Source : Daily Express, Sabah, 15 Jan '06
By : Daily Express
  

"No doubt in Sabah there is still a long way to go for us to improve our environmental conditions. But if we compare Sabah to other neighbouring countries like Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines still can see filth in many conspicuous places.

"Comparatively, we are much better off. In Malaysia, particularly in Sabah, we are also much better off. But we still have a long way to go in creating awareness among the schools that we hope will take the lead as our future leaders to spread the message to the whole community," he said.

Chong, who is also Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, was speaking after presenting the Sabah Environmental Friendly School Awards (Serasi) to winning schools at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), here.

Chong said Sabah was still facing cleanliness problems given that there are irresponsible people who keep throwing rubbish in public places.

"We still have rubbish here and there. And we still have people in our community driving big cars with passengers inside the vehicles who will just simply toss rubbish out of the car windows.

"Not only that, we also still have students buying plastic bags and canned drinks after school hours who would simply throw them indiscriminately.

Nothing to be ashamed, nothing to hide. It is a fact, which we want to change for the better." He said through the Serasi programme that is trying to push the leadership to schools, we believe it will help us to have a clean environment although it would take time."

On planting and replanting mangroves in Sabah, Chong said the State Government started planting mangrove trees even before this year through the Forestry Department and Sabah Wildlife Department, among others.

"Kota Kinabalu Bird Sanctuary (KKBS) is the staging ground and the starting point of planting and replanting mangroves that will inculcate a love and instil awareness among people, particularly students, on the importance of replanting mangrove as the natural defence against any killer waves.

"From KKBS, we have spread out the planting to Mengkabong, Tuaran, and Klias Peninsula in Beaufort. Now, we are doing a big-scale replanting of mangroves in the Kinabatangan region together with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia," Chong said.

Earlier in his speech, Chong hoped the Serasi programme would not only inculcate the spirit of love in conserving and preserving the environment but also create an environmentally-friendly generation that would be committed and dedicated in tackling environmental issues.

"Students must become role models in making the Government's campaign to encourage people participating in recycling activities a success.

"The students are our target because we believe they have to go through a long process and that long process is through education," he said.

Chong also noted that awareness among the community and the young generation on environmental preservation has shown positive signs, looking at the participation of schools in Serasi where in its inaugural year, there were only 30 participating schools to over 1,000 schools in the third year.

Of 1,193 schools in the State competing for various environmental awards, only 10 primary schools and 10 secondary schools were selected as the finalists.

SRJK (C) Chi Hwa of Sandakan was awarded the Anugerah Sekolah Rakan Alam Sekitar (Sabah Environmental Friendly School Awards) for the primary school category while SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin of Penampang won the same award for the secondary school category.

Both winners recieved RM3,000 cash, trophy and certificates respectively. The annual event was jointly organised by 19 organisations which included government departments, corporate sector and non-governmental organisations with Shell Malaysia financing the programme.