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<b>Sabah</b> ranks second in reported TB cases - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

<b>Sabah</b> ranks second in reported TB cases - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:28 PM PST

by Christy Chok. Posted on January 22, 2014, Wednesday

TAWAU: There were 4,700 tuberculosis (TB) cases reported in Sabah last year, making the state with the second highest incidence of the disease in the country after Selangor.

Sabah Anti-Tuberculosis Association (SABATA) president Henry Peter J. Mogindol, said the number afflicted by this dangerous infectious disease is increasing at an alarming rate due with the inclusion of foreigners or outsiders who fail to undergo health inspection.

Mogindol said that Kota Kinabalu is among the districts with the highest number of TB cases reported after Keningau and Tambunan. One of the factors contributing to this increase is because the residents there has been known to share the straw used for drinking rice wine (tapai).

In 2012, a total of 4,390 TB patients throughout the state had sought treatment with only 101 of them stopping the treatment half way.

In the first six months of 2013, Mogindol said, 2,264 TB patients throughout the state went for treatment with only 16 failing to do so.

"In Tawau, averagely some 50 TB cases are reported each month but only 485 TB patients sought treatment while 17 did not do so; in Sandakan (544 patients had sought treatment and 17 did not) while in Kota Kinabalu (687 patients sought treatment and 25 did not)," he disclosed.

He therefore strongly urged the government to conduct a rigorous health examination of outsiders entering the state in order to curb the spread of the TB disease.

Also present were Sabah Anti Tuberculosis Association (Sabata) Tawau president, Francis Clement and the committee members.

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<b>Sabah</b> seas for tourism in conservation - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 20 Jan 2014 09:22 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is expected to attract 3.4 million visitors and generate RM6 billion in tourism revenue this year.

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun told press members after launching the book: "The Sensational Seas of Sabah" by Scubazoo yesterday that they expected to exceed last year's revenue of RM5.7 billion from the industry this year.

"At the same time, the ministry also expects to exceed last year's tourists arrivals of 3.2 million," he said.

He then went on to say the revenue generated from the tourism sector had now exceeded the logging industry, which was once the state's major revenue generator.

"The income from the logging sector was once RM2 billion but last year, it generated only RM1 million – it was due to the decision of the present Chief Minister who decided to cancel the logging concessions in Sabah several years ago. It was a bold step to ensure that the forest was conserved and less trees were cut," he said.

He described the decision by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman as a wise one and that Sabah was now reaping the fruits from that wise decision since the income generated from the tourism sector now exceeded that of the logging sector.

"In the logging sector, we realised that once the last tree was logged, that was the end," he said.

He then called on the industry and the people of Sabah to support efforts to look after the state's natural heritage and not let the quest for more profit to deter them from doing what is right.

"We need the strength to look after our islands, our nature and disallow acts that lead to degradation – that is why we limit the number of visitors on Sipadan to 120 people daily and to the Kinabalu Peak to 192 people daily. If our quest was for more profit, we will soon lose Sipadan and Kinabalu. I hope the industry will support this," he said.

He also said as a result of the conservation efforts undertaken by various parties in Sabah, the state was now endowed with a rich natural heritage that is unmatched by many other countries in the world.

"And what we have underwater is not enjoyed by other places in the world," he said.

Meanwhile, Jason Isley, the managing director of Scubazoo said their newly launched book was geared towards enticing tourists to visit less visited islands in Sabah and reduce the pressure on Sipadan Island.

He said the book presented some 300 powerful and emotive images gathered throughout a journey along the stunning coast of Sabah.

"Beginning in the south west on Tiga Island in the South China Sea, we travel to the Tip of Borneo and the Sulu Sea before making our way south through the Celebes Sea where our final dive destination is the world famous Sipadan Island," he said.

In describing the condition of Sabah's coastline, Scubazoo operations manager Simon Enderby said he could see a lot of improvement in the conditions of the reefs that were once decimated.

"In just a short time of rehabilitation efforts by resorts, corals have come back. You can see a lot of improvement," he said.

He added that these could be seen on islands like Langkayan and Selingan.

He also attributed the positive changes to awareness programmes that have led to a reduction in the number of people using fish bombing methods to catch fish.

"Over the years, Sabah has done well to contain dynamite fishing," he said.

Also present at the event was Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.

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RM25,000 scholarship for <b>Sabah</b> Idol champ - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 20 Jan 2014 10:19 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The winner of Sabah Idol Season 2, Siti Zulaiha, last week signed her acceptance letter to enrol at the ATI College Kota Kinabalu for a diploma course in tourism.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the assistant chief executive officer of ATI College, Difiry Ubin, and managing director of Borneo Events Production (BEP), Peter Dicky Lee.

The 20-year-old lass from Tawau, who aspires to be a successful singer, is grateful for the opportunity to be able to pursue her education at ATI College as part of the top prize for winning the Sabah Idol Season 2 Grand Final held successfully at the Lahad Datu Darvel Bay Plaza late last year.

Difiry Ubin said: "We support the promotion of education through positive activities of the fine arts like the "Sabah Idol" series and "Sabah Talent Star" which will complement our plans to introduce dancing, singing and acting courses in our syllabus this year. I congratulate Borneo Events Production for taking the initiative."

