Inferno Down Under

All the heat went to Australia this last week, leaving Britain freezing in white snow all over. Scorching temperatures, tinder-dry leaves and strong winds saw huge bush fires engulf parts of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.The number of human casualties numbering around 180, and counting, could be accounted for but the flora and fauna victims, only God knows. How many kangaroos, possums, kookaburras and wallabies have perished apart from the koalas? The Australians may also need to estimate the destruction to the eucalyptus trees and whatever flora indigenous to Australia.


I found the video and subsequent news flashed all over the world on the Aussie fireman, Dave Tree feeding the wild koala very cute and touching. Isn''t it a coincidence that Tree is seen trying to save the burning trees in Victoria county?

I find it also kind of amusing that the wild koalas have been christened Bob and Sam. A native Australian name like Billa and Bong (as in Billabong)would be more apt. Or Murray and Darling (Rivers)would be more Australian,don't you think?


(Photos and a video of Tree, 44, approaching Sam while talking gently to her, and feeding her water from a plastic bottle as she put her burned claw in his cold, wet hand quickly hit video sharing website YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSPx7S4jr4), making her an Internet sensation.)

My Ideal Home

My ideal home will have the following features:

• able to harness solar power
• be energy efficient
• can earn cash by supplying electricity to the National grid
• is very cool yet no air conditioning required
• windows and doors to face north or south
• optimises use of natural lighting
• harvests rainwater and recycles it to prevent wastage
• generates minimum solid waste because everything is recycled
• has a beautiful garden using compost from kitchen and garden wastes

The "Building a Green Future" story quoted in the Star yesterday would make my dream achievable in Malaysia now that the Green Building Index to steer architects, building owners and developers towards sustainable construction has been launched. The Index drawn up by the Architects' Association of Malaysia and the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia, evaluates the eco-friendliness of buildings based on 6 criteria:

1. energy efficiency
2. indoor environmental quality
3. a sustainably managed site
4. optimal use of materials and resources
5. water efficiency
6. innovation

Such certification would benefit the developer as he can use it as an effective marketing tool and if the trend of green building continues, the country would score green points and the task to reduce global warming would be much easier.

It is heartening to note that the Government has introduced fiscal incentives which include import and sales tax exemption on low energy equipment or machinery for companies involved in renewable energy or energy efficiency. There are not much takers because people are still in the dark about such incentives and many feel that it would be a hassle to apply for them.

The National “SURIA 1000” PV programme (1,200 kWp): to catalyse BIPV (Building Integrated Photo Voltaic system)market by targeting the general public and property developers to install BIPV at their premises (homes/buildings), was launched in 2007 and is ongoing. The Suria 1000 project is under the auspices of UNDP. From the report submitted to UNDP in April 2008, it seems that the project is progressing satisfactorily towards achieving its targets.

The ZEO (Zero Energy Office) building built in Bangi is a showcase for sustainable commercial building that is independent of the National grid. ZEO is part of the Suria 1000 project.

I am also happy to note that this project under the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication and coordinated by a Danish Consultancy firm has been well received and there are now many new residential buildings which are not only aesthetically acceptable but very environmental friendly.

Wish me luck that I would join the league soon and live in my eco-friendly house in an eco- friendly neighbourhood.

No Plastic Bags Campaign

I could not help noticing a lady carrying a bag that says,"Say no to plastic bags" on her shoulder when her other hand was holding a hypermarket plastic bag. She must have got the Say no bag at a pharmacy during one of those campaigns to discourage the use of plastic bags.

In fact this week alone I have declined the plastic bag three times when shopping. I wish the pharmacies will do a year round campaign instead of a short monthly one. In this way, the charity organizations will get steady incomes if the campaign succeeded as the pharmacy will contribute a small portion of the sales to them.

The campaigns by Jusco, Tesco, Giant and Carrefour is on a long term but the idea is not passed on to the customer by the cashiers. They dish out the plastic bags generously despite the notice at the till that plastic bags are precious and should be sparingly used. Even though Tesco gives Green Clubcard points to customers who decline to use the plastic bags, yet the cashiers never give the customer the option.

