Category: Politics & government

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Environment Photography Politics & government

[571] Of Ampang, haze and 2008 election

I ran a short errand to Ampang with my mother earlier today. Heh, I’m not sure anymore whether Ampang is part of Kuala Lumpur or Selangor. Whatever it is, I brought my handy camera with me and took the liberty to shoot some photos of Ampang.

From the top of Ampang Point, the view was hardly unexpectable. It was the paramount of a green’s dystopia. Dry, arid, dusty, acrid. There was nothing much to be seen even with a thorough scan of Ampang. The sight was distasteful as well as despicable.

Tried zooming around here and there but the smog made any effort useless.

It’s depressing to know that even Los Angeles has better air quality than Kuala Lumpur currently. I’ve been to Los Angeles and I hate it. And all this is making an overrated Ann Arbor suddenly underrated. I really miss the sweet smell of green grasses, the soft summer wind, the clear blue sky. Can’t believe everything, from the flow of Huron to the whispering of the leaves in the arboretum, all that was merely two months ago.

Hell, I’d rather be stuck in a snowstorm during an average winter instead of inhaling Indonesian armpits. I simply can’t believe that I’m right in the middle of a huge environmental catastrophe. Yeah, climate change does affect us all but that comes at a snail pace. This Indonesian smog charges at lightspeed. I’m overwhelmed and angry. Angst might be the right word to describe me right now.

News has it that DAP is organizing a protest there at 1100 local time. I’m going to the Indonesian embassy tomorrow. If I had command a battalion of army, I’d have gone to Jakarta.

For the moment, I know one thing – whoever has not a plan to curb haze in their manifestos for the 2008 election, I’ll be giving them a firm middle finger at the ballot. Sadly however, judging how Malaysian parties write their manifestos, I’d probably won’t be voting at all.

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Economics Environment Politics & government

[550] Of US – India nuclear cooperation

I saw Manmohan Singh’s address to the US Congress yesterday. In his speech, he asserted how important it is for the US and India to work together in a globalized world. In actuality, he seeks the Congress’ consent for the US cooperation with India on India’s nuclear work for civilian purposes. I for one, hope the Congress won’t block any step taken towards that direction.

Chernobyl was a tragedy. So was Three Mile Island incident. However, with growing human population, it is obvious that we will consume more and more power. Unfortunately, that power has to come from somewhere, be it from fossil fuel, green energy or nuclear.

The Indian Prime Minister mentioned yesterday that in any scenario, coal plays a central role in India energy industry. India is a huge country and their reliance on coal would increase carbon emission tremendously all the while the Annex 1 parties to Kyoto are struggling to reduce emission. With or without China and the United States, India could single-handedly wreck the fight against climate change. Nuclear provides a clear alternative to coal while clean and safe renewable sources, at its current state, are simply not enough to quench India and indeed the world’s thirst for energy,

The US has refused to ratify Kyoto and has stubbornly argued that any reduction in emission would damage its economy. Moreover, Bush and his supporters have said that only technological progress is the answer to climate change. Frankly, I’ve yet to see or hear Bush do something about that but now is the time to back that claim up. Now is time to prove that Bush really belief that instead of simply trying to dodge a commitment that the US made under the Clinton Administration. Congress now needs to approve such cooperation to give Bush’s words a spine.

Some fear that this might encourage nuclear proliferation. This groups need to be reminded that India already has nuclear capability. In fact, in my opinion, the US cooperation with India would make nuclear energy safer.

Perhaps, if others still feel strongly against such cooperation, perhaps US offer assistance on a condition that India will sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which India is not a signatory. With India in the NPT, the world might even be able to persuade Pakistan to sign the treaty. Of course, there will have to be a change in the first pillar of the NPT.

In the end, wouldn’t that make the world a bit safer?

On the other side, a lot of people are saying that this new American relationship with India spurs out of concern of China’s growing power. Well, I prefer to some something to counter China’s regional influence – Japan simply can’t counter China alone.

p/s – Michigan is currently second in the ASC and they are closing in on the leader, Minnesota, fast. MIT and Missouri-Rolla is far behind.

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Politics & government Society

[544] Of it’s the French!

Many thought Paris were going to host Olympics 2012. They unexpectedly lost and even worse, they lost to London. The French should be angry. And then London suffered six four bomb attacks the next day.

