FRIDAY, 02 NOVEMBER – The Housewives and Women Staff Club of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (KESUMBA) paid a courtesy visit to the consort of the Head of State, Toh Puan Datuk Seri Panglima (Dr.) Hajah Norlidah Tan Sri Datuk R.M. Jasni who is the Patron of the club, at the Istana Negeri recently.

The six-member delegation comprised Exco members of the Club led by its President, Datin Roha Asmara, and wife of the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

 The main agenda of the visit was to brief the Patron of the upcoming Charity Dinner organised by the Club which would be held on 3 November.

The dinner which would fete selected B40 (low-income group) students studying in UMS would also be attended by the Head of State, Tun Datuk Seri Panglima (Dr.) Haji Juhar Datuk Haji Mahiruddin.  10 inmates of the Rumah Home Tuaran, a centre for orphans and poor children were also invited.

 It is heartwarming to note that all of the 10 children invited are ‘adopted’ children of some KESUMBA Exco and members.  KESUMBA would also be making a donation to the Student Affairs Department of UMS which would go towards Students Fund.

The Charity Dinner is also expected to be attended by the Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Mohd Shafie Haji Apdal.

WEDNESDAY, 31 OCTOBER – The Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language (PPIB) in collaboration with the International Relations Programme of the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Heritage (FKSW) held an International Conference on Politics and International Studies (ICPIS) 2018 at the Centre for Postgraduate Studies Auditorium, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

The two-day conference themed “Globalisation at the Crossroads? The Revival of Nationalism and Identity Politics” was  attended by foreign and local participants including students from the International Relations Programme of FKSW.

In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor hoped that with the thought-provoking topics on political issues and international studies would lead to profound contribution to the corpus of knowledge which are vital for policy-making and further research.  His speech was read by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic and International, Prof. Dr. Rasid Mail who officiated the inaugural conference.

Earlier, Director of Career Centre UMS and Conference Chair, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lai Yew Meng reiterated that the conference promoted critical discussions and sharing of research, novel findings, including informed opinions.

Also in attendance were Assoc. Prof. Dr Jualang Gansau, the Dean of PPIB; and Prof. Dr. Anthony Milner of the University of Melbourne who was also the Keynote Speaker in this conference.

TUESDAY - As the Kampung Kobuni on a fast track to become the next tourism destination in Sabah, 21 villagers and homestay operators took part in a workshop on food preparation and handling at Hotelab, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) recently.

The workshop was organised by Borneo Tourism Research Centre, Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy and Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) where it focuses on menu planning, food and beverages preparation, handling, safety, storage and table setting.

The workshop was officiated by Deputy Dean of Postgraduate and Student Affairs for Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Dr. Arif @ Kamisan Pusiran.

In his speech he said, it is important for the villagers to know how to prepare and handle food correctly to ensure safety of the food that will be served to the visitors and tourists.

“Food and beverage is an important part in any tourism experience and it is the responsibility of the provider to ensure the food experience is always positive”.

He also commended the effort and the enthusiasm of the villagers in building their capacity to excel in the tourism sector.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the program, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Awangku Hassanal Bahar Pengiran Bagul hopes that the villagers will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation on high quality and standard of food and beverage, which directly contributes towards more positive tourism experience for the visitors and tourists.

“The workshop organised by UMS and DBKK is very valuable in preparing the villagers to go into tourism and this is an exciting times for the village as they are now receiving local visitors some from Japan and Korea,” he said.

Also present at the event was the Chairman for Village Development and Security Committee of Kampung Kobuni, Aji Rumbuton; and the Director of Economic, Tourism and International Relations Bureau DBKK, Fauziahton Awang Samad to represent the city hall and handing out the certificates to participants at the end of the workshop.

For the record, Kobuni Village is located in Inanam with close proximity to Kionsom waterfalls and launched its homestay programme in March 2018.

Last year, the village won the Cleanest Kampung Award under City Hall’s Litter-Free Kampung Competition.

Source: FPEP

WEDNESDAY, 03 OCTOBER - About 40 community members from Kampung Ovai and Kampung Kambizaan and students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St Mary spent their last Saturday morning partaking in river water quality monitoring.

The community empowerment training was organised by Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC) from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in partnership with Global Environment Centre (GEC).

This workshop was organised under ITBC’s Outreach Programme @ Tagal System Garamatoi River, funded by the National River Care Fund (NRCF).

The half day workshop was aimed to raise awareness and empower the local communities and students to protect their local rivers and also to celebrate World Rivers Day 2018.

The World Rivers Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of September. Begun in 1989 in British Columbia, Canada; World Rivers Day is a day to raise public awareness and promote the preservation and conservation of rivers around the world.

Dr. Arman Hadi Fikir, Project Leader of Outreach Programme @ Tagal System Garamatoi River who was present to launch the workshop thanked NRCF for funding the programme and Professor Dr Monica Suleiman, Acting Director of ITBC for full support given throughout the outreach programme. 

“Improper sewerage system, uncontrolled hill-cutting and irresponsible littering are the main issue of degradation of river basin and its water quality. We have to tackle these problems to ensure healthy aquatic ecosystem which has direct relation to human well-being” said Dr. Moh Pak Yan, Head of Water Research Unit of UMS

Participants were seen getting their feet wet looking for aquatic insects underneath river rocks and at the river banks that indicate the health of Garamatoi River and taking water sample to test the river water quality using YSI ProDSS Multiparameter water quality meter.

To make the workshop more interesting, various fun educational games on river and freshwater ecosystem were also organised for the participants.

Leonardo Jainih; one of the ITBCs’ postgraduate student and the project coordinator for Outreach Programme @ Tagal System Garamatoi River said he will keep in touch with the villagers especially participants from water quality and aquatic insect training to monitor their progress and keep giving support in educating them about the significant of having clean river system.

Based on the data collected, the water quality of Garamatoi River is in good condition categorized under Class 1 according to Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (INWQS).

Source: Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation