KOTA KINABALU, Feb 4: The Sabah Kadazandusun Murut Welfare and Education Association (Pekadin) wants Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to carry out an indepth study on the population of the Pala’u (Sea Bajau) community in Sabah’s east coast, particularly in the waters of Semporna. Its vice-president Luis Lidong said although some research had been conducted on the Pala’u community living on certain islands li ...

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 4: The Sabah Women’s Action Resource Group (SAWO), a coalition of concerned NGOs, has praised the conviction and 12-year jail sentence of a restaurant manger here for raping a 12-year-old girl. “Statutory rape is an abhorrent crime particularly in cases that can be categorised as pedophilia as in this case,” they said in a statement yesterday. “SAWO is relieved and thankful that Riduan Ma ...

Malaysian women's rights groups are calling on authorities to raise the legal marriage age to 18, to protect young girls. The issue of child marriage is again a focus in Malaysia after a court sentenced a man to 12 years' jail for raping a 12-year-old girl and then marrying her. The district court in the eastern state of Sabah ruled that while the marriage was valid, the man had committed rape. Suri Kempe f ...

KUCHING, Feb 2: As far as freedom of expression on the Internet goes, it is best to be highly mindful on what is being posted and spread across blogs and other social media platforms. Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar stressed that while such expression could be practised in Malaysia, the people should never cross the line when it came to online postings, which if done without ...

BELURAN, Feb 3: Two men were killed and two women seriously injured when the car they were travelling in, collided head-on with a 10-tonne lorry at the 45km Jalan Beluran-Telupid last night. Abdil Muhammad, 29, who was driving the car, and his front passenger, Mohd Farid Mohd Inal, 23, died on the spot. Rosmah Rosli, 27, and Siti Atikah Arsyid, 21, who were seated at the rear of the vehicle sustained head a ...

Facebook celebrates its tenth birthday today, marking a major milestone for the social network which boasts more than 1.2 billion monthly users. In its first decade Facebook has garnered users from all over the globe keen to communicate with friends, post updates and share photographs. The social network - which was established by Mark Zuckerberg while at Harvard University - has grown to become a multi-bil ...

TAWAU, Feb 2: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) confiscated 2,125 litres of subsidised petrol which was to be smuggled into a neighbouring country through the coast of Semporna, near here, on Friday. Tawau Maritime Enforcement chief Capt Anor Jaafar said the confiscation was made in an operation at 3.40pm near Kampung Simunul, Semporna. "During the operation we met a suspicious looking boat. ...

TAWAU, Feb 3: The Tawau Marine Operations Force (MOF) foiled an attempt to smuggle out 780 mangrove trees worth RM72,000, believed to have been cut illegally, in an operation at a mangrove forest area in Sungai Sionosolan, here, on Sunday. Sabah Region 4 MOF commander, ACP Mohamad Madun said in a statement in Tawau, Monday that all the mangrove trees were seized in three different areas in mangrove forest w ...

MIRI, Feb 3: Five people who dug into a deep underground tunnel on top of a hill in Sarawak's northernmost district of Lawas on Monday, ended up suffocated by poisonous gas. Two of them died inside the tunnel. Three others were rescued by personnel of the Lawas Fire and Rescue Department, and are in stable condition at the Lawas hospital. The tragedy happened at about 11am on Sunday on a steep hill overlook ...

LABUAN, Feb 4: Hundreds of visitors to Labuan were left stranded here on the second and third day of Chinese New Year and were forced to extend their stay following insufficient ferry services. Disgruntled holidaymakers and celebrants told FMT that they were forced to stay back in Labuan after even private speedboats refused to ferry passengers across to Menumbuk in Kuala Penyu on mainland Sabah because the ...