Unburied Nuts from 19th July 2007: Cats over Borneo

From time to time, I uncover an older post and give it another chance in the spotlight. As I am not very creative at the moment, I thought it was time to do so again. As it happens, there have been a lot of visitors sniffing around this post having Googled "cats over Borneo" or "cats and parachutes". What strange things people use Google for! Well, if you had done so, you might have ended up unearthing this fact is stranger than fiction story. Enjoy.

CATS OVER BORNEO

Cats in Cat City, Borneo (PhotoCredit: LGS)

This strange piece of public art is found in the city of Kuching which is the capital of the state of Sarawak on the vast, equatorial and forested island of Borneo. The cats' theme is actually in tribute to the city because the name Kuching actually means "cat" in the Malay language. Hence Kuching is actually "Cat City".

However, Borneo is the setting of an even more interesting and bizzare cat related story. This story is often called "Cats over Borneo". The story is set in the 1950's. Malaria, the severe and potentially fatal blood borne disease, was rampant and it was known to be spread by the Anopheles mosquito. The relatively new and young World Health Organization (WHO) was fervent in their efforts to fight malaria.

They had just added to their arsenal of weapons, a new and effective insecticide, a chemical called dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. Today, we are aware of DDT's problems including its long half life and tendency to accumulate in fatty tissue as well as its effect on non-target species. However, at that time, the pesticide was being used worldwide, and was widely touted for its safety and its effectiveness.

Anyway, the WHO sprayed DDT liberally in the Dayak villages of the Sarawak interior. Initially, this campaign was considered a success as mosquitoes were killed and the malaria rate dropped. Then authorities were hit by two mystery complaints. The first was very bizzare. The Dayak villages consisted of longhouses which accomodate several families and which were covered by a thatch roof. The villagers complained that their roofs were collapsing exposing whole communities to the elements. Although puzzled, the authorities were forced to act quickly and sent in corrugated metal sheets to be used as roofing material.

Before, they could even take a breather, they were surprised by the outbreak of plague and reports of famine as grain stores were decimated by a large invasion of rats. The authorities urgently investigated the matter and called the Royal Air Force for help. Citizens were also asked to donate cats and to help build special cat baskets. Operation "Cat Drop" was carried out in which hundreds of cats were parachuted by the RAF onto interior villages. This reinforcement of cats eventually solved the problem.

The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo by Charlotte Pomerantz relates this true story in the form of a rhyme. It is also featured in an article by Gordon R. Conway in The Careless Technology: Ecology and International Development (1972) and a first-hand account of “Operation Cat-drop” is given by Tom Harrisson in the journal Animals published in 1965.

What transpired in the jungles of Borneo is a clear example and a cautionary tale that man does not know enough about the inter-connectivity of the web of life and many of our actions to address a single problem have often unexpected reprecussions. The DDT did infact kill the mosquitoes and also other insects in the jungle which were non-target species. One of which was a jungle wasp. These wasps in turn played the important role of keeping a certain caterpillar population in check by laying eggs on the caterpillar and when the larvae hatch out, the larvae feed on the caterpillar, killing it. When the DDT killed the wasp, the caterpillar population boomed and as the caterpillar fed on the roof thatching, the roofs started to collapse.

At the same time, the geckos which are a type of lizard which feed on insects were having a great time because it kept finding dead insects everywhere. However, as they ate, the DDT levels in their bodies continued to rise. The cats in the village in turn often catch and eat the geckos. Soon, all the cats died of poisoning. With the cats gone, the rats came out to play. Their population boomed, leading to the destruction of grain stores and the spread of plague. A situation that was only reversed by the airborne drop of cats over Borneo.

A strange but true tale and a warning to man to stop messing with the world's complex and balanced web of life. I did not even mention how all these imported cats caused a great upset to the indigenous squirrel population!

Proud Malaysian

I was watching the Amazing Race (Season 16, episode 8)on TV a couple of days ago and pleased to see that the competitors were in the historical and beautiful island of Penang in Malaysia on their race around the world. I thought the program did a good job of showcasing some of the more interesting aspects about the people and culture of Penang.

If you had watched the program, you would have learned, for example, that Malaysian taxi drivers need little encouragement to speed and drive recklessly and that we are capable of having traffic jams even on idyllic island paradises.

Seriously though, I particularly liked the way the program introduced the unique culture that developed in a place that has been a cultural mixing bowl for some 600 years. The team consisting of two cowboy brothers won the leg of the competition because they undertook to do the Chingay and did surprisingly well.

Chingay is a cultural performance that originated from China but was introduced to Penang by the Chinese people living there. The signature of Chingay is the carrying of gigantic bamboo flags in street processions. These performances have their roots in Taoist worship. The hoisting of gigantic flags have been recorded as early as 1905, and were performed to appease Taoist deities. The name "Chin Gay" means "true art" in the Hokkien dialect.

However, it is easier for you to see it for yourself rather than have me try to explain it in words. As the video shows, despite the Chinese origin, Chingay is truly a sport that has attracted practitioners from all the different races in Penang (the three main races of Malay, Chinese and Indian are shown in the video). This is a Malaysia that makes me proud. A Malaysia where all the races enjoys and appreciates the richness that their different cultures can bring. This is a Malaysia that is getting a little too rare these days.

Hot, Sweaty Men

There are three posts in one.

Post No:1 Sensational Blogging

The Lone Grey Squirrel has succumbed to blatant sensationalism to attract more readers by pandering to the blogging demographics (overwhelmingly women) and has basically resorted to give them what they want.............HOT, SWEATY MEN.

It is a pity that cute, furry squirrels have not proved to be sufficient.

Anyway, all these pictures and the short video at the end were taken by the Lone Grey Squirrel for your viewing pleasure, ladies. The are all about a performance during an Earth Hour Event at a mall last Saturday night.





Post No: 2 Sensational Nature Documentaries

There were about 300 people gathered at this shopping mall open air atrium to observe Earth Hour. I am sure most of you know about Earth Hour but in case you don't , this event encourages people and cities around the world to switch off the lights for one hour. Switching off the lights for one hour barely makes a dent in our annual consumption of energy but the idea is to just raise awareness about the problem of climate change and our need to reduce our personal impact on the environment including our energy consumption. If those 300 people at the mall then just change their lifestyles to stop wasting energy and manage to reduce their energy consumption by even 10%, then that is what will make the difference that counts.

