EAST COAST SABAH STATE WILL NAME ISLANDS TO PREVENT CLAIMS - CM

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Sabah, an east coast state in Malaysia, will ensure all islands within the state’s territory be named to prevent countries from laying claims over unnamed islands, Chief Minister Musa Aman said Monday.

“We will make sure that every island in our territory is named. I am sure
there will not be any problem as long as the islands are within our territory,”
he told reporters after launching the 4th Tourism Promotion Organisation for
Asia-Pacific cities (TPO) here.

Musa was asked to comment on Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s findings that many
islands off Sabah have yet to be named.

State tourism, culture and environment minister Masidi Manjun said his
ministry would enumerate unnamed islands for presentation to the state cabinet.

“There are more than 500 hundred islands in Sabah, mostly small ones, but
not
all are inhabited. For example, in Semporna, there are 49 islands, but 17 are
inhabited.

“What we do is use the names given by the village people. For example, Pulau
Mantanani has its own occupants. The smallest island near to it is simply called
Pulau Mantanani Kecil by the villagers,” he said.


Meanwhile, the outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) is not seen as a major
threat
to the global tourism industry, as compared to the economic crisis, said TPO
president Nam-sik Hur.

However, Hur, who is also mayor of Busan Metropolitan in Korea, urged TPO
members to jointly deal with challenges affecting the tourism industry, hence,
reflecting confidence to the world that TPO could emerge as a global tourism
organisation.

The biennial TPO -- attended by 200 delegates from 64 member cities and 39
industry players in the Asia-Pacific region -- began Sunday and will end on
Wednesday.

-- BERNAMA