Borneo Geographic People

MAGMA KTV & BISTRO ENDED 1^ST HEAT

The newly refurbished Magma KTV & Bistro recently held their 1st Heat preview of Magma Queen of the Year Pageant 2011 last Wednesday 23 November, where twelve fine-looking talented girls tried their very best to amazed the judges with their talent in catwalk skills and beauties.

The Magma Queen Popular for the 1^st heat round won by Ms Amy Walter who gets the most voting from the crowds that night. For winning the Magma Queen Popular, Amy got the immunity to the grand final and will not be eliminated during the elimination process on semi final night which will be held on 14 December2011. At the same time, seven girls also selected that night to compete on semi final night for them to get to the grand final round. The 2^nd and 3^rd heat of the pageant will be held on 30 November and 7 December 2011.

Magma Queen of the year pageant is an event that aims to promote talent in the fashion which focus on modelling run-way show and offers local make-up artists an opportunity to showcase their skills. The competition system will see at least twelve contestants for each heat where the girls who made it through will be eligible to compete during semi final round while those who won the title Magma Queen Popular will be going straight to the grand final and will not be eliminated during the semi final round.

The grand prizes for the winner will be cash prize of RM3,000 with tiara, sash, trophy and certificate. The 1^st runner up will be cash prize of RM2,000 with tiara, sash, trophy and certificate while 2^nd runner up will be cash prize of RM1,000 with tiara, sash, trophy and certificate. Apart from that, there are 3 subsidiary titles, Magma Queen Popular, Magma Queen Body Beautiful and Magma Queen Photogenic; all titles will be given cash prize of RM500 with sash, trophy and certificate. A special award also will be given to the Best Make Up Artist who will get gift vouchers worth of RM200, a trophy and certificate.

Magma KTV & Bistro is the main organiser for this event and working closely together with their marketing and events consultant Telca James, events coordinator Leon Dison and Cornelius William. Among the co-sponsors for this event are Borneo Creative Academy, House of Dresses by Albert Oliver, Glamorous Boutique by Gloria Ewon Ebin, Groom 2 Life and South Sea Sanctuary the award winning spa recently during Sabah Tourism Award. The official medias are New Sabah Times for news print, Borneo Geographic for online media and Beauty Touch 360 for beauty magazine. For more info on the events please contact 088 248850.

Be sure to witness the event by Mitsubishi at Alam Mesra Kota Kinabalu starting today and tomorrow. They will have a show case to let people see how their car can overcome obstacles a simulation of off road.

BP confirmed today that it has signed four new coalbed methane (CBM) production sharing contracts (PSCs) in the Barito basin of South Kalimantan, Indonesia.

BP and co-owner Pertamina were jointly awarded the Tanjung IV CBM PSC through a direct award from the Government of Indonesia. BP will hold a 44 per cent participating interest in the PSC with Pertamina holding the remaining 56 per cent.
BP and co-owner PT Sugico Graha (Sugico) were jointly awarded the Kapuas I, II and III CBM PSCs through a direct offer from the Government of Indonesia. BP will hold a 45 per cent participating interest in the PSCs with Sugico holding the remaining 55 per cent.

Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive, said: “Today’s agreements follow on from BP’s recent agreements to access new resources in Indonesia, China, India and Australia. BP has significant experience and expertise in the development of unconventional gas, including coalbed methane, and we look forward to working with our partners to apply this to the potential of Indonesia’s coal resources.”

Together, the four PSCs cover an area of approximately 4,800 square kilometres.

“BP is very pleased to be extending our working relationship with Pertamina in the development of Indonesian CBM resources, and also to cooperate with Sugico in creating a material CBM position in a highly prospective basin. These four PSCs complement BP’s existing CBM position in Indonesia, allowing us to leverage our 30-plus years of CBM experience to deepen our portfolio in Kalimantan,” said William Lin, BP’s President of Asia Pacific Exploration & Production.

These awards mark BP’s first CBM access in Indonesia outside its joint venture with ENI, VICO, which in late 2009 was awarded the Sanga Sanga CBM PSC near the Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan.

Source: kalimantannews.com

Greenpeace and Bruno Manser Fund protest Finnish company’s palm oil
purchases

JOINT PRESS RELEASE BY BRUNO MANSER FUND, SWITZERLAND, AND GREENPEACE

14 April 2011 for immediate release

Protest at Neste Oil meeting of shareholders in Finland – Swiss NGO: Neste Oil´s palm oil supplier IOI violating land rights, destroying forests

Helsinki/Finland. Activists from Greenpeace are today protesting in Helsinki against deforestation and social problems caused by the growing demand for palm oil in biofuel production. Activists are welcoming shareholders to the annual general meeting of Finnish oil refiner Neste Oil with banners saying: Neste Oil – destroying the rainforests.

Huge investments in biodiesel production have made the company one of the largest single users of palm oil globally. Neste Oil celebrated the opening ceremony of the world´s largest biodiesel refinery in Singapore in March and the next refinery will be opened in Rotterdam later this year. In Indonesia and Malaysia, rainforest and peatlands are being cleared for commodities like palm oil. This causes significant greenhouse gases emissions and also destroys the habitat of endangered species like the orang utans.

