Happy Harvest Festival

To all KDM friends, Happy Harvest Festival!

Lynas Corporation & Rare Earths

I have until now kept away from blogging on the Rare Earths issue which is one of the hottest topics currently in Malaysia. I know very well that my faint voice will be drown in the loud noises in the wave after wave of protests coming out daily, therefore there is no point of blogging about it, no one will ever read it.
But I must blog now before it is too late, just to be on record that I am not without my opinion on this issue. Lynas Corporation, the company which has obtained a temporary permit of operations to process Rare Earths on Malaysian soils, had recently applied in the court for an injunction from stopping all Malaysians to discuss about the Rare Earths issue.Fortunately their application has been rejected by the court, but they will not give up so easily.They will try and try again and eventually get what they want, you know how it is in Malaysia.
So I have to blog about it now.
Actually, the Lynas issue is very simple and straight forward, either you take the foreign investment in the expense of the health of Malaysian citizen or reject it. It has been dragged on for so long despite the series of criticism from various NGOs and the public demonstrations is because the government has committed, already wet their foot as the saying goes (Cantonese say:洗湿咗个头) and there is no turning back. That is why it is in a stalemate now.
The government's argument is that there is no "scientific proof" that Rare Earths processing in Lynas Corporation's factory will be unsafe. If anyone can produce such proof, the government will stop the project. Wah, that is an over generalized statement by any standard! How scientific is considered scientific? The simple fact that Lynas Corporation does not set up shop in their own country and have to come all the way to Malaysia is a clear indication that Australian government does not find it safe to have the factory in their own country.
Are we more scientific that the Australian government? I am not looking down upon ourselves, we send the best of our youths to study in Australia, to learn from them. Don't we?
Also on the question of dumping the residues from Rare Earths factory, it was suggested that the residues be sent back to Australia for safe dumping because they have better expertise than us. But the Australian government rejected the proposal flatly. What does it mean? It means the Australian does not want it, why,why,why?
Then there came the suggestions that with proper control and monitoring, it is safe to have the factory here.Then again, can we trust the Malaysian Public Service Department with our health and well being? Sorry to say that the confidence level of the public is extremely low!
Of course the top management of Lynas Corp had came forward to claim that it is safe and that Australian government had in fact approved the setting up of their factory in Australia - deep in the desert of the Australian Out Backs! If it is safe why can't they have their factory in the urban areas? Why in the Out Backs,is it because the inhabitants there are the aborigines and not the white?
Lynas Corp comes to Malaysia is not because they sincerely want to invest here, but because they know no white men will like to work in the Out Backs and also they can't trust the natives there to run the factory.Malaysia therefore becomes a very practical alternative. Simple as that.
China is the largest producer of Rare Earths in the world, but they have decided to limit the rate of production for the sake of good health of the people.Super powers of the world like USA are angry about this and try to pressure China to lift the limit. But China does not give in. Malaysia should take a hint from China, if we want scientific proof.
History, though not scientific, is a good teacher. The tragedy of radio active Rare Earths is not new in Malaysia. About 30 years ago, in 1982, Asian Rare Earths Sdn Bhd (ARE) started operations in Bukit Merah New Village in Perak to extract yttrium, a category of Rare Earths. Few years later, physical defects were found in newborns in the village. It is linked to the ARE operations nearby. It was stopped after much publicity and investigations.
Do we have to wait until history to repeat itself before some thing is done to prevent it from happening?

Malaysian Students Protest Against PTPTN

In response to the demonstration staged by the students from Malaysian colleges and universities at Dataran Merdeka whcich enters the 15th day, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, reiterated that the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN)will not be abolished.

