the skills, I still have to make preparations for today's programme by practising almost every day for a week," he added.

Azamuddin said it was an honour for him to be able to demonstrate his skills before the Johor royalty, as well as other guests-of-honour who included Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

"It will be a day I’ll remember for life,” he said.

On the tree seeds that he collected, he said, they would be sowed in the nursery and the young plants replanted in the forest parks in the state.

Apart from the tree-climbing performance by Azamuddin, Tunku Ismail also witnessed a silat performance by the Segamat chapter of the Pertubuhan Silat Seni Gayung Malaysia Kebangsaan before presenting contributions to the poor in the district.

The event also saw the presence of Tunku Temenggong Johor Tunku Idris Iskandar Sultan Ibrahim, Tunku Panglima Johor Tunku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ibrahim and Datuk Dennis Muhammad.

The 2023 KMY also saw Tunku Ismail leading the expedition for the first time. The expedition, which started yesterday involved a 879km journey across 10 districts in the state. It will arrive at the last destination this Tuesday. - Bernama