KUALA PENYU

About 50 years ago, Kuala Penyu town was made up only of a row of shops built with palm trees and nipah leaves and surrounded by muddy mangrove forest.

The present Kuala Penyu district, covering a 45,326 square km and 80km of beaches, has an entire infrastructure on par or probably better than some other districts in Sabah.

Developing: Kuala Penyu town seen from the air.

“Previously, Kuala Penyu only had a health clinic and the nearest hospital was in Beaufort, about 40km away. Now, it has its own RM76 million hospital,” said District Officer Hasbi Abdul Ghaffar.

The 76-bed hospital, built on a 13ha site, was opened in March last year and presently had 180 employees including two doctors, he said. Kuala Penyu district is located within the Beaufort parliamentary constituency.

It has a 22,000 population mainly of indigenious people like Dusun Tatana, Bisaya, Kadayan and Bajau and Chinese and Bruneians.

Their children go to 26 primary schools, four secondary schools, 15 Kemas kindergartens and a Mara vocational institute.

The newest primary and secondary schools in Kuala Penyu are Sekolah Kebangsaan Pekan Kuala Penyu and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pekan Kuala Penyu that were built on a 10ha site costing RM56mil. The schools have a capacity for 1,500 and 1,000 students respectively.

“For the Kuala Penyu community, facilities like schools and hospitals are very important for the development of quality human capital needed by the country,” said Hasbi.

The Fire and Rescue Department will have a new RM22mil office building in Kuala Penyu expected to be start operations by yearend. A police complex costing RM9mil is also being built.

Education: An aerial view of SMK Pekan Kuala Penyu (with red roofs) built on 10ha at a cost of RM56mil.

A RM2mil jetty for vehicles has been completed for people who use ferries to travel between Labuan and Menumbok which is also an entry point from Brunei.

Kuala Penyu community leader Drs Monih Epin said all the facilities enjoyed by the people showed that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government cared about their needs.

Access: A RM2mil jetty for vehicles has been completed for people who use ferries to travel between Labuan and Menumbok

Though the elected representative is an independent, the BN did not neglect the constituency and allocated development funds for the well being of constituents.

However, he said, the delivery system would be more effective if the constituency was represented by someone from BN.

Fast travel: The ferry is the main means of transport to Kuala Penyu town.

Sabah Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director Datuk Dr Yassin Amit said that Kuala Penyu, which hosted the Information Ministry’s Meet the Customers Day on Tuesday, could promote the district as a tourist destination.

Besides nearby Pulau Tiga which is well known for its mud volcano and was a shooting location for the popular American TV reality programme “Survivor”, Kuala Penyu has other interesting sites like Tasik Sitompok that can be developed as a tourist destination, he said.

“The beaches are beautiful and clean while Tasik Sitompok is suitable for visitors who love mangrove swamp forests,” Hasbi said.

Those interested in rumbia (sago palm) should go to Kuala Penyu because there is a Rumbia Information Centre the Rumbia Fiesta is held annually here in July, he said.

What are Human Rights

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
Universal and inalienable

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, for example, noted that it is the duty of States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.

All States have ratified at least one, and 80% of States have ratified four or more, of the core human rights treaties, reflecting consent of States which creates legal obligations for them and giving concrete expression to universality. Some fundamental human rights norms enjoy universal protection by customary international law across all boundaries and civilizations.

Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.
Interdependent and indivisible

All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education , or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.

Equal and non-discriminatory

UNICEF photoNon-discrimination is a cross-cutting principle in international human rights law. The principle is present in all the major human rights treaties and provides the central theme of some of international human rights conventions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The principle applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of a list of non-exhaustive categories such as sex, race, colour and so on. The principle of non-discrimination is complemented by the principle of equality, as stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
Both Rights and Obligations

Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitled our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.

Pray always

People today speak much about the poor, but they do not know or talk to the poor. So, too, we can talk much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

We have to feed ourselves. We can die from spiritual starvation. We must be filled continually, like a machine. When one little thing in the machine is not working, then the whole machine is not working properly.

We need oil for the lamp.

Our lives must be connected with the living Christ in us. If we do not live in the presence of God, we cannot go on. Mother Teresa.

The 10 Commandments

The 10 Commandments - God's Revelation in the Old Testament
The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:

"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

The 10 Commandments - Christ's Summation in the New Testament
About 1,400 years later, the 10 Commandments were summed up in the New Testament at Matthew 22, when Jesus was confronted by the religious "experts" of the day:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40).

A reflective reading of Christ's teaching reveals that the first four commandments given to the children of Israel are contained in the statement: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." It continues that the last six commandments are enclosed in the statement: "Love your neighbor as yourself"