Sabah

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:22:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!

Vital information related to Air Crash in Sabah on 6 June 1976 buried for 43 years

2011-11-24T14:58:00.002+08:00

Senior UMNO member and former Malaysia Finance Minister,Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah,revealed to blogger Ronald Charles Klassen during a lunch interview how he escaped death because he and two other persons were led off the ill-fated plane minutes before take off.

Klassen was testifying as the 4th witness for the defendant in a RM50 million libel suit brought by a former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Haris Salleh, against another former Sabah chief Minister, Datuk Yong Teck Lee for his remarks relating to a tregic air crash in 1976 in whcin another Sabah Chif Minister, Tun Fuad Stephens, was killed along with other key members of the state cabinet.

The accident almost wiped out the entire state cabinet which was newly elected only days ago, wresting power from the hand of the authoritarian Tun Mustapha. The whole of Sabah was devastated, and everyone refused to believe it was an accident, until today.But where is the proof? The question lingers on...

With the revelation of this piece of information in the court of law,after a long lapse of 34 years, the heart strings of Sabahans are brutally plucked creating tremendous agony all over again!

RM250 for lighting up a stick of cigarette

2011-11-24T13:41:00.001+08:00

Many passengers who are smokers learned a costly lesson when they arrived at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) and the Low Cost Terminal (T2) yesterday. After suppressing the urge to smoke when up on the plane they could not wait to light a cigarette just outside the main doors of air-conditioned lobby . Little did they know that 35 enforcement officers from Health Department were waiting for them.Moreover, the whole Airport building,including the Taxi pickup area is classified as NON-SMOKING zone!

The officers are divided into 6 groups, each armed with a camera. whenever they saw a person smoking in the pickup area, some bold ones even did it inside the lobby, they will quickly snap a photo of him doing the act and then confront him.The offender could not deny even if he quickly discarded the lighted cigarette, because the officers had the photo as proof.He would be handed a summon of RM250, and has to pay up within 2 weeks. If he was on a connection flight, he could settle the summon in regional offices in Tawau, Sandakan, Lahad Dato within 2 weeks. Anyone failing to pay the compound within the stipulated period will face a RM10K fine, a jail term or both.

If you really need to kill the urge to smoke, walk outside the covered area of the building, go under the palm trees and beyond the flower plants.Then you will be safely out side the non-smoking zone.
Happy travelling!

Merry X'mas !

2009-12-25T15:45:00.000+08:00

Wishing all my Christian friends a Merry Christmas!

Direct Ferry Service Between Brunei - Sabah On The Table

2009-07-06T18:08:00.006+08:00

Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun ,told reporters that a suggestion to link Maura in Brunei to Menumbok in Sabah by ferry service was well received by the Government of Brunei. The proposed ferry service will shorten the travelling time between the two places from the usual 7 hours by land to 2 hours by sea.

The Minister said the suggestion was a result of discussions with the Government of Brunei earlier this year. Discussions included among other things the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Sabah Tourism Board and the Royal Brunei Airlines to jointly promote Brunei and Sabah a tourism destination.

He further disclosed that the management of the proposed ferry service will be handled by private sector from Brunei and Sabah. How soon will this proposal become a reality depends on the ability and speed of the selected operators.
Well...let's keep our fingers crossed!

Dilemma of Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah

2009-04-30T00:43:00.003+08:00

The hottest topic running currently in Sabah is the controversy of whether The Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah should remains in the Sabah State cabinet, or in Barisan Nasional (BN) for that matter.
Personally it is also a painful dilemma for Datuk Raymond Tan himself.I feel Datuk Raymonf Tan should rid himself of this agony by stepping down temporarily and brush up his act by forming a new party quickly or else join a component party of BN immediately.
At the mean while, the Chief Minister should leave the post vacant and wait for Datuk Raymond Tan to finish executing his acts - if he is indispensable. Otherwise, if it goes on like this, it proves nothing except adding to the oddity of the whole thing. "There is no such thing as an independent BN member!" Who said it before? Correct me if I'm wrong, it was a Chief Minister.

Unwilling stuntman at Jalan Lintas Ring Road

2009-04-19T02:37:00.004+08:00

I became a stuntman driving my car flying over the divider at Jalan Lintas ring road like James Bond (Agent 007)always does in the movie recently. I was travelling from Damai towards Lintas Square at around 8:00pm and was keeping to the extreme right hand lane because I intended to turn right into Lintas Square at the traffic light.
It is the habit of KK road designers to cut a special lane for drivers who want to turn right or make a u-turn so that these cars would not obstruct the main flow of traffic.I entered this special lane early to avoid meeting some weirdo drivers who refuse to let others to cross lanes and you may miss the junction if you are unlucky enough to meet such drivers.
As I was happily driving along this special lane and keeping my eyes on the traffic lights at the far end wishing that it will turn green while I reach there. Suddenly there was a loud bang and felt a big thud under my car, and I found myself air-borne! I held my steering wheel tight in order not to land on the opposite lane and luckily landed on the grass of the divider. I guess I flew almost 10 meters and was lucky enough not to ram into any on coming cars! Thank God there was no lamp post, no trees on the divider,else I wont be sitting here writing this story already.
Then I realized I entered this special lane too early because it leads to an u-turn first and the smart ass who designed this part of the road built a curb after the u-turn so that cars in this lane can only u-turn and cannot go straight. If you want to turn right you have to enter the special lane after the u-turn.Why he has to build the curb and not allow cars to go straight pass the u-turn, only God knows. If you realized you are in the wrong lane and do not want to make a u-turn,you have to avoid hitting the curb by swerving to the left and risk being hit by cars coming from behind.But at night You will not be able to see the curb because the lighting was poor and the curb was not painted with reflective material.
In the above news clip you can see the brake marks on the roads, I am certain many drivers had performed (unexpectedly) the same stunt as I did. The person in the picture was a DAP leader,Edward. Maybe he too suffered the same fate...LOL

Jalan Bundusan Upgrade

2009-03-15T01:34:00.002+08:00

Hmm....it's going to be April, will the developer keep his promise to complete the project by that time? Come on everyone lay your bet!

It takes me almost one hour every morning to send my kid to work just to travel the portion of road from in front JPJ to the round about(new)in front of SGCC.

I really take my hat off to the KK guys,nobody says any thing going through this ordeal day in day out. The road just past JPJ merges 2 lanes into one, then the queue-jumpers cut in from the side, practically it is 3 lanes into 1,thus forming a great Nobel prize-winning bottle neck.

That is not all, the morning exodus of the Beverly Hills Apartment residents are streaming out from 3 junctions, forming another 3 dead locks.The beauty is,there is no traffic police around to control the flow of traffic. And there is a nice beautiful police pondok just next to the jammed road.

Maybe it is not yet time for the policemen to clock in, or maybe the people inside think,"It's none of my business,my job is to take statements and issue police reports. My job does not include conducting traffic." But at least call your colleagues in the traffic division to come, not just "close one eye" mah.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-28T03:57:00.002+08:00

Wishing all my Chinese friends Happy Chinese New Year!

The FCAS wants the illegals to stay

2008-07-28T08:37:00.005+08:00

The president of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS),Datuk Sari Nuar (what a name for a Chinese!) led a troop of his committee members to meet the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman, and handed in the 16 resolutions adopted at the FCAS Annual General Meeting 2008 last week.

