Home for victims of human trafficking in Sabah

A safe house for victims of human trafficking will be opened at an undisclosed location here very soon - the first of its kind in Sabah.

State Assistant Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister, Herbert Timbun Lagadan, said the fully-protected house capable of accommodating up to 20 people at a time would come under the Ministry.

The place was gazetted for the purpose at the end of last year, he told reporters after representing Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun in opening a strategic planning workshop for facilitating the formation of Sabah's anti-human trafficking committee at Hyatt Regency Kinabalu, in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

"This shows the State Government has been very proactive in providing for those falling victim to human trafficking ... the place is meant basically for those women abused this way," said Herbert.

With the opening of the safe-house, victims would no longer have to be sent to such facilities in the peninsula, like what happened in one or two cases last year.

The cases he mentioned involved foreign women in Sabah who claimed to have become victims of human trafficking.

On Sabahan victims of human trafficking in Singapore, Herbert said the Ministry is gathering details on the matter. "We will act appropriately (once all this is completed)," he said.

Meanwhile, in her speech read by Herbert, Azizah said the State Government is also ready to assist the Anti-Human Trafficking Council (Mapo).

"If the Federal Government takes seriously the human trafficking issue, the State Government also will not just take a 'sit and look' stand," she said.

Citing the proposed formation of a State-level anti-human trafficking committee as an example, Azizah said it would be similar to the national-level Mapo and vital for Sabah.

"(Because) Sabah is another main point of entry to this country. At the same time, Sabah attracts many foreigners seeking work in the plantation industries and we need to ensure 'human trafficking' does not occur among migrant workers," she said.

To effectively prevent and eradicate it, efforts should be started with awareness because when people are aware about this issue they will definitely be more cautious.

The State-level anti-human trafficking committee was proposed during the State Legislative Assembly sitting in April this year in the effort to curb human trafficking under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act.

Tuesday's workshop was meant to review the findings from five earlier workshops held early this year to increase understanding on human trafficking, to introduce the contents of the Human Trafficking Act 2007 which are related to a formation of the committee, to facilitate the formation of an anti-human trafficking committee as well as to discuss the action plans that need to be undertaken by the said committee.

Assistant Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Jahid Jahim, Secretary of Mapo Secretariat under the Home Ministry, Ahmad Ismail, and Coordinator of Archdiocesan Human Development Committee (AHDC), were also present.

Technical Knock Out

For the past few days, I was unable to publish posting in this blog of mine. Whenever I tried to sign in using Internet Explorer Browser, a dialogue poped out telling me that it not possible. I have now down loaded Mozilla Firefox and now using the channel to go surfing.

Have Palm Sail Will Travels

TAWAU (Sabah): A 10-man team led by a 60-year-old surgeon from Tokyo left Tawau Yacht Club, Wednesday, to continue their 200-day voyage on two handmade ancient palm tree sailboats to trace the routes taken thousands of years ago.
Prof. Yoshiharu Sekino and his team arrived here, Monday (JUne 8), after sailing 800km from Kampung Lambe, a small fishing hamlet in Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.
The voyage from Southeast Asia along the Black Current is aimed at tracing one of the paths believed taken by ancestors of the Japanese some 3,000 to 10,000 years ago.
The Black Current route was one of the three paths believed to have brought seafaring people from the Sunda Land area, which now includes Indonesia and Malaysia, to the Japanese archipelago.
The team comprising four Japanese and six fishermen from the Indonesian Mandar tribe started their journey on April 30 on the sailboats called Jomon and Pakur. Jomon is seven metres long and could accommodate four people while and Pakur nine meters long and accommodate six people. The sails were made of Palmyra palm leaves woven the traditional way used by Mandar sailors.
Sekino, who is also a professor of anthropology at Musashino Art University, had already explored the two others routes, namely the northern route from Siberia via Sakhalin Island to Hokkaido from July 2004 to August 2005 and then from October 2005 to March 2008, the continental route from the Himalayas via China and the Korean Peninsula to Kyushu.
Sekino said he wanted to explore the origins of their ancestors, whose inheritance could still be found in different places along these routes.
Speaking to the Daily Express before leaving, he expected the 700km journey from here to Kudat, the northern tip of Borneo Island, would take about one month.
They would also stop over in Sipadan, Lahad Datu and Sandakan. "After that, we will sail to Philippines and Taiwan," he said, adding they would travel a total 4,000km.
Sekino said their journey from Sulawesi to Tawau was a bit difficult as the wind direction was inconsistent. As the handmade sailboats fully depend on wind, they spent about 30 per cent of the journey paddling the boats.
"We also sail at night if there is a full moon," he said, adding that so far they had sailed through six nights.
He expected the journey onwards would be much easier as the wind is blowing towards north.
Sekino who took four years to plan the trip said initially it was estimated it would take them three months as they planned to arrive in Naha, Okinawa Japan on July 20. But due to many obstacles, the trip had slowed down by 100 per cent.
It would take them seven months or 200 days to complete the journey. "There are another five months to go," he said, adding they are sailing an average 25km per day.
The team is assisted by Indonesian, Muhammad Ridwan who is escorting them in a motorboat providing foods and drinks.

