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City Hall says it gets nod to trim Gaya Street trees BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

City Hall says it gets nod to trim Gaya Street trees

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:08 PM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Trees along the popular Gaya Street in the state capital have become 'bald'.

The trees, which are a resting place for swallows in the evening, have been trimmed of their branches in effort to reduce bird droppings on the street.

According to a senior official who wished to remain anonymous, City Hall has received many complaints on bird droppings from the public and businesses when birds return to the trees in the evening.

The bird droppings on the street and vehicles parked on Gaya Street have been a long-standing problem for City Hall. At times, unlucky pedestrians fall victim to the bird droppings.

The senior official said the City Hall had conducted various studies to find a solution for the issue. In fact, the City Hall haD called the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu Gaya Street Hawkers Association and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) representatives for several meetings to discuss the problem.

In the end, it was agreed among the representatives to cut off the tree branches along Gaya Street.

The official said the City Hall had made a public announcement of the proposal to obtain feedback from the public.

However, the City Hall received no opposition on the proposal and thus proceeded to carry out major trimming to remove the tree branches.

He assured that the City Hall would retain the tree trucks so that new branches would grow, with scheduled trimming  from time to time.

The official acknowledged that the Gaya Street became warmer after the trees have been trimmed due to the lack of shade, but he hoped that businesses and the public would tolerate with the situation, adding that the condition would improve after the leaves have grown.

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Umno KK leaders authorised to resolve Sembulan issue

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:07 PM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has given Umno Kota Kinabalu Chief Datuk Faisyal Diego and the division's leaders the authority to resolve the 'Perkampungan Sembulan' issue.

Musa when officiating the division's annual general meeting here yesterday, said this in response to the request by its members for the long-standing issue to be resolved.

Earlier Faisyal in his speech explained that the issue has yet to be resolved because the land was given to the developer without the villagers' knowledge.

"Then two years ago Chief Minister Datuk Musa instructed me to resolve the matter and I am of the opinion that we need a strong political will to do that," he said.

Faisyal in his speech also said that the division wants all community leader posts in the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary constituency given to Umno be retained so that they can work at winning back the support of the people.

"We also urge the Federal Government, in the coming Budget 2015, to allocate more funds towards security so that the country's defence, especially in Sabah's east coast, can be improved.

Faisyal said the additional funds would boost national security, particularly in the east coast of Sabah.

"National progress would be useless if our country can be easily infiltrated by undesirable elements bent on undermining our peace," he said.

Meanwhile, the division also approved the motion moved by its Education Bureau chief Sairin Saidin for Datuk Jame Alip to be maintained as Sabah education director.

Sairin had further proposed that the allowances for East Malaysian and peninsula teachers be standardised.

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People in KK live in peace and harmony – Mayor

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:06 PM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu City Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the people in Kota Kinabalu are very lucky to be living in peace and harmony despite having different religions, races and ethnics.

"To be compared to other countries in which some even fight against each other, Kota Kinabalu and Sabah, we have 33 different ethnics here and we are still living in peace," he said when launching the Lions Club International Peace Poster 2014 which launched the Peace Poster Competition for three regions in District 308-A2 (Sabah and Sarawak).

According to Lions Club District 308-A2 governor Datuk Betty Wong, the program which has been done for 25 years worldwide, involved over eight million children from nearly 100 countries who participated in the poster-drawing contest, and over 460,000 entries annually.

She said the theme for this year's contest is Peace, Love and Understanding, and it is open to students aged 11, 12 and 13.

The launching of the program at Lintasan Deasoka here yesterday, namely Regions 4, 5 and 6, include Keningau, Kota Kinabalu, Tenom, Ranau, Limbang, Lawas and Sipitang.

The mayor then expressed his hope that the contest would generate awareness among the youngsters on peace, love and understanding.

"It is a very good initiative by the Lions Club in promoting peace, love and understanding. I hope the contestants will grow up to maintain the peace and harmony we enjoy today in Malaysia," he added.

The launching of the program yesterday would initiate clubs of the three regions to approach schools in their region in search of participants for the contest. Winners from each region is expected to be selected in October.

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Philanthropist sets up addiction treatment facility

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:05 PM PDT

by Nancy Lai. Posted on August 11, 2014, Monday

KOTA KINABALU: Philanthropist and educationist Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Haji Ghulam Mohd bin Sayeed has embarked on another mission to save lives by setting up The Solace, an addiction treatment facility here in Sabah.

"After 38 years of educating children I am moving on to this … to save mankind and save families from destruction. I saw lives being destroyed by addiction so I want to do something about it," he said.

Dr Ghulam who was met recently at a training hosted by The Solace, pointed out that addiction is an affliction that affects people from all walks of lives, globally.

"Addiction not only affects the illiterate but also highly educated people, and I am trying to save them. With that in mind, I founded and funded The Solace which is the first of its kind in Malaysia and this is one more step of mine to serve mankind and help disrupted lives to be normalized.