Two resolutions amongst the 16 were highlighted in headlines of all local news papers,the 2 resolutions are namely:

To legalise the illegal immigrants in Sabah,and further more award them permanent resident status if they do not have any criminal records after staying 15 years in Sabah
To reconsider the state cabinet's decision to shelf the coal-fired power plant project but to choose Sandakan as the new site for the power plant.

The reactions from the Sabah public is phenomenal,objections came from all sides and angles,from layman in the street, NGOs, to prominent politicians, all voicing their angers and disgusts over this act by Datuk Sari Nuar and gang.
They raised several questions:

Why does the FCAS place higher priority on the illegal immigrants' welfare over the welfare of many Chinese born in Sabah but still can not get permanent stay after 30 to 50 years? When was the last time the FCAS brings the plights of this category of Chinese to the attention of the state government?
How to prove an illegal immigrant has lived in Sabah for over 15 years? How can the government keep records on an illegal immigrant but not taking any action and let him move about freely for 15 years? What kind of government is that?Entering our country illegally is an criminal act itself,how on earth can you say that he has no criminal records?
Without criminal records does not mean that an illegal immigrant did not commit any crime before, he may be smart enough to escape the law enforcement officers.Only the dumb ones were caught,but the smart and dangerous ones escaped.Since they do not have valid travel documents,they can change their identities any time (much easier than you changing your user names on the Internet)hence it is extremely difficult if not impossible to trace them.
Business owners are worried about their profit margins if they can no longer make use of the cheap labour provided by the illegal immigrants,but aren't they worried even a little bit about the safety of their families and younger generations?
Sabah cabinet shelved the coal-fired power plant project based on the advice of experts.Now the FCAS invited the so-called experts from local universities to hold a dialogue with public to explain it is environment friendly to use the coal-fried power plant, does it mean that these experts are better informed that those engaged by the cabinet?
In the United Kingdom,even with 50 years of experience of using coal-fired power plants,they are also not going to build more new plants based on this technology, read report....Why is the eagerness of the FCAS to rush into this not yet proven safe technology? The UK needs more energy than us,don't they?
If the plant will cause health hazards to the Lahad Datu residents,won't it cause the same level of harm to the Sandakan residents? Or is it because the lives of the Sandakan residents are less valuable than that of the Lahad Datu residents?
Again they wanted to know what personal gains from this project will the members of the FCAS council receive?
Several branches/affiliates of the FCAS claimed there were only 12 resolutions adopted during the said AGM,not 16 as claimed by Datuk Sari and friends.The illegal immigrants and the coal-fired power plants issues were definitely not among them.

Caught off guard by the strong reactions from the Chinese community,Datuk Sari quickly changed his story. He said the 4 additional resolutions were result of the decision of the FCAS central committee and the Sabah United Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SUCCC) to include them.
Also the actual intention of the resolutions was to urge the state government to consider legalising the immigrants who manage to find jobs here, and not to consider granting them permanent residence as reported in the media.If he is not treating us Sabahans as idiots and telling the truth,it really makes one wonders of what academic standard is the person who wrote the resolutions which were so misleading that required someone else to interpret it correctly.Why can't the FCAS find someone competent enough to handle such important job?
Meanwhile some of the FCAS committee members who happened to be committee members of SUCCC also started a scruple with rivalling committee members in the same organisation over the 6-year old issue of the legal status of SUCCC committee in an effort to divert the public attention.
Many amongst the Chinese community have long questioned whether to let the FCAS to represent them is appropriate.In reality they only represent a handful of traders,not the ordinary Chinese who has nothing to do with trading.This handful of people should confine their activities in the SUCCC and not have double roles in the FCAS also.By right the leaders of FCAS should be professionals elected from the various dialect clans and surname clans and not those who only care about profit margins.
But the biggest pity is why after all these years, the local Chinese community can not find a leader born locally,if not in Sabah,at least within Malaysia to lead them. I felt very uneasy each time I read his non-Chinese name in the non-Chinese news papers.I wonder whether these papers did it on purpose.

Major crackdown on illegal immigrants soon

2008-07-14T01:23:00.002+08:00

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia,Tan Sri Najib Tun Razak announced that the government will take action to flush out the illegal immigrants living in Sabah.It was flashed across the front pages of all local news papers last month. But the response from the public was cold,they think this is just another round of empty promise from the government on this issue,no difference from many other similar announcements made before over the years.
But this time it is from the Deputy Prime Minister himself, not any low ranking minister like before.No one in Sabah believes he is sincere in his intention,most people think it is just a move to shift public attention from other issues which are sticking to him right now.
Even senior government officers are negative in their opinions.The Assistant Director of the Federal Special Task Force (whose sole duty is to solve the illegal immigrants problems in Sabah) said that the success of this move is very much dependent on the readiness of the verious systems and authorities to tackle the problems.He went on to list out the 5 major reasons why the efforts to solve the illegals problems failed in the past.
He claimed that the FSTF is ready to accommodate more illegals with the setting up of 2 additional temporary detention camps.Reading between the lines,one can feel that he is implying the other authorities are not ready yet.
At the same time the Chief Police Officer of Sabah is afraid that the police force is short of man power.However,he said the police department will try its best to make this exercise a success.Again,one has to read between the lines to catch his real meaning.
If there is one issue that has the same opinion from all the Sabahans,it is the illegal immigrants issue.It has been with us for more than 30 years now.And the government still does not seem to have a clue as how to solve it.
To help solve this problem,we Sabahans need to cooperate with the government by taking the following steps:

(1) Stop renting you house or land to illegal immigrants.Of course,in so doing you will lose some incomes.But think about the safety of your loved ones and family,isn't it more important than money?

(2) Hire locals as far as possible.Do not ever hire any imported worker who does not have any proper travel document and work permit.

(3)Town board workers who are entrusted with the task to dismantle the illegal houses should do the job yourselves and destroy the building materials. Do not be lazy and let the illegals to dismantle the houses and save the materials to rebuild their houses soon after you have left.

(4)Policemen should not accept bribes from illegals when they are caught.If you let them go freely, who knows they may bounce into your children later and hurt them.I mean how do the illegals know they are your children unless you let them wear police uniforms,too.

(5)Hospital staff should not accept bribes for issuing false Sabahan birth certificates to new born babies of illegal immigrants.Otherwise these babies will grow up to be Sabahans legally and fight for job opportunities with your children one day.

(6)Staff of National Registration Department should not accpet bribes for issuing false Sabahan ICs to illegal immigrants. This is equivalent to committing an act of treason,and should be sent to the firing squad.Many of those who obtained their ICs this way may have joined the armed forces and the police.They maybe even entrusted with the duty to round up,to deport the illegal immigrants (their brothers) to their home countries.Won't it be the biggest joke?

(7)Last but not least,do not be a SUPER hypocrite by complaining about the illegal immigrants on one hand, and providing them with employement and shelters on the other.

I really miss those days when I did not have to lock my house and my car. I still remember I brought my wife (then still girl friend)to visit a friend in Kuala Lumpur back in the 70's.We waited for a good 10 minutes outside my friend's house for him to unlock through the series of locks while my wife whispered to me,"why your friend so weird one,locking himself up with so many locks?"
Now I will tease my wife once in a while,"why you so weird one,locking yourself up with so many locks?"

Happy harvest festival

2008-05-31T01:32:00.003+08:00

To all my KDM friends!

