31Jul

RM50,000 Awaits MGM Pageant Winner This Year

Kota Kinabalu: This year's Mitarab Gimpuhut Momogun (MGM) winner will bring home prizes worth about RM50,000, including a cash prize of RM10,000. The beauty pageant for Rungus and northern beauties which will become the highlight of the Magahau Fest' finale tomorrow (Monday) will be participated by 21 Rungus beauties from around the country. MGM received numerous sponsorships, including from two private higher learning institutions which offer scholarships to the top winners. Apart from that, the winner for the MGM pageant will also be offered to join Samora and Tourism Malaysia delegates to the International French Travel Market (IFTM) 2017 in Paris, France. Magahau Fest organiser cum Sabah Momogun Rungus Association (Samora) president Datuk Jelani Hamdan said the total prizes for the MGM top seven is worth more than RM300, 000. "The pageant aims to produce skilled ambassadors, in terms of cultural skills such as making traditional crafts, embroidery and dances. "And that is why MGM is not merely a beauty pageant as the judging criteria falls heavily on cultural skills. "The organisers want the pageant to be not only competitive but also educational," he said during a press conference at Ujana Rimba Tropika Park, here, on Saturday. Jelani also disclosed the pageant also witnessed an increase in language proficiency among participants this year, compared to previous editions. "This year's contestants are better prepared…they knew how the competition is being organised, so they made preparations like studying the Rungus language as well as the culture." He said MGM is an excellent avenue to ignite the young generation's interests on traditional culture. On Magahau Fest, Jelani said the festival which has been included in the country and State tourism calendar will attract more than 5,000 attendees, including 100 confirmed foreign tourists. The activities for the National-level Magahau Fest celebration started on Jul 27 with the finale being held on Jul 31 at Puruvan Square, Matunggong. The Magahau Fest was launched at Kanibongan Community Hall, Pitas, on Jul 8 where Pitas Zone was selected as the curtain-raiser for this year's celebration. After Pitas Zone, the fest was held in six other zones – Peninsula Zone, Kota Marudu Zone, Kudat Zone, Beluran Zone, Kota Kinabalu Zone and Matunggong Zone. Among the activities lined up for the fest are traditional sports, traditional food competition, Mitarab Monurizak (singing competition), Mitarab dot Band (band competition), Sodop Papak Tavasi (gala night) apart from the MGM beauty pageant. - Ricardo Unto   Source: TheBorneoPost
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28Jul

Sabah lines up 16 programmes for National Month

KOTA KINABALU: The state-level month-long National Day celebration will kick off on August 1 at the Dataran Dewan Bandaraya with 16 programmes lined up. Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor told a press conference here yesterday that the launching of the ‘Bulan Kebangsaan dan Kibar Jalur Gemilang 2017’ event will be officiated by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman. Hajiji, who is the chairman of the state-level celebration’s organising committee, said the theme of the event is ‘Negaraku Sehati Sejiwa’ and it was chosen as solidarity and unity strengthens national integration among Malaysia’s multi-racial society. The event will culminate on August 31 where the annual National Day Parade will be held at Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens and it will be graced by Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, he disclosed. “Other than the motorised floats and march by uniformed bodies, schools and state agencies, there will also be a cultural performance,” Hajiji added. According to Hajiji, among the 16 activities lined up during the month are the ‘Pertandingan Pidato NegaraKu’, ‘Anugerah Keceriaan NegaraKu Bulan Kebangsaan’, ‘Kembara Merdeka NegaraKu 2017’, ‘Program NegaraKu@Komuniti’ and ‘Pertandingan Pengisahan NegeraKu’. He added that there will also be a photography competition, poster competition, exhibition on Malaysia, ‘Grafiti Ekspresi NegaraKu Malaysia’ and the conferring of the ‘Battle Honour’ Daulat 2013 award. He said in conjunction with National Month, the Sabah State Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jheains) would conduct tahlil recital and prayers for safety. The Sabah Council of Churches would also hold prayers and fast for 40 days from Aug 1 till Sept 16 while Chinese associations representing Buddhist temples in Sabah would also hold prayers for the well-being and prosperity of the country, he said. “I urge all Sabahans to show their love for the country by raising the national and state flags on their buildings, residences, premises and even vehicles during the month-long celebration,” Hajiji said.   Source: TheBorneoPost
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28Jul