The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department headquarters which is located next to a Chinese cemetery along the Kolombong highway in Kota Kinabalu.

I live in Kionsom, Inanam about six miles from Kota Kinabalu. Everyday I go to Tanjung Aru using Jalan Lintas. One `landmark' that had been always been `hunting' me is the Sabah Fire and Rescue Department's headquarters at Mile 5, Jalan Tuaran.

The building was built on a site sandwiched by cemetery. I had always been asking why and this question had been noticed by Federal Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Datuk Haji Lajim Ukin during a visit recently.

I reproduced below a story on Lajim's as it appeared in the Saturday's New Straits Times.

KOTA KINABALU: Most people would be dead set against living anywhere near graveyards for fear of ghostly visits or bad feng shui.

Staff at the state Fire and Rescue Department headquarters, however, have to bear with the situation as their workplace is located next to the Chinese cemetery along the Kolombong highway (Jalan Lintas).

Here, the term "graveyard shift" takes on a life of its own.

"Sometimes, my men are a bit wary about being put on the night shift here. It becomes a point of contention or a joke," said department director Khirudin Drahman.

Not only is the location undesirable but Khirudin said it was also impractical as the location meant that no renovations or extensions could be done.
"It is not as if we can dig up the graves for any extension. But at least no one will complain about any noise!"

Fortunately, the men do not have to live at the site as their living quarters are located separately elsewhere.

State Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, who visited the headquarters on Friday, said that two other branches of the department -- in Tuaran and in Tambunan -- were also located near or next to ceme-teries.

"It's very unfortunate. It's as if they were given land that nobody else wanted."

Lajim said he had asked his ministry to look into the matter and investigate if there had been any misleading information given in the allocation of the land.

On another matter, Lajim said the ministry would be submitting a working paper to the cabinet outlining plans for Fire and Rescue Department volunteer teams in Sabah.

"These volunteer teams would be trained to deal with crises and fires in their areas.

"They can help control the fire until the firemen can reach the site.

"This is crucial to save lives and reduce losses."

He said 56 places in the state had been identified to have such teams but so far only 13 of them had active volunteer teams.

"Some of these teams have been provided fire-fighting equipment but we are looking at providing training and equipment for all the areas."

National Tadau Kaamatan 2010 in KL

Federal Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the government may host the National Tadau Kaamatan and Gawai Open House celebrations in Kuala Lumpur from next year.

"Having the event in Kuala Lumpur will enable Malay-sians in the peninsula to learn more about the culture and heritage of the Kadazandusun in Sabah and the Dayak and Iban in Sarawak.

"We want to enhance national integration by helping all communities to learn more about the people of Sabah and Sarawak," he told a meeting with media editors in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah yesterday.