These students have demanded that the PTPTN (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional)to be abolished.
PTPTN is set up by the government to provide loans to poor students who performed well in their SPM (Form 5) or STPM (Form 6) examinations, yet not good enough to be admitted into government run colleges and universities, in order to continue their higher education in private run colleges.
They have to repay the loans by installments once they start working when graduate. This system has its implementation pitfalls (common with government agencies), but in my personal opinion, this is still a god send opportunity for the children from poor families in MALAYSIA to break free from poverty.
During my generation,we were not so lucky. I had to find a job, to study by correspondence courses (now it is called distant learning)to obtain my 1st professional qualification after 6 years.I don't claim to be hard working or smart, all my peers were doing it except those rich few.Some took more than 10-15 years to complete due to various factors like work loads,love & family problems, financial problems, etc; don't forget correspondence courses cost money, too.
I couldn't read the minds of those who protested against it, maybe they are from very rich families and don't see the need of it but at the same time couldn't bear to see others using it.
Or maybe they are the lucky ones who receive scholarships and studying in government universities and don't need PTPTN. Then again, if you are lucky and blessed with free education, you should be grateful and not try to block those less fortunate ones from pursuing their dreams of higher education.
You want to be an elite group? Therefore you can't stand the idea of so many people becoming graduates? So selfish!

These students are hoping that by abolishing the PTPTN loans, the government will introduce free higher education for everyone.
They are so naive!
Don't tear down the house you are living before you find an alternative place to stay.Similarly,wait until the government implement free education, then only do away with the PTPTN loans.Until then, many people still need it to continue their higher educations.Otherwise many will be shut out of the doors to the universities and colleges.
If the government were to accept their demands and do it, it is tantamount to abolishing the special privileges of the bumiputras because all will be equal by then.
Otherwise, it will be back to the good old days again, the bumi children will receive scholarships, while the non bumi children will go back to the streets to find their own ways of furthering their studies. Is this what they want?
It is a puzzle why the non bumi students are so enthusiastic about it. Free education for ALL? Come on, be real.

Cabotage Shipping Policy

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in response to a reader named K.C.Jong on his blog - Ah Jib Goh, regarding the Cabotage Shipping Policy which governs the cargo vessels plying between Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia since 1980, stressed that all foreign cargo vessels are free to berth at any harbour in Malaysia, and that shipping companies are also free to ship out goods from any port out of the country.
Najib said that the transportation of goods are decided by the shipping companies, which is based on commercial considerations.
The main factor affecting the decision where to unload the cargo is the logistic volume. It is not decided by the government, and government does not get involved.
Najib is repeating the answer given by the Transport Minister, Dato' Seri Kong Cho Ha. When queried by Datuk Seri Panglima Wong Khen Thau, the president of Federation of Sabah Manufacturers (FSM) earlier on,Dato Seri Kong gave the exact answer,word for word.
Datuk Seri Panglima Wong was seeking the help of the transport minister in amending the Cabotage Policy in order to allow foreign vessels to load goods which are destined for Sabah at Port Klang if there is any space left after finished loading goods meant for foreign countries.These vessels can then make a detour to Sabah on their way to foreign countries.After unloading at Sabah ports, they can up load goods from Sabah ports to fill up any empty space.Then they can continue on their journey home.
Similarly, incoming vessels would first come to Sabah, unload imported goods then upload goods for export to fill up any empty space.Then these vessels would proceed to travel to Port Klang.
Datuk Seri Panglima Wong claimed that this is not possible with the existing policy, it requires that all goods arriving at Port Klang to be unloaded, any goods destinations of which are the 2 East Malaysia states have to be handled by local companies which charge handling fees 10 times higher than those for foreign countries.Similarly, goods for export will have to be sent to Port Klang first, again handled by local companies.
Why is this so? Maybe the original motive was to protect the local companies, which is fine, but they should not take advantage of the monopoly and charge unreasonable rates.
I feel that the request by Datuk Seri Panglima Wong is very reasonable if what he claimed is true.
However, the transport minister seemed to have misunderstood Datuk Seri Panglima Wong's request. He told the press that the government has allowed foreign cargo vessels to stop at any port in Malaysia freely all along, implying that Datuk Seri Panglima Wong had wrongly accused the transport ministry. Datuk Seri Panglima Wong was furious on reading this reply, and vowed to bypass the transport minister and go straight to the prime minister for assistance.
But now that the prime minister himself is giving the exact answer as that of the transport minister, what's next?
The government is playing the words game. They keep saying the decision is made by the shipping companies on their own free will. But many a time, these so called "shipping" companies are merely forwarding agents, they do not own a single ship.They may rent one once in a blue moon, but they are not ship owners.If they are, these are small in number as compared to the total number of local shipping companies.They deal with the foreign ships' owners for maximum profits, that is all that is to it.
The FSM should counter this by writing a clear letter purging any ambiguous words and present their case clearly again. They should specifically request that foreign cargo vessels which chose to come direct to East Malaysia, be allowed to pick up goods meant for export, HANDLED by forwarding companies of the goods owners' choice, then proceed to travel to Port Klang.Do not force these vessels to leave for foreign countries from here. Similarly, vessels berthed at Port Klang be allowed to pick up goods meant for East Malaysia, HANDLED by forwarding companies of the owners' choice.
Also do not force them to leave for foreign countries directly. FSM should specifically mention that their president did not request for vessels to be allowed to berth at East Malaysia ports, which he knew very well they are allowed to do so already.
What he asked for is to allow the foreign vessels to make a DETOUR to East Malaysia when they leave Pork Klang for home, and vice versa.