However, my thoughts drifted to the fact that the organisers had to organise a didgeridoo player, two clowns, one fire-eater, a whole troupe of hot sweaty men, a drum act, a band, two Malaysian celebrity singers and a choir from a children's home to get people to come for the event. They were all great but if we didn't have any of that, would the people have come just to sit in the darkness for one hour?

So regrettably, I note that people today need to be given eye and ear candy. It is not good enough just to support a good cause. The cause needs to also be entertaining.

I notice it is even true of once astute institutions like National Geographic or Discovery Channel. I grew up with nature and wildlife documentaries that introduced their viewers to the beauty of nature and animals while teaching a good respect for all things wild and promoting the common sense of keeping one's distance for the mutual benefit of wildlife and human viewer. Today, it is different. There seems to be a proliferation of documentaries that take great pride on how close the presenter can get to a snake or a crocodile without getting bitten.

In one recent documentary, the presenter takes a walk in a coastal forest at night and tells the viewers that the forest is a particularly dangerous place to be at night and that you would be foolish to come there at night.............and there he is walking there at night.

I did have a chance to talk to a film producer about this once and he said that the reality is that today, channels like Discovery, see their rivals as channels like HBO. In other words, documentaries are about entertainment first and education a distant second.

This is sad. We really have to draw the line somewhere and in my opinion, documentaries must first be about education.

Post No: 3 Sensational World
If you have made it down to this final post past all the sensational hot sweaty men, thank you. I have only one thing to say, "We do have a sensational world, let's keep it that way. Let us change our wasteful and selfish ways for Mother Earth."

Marching in March

This post should probably have come out soon after the new year as the ceremony took place on the 1st of January (which is actually a little inconsiderate for those friends who had wanted to see in the new year by getting sloshed till the wee hours of the new year. Nevertheless, this couple chose to get married on the 01/01/10.

I procrastinated about posting on this until this month cause this is the month of March; the month of the mad March Hare and in the words of the Neil Sedaka song, "the month to march you down the aisle". In Malay, March is spelled "Mac". So on that flimsy excuse, I thought I would also showcase what fun my new Mac is by creating a short video. As a bonus to the curious, you get to hear the voice of yours truly narrating the video.

This video is of a Sikh or Punjabi wedding. Punjabis are actually an ethnic group originating from the Punjab area of India. Sikhs refer really to followers of the Sikhism or the Sikh religion. Most Sikhs are Punjabis. In Malaysia, the Punjabis have a reputation that they earned since the colonial period under the British, of being brave and trustworthy and had traditional careers in security and police.

A Fallen Light

Taman Negara (LGS)

Oh Ancient Mother, who watches over our very heart beats,
See, O see your children's desperate plight
Our forest had grown dark, the light fails and retreats,
It seems like life itself had taken flight.
The land was bleeding earth into brown choked rivulets,

Oh Ancinet Guardian, protector of all living things
Hear, o hear your people's despairing cries,
The land ails and fails to provide as once it did,
The water, the air poisoned with lies
Our bellys are empty and our children beyond comforting.

Oh Ancient of Ancients, who dwells in all we know,
Feel, O feel your spirits dire impotence,
As spirits of steel and smoke surround and grow
And care not for keeping the natural balance
Our familiars, our guides are silent and cold.

Oh Ancient One, our hope as in the rising morn,
From amongst us you arose a special son,
Your child, my child and our hope and light reborn
Born to stand in the gap of dreams and reason
To lead our people back from past beyond

Oh Ancient One, joy again brightened our face,
Aha! Aha! Aha! The sweet melody rings,
No longer do we sell the future of our race
To fill bellys and for forgetfulness drinks
With heads held high facing newly bright days

O Mother of Mothers, who comforts and dries tears,
Know that our hearts, briefly warmed have grown cold.
For the light flickered and fell before his years,
He bore his people's hopes, the boy who was old,
O Mother of Mothers, comfort him and dry his tears.

The Oily Man

"Oozing charm from every pore,

He oiled his way around the floor.

Every trick that he could play,

He used to strip her mask away."
lyrics from "You Did It" (My Fair Lady)

Those lyrics tell of a slick operator with perhaps too much grease in his hair, applying his smooth moves to charm and disarm the ladies. I have always liked those few lines of prose. I find it amusing. But this "oily man" is quite benign compared to the one that this post is primarily about.

Still in keeping with the Halloween spirit which is sticking around like peanut candy between the teeth, I am going to share with you the story of one of the Malay legends. I refer to the "orang Minyak" or Oily Man.

The Oily Man is basically a man who creeps about at night, completely naked and covered in black oil. The oil covering makes him hard to see in the dark and also makes him very slippery which helps him evade capture and also helps him squeeze pass tight spaces such as between the bars on a window.

There were in fact a rash of burglaries and rapes in Malaysia in the 1960s which were committed by men who had disrobed and covered themselves with oil and grease. Such cases still surface from time to time even till today. The perpetrators in these cases are entirely human.

However, the legendary Oily Man is said to be supernatural in nature. He is said to be able to be virtually invisible in the dark. Some say that he is also able to slip through spaces too small for humans to do so. It is said that the Oily Man had made a pact with the Devil. In return for giving him supernatural powers and wordly desires, the Oily Man must rape 21 virgins in 7 days.

A typical story would occur in a house or a dormitory where there may be more than one woman asleep in the room. The room may be locked and though the windows are open, they are secured with wooden bars or metal grilles. No ordinary intruder can enter but then the Oily Man is far from ordinary. He is able to slip through those bars while the girls sleep.

One of the women who is a virgin may suddenly awake to see a dark form over her with penetrating eyes which are visible even in the dark. She finds she can neither struggle or cry out. She is subsequently raped. Finally, she screams and her room mates rush to her assistance. It may be that they never see the orang minyak because it is said that he is able to make himself invisible to others apart from his victim. Alternatively, the orang minyak may be seen but he eludes capture on account of his slippery oiled skin and is able to escape via squeezing out through the window bars.

Till today, we sometimes hear of cases or incidents in female student or worker dormitories which are classified by authorities as examples of mass hysteria or are they really attacks by Orang Minyak.

Adventures in the Fast Lane

Fast Food?

I apologise if you have lured you here under false pretenses. From the title of the post, you might have thought that this post is about living the life of the rich and famous ...... it is not. Or you might have thought that it would be the confessions of a drug abuser and speed addict ....... but you would be wrong. Or you might have expected tales from the life of a race car driver ...... but you would be disappointed.

