Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Flush n Wash Toilets
I had seen these toilets in Japan many times and thought what a great idea it was. No need to touch a tap, just rinse your fingers by putting it under the tap as the toilet replenishes its water.
I am really pleased that this is a Malaysian invention. Amazing isn't it? Actually, since Malaysia makes many bathroom fittings products, we do have many other bathroom inventions. The exposed toilet flush, I think was invented by a Malaysian. He meant it to be a foot flush. The cost savings of installing one of these and its clean design made architect not think about its construction and installed it in many public toilets. It is sometimes too hard to push, as it is meant to be used by a foot, and placed at inaccessible place behind the toilet, discouraging those who can't not to flush the toilet. Sigh!
http://www.apanama.com.my/robest/de-inventions-flush-n-wash.php
I am really pleased that this is a Malaysian invention. Amazing isn't it? Actually, since Malaysia makes many bathroom fittings products, we do have many other bathroom inventions. The exposed toilet flush, I think was invented by a Malaysian. He meant it to be a foot flush. The cost savings of installing one of these and its clean design made architect not think about its construction and installed it in many public toilets. It is sometimes too hard to push, as it is meant to be used by a foot, and placed at inaccessible place behind the toilet, discouraging those who can't not to flush the toilet. Sigh!
http://www.apanama.com.my/robest/de-inventions-flush-n-wash.php
Monday, 12 October 2015
Malaysian made II
The soft boiled egg maker Datuk Hew Ah Kow
The Rubber stamp maker Mr Robest Yong
The hexagon Nehemiah walls Mr Nehemiah Lee
The Lytro camera Mr Ren Ng
Water dispensers by Mr Ooi Seng Chye
The flipper toothbrush holders by Goo Yock Tee
Flash drive by Pua Khein Seng
Loom bands Cheong Choon Ng
Saturday, 10 October 2015
Malaysia in the UN
Guardians of world peace
BY COLONEL RAMLI H. NIK - 10 OCTOBER 2015 @ 11:01 AM
UPON gaining independence on Aug 31, 1957, the Federation of Malaya joined the United Nations (UN) on Sept 17, 1957. As a small and developing nation facing a communist insurgency, Malaya had the political will and commitment in promoting international peace and security as stipulated in the UN Charter.
Three years later, following the UN Security Council Resolution 143 (1960) in July 1960, Malaya was selected to participate in the UN Force in the Congo (ONUC). The mandate of ONUC was to facilitate the withdrawal of Belgian troops, maintain law and order, help to establish and legitimise the post-colonial government of Congo (later became Zaire and now known as Democratic Republic of Congo).
As a commitment towards international peace and security, a contingent of 1,947 military personnel, known as the Malayan Special Force to the Congo, was despatched and served from October 1960 to April 1963. As emphasised by the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the new nation should visibly demonstrate its faith in the UN by responding positively to its peacekeeping role at the international level. This was indeed an honour to a newly-independent nation of Malaya and testimony of our credibility in promoting peace and stability.
This discussion highlights Malaysia’s contributions to the UN peacekeeping operations which have attained international recognition with respect to promoting peace and security. As the first nation from the Southeast Asian region that successfully participated in ONUC, the Malaysian peacekeeping force has continued to maintain a number of firsts and acceptability at international level.
On Jan 1, 1965, Malaysia was elected to serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, which is another high level achievement, but the selection/achievement created an upset in Jakarta.
In the same year, the Republic of Indonesia, while pursuing a policy of confrontation against the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia, withdrew as a member of the UN and its related agencies. However, before the opening of the UN General Assembly Session in September 1966, Indonesia rejoined the UN.
With a strong track record of promoting peace and security in our foreign policy, in the voting for the UN Security Council seat for 1989/1990, Malaysia received 143 votes out of 170 member states of the UN. As a member of the UN Security Council, it was most timely to participate in the peacekeeping operations with the flare up in Namibia in the same year. The Security Council established the UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia on Feb 16, 1989, with the responsibility for monitoring the ceasefire, overseeing the withdrawal of the South Africa Defence Force, and controlling the borders.