2008 Borneo International Marathon

2008-05-23T23:39:00.006+08:00

The 2008 Borneo International Marathon will be held in October this year.According to the event co-ordinator,Mr Shan Sandhu,this is the first time in the past 20 years such an event is organised in this city.
Below is the write up provided by Mr Sandhu:

We're pretty excited about organizing this marathon as it is the first one in this city in over 20 years and is currently the only one scheduled for the island of Borneo for this year.

A Brief Introduction

The capital city of the Malaysian State of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in South East Asia.

Sabah, Malaysia's Borneo, is blessed with beautiful natural features such as:
. Mt.Kinabalu - The highest mountain in South East Asia located in Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site.
. Sipadan Island - One of the top 3 dive spots in the world.
. Sepilok - An Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
. Danum Valley Conservation Area - Home to the rare Borneo Pygmy Elephant
. Maliau Basin - Sabah's "Lost World".
. Diverse species of wildlife, marine life, flora and fauna
. Pulau Tiga - the volcanic island setting for the 1st season of the Survivor TV show.

Strategically situated in the heart of South East Asia, Sabah offers an ideal nature and adventure tourism destination and is the perfect stopover for tourists heading to all of Asia's other exotic destinations.

The Borneo International Marathon is planned for October so that it is comfortably scheduled before the Singapore Marathon in December. This provides the perfect opportunity for regular marathon and half marathon runners in the region to participate and keep in top racing condition. The Borneo International Marathon promises to offer not only a fantastic race venue, but also a memorable holiday for all. Whether your interests gravitate towards nature, sun or sea, holistic spa treatments, freshly harvested local seafood at unbeatable prices, as well as the opportunity to interact with some of the most hospitable people 5 degrees north of the equator, Sabah is truly a wonderful experience not to be missed.

With three race routes offered to both experienced and novice runners alike (full marathon, half marathon and 10KM run), we feel that this marathon will truly benefit Sabah in terms of being a venue for an international sporting event, attracting participants from not only Malaysia and South East Asia but from other regions around the world as well.

The starting and finishing point for the marathon will be at Likas Sports Stadium and the route will take runners along some major highlights in the city.

Click to enlarge
Entery Fees

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We are also raising funds and awareness for 8 charitable organizations and 10% of participants entry fees goes towards an organization of their choice

. Rumah Kanak-Kanak Bondulu, Tambunan or Tambunan Childrens Home
This home is sponsored entirely by donations and looks after children from this interior town and the surrounding villages; this is a typical rural farming community and comprises some of the poorest areas of Sabah.The money will go to help to pay for the roof on the new dormitory that they have been trying to complete for over a year now.
Contact Person: Sister Rose . Tel: +6019 8719201

. Emmanual Homes, Kudat, Sabah
Taking care of over 50 children with a small volunteer staff and very little money, this facility is very basic and the children need everything from beds to chairs. It is hoped that we can raise enough money to get them a small van so the kids can have days out. Please also see wish list from Emmanual Homes.
Contact Person: Howard Stanton. Tel: +6013 8818395

. Borneo Child Aid Society
Providing basic educational support for children living in plantations.
Office: MDLD 6057, Lorong Perdana 3, Sri Perdana, P. O. Box 61850, 91127 Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia.
Contact Person: Torben Venning . Tel: +6089 866857/862402 . Fax: +603-21784113 . Mobile: +6019 8530656
Email: info(at)borneochildaid.org.
Website: www.borneochildaid.org

. Food For The Hungry International - Sabah
Office: City Gate, Unit No. C-2-3A, Block C, 2nd Floor, Plaza Tanjung Aru, Jalan Mat Salleh, Tanjung Aru, 88100 Kota Kinabalu.
Contact Person: Melanie Chu or Horwath T. H. Liew Tong . Tel: +60 88240335 . Mobile: 016-8391768
E-mail: fhim@streamyx.com.
Website: www.sabah.org.my/fhisabah

. Mercy Malaysia
Vision: Outstanding in the delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to all.
Mission: MERCY Malaysia is a non-profit organization focusing on providing medical relief and sustainable health related development for vulnerable communities.
Core Values: We focus on rapid medical response for the assistance of communities affected by disasters. We recognise the value of working with partners and volunteers. We provide an opportunity for individuals to serve with professionalism, upholding the International Code of Conduct for Humanitarian workers. We hold ourselves accountable to our donors and beneficiaries
Website: www.mercy.org.my

. Befrienders Kota Kinabalu
Vision: A world in which fewer people feel the need to end their own lives.
Mission: To alleviate distress and help reduce the risk of suicide through emotional support and public education.
Tel: +6-088-255788 .
Website: www.befrienders.org

. SIP (Semporna Islands Project)
Community action for sustainable use and conservation of coral reefs.
Project Officer(Sabah): Helen Brunt . helen@sempornaislandsproject.com
Website: www.sempornaislandsproject.com

. Health In Harmony
Health in Harmony supports an innovative programme in West Kalimantan, Indonesia that partners with local communities to integrate high quality, affordable health care with startegies to protect the threatened rainforest.
Email: fhim@streamyx.com or anna.hallemeier@healthinharmony.org
Website: http://www.healthinharmony.org

Stop the scrap iron thieves

2008-05-06T09:00:00.005+08:00

It is high time that some thing to be done in order to stop the scrap iron theives from continuing their harmful activities.What they are doing can no longer be considered petty thefts, far from it.They have caused damages to public properties resulting in sate-wide electricity interruptions because cables,lamp posts,transformers and even base strutures of high tension masts were stolen. Other damages like tyre puntures, overturned motor-cycles and injuries to pedestrians due to missing drain covers everywhere,as widely reported by the media.
Strictly speaking,they should not be called "scrap iron thieves" because there are no more scrap iron like condemned cars, rusty BBQ stands, leaking oil drums,fallen gates, collasped fence,odds and ends left behind from finished renovation works,etc; laying around for them to steal.what they are stealing now are metal parts of public facility structures still in perfectly good conditions. They should be slapped with additional charges of damaging public properties on top of theft charges.
It is bewildering how it can be allowed to get into this serious situation.Up until now there is no real action but only words,words,words.There are 1001 excuses and bugs passing but not any realistic plan in view.
To solve this problem the relevant authorities should own up to their responsibilites collectively by doing away with the traditional way of finding and pushing all the blames to a single "scapegoat".
The first rang of the responsibility ladder are the enforcement officers like police patrolmen who should investigate immediately on spotting suspecious characters working on public structures; municipal enforcement officers who should conduct surprise checks on scrap iron collectors; SESB maintenance teams should inspect the structures in their territories regularly to spot any irregularities.These people should be replaced if found failing in their duties.
If the problem persists after several changes of officers,then the people on the next rang are at fault,because they are the ones who choose the men.Apparently,these higher ranking officers are not capable of picking the right candidates.If this also fails,then the people on yet another higher rang should be replaced until the problem is solved.
Take the municipal enforcement officer as an example:

The officer should first be replaced.
If the problem persists,then the supervisor has to go.
If after replacing the supervisor still does not solve the problem then the Ketua Bahagian is not doing his job.
If the new Division head can not solve the problem then the Mayor/Chairman is not capable of picking the right candidate and we will need a new Mayor quick.
The relevant minister should carefully select the right person now because the problem is becoming serious at this stage already.If the problem persists,the minister (Minister of Local Government and Housing for all districts except KK which is directly under the Chief Minister) should resign if not should be replaced.
If the Chief Minister refuses to take the above step, we rakyat (voters) can remove him during the next general elections as what had happened in Kedah,Penang,Perak,Selangor and Kelatan, no big deal!

