(Published in the Star Newspaper 10th April 2012, page6)

By DURIE RAINER FONG 

KOTA KINABALU: The Mansuli Valley in Sabah’s east coast Lahad Datu district houses the oldest human settlement in east Malaysia, archaeologists claim.

Tucked inside a forest reserve and accessible only by a dirt road, researchers stumbled upon a treasure trove in 2003, finding more than 1,000 stone tools that are believed to date back 235,000 years.

The research was jointly carried out by Universiti Sains Malaysia and Sabah Museum, which are also currently looking at other potential sites in the state’s interior Apin-Apin district in Keningau.

USM Centre for Global Archaeological Research director Prof Dr Mokhtar Saidin said the evidence showed people settled in Sabah during the Paleolithic period (also known as the Stone Age), 27,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Ground-breaking find: Masidi (centre) being briefed by Dr Mokhtar (right) on the stone tools during the exhibition at Sabah Museum in Kota Kinabalu Monday.

Before this, it was claimed the oldest human settlement, dating back about 40,000 years, was in the Niah Caves, near Miri, Sarawak.

Dr Mokhtar said this in a talk to mark the launch of the Archaeology in Malaysia exhibition by state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun at Sabah Museum here yesterday.

The professor said the new evidence showed that humans from the South-East Asian mainland came to Borneo when the Sunda Plain still existed.

(Also known as the Sunda Shelf, it is geologically an extension of the continental shelf of South-East Asia with the major land masses being the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Madura, Bali and their surrounding smaller islands. It covers an area of approximately 1.85 million square kilometres.)

Dr Mokhtar said that when connected to other Paleolithic archaeological sites in Sabah, the Mansuli Valley site established that the early humans had consistently made this part of Borneo their home.

He said efforts were being made to put this information into school books.

USM lecturer Jeffery Abdullah, who is part of the archaeology team, said they found the site by chance while working on the Samang Buat cave, about a kilometre from the site.

“We were walking to the cave when we found stone tools scattered and hidden among small rocks,” said Jeffery, who is pursuing a doctorate in archeology at the university.

Masidi said more should be done to study and conserve the state’s historical heritage.

“While many archaeological sites concentrated in Sabah’s east coast, more studies need to be held in the west coast and interior areas so we can get a better understanding on Sabah’s history as a whole,” he said.

(Published in the Star newspaper, 1st April 2012, pg18)

MERSING: The RM22.2bil Mersing Laguna project will help the country achieve its aim of attracting 36 million tourists by 2020, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

She said the mega project would also attract some 1.2 million tourists to Mersing by 2021.

“Last year, we managed to draw 26.4 million tourists. To increase arrivals, we need to ensure we have more tourism projects and packages that will interest them,” she said after visiting the Mersing Tourism Information Centre yesterday.

Dr Ng said the project would also help develop Mersing and boost the livelihood of the local people.

“Thousands of jobs will be up for grabs once the project is completed in 2021. Local eateries and other tourist areas should upgrade their facilities,” she said.

Once completed, Mersing would see a five-star hotel, a large aquarium and a boardwalk along the seafront, she said.

“The company in charge of the mega project, Radiant Starfish Bhd, will be spending RM30mil to upgrade the current jetty,” she said.

Dr Ng said the project would resemble Nusantara in Bali, Indonesia, with hotels, resorts, spas and other forms of entertainment.

“Just like Nusantara, the Mersing Laguna will have 22 hotels, a water theme park, a polo field, marinas and plenty of shopping areas for tourists,” she said.

The Mersing Laguna project includes the reclamation of 809ha of land to create three new islands.

Meanwhile, during the Wanita Bakri International Women’s Day celebration here on Friday, Dr Ng urged all non-Muslim women to understand the implications of hudud law should the Opposition govern the country.

She said these could be seen from statements by Kelantan Mentri BesarDatuk Abdul Nik Aziz Nik Mat on matters related to women over the years, such as not wearing lipstick to work or looking beautiful could “invite rape”.

Although Malaysian women had progressed and now enjoyed greater rights, she said these were not automatic.

“These rights are not given just like that and we want the women to know that the Barisan Nasional government does not suppress women,” she said.

LONDON - The cost of damage to the world’s oceans from climate change could reach $2 trillion a year by 2100 if measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions are not stepped up, a study by marine experts said on Wednesday.

The study found that without action to limit rising greenhouse gas emissions, the global average temperature could rise by 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century causing ocean acidification, sea level rise, marine pollution, species migration and more intense tropical cyclones. It would also threaten coral reefs, disrupt fisheries and deplete fish stocks.