Once again, Malaysia was selected to provide an infantry battalion to be part of the military component. The deployment of the Malaysian contingent in UNTAG was the second successful contribution in peacekeeping operations after a lapse of nearly three decades of being inactive. Also, this marked the beginning of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) playing key roles in providing military contingents and observers for peacekeeping operations, especially with the commitment of the Malaysian contingent for the UN Transitional Administration in Cambodia in early 1992 and continued to participate in other peacekeeping missions as required by the UN.
In recognition of the MAF’s committed effort in peacekeeping, which has impressed UN policymakers, especially the Security Council, the UN gave the honour to Malaysia on Jan 18, 1994, when Lieutenant-General Aboo Samah Aboo Bakar was selected as the first Malaysian force commander of the UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II), replacing General Cevik Bir from Turkey. In the history of peacekeeping operations since 1948, Aboo Samah was also the first force commander from Southeast Asia.
There are two other important firsts scored by Malaysia.
With the need to keep abreast with the doctrine and to maintain high standard of training, the fact that peacekeepers have to operate in more complex and dangerous environments, the MAF pursued with bold commitment to establish the Peacekeeping Training Centre in Port Dickson in June 9, 1995, and it was recognised by the UN as the first training centre in the region.
To date, the centre has trained 1,931 Malaysian officers and 612 international participants from 52 countries. In addition, to ensure coordination and planning for participation in future deployment of Malaysian contingents, including military or police observers to mission areas in accordance with procedures of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN headquarters, MAF approved the appointment of a military adviser at the Malaysian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York in January 1996.
Indeed, Malaysia is not only the first Asean member to have a military adviser dedicated for peacekeeping duties at the Permanent Mission, but also joins the community of 50 military advisers or police advisers of UN member states.
In conclusion, the Malaysian peacekeeping force has continued to exert its influence with credibility and capability at the international arena, especially with a commitment by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to provide an infantry battle group for the UN Standby Force for peacekeeping operations during the UN Peacekeeping Summit in New York on Oct 2.
Of significant importance, MAF has participated in 35 peacekeeping operations with the deployment of more than 30,000 military and police personnel successfully, but with 18 killed as casualties. The writer is a senior fellow, Department of Strategic Studies, National Defence University of Malaysia and former military adviser at the permanent mission of Malaysia to the United Nations
Friday, 9 October 2015
Malaysian books
1. Malayan Trilogy
Perhaps best known for his dystopian science fiction novel A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess lived and worked as a teacher in Malaya during the 1950s. Whilst there, he became fluent in Malay and spent part of his free time writing fiction and musical scores. Burgess’s famous Malayan Trilogy, published in the 1950s, covers the often comic adventures of a history teacher working against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency.
2. The Casuarina Tree
During the first half of the 20th century, Somerset Maugham was one of the highest paid and most acclaimed writers in the world. He also worked as a spy for the British Secret Service. Maugham travelled extensively through South East Asia and wrote a wide variety of works set in Malaya and Borneo. One of his most famous collections of short stories is The Casuarina Tree, which follows the lives of expat planters and pioneers living in Malaya during the 20s.
3. The Malay Archipelago
Often called ‘the father of biogeography’, Alfred Russel Wallace is up there with Charles Darwin as one of the most famous naturalists of all time. From 1854 to 1862, Wallace travelled throughout Malaysia (then the Dutch East Indies) and the surrounding islands, collecting thousands of natural specimens. Wallace’s ground-breaking discoveries and exciting exploits were recorded in his most successful work The Malay Archipelago, which continues to thrill and inform readers today.
4. Lord Jim
There are few authors as celebrated and controversial as Joseph Conrad. Though he travelled extensively by ship along the coast of Malaya and other South East Asian countries, he spent relatively little time on land. As a result, his depictions of Malay culture in his novels have been criticized as inaccurate and racist. One of Conrad’s most famous novels, Lord Jim, covers the exploits of a young English seaman who becomes leader of a settlement populated by Malays and Bugis.
5. The Golden Chersonese
As a pioneering travel writer, photographer, naturalist and the first woman to be elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Isabella Bird lived a far more exiting life than most women of her day. Her amazingly detailed work The Golden Chersonesecovers life in the urban settlements and jungles of Malaya and Singapore in the late 19th century. It is also one of the world’s oldest surviving travel accounts written by a woman.
