More Rangers Needed for Protection of Sabah’s Endangered Wildlife

Following the discovery of two dead Bornean pygmy elephants, WWF-Malaysia, along with two other groups, issued a statement Thursday that they are committed to look after the survival of the elephants and other endangered wildlife.  Together in this endeavor is HUTAN, a non-governmental group concerned with Orang Utan conservation, and the Danau Girang Field Center.

The statement said that collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department and plantations is a must in this endeavor so that suspicious activities can be relayed and poachers prevented from doing damage.  In order to do this, it was suggested that the Sabah government will allocate funds to hire and train more rangers on the ground to deter poaching activities.

Bornean pygmy elephants are “Totally Protected” status and enjoy legally-protected status in forest reserves and conservation areas.  The public is again enjoined to continue reporting wildlife crime to the Sabah Wildlife Department.

Clean-Up Near Sepanggar Navy Base Undertaken

A Mega Dive program was organized by the navy’s eastern fleet command and was conducted Thursday morning near the Sepanggar Navy base where debris and sea urchins were removed from the sea bed.  The dive was participated in by 300 participants from different private and public organizations, including fishermen from Kampung Gentisan, the Sabah Environment Protection Department and the Marine Department.

Navy eastern logistics commander First Admiral Ow Kiat Bin said that it was necessary to remove the sea urchins, which numbered about 5,000, since too much of these will destroy the coral reef in the area.  These were given to the fishermen for their consumption.

Ow added that the program was aimed at creating and maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem and a clean underwater environment.  The involvement of the community in the program was also in line with the navy’s activities for information dissemination on the need to keep the water clean.

Aside from the clean-up, the navy divers also placed three artificial reefs near the navy’s Yacht Excellent Center as a start to raise a marine habitat.

Wheelchair and Mobile App Wins in PROJEX 15

Winners of the Kota Kinabalu Polytechnic Innovation Competition PROJEX 15 were recently announced and among them were a smart wheelchair and a food-ordering mobile application.

According to the group who invented the smart wheelchair, the smart wheelchair is less expensive that electric wheelchairs.  They installed an Arduino Uno hardware into an ordinary wheelchair that can now be controlled by a smartphone with Bluetooth or a PlayStation 2 (PS2).  The smart wheelchair has a sensor for detection of obstacles along the way, which is also an advantage to the user.

One of the winners is the group that developed a mobile application for increasing the efficiency of food trucks in accepting and placing orders.  Through the app, customers can place their orders and receive notifications if their orders are complete.  The project was in line with the theme of the competition – “Green Technology – Environmentally Sustainable” (Teknologi Hijau – Lestari Persekitaran).

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, who also holds the position of Minister of Industrial Development, is happy with the innovations introduced by the participants which can be mass-produced and put in the market.

The competition is conducted twice a year and this recent PROJEX 15 competition was participated in by 250 students with their inventions classified into Engineering and Non-engineering categories.  Winners will be up for judging in the inter-polytechnic innovation competitions.