Latest news with #AlSultanAbdullah
Free Malaysia Today
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
Pahang sultan goes down memory lane with sports greats
The Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah with members of the 1975 World Cup hockey team at the Sports Flame event in Kuala Lumpur today. KUALA LUMPUR : The Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah spent time with 160 former national athletes at a celebration of Malaysia's sporting legacy today. The Pahang sultan moved between tables at the Sports Flame high tea event, speaking with them and posing for photographs with several former national athletes. Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs made a surprise appearance at the event, presenting Al-Sultan Abdullah with a signed club jersey. Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah beams as he is presented with a Manchester United jersey by club legend Ryan Giggs at the Sports Flame event. The event honoured 160 national sporting icons who represented Malaysia from the 1960s to the 1980s. Among those present were Santokh Singh (football), James Selvaraj (badminton), Noraseela Khalid (athletics), and Kevin Nunis (hockey). The 1975 national hockey team received recognition for their historic fourth-place finish at the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Sports Flame, introduced in 2011, is a collaborative initiative by former sports journalists Lazarus Rokk, George Das, Fauzi Omar and the late R Velu.
Free Malaysia Today
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Free Malaysia Today
Sports legends and rivals reunite at gala
The Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, with members of Malaysia's 1975 hockey World Cup team and India's Ashok Kumar (second from left) at the Sports Flame gala in Kuala Lumpur. KUALA LUMPUR : More than 70 former national athletes gathered at the Sports Flame gala today to recount their thrilling contests, including Malaysia's fourth placing at the 1975 hockey World Cup. The Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, was the guest-of-honour at the event, which also marked the 50th anniversary of the hockey team's achievement. Among those at the gala were members of the 1975 hockey squad, the women's hockey team at the 1982 Asian Games, badminton legends Tan Aik Huang and Yew Cheng Hoe, and football icon Santokh Singh. A member of the Indian hockey team who won the tournament Ashok Kumar was also present, and he recounted how the Malaysians gave them a run for their money. 'Malaysia gave us a good fight and almost got us kicked out of the game,' said Ashok. The Sports Flame gala, a biennial event held since 2011, is the brainchild of former sports journalists George Das, the late R Velu, Lazarus Rokk and Fauzi Omar. Rokk took the chance today to reminisce about the 1975 tournament and lauded the players who took Malaysian hockey to unprecedented and unsurpassed heights. He also paid tribute to Velu, the late RD Silva, and James Ritchie, who died on May 3. Al-Sultan Abdullah also presented a commemorative plaque to Velu's son, Aaron Christopher. Keeping ties alive N Sri Shanmuganathan, captain of the 1975 hockey team, hailed Sports Flame's dedication to honouring the nation's retired athletes. 'We have our teammates coming down from London and Perth. We do meet with (those living in Malaysia) as often as we can, but meeting those from overseas is another thing altogether,' he said. K Maheswari, vice-captain of the women's hockey team that won the bronze medal at the 1982 Asian Games, said the event served as a platform for former athletes of various sports to meet and network with one another. 'This time we got to meet other athletes as well, like the great Santokh Singh. We only had the chance to admire them in front of the TV because they were seniors, but now we get to meet them in person. It's such an honour,' she added. Badminton great Yew, who was in Malaysia's winning 1967 Thomas Cup team, hoped that Sport Flame's founders would keep the flame alive in honouring former athletes and organise more such events. 'They are the only ones who remember all the ex-players. Nobody has done this for us and we truly appreciate what they are doing. This is the only chance we get to meet all the former sportsmen,' he said, thanking Sports Flame for bringing them together.
Free Malaysia Today
13-05-2025
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
RimbaWatch urges halt to road projects threatening wildlife habitats
RimbaWatch highlighted several road projects that will allegedly cut through the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve as well as the Titiwangsa Range through the Gapau and Lenggeng permanent forest reserves. (File pic) PETALING JAYA : An environmental watchdog has called for a halt to several projects that allegedly cut through sensitive wildlife habitats following the death of a baby elephant in a collision along the East-West Highway in Gerik, Perak, on Sunday. In a statement, RimbaWatch asked the government to immediately issue a permanent stop-work order for the road projects and other similar projects that would allegedly extend across sensitive ecosystems. It highlighted three environmental impact assessments: two approved by the department of environment in 2022, and another for road projects approved in 2023. It said that in 2022, approval was granted for the construction of Phase 3A of Jalan Kampung Pasir Raja in Hulu Dungun, as well as Zone A of Jalan Kampung Mat Daling in Jerantut, both leading to the Terengganu-Pahang border. It said these involved a 52km road which would cut through the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, intended to be a core habitat for numerous wild cat species including the Malayan tiger, as well as other endangered species such as the Asian elephant and Malayan Tapir. 'The area has been protected under 'hutan perlindungan' status for some time, and RimbaWatch believes this to be a virgin forest which has never been logged before,' it said. The 2023 approval meanwhile was for a new road from Kampung Gagu in Ulu Beranang, Negeri Sembilan, involving a 15km road that would cut through the Titiwangsa Range through the Gapau and Lenggeng permanent forest reserves, it said. 'Human-animal conflict has already materialised from the expansion of roads into these areas. In 2022, a tiger was spotted on a newly-built road near Kampung Mat Daling. 'In April, a black panther mauled a lorry driver who had briefly stopped his vehicle by the roadside in Bukit Tangga, on an existing road which also dissects the Gapau and Lenggeng forest reserves,' RimbaWatch said. It said there was no way to build highways through highly sensitive protected areas without causing deforestation, severely hindering wildlife connectivity, and exposing endangered species to danger through roadkill, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching. 'We also question the effectiveness of constructing new highways through mountain ranges as a solution to connectivity issues. For example, the Kampung Gagu-Ulu Beranang road is parallel to an already existing road,' it added. The watchdog urged Putrajaya to instead improve public transport connectivity outside main cities, including by reviving historical rail lines and establishing new networks on, or adjacent to, existing infrastructural right of ways. It said that in the past, smaller towns such as Kuala Sepetang, Port Dickson, and Kuala Pilah had been connected via rail, which could provide an effective template to promote greater connectivity through establishing a safe, fast, and affordable rail network outside cities.