Food writers, bloggers attending Sandakan Food Festival

SANDAKAN: As the final ingredients are put in place for the first Sandakan Food Festival (SFF) 2017, the local food and tourism community are excited about the confirmation of important food writers and bloggers travelling to the town of Sandakan. According to the festival coordinator, Anton Ngui, considerable effort had been put into organising the first multi-cultural and largest Sandakan food platform by the Sandakan Tourism Association (STAN). “Two seasoned travel and food bloggers from China who feature strongly on the Sina.com blog platform will be visiting. “From Shanghai, Newpepsibear is a highly popular travel and food blogger, with a quarter of million followers on his Sina and Weibo accounts. With over 100 million hits on his blog since its inception, Newpepsibear is also a travel column contributor to the United States National Tourism office as well as the Sendai City (Japan) Tourism Office. “Summerdejia is a social media influencer on Sina blog and Weibo, but she also publishes her own cook book, a true food lover. With nearly 300,000 following on her blog and 80,000 followers on her Weibo account, her blog has garnered more than 35 million hits since its creation. Summerdejia hails from Beijing, China,” Anton said. From Singapore, there will be a team from Sethlui.com. Seth has a wealth of experience in the food and beverages industry, an ex-bartender as well as owner of numerous food and beverages businesses over the years. Seth is a now a food retail entrepreneur and consultant, and his site is an important part of his brand. His blog sees around 600,000 unique visitors a month, with over 1.5 million impressions and is one of the highest traffic food blogs in Singapore. Further food specialists and writers are expected to confirm their attendance at the SFF in the coming weeks, as the team at STAN continues to bring the best of Sandakan to the international audience.   Source: TheBorneoPost
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27Jul

Capture Malaysian Forests in Pix and Win a Prize

Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) is calling all photography enthusiasts to express their impressions of forests and its rich resources through photographs and compete in the MTCC Photography Contest 2017. Themed "Experience Forest, Experience MTCS-PEFC", the photography contest opens for entries until 15 October 2017. The contest aims to raise awareness on the invaluable benefit of our tropical forest as well as to promote the importance of sustainable forest management and certification. "Photos are a great medium to connect people from all ages and backgrounds to encourage them to rethink the true value of forests and to appreciate the natural beauty of the forests and all its inhabitants. "This is the reason why we have teamed up with leading imaging publication, PCP publications, to organize this photography contest. We hope this contest will provide Malaysians with a platform to explore the beauty of our tropical forests through their lenses," said MTCC CEO, Yong Teng Koon. He noted that forests are vital to livelihood of many living things. Besides carbon sequestration, it provides the oxygen we breathe, timber, medicines, clean water and renewable energy sources that we need for our daily life. Through this contest, MTCC help to promote the importance of managing our forests sustainably for both current and future generations. The photography contest comprises three categories: Category 1 – Forests and People: which requires participants to capture images of people involved in the field of forestry responsible for the sustainable management and well-being of Malaysia's forest resources. They may include images of people at work such as foresters, forest rangers, forest researchers, auditors and indigenous peoples. Category 2 – Forest and Forest Landscape: which seeks for shots capturing a forest's natural beauty, diversity and uniqueness in form and structure. Category 3 – Forest and Animal: this category invites participants to capture images of animals in the wild including mammals, birds, amphibians or reptiles. Outstanding entries stand the chance to win the grand prize of RM2,000, a first prize of RM1,200 per category, two merit prizes of RM600 per category, and five consolation prizes of RM200 per category. Each winner will also receive a coffee-table book courtesy of PCP Publications. Participants may submit up to 10 images for each category and are required to upload their entries to a cloud storage system and email the link to mtcc@pcp2u.my. Top winning photos will also be exhibited at the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) 2017 – the largest imaging event in Malaysia, to be held at MAPKL at Publika from 24 to 26 November. Winners will be awarded during the exhibition and have their photos displayed for public viewing at the event. Established in 1998, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) is an independent organisation tasked to develop and operate the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). As a voluntary national scheme, the MTCS provides for independent assessment of forest management practices and audit of timber product manufacturers or exporters to ascertain that the timber products manufactured or exported are sourced from sustainably managed forests. Source: Daily Express
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27Jul

FAMA Wants to Cultivate ‘Musang King’ and ‘Black Thorn’

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) will introduce the cultivation of high-grade clones of ‘Musang King’ and ‘Black Thorn’ durians in Sabah. Its chairman Tan Sri Badruddin Amiruldin said the pilot project will kick off once the location of the farm, soil and temperature suitability at the farm are confirmed. He said the long-term plan is to commercialise these durians for the domestic and international markets. “Sabah has plenty of beautiful lands and is endowed with lands that are suitable for fruit planting,” he said, adding that the State is a favourite destination among tourists from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, who love fruits. He also said that FAMA would visit China next month to promote Malaysian fruits especially durians. “We will even promote durian paste as a delicacy in China,” he said after paying a courtesy call on Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin at the Istana here yesterday. On another matter, he said FAMA would open a factory in Tenom to process bananas from Sabah. “We are now exporting Sabah bananas to peninsula and Sarawak as the bananas here have their own unique texture and taste. “If we process and pack them nicely, we can improve their quality and thus better returns in the oversea market,” he said, adding that the local cultivators would also earn more. Meanwhile, Badruddin urged landowners who have idle lands to contact them so that ‘something could be cultivated on the land.’ “Our office can help whether the landowner wants to cultivate vegetables or fruits,” he said. FAMA can assist rural folks to earn better if they have crops that can be marketed. “The farmer can register with us and we will market their produce for them,” he added. He also urged Sabah youth to play their role in the food truck industry which is growing in popularity. Present was FAMA deputy director-general Mohd Anis Mohd Yasin. Source: New Sabah Times
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