Sabahans indebted to Yayasan: CM
Published on: Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Fifty years on and after more than RM1 billion spent on education, welfare, amenities and expert services to help Sabahans, Sabah Foundation is not showing any sign of slowing down. Instead, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman was full of praise for the foundation, describing it as a home brand which has made its mark on the world stage and helped thousands of Sabahans to excel in life through "direct intervention.""After all these years, there have been many Sabahans who had become doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals as a result of Sabah Foundation's support for their studies, both locally and abroad," he said.
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Musa, who is also Sabah Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman said this during the launching of the year-long Golden Anniversary celebration of the Foundation here on Monday. Also present at the event were former Chief Minister and Head of State Tun Dr Sakaran Dandai, Deputy Chief Ministers Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Datuk Seri Raymond Tan, ministers and assistant ministers, heads of departments, as well as Sabah Foundation Deputy Director Rosmawati Lasuki. The Sabah Foundation idea was first mooted in November 1965 by the late Tun Mustapha Datuk Harun with the sole aim to provide equal opportunities for bright children whose parents could not afford to send them to school.On April 27, 1966, the State Legislative Assembly passed the Sabah Foundation Bill 1966 unanimously, thus marking the establishment of the Foundation.
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Over the years, the Foundation ventured into various areas to bolster its finances and to keep the forest under its custody in perpetuity. From timber, Sabah Foundation has ventured into agro-plantation, hospitality business, tourism, shipping and real estate development in the 70s and 80s.
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In the last decade, Sabah Foundation ventured further away from the mainstream forestry into biotechnology and horticulture besides fisheries and food industries.And more recently, in the oil and gas industry and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE). Musa said this was made possible with the close relationship the foundation has with the State and Federal government, which saw the Federal Government allocating funds for the Sabah International Conventions Centre (SICC). Meanwhile, Sabah Foundation Group Chairman Datuk Sapawi Ahmad said over the last five decades the foundation had spent RM577 million to sponsor 71,889 students for their secondary and tertiary education. Out of this number, he said 9,286 individuals were offered study loans to further their studies in diploma up to doctorate level. "Apart from education development, Sabah Foundation had also executed its social development programmes through our zone offices. The core programmes covered three areas namely intellectual and mind development, socio-culture and socio-economic developments," he said. Sapawi was not present at the event due to light injuries he sustained in an accident on Sunday. His speech was read by his Deputy,Rosmawati. Sapawi said Sabah Foundation has successfully carried out various community programmes, including carrying out repairs on dilapidated houses of the hardcore poor, install gravity-feed pipelines and built wells, as well as executed various entrepreneurial programmes for women, and later on men through the YS-Niaga initiative. Towards this end, Musa said Sabah Foundation has not only notched many successes, but also reached maturity in the field of its work. He hoped the foundation and its staff would continue to keep up with the times so Sabah Foundation could stay relevant to Sabahans. On another note, Sabah Foundation also launched its corporate theme song, while Bank Negara unveiled commemorative coins in conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebrations. The coins are a coloured silver commemorative coin made in fine silver with 99.9 purity with a face value of RM10 and the other a Nordic gold Brilliant Uncirculated with a face value of RM1. They are priced at RM212 and RM10.60, with a mintage quantity of 500 pieces and 10,000 pieces, respectively. According to Bank Negara the coins will go on sale through the Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu Bank Negara branches from May 16. A set of these coins was handed to Musa by Bank Negara Malaysia Assistant Governor Abu Bakar Hassan Al-shari Yahya. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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