Monday, 25 September 2023

DATUK EWON BENEDICT LAUNCHED BKD WORKBOOKS FOR YR 4,5,6 AT ITCC KADAZAN LANGUAGE CARNIVAL 24 SEPT 2023

 

Ewon and Philip launch the BKD workbook while Raisin and Rita looks on


Drone delivers workbook mockup to stage


  Entrance of students with workbooks


The VIPs on stage before the launch

 

PENAMPANG. The Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative, Datuk Ewon Benedict said, any resident who has views or proposal on the Penampang Development Plans need not wait for state Institute of Development Studies (IDS) to come to them but can submit their papers to him or direct to IDS.

He said this after launching the workbook for teaching the Kadazan Dusun Language in school for Primary 4 to 6 at ITCC Hall here weekend.

The issue was raised because in the last Council rezoning exercise, some residents were shocked to find their residential houses and native lands including natural rivulets proposed to be gazetted as Heavy Industrial Zone. Other anomalies found were hills gazetted as padiland while some lowland are marked as hill conservations.

Regarding the Carnival on the KadazanDusun language to be held next year, Ewon proposed to create awards to appreciated those who had made the teaching of the language in school a great success, and to give scholarship assistance to future teachers and lecturers of the language.

Present during the event were State Director of Education Raisin Saidin,  Chairman of Yayasan Bank Rakyat Philip Lasimbang, other education officials from schools and colleges and Kadazan Language Foundation KLF.


Tuesday, 16 November 2021

SUGUD FLOOD VICTIMS WILL TAKE YEARS TO RECOVER THEIR LOSES

4th October 2021

 

1.  Prof Tongkul centre and Cikgu Tay right inspecting the pile foundations
 
 
 

Example of a car bashed by the flood

 

Miracle car being rescued with helf of excavator

 

Two Kg Tampasak mothers show the flood level at the Dewan Raya which was 5 ft 8 inches

 

 

PENAMPANG.  Retired Geology Professor Felix Tongkul estimates that about 80% of the original forest of Sugud catchment hills are already gone due human activities. Hence the water retention properties of a dense forest sometimes called the "sponge effect" is nearly gone hence nearly all the rain water simply pours down from the hills as surface run-off causing flash floods and higher flood levels at the Sugud villages on 15 September.

Prof Tongkul who is an ardent environmentalist said planting more trees can reduce the flood only if the correct locations are planted with the most suitable type of trees.

He was joining a philanthropic NGO Osimal inspecting fast-built houses for 4 victims using the IBS system which can be completed in a week. It is prefabricated in factories and quickly assembled on site with a uniques foundation using a bored pile made of rust resistant aluminium alloy and screwed deep into the ground. The estimated cost per unit is the same as the government assisted PPRT houses. (houses for the extreme poor)

Cikgu Tay who was instrumental in getting student hostel build at the remote villages of Terian, Buayan and Longkogungan and now transferred to Penampang again volunteered to be on ground in search for the recipients which included a disabled person, a driver, a self employed with one month baby and 3 other children at Kg Tinduuzon and another proposed at Kg Kodou.  All the victims have their houses totally destroyed by the worst flood known in the area.

The sense of devastation can still be felt after half a month with no residents willing to speak on video camera or even named in interviews, but social media practitioners say the media is full of strong words. Most agree it will take a long time for the residents to recover,  with mud and debris still piled more than a metre high,  the Dewan Raya at Tampasak still have doors blocked with mud up to a foot deep.

Several cars are reported as total loss with insurance agents confirming most are not covered for natural disasters.  However only one viralled miracle car was recovered after sitting on top of timber debris for 14 days with only dents on front and back with not a drop of mud inside. The rest of the vehicles are not even worth scrap metals.

An engineer expressed the six (6) box culverts across the only Sugud River to carry the Pan Borneo road instead of a bridge as per Drainage and Irrigation guidelines constributed to the slow discharge of the flood. The saw tooth upstream side of the culverts are easily blocked by debris from the hills. He said the shear strength of the soils of the hills are weakened by the continuous rain and more landslides should be expected.
 
(articles previously rejected by Daily Express)

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, 27 March 2021

TAMU DONGGONGON TO RE-OPEN AFTER SECOND MCO on 24th March, Wednesday


 From Right:  John Gintos, Robert Malangkig, George Limjon (Tamu Master), Johnny (council staff) attending the Gotong Royong

 

 

 

PENAMPANG.  Tamu Donggongon will re-open this Wednesday 24th after the Council and the Donggongon Tamu Traders Association held a gotong royong on Monday participated by 200 association members and council staff.

