22Oct

6,000 expected at Tanjung Aru Beach Fest this weekend

Kota Kinabalu: The second edition of the Tanjung Aru Beach Festival is expected to attract about 6,000 visitors, this weekend (Oct 26-27).Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Assaffal P Alian said the event will be held at Prince Phillip Park, Tanjung Aru Beach, here.Sabah Tourism Board (STB)’s subsidiary Sri Pelancongan Sabah Sdn Bhd (SPS) is the main organiser of the event which will see a collaboration with local associations and non-governmental organisations for the two-day festival. “Tanjung Aru Beach has always been one of the favourite beaches for the public to have the perfect view of the sunset and its formation,” he said during a press conference, here, Monday. “It is our duty to promote our public beaches as a tourism product with an amazing sunset view all year round…we have to capitalise the natural beauty that we have.”The festival, he said, aims to create public awareness on the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the beaches.To this end, a beach clean-up programme will be coordinated by Trash Hero Borneo on Saturday, starting 8am. “Everyone is encouraged to come and lend a hand in this beach clean-up. “The Tanjung Aru Beach Festival is a trash-free event and we hope to promote a clean city as well as to have a healthy lifestyle among the communities,” he said.Among the activities that will be held during the festival are a music concert featuring local performers, dance competition, sandcastle building competition, art installations, and beach soccer.Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew will officiate the festival, Sunday.To avoid traffic congestion in the area, visitors are advised to use e-hailing services where a special promotional code will also be offered by Borride. Source: Daily Express
By Inside KePKAS, , Comments Off
Read more...
19Sep

1,500 in clean-up campaign

Kota Kinabalu: More than six tonnes of rubbish were collected by some 1,500 volunteers during the 2018 World Clean-up Day event held in 16 locations in the State, on Saturday. Trash Hero Borneo is among the 62 chapters in 11 countries across the world that took part in the clean-up programme, an initiative by the Trash Hero World administration based in Switzerland. Borneo Organising Chairperson Ainie Jamin said the non-governmental organisation is involved in several activities aside from beach-cleaning activities like sustainable community service projects. Ainie said the programme was carried out in several locations in Sabah which was attended by 1,537 heroes (volunteers) that started their activity from 3pm to 6pm. "The number of participants across Sabah was not what we (Trash Hero Borneo) expected. We were only expecting about 800 volunteers. "They comprised adults, youth and children. I am really grateful and amazed with the efforts as well as passion of Sabahans who joined the programme," she told Daily Express. She said the location involved in Kota Kinabalu were Teluk Likas Taman Awam phases 1 and 2, Tanjung Aru Beach 1, Pantai OBS Kinarut, Bukit Tirig Inanam, Bukit Kopungit Sembulan, Tuaran, Bukit Padang and Pantai Grongon Putatan. Other areas that were also included in their cleaning list were Pulau Berhala of Sandakan, Pulau Mabul and Kampung Air Hujung in Semporna, Madai Cave Kunak, Bukit Tunggul in Kota Belud as well as Tamu Apin-Apin in Keningau. The programme is organised annually by the Trash Hero World but this is the first time Sabah had been part of a global clean-up activity, she added. Ainie said the programme is not only aimed to do group clean-up activity but also aimed to educated people, not just in Sabah but in the world of "disposing refuse the proper way". "We do not want to keep doing clean up and pick up trash for the next 50 years. Trash Hero Borneo hopes that one day we will never use the words 'clean up' anymore. "That is the day our community will be part of the 'No More Littering and Able to Reduce Their Own Trash'," she said. When asked what their next step was with the garbage collected, she said the waste will not be disposed immediately but rubbish separation will be carried out to determine the re-usable ones from ones that are not. "We don't just do clean-ups but also work in re-using waste materials to produce new items such as eco-bricks. "This is among the initiatives that we have been doing in educating the young minds along with the public's on reusing wastes," she added. - Jeremy S Zabala   Source: Daily Express
By Inside KePKAS, , , Comments Off
Read more...
05Sep

