08Sep

FOSTER maps out plans for sea turtles conservation

SANDAKAN: The Executive Committee of Friends of Sea Turtles Education & Research (FOSTER) gathered on Tuesday for their general meeting to map out plans for the 4th quarter of 2017 and the 1st quarter of 2018. FOSTER is a part of a turtle conservation programme made available after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sabah Wildlife Department in July 2013 after its involvement in the setting up of a turtle hatchery on Libaran Island in 2012. The programme includes creating awareness for the locals and visitors on the conservation value of sea turtles, undertaking research projects with the goal of better understanding the life cycle of sea turtles surrounding the Libaran Island area and to make available research programmes on sea turtles for international and local students. From 2012 until July 2017, the hatchery had collected 26,672 Green turtle eggs and 10,598 Hawksbill turtle eggs.  Of these, 21,196 baby Green turtles and 7,474 baby Hawksbill turtles were successfully released into the ocean. During the meeting, the committee made an evaluation of the programmes undertaken by FOSTER, such as community beach cleaning and dialogues with villagers at Libaran Island. FOSTER is also working on a book on the turtle programme on Libaran which will be published by the first quarter of 2018. The book will record experiences on the island and will contain scientific data on sea turtle landings. Seeing more work ahead, FOSTER will be contacting Sabah Wildlife Department to discuss on training more Honorary Wildlife Wardens to handle some of the anticipated work. The tasks of these wardens will include patrolling the streets of Sandakan for illegal turtle eggs seller and turtle protection work on Libaran Island. The discussion ended with the committee members having an afternoon tea at the newly opened Mango Garden Restaurant in Sepilok. Readers who are looking for further information could contact the president of FOSTER, Alexander Yee via email at forsterseaturtle@gmail.com. Source: The Borneo Post
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08Sep

Sabah honoured to host 7th Malaysia Unesco day

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah  is honoured to be chosen as host of the seventh Malaysia Unesco Day celebration from Sept 9 to 10 in Kundasang,  Ranau, about 98 km from here, more than 50 years since Malaysia became a member of Unesco. State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the event, to be officiated at by Malaysia’s Education Minister-cum-president of the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco (SKUM), Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, would also be attended by Dr Shahbaz Khan, director of and representative of Unesco, Jakarta, as an invited guest. “The event aims to increase the visibility and role of the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco and to strengthen cooperation between the commission and government agencies, non-governmental organisations and the public,” Masidi told a press conference, here,yesterday. SKUM consists of six permanent sub-committees which include the Education Ministry, Higher Education Ministry, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry. “Bringing the Malaysia Unesco Day celebration to Sabah, particularly to Kundasang, Ranau, is timely and essential to ensure the public and local communities are well informed of the government’s serious effort to ensure the well-being of our public and local native communities through conservation of the environment and its associated socio-cultural elements,” Masidi said. — Bernama Source: The Borneo Post
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07Sep

Borneo Eco Film Festival to showcase 18 films from around the world

KOTA KINABALU: The seventh edition of Borneo Eco Film Festival (BEFF) will be screening 18 films from around the world on Sept 22-24 at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall in Sabah. BEFF director Melissa Leong said among the participating countries besides Malaysia are United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Turkey, Myanmar, The Netherlands and Singapore. Melissa said seven short films would be screened during the BEFF ‘365 Fringe Screening’ at selected locations around Sabah throughout the year. “The three-day festival is an annual non-profit event celebrating Borneo’s biocultural diversity through showcasing environmental films and nurturing local community film making. “During the festival, cinephiles are treated to Asian and Southeast Asian premieres of documentaries that highlight a variety of issues from elephant conservation to indigenous land rights,” she said at a press conference here yesterday, adding that all the film screenings were free to the public. Melissa noted that one of the films that would touch the hearts of people in Sabah titled ‘Mount Kinabalu — North Borneo 1961’ and produced by the UK Royal Society was filmed in 1961 on old film reels discovered in the Royal Society archives. Some films highlighted insects as delicacies, how the fashion industry impacts the environment and how cats became an integral part of a city. Besides the film-screenings, the festival would also feature educational talks, discussion panels, workshops and an Eco Art Carnival showcasing eco-themed art installations as well as an arts and crafts market. In conjunction with the festival, BEFF organised the Suara community filmmaking programme with a series of film making workshops since March for the indigenous and local community, whose films would premiere on the final day (Sept 24) of the festival. Further information and updates on the festival are available at www.beff.org.my or on BEFF’s Facebook page. — Bernama Source : The Borneo Post
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06Sep

