Mercy Malaysia

Late one afternoon a few days ago friend of mine called me up and asked if I could lend a hand moving some supplies. My friend, Radzi had recently joined Mercy Malaysia and I knew he would only call for help if he was really short handed. Although I had planned to help a group of people light up a certain part of the city that night, I could not refuse to help him. This consignment of supplies were destined for Myanmar to help the victim of typhoon Nargis. It is now estimated that the death toll in Myanmar could surpass 100,000.

I showed up at the gates of the warehouse at around 5 p.m and had a drink while I waited for his team to arrive. He was delayed due to administration matters. He arrived at about 6.15 p.m. The warehouse is part of Petronas’ NGV distribution and storage facility and Petronas has allowed Mercy the use of the warehouse until 2025 when the lease on the land ends. Arrangements had been made for the security personnel toreceive us at the gates but he went missing. Attempts to call him failed. We even went as far as to throw small stones at the guardpost but to no avail. He finally decides to turn up from somewhere in the complex at about 7.15 p.m! he was probably sleeping somewhere in the complex. An example how one lazy person can hold up a whole operation.

The warehouse was in total darkness when we opened it up. I went around to look for the main switch while logistics officer from Mercy, En. Norzi aimed the lights of his 4wd into the docking bay. I finally found a huge bank of switches which were in themselves an interesting piece of work. I would love to come back here one day to take a better picture of these switches. But we were already late.

After about 10 minutes of looking with the light my mobile phone torch I got the board figured out and found the switch. Thanks to En. Norzi, all the supplies were packed and almost ready to be shipped out. He had singlehandedly sorted and packed nearly 400 kilograms of antibiotics, water purification tablets and other supplies! Part of the reason Radzi was late was because En. Norzi had to stop for a light meal since he did not take breakfast nor lunch that day. Hats off to you En. Norzi. Before moving them to the waiting lorry we had to mark them to deter theft and pilferage.

The boxes were marked in English and the Myanmar Language (some still call it Burmese). You’ll notice that it says “No Commercial Value” prominently on the box. We managed to get the boxes all marked and loaded within 45 minutes by 9.15 p.m were on our way to KLIA Cargo Complex.

Upon reaching the complex entrance we found out that the lorry was still about 15 minutes away. More waiting, but being the logistics officer worth his salt, En. Norzi walked us up to the security office to apply for our security passes. When the lorry arrived we were told to proceed to Core 1 building. You can see the building on the right. Once there the unloading began. You can just see the picture of a camera shy Norzi on the extreme left while my friend Radzi is facing the camera. The is not a shy bone in that man! After the unloading was completed a forklift was employed to place the pallet on a weighing machine to be weighed. MAS KARGO had allowed us 500kgs of free cargo, otherwise we would have to pay for each kilogram. And that night our total cargo weighed in at 384 kilograms. We still had to declare the goods and get them insured. The whole operation ended at 12.30 a.m when I drove the 4wd back to my car which was parked at the warehouse.

To those who wish read this and wish to help out, Mercy will be sending about two and a half tons of supplies including body bags, tents, water containers and medicine next week. Remember these people really do need all the help they can get. And to people like En. Radzi and Norzi, carry on the good work!

Bird Strike!

But what a strange one. A friend of mine who works at the Chep Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong sent me these pictures. I have seen many a bird (or what’s left of them) in the aircraft engines but this is the first time I have seen a large bird caught in the slats of an aircraft. What are the chances of this happening?

From the long neck it looks like a vulture. I have seen some from afar while hiking in the hills around Hong Kong. By the looks of the blood splatter, it must have hit the wing to body fairing and then got stuck in the extended slats.

“Do as I say….”

There is an old English saying that goes “Do as I say and not as I do”. This saying takes a jab at hypocrites who say one thing but does the exact opposite. They do this in the firm belief that their audience will follow their words blindly and not dissect it for what it is.

In a recent newspaper article, the Malaysian Agriculture and Agro based MInister Datuk Mustapa Mohamad was quoted saying “Each adult Malaysian consumes a per capita average of 77kg of rice per annum so there is room for a reduction by substituting it with a greater intake of vegetables and an emphasis on a health-conscious diet”. You can read the full article in the Star newspaper on the 27th of April 2008.