It is what democratic system all about.We don't have to suffer in silence or only vent our frustrations in kopitiams now. We can make things happen if we want to, we are the BOSS.

The 2008 Sabah state elections results

2008-03-25T17:41:00.004+08:00

Sabah Barisan Nasional(BN) performed well in the recent general elections,it captured all the parliamentary and state seats except losing 1 parliamentary seat and 1 state seat to the opposition front,now the Barisan Rakyat (BR).But on closer study it is obvious that BN would have lost 7 more state seats and 1 more parliamentary seats if not for the BR's failure to co-operate by coming to an agreement on an arrangement of a 1-0n-1 situation.Well,that is the price one has to pay for being not mature and placing self interests above the mass.
Below is the details of the scores for the seats mentioned:

STATE

Constiteuncy	BN	DAP	PKR	PAS	BEBAS	BEBAS	BEBAS	BR Total	BR-BN
INANAM	5979	2864	4293	0	196	0	0	7353	1374
LIKAS	4097	3235	1888	0	182	0	0	5123	1026
LUYANG	5073	3571	2794	0	92	0	0	6365	1292
KEPAYAN	6162	4100	3658	0	0	0	0	7758	1596
KUALA PENYU	4416	0	889	0	4159	0	0	5048	632
BINGKOR	4589	0	4418	0	129	164	0	4711	122
MEROTAI	3723	0	0	913	3418	289	286	4906	1183

PARLIAMENT

Constiteuncy	BN	DAP	PKR	PAS	BEBAS	BEBAS	BEBAS	BR Total	BR-BN
SANDAKAN	8297	8121	0	0	2929	0	0	11050	2753

The Sabah BR still has a long way to go before they will mature into a well co-ordinated front like its counterparts in the Peninsular.

PS
The Opposition alliance was loosely called "Barisan Rakyat" when I first posted this article.They have subsequently announced the official name for their newly formed alliance is "Pakatan Rakyat".

Undi lah :08-03-2008

2008-03-07T12:38:00.003+08:00

To-morrow is the polling day for the 12th Malaysia general election. Again: the date is March 08 2008.
Do you know that your right to vote is the most important right for a free democratic country's citizen? So don't deny yourself this very important right,go and vote.
You spend hours and hours arguing about political issues,in kopitiam,bars,your own home and online forums.But if you don't go and vote,all this is just a pitiful waste of time and breath!
Go and vote,exercise your right.The time for actions has come,stop the talk,act now!

BN Sabah does not need Chinese votes any more?

2008-01-10T23:50:00.000+08:00

From the events that have taken place in Sabah lately,it is apparent that the Barisan Nasional (BN) is very confident it will win the up coming general election in Sabah again, without the help from the Chinese component parties.
First, a piece of land belonging to the Cantonese-Hokkien Cementry was taken back by the Sabah state government and given to the Sabah Woman Assiciation to build their new building.

Then a piece of land in Kolombong approved for the construction of the Third Campus of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Chung Hwa (China)was revoked and the land was later awarded to a company engaged in joint venture with the Sabah state government. Instead the school is given another piece of land which is much, much smaller and further from the main access road.

The most recent event is the sudden order from the Kudat Municipal Council to stop the building of a giant Mazu (Heavenly Queen) statue in Kudat.The statue is at 60% completion stage.The steering committee of the Mazu Statue project is Datuk Seri Chong Kah Kiat,the former Sabah Chief Minister.Datuk Seri Chong was holding the Minister of Tourism,Environment and Culture profolio in the Sabah state cabinet then.He rsigned from the post in protest against the stoppage of the statue project.

Whatever happened between the current Chief Minister of Sabah,Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Datuk Seri Chong is their personal affairs. But it should not involve the construction of the Mazu statue because the Mazu statue does not belong to Datuk Seri Chong alone, it belongs to all the Chineses in Sabah.The leadership of BN has mistakenly considered that this will only anger a small faction of the Chinese,namely the Taoism followers.

They are sreiously wrong, people will view this matter as not only the victimizing of the Chinese but as victimizing all the non-Muslims.Today it is the Taoists, tomorrow it maybe the Buddhists,then the Hindus or maybe the Christians? It is not that simple.

Sea Turtle Thieves

2007-04-01T16:36:00.000+08:00

Two fishing vessels from Hainam Island,China were caught for entering Malaysian waters illegally off Sabah coast. There were found some 200 sea turtles on board these two vessels. Some of them were still alive while most of them were, sadly, dead.
How is it possible that these vessels were allowed to roam our waters freely in search of the turtles. Looking at the quantity of catch on board, these vessels must have been staying in our waters for an extended period, else they would not have been able to catch so many of them. Where have the enforcement officials been? Sleeping?

Christmas fun ideas

2006-12-18T12:40:00.000+08:00

The following list of fun ideas is great for families during the Christmas season.

Click here for Christmas ideas

Tragedy on the beach again

2006-10-28T14:34:00.000+08:00

Barely two months ago 4 secondary school boys were drowned in the sea off Pantai Dalit, Tuaran.(View my earlier post)
Another 3 more lives were lost on the second day of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri at exactly the same spot again. Two 11-year old girls and a 10-year old boy from 3 separate families were drwoned while swimming in the sea on a family trip to Pantai Dalit.
Why did not the local authority take action to warn the public about this dangerous spot?
Prominent signboards should have being erected at the said beach by now. They should also provide some markers in the treacherous water to indicate where the hazards are, similar to those markers placed by the Marine Department to warn vessels about shallow sandbanks submerged in the water.
Why are the cold hearts of these officers untouched by the tragedies and do some thing to prevent a recurrence promtly?

Happy Depavali

2006-10-26T16:28:00.000+08:00

Happy Depavali !

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

2006-10-25T16:28:00.000+08:00

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI

Flights Frequencies To Be Back To Normal

2006-09-11T22:05:00.000+08:00

The Minister of Transport Malaysia, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy declared that the two airlines companies in Malaysia will reinstate up to 90% of its previous flights frequencies to Sabah.
When the domestic routes in Sabah was taken over by Air Asia through its subsidairy Federal Air Xspress (FAX) in August 01 2006, the number of flights between KL,Miri and Sabah and those within Sabah was cut from 314 to 210, a reduction of 104 flights per month. This had caused undue inconvenience to the people such as missed connecting flights and long waiting lists. The angry passengers complained in the media and also through their respective assemblymen.
Under public pressure both MAS and Air Asia agreed to increase the number of flights to 282, ie. about 90% of the number before August 2006.
It is difficult to comprehend what those people at high positions are doing. Why can't they be more creative and innovative when trying to improve the performance of organistions under their care, it appears to me that the only way they know is to cut cost, down-sizing, offering less scope of services and going backwards. If making things difficult for the rakyat is what they call improving the services, anyone also can sit in their places and do their jobs, no need to look for people with impressive high educations and experience lah.