6. The Jungle is Neutral
During the Second World War, British Army officer F. Spencer Chapman led numerous successful skirmishes against the Japanese, at times working alongside the Malayan Chinese Communists. Fighting jungle diseases and harsh terrain, as well as the Japanese, Chapman and his men (all disguised as Chinese laborers) eventually escaped to Pangkor Island, where they were picked up by a British submarine. It seems only a matter of time before Chapman’s thrilling story, recorded in his memoir The Jungle Is Neutral, becomes a Hollywood blockbuster!
7. The Rain My Drink
Born in China to Eurasian parents, author and physician Han Suyin truly broke into the literary scene with the 1952 novel A Many Splendored Thing, which inspired a 3-time Oscar winning film and a popular theme song. Han Suyin travelled to Malaya during the communist insurgency with her husband (a British Officer), where she worked in Johore Bahru General Hospital. Her experiences there led her to write the controversial novel And The Rain My Drink, which almost ruined her husband’s career due to its anti-colonial slant
8. The War of the Running Dogs
Anyone looking to read a riveting account of the Malayan Emergency from the British perspective cannot go past Noel Barber’s The War of the Running Dogs. Barber’s work reads like a first-class thriller, but it is still informative and filled with the stories of ordinary planters as well as the key military players. After his time in Malaysia in the 1950s, Barber went on to write a wide range of novels spanning a number of genres.
9. The Virgin Soldiers
Despite having spent a tour of duty doing military service against the Malayan communists, the works of Leslie Thomas are far removed from Barber’s serious account of the war. Leslie’s 1966 novel The Virgin Soldiers is a comedy, partly inspired by his own experiences during the Malayan Emergency, and revolving around a delicate love triangle. Fairly risqué for its day, The Virgin Soldiers inspired two movies (the first featuring an uncredited David Bowie!).
10. Scorpion Orchid
The Sri Lankan born Malaysian author Lloyd Fernando worked as an English professor for the University of Malaya until retiring in 1978. His celebrated novels Scorpion Orchid and Green Is The Colour deal masterfully with themes of racial diversity and conflict in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The works of Lloyd Fernando are still counted among the finest fiction to come out of South East Asia.
11. Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India
Anyone interested in the vivid story of Penang during the days of the British East India Company should be sure to pick up a copy of Marcus Langdon’s Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1803-1830. This first volume of a planned series of four history books covers some of the most pivotal moments of the island’s colonial history. A British-born Australian, Langdon was partly inspired to write a detailed history of Penang after discovering ancestral connections to the island. He currently lives in Penang under the Malaysia My Second Home program.
12. The Dulang Washer and Shadors Beneath the Fronds
Irish author Paul Callan has written two recent and highly praised historical novels both set in Malaysia. His IMPAC Literary Award longlisted novel, titled The Dulang Washer, is a drama set in the harsh tin-mine camps of Perak toward the end of the 19th century. The second novel, Shadows Beneath The Fronds, is set partially on the plantations of Malaysia. The story follows a friendship between a boy and girl from Tamil families that is tested by separation and hardship. Paul Callan divides his time between his homes in Malaysia and London.
13. The House of Trembing Leaves
Talented storyteller Julian Lees was born in Hong Kong in 1967. His highly compelling 2013 novel The House of Trembling Leaves features a daring female protagonist who must struggle to survive a forced marriage, then the Japanese invaders and, finally, the communist guerillas. Julian Lees currently lives in Kuala Lumpur with his family.
14. Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit fighter and Spy
In his Malayan Spymaster: Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit Fighter and Spy, Boris Hembry covers in exciting detail his exploits during the Japanese occupation and the communist guerilla war. Hembry’s memoir of his time as an English spy are filled with enthralling accounts. Some examples include trapping a rogue tiger, reporting on Japanese camps in Burma, and even being part of a covert operation spearheaded by Freddie Spencer Chapman.