Mr Minister, rice is a staple food for not only Malaysians but more than one fifth of the world population. By it’s very definition, Staple Food forms the basis of a daily diet and is the major source of energy in that deitary plan. Be it rice, flour or maize (corn), staple foods is the cheaper alternative to eating protein rich foods such as fish, meat or vegetables. To many in the poorer segment of society it is a filler for a stomach bereft of anything else but the staple food itself. It is therefore highly hypocritical (for one who can afford it) to suggest that Malaysians should eat less rice and replace it with vegetables. Mr Minister, don’t you think that these people who are now hard pressed to buy even the basic food would like to afford a more protein based diet? Have you checked the price of vegetables lately?

In Mexico, the price of the tortilla has steadily increased in the last few months. Tortillas are made of maize or wheat flour. For the poor in Mexico, the tortilla makes up half their dietary needs. The government there is trying hard to control this basic food price but I do not think the government there would dare suggest that it’s people eat less tortilla. For there is a saying that goes “When the prices of Tortilla go up, governments come down”.

Malaysia once used to be an exporter of rice until it was decided that Industry and Technology rather than Agriculture would better serve the nation in it’s push to achieve a Developed Nation status. But how developed are we if we cannot even provide for the basic needs of everybody? Is a nation of computer literate, car driving, office dwelling, jet-setting people considered developed? Or is how a Nation feeds and treats it’s people that determine it’s “Developed” status?

My first SLR . . . was free!

I started out this blog entry wanting to write about Megapixel Mania, how the mighty megapixel has overshadowed all other considerations when buying a digital camera. I must attribute the idea of this topic to Tzy Wen. He had made a reference in his blog about how camera manufacturers encouraging this megapixel mania by selling the idea that more is better. And so nowadays it is not surprising to see point and shoot cameras possessing 12 megapixel sensors! I will talk more on this later. I’ll tell you how I first got into photography.

I have always been interested in photography. I bought my first book on photography before i even had a camera. Serious cameras meant SLR or single lens reflex. and they were expensive. Photography back then meant celluloid, film, negatives or slide, black & white or colour. Not only were cameras (the serious ones) expensive, film and slides were also quite costly for most to consider photography a hobby. A decent roll of film would cost anywhere between 5 to 7 ringgit and slides would set you back at least 8 ringgit. If you were to include the cost of processing, a roll of film would cost about 20 ringgit from the time you bought the roll to the time you have the finished photos in your hands. And a roll of film with 36 exposures might get you 38 if you’re careful and lucky. So with my financial responsibilities back then, buying an SLR was totally out of the question.

But I did finally get an SLR. After working for a few years, I decided that i would save up to buy myself a camera. What I wanted was a Nikon. So after months of saving I finally had enough money to buy myself . . . just the lense. hahaha! But hey times were hard. So you see, I even bought a lense before I owned a camera! It’s a 50mm F1.8 Nikkor which set me back 230 Ringgit. A princely sum for me in those days.

Then one day while at work i happen to join a few colleagues for a chat and the conversation revolved around cameras. I was asked what camera I owned. When I replied in the negative, one of them mentioned that he had an old camera he hadn’t used for a while and might consider selling. I agreed to have a look at it. He brought it in to work the next day and we had a look at it. He had even kept all the receipts form when he first bought it. I think I still have them somewhere. The shutter was sticky so I offered to send it in for servicing first. The deal was that when it came back and we had agreed on a fair price for the camera, he would minus the cost of the servicing.

I picked up the camera a few weeks later. I took the camera out of the plastic bag to show it to him. He tested it and looked at it for the longest time. I guess it brought back a lot of memories. I was about to make an offer for the camera but he suddenly handed me back the camera. He told me that i could have it for the price of the servicing. Effectively, he had given me the camera for free! If you ever read this posting, I wish to thank you so much for the gesture. I had so much fun with that camera. And yes, I still have it with me. Here is a picture of it together with the book I bought before I had a camera.

And though I haven’t used the camera for years now, it still works perfectly. The shutter is silky smooth and the button battery I put in years ago still has enough juice to drive the exposure meter. One day soon I will write about film and megapixels and how I think film is still better if not more troublesome and expensive.

Subang Ria Community Park

On the way to pick up a friend for dinner yesterday I realised I was quite early and had some time to kill. So I made a detour to a place I have not been to in a long time. Subang Ria Park is located at the entrance of Subang Jaya and contains 2 lakes. I would not blame anyone for missing this rather huge but hidden park. It’s entrance is hidden away and not marked properly anymore. Actually, having lived in Subang Jaya for over 8 years in the 90’s I have never come across any road signs that directed you to this park. Below is a sign found at the entrance of the park and there is another like it next to the main road but you can easily miss it. As you can see there is a sea food restaurant somewhere in this park. It once was home to a crocodile farm too but I think it is now long gone.