This year's celebrations was held yesterday at the Padang Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu which was launched by Head of State Tu Haji Ahmadsah Abdullah and attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman, who is indisposed, was represented by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

National Pesta Kaamatan this weekend

The National Pesta Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) celebrations in Kota Kinabalu on June 7.

The festival is a manifestation of Sabah’s economy, social and culture and should be appreciated not only by the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) community but also the state’s multi-racial population.

Although the festival is aimed at protecting the cultures and traditions, other communities can take the positives in line with the 1Malaysia concept inspired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The festival is proof of the strong unity and harmony of the people.

The Nnational Pesta Kaamatan celebrations to be held at Padang Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu and will be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Harvest Festival

The picture above is a news cutting from Here published on June 1, 2009

Today marks the official last day celebrations of the annual Pesta Kaamatan (Harvest Festival), a celebrations observes by the native of Sabah, particularly, the Kadazan Dusun Murut communities. This festival mark the end of harvesting paddy and the communities celebrate in grand scale before going back to the field to start a new paddy planting season.

The government recognised this celebrations by gazetting May 30 & 31 as an annual Public Holiday.

To all Aki Momogun's visitors: _

`Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Kaamatan 2009/Selamat Pesta Kaamatan 2009/Happy Harvest Festival 2009'

315,752 illegals immigrants deported from Sabah

KOTA KINABALU, May 29 (Bernama) -- A total of 389,129 illegal immigrants had been arrested in Sabah between 1990 and 2008, the State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman said.

Of the total, he said 315,752 were deported to their countries of origin.

He said the success showed that the state government had never given room nor space for the immigrants to enter this country illegally.

"Instead, the state government had launched a continuous operation against the illegal immigrants with the cooperation from all quarters.

"Integrated efforts from all the enforcement agencies have proven effective and successful," he said in a statement here Friday.

Sukarti said last year alone, a total of 24,269 illegal immigrants, mostly Philippine nationals, were arrested and detained at the temporary detention centre statewide.

He said, however, 19,151 of them had been deported to their countries of origin while the others were sentenced to imprisonment upon conviction under the Immigration Act.

Sukarti, who is also the integrated operation chief for 2009, said that between January and May this year, 13 operations had been launched which saw 14,286 immigrants screened and 6,045 detained.

The integrated operation would continue until December 31, he added.

Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan 2009

The State-level Kaamatan Unduk Ngadau (Harvest Beauty Queen) 2009 will see 41 contestants representing all the districts and sub-districts in Sabah. They will be only one of them to be crowned as the Unduk Ngadau at the Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang on Sunday.

Plenty of WW2 Bombs in Keningau

State Rural Development Assistant Minister Datuk Haji Sairin Karno called on the police to scan several places in the Keningau District for World War 11 bombs following the finding of three war relics here within this month.
He said the authorities concerned must ensure that residential areas and those being cleared for housing and development projects were free from these deadly explosives.
"I believe the police have the ability and the facilities to conduct the survey," he said, Wednesday.
Sairin, who is Liawan Assemblyman, was speaking after launching the Interior Zone Road Safety Campaign in conjunction with the Kaamatan (Harvest) Festival here.
He was commenting on the two WW11 bombs unearthed by construction workers levelling an area earmarked for a housing project in Kampung Toboh Baru here.
The third was found by a rubber tapper at his rubber smallholding in Kampung Awou.
The bombs, which were all about eight inches in diameter and three feet long, had been detonated by police.
The three found this month added to three finds from the same area several years ago which was believed to had been heavily shelled during the Second World War.
Meanwhile, Sairin called on road users to be extra careful during the festive season. He said traffic rules and regulations must be adhered to at all time.
"We must do our best to avoid accidents, " he said, adding that statistics showed an increased of accidents for the first five months this year compared to the same period last year.

MCPA spreads its wing to Sabah

The Malaysian Crime Prevention Association (MCPA) launched its Sabah branch in Kota Kinabalu Saturday to bolster local community participation in efforts to combat criminal activities in the State.