Maybe these companies should come out with a Green reward system for their cashiers to promote the idea like the reward system for the cashiers for selling mobile reloads.

Meanwhile, I will continue to bring the green bags when I go shopping. But I would be challenged when the bags won't be enough to bring home a whole cart load of groceries.

When Gold Beckons

The Star on 3rd February, 2009 quoted an AP report of how gold miners in Indonesia use mercury to extract gold in polluted ponds. Tens of thousands of remote mining sites have sprouted in Asia, Latin America and Africa where enforcement is lax. Small scale gold mining is the second worst source of mercury pollution in the world, after the burning of fossil fuels.

Since the price of gold has tripled in the last 7 years, these small miners have forsaken their own health in search of wealth.

The tropical rainforest landscape in Kalimantan in Indonesia has been turned to a virtual desert with dots of mercury laced mining ponds.

The continuous use of mercury is a cause of concern as mercury is a neurotoxin. Because it is a slow killer, users are skeptical of its side effects. Toxic effects include damage to the central nervous system, brain, kidney, and lungs and adversely affects the mouth, gum and teeth. Mercury poisoning can result in several diseases, symptoms of which include numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect foetuses in the womb and infants. Exposure over long periods of time or heavy exposure to mercury vapor can result in brain damage and ultimately death. Women who have been exposed to mercury in pregnancy have sometimes given birth to children with serious birth defect.

A small scale mining problem may well add to the global pollution problem if governments concerned remain apathetic.

At Last The Engineers are Looking at Sustainabilty in their profession.

I attended a talk at IEM (Institution of Engineers, Malaysia) on the role of Chemical Engineers in the Biotech Sector. It was a refreshing talk considering when I studied Chemical Engineering, I thought it was not environmental friendly as the petrochemicals which form a large part of the syllabus was a depleting resources. The talk was very interesting, although not many turned up maybe due to the pouring rain. It turned out that the speaker was my junior at University who is now a professor and Dean at the Faculty of Biotechnology Engineering and Biomolecular Sciences at a local university. I was proud that an alumnus of my University is now an expert in Bioprocess Engineering and Environmental Biotechnology who started out as a Chemical Engineer and continued his postgraduate studies both in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.He is in the right place as a source of expert reference in the Malaysian government's plan to include biotechnology as another engine of growth.

Malaysia has a great potential of harnessing energy from agricultural biomass especially from palm oil and at last, finally the government has come to realise this. It may take a few more years for plans to actually work out. I understand that bioethanol for biodiesel can also be extracted from the empty fruit bunch instead of from the fresh fruit bunches only. This would allay the fears that edible oils should not be used for biodiesel.

Another interesting point I learn from the talk is local innovation is necessary for the palm oil industry as we are the pioneers. Even Indonesia is learning from us. An example given was when a machine imported from Germany used in the Wood Industry to shred hardwood fail miserably when used for shredding oil palm empty fruit bunches because of the oil content. A local fabricated machine saved the day.

It was recommended that old processes has to be changed for sustainability. Biosubstitution using natural or synthetically produced bioresources should be employed to improve industrial practices and processes. Engineers will have to work with biotechnologists towards lowering the costs of production and increasing performance using the appropriate technology that is environmental friendly and at the same time profitable.

That is quite a challenge for the engineers attending the meeting when some were trying to learn new terms such as DNA, Genomics, Proteomics, and everything Bio such as bioplastics, biosensors, biocompost, biosugars, bioacids, biofuel and even the reactor is now called a bioreactor!

Technology & Global Warming

I attended a talk on Technology and Global Warning on Saturday at the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM)

It was interesting to note that as at 2004, the greatest contributors to Greenhouse Gases (65%) were the developed countries.USA is the largest culprit with 22% and China, a developing country, is fast catching up with 17%. Japan contributes 5%.

The talk discussed the causes and effects of global warming on all industrial sectors and what engineers can do to mitigate the problem and design projects to create a more sustainable Earth. It seems that the Architect Association of Malaysia, (PAM) has come up with guidelines to the construction of Intelligent or Green Buildings. Green projects are capital intensive and what is lacking are government incentives in terms of tax breaks to encourage green buildings and green projects. However, it is understood that the government is quite sensitive to global warming issues as green projects costs can be offset by lesser health costs and lesser wastage of resources.

