Report from Capt. Philip Weaver (9M6CT) on SEANET Convention 2001 held at the Pacific Sutra Hotel, Kota Kinabalu East Malaysia.

The Convention was held from the 9th to the 11th November 2001 inclusive with first registration starting in the Hotel on Friday morning for early delegate arrivals.

Upon registration delegates were handed a "goody" bag containing a SEANET 2001 collared TEE Shirt, A SEANET cap and various items of literature concerning Sabah and all it has to offer. They also received their certificate of attendance at the convention.

A total of 108 delegates and their family registered for the weekends festivities, including large contingent (17) of Japans amateurs, some of whom stayed at the down town "Tang Dynasty" Hotel or the Langkah Syabas Beach Resort at Kinarut, about 15 kilometers south of Iota Kinabalu, where they had the full use of an established amateur radio station on HF and six meters.

It should be noted that as a result of 9/11 and the travel advisories issued by the United Kingdom and USA that there were about 25% cancellations from overseas delegates to the Convention.  This did not detract from a very healthy and wonderful convention, enjoyed by all present.

A radio station had also been established in room 940 of the Pacific Sutera Hotel (the convention Hotel) with two meters and HF stations. The HF station had a three-element tribander on the roof of the Hotel and was operational from the afternoon of the Thursday through until the closure of the convention on Sunday afternoon. During the convention a total number of QSO's using the 9M6SEA call sign was, xxx.

After registration on Friday the first convention event was the reception and buffet dinner on the Friday evening in the Grand Ball Room of the Pacific Sutera Hotel. This was a European style buffet and after a welcome speech from Datuk Tham, the Chairperson of the organizing committee, all enjoyed an excellent meal during which delegates were free to meet and talk with old friends from around the world.  There were 14 countries represented at the convention.

Saturday morning dawned, fortunately bright and sunny as the convention group photograph was scheduled to be taken at 0800 in front of the Marina adjacent to the Hotel. There were about 100 people who managed to get out of bed in time to appear in the photograph. The cost for the picture was RM20 (US$5.25). The quality of the photo was excellent; however a digital picture was also taken and appears in the Website elsewhere.

SEANET Saturday Tour.

SEANET delegates were met by a tour guide named John, who gave a complete history of his personal life in Kota Kinabalu, a place he obviously liked very much. It seemed that he was a jungle trekking specialist and entertained the party with many exciting stories. During one of these sessions some of the more prominent landmarks in KK, such as interesting old buildings and mosques, were inadvertently passed. However, a stop was made to see one of the more modern buildings in KK, a tall cylindrical building, the headquarters of the City's administrators. A visit was made also to a most beautiful Mosque, but non-Muslims were not allowed to enter. A most interesting tour was made of the Sabah Museum, and John was able to explain many of the diverse cultural customs, costumes, and ways of life of the many ethnic groups living in Sabah. The museum also housed a fascinating display of Malaysian animal and insect life. A delightful buffet lunch was taken at the Langkah Syabas Resort Restaurant overlooking the sea, before proceeding to the Monosopiad Cultural Village. This village was the highlight of the tour.  Delegates were greeted with warm hospitality and traditional rice wine. The inhabitants in their beautiful traditional costumes gave a guided tour of the village showing the traditional living accommodation and working people. As a finale delegates were invited to join in some exciting local dances.

On Saturday evening the Grand Banquet was held in the Ball Room of the Hotel and was a sit down 9 course Chinese Dinner. The food was excellent and enjoyed by all.

The Dinners opening ceremony was officially made by Datuk Tham Nyip Shen, Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah.  During the evenings dinner, various presentations were held including the prize presentations to the winners of the SEANET Contest. (Winners list appears elsewhere in this web site). In addition through out the dinner a very lively and entertaining display was made by local entertainers of ethnic dances, culmination in the famous bamboo dance to which members of the audience were invited to participate.

Towards the end of the dinner, many of the countries represented were requested and participated in doing a country by country entertainment usually indigenous to their country.

Sunday morning the plenary session was held when a presentation was made by Kazuo Ogasawara (JA1RJU) and Taizo Arakawa (JA3AER) on DX-pedition; so also by Ralph Meissner (DK3GH) on his homebrew antenna. After a tea break, an open forum to discuss matters relevant to SEANET such as who would take over from ALBERT VK4IK, as stand bye SEANET controller followed this. It was decided that each country would try and do a night once a week and Dr. K.N Singh was the moderator for this session.

A decision to support Dr. Singh for Johore Bharu, to be the host for the 2003 SEANET Convention was acclaimed by all. The only caveat being that the decision would not be confirmed for 6 months, as if in the meantime another country wished to take up the convention Dr. Singh would step aside.

The final get together was over an excellent buffet lunch, which was the last official function of the 29th International SEANET convention.

Finally it must be pointed out that the whole registration, and presentation at the dinners by computer projection was a first for the SEANET convention and for a first time effort by SARS, must be recognized as a major accomplishment which was applauded by all present.