Society

Sabah’s sea gypsies’ unending citizenship woes

Sabah Insights

Stateless Bajaus Laut remain discriminated as the Borneo state celebrates their culture

Joniston Bangkuai

It is ironic that the culture of a small group of stateless people has become an integral part of Sabah’s heritage and is celebrated with much pageantry every year. The annual Regatta Lepa, a colourful boat race, of the Bajau Laut or sea gypsies will be staged for two days from November 23 for the 29th time in  the southeastern idyllic resort town of Semporna. Yet these nomads, about a few thousands of them, are discriminated and denied Malaysian citizenship. And it begs the question why they remain stateless while their culture has become Malaysian.

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Government

In Sabah Electricity, Anwar reneges on MA63

Sabah Insights

And Hajiji Noor fails to defend Sabah’s rights

Source: Madius Tangau

It is shocking that the federal government has refused to give Sabah a RM866m electricity subsidy to prevent a statewide blackout next year. The money is needed to pay for rental of diesel generating sets and diesel fuel  to produce electricity while the Tenom-Pangi hydro plant is shut down for repairs. Even more shocking is that the Sabah government appealed to the federal treasury for the money. In this, both prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and chief minister Hajiji Noor have erred. Mr Hajiji should not have begged. He should have demanded for it as under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, Putra Jaya has a constitutional duty to fund Sabah’s development which includes financing Sabah electrification. Mr Anwar has conveniently forgotten that his government owes Sabah hundreds of billions of ringgit in the 40 percent net revenue  it collected from the resource-rich north Borneo island state which Sabah is constitutionally entitled. And while Mr Anwar has reneged on the MA63 and held Sabah to ransom, Mr Hajiji has shown how subservient he is to the central government and that he can’t be relied on to defend Sabah’s rights.

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Business

Sabah Hospitality Fiesta banks on a lopsided deal

Sabah Insights

When forgoing a million ringgit profit is an opportunity cost

Contestants don’t lack ideas in concocting their best culinary fare.

Trade exhibitions are big money spinners. And so, it surprises that the Sabah and Labuan Chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels and ATI College have given up staging their very successful food and beverage exhibition which they launched just last year to Informa Markets, a British firm reputed to be one of the leading organisers of exhibitions. Instead, they have partnered Informa in what looks like a lopsided deal to host the “trade-only” Food and Hospitality Malaysia, Borneo Edition, a very much smaller version of its FHM expo in Kuala Lumpur that brings sellers and buyers together. And in the process MAH-SLC and ATI College handed to Informa about RM1m ($235,000) in profit for hosting the three-day FHM, Borneo Edition, from September 26 to 28 at the Sabah International Convention Centre in Kota Kinabalu. Both MAH-SLC and ATI College have gained nothing more than the free use of one of the three exhibition halls from Informa for their popular Sabah Hospitality Fiesta which is in its 24th year.

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Sports

World’s toughest mountain race is back with a bang

Sabah Insights

Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon has not lost its shine after a six-year absence

Kilian Jornet Burgada, 36, Spain’s fastest mountain runner

Top mountain runners have made a beeline for the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon which is making a comeback on October 6 after a six-year absence. And this proves that the world’s toughest race up and down Malaysia’s tallest peak at 4,095 metres (13, 435 feet) in Sabah has not become less appealing although the field has been kept small. They include Spain’s record-breaking Kilian Jornet Burgada, 36, who was the fastest man at the 2007 race by clocking two hours, 39 minutes and 10 seconds over a 21-km (13-mile) distance. He also holds the record for being the fastest man at the Matterhorn (4,478 metres) and Mont Blanc (4,805 metres) in the Alps in Europe. There are 206 participants, six more than targeted, in three categories: men (74), women (60) and veteran men (72). There is no veteran women category because previous races weren’t encouraging, according to the race officials. The distance for this year’s race is 26km. Before the 2015 earthquake which killed 18 people on the mountain, the climbathon, held over two days, attracted 700 runners

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Environment

An eyesore that is a pot of gold

Sabah Insights

Poor Sembulan Tengah villagers stand to be millionaires overnight

Dilapidated wooden stilt houses at Sembulan Tengah water village.

To say that Sembulan Tengah is an eyesore is an understatement. The 42-acre (17-hectare) water village whose history dates back to the early 20th century with the setting up of an ethnic Chinese fishing settlement has become not just an obnoxious rubbish dump but a shelter for illegal immigrants and criminals. Yet about 3,000 of the villagers, who are mostly locals, are defying eviction. Their 200 wooden stilt houses surrounded by high-rise buildings which include luxurious hotels, shopping malls, shops and offices, are standing on a pot of gold in the heart of Kota Kinabalu. Land here fetches a premium. And the villagers are looking forward anxiously to another meeting with the Kota Kinabalu mayor on October 8 to resolve the problem. The first one ended without a definitive solution on September 21 but with City Hall and the Lands and Surveys Department saying that the villagers would not be evicted for now.

