TIVUNG HILLS continued being excavated even during Chinese New Year Holidays

The threat of the Salip Hill collapsing within a short time is ever increasing.

During the CNY holiday this year Feb 1, 2014, I went up to the St Michael's Church in the afternoon to get a view of the Salip from this direction.

I was armed with a 500 mm zoom lens only and the qualifty or sharpness of a zoom lens is always bad. Anyway from a 5mb digital data, I have to reduce it with my laptop to a 640 bit or large pic for web as per the microsoft picture editor and enhance the colour a bit. So these are the pics I want to share as a continuation of my "Lights on Salip" story.

Anyway the point is that even on CNY holidays, the hillcutting continued meaning the earthwork business got to be so lucrative that CNY meant nothing to these guys in business. Goodbye to landmark hills.  Development for buildings and so on is more important in this country and who the hell cares about environment since our population is exploding faster than the rabbits and mice could reproduce and the PTIs getting overnight citizenship adding to the population, then what do you expect ?

Pics above shows the extend of hill cutting activities

This was the route of the Good Friday Cross, now a vertical slope with one of the small white cross standing near the slope.

 

 



Very ugly SESB transmission tower now dwafting the cross

 

 



Lorry kicks dust on a chinese new year 2014 holiday.

 

 



And the excavator harvest more earth for human projects

 

 



 

So if you wanna climb the hill, for now, this is the path you will have to follow

 

 

SABAH CREDIT CORP CSR: Golden Citizen Activity :- Chinese New Year Potluck

Sabah Credit Corporation at Donggongon Penampang have a CSR for the Golden Citizens of Penampang (60 yr and above) although pensioners at 55 also are welcomed.

This state owned financial institution provides several health activities for the golden citizens such as health talks, seminars, free blood pressure screening, light dance exercises and small parties for all festive occations every Wednesday between 9 am and 11 am at the 3rd and 4th floor of their headquarters shown  above.

 

For example the activity on 12 February 2014 was Chinese New Year potluck including angpows for the elderly.

The event is best described by just posting the photos below, and those members shown in the pics are free to take copies of their photos and portraits for their own use as I may remove them to save space after say one year.  So welcome to my blogs Senior Citizens.

 

 

 

SCC CFO  giving his CNY message

 

Senior ladies showing their line dancing style, and with regular exercise such as Tai Chi Kung and others, these senior citizens seems so healthy that they can pose as models as shown below:-

 

A few senior ladies taking their portrait with the year of the horse logo created by SCC

 

PLEASE copy your pics while it is on.  It may be removed in future

 

Gong Xi Fa Cai from blogger.



FAREWELL to NOELLE BACHI, a good old friend



Noelle was currently one to the Assistant Directors in the Sabah Agriculture Department when he passed on unexpectedly to us old friends, on 3rd February 2014. I cannot locate any old photos that I had taken in the past so I hope the Agri Dept will not mind borrowing his pic from their website. After all they will have to remove his pic from the website soon.

So farewell ole chap, there is nothing I can add further since it would only break my heart further.

Noelle's only son saying his final farewell to his Dad

 

 



Last pose for the family album. All the families of his brothers and sisters seen here led by Datuk Dr Ronney Bachi and Datin in the middle at St Michael's Church on 6th February 2014

COMMUNITY PROJECT BY Health Clinic Penampang - Golden Age Club

Here is one of their annual function -  Christmas Lunch

Held on 9th January 2014, with cakes, good and healthy food, Zhumba or Aerobics for the elderly, even singing of the carols, of course we all can sing them

If we were singing them as school students before, there is no reason why we cannot do when we reach the golden age..  60 and beyond.

Club office Bearers at present
President:  Stephen Sipaun,  70
Vice President: 
Secretary :  Fredoline Morris Sipaji

Sorry I did not manage to get all the office bearers name but I will update when they tell me. 
The President told me that the club was set up in 2006 by the district doctor at that time, Dr Maria Suliman who hoped that when the club membership reached 300 and beyond, a geriatic doctor maybe appointed to take care of this special community.

Health officer George, Golden Citizens Joseph Jominol, Stephen Sipaun, Celestina Moiji and Fred Morris Sipaji, cutting the Christmas Cake

 

 

 

 

Senior ladies with their Zhumba

 

 

 Group photo with their President

 

The club President and his committee members with the Health Offer Mr George from the Health Department ( with Necktie)

President Stephen Sipaun having his blood pressure checked

 

 

 Club Committee doing aerobics for senior citizens led by two very pretty health instructor from the clinic

 

 Final pose of the aerobic instructors, sorry forgot to get your names pretty ladies,  please drop me some comments with phone numbers?

