Posts Tagged ‘Sarawak’

Miri is aiming at becoming the first green city in Malaysia with May 20 as the deadline. On May 20 this year, Miri will be celebrating its 5th anniversary as a city.

Bird's Eye View of Miri City

Since taking office, Mayor Lawrence Lai has impressed Mirians with his leadership and initiative to transform Miri into a better municipality.  He has been busy visiting many parts of the municipality to listen to complaints from the people and trying to carry out improvements where necessary.

Mayor Lawrence Lai

One of the first step undertaken by the Mayor towards making Miri a green city is appealing to Mirians to lend their wholehearted support to make Miri the first city to say no to plastic bags everyday.

The city council’s “Say No To Plastic” campaign launched on August 30 last year has garnered the support of local hypermarkets and supermarkets that give no free plastic bags on Sunday. With effect from this month, the no-plastic days were increased to 3 days every week from Friday to Sunday.

Say No To Plastic Bag

The city council has always been active in planting trees and plants in the city and the mayor has pledged to plant a minimum of 1000 trees per year. I can see nice landscaping in many areas of the city which makes the city look much more beautiful….kudos to the city council!

The city council is planning to hold landscaping competitions among schools to inculcate the “go green” culture among students. It is also encouraging all government departments and agencies to carry out landscaping too.

A major green project that the city council will implement is the bicycle track from Taman Selera to Lutong in two phases. Under the first phase, the bicycle track will link Taman Selera to Miri City Fan while the second phase will link Miri City Fan to Lutong. The aim of the project is to encourage more people to use bicycles thereby reducing the number of motor vehicles on the road.

Beach at Taman Selera

A View of Miri City Fan

The city council is studying the feasibility of installing solar or LED lightings for the whole city. With about 17,000 street lights in the city, the council is paying over RM7 million in electricity bills annually. It is estimated that the council can save between 60 to 70 percent in the electrical bills. And Miri will also become the first city in Malaysia to have such lightings if the project is implemented.

I wasn’t born in Miri but I have lived in Miri for almost 30 years and have come to love the city dearly. It is in my opinion the best place to live in Sarawak.

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I watched the movie “Avatar” at Star Cineplex at Bintang Megamall. I have only one word to describe the movie: WOW!

Avatar Poster

The sci-fi movie is an incredible animation masterpiece. You find yourself transported to Pandora, a fictional Earth-like moon in a distant planetary system. The beauty of Pandora is breathtaking and will have you in awe!

Pandoran Scenery

The movie is set in the year 2154 on Pandora where humans are engaged in mining the Pandora’s reserves of a precious metal while the Na’vi - the race of sapient humanoids indigenous to Pandora - resist the the expansion of the human as it was threatening the continued existence of the Na’vi and the Pandoran ecosystem.

Jake and Neytiri, the hero and heroine

This immediately brings to my mind the plight of the Penans of Sarawak and their resistance against timber companies encroaching on their customary land and their nomadic way of life. Remember Bruno Manser?

The Penans of Sarawak

Bruno Manser

As the movie progresses, you can’t help rooting for the Na’vi. And you may even clench your fists during those scenes depicting the atrocities of humans committed against the Na’vi and the Pandoran ecosystem.

The movie is truly a visual feast. It is a movie that you will really enjoy. Just go and watch it!

On this day fifty two years ago,  a baby boy was born in a tiny town called Binatang in the state of Sarawak.  Binatang is a Malay word meaning animal. Whoever named that town must have been a animal lover. The town was later renamed Bintangor as the name Binatang has a negative connotation.

Ya, that baby boy is me lah!  I’m really getting old.

I wish to say thanks to my wife and my sons Clarence and Leslie as well as Amanda for their birthday cards and wishes.

Birthday card from my wife

Birthday card from my son Clarence and Amanda

Birthday card from my son Leslie

This morning my wife and I dropped by Jenny Hiu’s house in Taman Tunku to pick up a kilo of “limpeh bahkua” (barbecue dried pork) made in Singapore. Jenny is an ex-colleague of mine in Teck Guan Group in Brunei. She left for greener pasture in Singapore a few years ago and is now attached to an American oil & gas company there. I had asked her to help me buy a kilo of the famous Singapore bahkua (Lim Chee Guan bahkua) a few days before she came back to Miri on Christmas Day for her holidays. Jenny not only bought a kilo of the bahkua that I wanted but she also bought another packet of the “three-storey meat bahkua” ( something like bacon bahkua) for me. And she refused to accept my payment…..okay, Jenny, I owe you a favour.  By the way, your house in Taman Tunku fits the “title” that I have bestowed on you since our days in Teck Guan….I’m sure you know what I mean, hahaha!

Limpeh bahkua from Singapore

Simply delicious...

Did you read the following news article about some leakage a few days ago? What a joke…..hahaha…..rofl!  No, it is not about oil leakage…..it is not about house leakage…..it is about ringgit leakage….leakage amounting to BILLIONS of dollars! All Malaysians particularly those from Sarawak are eagerly awaiting to find out where the other 60% “leaked” to……if only a very tiny portion of this leakage flows to my bank account, I would be an orang kaya di Miri…..hahaha!

