Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Economics Environment Poetry

[723] Of haiku on ocean and maybe, on Proton too

In bid to win $20 worth of Greenpeace merchandizes. Haiku on ocean! In Malay though:

Di ufuk sana,
biru laut memikat,
mengejar mimpi.

Roughly means, still in 5-7-5 format!

On the horizon,
the blue ocean calling us,
us, chasing a dream.

Anyway, there is a very high possibility that I will travel go to Terengganu next week and lend a hand to a conservation project . Well, a project cum holidays. I’m pretty much excited because it’s been more than ten years since I last bathe in the South China Sea. And sitting by the South China Sea, I will be vomiting more lame haikus for all to suffer!

The only thing I might about travelling to Terengganu is that, there is no rail service. And I don’t wanna drive either. So, looks like bus for me. Seven hours in a bus won’t be too kind to my ass.

While in the bus, penning a haiku or two for Proton might be something to distract me from boredom. Why Proton on all the sudden? Well, instaed of Volkswagen, Proton has a new ally; Mitsubishi. Again.

Mitsubishi Motors to form new tie-up with Malaysia’s Proton

38 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Struggling Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors will form a new tie-up with Proton that would help the embattled Malaysian carmaker develop new models, a newspaper reports.

The tie-up will include a technology transfer, mutual supply of auto parts, including engines, and allow Proton to create new models, the Asahi Shimbun reported, quoting unnamed company sources.

It has only been about about two years since since Proton and Mitsubishi last decided to part ways.

Proton and Mitsubishi should just marry each other. Enough with the flirting already. Hell, let’s do one haiku for Proton now.

Hail Mitsubishi!
A setting red giant star,
trying to save us.

Categories
Liberty Politics & government

[722] Of State of the Union: Hamas and Bush’s hypocrisy

Bush just had his 2006 State of the Union a couple of hours back. One of his points is:

Far from being a hopeless dream, the advance of freedom is the great story of our time. In 1945, there were about two dozen lonely democracies in the world. Today, there are 122. And we’re writing a new chapter in the story of self-government — with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan, and millions of Iraqis marking their liberty with purple ink, and men and women from Lebanon to Egypt debating the rights of individuals and the necessity of freedom. At the start of 2006, more than half the people of our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half — in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran — because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom, as well.

Yes. When the Palestinians democratically elect Hamas into office, suddenly, it’s not acceptable, isn’t it?

A reminder for Bush: in real democracy, you can’t always get the result that you yearn for.

Contrary to Bush and several others’ belief, including Israel, I believe that this is a chance to establish greater peace between Israel and Palestine. Take the Hamas’ ceasefire for instance. Hamas is staying true to its words. Hamas has not launched any single attack on Israel for the last few months. Meanwhile, Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza Strip speaks well from Israel.

Both are signals that both sides could assume good faith. Because of that, I have high hope the ceasefire could a stepping stone for a comprehensive and viable peace plan if Israel and Hamas-led government could sort things out on a negotiation table. If Israel and everybody else won’t talk to Hamas, then things won’t go for the better.

Isolation just won’t work. It didn’t work with North Korea, neither did it work for Iran nor Myanmar. It didn’t even work with Arafat when he was alived. Isolation will only bring more trouble. The European Union, United States and Israel cannot pretend that Hamas doesn’t represent the people of Palestine.

While saying this, Hamas must realize that the state of Israel is not going anywhere. Israel has a right to exist regardless of history. The most viable solution is a two-state solution. The time for war has come and gone.

p/s – this is starting to become very ridiculous. Protesting Muslims don’t seem to comprehend free speech while German and French media can’t seem to appreciate diversity.

pp/s – well, somebody disagrees with me. It seems he prefers war to peace.

Categories
Sports

[721] Of Jaap Stam’s in, Maxwell’s out

Oh my. What’s going on at Ajax ?

I think Jaap Stam is alright despite he was an P$V guy but letting Maxwell go is a sad story. I love how Maxwell plays. His style is elegant and effective. He’s the only Brazilian Ajacied that I know of.

