KK and Kuching airports to emerge as transport hub for BIMP-EAGA

KOTA KINABALU: The federal government’s decision to allow MASwings to launch its first phase of operations into the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) is a forward looking move long awaited by the people of Sabah and Sarawak, says Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri.

He said the move by the airline, which serviced Sabah and Sarawak, would transform the Kota Kinabalu and Kuching international airports as transporation hubs and regional entry point for international destinations.

Abdul Rahim said MASwings’ foray into the growth areas would also propel tourism in the states.

“With the extension of services and business, MASwings will remain committed to provide the best service domestically especially in rural areas.

“This is in line with MASwings’s objective to provide subsidised air service in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak which are not accessible by road,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Continue reading at: KK and Kuching airports to emerge as transport hub for BIMP-EAGA

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Sabah will source other airlines for air service

THE State Government wants Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to seriously reconsider its decision to re-assess whether or not to make the state capital its hub.

“If they (MAS) insist (in pursuing the decision), then Sabah’s tourism industry will face huge losses, and I believe it is the same to the national carrier. Both will be at the losing end,” Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun told the House in response to a question from Sri Tanjung assemblyman Jimmy Wong.

He said that 96 percent of tourists’ arrivals to Sabah were by air.

“MAS should look at it as part of their Social Corporate Responsibility to the people. It is easier to move around in West Malaysiaas they can travel by car from one end to the other. But not for Sabah and Sarawak, we need air services to link up with other countries,” he said.

Masidi added that should MAS decide to pursue with its decision, then they will have to give at least six months notice to allow the state government to find other airlines as options for its air services.

“We will think of other alternatives rationally, not emotionally. It is best to find the best method that would give a win-win solution to both parties,” he said.

“During the Sabah Tourism Award last week, I have said we will propose that a new regional airline be established to serve the needs of Sabah and Sarawak.

“The new airline was vital and could concentrate on meeting the increasing demand of passengers flying from Sabah and Sarawak to various domestic and international destinations,” he said.

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Broadcast Sarawak tourism programmes via satellite for world

KUCHING: Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg has proposed that tourism programmes in the state be broadcasted by satellite for transmission to the world.

He said this was a way to allow cultural products and tourist attractions to be promoted and, at the same time, enhance the potential of the industry.

“For instance, the Wakeboard Championship recently, had a very large audience via satellite communication that was set up at the waterfront where the organiser took photos and videos for transmission to the world.

“It is cheaper compared to conventional media and therefore it is our hope to use satellite media communication for other tourism programmes,” he said at the launch of the 2012 calendar of tourism events at the DUN complex yesterday.

He reminded tour agencies to be more active in promoting tourism products.

“All tour agencies need to know their role,” he said.

Abang Johari pointed out three types of visitors namely backpackers, normal tourists and professional visitors.

“We have the strength over other destinations; over here we have river cruises and national parks. We have something different which appeals to professionals. In one visit they can experience different events besides conferences,” he noted.

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ASEAN economies: Philippines are safe from risk in global slump, others NOT: Fitch

Thailand and Malaysia would be the most at risk among Asia's developing countries if there were a sharp deterioration in the global economy, Fitch ratings agency said Tuesday (November 22, 2011).

Indonesia is the least exposed and has a larger capacity to bring in stimulus measures should the world economy tumble sharply, analysts from the credit ratings firm said.

"Both Malaysia and Thailand look highly exposed and have constrained room for policy stimulus," said Fitch analyst Philip McNicholas, citing high debt levels relative to gross domestic product (GDP).

Due to its large domestic economy and its low debt-to-GDP ratio, Indonesia "is relatively the least exposed in the region," he said.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy was on track for a ratings upgrade within the next 12 to 18 months, McNicholas added, but a key test will be how well Jakarta weathers an economic slowdown.

Fitch currently rates it BB+ with a positive outlook.

"The ability to withstand the shocks would be very favorable for Indonesia's case," he said in a teleconference with journalists.

McNicholas said China and India also "do appear somewhat insulated" from external shocks, but have limited scope for policy stimulus now compared with the last global meltdown that started in late 2008 and lasted well into 2009.

Asian economies had rolled out massive spending packages that helped them weather that downturn better than other regions of the world, Fitch said.

Fitch analysts had looked at several indicators to assess the potential exposure of emerging Asian economies in the event of another steep global economic downturn or shock in the world financial system.

Should a severe credit crunch take place, "we see Malaysia, (South) Korea and Indonesia as some of the most exposed to a liquidity shock while China, Taiwan and the Philippines are the least exposed," McNicholas said.

But on the whole, emerging Asia "is relatively less exposed or has minimum exposure to" a severe pullback in global liquidity than other regions, he said.

Orang utan conservation in Sabah getting help from Federal government

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government is ready to help Sabah in its conservation of orang utan by financially assisting the state to acquire land between areas planted with oil palm.

This included buying parcels of land, largely owned by oil palm plantations, to be used as forest corridors, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

“I read in the papers about the difficulties faced by orang utan in moving through the oil palm plantations.

“I view this seriously. Perhaps the Sabah Government can work with us to acquire the lands.

“The Government will support whatever the state is doing, including with funds,” he said after launching the Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil ninth roundtable meeting here yesterday.

Dompok pointed out that Malaysia had made great strides in the palm oil industry, amidst environmental allegations, which he dismissed as baseless.

“For example, a report titled The Last Stand of the Orang Utan: State of Emergency claimed that oil palm plantations were expanding so rapidly in our rainforests that there would be no virgin forest by 2022.

“It also claimed that an equivalent of 300 football fields were deforested every hour for plantations.