Free Malaysia Today
07-05-2025
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Pahang royal earns his stripes as a conservationist
Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah snaps a picture of his father, the Pahang ruler Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah taking a closer look at the Malayan tiger. (Istana Negara Facebook pic) PETALING JAYA : Tall, athletic and one for the outdoors, it is no surprise that Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah is quite at home in the jungles of Pahang. The 29-year-old heir apparent to the Pahang throne is at the forefront of efforts to keep the Malayan Tiger from extinction. With only 150 of them left in the wild, there is no doubt that the prince has a herculean task ahead. But his efforts have already drawn support from as far away as the Middle East and Europe. The Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve received a €1 million grant from the European Union last year, and in January this year, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund committed a total of US$22 million over five years. The tiger reserve is a 1,340-square-kilometre sanctuary set up by the Pahang royal family in 2023 to give the big cat a chance to survive. Tengku Hassanal's relationship with the big cat, as seen in his conservation efforts, is a far cry from the ties his great great-grandfather Sultan Ibrahim of Johor shared with the animal more than a century ago, according to a recent article on Go Malaysia, a website that focuses on issues of national interest. Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah and his mother, the Tengku Ampuan Pahang, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah at the second Tiger Summit last year. (Instagram pic) In a 1902 edition of The Wide World Magazine that the Tengku Ampuan of Pahang Tunku Azizah Mahmood Iskandar stumbled upon recently was an account of Sultan Ibrahim and his love of the wild, albeit for a different reason. In its article, Go Malaysia noted that both royals love the wild, but while the present-day prince is a conservationist, his forebear's favourite sport was hunting. As The Wide World Magazine stated, rather than shoot from a safe distance, Sultan Ibrahim, then 28, would 'face the charging beats at close quarters, with a .5777 Express rifle and nerves of steel'. The Malayan Tiger ruled the Malayan forests then. In the early 20th century, the Malayan Tiger was known to have ventured into and attacked villages. The threat they posed and their large numbers made them prime targets of hunters. Times were also different then. The Malayan Tiger was not on the endangered species list yet. In fact, it was the ultimate adversary, according to the Go Malaysia article. For aristocrats like Sultan Ibrahim, the forest was a playground. But while he hunted tigers, his descendant now hunts poachers. Tengku Hassanal has men patrolling the same forests to look for and stop these plunderers in their tracks. But he has also taken it a step further in his plan to restore the tiger's habitat. The prince has a team to conduct research on the ecology of the forest, which has long been damaged by human activity. Tengku Hassanal has also taken his cause to the international stage, fostering partnerships with organisations that share the same conservation objectives. Partners in the forest The human factor also accounts for a big part of Tengku Hassanal's conservation efforts. Rather than exclude the indigenous people from his plan, or even drive them out of their traditional lands, as has happened in places like India and Africa, he has chosen to make them partners. Tengku Hassanal shares his great great grandfather's respect and duty of care for the Orang Asli. Sultan Ibrahim chose not to use them as trackers in his forays into the forests, as was the tradition then, so as not to put them at risk of being mauled and killed. Instead, he had his own trained men to do the task. But on Tengku Hassanal's stage, the Orang Asli plays a central role. They are paid to be rangers, ecological monitors, and decision-making partners, roles they excel in given their generational knowledge of the forests. Their expertise has been essential for tiger protection. Giving the environment a fair chance We now know that hunting is not the only factor that poses an extinction risk to the Malayan Tiger. Widespread deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, habitat fragmentation and the breakdown in the relationship between man and the wilderness are equally responsible. That makes Tengku Hassanal's work even more significant. As Go Malaysia observes in its article, his application of current ecological thinking that combines mobilising transnational funding and embedding indigenous knowledge are helping to build a model where people and predators might coexist.
