Sabah News Flash

West Coast Tourism for Development

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun announced that West Coast Sabah, with its beautiful beaches and other tourist attractions, will be developed for those who chose not to go to the East Coast for security reasons.  This announcement was made while he was officiating at the 26^th Borneo Safari International Offroad Challenge Saturday.

However, despite recent events that challenged the security in the East Coast, beach resorts in Semporna, a district located there, are still fully-booked.  Masidi added that although the safety of everybody is always the main concern of the state, there are things beyond its control that from time to time threaten its security, citing the shootings in America and Europe.

More Entries at 26^th Borneo Safari

The 26^th Borneo Safari International Offroad Challenge was flagged off Saturday by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun with 357 four-wheel drive (4WD) registered vehicles.  Event director Faez Nordin said that this year’s entries were more than the 350 target and they made exceptions to accept the extra seven while rejecting additional entries that kept coming in even a week before the event.  Because of this year’s response, it is likely that the target will be increased for 2017, maybe to 380 vehicles.

Although majority of the participants are from Malaysia, the annual event that will last for eight days across mountains and forests has attracted an increasing number of 4WD adventure enthusiasts from the international community as far as Ireland and Portugal.  It was raining along the routes at flag-off and the race will pass by a logging road that has been abandoned for maybe 20 years.

Politeknik KK Gets ISO Certification Again

The MS ISO 9001:2008 certification was given to Politeknik Kota Kinabalu for the second time for the management system quality excellence of its Engineering, Commerce and Hospitality Certificate and Diploma levels.  This was announced by its Director Roslee Yahya during the exit meeting after the Surveillance Audit that was conducted by SIRIM QAS International Sdn Bhd.  Among the procedures that were evaluated were how education programmes in the undergraduate and postgraduate levels were designed and developed, how complaints were handled and how documents and records were controlled.

Obtaining an ISO certification is an indication of an organization’s pursuit for excellence and according to Roslee, it is in line with the educational institution’s objective of producing quality graduates who meet industry qualification requirements.

Demand for Housing Still Up

Real estate developer, Grand Merdeka Sdn Bhd, through its general manager Chew Fei Sean, said that there is still a demand for housing as evidenced by the sales on its Embun Tower Apartments.  The apartments are composed of medium-sized units that are suitable for small families and for employees who want to stay near their offices or workplaces with an option for them to rent out their units.  The company had a three-day property expo at the Imago Mall that ended Sunday.

Research on Anti-Cancer Plant Ongoing

The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is currently conducting a research on Red Butterfly Wing (scientific name Christia Vespertilionis), a leafy plant known to have anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory properties.  This was after the positive testimonies of those who were taking the leaves by drinking the water where dried leaves of the plant were boiled.

Khamarul Rezam Lim Abdullah is the main supplier of the Red Butterfly Wings and he is hoping that the second stage of the research conducted by the university will prove that the plant is beneficial especially to cancer patients.  This stage consists of screening and pre-clinical trials.  He related how a friend from a neighboring country gave him the plant about 10 years ago and had told him that it has medicinal properties.  At first, he did not pay much attention to this, appreciating the plant more for its decorative value.  It was only after learning that another friend’s wife was cured from breast cancer maybe because of taking the plant that he took it seriously.

The rest is history.  Word spread even as far as Singapore that it came to the point that he needed more land to plant the Red Butterfly Wings.  Through the Malacca Agriculture Department, he was able to plant more trees.  Khamarul was in Sabah to look for planting areas in preparation for increased demand after the UPM research releases its findings.