MASIDI JOINS FACEBOOK

KOTA KINABALU, June 18, 2009: Joining other politicians, state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun has signed up for the online social network Facebook.

“There is a danger of losing touch because positions we hold can isolate us from the man on the street,” Masidi told The Star here yesterday.

He said Facebook was a forum for him to discuss various issues with his friends and other people in the network.

“Sometimes, trivial matters can have great implications,” said Masidi, who prefers to update his Facebook account via his Blackberry.

Shutterbug at work: Masidi taking photographs at an island resort recently. The pictures he took are posted on Facebook.

It was his youngest daughter Farhana, 17, who encouraged him to sign up for Facebook, which has also become a showcase of his amateur photography skills.

Masidi, who has eight digital cameras, said his travels around Sabah had presented him with numerous opportunities to photograph the state’s picturesque scenes and people.

“Nothing gives me more pleasure than showing tourists the pictures I have taken as a way of promoting Sabah,” he said, adding that his favourite subject was Mount Kinabalu.

“There is something about the mountain that is almost magical. Each time I take a picture of it, there seems to be something different about it.”