I have been wondering why is it commercially viable for local agents to send goods between Peninsula Malaysia & East Malaysia, while it is not viable for foreign companies? Is it because the vessels traveling
between Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia are smaller in capacity? If that is the case, why don't the foreign companies use these smaller vessels for transporting goods to East Malaysia only? The FSM should
take the initiative to persuade the foreign shipping companies to employ these smaller vessels to transport their products directly in order to stop been squeezed by the local forwarding agents. An another alternative is to form forwarding companies under the control of the FSM, certainly these companies will have the best interests of FSM in mind. Then only you will be free from the iron grip of the so called "shipping" companies.
If you think this is too troublesome, then pay for it and have an easy life.

Posting comments

I changed the settings of ALL my blogs allowing only my followers to post comments on my blogs. And every comment needs my moderation, this is to control the content of the comments.
Therefore you need to do 2 things in order to post on any of my blogs from now on:

1. Click the "Follow" button on the blog to be a follower
2. Post non adults contents only, else you wont get my approval.

Producing Pharmacists

I read in the news that there is a shortage of pharmacists in Malaysia recently and out of curiosity I checked on the internet for the colleges and universities in Malaysia offering courses in pharmacy.
The results show there are 24 private and government colleges and universities offering courses in pharmacy at different levels,ie. Diploma, Degree, Master and Doctorate in Malaysia.With so many colleges and universities conducting courses in pharmacy, why is there still a shortage in pharmacists? Is it because it is too costly? Too difficult to study or the entry qualification requirement too high? Or simply due to lack of interests on the part of the students?
Below is the list of colleges and universities conducting pharmacy courses in Malaysia:

1. Sunway University, Malaysia
2. SEGi University College, Malaysia
3. AIMST University, Malaysia
4. Taylor's University, Malaysia
5. INTI International University, Malaysia
6. Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia
7. UCSI University, Malaysia
8. University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNIM), Malaysia
9. Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM), Malaysia
10. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia
11. International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia
12. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia
13. International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia
14. Mahsa University College, Malaysia
15. Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
16. Management and Science University (MSU), Malaysia
17. Kpj International College of Nursing And Health Sciences, Malaysia
18. Lincoln College, Malaysia
19. Kolej Teknologi Geomatika, Malaysia
20. Kolej Masterskill Kampus Ipoh, Malaysia
21. Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia
22. Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College (KLMUC), Malaysia
23. Masterskill University College of Health Sciences, Malaysia
24. Victoria International College (KUALA LUMPUR), Malaysia

My daughter is a student of KPJ International college of Nursing and Health Sciences, Malaysia, which is situated at Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. This college offers other courses in Nursing, Physiology, Medical Imaging,etc. If you intend to pursue a career in the medical field, try this college. It is specially suited for students from not so well to do background because it will not chase you for tuition fees until your PTPTN loan is disbursed which may take 9 months to 2 years ( my niece received her PTPTN loan payment after she graduated from UMS, and my own son got his payment 9 months after commencing his course). Also KPJ group owns more than 20 medical centers through out Malaysia, you may apply for sponsorship from one of them which is close by your home town.Then you do not have to worry about repaying the PTPTN loan later.
Free hostels are provided for all students.The hostels are segregated for boys and girls.