Stiffer Penalties For Scrap Iron Thefts

2006-09-07T15:34:00.000+08:00

The Sabah government has instructed the state prosecutor's office to draft out new laws in order to impose stiffer penalties for scrap iron theives and those buyers of their loots. The new penalties may even include revoking their trading licences.
But will this be effective if the enforcement personnels are not determined to stop these rampant theft of public properties like drain covers, grilles, lamp post fuse and boxes and high tension cables.
If the officers spend their time catching traffic offenders and spending long time interrogating them by the roadsides, instead of checking out the scrap iron merchants for illegal items. If the merchants are smart enough to hide the loots in another place, but they have to ship them out eventually. Then they can be stopped half way to the port or alternatively seek the co-operations of the custom officers to check their items thoroughly before allowing them to be shipped out of Sabah. This will call for some extra work and a lot of determination but it will be well worth it if this will stop rampant thefts of public properties hence ending the misery of the people.

Put Prominent Sign Boards To Warn Visitors

2006-08-24T13:31:00.000+08:00

Four young active Form-4 students were drowned at Pantai Dalit near Tuaran two days ago. They were amongst seventeen students from the same school, SMK SANZAC Sembulan, who went to take part in a community project, building shelters for poor children in the area (some reports said it was a mushroom shed for a blind couple).
On their way home they wanted to wash up their sweaty bodies after a hard day's work. Their teacher agreed with them, kind of rewarding them for their contribution towards community works, and detoured to the beach which is about one km away. They waded out in the seemingly calm sea to a depth of about chest high.
The teacher called out to them to get ashore and to head for home after about 15 minutes in the water. But before they could respond the sea suddenly turned rough, a huge wave washed away 6 of the students. One of them who is a strong swimmer, managed to swim to safety and another was rescued by a lifeguard from a nearby resort on a water-skii . The other 4 were drowned.
As a parent of 2 kids myself, while looking at the photos in the news papers in which crying parents hugging the dead bodies of their sons, I felt their pain deeply.
What went wrong? Like the Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Hj Aman said, "Don't allow people to swim there if it is dangeours to do so!" The local authority should have put up sign boards warning people about the dangers of possible sudden huge waves and under currents in that area. How much does it cost to plant a sign board there?
Do not blame the teacher, do not blame any parents for that matter, who takes their children to the beach. The beach is there for us to enjoy, but we must be made aware of any hiden dangers there is, so that we will avoid those areas.
If taking the children to the beach is so wrong, then why do the government still try with all means to attract foreign tourists to our beaches? Are we knowingly putting them in danger? Of course not, only certain spots are not safe to swim in, and adequate warnings should be posted in the appropriate places.
Please act now before more tragedies occur.

Unfair To Raise Electricity Tariff

2006-06-28T15:31:00.000+08:00

The Malaysia National Energy Board (Tenaga) is planning to raise the electricity tariff in Sabah, meaning comsumers inSabah will have the pay the same rates as their counter parts in Penisular Malaysia.
This is utterly unfair, the west Malaysian states are enjoying reliable and stable electricity supply whereas the power interruptions in Sabah are much more frequent as compared to that in West Malaysia.
Until and unless our electricity supply is on par with that in West Malaysia in the following areas, it is unfair to talk about a uniform rates :

availibility (how long the supply is available before the next power interruption)
reliability (how steady is the supply regarding spikes and drops)
supports (how responsive are the staff to requests for help)

We should get what we paid for, period.

Menggatal and Telipok under 4-foot of flood water again

2006-06-03T17:14:00.000+08:00

With the 7-7 2005 floods still fresh in their memory, the residents of Menggatal and Telipok found their houses in 4-foot flood water again.
The residents should do something about it and not just complaining in the news papers. It is useless to complaint, the authorities will simply give some unacceptable explaination and forget about it. What they should do is to form a "flood compensations" committee to take court actions against the Sabah state government and the local town boards for damages.

Dropoff Point at Sipadan Island Damaged By Barge

2006-05-20T13:11:00.000+08:00

Scuba divers, tour operators, tourism promoters and nature lovers in Sabah were shocked to read about the world famous "Dropoff Point", just a stone's throw from the Sipadan Island, was damaged by a huge barge carrying building materials for construction works on the island.
The "Dropoff Point" is not referring to the jetty for dropping off visitors used by the boats and ferry, it is a rare coral cliff which "drops off" suddenly to a sheer steep depth in the ocean bed. Very few places in the world have such cliff in the ocean bed.
There are also a number of caves of varying sizes and depth, but all are abundance in rare and unique marine life. Some of the caves are excellent training grounds for cave scuba diving.
The barge found resting on top the "Dropoff Points" scrapping off all corals from the top of the "Dropoff Points". It is not yet clear whether the fragile and thin ceilings of the caves mentioned above have collasped under the weight of the barge.
It is a real sad case, we are blessed with such a wonderful gift from Mother nature, yet there are still people who will not see the uniqueness of it all. They destroyed it for their own selfish gains.
It was learned that usually heavy vessels are not allowed near the island, only small boats, called kumpits, though small in size but are capable of carrying heavy materials are allowed under tight control. How on earth that huge barge (it was as tall as the building on the island as seen from the photo) got there ? Now everybody is pointing fingers at each other.
But that is beside the point. The point is the Sabah state government announced two years ago gallantly that in order to preserve the eco-system around the island, all the 7 existing resorts on the island had to be demolished, and NO MORE structure of any kind is to be allowed on this island. The 7 said resorts were subsequently demolished and relocated to the Mabul Island nearby. As one politician from opposition party asked, "Why are there still construction works going on in the island two years after?"
I like to hear the answer, I believe many people like to hear, too.
The Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Musa Hj Aman has declared that Sipadan Island will be closed to prevent further damage and allow the island to regenerate. Is this a move to punish the public who voiced their opinions? The people who caused the damages should be punished not the tourists who did nothing wrong and who bring revenues into the state. It may take hundreds of years for the coral reef to regenerate, or may never regenerate into its past unique shape again. Even if it will, are we supposed to wait for a few hundred years before allowing visitors to go to the island again?

Federal Cabinet Committee To Handle Illegal Immigrants Problems

2006-05-06T16:20:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abd Razak told repoters that the Federal Cabinet has formed a committee to solve the incerasingly serious problems created by the presence of the large number of illegal immigrants entering Sabah from Indonesia and the Philippines.
He said the Federal Task Force formed in the 90s is not effective in dealing with this problem. The numbers of immigrants not only did not reduce but has increased instead since its formation.
It is a good sign because the federal government at least has acknowledged the problem existed. Hopefully the committee will find a solution, or to stop the numbers of illegal immigrants from incerasing daily.

Air Asia To Take Over Domestic Routes in Sabah

2006-04-30T14:03:00.000+08:00

It is learned that domestic routes in Sabah currently covered by MAS will be taken over by Air Asia. This is good news because the fares for travelling betwen towns by air within Sabah will come down substantially.
In fact what we need in Sabah is a low cost means to travel by air, not the VIP treatments (a cup of juice or sandwich) offered by MAS.
Hopefully Air Asia will maintain their mormal practice of providing cheap air travel and not to increase it to an unreasonably high level now that they have beaten MAS and do not face any more competetion.

Sabah Education Is Given Special Attention

2006-04-22T09:46:00.000+08:00

Datuk Masidi Manjun, Sabah State Minister of Youth & Sports, will take on an extra rsponsibility to ensure that the plans to upgrade the standard of education in Sabah during the 9MP are implemented smoothly.
He will work closely with the Federal Education Department to see that the level of education in Sabah do not lag behind other states in Malaysia.
Judging from the enthusiatic way he handles the Youth & Sports matters in the past, he will also do a good job in his new added duties.