Instead, I am writing about fasting. Fasting is the the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. It is now the month of Rahmadan during which Muslims all of the world fast from sunrise to sunset. No food or liquid should be ingested during the fasting period and this even means spitting out saliva instead of swallowing it.
The purpose of fasting is for Muslims to gain more noble values by gaining control of their natural desires and passions. Some Muslim friends have also explained that fasting makes them more appreciative of the suffering of those less fortunate.

Have you fasted before? I have four tales of fasting from my own experiences.

Tale No: 1 (The Early Years)
My first experience with fasting was in my early teens, when as a young Christian, I took part in prayer and fasting sessions. The purpose was to meet in groups to encounter God and to pray for issues and for one another. Aternating between periods of singing praises to God, silent devotion and prayer, these sessions would last from morning to evening (about 6 hours). We would often miss lunch as a result. The idea of fasting in this case was to put communion with God first before even our earthly desires. We used to do this about once a month and I actually enjoyed these sessions very much. Of course, not eating for just 6 hours isn't really a very long time but it was my first experiences in fasting.

When I was at University, I also took part in a couple of these fast to feed the world programs. The idea is to skip lunch and to donate your lunch money to a food aid charity.
Tale No:2 (The Surprise)
When I was studying in the United Kingdom for my A-levels, there was a short one week holiday and as I was staying in a hostel, a friend invited me to spend the holidays with his family. Now my friend is Jewish and his family home was in London. I had a great time and enjoyed their kind hospitality. My friend did tell me that there was a very important Jewish festival (I think it was Yom Kippur) during that week which they had to attend the synagogue. He told me that I could go off and do my own thing but I was keen to learn more about a different culture and religion. " When in Rome, do as the Romans do", as they say.

He was thrilled that I showed interest and even wanted to go to the synagogue with them. Now this is when he sprung the surprise. Apparently we had to fast for 25 hours. With the wild impulse of youth, I accepted the challenge. So I found myself fasting for 25 hours and attending an extremely long service at the synagogue (from morning to mid-afternoon).

Despite the length of the service, I was taken in with the paegent.ry and the strangeness of the language and the go-ing ons. As such, I was distracted from thinking about food but that completely changed after the service. The mind is a little foggy on this point but I think both my friend and I cheated on the fasting thing when his parents weren't around later. Still, it was the first time i felt truly challenged by fasting and gave me a better respect for those who practice it regularly.

Tale No: 3 (The Real Test)
A few years later, I was travelling through Yugoslavia. In those days the Yugoslavia dinar had no value outside of that country. Therefore, you needed to be careful not to change too much money if you did not want to be left with a bunch of notes that you cannot exchange back into any useful currency when you left.

Of course, being frugal, I exchnaged only a little of my traveler's cheques. As a result, I ran out of dinar on my last day in Yugoslavia and spent the last 8 hours effectively penniless while waiting for a train at the train station. I was hungry and very thirsty and all around me was food and people eating food but I was the penilless backpacker looking in on the feast.

It was a very difficult time. Unlike my earlier fasting tales, this was not voluntary and I could not stop even if I wanted to. In a way, this enforced fast made me understand the plight of the hungry more than any other experience.
Tale No: 4 (Still Unenlightened)
Some people say that fasting helps in self discovery and enlightenment. The earlier fasting experiences certainly taught me some life lessons and I am better able to fast voluntarily as a result. However, as this story shows, I was still very far from enlightenment or wisdom.

This final tale was set at the end of a long, tiring holiday. My girlfriend and I was on the way home after a long journey which included a long hike and bus journey. We were tired and dishevelled and had not eaten for about half the day when we got to the train station. We were taking separate trains from there. After buying our tickets, my girlfriend took the last of her money and bought me a hamburger.

She skips up to me and hands me the hamburger, served with a smile. Almost simultaneously, this homeless man comes up to me and asks for some small change for food. I looked and saw the hunger in his eyes. I had no money left either and so perhaps of the lessons I had previously learnt from fasting, automatically, I passed the hamburger to him. I remember two sets of expressions; the gratitute in the face of the homeless man and the sheer shock on my girlfriend's face. Perhaps i should have asked her if it was okay with her to offer the hamburger away. See......not so wise.

Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

Sculpture of Hang Tuah

Every country needs its heroes. For most countries, they have adopted heroes that best reflected their national character or aspirations. We have the freedom fighting heroes like William Tell for Switzerland. Then there are defenders of the helpless and oppressed like King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table for England. Then there are the heroes of ideology and the revolution like Che Guevara for Cuba. Robin Hood may also be considered an anti-capitalistic hero since he "stole for the rich and gave to the poor." However, Robin also fought for the oppressed. There does seem to be a lot of oppression going on in England.

Some countries like Australia have some strange national heroes. One of them is Ned Kelly the infamous bushranger which is a polite way of describing a murderer and a robber. However, he has become an icon of resistance against an unjust establishment. In some cultures, the cultural heroes can even be con men because trickery and even treachery is highly valued.

Malaysia celebrated its 52nd National Day today and I feel that we could do with some new heroes to inspire us. When I was growing up and even today, all the children are taught about the ultimate Malaysian hero, Hang Tuah. Hang Tuah was by all accounts the greatest Malay warrior ever. He became an admiral and champion for Sultan Mansur Shah of the glorious Sultanate of Melaka in the 15th century.

Hang Tuah defended Melaka from pirates, rival Sultanates and invaders. He helped represent Melaka on diplomatic missions and generally was intrumental in building the greatness of Melaka while having amazing aventures. He was brave, a warrior, a wise administrator and a stalwart of the Sultanate.

So far, not a bad hero figure for young minds. However, there is one virtue that is often said to be his greatest which was his faithfulness and loyalty. The following story is the most famous of all the romantic legends of Hang Tuah. After reading it, please share your opinion on whether he remains the right hero for the youth of today.


The Fight with Hang Jebat

Hang Tuah was part of a group of warriors who served the Sultan of Melaka (not unlike the knights of the roundtable of Camelot or the Three Musketeers of France). Hang Tuah was particularly favored by the Sultan because of his bravery, wisdom and services to the Sultanate. He eventually is promoted to the post of Laksamana (Admiral) which is very prominent and influential.

However, some in the Royal Court was not happy with his ascendancy and start rumours that Hang Tuah was taking advantage of his post to gain access to the Sultan's concubines. The Sultan hears of these rumours and he grew very angry and without seeking out any evidence, sentenced Hang Tuah to death by execution.