The company claims to produce sustainable biofuels, but in practice it is driving a huge increase in global demand for palm oil. Furthermore, only last week, Neste Oil´s sustainability claims took a serious blow when the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) suspended all current and on going certifications of IOI, one of its key suppliers, due to land conflict issues in its operations in Sarawak, Malaysia and illegal deforestation in Ketapang, Indonesia [1], said Matti Liimatainen, Forest Campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic in Finland.

Speaking in a Greenpeace press briefing today in Helsinki, director Lukas Straumann from Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fonds, specialist in defending rainforests and indigenous people in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, said with regard to IOI:

IOI is far away from being a responsible palm oil producer. The company neglects the problems that it is causing, it does not communicate openly and transparently, causes land conflicts and destroys forests with high conservation values. We find it very strange that European palm oil buyers accept a producer acting like this as their business partner.

In March 2011, in the village of Long Teran Kanan in Sarawak, Malaysia, inhabitants blocked roads to prevent IOI continuing to trespass and harvest palm oil on their lands. This was despite a court ruling over one year ago which declared that IOI’s license to operate was null and void [2]. Recently announced plans by the state of Sarawak to open one million more hectares of land for new palm oil plantations are shocking. Expansion of palm oil plantations is taking place in lands that are important for the culture and livelihoods of indigenous people. And the driving force is growing demand for palm oil, for instance the massive biofuel plans in Europe, said Straumann.

Palm oil biodiesel linked to rainforest destruction is no solution to climate change. On the contrary, it exacerbates the problem if rainforests are felled to make way for palm oil for cars. Even if Neste Oil were only to use existing agricultural land for the production of its palm oil for biofuels, the result of their action means that those agricultural areas will be displaced and established elsewhere, quite possibly still at the expense of forests and valuable ecosystems.

“For climate gains, driving on palm oil from deforestation is not an option”, says forest campaigner Matti Liimatainen.

For more information, please see: http://www.greenpeace.fi/palmoil and http://www.bmf.ch/en

[1] http://www.rspo.org/?q=content/announcement-ioi-rspo-grievance-panel-breach-rspo-code-conduct-23-certification-systems-424-

[2] http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9424:sarawak-ioi-pelita-continue-to-trespass-into-ncr-land-despite-court-ruling-prompting-blockade-by-the-natives&catid=62:southeast-asia-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=84

Are you on Flickr?  Now you can join the BG group and you can start share your photos in the group.Your photo could get featured in Borneo Geographic site online.

KOTA KINABALU (18th Feb 2011): Malaysia has received a pat on the back from the international community for its decision to call off using coal for energy in Sabah, a move that will open doors to clean power options in the state.

Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the World Bank, Professor Daniel M. Kammen said by cancelling a proposed coal plant in favour of sustainable energy options, Malaysia has opted to invest in a healthy economy and environment for the state of Sabah.

“This is a turning point that should bring deserved praise and partnerships to Malaysia at the upcoming climate conference in Durban, South Africa.

“I am truly thrilled by the efforts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and for their leadership in directing the course of the nation and state towards a diverse mixture of energy resources.

“This will help stabilize energy costs, bring new entrepreneurs into the energy field, create job growth, and cut local environmental impact and global greenhouse gas emissions growth,” Kammen said.

Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future) had commissioned Kammen to prepare an energy options report for Sabah, in his capacity as Professor of Energy at the University of California in Berkeley.

“Energy and environmental victories often do not get the attention that negative events do, but here is a case where a collaborative set of environmental groups led by Green SURF worked with elected officials to create dialogue with the public, and to bring critically needed technical materials such as the energy options report we produced to decision makers.

“I am thrilled to have been able to work with the people of Sabah on this victory, and look forward to watching the international community learn from Sabah’s triumph of planning and partnership,” he said.

World Land Trust Chief Executive Officer and Founder, John Burton, congratulated the Government on making a rational decision that will have major benefits for all. “It is good that they listened to public opinion, and shows a genuine commitment to the environment,” Burton said.

Lauding the Government’s decision, 350.org Malaysia’s South East Asia Field Coordinator Abe Woo said the move has chartered a new course in history of environmental movement and energy management.

“This signals a positive and responsive government as the whole international network of 350.org continues to support bold moves by the present government in combating climate change,” Woo said.

Jamie Henn, 350.org Communications Director described it as a “victory that’s felt all around the world.”

350.org is an international movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis.

Environmental campaigner Roz Savage shared the State Government’s statement through Twitter, adding that she was honoured and proud to have been part of the campaign calling for the project to be canned. Savage was the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean and was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year 2010.

Sabah born Yee I-Lann artist and creator of the “Postcards2PM” project which saw thousands signing postcards that were sent to Najib, hoped that the authorities including Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd will engage with environmentalists in providing sound solutions.

“I hope the authorities will keep environmental protection at the forefront of all development,” Yee said.

Green SURF also received a number of reactions at its blog site, with readers giving the thumbs up to the government, happy that their voices were heard.

Wednesday’s announcement by Musa that no coal plant will be constructed in Sabah came as a welcome surprise, following months of silence by the authorities after the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment study for a site in Lahad Datu was rejected in August last year.

Source: Green SURF