 



 



 

CHRISTMAS LIGHT ON THE CROSS AT TIVUNG OVERLOOKING PENAMPANG PLAINS

 

This was how I saw the cross at night for the first time,

after Banie and his group has installed the Solar-LED lights

Christmas Eve was special for the year 2013 when the Penampang residents saw a bright cross on a hill they named as "Salip" which means cross in Kadazan anyway.
Even the Editor of Daily Express quickly rang me to take a picture and find out about the story behind it, which was rather easy.

I went to Taman Tanaki and the first grocery shop I went into at 9pm was staffed by a cute Kadazan girl who happened to be the niece of the man who installed the lights on the gigantic hardwood cross on Salip Hill.

So after a quick phone call, I introduce myself to a man I would admire for all his activities and technical expertise, a young Engineer Adrian Banie Lasimbang.

According to him, the idea to light up salip tivung this year came during christmas carols at our training centre in Nampasan about a week ago. Our centre is called Centre for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technologies (CREATE). Residents around Nampasan and Tanaki are very concerned about the hill cutting activity that threatens this historical landmark of Penampang.

We thought it is best to attract attention of the public to this almost forgotten cross at tivung and in the same time share the light of christmas to the people of Penampang by lighting up this cross. Youths from Tanaki and Nampasan used to go to tivung during christmas eve and light itup using colored light and generator. It have been more than15 years since we last did that.

 

So our Non Profit Organisation called TONIBUNG or Tobpinai Ningkokoton Koburuon Kampung based in Nampasan designed this solar powered LED lights. We then gathered volunteers to help with the installation. The system cost about RM 3000 and the materials are gathered from scrap and solar equipment are donated by my company Penampang Renewable Energy Sdn. Bhd. The current system we installed is very small and can only last for 4 hours max

We wish to make the lights more permanent, so if we can pass the hat around and get enough donations we can design a slighty bigger solar PV system that can last longer.

 

So I hope all those with spare cash can donate to this gentleman and his group so that next hear 2014, we light up the whole of that hill, hoping that it would still be standing by then.

 

I have talked to the land owner of Salip, Datuk Gregory Joitol and he said that permission WAS NEVER NECESSARY for anyone to climb the hill, for their pilgrimage as it was a place for the Good Friday prayers before, and even to put on Christmas Lights. Sadly however, he informed me that there is nothing he could do to preserve the hill since all the land in front of his land facing Penampang have been converted to CL title and sold to Sarawakian developer who will built high rise housing areas. Their project includes harvesting the clay soil for earthfilling other projects and that created a steep earth cliff near the boundary of his land.

 

The rain and natural elements will cause his land to collapse and the hill will be gone too, he said.

Although he does not mind the Cross to be relocated further into his land, however the height will be lower and so the original SALIP landmark will be gone maybe in two years time.

 

NO WONDER I myself simply had no mood this Christmas, felt depressed and I thought it was that stupid weather this month which has been raining every evening without fail and causing a muddy mess around my house.

 

Now I know the reasons. Our country is one where development is for greeeeedy profit only. All those people involved viz developers and those in power giving the approval could not care about anything else.

Everything in their path including important and famous landmarks, iconic trees, rivers, streams and the environment in general are simply BULLDOZED for the sake of their CONDOMiniums, hotels, shopblocks and offices.

 

In other developed countries, the authorities will insist that for any new development, the project owners must first identify all important historical landmarks and environmental factors such as major drainage rivers, and then design the projects to fit into these existing factors.  NOT so in Malaysia, the land of the boleh boleh. Everything boleh so long as the palms are greased.  In the words of a well known person....

 

ADA PULUS ADA LULUS ..... !!!!

 

Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

 

 The Salip as photographed with a Tele lens from Kg Tanaki, Penampang

 The Salip showing the hill cutting by the developer. Notice the smaller white cross near the boundary which used to serve as one of the STATIONs of the Cross prayer location.



Adrian's volunteers carrying the equipments up the hill to Salip

 



 

 

 Adrian and his gang fixing the lights

 

The solar cell, battery and control system at the back of the cross

 

Adrian Banie Celebrates on the success of his handiwork

 

Cheers Banie and Gang

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2014.

 



Just the best photo I manage to take during the KSS Launch of their first Kadazan Dictionary

Kurup unwrapping the dictionary from the siga cloth

 

 

 

President of KSS Datuk Marcel Leiking holding the dictionary together with the rest of the VIPs

Pre-launch Press Conference from Left to Right on 18 Dec 2013
Sitting
1. Blasius Binjua 2. Datuk Marcel Leiking 3. Sylvester Disimon 4. Freddy Ekol

Standing
1. Benedict Malanjm 2. Hj Hamdan Suarah 3. Bartholomew Jingulam 4. Adelaide Cornelius

====================

As requested by a commenter on this blog, here are the phone contacts if you wish to buy a copy of this dictionary, as per the press release given by the President of KSS.