"We have a very highly qualified expatriate professional team from around the world to help treat addiction for drugs, sex, gambling, food (eating disorders) and internet gaming," Dr Ghulam, who is also The Solace chairman, adding that the treatment facility which started operating fully in March, had been proclaimed by many national leaders as the pride of the country as it is the first private world class luxury addiction retreat in Malaysia.

When asked why there has been no publicity about The Solace, Dr Ghulam explained that addiction treatment was a discreet business as those seeking help from facilities like The Solace do not want others to know about it.

"So we do not even have signboards, and all the necessary information can only be obtained from our website. Our patients come and we pick them up at the airport, whisk them to our facility quietly, treat them and send them back," he said.

On the training session which was held at a resort here from August 8 to 10, Dr Ghulam disclosed that it was an international program to train people to become councilors for addiction treatment.

This three-day training session enabled the participants to obtain a certification from the Asia Pacific Certification Board to be addiction therapists at different levels and was hosted by The Solace in conjunction with The Promises Singapore which is a similar treatment facility.

The trainers for the three days were the CEO of The Solace, Premkumar Shanmugam, Dr Sivakumar of Monash University and Dr Winslow Munidassa and Sharmini Winslow from The Promises.

"The training session was being held for the first time in Sabah. We are also having a conference in Melaka on September 25 and 26 where world participants will be taking part and exchanging views on the latest technology and techniques in addiction therapy. This is also the first time we are organizing such an event," he said.

The Solace is economically priced for the region and is more affordable than western treatment with the same western methodologies.

It implements the latest and most cutting edge, evidence and outcome-based services available for addiction treatment using practices and clinical methods provided by experienced and exclusive Clinical Advisory Board.

Enquiries can be made through its website www.solacesabah.com

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Petronas told to stop expanding in Sabah if not profitable

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:04 PM PDT

by Nancy Lai. Posted on August 11, 2014, Monday

KOTA KINABALU: If Petronas finds that it is not profitable to operate in Sabah, the national petroleum company should stop expanding in the state, Matunggong assemblyman Datuk Jelani Hamdan said.

Jelani was of the opinion that Petronas would not go bankrupt if it increased the oil royalty or cash payment to Sabah to 20 per cent.

"I do not agree with Petronas' statement because the impact of increasing the oil royalty would mean that its profit margin will be lower and not that it would not be making any profit at all," Jelani said at a luncheon with members of the media yesterday.

He was commenting on the statement by Petronas that an increase in cash payments which some people prefer to call royalty by Petronas to the state and federal governments would have an adverse impact to project viability and the industry at large.

According to vice-president of Malaysia Petroleum Management, Adif Zulkifli, if the cash payments were to be increased to 20 per cent for Sabah and five per cent to the federal government, some projects undertaken by Petronas might be in jeopardy.

The immediate impact would be projects being dropped by foreign investors, investors' confidence would be eroded and the country's energy security would be at risk, he said.

Adif said the mid-term impact would be contract and opportunity losses for supporting industries, no further exploration activities and retrenchment

"In the long run we would experience shrinkage in Malaysia's oil and gas industry, lower government revenue and reduction in the GDP as well as GNI," he stressed, adding: "We may have problems sustaining the cash payments to Sabah if we cannot sustain production," he said at a briefing with the local media last week.

Jelani said if Petronas felt that it was not profitable to operate in Sabah, then it should make way for the state government or Sabahan company(s) to do their own exploration here.

He added that he supported all requests for the increase in the oil royalty as it is beneficial for the state and its people.

Jelani also supported  Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's consultative approach as a good one, and added: "If Petronas cannot agree to give Sabah 20 per cent then why not have the state as a business partner?"

Meawhile, UPKO Youth chief Arthur Sen proposed that the Petroleum Development Act 1974 be amended so that the state government had full control over the oil and gas produced in Sabah.

Let Petronas be responsible only for the oil and gas produced in Peninsular Malaysia, he said, adding: "I am confident that the state government can manage its own natural resources.

"The corporate tax the federal government gets should be enough for it. I think this federation of Malaysia is all about the formation of the country. Why do we allow others to dictate what happens to our natural resources?

"This does not make sense; we are the masters of our natural resources and it looks like Petronas is a 'licensed pirate' who is taking our treasures," he claimed.

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Vegetable wholesaler killed, family injured

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 04:03 PM PDT

KOTA BELUD: A vegetable wholesaler was killed on the spot when he lost control of his Isuzu four-wheel drive  and collided with a Toyota four-wheel drive.

The family of three in the Toyota suffered injuries of various degrees with a two-year-old boy sustained a broken arm and head injuries. They were sent to Kota Belud Hospital for medical treatment.

Kota Belud police chief Superintendent Mohan Nadasen confirmed the accident yesterday, adding that it was under police investigation.

The vegetable wholesaler was identified as Wali Jonah, 33.

It was learnt that the victim was heading from Kota Marudu to Kota Belud in his Isuzu Invader when he lost control of his vehicle near Kampung Ulu Kukut around 4.40pm, possibly due to slippery road after a rain.

The victim was thrown out of his vehicle and died on the spot. His body was sent to the hospital for a post-mortem.

Mohan urged eyewitnesses to assist in the investigation by calling 088-976600.

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