Sabah to host World Toilet Convention

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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will be hosting the 2nd World Toilet Convention and World Toilet Day for Malaysia in November, an event aimed at advocating progressive development of quality toilets.

From November 19 to 21, participants from about 70 countries will assemble in Kota Kinabalu for the event with an expected turnout of over 2,000 people.

Looking at making a long term effect on creating awareness on cultivating good washroom habits, members and delegates of the three-day convention will be discussing in detail the actions and programmes needed to achieve this objective.

“The convention is finally happening four years after we first bid for it in 2011 at the first convention in Korea,” said director of World Toilet Association (WTA) cum national and Sabah vice- chairman of Quality Restroom Association of Malaysia (QRAM), Damian Chai.

Chai, who with his team has been passionately advocating the importance of clean toilets in Kota Kinabalu, disclosed that the convention would be focusing on culture as an approach, in an effort to improve the level of awareness among Sabahans – and Malaysians as a whole, when it comes to toilet cleanliness and quality, hence, the theme ‘Sabah Toilets with Culture’.

“Everyone is proud of their culture. Therefore, we will be using the approach of culture to educate toilet users to be culture users,” said Chai in a press conference here on Thursday.

With this in mind, Chai and his team including Datuk Dr Jim KY Lim who has been appointed as convention and event director and Fadzil Abdullah @ Lucas as the manager, engaged one of the country’s top designer, Desmond Ho, to design the convention’s logo and venue layout.

“We aim for Sabah to be exemplary in quality washrooms, envisioning cutting-edge washroom amenities, culture, and habits. It’s a challenging process and a long way to go. But it has to start somewhere,” noted Jim.

Infusing the concept of culture with lavatory, the logo is made up of Borneo’s own unique plant, the nepenthes lowii or ‘monkey’s cup’, which collects the droppings of animals and use them to produce a sugary substance, which the shrew then eats, the only plant in the world that functions this way.

Taking note of the help needed from various bodies to realise the convention’s objectives, the convention is organised by WTA and QRAM with concerted efforts by relevant ministries, religious councils, local authorities, health department, and various others.