Hang Tuah was arrested by men led by the Bendahara (Chief Minister). However, the Bendahara only pretended to execute Hamg Tuah so as to buy some time to find evidence to exonerate hang Tuah. Instead, he smuggled Hang Tuah to a remote forest in the Kingdom.

Hang Jebat was Hang Tuah's childhood friend and closest colleague and brother in arms. After Hang Tuah, he was probably the best warrior in Melaka. Thinking that his friend had been unjustly accused and executed, he was wracked with grief and took to drinking. In a drunken fit, he took revenge on the Sultan by attacking the Palace. Running amok, he killed all that he met and took over the throne when the Sultan fled the palace.

The Sultan and his advisors was at lost of what to do until the Bendehara told the Sultan that Hang Tuah was still alive. The Sultan was happy at the news and regreted his earlier haste judgment. He offered Hang Tuah a full pardon and ordered him to kill Hang Jebat.

What followed was a duel with keris (curved daggers) between Hang Tuah and his friend Hang Jebat. When Hang Jebat saw Hang Tuah, he was very happy to see his good friend and invited Hang Tuah to join him to teach the Sultan a lesson but Hang Tuah refused saying that there is no excuse to ever go against the Sultan and to be unfaithful or disloyal.

After a titanic struggle, Hang Tuah kills Hang Jebat and proved his faithfulness and loyalty to the Sultan.


What do you think? It seems to me to promote some very feudal values such as loyalty to the leader above all else including justice and friendship. I think we need some new heroes.

Dark Eclipse of the Paper Moon

Disclaimer:- In the last post, I attributed my disappearance as being in the shadow of Jupiter. When I did that, I had no idea that this week would be the Super Mother of All Solar Eclipses. Was it just coincidence? Perhaps, but then again the antenna in my brain that was placed there by visiting Jovian space creatures may have kept me sub-consciously in tune with cosmic happenings. Which ever, I am back, refreshed and raring to blog!

The title of this post is "Dark Eclipse of the Paper Moon". It really consists of three sub-posts below which are all unrelated and is being told in reverse order.

PAPER MOON.
I know I am a bit late with this post but last Monday was the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and man's landing on the moon. Or rather the alledged landing. Yes, folks, this squirrel just loves conspiracy theories and one of my favorites is the theory that the lunar landing was all a hoax staged for propaganda and morale benefits.

As the theory goes, it was the Cold War. Russia won the race to space by sending a cosmonaut into orbit. Communism seemed like it was gaining ground all over the world. President Nixon needed a "victory" to shore up American morale. Also we all know how upright and truthful Nixon was. Some bright spark spin doctor suggests that the USA can win the race to the moon via Hollywood technology.

I know the Mythbusters have done a special on TV and have declared the lunar landing conspiracy theory to be a myth but die hards like me .......well, die hard.


The above picture shows a fully lit astronaut descending the stairs in the dark shadow cast by the lunar module (see dark shadow on ground). Bear in mind the only light source is the sun. How is it that the astronaut so brightly lit? Mythbusters claim it is from reflected light from the surrounding surfaces. I find it hard to believe. Flat surfaces reflect light at an angle away from the incident light. It should not light up someone on the darkside of an object.




The above photos show another problematic aspect of the evidence of the lunar landing. The cameras used had crosshairs etched onto the lens as reference points. This will result in clearly visible crosshairs on every photograph and the crosshairs can only be always in front of any images recorded. Yet, if you look at the label "L", you will see that the crosshair is behind the equipment. There are quite a few of these examples.

The real cute thing is that Hollywood then makes a movie about a fake Mars landing called Capricorn One. Take the truth of a fake lunar landing and make it look like a piece of fiction. It's like hiding a hoax in plain sight.

Enuff said. Let me know what you think.


ECLIPSE
The grand celestial show on Wednesday turned out to be a bit of a wash-out in most places as the sky was full of clouds. In Malaysia, we had a solid bank of low clouds so we could not even see the 20% eclipse we were expecting.

It is interesting to note that in many parts of Asia, the eclipse of the sun is still viewed with superstition and many will not look at it out of fear. Pregnant Indian women are being told not to go out but to stay in bed for the duration. Of course, these people are probably wiser than those who continue to ignore advice and look directly at the sun without proper shielding. With the eclipse traveling across such wide areas of dense populations, statistically, there must be quite a number of newly blind idiots.

I have experienced a partial eclipse before and it was strange to see the shadows and the reduced light. I too would have freaked out if I hadn't been taught about it in school. It can be very awesome and intimidating.

However, this time round, it was mostly just rainy.

THE DARK
Malaysia suffered a different sort of darkness. It was not the eclipse of the sun but it may turn out to be an eclipse of justice. It certainly brought a lot of darkness into the lives of one family in particular and the nation as a whole.

On the 15th of July, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission raided the offices of Members of the State Assembly in Selangor who happen to belong to opposition parties to the Federal Government to investigate alledged misuse of constituency funds. Somehow, the political secretary to one of the State Assemblymen, Teoh Beng Hock, was asked to accompany the officers back to their office to help in their investigations.

It was important to note that Teoh was said to have gone voluntarily and he was a witness and not a suspect. Yet the next day, the 30 year old was found dead on the 5th Floor of the Commissions offices, apparently having plummeted to his death from the 14th Floor. Although, it is known that he was still being interrogated even at 3 am., MACC officers claim to have lost touch with his whereabouts after that.

Teoh was due to marry his pregnant girlfriend on the very next day. Instead, she mourns him at her funeral. How could this young, idealistic public servant who was not even a suspect but voluntarily helping in investigations, ended up tragically killed while at the Commission's Offices?

We hope that there will be no cover up and justice will be done. Then at least this pall of darkness can be lifted just a little.

Teoh's girlfriend and his unborn child face a future without him.

I think it is time to get out from the shadows.

Michael Jackson

The last two days, the news of the passing on of Michael Jackson seems to have dominated TV, radio and even the blogosphere. Indeed, everywhere you look, there is a tribute to the King of Pop and rightly so. I am not a fan of MJ's but it is indisputable that he was an extremely talented individual and his impact on the music scene, on culture and on millions of people is quite indisputable.

It is regrettable that towards the latter years, the focus had been more about his idiosyncrasies and problems in his private life. Yet, his positive legacy is what I believe will take central stage again with his passing.