Mengggatal Temporary Detention Camp Riots

2006-04-10T13:35:00.000+08:00

300 odds inmates of Menggatal Temporary Detention Camp for illegal immigrants from Indonesia and Philippines started a riot and 62 of them broke lose and escaped.
The cause of the riot was due to the slow response of medical personnel to attend a child inside the camp, and the inmates started yelling and more and more joined in until the situation was out of control.
This showed that the personnel watching over the detenees did not realize who they are dealing with, they thought these people are like our law abidding (timid) citizens and become complacent. There were many riots broken out in illegal immigrants detention camps in West Malaysia in the past, and our people here failed to learn a lesson from them. How sad!

The Kota Kinabalu International Airport Extension

2006-04-01T16:36:00.000+08:00

The implementation of extension works to the Kota Kinabalu International airport has run into unexpect snag.
The state government was expecting some oppositions from the Kota Kinabalu Turf Club which will have to be evacuated to give way to the new extension. Surprisingly the KKTC did not put up much of a protest and agreed to move. However, the government is facing problem from an unexpected quarter, the residents of the Kampung Maang.
There is a squatters colony in the state land where the new airport extension is going to be built. The squatters naturally have to relocated, the new relocation place is in a forest reserve near the Kampung Maang. The villagers from that kampung stage a rigorous protests because they fear that the 1,000 sqautters to be relocated will upset the community composition in the area. The majority of the Maang community is Kadazandusun, while the mojority of the squatters are local Malays, and illegal immigrants from Indonesia and Phillipines.
The State assemblyman, the member of Parliament representing that area as well as politicans from other political parties were also present during the protest. Four senior members from UMNO accused them as betraying the Barisan Nasional (BN) coaliation state government by joining the protests. Then heated debates ensued, joined by several ministers from various component parties of BN.
The Sabah government then assured the villagers that strict screening will be carried out to make sure that only squatters with vilid Malaysian identity cards will be relocated to the Maang area. However, the villagers are not convinced because they believed that the Malaysian identity card, MyCard is too easy to come by.
The newest aprticipant in the debates is the Sabah branch chief of the Malaysia Human Rights Council, Simon Sipaun. He said that let the Law run its course, Malaysian and non Malaysian squatters should be treated alike so that there will be no double standard. Meaning either relocate all the squatters or none should be relocated but be paid with monetary terms instead.
Interesting,interesting! Apparently there are not less than 4 schools of opinions on this issue :

Do not build new shelters for the evacuatees, simply compensate them with money
Build new shelters for genuine Malaysians only, forget about the illegal immigrants
No double standard, should build new homes for all evacuatees including non Malaysians
Find a new relocation site, eg. Kinarut
Abundon the extension project, build a new airport at Kimanis
Go on arguing till the Federal government withdraw the allocation fund at end of year

The bewildering thing is that we read in the news papers about squatter houses are being demolished almost every month, everybody clap their hands and praised the authority. But why is this time so much protests and rejections? Is it because this time big sum of money is involved?

Sabah's Oldest Chinese Cemetery Vanished

2006-03-07T11:25:00.000+08:00

The president of the Kota Kinablau Chinese Chamber Of Commerce Datuk Sari Tan disclosed in a press conference yesterday that the oldest Chinese cemetery in Kota Kinabalu, the Hokkein - Cantonese Cemetery dose not exist according to the Land and survey Department of Sabah. Datuk Tan said he and his colleagues at the KKCC had applied for a land tittle for the said cemetery for past one year and a half. He said they had gone from one government department to another to get the approval without any success.
The reason given by the Land office to refuse approving the title is because there is no sign of any graves in the piece of land in question. Datuk Tan and his group has shown photographs with dooms clearly in view, but was not accepted as proof by the Land office.
The Land office said that the piece of land belongs to the Japanese Cemetery and The Sabah Sports Council. The Sports Council is planning to lease out the land to the Women Association Of Sabah to build their headquarter building.
Children and relatives of those who are buried in the Hokkien - Cantonese Cemetery should act fast to prevent the land to fall into others' hands. Don't wait until you hear the sound of bull dozers and the bones of your ancestors laying around exposed to dry under the hot sun like salted fish. We Chinese beleive this is very bad for feng sui and all your current success, big cars, comfortable condominiums will vanish quickly. So enjoy it while it lasts.

Formation of Patriotic Forum on Identity Cards (PaCiFIC)

2006-02-12T16:51:00.000+08:00

The Patriotic Forum on Identity Cards (PaCiFIC) was formed on 14 January 2006 with several Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as members.

Its Protem President Datuk Patrick Sindu and Secretary-General Joshua Kong told a press confrerence the purpose of this forum is to convey the people's wish of actions by the government against the ever-increasing and over-staying illegal immigrants in Sabah. It is not meant to be a pressure group. It only acts as a channel for the people to voice their concern over this matter.

They will begin a "signature drive" in May, and the result will be compiled and pass to the Yang Di Pertuan Agung (Malaysia's King), the Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and the Cheif Minister of Sabah Datuk Musa Aman. They will not know what will be the outcome after handing in the collected signatures, but they will do "what is to be done, and face our next generations with clear conscience".

Passengers stranded at new bus terminal

2006-02-02T22:37:00.000+08:00

It was reported in the local news that several hundreds who had booked thier tickets much earlier could not board the long distance buses to go home at the new North Bus Terminal.

These passengers were plan to rush home to be join their families on the east coast for the reunion dinner on the Chinese New Year's eve. Apparently the "new" computer system installed at the new bus terminal srewed up and resulted in double bookings. Many passengers with legitimate tickets found their seats occupied by someone who came earlier, and these early birds also had bought legitimate tickets.

On seeing this some passengers swithched plans and travelled home by taxi (guess the taxi drivers must be laughing to the banks after the holidays!) or by air (if they could get a seat at this peak season). Others simply gave up and camped at the bus termina for the night (reunion dinner with total strangers?)

The Mayor denied the news report today,claiming that the numbers of passengers affected were around 20 or so, and they were taken care of by providing them with alternative buses. Who would you belive, 20 passengers or several hundreds passengers affected ?

But I still can't understand why did the authority insist on moving the bus terminal in a hurry? Why couldn't they wait until the mad rush home during the long festive season to be over? The answer is in one word - insensitive .

Keningau girl is a possible astronault

2006-01-22T19:20:00.000+08:00

A kadazan girl from Keningau, a small interior town in Sabah will stand a chance to be selected as the first astronault from Malaysia.The 24 years old girl will be competing with 26 other Malaysians for the position.
Best of lucks!

New terminal for out-station buses

2006-01-16T11:15:00.000+08:00

The only one word to describe the situation at the new bus terminals-confusions!

Why can't the authority do a trial run before the real thing? Why is the rush?

Life-hanging-onto a hanging bridge

2006-01-12T09:58:00.000+08:00

I remember posting a similar situation somewhere in this blog before. This time it is at another location, but the scenario is the same.

About 300 students of Sekolah Menengah Kota Marudu II have to cross a suspension bridge across Sungai Sumbilingon to reach the school daily. It is no big deal if the 150m long bridge is in good conditions. But the bridge is in very bad shape due to age (built 20 years ago) and lack of proper maintenace. Out of the original 5 floor boards, only 1 remained.
The students have to cling tightly to one of the cables and tread carefully on the single floor board. Any slip,they will fall into the waters of the river below.
The students are from the near by villages : Salaping,Popok,Mangkupa,Radu and Kampar. The village heads of these kampung had appealed to the local authority for assistance but there seem to be no response.