"We hope to continue this win-win partnership in the years to come. The Sabah Talent Star search which has just begun is a perfect platform for talented Sabahans to showcase their talents, because it encompasses not just singing but dancing, magic show,fire-eating performance, modelling, acting, and so on.

"ATI College supports these kind of healthy and positive activities," Difiry said.

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<b>Sabah</b> and Sarawak to receive 20 Fulbright English teaching <b>...</b>

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 11:06 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah and Sarawak will each receive 10 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) while the remaining 80 will be assigned to primary and secondary schools across Terengganu, Johor, Pahang and Perak.

The 20 ETAs will be designated to 20 different schools in Sabah and Sarawak where some of them will be placed in the city and the outskirts.

These ETAs have just completed their national-level orientation and will depart to their respective states on Jan 22 for their orientation. They begin their 10-month stints on Feb 3.

"The Malaysian government is grateful to the ETAs for their commitment to provide language support in the education sector. The implementation of Fulbright English Teaching Assistants programme has strengthened ties between Malaysia and US," Education director-general Datuk Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said during a reception at the official residence of the US Ambassador to Malaysia here.

"We received credible and good responses from teachers, students and communities from the previous ETA programme," he added.

"Sabah and Sarawak do need a lot of helping hands to put them on par with the peninsula in terms of education and level of achievement," said Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Madinah Mohamad in her speech.

"Malaysia is a developing country that strives to be a developed nation by 2020 and for us to do that we must be able to gauge on par with the international community, therefore we must master the English language," she said.

There are 450,000 teachers under the Education Ministry and the greatest barrier to achieving the aspiration to produce the desired human capital by 2020 is English proficiency of Malaysian teachers that will translate into results in primary and secondary schools.

"The Fulbright ETA programme shows that the Malaysian government and US government highly regard this kind of education exchange, people to people connection as fundamental pillars for two nations to get closer together and develop friendship," said US Ambassador to Malaysia, Joseph Yun.

"The programme is a positive and valuable experience for the ETAs as well as the schools, students and teachers. I cannot say enough good things about this programme," he added.

The reception at the residence honoured the 100 Fulbright ETAs from the United States.

The ETA's main objective is to enrich and enhance English instruction in primary and secondary schools by providing American native speakers who strengthen English language education and mutual understanding.

In addition to their classroom work, the ETAs organise extra-curricular clubs and activities conducted in English while gaining a deep understanding of Malaysian culture by living and working in towns and cities throughout the six states.

The programme is jointly administered by the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (Macee) and the Malaysian Ministry of Education and supported by the US Embassy.

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<b>Sabah</b> reels under power outage - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:35 AM PST

by Sandra Sokial. Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

KOTA KINABALU: A statewide power outage yesterday brought much of Sabah and Labuan to a standstill for hours, affecting businesses and about half a million consumers.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd managing director Ir Abdul Razak Sallim described the major power outage as 'beyond expectation," adding that efforts were being carried out to identify the cause of the disruption.

He said initial investigation showed that the first power trip was recorded at 10:56:47 seconds due to current differential (red phase), but it was restored within 100 milisecond (ms), or 0.001 second.

"However, after restoration was done, a second later, our Independent Power Plant in Sepanggar tripped causing power losses of about 200 Megawatt (MW).

"We are surprised ourselves because actually, with the design used on the power installation, it should not have brought the system down. We are puzzled ourselves and will be investigating the real cause, which means going back to the operators to find out," he explained to reporters, about four hours after the power disruption was clocked at 11.05am.

Abdul Razak said before the incident, there was 877MW of power available to meet the demand status for Sabah and Labuan at 731MW. The reserve was 146MW.

"However, after the incident, the losses were recorded at 352.8MW, or about 50 per cent total collapse. Our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to activate the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) by activating the islanding mode at all affected areas.

We have six islands, namely Melawa, Salut, Labuan, Pangi, Tawau and Sandakan," he said.

Restoration works were immediately carried out with Ranau being the first area to be fully restored at 12.15pm, after 70 minutes of power disruption, followed by Tawau and Labuan at 1pm, Keningau (1.50pm) and Semporna (1.55pm).

As of 4pm yesterday, about 70 per cent of power had been restored.

"We will wait for power to stabilise at all the islands before connecting it. It will be done in stages. We believe power will be restored by 6pm, and latest by 9pm," said Abdul Razak. adding that at least 500,000 people were affected by the power outage.

As of 4.30pm, the Pangi and Labuan islands have been connected.

"We need an anchor plant in both the East and West coast areas to ensure that there is no repeat of such major power breakdown in the future," he said.

On another development, Abdul Razak said customers are allowed to claim for damage to their electrical goods if they are able to prove it beyond doubt.

"What they need to do is to lodge a police report and submit the claim to us. We will assign a valuer to identify and prove the cause of the damage. If it is proven that it was due to negligence, then we are obliged to reimburse," assured Abdul Razak.

Meanwhile, the power outage forced most shops at shopping complexes and other parts of the city to close between 5pm and 6pm, while traffic congestion was eased when policemen came to man various traffic intersections.

The last massive blackout that occurred in Sabah was in April 2012 when a gas piping system malfunctioned and affected several independent power producers. Supply was restored within the same day.

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