In the study, “Valuing the Ocean”, marine experts led by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) analysed the most severe threats facing the world’s marine environment and estimated the cost of damage from global warming.

It found nitrogen-rich fertilisers and waste would strip more ocean areas of oxygen, causing what is known as hypoxic dead zones, which are already found in more than 500 locations.

“By 2100, the cost of damage if we do not radically cut emissions rises to $1.98 trillion, or 0.37 percent of global gross domestic product,” the SEI said.

The loss of tourism would incur the highest cost at $639 billion per year. The loss of the ocean carbon sink, the seas’ ability to soak up carbon dioxide (CO2), would cost almost $458 billion, the study showed. Warmer water holds less CO2.

RADICAL TECHNOLOGIES

If cuts in emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases were carried out more urgently and temperature increases were limited to 2.2 degrees C, nearly $1.4 trillion of the total cost could be avoided, the study found.

However, such progress would require the widespread use of radical carbon removal technologies like sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, Frank Ackerman, one of the report’s authors told Reuters.

“The faster we stop emissions rising, the lower the damage will be. But on current technology, I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up on a 4 degree C pathway,” said Ackerman, senior economist and director of the Climate Economics Group at SEI’s U.S. Center.

The study did not put a monetary value on the loss of some species which inhabit the world’s oceans, critical processes like nutrient cycling or the loss of coastal communities’ traditional ways of life.

“The challenge is to figure out what parts of the ocean environment have a value you can put a meaningful price on. There are very important areas which we still can’t incorporate into a market,” Ackerman said.

The study also recommended that the United Nations appoints a High Commissioner for Oceans to coordinate research and action, that ocean services should be more integrated into economic policy and that there should be more preparation for a 1-2 metre sea level rise by the end of the century.

A new potential market in “blue carbon” could also present an important economic opportunity, SEI said.

Marine ecosystems, like mangroves and sea grasses, contain far more carbon than terrestrial forests but are being degraded at a more alarming rate and are not yet included in carbon offset schemes, which reward investors in emissions reduction projects in developing countries with carbon credits.

“There are many questions about the legal responsibility for different parts of the ocean. Tracking terrestrial carbon offsets is enough of a challenge, tracking the marine ones is going to be a new challenge,” Ackerman said.

“But they need to be included. Leaving out an area like that could undermine progress being made in areas that are being taken care of.”

-Reuters

(Published in the Star Newspaper dated 19th March 2012, page 24)

By MUGUNTAN VANAR 

KOTA KINABALU: The state government has approved a draft amendment to a provision in the Fisheries Act that would ban shark hunting and finning in Sabah waters.

Tourism, Culture and Environ-ment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjunconfirmed the state cabinet’s decision for a ban on shark hunting.

“The state Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry has submitted the amendments to its federal counterparts.

“We hope they can take the necessary action to get the proposed provisions enacted,” he said yesterday.

Masidi said that the state was hoping that the process would not take long as Sabah was eager for the ban to be enforced and it could only be done if the federal Fisheries Act was to be amended.

The state government, over a year ago, proposed a ban on shark hunting and finning in an effort to conserve the shark population.

However, the state was unable to impose the ban on its hunting as such a law involved amending the federal Fisheries Act.

The state Fisheries authorities subsequently worked out a draft amendment to the Fisheries Act that would put in place a ban on shark hunting in Sabah waters.

The draft was approved by the state cabinet at its recent meeting and handed over to the federal authorities.

As an interim measure, the Tourism Ministry supported campaigns initiated by NGOs for people to avoid shark fin soup at restaurants.

They also concentrated on raising awareness among target groups like fishmongers to stop selling sharks and shark fins.

(Published in the Star Newspaper 11th March 2012)

KOTA KINABALU: A 50m-forest corridor strip known as the Melapi Elephant Corridor in Sukau is making a difference in the survival of the Bornean pygmy elephants.

The corridor project to connect fragmented forests in Sabah is helping in the survival of the elephants, said Borneo Conservation Trust and Research head and project leader Raymond Alfred.

“Even a strip of land 50m wide makes a difference in allowing the migration of the Bornean elephant herds in Lower Kinabatangan,” he said.

Alfred said the Melapi corridor was established in August through a joint collaboration between the Sabah Wildlife Department and Borneo Conservation Trust together with their partners Syarikat Yu Kwang Development Sdn Bhd and Proboscis Lodge Bukit Melapi.