Guess it is the Malaysian way,nothing will be done until a tregedy happens,then everyone will be pushing the blame around and finally there will be some actions. I pray this will not happen!

Preserve the Heart of Borneo

2006-01-09T11:52:00.000+08:00

WWF Malaysia chairman Tengku Datuk Adlin appealled to the 3 countries sharing the Borneo Island namely Indonesia (East Kalimantan),Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak) and Brunei to take actions to preserve the lowland rainforest on this island.
This stretch of rainforest is the "Heart of Borneo",keeping the balance of the ecosystem by recycling the carbon dioxide,decay animals carcasses,decay dead plants.
If the logging and the shift-cultivation activities are not checked in time the Kalimantan portion will soon disappear.
So let's work together to save this green lung of our land.

Sabah Wetland Conservation Society

2006-01-08T23:26:00.000+08:00

The Likas Wetland Sanctuary Management committee is now called the Sabah Wetland Conservation Society when it obtained approval from the registrar Of Society. It now has the status of a non government organization,receiving only moral support but no financial support from the government.
The Sabah branch of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has formed a working committee headed by Sabah State Secretary,Datuk K.Y. Mustafa to plant more mangrove trees along Sabah coast lines. The Sabah Wetland Conservation Society is expected to be a key player in the project to be funded under the 9th Malaysia Plan. One of its subsidiary, the Kota Kinabalu City Birds Sanctuary's manager- Puan Ainon Salam is elected to sit in the committee also.
She told reporters that Sabah will not have any problem in getting enough seedlings for the project because it has abundance of mangrove trees--about 1/3 of Malaysia's mangrove trees are found in Sabah.
Puan Ainon also disclosed that the KK City Birds Sanctuary will open earlier by 2 hours every day on the suggestion of Tengku Datuk Zainal Adlin,Chairman of Malaysia WWF. In the past the Birds Sanctuary had received complaints from visitors that there was no birds in the sanctuary to watch. One reason could be due to the center opened only at 8.00am,by then the birds have all left to hunt for food or hiding in the redwoods forest (mangrove) from the hot sun.
She also pointed out that the birds sanctuary is different from a birds park,where all the birds are kept within the vicinity with nesting or cages. Whereas in the birds sanctuary the birds are free to come and go as they like,the number varies with the hours of the day also with the seasons of the year. They will fly here to seek shelter when the climate in their home countries is getting cold and will go home when the climate at home gets warmer.
The number of birds here are growing due to the good works of students from various school and volunteers who helped to clean up the rivers and the surroundings. As the water becomes clean,more fishes will grow and attract more birds to come.
Keep up the good work everyone!

Out-stations taxi terminals

2006-01-04T16:16:00.000+08:00

According to the statements of the Chief Minister of Sabah yesterday,the petition campaign by the 7 taxi drivers associations will not deter the Sabah state government's decision to relocate the long distance taxi and buses terminals out of town.In 3 months time they will be relocated to Tg Aru (The South Terminal) for taxi/buses plying the towns on the south,and to Inanam (The North Terminal) for taxi/buses going to northern towns.
Ummm......3 months is a long time,maybe the government will change its mind after one month,after all the taxi drivers and the pasar hawkers are good party election campaign workers.One should respect their wishes,else comes election time..........

Are you going for the New Year eve dip?

2005-12-30T17:25:00.000+08:00

Sabah people believe that to bathe at the beaches at new year's eve as the clock strikes 12 at midnight will wash away all bad lucks and bring good ones.

Will you be joining the huge crowd? If you do,be prepared to park your cars far away from the beach and walk a few km for the bath. Else you will be caught in the massive traffic jam and may take you longer than walking home!

Happy New Year!

Abnormal increase of population rate

2005-12-29T14:34:00.000+08:00

The Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah,Datuk Pairin Kittingan, is echoing the concerns raised by the human rights commission in Sabah that there is an abnormal increase of Sabah's population over the decades (69,790 in1970 to 3 millions today). He is worried that many illegal immigrants are been absorbed into the population becoming Sabah citizens.
If this is true the original local citizens will be out numbered by illegal-turned-citizens. It sends chill down one's spine on hearing this.
Then it will be quite possible that Sabah may have a Filipino or Indon Chief Minister one day! If this alient CM decided to break away from Malaysia and joined forces with dissidents from Acheh (Indonesia) and Zamboanga (southern Phillipines),to form a new country Sab(ah)indo(nesia)zam(boanga)-->SABINDOZAM,there will not be peace in this region any more!
The Acheh diisidents signed the peace agreement with the Indonesian government recently not because they wanted peace,they are buying time to recover from the Tsunami disaster and waiting for the conditions in Sabah to be ripen.
Conspiracy or my own fantacy?

UK Fun Fair comes to town

2005-12-27T14:17:00.000+08:00

The UK Fun Fair has come to Kota Kinabalu,just in time for Christmas! There are many interesting,exciting things available,like the Big Wheel,the octopus,the merry-go-round,the Canyon Raft,the Bump-Bump cars.They are of high quality unlike the others which had come here before. They will stay here for 1 or 2 months then will go to Sarawak and the Phillipines. Check it out!

Merry Christmas

2005-12-24T17:02:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!

Sabah Medical Center

2005-12-21T14:17:00.000+08:00

I copy the content of today's blog from a columnist in a local Chinese daily. It started me thinking so might as well post it here to share with those who do not read Chinese.

The column says:

The Sabah Medical Center originally had a very good locality near Kingfisher Park. No trafiic jams,on a hill top over looking the Yayasan Building (eh..Tun Mustapha Building),cool fresh air.Ideal for patients to rest and get well.
It surprised everyone when it sold the building to the Federal government and moved to the present location near Damai.The road leading to the new SMC is narrow and congested.The situation will be worsened when the schools reopen soon---Tchung Tsin School nearby with its 1000+ students from affluent families,the traffic they bring in usually chokes up the access road.

Imagine an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient trying to get through the bumper-to-bumper jam to reach the SMC!

Moreover,the new SMC got only a temporary occupancy certificate of 6 months after much controversy when it first moves in.
Why did they decide to move, and why not to a better place?

Gaya Christmas Carnival 2005

2005-12-20T22:34:00.000+08:00

Starting 19th December,every night 7.00pm-10pm,the oldest street in KK,Gaya Street will be alive with the Gaya Christmas Carnival 2005 jointly organised by the City Hall and the Sabah Council Of Churches.The said carnival will last for 5 days,featuring carols,dances,cultural shows,singing.There will be stalls on both sides of the street selling food,handicrafts,house-hold products,etc.The objective is to raise RM20,000 for the various charity organisations.
Please join in be merry and contribute to a good cause.

Borneo Games 17th-21th December 2005

2005-12-17T17:03:00.000+08:00

After being dormant for many years,the Borneo Games is revived.
The venue for the first revived Borneo Games is at the Likas Sports Complex,Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Come and cheer your teams. Anyway,it's school holidays bah!

Quiet Chrismas this year

2005-12-16T10:51:00.000+08:00

Chrismas is around the corner,but I can't feel the excitement yet. Seems everybody is not ready to receive it .
The streets and shopping complexes are not dressed for X'mas yet. Not many seasonal stuff are on display and you really have to look hard before you spot a X'mas tree in any of the shopping complexes.Even if you see one,it is small and not as colourful as before.
We are going to have a quiet X'mas this year.

