Reconsider appeal for extra rural flights — Abang Johari

http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/06/24/reconsider-appeal-for-extra-rural-flights-abang-johari/

Posted on June 24, 2012, Sunday

MIRI: MASwings Rural Air Service (RAS) should reconsider the appeal for additional flights to rural areas, especially during festive seasons.

Tourism  Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg said sufficient flights were vital to complement government efforts to promote tourism in rural areas like Bario highlands, Ba Kelalan and Mulu.

“The state-level ministry will collaborate with the Tourism Ministry at the federal level to discuss and look into this matter,” he said when officiating at a food sales to raise funds for Bario Nukenen Festival 2012 at Miri Civic Centre yesterday.

At the moment, MASwings’ 19-seater Twin Otter DHC-6 aircraft has only one daily flight to Bario.
“We hope flight regularity can be added, especially during the festive season or other big events such as cultural festivals. We were made to understand that a flight that carries 19 or less passengers at one time is insufficient,” he said.

Abang Johari said his ministry was also planning to hold discussions with Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) and MASwings to come up with connecting flights to the three main attractions in the northern region: Bario, Ba Kelalan and Mulu National Park.

“We can come up with highland packages and through these, tourists will not only get to visit Brunei, but experience the beauty and hospitality of the three places,” he added.

According to him, Mulu is well known for its unique caves and limestone while Bario had breathtaking mountain views, and Ba Kelalan famous for its hotsprings in Merarap.

Touching on the upcoming Bario Nukenen Festival 2012, Abang Johari praised the effort of Rurum Kelabit Sarawak (RKS) for its commitment in organising the annual festival for the seventh year.

He urged Kelabit residents in Bario to continue producing a variety of products from the highlands, and be more creative to add value to the tourism sector.

“Bario folks are lucky as they have beautiful culture and breathtaking environment. Most importantly, Bario folks must make efforts to highlight and promote their uniqueness to the outside world,” he said.

At the function, Abang Johari announced a RM15,000 sponsorship for Bario Nukenen Festival 2012 while RM5,000 came from the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB).

The fundraising sales yesterday targetted to raise RM40,000 from the festival to be held from July 26 to 28.

Also present at yesterday’s event were Tourism Assistant Minister Datuk Talip Zulpilip; Semariang assemblywoman Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali; Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau; Miri  mayor Lawrence Lai; Political Secretary to the Minister of Energy, Green  Technology and Water, Datuk Sebastian Ting; Miri Resident Antonio Kahti Galis; RKS president Gerawat Gala and organising chairlady for the fundraising food sales, Councillor Kijan Toynbee.

Kelabits bemoan idle windmills in Bario highland

http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/06/23/kelabits-bemoan-idle-windmills-in-bario-highland/

by Philip Kiew, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on June 23, 2012, Saturday

STILL WAITING: Arur Dalan Longhouse in Kubaan.

BARIO: Bario is also known as Land of the Winds but windmills built in the Kelabit Highlands four years ago have become a white elephant as they are not spinning to produce electricity.

The storage area has been broken into and some of the equipment damaged.

Folk of Arur Dalan Kubaan and Aru Dalan Pa’Tik longhouses rejoiced in 2009 when the four windmills were completed, including a storage facility where the batteries and equipment were kept.

After that, they waited for the windmills to spin so light could be brought to their longhouses.

“They waited for a month then month after month but nothing happened. It is now year 2012, four years after the construction was completed but the windmills are yet to spin,” said Sagau Batubala of Bario.

FOLLOW UP, PLEASE: Arur Dalan Longhouse chief Leju Ibuh @ Maran Ayu @ Mada’ Karuh asking those responsible for the failed windmill project to come back to Bario to enlighten the people.

Village chief of Arur Dalan Kubaan longhouse, Leju Ibuh @ Maran Ayu @ Mada’ Karuh wants anwers, saying those responsible for the project left four years ago without leaving a contact number or address.

Arur wants the authority to enlighten the villagers on what had happened to the project, which was part of the government rural electrification initiative under the alternative power supply programme of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.

This windmill project is the second white elephant after the failure of a mini-hydro dam built in Bario by the government a decade ago.

Longhouses are still dependent on kerosene lamps for light although those with generators can only afford to turn them on for a few hours a night, reverting to kerosene lamps when the fuel sourced from Miri runs out. Night activities in these longhouses are limited and folks tend to go to bed early.

Windmill and solar system to produce electricity to light up longhouses in Bario were considered feasible projects by the authorities.

The only bright spark in Bario is a micro-hydro project for Bario Asal Longhouse, which is sufficient to power basic equipment in the electrification drive of the Kelabit highlands.

The community feels that Bario has plenty of streams and rivers for micro-hydro power stations, which should be pursued more aggressively with the aid of combined funds for solar and windmill power generation projects.

The people in Bario look forward to a reasonable capacity that can provide electricity round the clock to spur the development of cottage industries.

Unesco plans to preserve Kelabit and Bidayuh under programme

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/9/nation/11448659&sec=nation

Saturday June 9, 2012

SIBU: Unesco is working to preserve the Kelabit and Bidayuh languages in Sarawak.
State Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said the organisation was undertaking the two projects under its “Endangered Languages” programme.

The two languages were selected because they belonged to minority indigenous communities.
“Not many Bidayuh and Kelabit speak their language in its pure form these days.

“This is especially so in inter-racial marriages where the families opt to speak Bahasa Malaysia or English at home,” she told reporters after opening the National Early Childhood Intervention Conference here, last night.

Fatimah said other minority native groups in the state also risked losing their languages if no effort was taken to preserve and promote them.

She said many of the Kelabit had migrated to towns or urban areas and, in their new environment, the tendency was for them to speak only a little of the original language.

She noted that the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) in Kampung Bunuk, Kuching, was taking concrete steps to preserve the Bidayuh language by getting trained teachers to teach preschoolers to write and speak in the language at a nursery.

The Unesco website states that about half of more than the 6,000 languages spoken today across the globe will disappear by the end of this century if nothing is done to protect them.

Bernama