“I am of the view that all these allegations are based on fear due to the competitiveness of palm oil,” he said.

Dompok said that despite this, Malaysia was concerned about unsubstantiated allegations on the displacement of the orang utan.

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MASwings to pick up from where MAS, AirAsia left off

KUCHING: The Federal Government has agreed to a state proposal to make MASwings a regional airline operating within the BIMP-EAGA region.

This was revealed by Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.

However, he said the details of the operation would be communicated later as it would involve technical formalities.

He said he would meet his counterparts in Sabah to discuss the airline’s organisation structure and routes to enhance commerce, trade and tourism in Sabah and Sarawak, connections with neighbouring Kalimantan, Brunei and the Philippines and extensions to Australia.

Continue reading at: MASwings to pick up from where MAS, AirAsia left off

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Philippines Sinag Basketball’s gold shows talent gap in SEA Games is still wide

Sinag Pilipinas' romp to the gold medal in the 26th Southeast Asian Games, which culminated in an 85-57 dismissal of Thailand in the championship last night, only showed that the rest of Southeast Asia still has a ways to go before anyone can mount a serious challenge to the Philippines in men's basketball.

The team, composed mostly of collegiate players, won all its five games by an average of 39.4 points, and was only seriously challenged for a while by Malaysia, which managed to stay within three points at halftime of their semifinal encounter.

What's more, this wasn't even the best amateur team that we could send. Several college stars like Far Eastern University's Aldrech Ramos, naturalized center Marcus Douthit, and the San Sebastian trio of Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang and Ronald Pascual all declined their invitations, although Sangalang and Pascual were still practicing with team as recently as a month before the SEA Games.

'A very young team'

Sinag Pilipinas coach Norman Black said all five were on his wish list, but from the looks of things, they really weren't needed. In fact, adding the six-foot-eleven Douthit would have been overkill. This team still got the job done, and Black noted that the gold medal triumph, the country's 13th in the biennial games, was a good training ground for the future.

"The good thing about this win for the Philippines is the fact that it's a very young team," Black noted. "We've got two 18-year-olds (Kiefer Ravena and Bobby Ray Parks), and they're going up against the 29-, 30-year-olds of the other teams. So it probably tells the story that Philippine basketball is in good hands. These guys are very, very young. Fortunately for us, we can use this as a training ground to get experience internationally and hopefully to represent the country again as they get older."

Among the 12 Sinag players, skipper Chris Tiu, still a young 26 years old, is already the elder statesman. Four players — Chris Ellis, Cliff Hodge, Greg Slaughter, and Jake Pascual — are 23. The rest are 22 and below. In contrast, 10 of Thailand's 12 players are 26 or older, and most of them play professionally in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

The core of Sinag is being eyed to form part of Smart Gilas II, where they will join forces with a pool of professionals from the Philippine Basketball Association in a new national team that hopes to build on the progress of the original Gilas, which finished fourth in the recent FIBA-Asia Championships.

Even though the SEAG tournament was reduced to a battle for the silver medal among the rest of the eight-team field, Black noted that some countries are showing signs of improvement. A couple of them, namely Thailand and Cambodia, have started tapping their own foreign-bred players in an effort to improve their talent level.

"I was really impressed with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia," Black said. "I think that they have made great strides in basketball. They may not have the skill level of the Filipino players, but I think they're getting there."

This may sound a little hard to believe, but some teams had more height overall. Actually, remove the seven-foot Slaughter and Sinag has one of the shorter line-ups in the tournament. Other teams like Thailand, Malaysia and even Cambodia all fielded taller players at the point guard, shooting guard and small forward positions. They just didn't have good ballhandlers or talented wingmen to match the firepower of a Ravena-RR Garcia backcourt or the explosiveness of Parks, Ellis and Hodge.

Defense and running game won it

Even though the gold medal was widely expected — Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan reportedly told Black in jest to not bother coming home if they didn't win the gold medal — the coach still felt proud of the feat.

"It feels good," he said. "I mean, whenever you can win a gold medal for the country, it's a good feeling. That was the purpose of us coming here to the SEA Games, representing the basketball team. As a coach, you just feel very proud and happy for the players, particularly under the circumstances, just really coming together only a couple of weeks to go before the tournament."

The pool of players — which also included Jeric Teng and Jeric Fortuna of the University of Sto. Tomas, Justin Chua and Frank Golla of Ateneo, Rome De la Rosa of San Beda, and Fil-Am Karl Matthew Dehesa, started practicing once a week last February.

"It really helped us a lot because it made it easier for us to play once the tournament came around," Black noted. "The defense was pretty solid. We were able to get out and run the entire tournament. Actually, we ran the teams off the court. That's the way we won the championship. The most important thing is we displayed a lot of teamwork. I think they all played well. I think everybody stepped up and played well in this tournament. That was really the key to this team."

With a line-up full of players who are stars on their own teams, Black's biggest challenge was juggling the minutes of everyone, and he addressed this by rotating them several times each game.

"I told them right from the very start that I would sub out every five to six minutes and I would give everybody a chance to shine," he revealed. "I also told them I didn't really want them to pace themselves. We were so talented, I wanted them to go hard for the five or six minutes they were on the floor. Then I would just get the next guy in. And of course, as a coach, the thing you hope for is that everybody will contribute and step up, and I think they did."

Individual scores of gold-medal match vs. Thailand:

Sinag Pilipinas (85) — Slaughter 16, Parks 15, Garcia 12, Ravena 10, Monfort 8, Tiu 6, Marcelo 6, Pascual 5, Hodge 5, Salva 2, Ellis 0.

Quarterscores: 21-17, 44-25, 61-42, 85-57