15. The Kuala Lumpur at War
Historian Andrew Barber is best known for his 2012 book Kuala Lumpur at War 1939-1945. This impressive work brings to life the experiences of ordinary Malaysians who lived in Kuala Lumpur during the Japanese occupation. The book masterfully combines interesting anecdotes with information collected from newspapers, military archives and a wide range of other materials. Andrew Barber, a former English diplomat, lives in Malaysia with his wife and two children. You can read the Expat Go Malaysia’s review of Kuala Lumpur at War 1939-1945 here.
http://www.expatgomalaysia.com/2015/10/01/15-international-authors-inspired-by-malaysia/#at_pco=smlrebh-1.0&at_si=5616a02d51eeeebf&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=auto
7. The Rain My Drink
Born in China to Eurasian parents, author and physician Han Suyin truly broke into the literary scene with the 1952 novel A Many Splendored Thing, which inspired a 3-time Oscar winning film and a popular theme song. Han Suyin travelled to Malaya during the communist insurgency with her husband (a British Officer), where she worked in Johore Bahru General Hospital. Her experiences there led her to write the controversial novel And The Rain My Drink, which almost ruined her husband’s career due to its anti-colonial slant
8. The War of the Running Dogs
Anyone looking to read a riveting account of the Malayan Emergency from the British perspective cannot go past Noel Barber’s The War of the Running Dogs. Barber’s work reads like a first-class thriller, but it is still informative and filled with the stories of ordinary planters as well as the key military players. After his time in Malaysia in the 1950s, Barber went on to write a wide range of novels spanning a number of genres.
9. The Virgin Soldiers
Despite having spent a tour of duty doing military service against the Malayan communists, the works of Leslie Thomas are far removed from Barber’s serious account of the war. Leslie’s 1966 novel The Virgin Soldiers is a comedy, partly inspired by his own experiences during the Malayan Emergency, and revolving around a delicate love triangle. Fairly risqué for its day, The Virgin Soldiers inspired two movies (the first featuring an uncredited David Bowie!).
10. Scorpion Orchid
The Sri Lankan born Malaysian author Lloyd Fernando worked as an English professor for the University of Malaya until retiring in 1978. His celebrated novels Scorpion Orchid and Green Is The Colour deal masterfully with themes of racial diversity and conflict in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The works of Lloyd Fernando are still counted among the finest fiction to come out of South East Asia.
11. Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India
Anyone interested in the vivid story of Penang during the days of the British East India Company should be sure to pick up a copy of Marcus Langdon’s Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1803-1830. This first volume of a planned series of four history books covers some of the most pivotal moments of the island’s colonial history. A British-born Australian, Langdon was partly inspired to write a detailed history of Penang after discovering ancestral connections to the island. He currently lives in Penang under the Malaysia My Second Home program.
12. The Dulang Washer and Shadors Beneath the Fronds
Irish author Paul Callan has written two recent and highly praised historical novels both set in Malaysia. His IMPAC Literary Award longlisted novel, titled The Dulang Washer, is a drama set in the harsh tin-mine camps of Perak toward the end of the 19th century. The second novel, Shadows Beneath The Fronds, is set partially on the plantations of Malaysia. The story follows a friendship between a boy and girl from Tamil families that is tested by separation and hardship. Paul Callan divides his time between his homes in Malaysia and London.
13. The House of Trembing Leaves
Talented storyteller Julian Lees was born in Hong Kong in 1967. His highly compelling 2013 novel The House of Trembling Leaves features a daring female protagonist who must struggle to survive a forced marriage, then the Japanese invaders and, finally, the communist guerillas. Julian Lees currently lives in Kuala Lumpur with his family.
14. Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit fighter and Spy
In his Malayan Spymaster: Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit Fighter and Spy, Boris Hembry covers in exciting detail his exploits during the Japanese occupation and the communist guerilla war. Hembry’s memoir of his time as an English spy are filled with enthralling accounts. Some examples include trapping a rogue tiger, reporting on Japanese camps in Burma, and even being part of a covert operation spearheaded by Freddie Spencer Chapman.
15. The Kuala Lumpur at War
Historian Andrew Barber is best known for his 2012 book Kuala Lumpur at War 1939-1945. This impressive work brings to life the experiences of ordinary Malaysians who lived in Kuala Lumpur during the Japanese occupation. The book masterfully combines interesting anecdotes with information collected from newspapers, military archives and a wide range of other materials. Andrew Barber, a former English diplomat, lives in Malaysia with his wife and two children. You can read the Expat Go Malaysia’s review of Kuala Lumpur at War 1939-1945 here.
http://www.expatgomalaysia.com/2015/10/01/15-international-authors-inspired-by-malaysia/#at_pco=smlrebh-1.0&at_si=5616a02d51eeeebf&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=auto
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