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Sabah ruggers trounce <b>Sarawak</b> in Agong&#39;s Cup qualifier <b>...</b> Berita Sarawak - News 2 Sarawak

Sabah ruggers trounce <b>Sarawak</b> in Agong&#39;s Cup qualifier <b>...</b>

Posted: 03 Dec 2013 12:03 PM PST

by Philip Wong, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 4, 2013, Wednesday

SIBU: Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU) team returned from their Sabah trip heavily battered and bruised after losing to their neighbouring counterparts 19-43 in the qualifying round for the Agong's Cup held at Likas Stadium recently.

SRU chief coach Michael Ting admitted that it was a disappointing outing, especially when his team were rated as the favourite.

"We must admit that Sabah Rugby Union is a better team, more organized and they had a rich crop of experienced players who had played in bigger tournaments. Their team has all the hallmarks of the champion team in the making. We wish them all the best in the Agong's Cup," he said.

With the defeat, Sarawak's hopes of representing the East Zone at the Agong's Cup, to be held in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 10, evaporated.

The last time Sarawak took part in the Agong's Cup was seven years ago.

On his team's defeat, Ting narrowed it down to his players who were mostly young recruits or fresh school leavers up against the bigger and powerfully built Sabahans.

"Our players lacked the expertise, the stamina and the experience to pull through. Moreover, they (Sabahans) also had three Fijian imports while we only had one in the person of Iowane Sovatabua," he added.

Nevertheless, the Sarawak boys did manage to keep their opponents at bay in the first half when they secured a try and a conversion to trail 7-16.

"We missed two precious opportunities midway through the second half when our forwards managed to penetrate the Sabah defense only to lose the ball when the touchdown was within reach. It blew away our chances of any comeback," Ting lamented.

On future plans, Ting said "We are also looking into the possibility of getting more import players from Fijian to boost our squad. We are eyeing for more honors and titles next year and we need to prepare early."

The players, he added, would also have to train more consistently and with a longer training schedule instead of the current practice whereby the players only train together during the final two days.

"We will set things right and the priority will be on the training schedule. All the shortcomings will be looked into and we hope this will further upgrade the standard of SRU players."

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Reject all forms of religious extremism - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 11:53 AM PST

by Cecilia Sman, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 5, 2013, Thursday

Islam has not changed original declaratory status to safeguard other religions in M'sia — CM

MIRI: Islam as the official religion of Malaysia as spelt out under the Federal Constitution remains so in its original declaratory status to safeguard other religions in the country.

The (Malaysian) government and every Muslim in the country are duty bound to ensure that Islam remains strong but not in confrontation with other religions. Instead, Muslims should safeguard the freedom of worship by other communities.

"Our role is to safeguard Islam and the rights of people of other faiths in order to maintain peace and harmony. Islam is based on historical facts and not compromise and politics," said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud when declaring open a seminar on 'Agama Islam Agama Negara' here yesterday.

Also present were Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office (Islamic Affairs) Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman, Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha, president of Majlis Islam Sarawak Datuk Putit Matzen, director of State Islamic Religious Department Ismail Mohd Hanis, and president of Muslim Lawyers Association Malaysia Dato Zainal Rijal Abu Bakar.

Taib went on to say that even in the Quran it was mentioned that before Islam could establish its government in Medina the relationship between Muslims and Christians then was very cordial. Likewise, in Malaysia, its multi-racial and multi-religious people had been tolerant of each other.

He recalled his early years of service in Sarawak when communication was still a major problem and had to spend the night in villages during official visits his non-Muslim hosts would strive hard to prepare halal food and even had prayer mats ready for him.

He regretted that certain quarters had of late caused some confusion on the status of Islam in Malaysia especially where Sarawak and Sabah was concerned

He thus urged Malaysians to reject all forms of religious extremism for continued peace and harmony in this country.

He also suggested that the Muslims themselves, particularly the intellectuals, to strive to have in-depth understanding of Islam, so that they could lead others to follow the right path and not be easily influenced by religious fanatics.

Earlier in his welcoming address, Othman said the seminar served as a platform to further enlighten the people on various issues pertaining to Islam as the official religion of the country.

He said the government, led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, viewed seriously actions taken by some quarters recently to undermine peace and harmony in the country, even using outside influence to create confusion among the people in particular on religious issue.

He was glad that with the continued close cooperation between federal and state government agencies, issues on religious deviationists had been successfully tackled.

About 350 representatives of various government departments, non-governmental organizations and individuals attended the two-day seminar, organised by State Islamic Religious Department, Jakim and Muslim Lawyers Association, Malaysia.

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<b>Sarawak</b> win 26th Hopes Ping Pong C&#39;ship - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 28 Nov 2013 12:10 PM PST

KUCHING: Sarawak emerged victorious in the recent 26th Malaysia Hopes Ping Pong Championships 2013 held in Kelantan after bagging five gold, six silver and two bronze medals.

State's contingent manager, Yip Pau Cheng told The Borneo Post yesterday that the players defeated defending champion, Selangor into second placing in the four-day event which was held from Nov 25 – 28.

"Last year we finished second behind Selangor but this time the players managed to capture the overall champion title, Yap said on the event which was participated by all states including Labuan and Kuala Lumpur.

According to her, Sarawak was also champion in 2010 and is looking forward to 2015 where the championship will be held here and also in 2016 when Sukma will be hosted locally. "We definitely look forward to becoming host in 2015 because it will give good exposure to our players who may be competing in Sukma," she said while disclosing that next year's event will be in Melaka.

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Electricity tariff review credit positive for TNB - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:12 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: The electricity tariff review is credit positive for Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) because it demonstrates the government's commitment to implementing fuel cost pass-throughs for the company.

In a statement yesterday, Moody's Investors Service said although the changes would not materially improve key financial metrics, they would add predictability and stability to financial performance.

"In addition, the tariff revision marks a significant step forward in the implementation of Malaysia's proposed incentive-based regulation (IBR), which would increase the transparency of the regulatory regime," it said.

Effective Jan 1, 2014 the average electricity tariff in Peninsular Malaysia will be increased by 4.99 sen/kWh, or 14.89 per cent, from 33.54 sen/kWh to 38.53 sen/kWh.

The Energy Commission, Malaysia's regulator for the industry, would introduce the IBR for TNB and the tariff revision signalled that the year-long IBR trial period, slated to start Jan 1 next year, would proceed as planned, it said.

"This would allow the commission to implement the IBR framework over three-year regulatory periods after the trial ends," it said.

Moody's said the IBR would facilitate regular tariff resets with the recovery of costs not in TNB's control, such as fuel, and provided incentives to seek efficiencies, such as for maintenance while meeting operational performance targets.

According to the regulator's timeline, the first regulatory period would run from January 2015 to December 2017, and after each regulatory period, there would be regular tariff resets that add more certainty than the current ad hoc tariff increases, it said.

Moody said the base tariff increase accounted for 18 per cent of the tariff hike and would allow TNB to recover projected cost increases during the IBR period, including cost recovery for depreciation, return on capital, taxes, and operating expenditures such as maintenance and labour.

The IBR also included incentives for cost efficiencies because the base tariff remained constant for each regulatory period which provided TNB with the means to increase cash flow if it was able to manage to these efficiency targets, it said. — Bernama

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