Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sipadan dropped from New Seven Wonders - Sabah finds silver lining

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s international diving haven Pulau Sipadan has been dropped in the running for listing as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, but state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the concerted effort in promoting the island has created more awareness about the state and Malaysia.

Sipadan was initially nominated along with more than a dozen renowned islands, mountains, historical sites and hundreds of other attractions worldwide for listing as one of the seven new wonders, a global exercise conducted online by the new7wonders.com website.

The volcanic island off Sabah’s east coast Semporna district made it to the top four in the island category, by way of an online voting system, thanks to a campaign by the Sabah Tourism Board early this month.

However, Sipadan was absent when the website invited votes for the New Seven Wonders of the World from a list of 14 landmarks including the Statue of Liberty in New York, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

In a statement via SMS late Wednesday, Masidi said the state government accepted the website’s decision but noted that the selection of final 14 contenders was done by a panel of experts and not through global voting.

Continue reading (incl. pic) at: Sipadan dropped from New Seven Wonders - Sabah finds silver lining

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