HIJRA: PIONEER OF "THE PEOPLE FIRST" LEADERSHIP CONCEPT

On December 18, Muslims around the world will commemorate the 1431st anniversary of migration of Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina.

Muhammad's position in Mecca was becoming more and more unsupportable (due to his insistence on one god rather than the many that the Meccans worshipped). He sought to establish himself in Taif without success.

Muhammad met a group of people from the oases of Yathrib (or Medina, as it later came to be known), who realized that Muhammad might help them with their domestic political problems. They absorbed Islam from Muhammad and returned to Medina to preach the new religion. In 622, a larger group of Medinese pledged their support and agreed to grant him protection.

Muhammad urged his Meccan supporters to emigrate to Medina. Being a great leader, he himself became the last to leave the town. A true leader and pioneer of "The People First" leadership concept.

The migration (or Hijra) of the Prophet was later taken as the starting point of Muslim chronology. (According to tradition, the Hijra took place in September 622; however, the Muslim era starts at the beginning of the Arab year in which the Hijra took place, i.e. 16 July 622.)

15 CATTLE FOR EID ADHA IN KUNAK

Kunak, Nov 28 – A total of 15 cattles were slaughtered for sacrifice in conjunction with Eid Adha in Kunak this year. Eid Adha is celebrated commemorating the event when Abraham was instructed by Allah to sacrifice his only son, Ishmael.

 The Collective Sacrification Ceremony was sponsored by Kunak State Assemblyman, The Department of Islamic  Affairs of Sabah (JHEAINS), United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) and the Organization of Malaysian Graduates (HALUAN) and attended by about 300 people.

Four cattle were distributed to electoral area on the fIrst day of Eid Adha. Eleven more were slaughtered at the coumpound of the local state assemblyman’s residence on the second day of the celebration.

Beef from the proceeding were distributed to those who were present and to kampongs in Kunak District.

ASTEROID - CAUSE FOR BONE BAY EXPLOSION

The cause of the explosion in Bone Bay, South Sulawesi Indonesia on October 8 has been identifeid as that of a 10 meter diameter asteroid. It hit the earth at a velocity of 20.3 km per second or 73,080 km per hour releasing enormous amount of energy that had caused the explosion.

The tremor that followed was also detected by the infrasound alarm system at the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CNTBTO) about 10,000 kilometers from the explosion site.

According to researchers at the University of Western Ontario, Elizabeth Silber and Peter Brown, the strength of the explosion is equivalent to 50 kilotonnes of TNT (trinitrotoluena) bombs, or about two to three times the strength of the atomic bombs used during the Second World War.

The impact caught astronomers around the world by surprise as the presense of the asteriod was not detected until the impact took place.

INACTIVE BANK ACCOUNT REASON FOR LATE DELIVERY WELFARE FUNDS

Kunak, Nov 25—Welfare fund recipients in Kunak are advised to ensure that they have active bank accounts. Kunak People’s Development Leader, Halid Harun said this in refer to a SMS forwarded to him by Kunak state assemblyman, Datuk Nilwan Kabang.

The SMS inquires for reasons why some of those who had been listed before the fasting month in September, as recipients of welfare funds have not received the funds until today.

Halid, who went to the Kunak Welfare Service office for explanation was told that the funds are banked in from the department headquarter to the respective recipients’ bank accounts. Problem arises when some of the listed recipients do not submit their bank account number or with inactive bank accounts.

Usually, a bank account is rendered inactive when there is no transaction on the account over a period of time as determined by the bank. Those affected are advised to contact their bankers to reactivate their accounts.

Thereafter, they should update their particulars at the local Welfare Service office so that prompt action can be taken to ensure delivery of the funds as soon as possible.

HELPING FARMERS TO IMPROVE PRODUCTION

Kunak, Nov 24--The Sabah State Government is continuously putting effort to improve the income of farmers and raise the standard of living of people in the rural areas. Personnel from various government agencies and departments are frequently deployed to kampongs to assess how citizens in the rural areas make their living and evaluate areas where the government can channel resources to help them improve production.

This morning, personnel from the Agriculture Department, three from Kota Kinabalu and one from Kunak made a visit to Kampung Cenderawasih, about 9 kilometers from Kunak Town. They visited an entrepreneur processing cassava crackers and a sugar cane farmer.

Kunak giant cassava crackers are mainly produced in Kampung Cenderawasih. Most of the product are sold locally especially at Simpang Empat Stalls and some are exported to other districts in Sabah, Labuan and Peninsular Malaysia. To date, the Department of Agriculture has built two mini cassava cracker factories for entrepreneurs in Kampong Cenderawasih.