But Maxwell said earlier that he wouldn’t renew his contract with Ajax and his contract would have ran out in summer. So, unless Ajax really wanted to let Maxwell go for free, Ajax had no choice but to sell him to anybody wiling enough to get Maxwell’s service. That anybody is – surprise, surprise, not – Inter Milan. Ajax reported received a million euro from Inter Milan for Maxwell. Ajax will play Inter in the next round of the Champions League.

Other than Maxwell, another Ajax veteran might leave. Talk for a contract renewal between Galasek and Ajax has not been smooth. De Jong will leave soon while Pienaar is heading for Dortmund.

Still, to Jaap Stam, welcome to the red and white. Maybe, you’re the new Chivu that we need. Lightbulb city club still suck though. That club across the Channel too.

Categories
Activism Environment

[720] Of save Gunung Jerai

Gunung Jerai is one of the more famous mountains in Malaysia. Yet, I’ve never been to Gunung Jerai which is located in Kedah, northern Malaysia. What brings the mountain to my attention is the “Save Gunung Jerai Campaign” . Given that Gunung Jerai is as popular as Gunung Ledang, I was quite surprised to find out that former needs any saving at all.

Interested, I scoured the internet from more information and I was not disappointed. It was in the mainstream media a couple of days ago and I must’ve missed it entirely. And it turned out, this thing started a couple of years back, way back to 2001.

The problem at hand is a quarry. There is a quarry operating within the boundary of a forest reserve located nearby the mountain. Just like what happened in Selangor eh? According to the Star:

The state executive council made a decision on Sept 12, 2001, to surrender Compartment 16 of the forest reserve to quarry operator Syarikat Kemelong & Sankojaya Construction as “private property”.

I’m not familiar with any related related regulation related to relabelling a section of a forest reserve as private property but it does sound fishy.

Apart from that, an activist even received a death threat from an unknown person. It won’t take a rocket scientist to suspect that the person that made the threat might be related to beneficiaries of the quarry. More at Utusan; Sorry, it’s in Malay:

Pegawai SAM terima ugutan bunuh

ALOR STAR 28 Jan. – Timbalan Setiausaha Kehormat Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Mohd. Azmi Abdul Hamid mendakwa menerima ugutan bunuh daripada seseorang yang tidak dikenali yang dipercayai mempunyai kaitan dengan projek kuari batu di Gunung Jerai, Yan.

Menurut beliau, ugutan itu diterima melalui telefon oleh isterinya di rumah, Rabu lalu yang turut mengancam untuk menculik anak-anaknya.

According to the Star in the same report, the operator of the quarry is Syarikat Kemelong & Sankojaya Construction. There isn’t too much information about the company online. The only related stuff comes from the Malaysian Department of Environment’s website. According to the DOE’s site, Glisten Environmental Consultants is the quarry operator’s consultant. A search on “Glisten Environmental Consultants” on Google doesn’t give anything interesting either. Or maybe, I’m just too lazy to find out more.

Malaysia Today reports that 12 non-governmental organizations are appealing to the sultan of Kedah to intervene and stop the operation of the quarry. Sorry, this too is in Malay.

Sultan Kedah dirayu selamatkan Gunung Jerai

Oleh Zulkilfi Mohamed

KEDAH: 12 Badan Bukan Kerajaan (NGO) merayu Sultan Kedah DYMM Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, supaya campurtangan berhubung cadangan projek kuari di Kompartmen 16 Hutan Simpan Gunung Jerai yang menyebabkan kemusnahan kawasan serta bencana yang dialami penduduk setempat, akibat aktiviti pembalakan dan kerja-kerja tanah di kawasan terbabit.

Frankly, I doubt the sultan will do anything.

Lastly, a site offers a short introduction on the Save Gunung Jerai Campaign. They call it a press release but, whatever. And yeah, still in Malay.

Categories
Sports

[719] Of Danny Blind has to go

Losing 4 – 1 to Utrecht is unacceptable . Blind has to go.

Period.