I found the park in a very poor state of upkeep but there were still many people who made good use of the park. The park once housed a go kart track and still has a paint ball park. To my surprise there is still a sign at the entrance proclaiming it to be the largest recreation and paint ball park in Malaysia! I wonder if this is still true. Anyway the paint ball park is looks very dilapidated. The is also a par course situated along the jogging path around the lake but I would later find out the stations were all missing their instructions.

By the Lake

Par Course

Barbeque pit

Car park

Paint Ball Park

Lake at sunset

IBM building from the lake

Road to restaurant

With still some daylight left, i decided to take a walk around the lake. The lake is quite big, probably larger than the lake in Taman Jaya. situated at one end of the lake were a few barbeque pits minus the grill top but I promised myself I would try to hold a barbeque here one day. Further on down the path and just opposite the IBM building I came upon a surprise. Here was a open air auditorium. It is in a sorry state but nothing that could not be fixed with hard work and some imagination. A few more trees should be planted to isolate the theater from the noise of the now busy road behind it. The designers of this park years ago had put a lot of thought into the design of this park.

Now here is a place where Subang Jaya folks can come to relax, exercise and have a meal. The open air theater could be used to hold cultural shows, small events or even talks on local community and environmental issues. If only the place was properly maintained, The people of this municipality should take the local council, MPSJ to task for not doing its job these last few years. This green lung should not be left to deteriorate further. If I am not mistaken there was even a develop this entire area for commercial use. Another land grab by greedy developers who have run out of valuable land.

There a a few other community parks such as these in the older parts of Petaling Jaya and in the same sort of state. The only way to save these places is to ensure they are maintained (not developed) and promote their use in a wholesome and responsible manner. This way the people will learn to value and treasure such parks. Here are some more pictures I took in the park.

BUM 2008

Yesterday I attended a forum by Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia. Priced at RM50 per head it was very reasonable considering that it included tea and dinner. And might I say a very good buffet dinner. More on that later. In the past I would not have even thought of attending such an event. You see although Bloggers’ Universe Malaysia or BUM addresses all sorts of Bloggers, the founders, committee members and president of this new Society are what I term as political activist. I have always thought myself as apolitical but of late I have become more ‘politically aware”. The abuses of power and public funds in this country have reached such preposterous levels that it is almost impossible to ignore. I realised that to be a responsible citizen of Malaysia and the world, one has to exercise the right to choose. And this year was the first year I exercised my right to choose a responsible political leader. Ok back to BUM 2008.

The talk was broken into 2 sessions with about 8 speakers taking the podium. The theme of the first session was “Fostering a Civil Society” while the theme for the second was “The Fifth Estate”. I realised that those who write well (as evidenced by their blog’s large readership) are not necessarily good speakers. Some could hardly carry a point through 2 sentences! Here are pictures of some of the more notable speakers.

Raja Petra, Ahmad Idid and Haris Ibrahim were very good orators but William Leong (MP Selayang) said something that stuck to my mind. He narrated a story about his first case as a lawyer and the lesson he learned from it. He had to go to Penang to fight a case for a client. Although he made a great effort to fight the case and thought he spoke eloquently in his closing speech, the judge was not moved and paid little heed to what he said. He lost the case. Later he found out that the judge was hard of hearing and was wearing a hearing aid in his left ear. And all the time he was on the floor he was on the right side of the judge. He lost because he was not heard! To sum the story up, William said that “The people must not only see justice done, but they must also hear that justice is done”. And this he said was the job of bloggers To point out the injustices and to be the voice of the downtrodden. And present the truth about the goings on in this country despite the spindoctoring of certain influential news mediums.

I learned a different lesson from his story though. A lot of times in our attempt to get a message across (either socially or professionally) we do not first attempt to find out about our audience. And in neglecting this point, no matter how eloquently we may speak, the message is often not heard or not understood. In this sense I really respect the people (some of whom I know well) who can tailor their words to the audience and take the time to ask or find out if the message was understood. I have mot mastered this art as yet.

The event was wholesomely entertaining and as I mentioned earlier, the buffet dinner was not a disappointment to those who came for the food. The spread included Chicken Curry, Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet, Buttered Prawns and Roast Lamb. I am looking forward to attending BUM 2009.