Potential sport tourism product

Kota Kinabalu: Anime, Cosplay and Gaming conventions like the ongoing OtaFuse 2017 in Suria Sabah have huge potential to be a Sport Tourism product that can attract international visitors. OtaFuse 2017 is a two-day event exhibition focusing on Japanese Pop Culture organised by the Japanese Animation and Comic Fan Club Sabah for the seventh time this year since 2010. Its organiser Mohd. Hanafi Light said they are expecting about 3,500 visitors excluding participants, this year. "This is all started from passion where we gather people who like Anime and Japanese Culture into one place to meet new friends and showcase their talents. "This is an event where youth would normally attend but we get older participants who are really into the culture, so we plan to express the youth's talent with the Ministry of Tourism and Information now fully supporting us in hope we could attract more and more people. "We also hope that the Youth and Sports Ministry will support us in future that we will be able to achieve a goal of 50,000 visitors like the ACG event in Kuala Lumpur," said Hanafi. Hanafi also added that Suria Sabah had fully sponsored the venue as this will be the third time using the Exhibition Hall. Another highlight of the convention was the special guest's like cosplayer BaoBao from Hong Kong, Rikka from Kuala Lumpur and special guest cosplayer Yuriko Tiger, an Italian talent and model who is currently working at Japan. Yuriko said this is her first convention abroad and had never been to Kota Kinabalu before but she was very happy to see the amount of fans coming to the event to meet and greet her further adding that the locals here are very friendly. Another Cosplayer, Rangga Kanchiel, said he came all the way from Bandung, Indonesia to participate in OtaFuse 2017. "I am surprised by the number of participants here on how friendly and passionate they are since I have once participated in the C2E2 Comic and Entertaintment Expo in Chicago, U.S.A. Meanwhile, two tournaments were hosted during OtaFuse, popular fighting game Tekken 7 and The Lab: Longbow Virtual Reality exposing the hidden talent of the ever-rising popularity of E-Sports. Virtual Dimension co-founder Geoffrey Sinn said that he is surprised that not many people in KK have ever experienced VR technology before and is glad to showcase his exhibition booth during the event. "Doing this roadshow is a good thing as we get to introduce new technologies to the people where they may acknowledge the existence of VR but have never experienced it before," said Geoffrey. Other highlights of the event were the Arts & Crafts Alley featuring local artists showcasing their artworks, as well as booths selling Japanese Anime merchandises and hobby collectibles. - Locksley Ng Source: Daily Express
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06Sep

Anjung Selera Tanjung Lipat redevelopment launched

KOTA KINABALU:  Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman yesterday launched the Anjung Selera Tanjung Lipat redevelopment project. The 2.47-acre project when completed, will offer 51,130 square feet of tenancy space for Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the food and beverage, retail and services sectors. It is a joint project between TERAJU under the Entrepreneur Development Programme and Modal lnsan Bumiputera Sabah with the Perbadanan Pembangunan Ekonomi Sabah (SEDCO) through its subsidiary, SEDCOVEST Holdings Sdn Bhd and Kota Kinabalu City Hall as owners of the land area. The redevelopment is to be built at a cost of RM13.5 million commencing September 2017 and to be completed by December 2018.  It will also feature 112 car park lots to facilitate ease of traffic to the venue. Musa earlier  chaired the Sabah Bumiputera Economic Council meeting yesterday. He said the State Government aims to produce more human resource with high potential from among the senior management level of government-linked companies (GLCs) in Sabah. To make this a reality, he said Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) and TERAJU were now working together on the Sabah GLC Talent Development Program whhich was being done with the cooperation of the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN). Senior management would be placed at several identified GLCs to get exposure of best practices, expand their profession network, at the same time contribute to knowledge and technology exchange in developing and implementing high value projects, he said. “Starting this month, two candidates of the Sabah GLC Talent Development Program have been posted to Khazanah Nasional Bhd and TERAJU,” he said. Musa also disclosed that in the aspect of education for the Bumiputera community, Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera is an initiative to strengthen the capacity building of Bumiputeras continuously. Yayasan Peneraju had benefitted 1,611 Sabahans, he added. The Chief Minister also presented cheques to the recipients of TERAJU’s funds. Source: The Borneo Post
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