Sunday November 29, 2009

Billions siphoned - Sarawak govt steps in

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The Sarawak Cabinet has ordered an internal investigation into claims made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that up to 60% of government allocations — running into billions of ringgit — meant for vital infrastructure projects between 2002 and 2008 have been misappropriated.

MACC investigations showed that only 40% of the money set aside by the Government were spent on the projects. The remaining 60% were said to have been “leaked elsewhere.”

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said yesterday the state government’s internal audit department would carry out a detailed probe into the allegations.

“The state government is investigating. We also want the MACC to give us a full and detailed briefing on these claims. We (state government) view these claims very seriously and if such abuse of government funds had taken place, we must find out who was responsible and take appropriate action against them.

“This is government money that comes from taxpayers. If indeed funds from the Government meant for projects for the rakyat and the poor had been misappropriated, the state government wants action taken,” he said yesterday.

He was commenting on a statement by MACC deputy commissioner Datuk Zakaria Jaffar that the MACC had uncovered cases in Sarawak where up to 60% of government allocations had been “diverted’’ away from the projects.

Zakaria had said this in Kuching during an anti-corruption seminar a few days ago. He claimed that the misappropriation of funds took place between 2002 and last year, adding that MACC investigations showed that only 40% of the money allocated by the Government were spent on the projects.

He, however, did not disclose what the projects were or which part of Sarawak the projects were being carried out.

He noted that the projects involved infrastructure constructions for roads, housing schemes and mosques, among other things.

Zakaria said MACC investigations found that many of these projects were poorly-implemented while some had not even begun despite the fact that the Government had already channelled the money for them.

“The MACC found that there were fake claims made by officials and contractors involved in these projects,’’ Zakaria said.

Dr Chan, who is State Industrial Development Minister and State Minister for Agriculture Modernisation, said yesterday that the state government had always been very strict with how allocations from the Federal Government are used.

He said the Sarawak Cabinet had always been transparent with taxpayers’ money.

“I am happy that the MACC had exposed the issue. If they are doing their job properly, we are thankful because this is for the good of the rakyat,’’ he said.

State Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Openg wants the MACC to give him more details about the housing projects said to be affected by the misappropriation of government funds.

There has been a sharp increase in dengue cases in Sarawak this year when compared to last year. The current year-to-date number of dengue cases in Sarawak is 3247 compared to 1287 in the same period last year.  And Miri has the most cases (704) accounting for about 21.7% of the cases and there have been 2 deaths in Miri. Krokop, Pujut, Piasau and Permyjaya are some of the areas with the highest number of cases.

This is cause for concern. And the authorities are taking action to combat the situation. Fogging has started in many areas and the authorities has warned residents that they will impose a fine of RM500 on residents whose premises and compounds are found to be mosquito breeding grounds.

Dengue can be life-threatening. Unlike malaria, dengue is just as prevalent in urban areas as in rural areas.  Dengue is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquito which feed during the day.

There is a simple dengue treatment that a lot of people have tried and have attested to its efficacy This is how this treatment is carried out. Take 3-4 papaya leaves (use only the leafy part with no stem or sap). Clean the leaves and then pound them and squeeze using a filter cloth to get about 2 tablespoonfuls of the juice. Do not boil the leaves or rinse with hot water! Take a dose of 2 tablespoonfuls once a day until full recovery.  Within a couple of days of taking the juice, the dengue patient will see an increase in their platelet count and overcome the dengue fever.

Papaya leaves....treatment for dengue fever

But prevention is better than cure. Take steps to eliminate mosquito breeding places in and around your house. I have heard of a mosquito trap created by some elementary students in Taiwan and it seems to be a very effective mosquito trap from the comments that I read online. I have not tried it out myself so I cannot vouch for it. There is no harm trying it out as it is very cheap to build one. These are what you need to build the trap:

1 two litre plastic bottle

50 grams brown sugar

1 gram yeast

1 thermometer

Measuring cup

Knife

Black paper

Sealing materials

Steps 1-3

Step 1: Cut the bottle as shown above.

Step 2: Put 200 ml hot water in the measuring cup, add in 50 gram of brown sugar and stir. Place the measuring cup in a larger container containing cold water to cool the temperature till 40 degree Celcius.

Step 3: Then pour the sugar water into the cut plastic bottle and add yeast. There is no need to stir the yeast. When yeast ferments, it produces carbon dioxide.

Step 4-5

Step 4: When you cut the plastic bottle in Step 1, don’t throw away the top part. You will now put this top part upside down into the bottle containing the sugar water and yeast so that it looks like a funnel.Seal the edges of this funnel.

Step 5: Cover the bottle with black paper as mosquitoes like dark places and carbon dioxide. Your trap is now ready to be deployed. Place it in some darker corners. You will see the effectiveness of the trap within a few days.  Remember to replace the sugar water and yeast every two weeks.

