Tag: Borneo

Business

Hajiji’s TAED dilemma

Sabah Insights

After 10 years, a grandiose playground for the super-rich remains in limbo

An artist’s impression of the Tanjung Aru Eco Development project.
Hajiji Noor

It was to have rivaled Bali. But Sabah’s grandiose multi-billion-ringgit playground for the super-rich at Tanjung Aru beach never took off. The two-km long beach is reputed to be one of the world’s best offering spectacular sunrise and sunset. Launched by former chief minister Musa Aman in 2013 during a ground-breaking ceremony, the project has stalled because of objections from the public and environmentalists over a massive land reclamation plan, sales of the reclaimed land, and doubts over public access to the beach. And after 10 years, the project remains in limbo as the vagaries of politics have dampened investors’ interest. Now chief minister Hajiji Noor has given the Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED) which would have then cost RM7.1 billion a glimmer of hope.

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Education

A friend indeed

Sabah Insights

Founder says ATI College owes its success to former tourism minister Bernard Dompok

Wong Khen Thau (left) and Bernard Dompok

It was a poignant moment for Wong Khen Thau, the founder of ATI College at its 26th convocation on February 29 at the Magellan Sutera Resort in Kota Kinabalu. Twenty-eight years ago, the hotel industry didn’t think much of his tourism school founded in 1996 which was offering short courses in food and beverage, housekeeping and front office operations. But one man had faith in him: Bernard Dompok, then Sabah tourism minister. His instinct as a trained property valuer told him Mr Wong would succeed. He despatched the first batch of 40 government sponsored students to the Asian Tourism Institute as it was then known. From that small start, the ATI College has produced more than 12,000 skilled workers for the hotel industry.

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Wildlife

The strange death of an orangutan

Sabah Insights

Environmentalists scramble for answers as a post mortem is inconclusive

An orangutan, man’s second closest cousin.

A dead male orangutan found floating on the Kinabatangan river in northeast Sabah last week has sent environmentalists scrambling for answers as a post-mortem failed to find the cause of his death. The autopsy performed by a veterinarian at the Danau Girang Field Centre as soon as the orangutan was found has ruled out foul play saying there were no gunshot wounds in the 10-year-old primate’s body. The DGFC run by Sabah Wildlife Department and Britain’s Cardiff University studies wildlife. No bones were broken. Neither were there any signs of an attack except for a bruise in the neck that could have been caused by a fall from a tree into the river, according to Christina Liew, minister of tourism, culture and environment. Augustine Tuuga, Sabah wildlife director, said the orangutan might have drowned. These arboreal anthropoid apes can’t swim. Yet the post-mortem didn’t say that the orangutan drowned. His organs are said to be healthy. Ms Liew said the orangutan’s heart, lungs, kidney, gallbladder and liver would be sent to a laboratory for further investigation.

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Sports

After six years, mountain races are back in Sabah

Sabah Insights

Mount Trusmadi poses a formidable challenge to Mount Kinabalu

Mount Trusmadi in the heart of Sabah.

Sabah is launching the Mount Trusmadi International Climbathon on May 25 as mountain races make a comeback after a six-year hiatus. It is Malaysia’s second tallest mountain after Mount Kinabalu (4,095m) that sits deep in the jungle of the interior of the north Borneo island state. It stands at 2,642m, about two-thirds the height of Mount Kinabalu whose climbathon was scrapped in 2018 after a 30-year run. The Trusmadi race is said to be even tougher than Kinabalu’s which is reputed to be the world’s toughest mountain race. And the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon is making a comeback this year. No date has been fixed but it is expected in October as it had been in the past.

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Tourism

A Nanjing-Tawau frenzy

Sabah Insights

Will chartered flights from China augur well for east coast tourism

Tawau town

Getting airlines to fly tourists from China to Tawau, the east coast agricultural town, has been a struggle. Previous attempts to set up direct flights between Chinese cities and Tawau have come to nought. So Christina Liew, Sabah’s minister of tourism, culture and environment, was understandably elated when the inaugural chartered flight carrying 157 Chinese tourists from Nanjing in eastern China touched down at Tawau airport on January 23. “I am excited that this new route will contribute to the growth and development of Tawau as a prominent international destination,” she said. But her optimism may be premature.

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Government

Malaysia’s most feared taxman is Kota Kinabalu mayor

Sabah Insights

Sabin Samitah’s job may be hampered as state election looms

Kota Kinabalu mayor Sabin Samitah (left) with Luyang lawmaker Ginger Phoong Jin Zhe – Picture courtesy of The Borneo Post

Seven years ago, the name Sabin Samitah struck fear in Malaysia’s corporate world. As chief executive officer of the Inland Revenue Board, he slapped companies and businessmen with multi-million-ringgit income tax bills and penalties for under declaring income as soon as he assumed office in December 2016. Among those he cracked down were the companies of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed’s three sons, and property developer Lee Kim Yew, a close friend of Mahathir, who founded Country Heights Holdings Berhad. Then in October 2021, two months short of his five-year contract, he abruptly quit his job. In September that year he had slapped former prime minister Najib Razak with a RM1.7-billion tax bill which drew condemnations from Mr Najib who is serving a 12-year jail sentence for corruption and money laundering. The Ranau-born Mr Sabin, 63, has now become the seventh mayor of Kota Kinabalu. His appointment on new year’s day was understandably greeted with trepidation by those who know him. Yet he hasn’t said that he would go after ratepayers who owe the Dewan Bandaraya (city hall) about RM50m in council taxes. But he has set his sight on giving the state capital cleaner public toilets in three months.

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Society

A merrier month of December

Sabah Insights

Sabah cultural extravaganza stresses that Malaysia is a secular nation

The Bajau Suluk culture will be on display at the Dec Cover Sabah extravaganza.

The merry month of December is getting merrier. And the calendar looks crowded towards the end of the year. Adding to the Christmas spirit and ushering in the new year are cultural events lined up for the inaugural cultural and touristic extravaganza called Dec-Cover Sabah 2023. It showcases the state’s cultural diversity and drives home the point that Malaysia is a secular country.

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Tourism

More than just a fun run through the rainforest

Sabah Insights

Why Tawau Hills Park must be protected at all cost

A waterfall of the Tawau Hills Park

“The Tawau Hills Park is not merely a backdrop for a run,” said Alesia Sion, deputy permanent secretary of the tourism, culture and environment ministry, at the Tropical Rainforest Run on November 26. “It is a sanctuary that deserves our utmost care and protection.” Indeed. The only reason that the 280-square-km park was set up in 1979 was to protect its water catchment from loggers. They had tried to chop down valuable tropical hardwood trees in one of the last remaining lowland virgin forests where some of the world’s tallest trees stand to almost 100 metres tall. Yet temptation reigns supreme. But state officials are banking on sports tourism to keep it in check.

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Politics

Anwar trips on Sabah

Sabah Insights

Will the Borneo state ever get what the federal government owes it

It was painful to watch prime minister Anwar Ibrahim struggling to explain why Sabah and Sarawak are getting the lion’s share of federal money for development in next year’s budget. And perhaps for the first time, Mr Anwar alluded to his government’s financial obligation to the east Malaysian Borneo states under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963. Famously known as MA63, it sets out terms for their membership, safeguards, special privileges and autonomy in the 13-state Malaysian federation. These have already been written into the federal constitution. Yet Mr Anwar stumbled while answering questions in parliament on November 2 in a feeble attempt to pacify peninsular critics that his government is giving too much attention to east Malaysia. What has been left unsaid is the hundreds of billions of ringgit, not to mention earnings from oil and gas, that Putra Jaya has profited from Sabah and Sarawak.

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