3 April 2019 (Wednesday) – Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) has received two awards, namely the ‘ASEAN Book Award 2019 – ASEAN Research Institute’ and ‘Best Book Award (Flora and Fauna Category)’ for the book entitled, ‘Cantik Namun Beracun’ at the National Book Awards Ceremony 2019 on 1 April.

Khalid (in blue coat) presenting the ‘Best Book Award’ to Abd Latif.	Certificates and trophies of‘Best Book Award’ (left) and ‘ASEAN Book Award 2019’.

The award was presented by the Federal Territories Minister, YB Khalid Abd. Samad to FRIM Director General (DG) Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod.

“The awards provide motivation and inspiration for FRIM to consistently produce high-quality publications as reference materials and to serve as a legacy for future generations.

“This is one of our efforts to ensure the quality of FRIM publications and impact in knowledge sharing with the community,” said Abd Latif.

The book, co-authored by Abd Latif, Zawiah Ngah, Othaman Hasin and Nik Zanariah Nik Mahmood, contains information on 158 ornamental plant species, which are beautiful but poisonous! Poisonous plants can cause pain, irritation, intoxication and even death if accidentally ingested or touched. Some of the poisonous ornamental plants are alamanda, chinese gardenia, sunflower and cat tail. This book is an ideal reference for nursery operators, students, housewives or those interested in landscaping.

Since its inception as a statutory body, FRIM has produced over 950 titles under serial publications. The Malayan Forest Records and FRIM Research Pamphlet series are used as references by students, educators and researchers locally and abroad. The production of various publications such as guidebooks, journal articles, proceedings, theses, book chapters, and technical/semi-technical/non-technical articles are also encouraging, with at least 386 titles published.

For sharing research findings with scientific community, FRIM publishes the Journal of Tropical Forest Science. However, to make the research findings more widely known, especially to the public, FRIM has encouraged the production of coffee-table books. To date, FRIM has produced over 43 coffee-table books on various topics; related to forestry and environment, mostly published in the last 10 years.

From left: Nik Zanariah, Zawiah, Othaman and Abd Latif, co-authors of the award-winningbook.	FRIM staff posing for a group photograph with Abd Latif (seated, middle) at FRIM’s booth at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair.

Also present were the FRIM DG’s wife, Datin Halidah Kasmin and their son, Muhammad Ismail, Administration Director Liza Ismail, Senior Research Officer Mahmudin Saleh and other FRIM staff.