Madius holds big dreams for Tuaran
By Arthur Edward
TUARAN, April 18 (Bernama) -- While walking through the hills and valleys for hours from Kampung Lokos to his school in Ulu Kiulu near here in the early 70's, a 13-year-old student was determined that the generation after him should not have to walk that far as he had experienced.
Such is the fate of students from more than 100 Dusun villages in Ulu Kiulu who wanted to pursue their education at SMK Kiulu (now known as SMK Tun Fuad Stephens Kiulu) which is about 32 kilometers from the villages.
From a young age, Madius Tangau had thought and kept it a dream to change the fate of the villages especially the students from around Tuaran so that, he could contribute to the development of infrastructure as well as science and technology there.
Despite coming from a poor family, Madius succeeded in obtaining excellent results in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia before furthering his education to Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now Universiti Putra Malaysia) and later obtained a Master in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Philippines in 1990.
Now Datuk Seri Madius Tangau had made his dreams come true after being appointed Science, Technology and Innovation Minister as well as the acting president of United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO).
The network of roads in Kiulu has vastly improved with the implementation of the project linking Telipok-Kiulu-Pukak-Pahu-Lokos-Toboh-Randagong (Ranau) costing more than RM300 million in October 2016 and it is expected to be completed in March 2019.
Recalling the effort to create transformation especially in road development in Kiulu, Madius, 60, said it began when he was selected and won the contest for the Tuaran parliamentary seat in 1999 on UPKO-BN ticket.
"It was still fresh in mind during a campaign that I pledged to expedite development in Tuaran especially Kiulu. I was not willing to allow my birthplace to be a dead end," he said in his book entitled 'For you, Kiulu' which was written in conjunction with the construction of the Jalan Telipok-Kiulu-Pukak-Pahu-Lokos-Toboh-Randagong near here in March.
Madius said to create the transformation, he made full use of Dewan Rakyat proceedings as a platform to raise the voices of the people.
"Therefore I proposed the road alignment (Jalan Telipok-Kiulu-Pukak-Pahu-Lokos-Toboh-Randagong). Why the alignment? Because Telipok is the location of Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) and it needs an alternative route to the existing road.
Apart from that, he also succeeded in fighting for a trunk road linking Kota Kinabalu-Kiulu-Ranau-Tambunan.
According to Madius, the majority of the people in the area are still in agriculture while most are still depending on government health and education facilities.
He said the roads would create a network and new markets for farmers while facilitating access to schools, hospitals, clinics and other basic amenities.
Meanwhile, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) information chief Datuk Jahid Jahim said Madius was very committed to bring development to areas in Tuaran as well as the overflow of other economic activities from the state capital Kota Kinabalu.
Kadazandusun Murut Welfare and Education Association (PEKADIN) vice-president Luis Lidong said development brought about by Madius in Tuaran was evident with the construction of the first National Science Centre in Sabah which was completed with various facilities to attract the people to science and technology in the state.
-- BERNAMA