On a personal note, I was pleased to make a new friend before the talk started. I met Stephanie, a young Civil Engineer who practices recycling and has, in her own words," brainwash my family to do it too". She was the second person I met in a week who practices worm composting at home. I forgot that I had meet Dr Suhaimi of Mardi who also was into worm composting, when I told her she was the first person that I have met who recycles everything. Kudos to Stephanie!

What's in a Name?

Apparently, a good name is everything. It helps open doors and when used often becomes a prayer.

However, certain names are interesting by themselves. Obama is the toast of America at present while delete "b" and replace it with "s", the person becomes the most wanted man in America. In Kuala Lumpur, there is a cardiologist by the name of Dr Quek, whose certainly not a quack. A friend by the name of Quah had a company producing soups and gravies, and gravy in Malay is kuah.

Wrong spellings of Arabic names for non-Arab Muslims has led to demeaning names. For example a wrong spelling can lead to a woman's name to mean being a prostitute and not beautiful as originally intended. A man's name which means handsome if wrongly pronounced may sound like a camel instead.

Sometimes, a name in one language mean something else in another language.For a plural society in Malaysia, this can be both funny and confusing. Bala in Malay is something not good but to an Indian it is a good name. Another example is pusing. In Malaysian Malay, it means to turn around or to go in circles but to an Indonesian, it means he has a headache. Sometimes, dialects or colloquial slang can be confusing too. A patient may tell the doctor his tummy hurts but the doctor may understand that he has a headache so gives a wrong prescription. Ask Ikmal. I know he has misunderstood a few times the Indian slang in his encounters with Indian patients in Bangalore. Even Zay had a few problems as a medical student in Kelantan.

Malaysians are also fond of using brands to denote things.Toothpaste is called Colgate; Breeze or Fab is detergent; Glo for dish washing liquid; Clorox is the name for all bleach; scouring liquid is called Vim and a plastic container is Tupperware. Whichever brands penetrates the market first will enjoy being called by its brand name.

I notice that nowadays, retailers are fond of renaming their products to bring luck to the buyer, especially some Chinese buyers. Now there are the dragon fish (arowana), red dragon fish, (called gelama pisang in Malay), the dragon fruit (pitaya) tiger prawns, tiger worms, and golden pomfret. The tiger worms and tiger prawns are so called as they have stripes. The tiger is a prominent and revered animal in Chinese folklore. They do not call them zebra worms or zebra prawns because the zebra is not an indigenous animal in China or in Malaysia. I wonder why no one has renamed the "Zebra Crossing" to the "Tiger Crossing". Maybe there are not many Zebra Crossings in Malaysia. Moreover, to call a Zebra Crossing a Tiger Crossing may scare some children who use them.

As the golden pomfret, it is also a new name. I don't think it is a pomfret at all.

Another misnomer is calling the boot or trunk of the car, the bonnet. At present I cannot think of other misnomers. I will edit this post if I can recall any of them later.

A Salute to Barack Obama

Not only America looks forward to Barack Obama to bring new light and glorious days to America once more, the whole world is waiting for greater things to come. I pray America under Obama will respect the sovereignty of other countries and not simply enter and invade other countries as it sees fit, just to protect its own interests.I hope Obama will bring a solution to the Middle East situation. I watched his inauguration on CNN last night and was inspired by his speech. With Obama as president and being the most powerful man in the world, he will surely be able to shape a better and fairer world for everyone.

I was glad that Obama had included climate change and the dependence of energy in his speech. Maybe America will contribute more to save the environment and not patronise other countries to save theirs.

Many world leaders remain sceptical of Obama's ability to carry out his mission. Let us work together because one man cannot do the job alone. Every one has to contribute for a better world. I just hope there won't be elements within the US itself that would jeapardise Obama's dreams.

As the US economy directly affects the Malaysian economy as well, whatever happens in the US will affect us as well.

In the final analysis, I simply hope American foreign policies will be a win-win situation for all. I am praying for wisdom to prevail.

