Shafie: Sabah has done its best to take care of wildlife and will do more

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (pic) believes the state government has done its best in taking care of the endemic wildlife and plans to do more next year.

Commenting on the death of Iman, Malaysia's last surviving rhino, Shafie said they remained positive all this while by pursuing collaboration with Indonesia, but the animal's time had come.

"I am saddened by the death of our only remaining rhino. Because of her critical condition due to tumours, she could not be saved.

"It is a very sad story. We have done our level best... While the rhino's case was due to sickness, we continue talking about our wildlife such as elephants.

"I have asked Datuk Christina Liew for a full report and hopefully next week the state Cabinet can be informed on the way forward to ensure preservation of wildlife as one of the main agendas of the Sabah government," he told reporters after presenting scrolls to graduates in Session 3 of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) convocation here on Sunday (Nov 24).

Shafie reiterated the state government's plans to designate land next year – which has yet to be identified – to be turned into a wildlife conservation and rehabilitation area similar to African national parks like the Serengeti.

"But we are aware that wildlife are mobile and need big spaces for movement, so we need to determine how big of an area is needed.

"It is also another tourism attraction as we can no longer depend on islands and our mountains alone, we need to diversify our products to ensure sustainability," he added.

When asked about Upko's rebranding announced on Saturday (Nov 23) to expand its membership beyond the Kadazandusun Murut community, Shafie said they welcomed it.

"He (Upko president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau) informed me that it will not be based on race-centric anymore.

"We need to move forward to 21st century challenges, this means we must be very inclusive of all races.

"So we welcome the new approach by one of our component parties... It is in line with what we want to achieve, for example Parti Warisan Sabah itself is multi-racial," said Shafie.