Royalty gesture shows govt is serious, says Liew
Published on: Saturday, July 21, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government's announcement on the 20 per cent oil royalty for oil producing states, including Sabah, shows the government of the day is serious in fulfilling their manifesto, said Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew.She said it was mentioned before the election that the then-opposition wished to preserve the people's rights, particularly in Malaysian Borneo."Sabah is one of the oil producing states. So we welcome the announcement and this just shows how serious the Government is in fulfilling their manifesto. So I am very glad that in less than 100 days this has been announced," Liew said after launching The Genus Schefflera in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo book, Friday.
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On Thursday, Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad assured during question time in Dewan Rakyat that the Government would adhere to the promises in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto for the 14th General Election and was committed to fulfilling them.He said this included fulfilling the promise of providing 20 per cent royalty to the petroleum-producing states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said it was an indication of Dr Mahathir's concern for Sabah rights and, therefore, the announcement came as very welcome not only to the State Government but also for all Sabahans."We thank Dr Mahathir and we are truly grateful. It is wonderful news for us in Sabah.
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It is a promise fulfilled within 100 days and is a very positive step," he said.Meanwhile, Liew said The Genus Schefflera in Sabah book explains the wonders found in Sabah and helps in promoting and sharing the knowledge of the fascinating flora to people both local and overseas.
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She said publishing the book stands as yet another example of the outstanding work carried out between Malaysian and international efforts since it was co-written by a Malaysian and two international authors."Outstanding books require outstanding and experienced publishers. Without high-quality production, such works may not achieve the kind of visibility needed to have maximum impact."Without a doubt, the grand majority of books about Sabah's biodiversity in the last 25 years have been published by Natural History Publications located here in Kota Kinabalu."We are fortunate and proud to have this world-renowned publisher based in Sabah continuing to produce some of the most beautiful and comprehensive books in the world," she added.Earlier, publisher Datuk C.L Chan said the idea for the monograph publication fist came from co-author Professor Todd Barkman from West Michigan University, USA who supervised the PhD dissertation of Senior Author Aida Shafreena Ahmad Puad from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).Chan said the book shares the knowledge found by the local and international minds of Schefflera, commonly known as Umbrella plants or Miampalad that can be found in North Borneo.He said it is the first time that Borneo's Schefflera species was meticulously studied which resulted in the finding of 32 groups in 29 species where 21 are described as new species and four new varieties."An astounding 72 per cent of Schefflera are new to Sabah. Prior to this work, only seven species were known from the State and not a single species was described from Sabah in the last 100 years.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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