I will try to make a couple of this trap this weekend and will let you know if it works. Apparently this trap works well with certain species of mosquitoes and not all mosquitoes.Have a great time catching mosquitoes!

Buah dabai is native to Sarawak and Brunei. The skin of the oblong-shape fruits are white in colour when immature, turning blue-black when ripe. The flesh inside is white or yellow and covers a single large three angled seed. The skin is edible but some people don’t like to eat the skin so they just suck out the flesh and throw away the skin. It is good to eat the skin as it contains fibres. But don’t be alarmed if you happen to see black traces in your faeces……they are the skin of the dabai, haha!

The fruits cannot be eaten straight from the trees. They have to be  soaked in hot water (about 55 degree Celcius) until they soften (Never use boiling hot water as that would make the fruits taste weird). Then either sprinkled with a little salt or soy sauce plus sugar and shake lightly.

Softened dabai with soy sauce and sugar....yummilicious!

The inside of a dabai

Dabai seeds...they are tough and you need a chopper to break them into halves.

The kernel or nut inside the seed is also edible. You need a chopper to hack the seed into half and then just use a toothpick to pry out the kernel. Be careful when you are hacking the seeds…they may fly off like missiles! If these “missiles” hit someone’s eye or a glass window, it can cause damages, so be warned!

Two dabai seeds chopped into halves

The kernel inside the seed

Zee Avi….her story sounds like a modern day fairy tale. Born in Miri in Sarawak (one of the 13 states that make up Malaysia) on the island of Borneo, she grew up in a liberal, encouraging household with a daddy who is very much into music.

Zee Avi

At 17, she used to lock herself in her room for hours on end to learn guitar playing. But guitar had to take a back seat for 4 years when she was studying fashion design in London. Upon returning to Malaysia, she picked up the guitar again and began writing songs and performing with a band.

Zee began recording her songs on a webcam and posting them on YouTube. How she came to record her debut album in Los Angeles is a 21st Century tale of the immense potential of the Internet.

The day before her 22nd birthday, she posted on YouTube what she intended to be her last video, a holiday song “No Christmas For Me”.  When she had time to check her emails, she had almost 3000 messages including a slew of record label offers. One of the offers came from Ian Montone of Montone Label after he had been shown her YouTube clip. And the rest is history.

Take a look at some of the rave reviews that have been heaped upon Zee’s debut album:

Then.S.Chong, Portland, OR USAA lesson on originality and complexity, August 26, 2009

I am blown away by how someone can turn simple music into such pleasure. Zee Avi does not rock, she is a reminder that the joy and therapeutic value of music is from the heart just as Jimi showed that the mastery of the electric guitar is from the soul not by the skills we hold acrobatic chords or scales.

David Hutchins, Charlotte, NC USATerrific singer and songs, July 10, 2009

The title track ‘Bitter Heart’ grabbed my attention (probably heard it hundreds of times by now) but every song on the CD is very good, appealing melodies with catchy rhythms. Zee Avi has a beautiful voice and her style of singing is arresting. Highly recommend the CD. To view live performances of some of these songs search for her on youtube.

R.Willis, Bellingham, WA USAGreat dinner music, June 27, 2009

This CD has everything you need for an evening of relaxation. Zee’s voice is so smooth and beautiful and the songs are catchy. You will be singing them later in your head. I am a massage therapist, and have even played this CD during a massage. She has the Amy Winehouse feel…. only better.

The Sideman, Boston. MA USAFantastic!!!, May 30, 2009

As a huge fan of the whole Brushfire label I generally like most of the artists that they put out. In this case I can easily say that I LOVE Zee Avi!! Fantastic voice, simple but wonderful lyrics and just the right amount of accompaniment (a lot of singer songwriters tend to over produce) this album hits all the right spots for me. I am thoroughly enjoying this while I wait and hope she comes on tour near me.

Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Miami, FL USAGreat Discovery, May 19, 2009

I discovered this wonderfully talented singer today while checking some of the featured videos for some people I follow on YouTube when I discovered a video of some live performances by Zee. I was instantly blown away by her great voice, fun lyrics, and generally mellow mood of her music. It’s not often that you see somebody like this with natural talent and is not produced from some manufactured formula. If your a fan of anybody along the lines of Norah Jones, you’ll definitely enjoy Zee.

All the above reviews were by Americans. It is so rare for an Asian singer (and a Malaysian!) to receive such glowing reviews from the Americans. Zee Avi has definitely struck a chord with them.

Whoever is reading this, please just sit back, relax and enjoy this YouTube video in which Zee performs 4 of her songs.  And if you enjoy the songs, go grab her CD but if you are from Miri, you may have to wait for a while as the local stores have sold out her CD. I know because I have been trying without success to buy her CD for almost a fortnight already. The Speedy Stores inform me that they may receive fresh stock this week……I’m keeping my fingers crossed.