A walk in the park: The Bornean pygmy elephant is given a much needed lifeline with the establishment of the Melapi corridor.

“We are very happy to know that the elephants are now able to pass through the land using this corridor to migrate from one key habitat to another, when previously it was a very narrow bottleneck,” he said.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the collaborative effort was a great example where the private sector worked with the Government and non-governmental organisations.

“We welcome the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with companies and organisations, which are keen to play an active role in supporting and contributing to Sabah’s wildlife conservation initiatives,” he added.

He said with the corridor, potential human-and-elephant conflict in the villages and plantation was also reduced.

Earlier this week, students from Nihon University Japan, coordinated by Borneo Conservation Trust Japan, planted more than 100 trees within the corridor to facilitate the movement of the orang utan within the fragmented habitat in the future.

(Published in the Star newspaper 10th March 2012, page 6)

Conservationists want sanctuary quick as animals are being killed near Sipadan

KOTA KINABALU: The killing of sharks in the vicinity of the world’s premier diving haven of Sipadan is setting off alarm bells among conservationists who want immediate safeguards in place to protect the fast diminishing species.

International and local divers have filmed dead sharks with their fins removed while diving around popular spots around Sipadan and Mabul and other reefs and islands in the east coast of Sabah.

Tourists continue to see sharks being finned along the beach near the village in Mabul Island and the carcasses thrown back into the sea.

Seaside deaths: Sharks being finned on the beach at Mabul Island.

“This is not good for Sipadan’s international image,” Sabah-based non-governmental organisation Borneo Conservancy headed by Daniel Doughty said.

Borneo Conservancy, which is pushing for the creation of the Semporna Shark Sanctuary, is hoping the state government will put in place a sanctuary ahead of Sabah’s plan to ban total shark hunting.

Conservationists in Semporna said their ground teams had witnessed the finning of sharks “once every two to three days” over the last 12 months.

“With an average of more than 50 sharks seen dead each day, we estimate that the number could be much higher as we don’t see sharks being finned,” said a conservationist who declined to be named.

The proponents of a sanctuary said dive tourists had shown videos of dead sharks being dumped on reefs in Mabul.

“Sadly, more tourists are seeing these images for real on Mabul Island and in Semporna and they have complained about the lack of protection for sharks and marine life in this world famous dive destination,” said the conservationist.

Doughty said there was a need for the state to have a shark sanctuary in Semporna as an immediate measure while waiting for changes to federal laws to facilitate a ban on shark hunting in Sabah waters.

“The shark population is depleting; we must act now,” he said, adding that an online petition for the setting up of the sanctuary had gained nearly 12,000 signatures from at least 40 organisations involved in shark and marine conservation worldwide.

Queville To

Some 2.64 million tourists visited Sabah last year but with MAS’ move to cancel certain routes, the numbers may drop in 2012.

St Andrew’s Cathedral marks 150th anniversary

ST Andrew’s Cathedral celebrated the 150th anniversary of its consecration with a thanksgiving service.

The two-hour service was attended by President Tony Tan Keng Yam and his wife Mary, who are Anglicans.

It included traditional hymns, Holy Communion and a sermon from Archbishop John Chew, bishop of the Anglican Church in Singapore and Archbishop of South-east Asia.

The church in City Hall – the first Anglican church in Singapore – took six years to build, and was completed in 1862. The site was expressly reserved for an Anglican church in 1823 by Sir Stamford Raffles.

The first church on the site opened in 1837 but closed in 1852 after it was struck twice by lightning and deemed unsafe. Construction of the current church building began four years later.

It was designed by Colonel Ronald MacPherson in a neo-gothic architectural style. The cathedral was gazetted as a national monument in 1973. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

KUALA LUMPUR- Starting today, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will cease serving shark fin in all its restaurants.

The hotel group will also decline orders for shark fin on the menu for banquets.

Shangri-La KL area director of communications Rosemarie Wee said several of Shangri-La’s hotels had already taken shark fin off their menus since December 2010.

“Now, all 72 of our hotels have made this commitment to save the sharks,” Wee said.

“The process was gradual as we had to make sure the logistics were in place and we could reduce and eliminate stock. Sustainability has always been at the forefront of our corporate social responsibility efforts.

“Shark fin has been a traditional staple at dinners and weddings, but the younger generation is not keen on consuming it any more.

“In fact, there have been requests not to have shark fin on the menu. In the last few years, demand for shark fin has dropped,” she said.

