The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Cyclist fulfills childhood dream
- Sabah Museum willing to pay public who have heirlooms of worth
- Towards sporting excellence in Malacca
| Cyclist fulfills childhood dream Posted: 16 Jan 2013 04:04 PM PST MALACCA: For many people, cycling may be their favourite past time in the evening. However, for teacher Tan Lang Seng, cycling has been his passion some 25 years ago when his brother presented him with a road bike. Tan has recently completed his solo-pedalling trip around east Malaysia in 24 days. "It was my childhood dream to pedal alone across the country and I was even more determined to do it after reading a book entitled 'Pedalling Around The Peninsular: A Malaysian Girl's Two-Wheeled Adventures' by Sandra Loh," said the 47-year-old Malaccan. In his maiden solo trip Tan had the opportunity to tour the four corners of the Peninsular from southern tip of Tanjung Piah, Johor, Sungai Rengit, Johor, Pengkalan Kubor, Kelantan in the east and Padang Besar, Perlis on the northern region. During his trip, he discovered that Malaysia has many breath-taking and captivating landscapes which should be explored. Tan also added that he will never forget the scenic Perlis and fascinating Penarik Beach in Terengganu. During his trip, the teacher with Civil Engineering background brought along a tent, cooking utensils, clothes, spare tubes and bike tools on his 16-year-old Rerun Hurricane mountain bike. The adventurous Tan acknowledged it took him six months to be mentally and physically prepared for his strenuous and gruelling journey. The humble cyclist has participated in about 50 cycling competitions and biking jamborees but none of those were as significant as this solo tour. This is when he realised he could not pedal on a fast speed, just like what he did before in the competitions. Throughout the 24 days, his bicycle tyre punctured three times and he only suffered from minor bruises on his legs. Along the journey, he encountered many wonderful experiences and has met many friendly people who offered him drinks and showed him the way. This father of four children possesses some knowledge of repairing bicycles that comes handy at times. His daughter, Tan Shu Yao, 20, expressed that she admires her father and is extremely proud of his dream. Currently, Tan has seven mountain and road bikes as his collection and on most evenings, he and his sons will cycle as a family activity. Apart from that, Tan is also the cycling sifu (master) of his colleagues who has took up cycling as their interest a year ago. He advices all cycling buffs to take safety precautions on the road and always make sure the bicycle is in optimum condition. "Be sensitive on the road as we share the roads with many other vehicles," concluded Tan who takes cycling as his only hobby. |
| Sabah Museum willing to pay public who have heirlooms of worth Posted: 16 Jan 2013 02:56 PM PST KOTA KINABALU: Though people are keen to donate their heirlooms and artifacts to the Sabah Museum, not all are accepted. This is because the Sabah museum is only keen to pick up items with historical value or with an interesting story behind them, museum director Joanna Kitingan said. "Everyone has something old to give but we cannot take everything or just anything which is old as there has to be a meaning, a value and a great story worth sharing before it will be accepted and displayed," she explained. However, there were still quite a number of people with valuable heirlooms possessing significant historical value who sells the items to the museum despite calls for the public to donate them, she added. "Many people have offered to donate their items, while there are still some who sells their heirlooms and if it is really worth the buy, the museum will not hesitate to pay for them," Joanna said. Meanwhile, she said the museum staff is in the midst of restoring the old government quarters and the former house which used to be the office and residence of the late Tun Mustapha Harun in Kampung Kerasik in Pitas for public visits. She said this is among the many initiatives of the museum to attract more visitors and to make the museum a main source for information history, culture and so on. "The upgrading of our museum buildings and exhibition halls have also contributed to the increased number of visitors from 373,794 in 2011 to 440,612 last year," she stated. |
| Towards sporting excellence in Malacca Posted: 16 Jan 2013 02:57 PM PST MALACCA: The historic state is set to add another feather to its cap by setting up a sports university to produce athletes, coaches and management teams. State Education, Youth and Sport Committee chairman Datuk Gan Tian Loo said the university would be built at the Hang Jebat Stadium Complex in Krubong, some 15km from the city. "A discussion has been ongoing between Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and officials from the University of Stirling in Scotland on details of setting up a branch here. "The university's officials are expected to come to Malacca for a site visit and to make a final decision soon,'' he said after the Education Department's monthly assembly on Friday. Gan said the initiative was apt and timely as the performance of the state's athletes dropped in recent years, especially at the last Malaysia Games (Sukma) held in Pahang last year. "The state government looks into this issue seriously and is ready to take measures to improve it. "With a sports university here, it is hopeful that more world-class athletes, coaches and sports managers are identified and trained for Malaysia,'' he said. Gan noted that discussions were also underway with the Education Ministry to upgrade SMK Seri Kota to a full-fledged sports school with secondary and pre-university education. The school at Jalan Ayer Leleh that was changed into a sports school starting this year only offer the relevant sports classes to students from Forms One to Four. Gan also distributed RM70,000 each to four schools for their excellent academic achievements. They were the Selandar Integrated Boarding School, SK Convent Infant Jesus 2, Methodist Girls' Primary School 2 and SJKC Yok Bin. Meanwhile, state Education Department director Kasim Mohammad said two new primary schools, namely the SK Ayer Merbau in Jasin and SK Demang Taha in Alor Gajah started their first school term this year. He also noted that there were 236 primary schools with 7,641 teachers and 86,799 pupils in Malacca at present. As for secondary level, there were 77 schools with 6,018 teachers and 70,332 students. |
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