 

 

KSS officials to call are:

 

Freddy Ekok HP 010 9300131

Hj Hamdan Suarah  HP 019 8410005

Blasius Binjua HP 019 8816452

Helen Palait HP 016 8069889

 

KSS is yet to announce when they will offer the book at Tamu grounds, please listen to radio SabahVFM noikot vinasi for the announcement.

Another gentleman whom I met at a senior club says he is also holding several copies for sale.  Please contact Augustine Vallen M at HP 1043755788.



 

KADAZAN SOCIETY SABAH launched its first Kadazan DICTIONARY

When a language is lost, the culture is gone and the race is extinct.  That is why the new Kadazan  dictionary produced by the Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) must be taken seriously by the owner of the language themselves.

Deputy President of KSS, Sylvester Disimon explained after the press conference for the launching of the said dictionary.  There are so few Kadazan children who can speak their mother-tongue these days and no one else is responsible apart from the parents. When a young Kadazan reporter said she could not blame her parents because they too cannot speak in the language, Disimon replied that her grandparents were then responsible.

However, with the launching of KSS new dictionary we now have a stepping stone to revive and preserve the language so rich in vocabulary because anyone including foreigners who understand English and Malay can learn the language easily, he added.

Earlier, KSS President Datuk Marcel Leiking said his greatest dream is to find the dictionary in every home in Malaysia as reference when listening to the radio Sabah VFM Kadazan section every morning, or reading any newspapers printed in Kadazan.  When KSS paid a courtesy call to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2010, he was supportive of the production of the new dictionary and even provided a generous allocation of RM250,000.00, he added.

The dictionary is also a means of national integration and nation building whereby it will enable the Kadazans to speak in at least three languages namely their mother tongue, the national language and English as the global language.

Meanwhile, Mr Blasius Binjua who was the leading editor and researcher said that the greatest challenge in the printing of any book is the proof reading where the printing have to be stopped in order to add words or corrections. In addition, the lack of any reference material caused sleepless nights in trying to translate the words into Malay and English. The existing dictionary compiled by the late Rev Fr. A Antonissen was used as a guide only.  Luckily several elders who are deemed as the depository of the Kadazan language were also available to assist in the research and deserved to be named. They include Wilfred Mojilis, Peter Lidadun, Pius Jokinol and Freddy Ekol who have been using the language everyday as radio announcer/producers, catechist, teacher, administrator, presenter and the illustrator was George Mokunjil.

Mr Binjua highlighted one humorous aspect of the human body illustration whereby due to the sensitivity of the Adat or customary law the most sensitive part of the body was not named but covered with a fig leaf as per the Adam and Eve fame.

Even though the Antonissen dictionary was only used as a guide, nevertheless permission were sought from the original copyright owners namely the mission church and the Australian High Commission who printed the first dictionary under the Colombo Plan.

Due to their favourable reply, the KSS is now the sole copyright owner of the Antonissen dictionary.

To the layman, the difference between the two dictionaries is only physical with addition of the Malay – Kadazan section, the grammar and illustrations and thousands of new words. However the new dictionary is produced solely by the owners of the language without any outside help, and thus generate confidence that the contents are genuinely original.

On the question why the Kadazan language is still not taught in school despite being the first to be printed in dictionary, newspapers and the Radio Sabah starting in 1954 and it was also one of the language used as the Declaration of Independence of Sabah within Malaysia, Disimon clarified that it was all due to politics and the Bundu Liwan language currently being taught in school cannot be understood by the Kadazans because it is a mixture of the native language found in Keningau, Tambunan and Ranau.

However, this should not be made an issue as the KSS would like to see all the native languages in Sabah preserved.

The new Kadazan dictionary has already been endorsed by the Education Department, the Kadazan Chair of the University Malaysia Sabah and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka for the Malay- Kadazan section. All that is needed for the language to be taught in school is for the Kadazan community to produce more books, novels and reference materials and KSS can assist in the publication.

Blasius Binjua, who is also a prolific writer of short stories for the children program at Radio Sabah VFM Kadazan section advised other writers to use their daily experiences as inspiration to write short stories and novels. Keep all eyes, ears and mind open when attending every event including weddings, birthdays, funerals, baby showers amongst others, he said. As for successors, Binjua believed that he knows many teachers who are good in the language and when they retire, they will replace him as the writers while the young children reading his stories in the radio every Sundays will be the future Kadazan deejays and speakers. The Kadazan language is here to stay, now and forever, he concluded.

The launching of the dictionary was done at the Pacific Sutera Hotel, Kota Kinabalu on 20th December 2013.