KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Sabah Islamic Religious Council (MUIS) on tithe collection and distribution.

Through the MoA, UMS was appointed as the collection and distribution agent for property tithe on behalf of MUIS, said its Vice Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor.

“Proceeds from the tithe collection are used to help UMS students who come from low-income groups. This appointment is a good initiative between UMS and MUIS where average annual tithe collected is about RM1 million,” said Kasim when met after the MoA agreement signing ceremony.

He disclosed that from the amount to be collected, 50 percent will be used for providing assistance to students facing financial problems and the rest will be returned to MUIS.

“Therefore, it is hoped that with this initiative, we will be able to empower students’ capacity and subsequently be able to improve their quality of life,” he said.

UMS was represented by Kasim and the university’s registrar, Luqman Ridha Anwar, at the signing ceremony while MUIS was represented by its CEO Ramlan Awang Ali and Deputy Chief Assistant Secretary (Zakat Division) Iwansuzairie Hari.

The ceremony was witnessed by Chief Minister cum UMS’ Pro Chancellor Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor; UMS Board chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Special Tasks and Coordination Minister cum state Education Exco Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif.

KOTA KINABALU: The Oil and Gas (O&G) Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, (FKJ) Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), held the 2nd International Conference on Oil and Gas Industry, Technologies, and Applications 2022 (ICOGITA 2022) here recently. 

The event, which held virtually through Webex participated by 15 local and international universities, and two local oil and gas companies as invited speakers, scientific committees, presenters, and reviewers.

According to the FKJ statement, the conference focused on the sustainability and IR4.0 technologies which have become high concerns to the industrialists, researchers and academics, private sectors, and policy makers. 

“The theme for ICOGITA 2022 was ‘Current and Emerging Trends in Oil and Gas Industry, Technologies, and Applications’, which was designed to disperse the latest research findings and progresses in the O&G to local and international communities. 

“The first keynote speech delivered by the Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director of Sabah Oil and Gas Development Corporation (SOGDC), Haji Abdul Kadir Haji Abdullah @ OKK Haji Damsal with the speech covered on the current emerging trends in O&G industry. 

“The second keynote speaker was the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) UMS, Professor Ir. Dr. RosalamSarbatly with his title ‘Sustainable Technology in the Oil and Gas Industry and Waste Management,” said a statement here today.

Rosalam also officiated the opening ceremony. Also present was the chairman of ICOGITA 2022, Professor Ir. Ts. Dr. Zainal Zakaria.The two-days event held with five parallel sessions.

KOTA KINABALU: The Borneo Tourism Research Centre (BTRC) at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will host a Community Based Tourism (CBT) Symposium in collaboration with Sabah Tourism Board.

The CBT Symposium will be held on the 2nd of December 2022 with the theme ‘Rural Tourism Prosperity: Transforming the Well-Being of Local Communities’. 

As the recovery of tourism continues, it is timely to deliberate on the importance of the CBT model in ensuring shared prosperity amongst destination communities. 

The symposium will take place in a hybrid mode, on-site at UMS and via Webex for remote attendees. Registration will open next month. 

Recently, Director of BTRC, Dr. Balvinder K. Kler and her team of researchers paid a courtesy call to Madam Noredah Othman, the Chief Executive Officer, Sabah Tourism Board to consolidate plans for the CBT Symposium and discuss further collaborations on research and training. 

BTRC hopes to document the important role played by Sabah Tourism Board over the past three decades to chart tourism strategies which continue to bear fruit as seen in the growth of rural tourism products.

Sabah offers numerous niche markets for example ecotourism including birdwatching, dive tourism, and adventure tourism.

A recently published book chapter focuses on another important niche market in Sabah. Titled “Battlefield Tourism: the Legacy of Sandakan in Malaysian Borneo”, co-authored by Dr. Balvinder and Ms. Cassie Forsythe, Communications & Digital Manager, STB. This publication is one of 36 chaptersin the ‘Handbook of Niche Tourism’ edited by the world renown Professor Marina Novelli and colleagues published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

The chapter documents how the tragedy of war in Borneo evolved into a niche market for tourism and also explores stakeholder relationships to battlefield sites around Sabah.  Both parties agreed to strengthen the relationship between town and gown to ensure research conducted at the university is impactful for community and industry.

KOTA KINABALU: Earthquake building designs have to be implemented in earthquake red zone areas in Sabah.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Natural Disaster Research Centre (NDRC) main researcher fellow, Ts. Dr Noor Sheena Herayani Harith stressed that districts in Sabah that are earthquake prone such as Ranau, Lahad Datu and Kunak, need such building designs.

“The exposure in suitable building designs at these earthquake hot spots to avoid loss of lives, in addition to inculcating training to prepare the public for the disaster.

“Earthquakes by itself is not dangerous, but the rubbles from building structures will impact and threaten people’s safety and lives,” said Dr Noor Sheena when delivering a talk at the Sabah State Disaster Committee Secretariat Strengthening Programme (JPBN) 2022 recently. She is also the head of the NDRC Earthquake group.

The talk entitled “The Science of Earthquake in Malaysia: Status and Challenges” is organised by the Sabah Malaysian Civil Defense Force (APM).

A total of 40 officers from APM, which is the secretariat for JPBN and committee of the district disaster management in Sabah, attended the event.

Dr Noor Sheena, who is also UMS Engineering Faculty’s senior lecturer also shared the Malaysia Seismic Danger Map.

The map is based on the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) value in the Malaysian Standard MS En 1998-1: 2015 National Annex 2017 by Malaysia’s Standard Department.

“The Seismic Danger Map is a product of joint research of specialists from several departments, private agencies, nongovernment organisations and universities in Malaysia whereby one of them is a specialist researcher in the field of earthquakes from NDRC, UMS,” she said.

Meanwhile, UMS NDRC director Professor Madya Ts. Gs. Dr Carolyn Melissa Payus informed that researches linked to the behavior and mitigation of earthquakes are one of the research focuses at NDRC, in addition to tsunami, landslides, floods, climate change, drought, beach and river erosion.

“Established since 2006, this centre acts as a focal point for all research in UMS linked to natural disasters.

“NDRC’s involvement in the talk such as this is hoped to be able to give beneficial input in terms of early preparations to the JPBN Secretariat and JPBD, APM Sabah, and also provide opportunities to research specialists to share their research to stakeholders in the management of natural disaster in Malaysia.

“This is in line with the NDRC establishment which is to generate new knowledge connected to the behavior, mechanism, impact and mitigation of natural disaster toward the management of natural disaster that is more effective and holistic in the country,” she said.