A few of us was at a coffeeshop in Kuala Lumpur and we were wondering who else would have such a global impact and response upon his death besides MJ and we had trouble coming up with a name. MJ's influence really seems to have crossed many divides. He reached out to both blacks and whites and other cultural boundaries. He was huge even behind the previous Communist block nations including Russia and even China.

In Malaysia, one cultural legacy of MJ's is a drink that is named after him. The drink consists of soya bean milk and cincau (a black colored grass jelly that is made from boiling grasses from the mint family; specifically Mesona chinensis). The result is a black and white concoction which in honor of MJ's hit song "Black and White" was named the Michael Jackson.

And so, my small circle of friends raised our glasses of Michael Jackson and toasted the King of Pop, wherever he is.....may he be at peace.

Twisted and Crooked

Opisthostoma vermiculum (by Reuben Clements)

Malaysia is one of the 12 Mega-Biodiversity Countries as recognised by the Convention of Biological Diversity. 75% of all the species of the Earth can be found in these 12 countries. These countries are therefore particularly rich in the number and uniqueness of the species found there.

So it may not be too surprising that two newly discovered Malaysian species made it into the Top 10 New Species for 2009 list. The first is a new species of stick insect which is now recognised as the biggest in the world.

The second species is Opisthostoma vermiculum which is an unusual snail species which has so far only been recovered from the top of a single limestone outcrop. Apart from its incredibly limited range, it is also unique because its shell forms twist about four coiling axes. Most snails form coils only along a single axis though before this, coils formed about as many as three axes have been known but not 4 axes. (the axes are shown on the photo).

Basically, all that is just a fancy way to say that this is one crooked shell. The scientific name for the snail means 'worm-like". I hope you like this strange creature.

This new species is a very important discovery. Scientists believe that something in the difficult limestone habitat made this creature to develop this unusually crooked shell. Sociologists, in turn, believe that this may be the missing link or key to explain why so many Malaysian politicians are equally convoluted and crooked; it is a natural result of the Malaysian environment!

After pondering this revelation, I was inspired to write this following poem.

"There was a crooked man who cooked up a crooked plan,
To build a crooked bridge so that he could be crooked rich,
He cut down the forest trees for one of his crooked schemes,
And sold out the next generation, for he was a crooked politician."

(I have posted about the crooked bridge before. To read all about it, click HERE!)

Never Again?

The Tugu Peringatan or Memorial Monument was completed in 1966 to honor the more than 11,000 soldiers from Malaysia that made the ultimate sacrifice for their country starting from World War I and on to World War II, Independence and the Emergency Period (a period of communist insurgency) and the Confrontation (with mighty Indonesia). The 15 m high bronze statue was the biggest in the world at that time. This monument is an important icon on Malaysia's path and history of nation building. We proclaim to the fallen, their families and all Malaysians now and in the future, that we will "never forget".

In contrast, the May 13th Incident seems to be something that Malaysians of all persuasions seem to want to forget. On May 13th 1969, race riots and sectarian violence erupted in Kuala Lumpur and some other parts of the country. By the time the smoke cleared, it is believed that more than 2,000 men, women and children were killed. Most of them were innocent and defenceless civilians. Official figures claim less than 200 killed. Many will forever be lost to their families allegedly coated in black paint (to make racial identification difficult) and buried in unmarked mass graves. There were stories of great brutality but there were also stories of great bravery and integrity on the part of the police, armed forces and ordinary citizens. Many stories tell of neighbours protecting each other irrespective of race or political leanings. However, a certain innocence of race harmony would be lost that day too.

Just a couple of days ago, a prominent journalist wrote that his young grand-daughter had no idea about the May 13th Incident and that in his opinion this was a good thing as this meant there is hope for the young generation to bring the nation forward without these baggages from the past. So instead of "never forget", we are being encouraged "not to remember it anymore".

I have to disagree. I think it is both a responsibility and a need to "never forget". To all those who were murdered, we cannot forget. Not because we should seek to perpetuate a legacy of hatred and to promote revenge but to ensure that their deaths serve a purpose in warning us from going down that dark path again. In remembering, we can learn from history and avoid the same mistakes in the future. "Never forget" can than become "never again". However, those who do not learn from history's mistakes are doomed to repeat it again. I certainly hope for Malaysians that we learn and do not repeat our mistakes.

Unfortunately, despite the monuments and memorial days that we see around the world, I sense that most of the world is neither remembering nor learning from the past. World War I was the war to end all wars. Never again was the cry; yet within a few years, we were on the road to World War II.

Last century saw the Holocaust. We set up memorials and said never again. Yet just as the Jews were persecuted under Nazi Germany, today the Palestinians suffer under the heavy boot of Israel. Sure, we can analyse and given reasons and argue who has more rights but in my opinion oppression and killing of the defenceless will always be unjust. Why did we not learn?

Genocide, ethnic cleansing and even fracticide has occured again and again. The Khmer Rogue and the killing fields of Cambodia. The horrors of Rwanda. Even now, it is happening in places like Darfur, Sudan and the world seems unable and unwilling to do what it must to stop it.

I think that the first step to "never again" is to make sure that the whole world "never forgets" the lessons of the past. Instead of re-writing history, being politically sensitive and hiding these incidents, we need to do even more to highlight them, to teach about them in schools, universities and museums and to make sure that these terrible deeds are exposed before the powerful light of public consciousness. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Let us instead remember, learn and prevent these horrors from visiting us again.

Thaipusam

This post is a follow on from the last post on the topic of body scars.

This year, the 9th of February so happens to be Thaipusam which is a very special Hindu festival which is especially celebrated by the Tamil peoples throughout the world. It is celebrated on the full moon during the Tamil month of Thai. Pusam refers to a star that reaches its highest elevation in the sky during the festival. The festival honours the birthday of the Lord Murugam and his acquisition of the spear that would enable him to triumph over the evil demon Soorapadman.

Today, the festival has been celebrated in India and nearly every other part of the world where there is a sizeable Tamil community. There are major celebrations in Malaysia and in Singapore. The main site of the celebration in Kuala Lumpur is at the massive limestone outcrop called Batu Caves where today, more than 1.3 million devotees and tourists converged.

One major component of the festival is the carrying of the kavadi. Devotees who have asked favours from or prayed to the Lord Murugam often make pledges to carry the kavadi. The simplest form of the kavadi is a semi-circular frame with a wooden rod which is placed across the shoulders of the devotee. Other forms include piercing the skin and supporting the kavadi with metal spokes or spears. Another variant involves using hooks embedded into the skin to carry heavy objects or to pull a chariot. Other devotees may pass a skewer through their cheeks. Basically, the more pain you endure, the more merit you score.