Its President Ravi Ponnan said the newly set-up MCPA Sabah will stress on promoting crime prevention awareness and make school students the main target group of their campaign.

"We will focus more on students and organise for them specially tailored training, seminars, forums and other activities to educate them on various crimes such as vandalism, corruption, drugs, gangsterism and vice, street racing, deviant teachings, terrorism and so on," he said at the official launching at the Sabah Golf and Country Club.

Ravi said setting up of the branch in Sabah, which will be expanded to cover more districts in the State, would enable MCPA to understand better crime-related issues in the State and will therefore allow it to play an active and meaningful role in assisting the authorities to address them effectively.

MCPA was established at the national level on Sept 20, 2002 to cooperate and assist government agencies, particularly the police, in curbing criminal activities by, among others, conducting research on crimes and helping convicted criminals in their rehabilitation process.

"We cannot fully curb criminal activities but we can effectively address these through prevention activities at the grassroots level, " Ravi said.

Youth and Sports Assistant Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim in officiating ceremony, hoped the presence of MCPA in the State would encourage active participation from the people.

"With the opening of a branch here, we also hope that understanding and cooperation between MCPA and the people would be further strengthened," he said.

He noted that the association's "community-oriented policing and smart partnership" approach was aimed at mobilising community members to work together with the authority in an integrated and coordinated crime prevention effort.

MCPA, Jahid said, could contribute significantly to preventing crimes in Sabah through research it will conduct in the State to study behavioural factors related to criminal activities.

"Much research on crimes and the factors that lead to them have been conducted by psychologists and various ministries.

"The more research the better as it will further expand our reference and allow us to solve, prevent and minimise crimes more effectively, " he said

All eyes of Perak today

UPDATE:

The Court of Appeal's decided in favour of Barisan Nasional's Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir, declaring him of the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak. This will not be the end of the drama as Datuk Seri Mohamad Zizar Jamaluddin, who was previously declared the rightful Menteri Besar by the High Court, will be appealing to the Federal Court against the ruling of the Appeal Court.

The Court of Appeal will deliver its ruling at 3pm today as to who is the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak.

What transpired in court yesterday as reported HERE

The PUTRAJAYA, May 21 The Court of Appeal will decide Friday who is the rightful Perak Menteri Besar.

Justice Datuk Md Raus Shariff, who sat with Justices Datuk Zainun Ali and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, fixed 3.30pm to deliver its decision on the appeal filed by Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir, who is appealing against the High Court decision in declaring that Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Perak Menteri Besar.

The three-man bench set the date after hearing for almost-seven-hours submissions by the three parties involved -- the appellant Zambry, respondent Mohammad Nizar and Attorney-General Datuk Abdul Gani Patail as the intervener.

Earlier, Mohammad Nizar had requested for a panel of five Appeal Court judges to hear the appeal, but was refused.On May 11, High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim had ruled that Mohammad Nizar did not vacate the office of Menteri Besar as he had not lost majority confidence in the state legislative assembly.

Following the decision, counsel Datuk Cecil Abraham, for Zambry, enumerated 24 grounds of the appeal with nine main issues for the Appeal Court's determination.

"The question is whether the learned trial judge was right in interpreting Article 16, 18 and 36 of the Perak Constitution. I submit that his lordship had interpreted it wrongly."

Article 16 is very clear and unambigous.

It says, when the Menteri Besar lost the majority confidence, he must resign. It doesn't say that he must go back to the State Legislative Assembly (to table the motion of no-confidence)," he said.

Cecil submitted that learned trial judge was also wrong in holding that the Sultan of Perak had no power to make enquiry to ascertain whether there was in fact a deadlock in the Perak State Legislative Assembly, or whether Mohammad Nizar had lost the majority confidence of the house.

"We also submit that the vote of no-confidence is not the only way to ascertain if the respondent has ceased to command the confidence of the majority," he said further.