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Tourism

Power to the people

Sabah Insights

Tanjung Aru Beach Festival has galvanized Sabahans’ opposition to TAED

Sunset at Tanjung Aru Beach – Picture by Sri Pelangcongan Sabah

Ten years after its launching, the 7.1-billion-ringgit Tanjung Aru Eco Development to turn Sabah’s most famous and spectacular 2-km beach into a tourism hub remains in limbo all because of opposition from Sabahans and environmentalists. And this has led Christina Liew, minister of tourism, environment and culture, to quip that she has been reminded of “how powerful our community is” in a speech to launch the two-day Tanjung Aru Beach Festival at Prince Philip Park in Kota Kinabalu which ended on September 22. Her speech, which was delivered by her assistant Joniston Bangkuai, paid tribute to Sabahans for being a “living testament to their talent, creativity, and resilience” in their participation of the festival. And if the bosses of TAED think that the festival will mitigate the people’s objection to their project, they are wrong. Rather the festival has galvanized Sabahans’ opposition to it.

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Health

A preventable cancer keeps spreading

Sabah Insights

Colorectal cancer patients are getting younger

From left: Dr Ida Normiha Hilmi, gastroenterologist and hepatologist of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Dr Raman Muthukaruppan Chettiar, president of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Dr Raja Affendi Raja Ali, dean and professor of medicine at Sunway University. –
Picture courtesy of Sri Pelancongan Sabah.

Gastroenterologists (specialists in digestive diseases) may differ on diagnosis and treatment of many digestive and liver disorders. But they are agreed that colorectal or colon cancer is the most preventable, treatable and beatable cancer. And this has become their mantra. But who is listening? Colon cancer has unwittingly become the second most prevalent cancer after breast cancer in Sabah. What is worrying is that patients are getting younger. Many of them are in their 30s or even younger. Four-fifths of them turn up in later stages of the disease, according to Dr Raman Muthukaruppan, president of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. And this has sent doctors searching for answers.

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Environment

A mindboggling river pollution crisis

Sabah Insights

Sabah’s tough environment and water resources laws are impotent against polluters

Sabah’s once pristine rivers are so badly polluted that fish and other aquatic life have declined so drastically that the indigenous Muruts who live in remote Pensiangan in the interior of the state no longer go fishing. There are just no fish to catch. Christina Liew, the state tourism, environment and culture minister, acknowledges that river pollution has reached a critical stage; but she is silent on why her Environment Protection Department which has sweeping police powers fails to arrest the problem. Instead she expects participants at a one-day river management workshop in Kota Kinabalu last week to come out with urgent solutions “to develop a clear and comprehensive roadmap for managing rivers in Sabah”

Flood in the industrial area of Kolombong in Kota Kinabalu state capital.

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Health

A Duchenne dilemma

Sabah Insights

Malaysian sufferers of a deadly muscle-wasting disease are denied the latest drugs

From left, Dr.Heng Hock Sin, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Sabah Women and Children’s Hospital, Murad Abdul Rashid, Deputy Senior Assistant Secretary General of the Integrity And Special Task Office (KePKAS), and Catherine Jayasuriya, founder and executive director of Coalition Duchenne with Rayce Low Rok Chun, a 12-year-old Duchene patient from Kuala Lumpur

There is still no cure for a fatal but rare muscle wasting disease named after a 19th century French neurologist that affects about 300,000 boys worldwide. About 3,000 Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients are in Malaysia and as many as 300 of them are in Sabah. But new drugs developed in the last six years that hold promise of a cure have been denied them because of their prohibitive costs. Ironically, it is a Sabah woman, whose son suffers from Duchenne, who has contributed significantly to the development of the first three exon skipping drugs ever to have been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration to treat the deadly disease. More recently, the FDA has approved the first gene therapy which doctors say may be close to a cure for Duchenne. But none of the Malaysian patients, particularly those in Sabah, can avail themselves to these. A year’s treatment with Amondys 45 (casimersen), an exon skipping drug, can cost as much as RM6.5m ($1.5m) while a one-time gene therapy with Elevidys (Delandistrogene moxeparvovec) costs RM14.2m, making it one of the most expensive drugs in the world.

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Sports

A quake hangover nine years on

Sabah Insights

Kinabalu climbathon’s return on Oct 6 after a six-year break is looking subdued

Mount Kinabalu climbathon: only seasoned mountain runners allowed

Hailed as the toughest mountain race, the Mount Kinabalu climbathon is making a comeback on Oct 6 after a six-year absence. But an earthquake in 2015 that killed 18 climbers has dampened its spirit and changed the face of the 26-kilometre climbathon. Registration opens today (June 4) but is restricted to seasoned mountain runners and capped at 200 as the participants’ safety is prioritised. Before the earthquake, more than 700 runners took part in the climbathon which was spread over two days: one for the seasoned runners and the other for almost anyone.

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