However, devotees go through a strict purification ritual which includes prayers and specific diets. Special powders are applied and prayers chanted. As a result, most devotees enter a trance-like state where they seem to feel no pain from their self-inflicted wounds.

These kavadis may be carried along a procession route but in Kuala lumpur, they end up at Batu Caves where they will be carrried up these 272 steps leading to the cave temple complex.

Another aspect which is very much identified with the festival is the smashing of coconuts as offerings after their prayers. This results in a sea of smashed coconuts which is entusiastically welcomed by resident monkeys but less so by the cleaning crews the next day.

This squirrel has been to Batu Caves a number of times and it certainly worth a visit if you are ever in Kuala Lumpur. However, this squirrel is also smart enough not to be there in the mad crush of 1.3 million people in the equatorial heat and humidity.

That is all for now from this squirrel, reporting from a safe and comfortable distance from the Batu Caves.

Operating on a Jackfruit

If there is one thing that squirrels are experts in, it is fruits and nuts. On that pretext, I would like to introduce you readers to the Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus). This is the largest tree borne fruit in the world which is why this squirrel is all excited about it. It can grow up to a meter in length and can weigh as much as 36 kg (80lbs).

The fruit contains within it scores of fleshy pulp covered seeds. It is this fleshy pulp that is eaten. It has a firm texture, has a strong fruity aldehyde smell, mild flavour and is sugary sweet. This fruit is probably native to the Indian sub-continent but is also found in Malaysia. The young fruit is also used in making curries.

Obtaining the edible pulp requires some know-how however. The problem is that the fruit exudes a latex that is both sticky and an irritant. Therefore certain precautions and procedures need to be followed, for example, wearing gloves. The knife used to cut the fruit should also be wiped with vegetable oil before use. This stops the latex from gumming up the knife.

There is still no way to send taste and flavour over the internet so for the time being, you will have to take my word for it that it is great or you can go look for the fruit and try it yourself. (calling all nerds, there's money to be made if tastes and flavours could be sent my internet. Get cracking on it!)

However, through the magic of video, I will share with you the trauma and drama of operating on a Jackfruit to harvest the delicious pulp. Be warned this original Lone Grey Squirrel Video is not for the squeamish!

Last Raid on RAAF Georgetown (Part 2)

Forty unsupervised thirteen year olds on a road trip to a tropical island may sound like a license to unlimited fun (or a passport to disaster,depending on your point of view) but even in those circumstances, there were chores.

To save money, we cooked some of our meals at the old mansion where we were staying. Now we actually handled that very well without much problem. However, we were unsure of the quality of the tap water at the old building for drinking. As a precaution, we followed the standard practice of boiling the water and allowing it to cool before drinking.

Here lies the problem; it was a lot of work to provide drinking water for forty, active,sports-playing kids. Our daily drinking water requirement was at least 80 liters. We had two large kettles that could boil about 4 liters each. That allowed us to boil 8 liters of water at a time. The problem was that it took about 20 minutes to boil the water each time. That meant that we had to had someone on duty boiling water continuously for almost four hours each day. Also the water would be too hot to drink immediately and we had to wait at least two hours for it to cool down to room temperature. We tried this for the first two days but found it difficult since none of us wanted to waste so much time on water duty when there were places to go to and games to play.

We had a crisis meeting on the morning of the third day. The meeting was short but boisterous. However, we all agreed that we could not go on with our current water boiling schedules. We also agreed that there was a simple solution to this water crisis. We were aware that there was an abundant of water coolers within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Centre and there never seemed to be anyone around most of the time. We also knew there was a no trespassing sign at their entrance at the base of the hill. However, we concluded that the simple solution would be to obtain water from the base and that the "no trespassing" order did not apply to thirteen year olds.

And so, we collected all the available water containers we had (fortunately most of us had water bottles that could hold at least 1.5 liters) and a raiding party of twenty of us boldly set off down the hill along the front road. We entered the base unchallenged and soon found that there was a water cooler providing sweet, cold water almost every 100m within the complex of buildings. It took less than 10 minutes for us to fill our containers and we retreated up the hill without any incident. We celebrated with a drink of icy cold water back at the old mansion.

We did this twice a day for the next few days. Not every expedition was without incident. On some occasions, we had encounters with some of the Australian soldiers. Mostly, we pretended not to understand English and boldly walked away but at least one pair was collared by a couple of military police and warned not to come back.

On the second last day of our stay, we found a notice had been delivered to us at the old mansion. It was a letter from the RAAF authorities informing us that the base was out of bounds and that stern action would be taken against us if we were caught in it again. This really shook us up and that night we made no raid.

However, on the last day, after we spent a whole day out, we came back in the early evening and were too tired and lazy to go through the water boiling process and so we ignored the danger and plotted our last raid on RAAF Georgetown.

The Plan
We decided on some changes in our raiding plan. We split ourselves into the HQ Team, the Recon Team and the Raiding Party.

At 1900 hours, Recon Team consisting of four of our guys would walk down the road towards the main RAAF base entrance. On the way down, they would look for sign of activity in the building complexes as they past them on the right. If they see no threatening activity like secuirty patrols, they were to flash their torchlight three times. If they subsequently saw any activity that may jeapordise the operation, they were to flash the torchlight continuously and run back up the hill.

The HQ team would sit at the top of the hill and watch for the signal from the Recon Team. Upon seeing the signal, they would signal the message to the Raiding Party who were waiting at the other end of the hill top to begin the mission. Should the Recon Team signal danger, the HQ team was to alert the Raiding Party by means of ringing a bell we found at the old mansion and by dispatching two runners.

The Raid
The signal was given to start and we proceeded down the dark covered staircase which would bring us to the back of the RAAF base. There were twenty of us in the Raiding Party and we each had at least two water containers and we were also equipped with about 8 torchlights. The covered staircase was very dark but we decided not to use the torchlights because that would make us more visible. Instead we went down using the side of the stairs to guide us and keeping a hand on the sholder of the one in front of us.

We suffered a few falls, missteps and also a few wounds from the thorns of the weeds growing at the side of the stairs but we made it to the highest level of the RAAF complex buildings. On the way down, we could hear what sounded like about 50 Australian soldiers practicing Tae Kwan Do. Even though we could not tell where they were exactly, it was clear that there were personnel active within the base and we had to be careful.