Kill that cow quick!

There is a cow by the name of NFC(Najib Falling Cow)running wild right now.Many fear that if the government is not sincere in dealing with it, the Barisan Nasional(BN) coalition would be run down by this cow.

Apparently various efforts have been put to sidetrack the issues. First a businessman is blamed for the mismanagement of NFC by accusing him of giving unsound advices to the Chairman of NFC by posing as a consultant.

Then the Auditor General Department denied using the words "in a mess" in describing the status of the operations of NFC.

The public really do not give a damn to all these, they only want to know why the close relative of a senior Federal Minister is awarded such lucrative concessions?
And they are also awed by the unabashed way the said minister responded when confronted by the public. Is this confident or arrogant?

Come next general election, surprises await.

Last day of Chinese New Year 2012

Today is the last day of the Lunar calender new year celebrations.
Happy new year, GONG XI FA CAI!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

The 13th general election will be any time now

In the UMNO general assembly yesterday,Prime Minister Datuk Najib gave very strong indication that the general election is very near.He said UMNO will field many new faces this time, and called on senior members who are not selected to remain loyal and support the new candidates. The name list will not be released too early to avoid possible problems.He is confident that the National Coalition (BN)will win back the few states lost to the opposition during the last election March 2008(308 election).

I am afraid the Prime Minister might be over confident, it might very well be the repeat of the 308 election this time also. In that election BN did not bother to clear up some issues which had been dragging on quite some time like the "Istana" house of Selangor Menteri Besar, the "close one eye" case of Jasin member of parliament. BN leaders ignored them without realizing that these are the "triggers" that hurt most during an election.
This time around there are issues always, the hottest is of course the NFC issue, the RM56,250/ pair night vision binoculars, the diamond order etc. Nobody is held responsible for all these. BN leaders are treating the voters like dumb-dumbos, by giving some lame explanations.

For example in the NFC case, Datuk Shahrizat, the Wanita UMNO Head, whose husband is involved in it, declared that it had got nothing to do with her. Her husband minds the cattle business while she minds the UMNO affairs, the two are not connected. But just answer one simple question," why her husband got the project in the first place, and not people like me and you got it?"

As for the purchase of the binoculars,the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission declared that there was no irregularities in the purchase of the binoculars by the Marine Department, just that the officials were not following the Treasury order to do a market survey before hand. That means if the officials involved had followed the Treasury order, they might be charged in court now. Therefore it is always wise not to adhere to the Treasury order because facing a disciplinary action is better than facing a jail term any time!
If these type of explanations are acceptable, you can be sure that all the politicians will rush to have their relatives grabbing whatever government tenders available and make tons of money!
If that happens, Malaysia will definitely top the list of corrupted nations in the region.
Until now, many top level leaders still think these are petty issues and advise grassroots leaders to forget them!The rakyat may be silent now, but the votes in their hands speak louder than any thing!
So be forewarned.

Cows,cows,cows.

The hottest news in malaysia these days is related to cows.

The husband of a Federal minister owns a company which aims to grow cattle in the interior district of Gemas for the purpose of proving to the world that Malaysia is capable of producing premium beef.The company,the National Feedlot Corporation(NFC), has obtained a government loan (the opposition argued that it is a grant) of RM250 millions for the project.But after 2 years, the project has fallen far far behind target. It was discovered that portion of the loan(or grant?) was used to purchase 2 PREMIUM condominium units in prime area within the Federal capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The excuse for doing this action was because the money are idling, so it was invested in property which is, in the company's opinion, better than putting it in bank fixed deposit.NCP chairman (the husband of the said minister)had called a press conference to explain why the money is idle. I could not understand what he explained, nor could many Malaysians, I guess.