However, Wee said banquet bookings that included shark fin made before today would be honoured.

Shangri-La will also phase out bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass in all its operated restaurants within this year. The hotel chain will introduce alternatives to shark fin, such as bamboo fungus, lily bulbs, American ginseng, snow fungus, sea whelks and shimeiji mushrooms.

Shangri-La’s Sustainable Seafood Policy is part of its “Sanctuary, Shangri-La’s Care for Nature” project, an initiative for consistency in biodiversity, conservation and habitat protection across all its resorts.

It includes the development of marine sanctuaries for the protection of reefs and marine life.

Studies have shown that the number of certain species of sharks has been reduced by 95% since the 1970s due to indiscriminate slaughter .

-TheStar

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=26584:shangri-la-stops-serving-shark-fin&Itemid=4

(Published in the Star Biz, 12th Jan 2012, page 4)

By B.K. SIDHU

It’s finalising whether to exit from Indian, European and Christchurch services

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia X (AAX) seems all set to start ticket sales for the much-awaited KL-Sydney route next week and will begin mounting flights to the Australian city by April this year, way ahead of rival Scoot.

The airline is also said to be in the final stages of rationalising its route network where it would cut some routes which it deemed to be unprofitable and add Sydney and some routes to China (provided it can get slots there) to its network.

“We want to do that (Sydney) well ahead of the competition,” said a senior official of the airline group.

Scoot is Singapore Airlines’ long-haul low-cost carrier that has named Sydney as the first city of call out of Singapore and plans to begin flying the route by mid-year.

Competitive: AirAsia X offers reasonable rates for its Melbourne, Perth and Gold Coast flights/

The official declined to elaborate, but market has it that AAX will begin selling tickets for the sector next Tuesday and a team is planning to launch the sales from Sydney.

The first flight is slated to take off on April 1. However, all is subject to its internal planning, though the airline may be looking at daily flights for the KL-Sydney sector.

This puts an end to the near three-year wait and a bitter fight withMalaysia Airlines (MAS) over the route. MAS had previously lobbied against competition and the national carrier is still the only airline serving the KL-Sydney route after Jetstar withdrew from the sector in 2009.

This sharing of routes has been made possible after a share-swap agreement between AAX’s sister company AirAsia and MAS on Aug 8 last year and both will collaborate rather than compete.

Currently, MAS flies twice daily from KL to Sydney and whether MAS will reduce the frequency to once daily and make way for AAX to take on the other slot is unclear.

“Choices and reasonable fares are what a traveller wants. But the biggest fear for travellers over the collaboration is the lack of competition and that is seen by the fare pricing for the Dehli/Mumbai sectors where the fares offered by AAX are somewhat close to that offered by MAS,” said an industry source.

To be fair, AAX does offer reasonable rates for its Melbourne, Perth and Gold Coast flights and if the booking is made in advance, the savings can be up to 40% of the full-service fares. The airline is currently offering a 20% discount on its base fares for all its routes for a limited period.

Asked on the strategy for the KL-Sydney route, the official said:“We would offer lots of low fares and as we are already well known in Australia it should be (fairly easy to fill up our aircraft).”

Interestingly, those in the know claim that AAX is close to finalising details on whether to exit from the Indian (New Dehli, Mumbai), European (London and Paris) and Christchurch routes.

Sources said both MAS and AAX had had several meetings over the matter so that MAS could take over all the slots from AAX for the routes and carry AAX passengers that have booked seats with the airline.

The date for axing the route is said to be as early as February. AAX has, however, repeatedly said that “no decision on routes, whether to add new ones or cancel new ones” had been made.

But those in the know claim that “all this adding and axing of routes is part of the understanding under the collaboration.” Looking from the collaboration perspective, moving out of the European/India/Christchurch routes is seen as a compromise to get Sydney and some China routes.

MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya in his executive summary of his business plan said that “we are close to finalising a connecting-service that will enable passengers on either airline to seamlessly connect between carriers and non-overlapping routes.”

Separately on Tuesday, AirAsia boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandes tweeted: “With all that’s going on, we will need to get more planes. I will be speaking to the board. The growth in the low-cost arena is very exciting.”

Last Friday he was quoted in Paris as saying: “AirAsia will consider buying up to 25 Airbus A320 aircraft. Our growth will probably exceed the aircraft that we have right now, and the initial public offerings of AirAsia’s units in Thailand and Indonesia will give us the ability to probably take more aircraft.”