Sugar cane in Kunak is grown mainly for producing fresh sugar cane juice and mostly sold at the two weekly markets in town, Pasar Rabu (Wednesday Market) and Pasar Minggu (Sunday Market).

During their visit, the personnel told the sugar cane farmer that they will make recommendations to the Agriculture Department to assist him increase production, hence improve his monthly income.  The recommended assistance includes a new sugar cane pressing machine, a freezer and resources for opening 2 acres of new sugar cane planting area.

“CONTINUOUS AFFLUENCE AND PROSPERITY” 

                                                    

COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT AT KAMPONG SINAKUT WILL NOT POLLUTE ENVIRONMENT

Kunak, Nov 21 -- The coal-fired power plant to be built at Kampung Sinakut, Felda Sahabat 16 will not pollute the environment.  Project Director of Lahad Datu Energy, Ahmad Faraid Mohamad Yahya said this in a briefing and dialog session with the local community leaders at Dewan Sri Kunak, organized by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and Kunak District Office.

He said, the proposed coal-fired power will be using the highest standard, on par with that used by coal-fired power plants in developed countries. The plant will be able to produce 300 MW and will help solve shortage of electricity in the east coast of Sabah.

Currently almost 40% of East coast power requirement is imported from West Coast Grid System with daily average of 100MW. The daily West-East power transfer is forecasted to deteriorate further to 70% by 2010. Such huge power imbalance will render the power supply extremely unreliable and unsecure. In the event of interruption of East-West link, a not unlikely possible considering its long 270km line, it will be exposed to risk of total blackout due to insufficient generation capacity within the East Coast Grid.

                                                                                               Above: Datuk Nilwan Kabang 

Right   : Ahmad Faraid Mohd Yahya

On concerns over the emission and discharges from the operation of a coal-fired plant, Ahmad said that coal-fired plants in Kapar, Manjung and Tanjung Bin in Peninsular Malaysia had not indicated any adverse effect to date. On the contrary, migratory birds had actually made frequent stop over at the ash pond near Kapar indicating sources of foods are bountiful. In addition, it was also noticed that the mangroves had actually grew rapidly near the Manjung site which incidentally still have a prawn breeding farm nearby.

Periodic sampling of emissions or discharge levels reporting purpose to the Department of Environment Malaysia had also shown that values are well below the limit set by the international bodies such as the World Bank. A clean coal power plant can actually co-exist with nature.

SESB had also assured that detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be diligently and responsibly carried out for the project and all mitigation measures will be sufficiently met and adhered to.

Meanwhile, in his speech, the local state assemblyman, Datuk Nilwan Kabang said that the project shows the devotion of the government to provide amenities to the people.

“With the availability of reliable electricity, socio-economic activities and children’s education will continue to progress”, said Datuk Nilwan. “So will their quality of life.”

                                                                         Panel Members of the Dialog

PRAWN REPLICAS - NOT APPROPRIATE FOR KUNAK

Landing at Tawau airport from Kota Kinabalau last night, I met with a friend who was about to board a plane to Kuala Lumpur. He greeted me with a question, “Why prawns?”

Astonished, I asked back, “What about prawns?”

Smiling, my friend, a local Tawau chap explained, “I wonder, why the hell you people of Kunak put up three big, concrete prawn replicas at the Kunak town roundabout? It gave me the impression that Kunak is a main producer of big prawns. So, I went to your wet market, you know… to buy some big, cheap prawns!”

He began to giggle.

The Prawn Replicas Under Construction in Kunak

“You know what?” the giggles turned to big laughter, and said, almost shouting, “I can’t find a single prawn!”

He continued to tease, hurting my feeling and pride “Since you don’t have prawns to offer, I bet your giant prawns represent the Malay proverbs, Otak Udang (Prawn Brain – meaning “fool”) or Udang Di sebalik Batu (A shrimp behind the rock – meaning “to have hidden agendas”).

Embarrassed, I just managed to put up a wry smile. What can I say? He was right. Kunak fishermen do not catch enough prawns to cater even for local consumption.

Disturbed by my friend’s remarks, I phoned the Kunak Pemimpin Kemajuan Rakyat (People’s Development Leader) this morning to find out whether he has any information on how the decision was made to put up the prawn replicas. He told me that neither he nor the local state assemblyman, Datuk Nilwan Kabang, was consulted on the matter.

Personally, I would prefer any of the following replicas:

1. Replicas depicting activities of the prehistoric hunter-gatherers that took place in Tingkayu in Kunak District sometime in 30,000 BC;
2. Activities of oil palm harvesters as palm oil is the main produce of Kunak; or
3. Zalacca fruit to represent Kunak as the first snake fruit propagator in the state.