Cecil argued that under the constitution, there was no specific provision requiring a motion of no-confidence to be passed by the members of the State Legislative Assembly before ascertaining that the Menteri Besar had lost the majority confidence.

In his submission, Cecil further said that on Feb 5, Sultan Azlan Shah, before deciding on the Mohammad Nizar's request for the dissolution, had met and interviewed Jamaluddin, Mohd Osman and Hee, to make sure that Barisan Nasional has their support.

The Sultan had also met the other 28 state legislative assemblymen who pleged their support to Barisan Nasional, to ascertain that BN had the majority confidence of the house, he said.

"After being satisfied that BN has the majority, His Royal Highness had issued a media statement stating that Mohammad Nizar had lost the majority confidence and asked him to step down," said Cecil.

Meanwhile, Abdul Gani submitted that Mohammad Nizar could not claim that he had the confidence of the majority as there was an equal vote of 28 each on either side (Pakatan and Barisan Nasional).

"This case is a 50-50 situation. It means that there is no majority or minority. In fact, the respondent (Mohammad Nizar) had 28 votes including Speaker V.Sivakumar, but under the standing orders, the speaker cannot vote," he said.

Abdul Gani also submitted that when Mohammad Nizar had the audience with Sultan Azlan Shah on Feb 4, he had admitted that there was deadlock in the state assembly.

"Deadlock means that there was no majority and minority votes. How come Mohammad Nizar at first says that he had majority votes and at the same time say there was a deadlock," he argued.

In the afternoon proceeding, counsel Sulaiman Abdullah, for Mohammad Nizar, submitted that under Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution, the Menteri Besar does not hold office at the Sultan's pleasure, but holds office subject to the confidence of the members of the state legislative assembly to whom the Menteri Besar was responsible.

"As such Mohammad Nizar cannot be dismissed by the Sultan. Mohammad Nizar may only be dismissed after a vote of no-confidence is passed against him by the members of the legislative assembly," he said.

Sulaiman said judge Abdul Aziz was right in applying the decision in the case of the former Sarawak Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan that the only way to dismiss him from the office was by the way of a vote of no-confidence.

"It is our submission that there is no reason why this court should not follow and adopt Ningkan's case to our case," he said."

Whether the Menteri Besar has ceased to command the confidence of the majority, is not the decision of the people of Perak, and not also the decision of the Ruler, but it is the sole decision of the elected members of the legislative assembly," added Sulaiman.

Mohammad Nizar, when met by the media after the proceeding, said: "It doesn't matter what the decision is tomorrow, but what is most important is the support of the people of Perak for me."What we are asking is for them and what we are doing is only getting justice through the process of the court," he said.

Pairin: Eradicating hardcore poverty a priority

All cabinet ministers share the same approach and responsibility towards eradicating hardcore poverty in the state, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan (left).
The newly appointed Minister of Infrastructure Development disclosed this in the handing over of duty to the new Minister of Rural Development, Datuk Ewon Ebin (centre) in Kota Kinabalu.
He said in the new working environment, the minister would be working closely with the district officers and their assistants, and also with officers from local authorities who are the group of people who knew much about the situation in the rural areas.
“I believe and am confident that Datuk Ewon knows what to do best and will work hard to achieve the objective of his new ministry. He hails from the rural area and for sure he has all the ideas on what to do in these areas.
“By going down to the field to meet the district officers, he will be briefed what is going on and will be able to plan suitable poverty eradication programmes. I also hope that the existing programmes will be continuously implemented as they have been approved by the government,” Pairin said.
Ewon said: “When it comes to thinking about the role that every minister has to play for the good of the people, I accept the responsibility with an open heart and with determination.”
He pledged to go on with the programmes that had been laid down by his predecessor and would also be open to take up new measures based on urgency.
Also present were permanent secretary Datuk Ghulam Jelani (right) and political secretary Japirin Sahadi.