The next stage was for us to move out in teams of two and seek out 10 water coolers which are located every 100 meters along these rows of buildings. While the buildings were in darkness, the corridors were brightly lit with no cover whatsoever.

We fanned out to our objectives like a well trained commando troop with the exception of one team that dropped their metal pot with a loud clang! We all immediately retreated to the darkness of the staircase and waited there with pounding hearts. But there was no response from the enemy and after another 5 minutes, the operation resumed.

Four of us went for a pair of water coolers located about 200 meters from the staircase and began to fill up our containers. We were about 10 minutes into the operation when suddenly, the lights came on in the room behind the water coolers. We were startled, a quick look showed shadowy movement throught the louvered windows. We quickly collected our water containers and we scuttled away and just in time. Almost immediately after we left, we could see the louvered windows open as if someone was trying to see if anything was going on.

We fell back to another group further down the corridor to warn them but before we reached them, the lights in the room near them also came on. When we looked down to the next row of buildings, we saw lights coming on all over the place. Our boys began to scuttle back to the staircase. As we rushed silently along, we suddenly heard the bell ring from the top of the hill. With that all attempt at stealth was abandoned. All twenty of us ran as fast as we could back to the staircase, our feets pounding on the cement corridors.

We heard some shouting but did not look back. When we reached the staircase, we did a quick head count and when we were satisfied all were present, we started up the lightless staircase. Initially, we kept our torchlights off as according to plan and proceeded up the same way as we came down. I was quite proud at how cool all of us were.

That did not last, however. Suddenly we hear movement in front of us and that was scary in the pitch darkness. Our leader shone his torchlight ahead and to our collective horror, we saw the pack of wild dogs snarling at us and blocking our way. What followed next was pure pandemonium. Our leader bravely yelled, "Run! Everyone for himself!" and that is exactly what we did. There was a lot of noise. Dogs barking. Dogs growling. Boys yelling. The sound of running. Sound of falling. Some tripping over the dogs. Dogs yelping. Torchlight beams were swaying violently all over. Possibly if you had really good hearing, you could hear a few curses and a few prayers.

It seemed like an eternity but we were clear of the gauntlet of dogs within a franctic minute. We made it to the top of the stairs and back into the light. The HQ party was there with sticks to keep the dogs at bay. We quickly retreated to the downstairs kitchen where we finally were able to laugh away the adrenaline in our systems. Mission accomplished. We had forty water containers of cool water. Casualties were few; some with thorn injuries, others with bruises and one who had a bad scrape on his knee.

As a precaution against a counterstrike, we had an all-lights blackout for an hour to try to fool the Aussies into thinking we were not in or that we asleep. When the Aussies did not appear, we returned to our merry making with a great deal of boasting and teasing of our individual roles in the great last raid on RAAF Georgetown.

Last Raid on RAAF Georgetown (Part 1)

Like many international incidents, this story had a seemingly innocent beginning. It began with the meticulous 6 month planning of a class of forty independent minded 13 year olds. The objective was to have a week holiday in the island of Penang or the Pearl of the Orient as it was known with minimal supervision.

First, we had to find a suitable place to stay. We searched the classified adverts and found it. The place was an old Catholic clergy retreat facility. The advert said, plenty of beds in small dormitories, large kitchen facilities, space for outdoor games and a sea-view. On top of that all, it was exceedingly cheap. We booked it straight away.

Next we had to find suitable teacher advisors that would satisfy our parents and school regulations and yet allowed us to achieve our objective of minimal supervision. After some negotiations, we recruited Mr. X and Miss. Y. Both of them were from Penang and would rather spend time with family rather than babysit us and so an arrangement was made that Mr. X would meet us every other day in the morning and Ms. Y would keep in touch with us by telephone. That was our understanding, one which we kept secret from both our parents and the school.

We then booked the school bus and worked out our itinerary and all was set for the greatest minimally supervised adventure of our lives.

However, when we finally got to the old Catholic Retreat, we learnt a valuable lesson about the power of advertising and positive spin doctoring. The place was located on a hill and it did indeed have a sea-view from its lofty perch but the beach was in fact almost 30 minutes away by foot down an extremely steep hill. The place itself was a large old wooden mansion. Entry into the building was by the kitchen which occupied all of the ground floor and had tables and benches that could sit at least 60 people and functioning though ancient kitchen utensils. In fact the whole ground floor looked like it came out of a gothic horror movie.

Upstairs, we were pleasantly surprised by a large open hall which ran from the front to the back of the building. It was fantastic; cool and breezy and ideal for all the board games and card games that we wanted to play.

Next we realised that our accommodation was in rooms on either side of the main hall. Into these tiny rooms were packed so many double-decker bunk beds that the Black Hole of Calcutta came to mind. The bunk beds were so ancient that they creaked even if the wind blew. Worse, the springs on the beds were so badly mangled that it hardly gave any support and many of us believed they were custom built for the Hunchback of Notre Dame and apparently his 40 other siblings.

Although there was a small field at the front of the building, we had to be very careful when we played soccer. Just to the left of one of our goal posts was a shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary. Clearly, we would be in deep trouble if the shrine or statue was damaged. This led to some strange soccer games where the goalkeeper was more concerned about stopping volleys from hitting the shrine than protecting his goal. Also, being on the top of the hill meant that every time the ball was kicked out of bounds, there was a high probability that it would roll all the way down the hill.

It was when we tried to retrieve the ball that we discovered that there was an additional hazard in the form of a pack of stray dogs. If the pack saw only one of us try to retrieve the ball, they would snarl and threaten to attack. So retrieving the ball had to involve at least 3 -4 of us waving sticks which would cause the pack to retreat.

Despite all of these peculiarities, we loved it cause it was an opportunity for adventure without our parents. Just to complete the picture, something must be said about the surroundings. On one side of the hill, was a hospital and though the nurses quarters which was nearby gave us some ideas, it was protected by a barb wire fence and a sharp cliff face. On the other side and near the foot of the hill was a very large and expansive complex of low buildings which formed part of the Royal Australian Air Force Centre in Georgetown, Penang. The facility served the needs of the RAAF personnel based in nearby RAAF Butterworth who flew Mirages and Sabres as part of a South East Asia Treaty Organisation agreement which was meant to counter fears of the Vietnam conflict from spreading and causing a domino effect throughout South East Asia.