PPSMI - To stay or not?

Personally I feel the issue with teaching science and mathematics in English(PPSMI) needs to be handled with care.


Now the sentiments on both sides involved in the argument are that of wanting to gain a totally win, one side wants to do away with it completely, while the other wants to embrace it stock and barrels.


They should meet half way, let the subjects to be taught in the children's mother tongue for Primary schools because they need full concentration to master their mother tongue and National Language at this stage. English should be taught as a second language.


Then when they reach Secondary school, they would have acquired enough skills in English to be able to understand the internationalization of the subjects in English fully. I strongly urge the use of English at this level because it is a very important international language.


But the government seeks the easy way out by simply abolishing it in both Primary and Secondary levels. While some English-speaking parents want it to be implemented right from the beginning stage of a child's schooling days disregarding the weakness of English of most children, especially those from the kampongs. This is pure selfishness because they know their own children are good at English and have a clear advantage over others in the class if these subjects are taught in English.


Then there are the politicians. Please don't politicize this issue for our future generation's sake.

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History to be a compulsory subject for SPM Exams

The Malaysia Minister of Education announced that History will be made a compulsory subject in the SPM Exams in 2013.
The education minister said this is to increase the awareness of nation building efforts and therefore producing younger generations who are more patriotic. This is a load of craps.
The real reason is to brain wash the youth into believing that Malaysia is built by a single race, the contributions of other races towards building our nation will be denied by replacing facts with lies in history text books. Recently there were many instances where some politicians publicly denying the existence of famous historical Chinese leaders who helped to develop our country, for example Yap Ah Loy. Now they want to go one step further, they want our children to memorize these lies as facts. Or else they will flop their whole examination, not only failing a subject only. Do you see the power of this move?
It is sad that certain Chinese scholars are also involved in this falsifying of history for personal gains and glory. Their names will go down in history as betrayers of their own ethnic group.
Does the education minister realize that not every child love history, regardless of their intelligent levels.Those who excel in science or engineering subjects may not like to memorize dates,names,places and events. They like to memorize formula or theorem instead. Likewise, even some arts stream students also do not like history.  Are we going to shut the doors of the universities to these intelligent students? How are we going to achieve our vision of a developed nation in 2020 without the help of these potential technocrats?

Happy Birthday,Malaysia!

MERDEKA!

Our nation celebrates its 53rd birthday today.
Let's work together to face new challenges in the era of "Globalization".
Discard the out-dated ideology based on racialism and religion fanaticism.

The way to go : FORWARDS.

The A-G dropped a bombshell in the Chinese community

The Attorney General charged the former president of The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) for 16 years,Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, with 2 counts of cheating in relation to the KFTZ scandal.

Many Chinese are stunned by the News because it is just unbelievable that their leader will be charged. It shamed all Chinese.

On the other hand,it is a clear message to those who are in power, no one is above the law. The long arms of the law will reach you sooner or later.

It is crytal clear, why puzzle?

Prior to 2 by-elections all sorts of efforts were applied to ensure a victory for BN just for ego sake.Particular attentions were given to win the Chinese voters like approval of special funds for Chinese medium primary schools. Applications for renovations,maintenance,extensions, building of additional class rooms,etc,etc which had been pending for over 10, or 20 years were approved within weeks.Facility in the villages were suddenly improved.For example, an application to build an iron bridge which has been pending for years was speedily approved.
The government has done all there is to be done to win the Chinese votes,but why didn't they reciprocate. why? why? why?...
The answer is very simple,as clear as the crystal.
By doing so much for the people,especially the Chinese community, in such a short span of time, the government has aroused the resentment of the Chinese community. It was interpreted by the Chinese as they had in the past been kept waiting unnecessarily for the approval to various pressing needs not because there was a valid reason for the delay but because somebody up there was trying to show his authority or simply because of discrimination. They asked,"If it can be approved within weeks, why are we kept waiting for 20 years?"
The voters are smarter now,you know.