Nationwide beach clean-up Sept 22

KOTA KINABALU: Reef Check Malaysia, together with The Body Shop and Coca-Cola Malaysia, is organizing a nationwide beach clean-up on September 22 in conjunction with the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day. Several partners and friends from individuals to companies, have agreed to lead beach clean-ups in area of their choice. This effort is part of our long battle against marine debris, which is also our focus for the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2018. This clean-up will be the second in a series of events that RCM has planned for the International Year of the Reef 2018. RCM conducted a beach clean-up in March, on a much smaller scale. This clean-up saw 500 people in 16 locations around Malaysia, and they collected over 2.6 tonnes of trash from 15km of coastline, including 15,974 plastic bottles, 6,884 plastic bags, 2,368 cigarette butts and 203 diapers. These clean-up efforts are intended to raise awareness and bring attention to the problem of marine debris, specifically plastic waste, which represents a serious threat to marine ecosystems. Plastics are also making their way into the food chain and will harm us in the future. However, it has to be about more than just doing continuing clean-ups. RCM sees the need to go beyond clean-ups and to eventually stop having to do away with them altogether. RCM says they are working at getting to the source of the trash and stopping the trash from reaching beaches. To achieve this, they are collaborating with a number of partners from industry and government to find solutions to reduce trash on our beaches, all towards a target of no more beach clean-ups in 10 years. A workshop in late July gathered representatives from brands, plastic manufacturers and suppliers, government, waste management companies and recycling companies, to agree the terms of reference for a multi-stakeholder workshop to be held in November. Further events include the ICC event, a workshop with plastic specialists Plasticity in October and the final workshop in November. All these workshops in this plastic waste campaign are co-led by RCM and Coca-Cola. The organisers have recruited many partners and volunteers across the country, who will be joining them in many locations on September 2 (updated locations are posted on their Facebook group). If you want to commit to organizing a team of volunteers (friends, family, colleagues) for a few hours on that day, please email to organisers (cleanup@reefcheck.org.my) so that they can send more information on how to organize a beach clean-up and collect data which will help them identify long-term solutions for trash-fee seas.   Source: Borneo Post Online
By Inside KePKAS, , Comments Off
Read more...
28Jun

Tg Aru sunset a must-see, say locals and visitors

KOTA KINABALU: The beautiful sunset at Tanjung Aru Beach is a must-see attraction in every city tour’s itinerary. The popular beach is one of the attractions visited by tourists to ‘punch card’, so to speak, in order to post enviable photographs on social media. Popular Express Travel Sdn Bhd general manager Candy Chung said Tanjung Aru Beach was touted as having the most beautiful sunset by locals and foreigners on Facebook. She said buses of tourists were brought to the beach as part of a city tour’s itinerary. “The famous beach is a must-see attraction and there is no entry fee too. “As locals, we are proud to have such a mesmerizing natural scenery.” Candy added that the Tanjung Aru Beach was ideal for tourists to take envious photographs to share on social media and to show that they have indeed been to the beach. She stressed that the beach must be retained not only for tourism, but because it was a recreational place for locals all the while. “Whenever I go to Tanjung Aru Beach, I see locals bringing their children to play there. “For locals, going to the beach is more on the experience, to swim at the sea and taking their children there to have fun.” If the Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED) project is scrapped, Candy said the relevant authority should work on beautifying the beach. She added that local hawkers should also be allowed to operate at the beach to earn a living. “Most importantly, the beach should be kept clean and have toilets.” Meanwhile, Deng Li Juan, 24, and her family from Chongqing, China decided to visit the beach yesterday morning before flying to Semporna in the afternoon. “We had wanted to come last evening (Tuesday) but it rained, so we are here today before catching the 1pm flight.” She said the Tanjung Aru Beach was one of the recommended places to visit, particularly to watch the sunset and walk along the sandy beach. “For us from southern China, we rarely have the opportunity to see the ocean. “It feels good to be here, to enjoy the sea breeze.” On suggestions for improvement, Deng proposed having lounge chairs at the beach for visitors to lay down. She also suggested to have floats for rent to visitors who could not swim. On the other hand, Mun Gi Ppeum (Joy) and Kim Ye Rin, both 23-year-old Koreans, have praised the beauty and cleanliness of Tanjung Aru Beach. They even said the beach was as beautiful as in a movie. Joy and Kim had specially made a trip to Tanjung Aru Beach in a taxi because the beach was said to be very famous on blogs. In fact, they planned to return later in the evening to watch the sunset. Source: The Borneo Post
By Inside KePKAS, , Comments Off
Read more...