The World is Full of Nice People

Since joining MM( Money Mastery) community in July, 2008, my life has been a turnaround. I did not believe that a weekend of Boot Camp can change my life. It is true. The accelerated learning process stimulated my thinking brain which had remained dormant for quite some time.Within a short period, I made more than 100 new friends.I made sure I joined different groups for every of the games and role plays which we have to participate in order to learn. It sure was fast learning. On the third day, I practically collapsed in the morning and had to be sent to hospital.I really made an impact to be remembered. I guess it never happened before.Anywhere, thanks to the MM organisers I was allowed to rest in a room at the 5star hotel for the rest of the day. After 2 hours of rest and having taken a muscle relaxant, I made it to the final session when the certificates were presented. I was pleasantly surprised that someone, a new friend had already accepted the certificate on my behalf.

You see, being hypertensive and a diabetic, I need my beauty sleep in order to replenish my energy. The camp was very intensive. I enjoyed every minute of it but my body wasn't cooperating. I thought mind could conquer but definitely I was wrong.My spirits were perked up during the camp and the excitement was way too much.I had never experienced an attack before. Due to the stress and lack of sleep, my hands tingled and I felt that I would collapse anytime. My heart was racing very fast as well. Luckily, my new friend Neelum knew how to read a pulse. Mine was 104.I requested that they searched for Dr Ghaz.The episode caused the session to be halted while they searched for the dear doctor. Luckily I had met him earlier during the orientation and during the course of the camp.

Two doctors attended to me. God is great and He was not about to take me to Him yet. Dr Ghaz alerted that I may be having a stroke. I did not panic but remained calm, say some prayers and took deep breaths. My pulse went down quite fast.

My daughter Zay came to fetch me at the hotel that night with her friend and made an appointment with her physician friend. I was fortunate to get a quick appointment at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and now the state of my health has been stabilised. Luckily my heart and kidneys are still intact.

Dr Ernest, one of the speakers at the camp had said that the world is full of nice people. This had proven to be true. And KC's quote that "Ask and you shall Receive" is also true. KC is the main MM trainer.

The MM mentorship lasts 2 years after the camp and I continue to learn many things and rediscover forgotten theories.

Best of all,I enjoy the friends I make and I feel the camaraderie is strong.

Yesterday, I met a few more nice people that I have to pen it down to remind me that indeed the world is full of nice people. One should not feel sad because if you reach out there is always someone willing to help. All you have to do is ask.

I went to MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute) with an intention to get some statistics and research data on earthworms. It started with the kind lady in charge of the information counter. Even on short notice, I was allowed to meet up with a friendly researcher from the Centre of Research of Strategic Resources. Actually, he was the expert on organic fertiliser and an industry resource person. He happened to be a avid recycler and an organic composter as well. A true environmentalist being a microbial ecology specialist.This gentleman even downloaded some useful literature into my thumb drive which luckily, I had brought along in my handbag. He gave me some useful tips on writing a book and on my suggesting that there could be some business opportunities with MARDI in the future, he gave me the contact to the business department.

After the meeting, I asked a stranger the way to the MARDI book store and he offered to send me there. It was quite a distance to walk. I took the chance that he was not an opportunistic person and my first impression is normally right. At the book store, I met and chatted with the cashier and enquired on MARDI's publications and told her that I was researching for a book. The casual meeting ended up with the lady offering to sell my book when it is out and she also offered some tips on marketing the book.

My list of kind people outside my family and friends continues....

The top of the list would be KC See and Shum, my MM mentors. They will be the ones holding the torch and showing me the way to my destination of personal success.

Happy New Year,2009

The pundits predict 2009 to be a difficult year as the recession is supposed to hit rock bottom.If only we can skip this year and go straight to 2010 when everything is expected to be better. So, brace up folks!Time to save and scrimp. People dealing in DIY will prosper as folks will be doing more by themselves and restaurants, fine dining and overseas travel will experience a drop in sales.

For ordinary people like us, we have to learn to budget and prioritise our expenses.Now is the time to start to reuse, reduce and recycle. Recycling does not only save our resources but also provide a small income for the household.

When times are tough, only the tough gets going. Happy New Year and Good Luck!