Sabindo Land Disputes

2005-12-09T17:18:00.000+08:00

Land theives are getting bolder and bolder,they dare even steal government's lands nowadays!
Lands officailly ear-marked for recreations and parking are quietly converted into commercial buildings (if they were not caught in time,that is) in the middle of the town.
Friends used to tell stories about their lands passed down from grand parents were mysteriously possessed by strangers. I didn't believe them,I do now.

Now that a direct order from the State Cabinet was issued sometime ago,but works are still going on at the said sites.Is there law and order in Sabah,or does anybody care?

Some very stern words came out of the Chief Minister's mouth regarding this isuue,will it make any difference? Let's wait and see.

Air disaters on the increase

2005-09-07T20:50:00.000+08:00

Did any one count how many planes crashed lately? The frequency of these crashes is really worrying the frequent air travellers.This may indirectly affect the Sabah tourism industry.Myabe people will prefer travelling by sea now.

Please post news about your organisations' events

2005-09-02T22:40:00.000+08:00

Due to work commitment I might not be able to post as often as I wish the next few weeks.
Please help keep this blog active,events organisers are invited to post your event schedules here.
However,MLM and affiliate advertisements are not encouraged.

I read about the unfair handling of the selection of MSSB gymnastic team today.The Sabah Sports Council claims that the Sports Committee in the Education Ministry had selected unqualified candidates as representatives,while 3 candidates with Junior Certificate(what is this?) were side-lined.
It is really sad that young students are exposed to the crocked ways of the grown-ups at such an early age!
My kid (she is in another sports) suffered the same fate 2 years ago.She was announced to be included in the State team by the working committee immediately after the selection tournament. After few months of intensive training,she packed her bag and was ready to go.On the eve of departure,I received a phone call from the school informing me that my kid was dropped from the team by the education department because there was a mistake.
I called the education department and met a stooge from that department to find out what the mistake was (if there was really a mistake).He explained they rechecked the scores and found the mistake,which I could not accept.They should have spotted the mistake the very day of the selection tournament not after going through months of intensive training and be dropped. Even though that stooge from the education department apologized profusely,I had a very very strong urge to smash up his stupid face!
Luckily my kid was a real strong girl,she cried only for one night.

ANS Exhibition

2005-08-31T23:32:00.000+08:00

Arkib Negeri Sabah is currently holding an exhibition about the history of Sabah at Palm Square,4th Floor, Center Point Sabah.
Many rarely shown old photographs and document of great historical significance are in display there. I urge you to pay a visit to the show,better still if you can bring along your children.You will have a better understanding of the Sabah's history.

Sabah government and police sued by businessman

2005-08-27T11:26:00.000+08:00

A young businessman from Sabah is suing the government and the police for wrongfully bringing him to the courts,and then acquitted.He is demanding for damages amounting more than RM4 millions.
What has become of Sabah courts nowaday? It has been turned into the playground for the rich and powerful!

The missing accused of Sabah courts

2005-08-26T18:48:00.000+08:00

The Sabah High Court Judge remarked that there is an alarming rates of accused jumping bails and wanted the police and the Public Prosecutor office to explain. The Attroney-General in turns blamed the court for granting bails to the accused without studying the backgrounds of the accused and the severity of the cases involved. No wonder the crime rates in on the rise too!

I also observed a new trend in Sabah courts recently.There too many cases of accused being acquited (buang case). Some cases are extremely serious ones,like murder,drug-traffic and possesion of fire-arms.Who is to be blamed for these cases?

Welldone Sabah tourism operators

2005-08-23T23:06:00.000+08:00

The Malaysia Tourism Award Night was held on 19th August.
Participants from Sabah has won 9 first places from 51 categories.This is really good,meaning we almost sapu 1/5 of all the top places! keep it up and bring in more tourists.

Civic minded drivers wanted

2005-08-21T16:48:00.000+08:00

As stated in my post Friday you will see many reports on road accidents on Monday.
This morning news report regarding an accident involving a patient-carrying ambulance.This got to be the top!
According to the report,the ambulance had its siren on full blast,yet somebody not only did not give way to the ambulance but also rammed into it causing it to land on its side.What kind of driver is that? Didn't his school teache him civic?
I guess civic classes not only needed to be taught in the schools,but also needed in driving schools where the driving instructors should teach their students road manners and civic mindedness.

2005-08-19T08:34:00.000+08:00

It's Friday,eve of the weekends!
I can feel the excitement floating in the air.
Parents please remind your kids that weekends is for relaxations not to get into troubles.Stay away from drunkardness,drugs,fights and illegal racings.
It's always sad to read on Monday morning the bad news about injuries due to fights,accidents,etc ocurred during the weekends....
The car companies are promoting "zero" deposit policy to push their sales,and this has helped to worsen the situation. Those young dare-devils on motor cycles who are saving up to purchase a car,sudenly find that they do not have to save and wait for a long time till the day they can own a car comes.They can do so right now!
So they have their own Kancil overnight,but they have not changed their habits while on the highways.To change from motor cycle riders to car drivers.They drive as if they are still rideing their motor cycles,cutting in and out of lanes,going on full throttle..This is the reason the increase of accidents involving Kancils and other smaller cars lately.
I dread reading news on Monday and after public holidays.

Minimum Rates For 5-star hotel rooms next year

2005-08-18T01:50:00.000+08:00

The government announced that the minimum rate for a room in a 5-star hotel/resort will be fixed at USD 80.00 starting next year.
This draws a lot of objections from hoteliers and the tourism induxtry.They fear this move will have a negative effect on Malaysia's tourism industry.Sabah will feel this effect particurly strong,bacause tourism plays a significant roll in Sabah's economy.
Our tourism industry's selling point is to offer first class facility at second class fares.We will lose this competitive advange over the neighbouring countries with the new ruling imposed. Our neighbours can compete with us in prices but not in facility quality.Comparing apple to apple we are much cheaper. We hope the government will change their mind on this.

Sabah Tea Adventures Race has successfully completed. Top places in all categories are won by local participants beating competitors from Italy,Germany,The UK,Australia,Phillipines,Indonesia.....Sybas!

There will be an orchird exhibition this month,please be on the look out.

YB Chong Kah Kiat Officiated Hand Crafts Center

2005-08-14T14:53:00.000+08:00

The handicrafts center housed at the Wawasan Plaza is officiated by the Minister Of Tourism,YB Chong Kah Kiat on 12th August 2005. This center boasts of 23 stalls all selling genuine Sabahan native hand crafts. He said that foreign tourists love to buy our local hand crafts as souvenirs but were misled by the tour guides to buy Phillipino crafts at the Phillipino stalls in the past. He hoped this sad case of mistrust will end with the opening of this center.
He also urged the stall owners to play their part by displaying quality products.

(There was a handicrafts center similar to this at the Karamunsing Complex.Why was it a flop? Due to the betrayal of the tour guides or due to the tidak-apa attidue of the stall owners themselves,or both?)

The Sabah Tea Plantation Adventures Race has started today.Over 110 participants are fighting the many prizes up for grab.More and more foreign participants are taking part now.It's a real good sign!

Land Below The Winds

2005-08-12T17:27:00.000+08:00

Visit Sabah-land below the winds(The Trade Winds that is) while it is still beautiful before human's greed destroys it.