Be proud of your roots: CM
Daily Express, Malaysia
Keningau: Chief Minister Datuk Musa Haji Aman said the young generation should be proud of their ancestry and accord due respect to those closely related to them.
It is even more challenging if they come from a large family requiring a complex family tree, he said, when addressing a gathering of the Gunsanad clan at the community centre here, Saturday evening.
Musa is linked to the Gunsanad clan through his grandparents on his mother’s side. He acknowledged that it was not easy to gather all the clan members at any one time, while commending those who took the pains to compile the family records towards safeguarding their ancestry, to an extent of covering some 95 per cent of the clan members.
In this respect, parents should constantly remind their children of their roots to ensure that their ancestry would not fade into oblivion by modern times under the current rapid pace of development taking place in their midst, he said.
Musa believed that mutual respect for one another could be the mainstay of preserving the clan, with brighter future prospects foremost on their minds.
He hoped that the spirit of brotherhood within the context of family cohesiveness would continue to preserved, despite the era of globalisation, in order to keep the age-old traditions alive.
The Chief Minister commended Connie Lupang for her efforts in compiling the records for the occasion.
Earlier, Musa expressed optimism that the scenic natural surroundings in the Interior Division, particularly Keningau and the adjacent areas such as Tenom, Nabawan and Pensiangan, could be further developed as a local tourism industry.
He said the unique features had a vast potential to be offered as new tourism products accessible to the increasing influx foreign tourists into these areas.
This could result in attractive economic spinoffs to the people in the respective areas, he said, when launching the district level Pesta Kayu Koningau (Cinnamon Festival), at the tamu ground, here.
In this respect, there should be sufficient accommodation for tourists and visitors alike, restaurants and other forms of services, he added.
Therefore, the growth in the local tourism sector should prompt the private sector to set up more hotels offering rooms at moderate rates, he said.
Musa, who is State Finance Minister, noted that the Keningau district had progressed by leaps and bounds. Therefore, there should be sufficient products, particularly handicraft, to ensure that tourists would continue to come.
At the same time, the local communities should strive to complement the Government’s efforts to promote the local tourism industry, for their own benefits.
One of the considerations would be to participate in the homestay programme, that had become popular among tourists who wish to sample the local lifestyle, customs and food, he said.
They could also help develop their idle lands by planting the cinnamon trees (kayu manis) that fetch lucrative returns, in meeting the demand for such spice in the domestic and international markets.
Furthermore, he said it had been widely known that the cinnamon has medicinal value, other than spice for food ingredients.
Under the Sabah Development Corridor to be launched soon by the Prime Minister, the development in every district would be based on its economic potentials. In this context, the Keningau district might emerge as a State handicraft centre.
The CM pointed out that all these demonstrated the Barisan Nasional Government’s commitment towards the needs of the people aspiring development and progress.