Council Executive Officer Robert Malangkig said all open markets such as Tamu Sangadau, Pasar Borong and Donggongon Tamu were closed due to the Covid19 pandemic, however when the government allowed them to re-open, Tamu Sangadau immediately opened while adhering strictly to the SOP, sanitizers, temperature scanning and social distancing and the same applied to Pasar Borong under the supervision of Persatuan Pemborong Sayur Sayuran dan Buah Buahan.

The Donggongon Tamu Traders Association chose to remain closed until today when they are satisfied the pandemic is under control. The opening hours are Wednesday 12 noon to 6 pm, Thursday 6 am to 6 pm and for Friday 6 am to 3 pm, he said.

Meanwhile Chairman of the Tamu Traders John Bonius Gintos invites all the customers back saying this time there will be two entrances and three exits all manned by their members for the safety of everyone while the Tamu ground is wire-fenced. All the stalls will be arranged with a minimum 1 metre distancing and the now familiar SOP fully implemented.

This is good news to both the traders and consumers since the Tamu has been well-known for a vast variety of products even attracting foreign tourist. A few hit songs in KadazanDusun languages are even on air in local radio stations praising the Tamu.

 (previously sent to Daily Express,  but was not accepted)

 

 

 

Friday, 26 February 2021

PLASTIC UPCYCLING IS THE TREND NOW : YB JANIE LASIMBANG

 

 The HDPE turbine wheel that can power a 3kW AC generator
 
 

For the Albums

Adrian and Janie holding recycle products while seminar participants hold their certificate


Sunday February 21, 2021

PENAMPANG.  To overcome or reduce plastic pollution, upcyling is the trend now compared to just recycling, said Kapayan Assemblywoman Janie Lasimbang during a morning seminar "Plastic Tinkers Introduction" for 24 youths here, weekend.

While recycling is just reusing the same material for the same purpose, upcyling means producing a new product with added value from the same plastic waste as there is money in plastic instead of being dumped in landfills or polluting the environment, she explained.

Even though the seminar was brief involving a small number to comply with current SOP, the three objectives were met namely:

* to get the youths interested and mobilise them in collections of high grade plastic that can be upcylced,
* train them as leaders in own community leading to youth empowerment bringing home new knowledges
* some may come back as entrepreneur themselves with new ideas of commercial products.

Janie also sponsored the basic equipments that can shred plastic from which it can be heated, extruded or pressed to produce new products such as wires, flower pots and plastic wood.

Speakers who are involved with the Centre of Renewable and Appropriated Technology (CREATE) gave short talks on backgrounds of plastics and how they pollute the environment, identifying only 7 out of 600 types that can be recycled. The best grade known to date is HDPE or high density polyethylene which is the choice for upcycling.

Janie's younger brother Adrian who is well know for tinkering and inventing new products demonstrated his new pelton turbine wheels made from recycled HDPE bottles. The 14 inch diameter wheel can power a 3kW generator for micro-hydro system suitable for small remote villages on the hills. "HDPE Turbines made in Penampang" Adrian quipped.

Responding later to queries from the public, Adrian informed they are still in Research and Development phase, however when they reach commercial phase, he will setup mobile collection system for the recycleable plastics. For the time being he welcomes only plastic HDPE bottles for discovering techniques at his research cum workshops at Kg Nampasan here.
 
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Monday, 23 December 2019

THE FIRST BUSKER AND CAROLLERS TO PERFORM UNDER CHRISTMAS BACKDROP IN DONGGONGON 22 DEC 2019


IN PREVIOUS YEARS buskers were not seen at Donggongon because the Council demands licence at RM100 per performance which was a ridiculous rate because the collection by any busker group rarely exceeds that amount and most of the buskers were more or less performing just for fun and pastimes. The new councillors after the GE14 has better brains and ordered that the licence be given to any group for a token of RM3. Hence the moods in town has changed ever since. All performance must cease at midnight.


The SantaiBusk and K2 carollers were the first to perform with a Christmas Backdrop provided by private shopowners.



 KRAZEE CAFE owners spending all nights to build a backdrop for Christmas


 SantaiBusk Frontman Lorna in action,  kaaa ka


 K2 carollers actually in action









Saturday, 21 December 2019

Tuesday, 19 November 2019