Khairy: A mockery if BN contests Penanti

Malaysia Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar was in Sabah yesterday to attend the Sabah Umno Youth meeting at the party's headquarters in Kota Kinabalu. He witnessed the handing over of duty between out-going acting State Umno Youth chief Nizam Titingan Abu Bakar to newly appointed head Azman Ruslan.

Speaking to reporters, Khairy said it would be a mockery for Barisan Nasional to contest in the Penanti by-election.

He said the youth supported the party's leadership decision not to field candidate in the by-election which had been fixed by the Election Commission to be held on May 31, 2009. Nomination day will be on May 23, 2009.

"This (not contesting) is to protest the opposition's act of belittling the nation's democratic system. Its not that BN is afraid. BN has never been afraid of the opposition, BN had contested in previous by-elections," he said.

The by-election is held after the resignation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)assemblyman Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who was also Penang Deputy Chief Minister, on March 19, 2009.

In the March 8, 2008 general election, Mohammad defeated BN-Umno's Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid. He polled 7,346 votes while Abdul Jalil garnered 5,127 votes.

This will be the second time the voters in Penanti to go to the poll since the general elections last year.

A by-election was also held last year in the Permatang Pauh's parliamentary constituency when PKR president Datin Azizah resigned. Her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim contested and won. Penanti is one of the state constituencies within Permatang Pauh.

QEH nurses' morale low

Some 453 nurses (that is 75 per cent of the population of nurses serving in QEH, QEH housed at the Sabah Medical Centre, and QEH Orthopaedic Ward housed at Likas Hospital ) in Kota Kinabalu responded to self-developed questionnaires, which was the tool used in carrying out the survey.

What prompted the survey was the little attention given to the welfare of QEH staff and workers, and how they cope with the QEH crisis.

The survey had the permission of State Health Director, Dr Hj Marzuki Mohd Isa and QEH Director DR Zuraidah Hj Babji.As a result of the decanting process in many locations, Sana President Dr Hjh Bibi Florina Abdullah said 97 per cent agreed that escorting of patients from one place to another has left minimum staff in the wards, and this has affected the quality of care provided.

"93 per cent agreed that the level of dissatisfaction expressed by patients and doctors is greater now. According to 95 per cent of the respondents, the wards have become congested due to reduction in bed number, forcing them to kneel down on the cement floor to take observation of the patients.

"90 per cent also agreed that with patients on camp beds in the middle of the ward, the emergency trolley, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and any life-saving procedure has difficulty in having access to the patient’s bedside.

"89 per cent of the nurses felt that the work process has increasing become difficult for them. On top of it, privacy for patients is practically nil," the retired National Matron of Malaysia told the gathering.

Giving more figures, Bibi Florina revealed that 91 per cent of the respondents felt that the image of nurses is greatly affected due to numerous complaint about the present hospital service.

She said 88 per cent were in a dilemma as to how to answer queries from patients and the public they do not know what will happen to QEH.

"77 per cent were demoralized after being scolded by relatives and patients over their inability to attend to their needs immediately. This is because many times nurses had to leave the ward or escort them to another hospital for treatment."

In fact, 67 per cent of the nurses even thought to early retirement or transfer to another hospital. This is worrying."Other findings are as follows:
75 per cent feel shameful when others criticise QEH facilities.
67 per cent are under stress and can’t concentrate on performing their duties because they don’t know what will happen to them.
70 per cent say that stress has affected their health and family relationship. They spend less time with their family at this period of time.
50 per cent agree that they have lost interest in their work and are easily irritable in relation to family members at home, even over minor matters.
53 per cent state that they feel insecure and begin each day with a negative attitude.
75 per cent of the nurses feel that family members are worried about their safety in the workplace.
Bibi Florina said because of the QEH crisis, a common from the public is their hope that they would not fall sick or meet with an accident at this critical period "because you will get sub-optimal facilities if you need medical care."

"Many have expressed concern about the standard of services and safety of the building." This posting from HERE