To get to this facility, one could take a long way around following the road down the hill but that approach was very closely guarded as it was near the main entrance of that facility. We soon found that there was a short-cut which was in the form of a stairway down the side of the hill from behind our kitchen facility. This was a broad covered cement stairway which had no lights and had dense vegetation at its sides which look like they would recolonise the structure within a couple of years. However, this led straight down to a block of single storey buildings near the heart of the RAAF base.

The scenario was all set. It was only a matter of time before there would be an outburst of hostilities between the 40 young hormonally maladjusted Malaysian school kids and the 5,000 foreign servicemen of the RAAF base. All that was needed was an incident to light the smoldering fuse and it did not take long for that to happen. (continued in next post)


Disclaimer: The names of people and places have been changed to protect the innocent, hide the guilty and because the memory of the author is suspect in certain cases. Other changes have also been made in the name of artistic license. Some facts and truths may have also been distorted or exaggerated in the same tradition as television docu-dramas. That leaves about 50% which are mostly true but I won't swear by it!

Tragedy on the Slopes

Malaysia has suffered three major landslides in the last week. The first was a landslide that killed two young sisters in their sleep and damaged a couple of houses. Then on Thursday, there was a spectacular landslide affecting the car park of a major bank located in a posh commercial district of Kuala Lumpur. In this incident, no one was killed but 11 cars were seriously damaged or destroyed. Casualties and deaths may have occurred if the landslide was just 15 minutes later when a lot of workers would have finished work for the day and would have been in the car park on their way home. Finally, just this Saturday morning at about 4 in the morning, a large part of the hillslope at Bukit Antarabangsa just gave way, sweeping as much as 14 houses on its lower slopes. This time, as many as 4 have died and some are still missing. This latest incident is just a stone throw away from the site of the Highland Towers tragedy of 1993 when a highrise condominium came crashing down due to a landslide and killed 48.

Heavy rain was a major factor. The monsoon rains in Malaysia used to be light to moderate heavy but could continue for a few days. Today due to global warming and local changes in the micro-climate, we seem to be experiencing shorter but far more heavy and violent downpours.

The second factor has been the continued building on unstable and steep hillslopes and hilltops despite numerous calls, promises and directions from politicians to stop allowing those types of developments in the wake of previous landslide tragedies. After yesterday's landslide, the Prime Minister again called for no more developments on risky hillslopes. Will this time be different? Will we learn our lesson or forget it within a week and return to business as usual?

This series of incidences also hit close to home. If you look at the first photo below and specifically at the half-buried car on the left.......... well, my wife had parked our car just one parking lot to the left and in front. God was gracious and I got away with nothing more than a mud covered car, a broken tail-light and a very excited wife. But 11 cars were either seriously damaged or destroyed.

I do hope that this latest in a string of landslide tragedies will finally put a stop to developments on unstable and steep slopes. Unfortunately, many Malaysians would consider me an optimist rather than a realist cause they have seen this too many times before.

Landslide in Bank Parking Lot

Closer view of damaged cars

Major landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa

Houses damaged in Landslide.

All Photos by The Star Online

Real Life Award

Reception after the Ceremony (Photo by LGS)

Monday the 24th of November 2008 was a very special night for me. Although I have generally avoided talking about my work on this blog, I feel the need to mark this occasion.

At a very special function, which was held at the base of the famous KLCC Twin Towers and which was attended and presided over by the Prime Minister of my country, awards were given out under several categories for outstanding contributions to the country. This was a new national award that was launched last year in conjunction with the 50th year of Independence. The very first inaugural award recipients were named at this function.

There were 5 categories. The first for Community and Education was won by a well known scholar who studied poverty and influenced the development of the country's education system. Another category was for Science and Technology and that was jointly won by a) the medical research team that risked their lives during a fatal disease outbreak which led to them discovering a new disease and b) to a doctor,researcher and lecturer who has greatly influenced diabetes research and treatment in the country. The award for Economic Contributions was given to a gentleman who discovered the way to greatly increase the yield and profitability of the oil palm crop which became a major source of income for the country. There was no award winner this year for the category for Scholastic Achievement.

The final category was for the Environment and it was awarded to the organisation that I work for. I was one of 10 representatives and supporters that were invited to receive the award on behalf of the organisation. It was a great experience. The award recognised the persistent effort of the organisation for more than 14 years which eventually led to the protection of a very large tract of wilderness forest. The award clearly belongs also to all the volunteers and partners that helped along the way.

Standing with all the other award recipients was very memorable as I have a deep respect for all of them (and especially for the medical research team) and therefore felt incredibly blessed to be counted amongst them. The award comes with a RM500,000 cash prize which will be a great help to us as we continue to try to get adjacent forests protected as well. But for me, it has been by far a most welcome encouragement to myself and to all the staff and volunteers that have given their hearts to the cause of conservation of our country's natural heritage.

I had a ball. I am now a little hung-over from the post-adrenaline rush. But the work must now go on. Nose back on the grindstone!

I Wish to Make a Police Report

I hope you enjoy the picture. Regretably, the rest of the post has had to been erased.

Independence..........Merdeka Day

31st August 2008. It is Malaysia's 51st National Day or Independence Day. In the national language, it is known as "Hari Merdaka", Malaysia has lots to be grateful for. Our road to independence was not without its trails, sacrifices and heroes but it was a relatively peaceful transition when compared to many countries. I was asked to write a short message entitled "My wish for Malaysia's Birthday" for one of our national dailies. It was printed together with similar with scribblings and thoughts of other Malaysians from all walks of life. Here it is reproduced below;

"Malaysia is rich in natural resources and has an amazing diversity of plants and animals; just as we also enjoy the rich variety of cultures and races in our country. All of these diversities are blessings and contribute to our strength and our national character. I am proud of our country's resources both natural and its people.

However, these treasures cannot be taken for granted. We must be vigilant to protect and develop them sustainably and to constantly promote greater awareness and appreciation for them. Progress is good but it must serve the aspirations of the people for a better life, good health and healthy environment. Our children and future generations must still be able to enjoy our forests, mountains, rivers and islands as we have been able to.

My wish for Malaysia is that we are wise enough to achieve as a nation our full potential in a sustainable manner, on the strength of our natural and cultural diversity without foolishly sacrificing our environment, biodiversity and social values for short-term gain. Let us be what we can be but not lose what we already have."

After the events previously described, I am feeling that this last week has been one of independence too for me after a rather oppressive two years at work. This is a long holiday weekend here iin Malaysia and I am so going to enjoy it. Hope your weekend will be a nice one too.