borneopedia.com

By Diana Rose. WITH the ‘Kawan Mas’ express boat disaster search and rescue efforts at Giam Bungan taking most of the attention of the authorities and the people, the folk here at Belaga suddenly realise that their racks and pantries are empty.

VERY touching stories of survivors and heroes have emerged from the express boat tragedy that occurred at Giam Bungan area along the Balui River near Belaga town in Sarawak on May 28.

AN express boat, Kawan Mas, jam-packed with 208 people rushing to get home for the Dayak harvest festival of Gawai, capsized at Giam Bungan area in the middle of the Balui River near Belaga town and about 400km from Sibu, in Sarawak.

AS Chinese on Borneo make final preparations to celebrate the Lunar Year of the Snake that begins on Sunday, February 10, it should be of interest to know how people on mainland China view this event that they call the ‘Spring Festival’ celebration.

GAYA Island is the largest and the closest of the five islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and only a short boat ride away from Sabah’s capital City of Kota Kinabalu. Other offshore islands are: Sapi, Manukan, Mamutik and Sulug.

SOME descendents of Filipino refugees in Sabah have signed up to serve in the Malaysian military, a community leader told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the State’s immigrant problem at its hearing in Kota Kinabalu on January 17.

THE Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Immigrants in Sabah was told by former National Registration Department (NRD) director Ramli Kamarudin that immigrants in the state were recruited as phantom voters for the 1994 State Election.

THE Federal Government of Malaysia will have to play a leading role in coming up with a solution to Sabah’s long-standing Filipino refugee problem, a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Department (CMD) told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on January 15.

RM72m to Task Force for management of immigrants in Sabah including their deportation costs. THE Federal Special Task Force (FSTF) in Sabah has so far deported 446,173 illegal immigrants to their home countries since 1990, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) was told.

FORMER Sabah chief minister, Tan Sri Harris Salleh has denied that there was ever a “Project IC”, a scheme allegedly created to provide Malaysian citizenship to immigrants in Sabah in return for their votes for the government in this Malaysian state on Borneo Island.

RCI hearing on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah begins in Kota Kinabalu. THE demography of Sabah changed drastically in 1991 when a population census showed out of the 1.7 million people in this Malaysian state, about 423,000 of them were non-citizens, according to a historian.