JOURNALISTS URGED TO INCREASE ACADEMIC STORIES

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Feb 20 (Bernama) -- Sabah Chief Minister Musa
Aman Thursday called on journalists in the state to write more on academic and
scholarly matters which he said were not fully explored by them.

"The media and institutions of higher education need to move in tandem to
ensure that education development policies implemented by the government are
passed on effectively to the people comprehensively," he said at Universiti
Malaysia Sabah (UMS)'s Education Journalism Awards ceremony here.

His speech was read out by State Minister for Tourism, Culture and the
Environment, Masidi Manjun.

Citing UMS as an example of an institution of higher education that had
received several international awards through research and development, Musa
said UMS could share its success through the local, national and international
media.

He said there were many in society, especially in the rural areas, who were
unaware of the importance of higher education for their children.

"Disemmination of information on higher education by the media can raise
awareness and instill spirit and motivation about how important higher education
was for them and for the nation's future," Musa said.

Meanwhile, there were six categories for the awards organised by UMS and the
Sabah Journalists Association and each category had a main prize and two
consolation prizes.

For the Bahasa Malaysia category, Berita Harian reporter, Hassan Omar, took
both the main prize and a consolation prize while the other consolation prize
went to his colleague Mohd Azrone Sarabatin.

The English category was swept by the Daily Express, where Mary Chin took
first prize and the consolation prizes went to Hayati Dzulkifli and Elizabeth
Majaham.

In the Mandarin category, the Overseas Chinese Daily News (OCDN) won all
prizes with Bong Tze Pin taking the main and a consolation prize and Leag Koon
Lan taking the other consolation prize.

For the Kadazandusun category, New Sabah Times journalist Marryan Razan took
the main and a consolation prize while colleague Louis Jalin took the other
consolation prize.

Elphege Godomon and Mohd Yasser Mahmun from TV3 shared the first prize for
the broadcast category, while Ibrahim Diman of RTM got the consolation prize.

The photography category saw Datu Ruslan Sulai and Roy Anthony Goh of New
Straits Times getting the first and a consolation prize respectively while
Hassan Omar of Berita Harian took the other consolation prize.

--BERNAMA