Fuel Increase

It Begins!! Effective midnight yesterday the government announced that it would be increasing petrol prices to RM 2.70... a hefty 0.78 sen by any standard. The thing is, I'm not actually griping about the increase. To be honest, I understand the need to gradually reduce the subsidies... the keyword here being gradually.

The fact that the increase came is not a surprise... The government had already held it back before the elections (gee.. I wonder why) but in the face of global fuel prices, it's tough to keep subsidizing to maintain the prices as it is.

2 Main complaints here...

Firstly, why not gradually increase it? If you need to increase it by 0.78 sen, fine... Why can't it be done gradually? Let's say 0.20 sen/ month over 4 months... You achieve what you need minus the hardship on the masses.

Secondly, for crying out loud, why not give advance notice? It's the same thing that our 'beloved' PM did during the elections... "No! No!... Parliament not dissolved tomorrow!!". Next thing you know, it was dissolved. And now, petrol prices will be increased by August... The fact is, I gave our government the benefit of the doubt and said "Nolah... by August.. means anytime between now and August... won't be so immediate wan...". Next thing I know, the New Straits Times stated that it would be by midnight.

Is it any surprise that our PM is losing credibility among the population. Anyway, as you all know by now it caused a massive jam everywhere. Even at 11 pm, most petrol stations were jammed and the congestion spilled over to most of the main roads... And who are the ones inconvenienced? That's right... The people.

Ultimately, it's true that not everyone will be pleased but a lot of us realise that the hike is necessary. Just that it should have been implemented gracefully. By giving advance notice, there would not have been a mad rush to fill up as everyone could have staggered it. Of course, there would be those who wait till last minute... Their pasal la... Why make everyone suffer!?? In addition, by staggering it, at least people don't feel that big a pinch... 40% increase is big man... Even for my 1500 cc Wira, we're talking RM 100 for a full tank!! Wahlaueh!! Ride bicycle already la...

The thing is, this is just one aspect of it... Word has it that electricity tariffs will be increasing as well by about 20% and you can expect that traders and manufacturers will now be increasing prices.

Shouldn't the rakyat also be entitled to better public transportation as the fact is, the situation in Malaysia is it's not that we don't want to car pool or make use of public transportation. Just that it's neither efficient nor convenient.... Not to mention dangerous...

And furthermore, if fuel prices are going to be increased to the market value how about motor cars? The excise duty on motor vehicles is among the highest in the world... Shouldn't it be reduced now that subsidies have been reduced?

Sharon Stone Controversy

Lousy start to the day... Woke up at about 4 in the morning and couldn't really return to sleep thinking about current affairs, the China quake so hope I'm able to survive the day without pissing people off... :-)

Anyway, since I couldn't really go back to sleep went through some mails and was browsing the news channels for any good news on China but not much. Was also thinking about this article I read yesterday evening on something Sharon Stone said at Cannes about the China Quakes caused by Karma because of their stand on Tibet and I thought just how insensitive and obnoxious some people could be. Her exact phrase being "...And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma -- when you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

My God!! How on Earth can she justify what is happening to all the children and farmers as being punishment for their government's stand on Tibet. She started it off saying "I've been concerned about how should we deal with the Olympics, because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine" followed by the statement about the quake.

I would be sorely disappointed if the Dalai Lama were to condone such comments. Ultimately, he has been running all over the world criticising China and garnering support all over the world while his supporters are fighting the actual fight... So he doesn't appear to be someone who's comparable to people like Aung San Suu Kyi or let's say people like Hindraf back home who don't run away.

I realise that people should be allowed to voice their opinions... this pretty much is what I'm doing with this blog as well but I feel that people of Sharon Stone's stature should at least have common sense and have more brains to realise what she's saying and not just blabber about something that she does not understand... just because the Dalai Lama's her friend!!

Conservation

Why conservation? Conservation comes in many ways, water, electricity and so on but what I'm refering to or my main area of concern has been conservation of species and bio-diversity. For me, wildlife conservation is about preserving bio-diversity and this involves many areas... Habitats, ecosystems and species. Most of us wouldn't see the importance in doing so but just imagine life Without bio-diversity... What if there was only one type of bird in the whole wide world? One type of cat, One type of fish... Would be very boring, right?

