KOTA KINABALU: A two-hour downpour on Saturday in parts of Sabah’s west coast failed to reach the Trus Madi forest reserve where fires are still burning, and northern Pulau Banggi where some islanders have resorted to using drain water.

Banggi islander Salma Marail said some desperate villagers had resorted to getting water from the drain near Kampung Batu Layar.

It is where animals like cattle come to drink.

She said Saturday’s rainfall over the state’s west coast did not reach Banggi, although the sky was cloudy.

Despite assurances that 3,000 cartons of bottled water were being shipped from the northern Kudat town to Banggi, Salma said many islanders had yet to see any of them.

Fellow islander Jailani Badri said getting water was becoming difficult as hundreds of people queued daily at the single spring in Kampung Timbang Dayang.

“There is a well near the Esscom base in Karakit but the water level there is too low to collect at times,” he said.

A Sabah Water Department official said it would be sending 30,000 litres of water by boat from Kudat to Banggi, beginning today.

“We are keeping a close watch on the weather situation and hoping that Banggi will receive some of the rainfall, as forecast for Sabah’s northern region over the next two to three days,” he added.

The Banggi water treatment plant with a production capacity of two million litres per day was shut down on Friday after the island’s only river that was its water source ran dry.

In a related development, Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said fires spanning some 2,000ha were still burning at the Trus Madi forest reserve, about 70km south-east of the city.

There was too little rain over Trus Madi to make any difference, he said yesterday.

He said firemen and Forest Department rangers were still working around the clock to extinguish the patches of fires at the 185,000ha forest reserve near the Keningau and Tambunan districts.

Mannan said department personnel were also on the lookout for arsonists who could have started the fires in the forest reserve. Fortunately, the Saturday afternoon downpour had doused much of the peat swamp fires at the Binsuluk forest near the west coast reserve, he added.

TOKYO – The hum of conversation and the clinking of coffee cups fills the wood-panelled cafe in a fashionable Tokyo neighbourhood as more than a dozen customers sip drinks and nibble desserts.

At first glance, the cafe, which also serves alcohol, looks like any other, except for an altar next to the bar counter with a Buddha statue set against a gold backdrop. Its name, Tera Cafe, is also a hint – tera is Japanese for temple.

The menu confirms this is something different. It lists classes for 1,500 yen (S$18.70) in weaving prayer beads, calligraphy with sutras, or lines of scripture and consultations with a Buddhist priest.

Tera Cafe is part of a flourishing phenomenon in Japan where Buddhist monks are seeking to make inroads in the modern world as the public’s connection with a 15-century-old tradition fades.

Gone are the days when the faithful would drop by their neighbourhood temple to talk to a monk over tea.

Hirotake Asano, head priest at the Shingyoji temple near Tokyo who opened Tera Cafe in 2013, said Buddhist priests had to venture into society to build links. “Instead of lamenting that people no longer visit temples, I wanted to bring the temple to the people,” said Mr Asano who owns four eateries and a golf shop.

Amazon Japan and retail giant Aeon also list rent-a-monk services for funerals and other rituals. There is also a chain of bars where ordained priests clad in traditional robes serve cocktails and offer advice.

Many sects of Japanese Buddhism allow priests to drink alcohol, eat meat and marry.

Aya Nishi, a 23-year-old customer at Tera Cafe, said: “I have a dark image of temples, like with funerals. But this cafe is well-lit and welcoming. I was surprised that they even serve alcohol.”

Hong Kong – Student leaders behind Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy protests launched a new political party Sunday and said it would campaign for a referendum to decide the city’s future – including possible independence.

The semi-autonomous Chinese city is self-governing and retains many freedoms not seen on the mainland. But Beijing sees the concept of eventual independence as unthinkable.

Joshua Wong, 19, who announced the launch of the Demosisto party, was at the forefront of the mass rallies which brought parts of the city to a standstill as residents called for fully free elections for future leaders.

But the 79-day protest fizzled out without winning any concessions from the Hong Kong or Chinese governments.

“It is time to fight for our self-determination,” Wong told a press conference at which the party – whose key policy is to push for a referendum – was launched.

“Independence should be one of the options inside the self-determination referendum,” he said, adding he hopes it could happen in 10 years’ time.

Nathan Law, another student leader of the so-called Occupy movement, said the party would collect views from the city’s general public rather than engaging with Beijing.

“The truth is… we don’t see any outcome when we communicate with the central government (Beijing), so for now we will not have any communication with the government,” he said.

Hong Kong was returned by Britain to China in 1997 under a “one country two systems” deal that guarantees its freedoms.

But there are fears that those freedoms are being eroded, with Beijing tightening its grip behind the scenes.

More radical young activists are gaining a foothold in mainstream politics, with one student leader who calls for independence from China taking tens of thousands of votes in a recent poll.

The new party, which currently has about 30 members, will send teams to contest the city’s legislative elections in September.

Wong cannot himself stand for election until he is 21.

Both Wong and Law face criminal charges over the 2014 mass rallies.

Wong said he expects a continuation of what he called the suppression of democratic activists.

“To us we feel being suppressed is something to expect…(but) Hong Kong people should decide the future of Hong Kong rather than allowing the Communist Party to determine our future,” he said.

The referendum would include the option of Hong Kong staying part of China, he said.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in a visit to Hong Kong last week dismissed aspirations to independence as not a “realistic plan”.