Conservation has a very important role to play now especially with the focus on Global Warming... Why? Well.. consider this simple fact. Global Warming means our atmosphere is warming up and as a result of this warming up, Polar Ice Caps are melting... In other words, the Arctic & Antarctic is getting smaller as they are basically formed out of ice. But that's not all, when they melt, sea levels rise... in other words, land masses are shrinking so God forbid that one day Pulau Batu Puteh may dissapear under the Johore Straits... There... land dispute solved!!

But anyway... Almost everything in our environment is connected sort of like a circle of life... (Plagiarised from Lion King... :-)). For example, in the ocean... there are small organisms called Plankton which feed small fishes which in turn feed bigger fishes who are preyed on by sea mammals or even bigger fish who are then preyed on by man or also other animals. I know that's not the point that was sent across in Lion King but that's my interpretation but When one goes, so will the other. When there's no plankton, the smaller fishes will die and when that happens, so do the big fishes... Anyway, you get the point.

For me, I am all for conservation because I am nuts about animals and as well, I want to be able to show my kids and grandkids (Wah... still a long way to go) what a turtle is... What a polar bear is... not from pictures but I want to show them a live one. It's sad knowing that future generations may not know what Polar Bears look like. I am blessed to have been able to see green turtles and hawksbill turtles but sad knowing that it's unlikely I will be able to see a live Leatherback turtle (Penyu Belimbing)... at least not in Malaysia.

I am lucky enough to have seen Orcas, Polar Bears and Pandas (albeit not in the wild) but I'm sure many of you haven't. All the more reason why we need to do our part starting now.

One goal that I have in turtle conservation is that I hope in 15 - 20 years, when I return (ha ha... If I return) to Chagar Hutang, Redang, one of the nesting turtles will be one of the ones that hatched when I was a volunteer in 2003 or 2005.

How about you? What have you done to ensure that we human beings are not the only ones left on Earth in the years to come?

Quake Lake

Was going through some articles on the Internet and came across the above image. This quake lake has been in the news the past few days due to the potential for disaster. Basically, what has happened was during the quake, the river had been dammed by rocks, mud & gravel thus causing what has been called a 'quake lake'. Coupled with the rain, the lake has formed very quickly and will eventually burst causing massive flooding downstream. So apart from the human tragedy, authorities are scrambling to avoid further disasters.

Aerial View of TangJiaShan Lake & Surrounding Area

Mountain of Rubble

The above image pretty much shows the mountain of rubble that collapsed from one of the mountains damming the river.

Submerged Dam

The extent of the damming is so great that the lake extends 5 kms upstream and everything between the 'dam' up the river is submerged in water and water level at the lake is rising at about 2 metres each daily. The above image shows a constructed dam that has been all but submerged by the water and there are also concerns that these will be destroyed once the quake lake spills over wiping out everything in its path.

Even though the quake has not claimed as many lives as the Tsunami in 2004 (yet), I believe the extent of damage wrought in its wake is much greater and I do hope that things will gradually improve.

My heart and prayers goes out to all the survivors and those affected.

Sichuan 2008 Earthquake

It's been more than 2 weeks and there's still no letting up. Aftershocks & tremors are still occurring every few days with more deaths being reported. It's shocking & depressing reading about such disasters. Just a week before the quake, it was Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and it wasn't too long ago when the Tsunami hit Aceh wiping the whole town off the map. Makes one wonder if this is Mother Nature's way of fighting back and to show that she is still in control. However, this post is not aimed at talking about the depressing news as there's enough of that in our newspapers and Web sites.

Instead, it got me thinking back to 2004 during the Indian Ocean Tsunami. I never thought so much about it at the time but in retrospect, it gives me hope to see that at such times, people are working together to provide hope and assistance to those who need it. It's during such adversity that we are able to see the human spirit of co-operation breaking down the barriers and one person from one country helping another person thousands of miles away without expecting anything in return. All we want is to help ease the pain and suffering.

During the Tsunami, I actually got to know that the Buddhist Maha Vihara in Brickfields was looking for donations & volunteers to assist with sorting and packaging of items to be sent to Aceh. There were hundreds of people there helping in so many different activities. Sorting of foodstuff, clothes by gender, size... Sorting through medication, packaging, organising and basically off-loading and loading the items into containers. Most of us have either taken leave from work to help or in my case, went there after work.

Like conservation work, it really felt like I was doing my part and it really made me feel good knowing that I have done my part to alleviate some of the suffering. Even then, I wish there was more that I could do now other than to just donate money.

Let's all pray for those affected and wish them well.