Initial report suspects this is a work of Al-Qaeda. I on the other hand suspect it’s the French! Yes, it’s the French I tell you. Who else could it be? Why wouldn’t the French do it?

But out of all seriousness, this occurence is unfortunate as it happened during a G8 meeting in Scotland. The explosions in London have already postponed G8’s talk on climate change to some time later. This distasteful incidence have already overshadowed all activities to bring the issue of climate change to the front.

I’d suppose Bush must be happy with this since he possibly won’t have to face a possible barrage from other G8 leaders to act on climate change. At the same time, G8 won’t have to worry too much about anti-globalization protest. It would put the protesters in a very bad light if the protests go on.

Regardless, it’s comforting to know that Bush is finally out of denial mode and admits that there is a link between human activities with climate change. Hence, the work to fight against this environmental chaos is made a tad easier.

Let’s see if China and India are going to accept some kind of emission capping as they have promised some years ago.

p/s – the American Solar Challenger 2005 is almost here. Check out Michigan Solar Car Team website! Go Blue!

Categories
Environment Politics & government

[541] Of the whales are safe, for the moment

Great news came from the International Whaling Commission meeting in Ulsan, South Korea last week. Japan and a few others pro-whaling nations tried to expand whaling. These pro-whaling countries argue that whale population has been increasing to a level where hunting should be permitted again. Others like Australia and New Zealand argue otherwise. By far, greens won the battle.

Based on recovering population argument, Japan brought up several issues. One was to reintroduce commercial whaling. Fortunately, the proposal was shot down.

Another proposal set forth by Japan was coastal whaling. Experts say that this is a kind of cultural whaling. At the same time, whaling as a culture has always been allowed as long as it’s not done commercially. One instance where whaling as a mean of subsistence is of Native American’s practices. Nevertheless, many simply don’t buy that Japan is interested in whaling as a culture. The scheme was given a nay.

Japan also sought to remove a whale sanctuary located in southern ocean. That too, was pushed back to Japan’s table.

Among these motions pushed forward by Japan, the most dangerous in my opinion is secret ballot voting. The motion was rejected by the majority.

It has been alleged that Japan is indirectly involved in vote buying. It is indirect because Japan would give out economic aid to improvised countries in return of vote favoring Japan. If the secret ballot voting was passed, it is possible that commercial whaling would resume. Already last week, certain African and Caribbean blocs stood side by side with Japan while these countries need economic aids the most, not whaling quota. Furthermore, should commercial whaling be allowed, Japan, Iceland and other modern pro-whaling nations would benefit the most, not these poor nations.

On the sideline, Japan announced an increase of whale catch for scientific purpose. However, according to Reuters:

Japan’s well-flagged plan to expand its research work made public at the start of the annual meeting on Monday includes nearly doubling its annual catch of minke whales to about 900 and eventually hunting 50 fin and humpback whales a year — two types of whales conservationists say are threatened.

Much of the meat from whales killed under Japan’s scientific programmes ends up on store shelves or in up-scale restaurants, rather than in laboratories. Japan maintains that killing whales helps them study what they eat, among other things.

Nobody at the moment has the ability to stop Japan from conducting whaling for scientific investigation. Moreover, I do believe it is alright to whale in the name of science. Nevertheless, it seems obvious that Japan is manipulating a loophole here to sidestep a ban on commercial whaling.

If you are interested on the issue, Greenpeace currently has an anti-whaling blog running at the momemt. The blog is mostly directed to Iceland however. To me, this is the case because it is easier to target Iceland, which is nothing compared to world’s second largest economy, Japan.

p/s – many should have heard on how the US sabotaged an effort against climate change (reg. req.) in a G8 meeting a week or two ago.

Categories
Politics & government

[540] Of CSMU, Yushchenko and Putin

Issue regarding de-recognition of Crimea State Medical University is currently being hotly contested in the Malaysian Parliament. The government states that the reason for de-recognition of the university is the increasing student to lecturer ratio. One of the ruling coalition members, Malaysian Indian Congress argues that the de-recognition comes because there is more Malaysian Indians than Malaysian Malays in the university – hence the argument of the government trying to prevent more Malaysian Indians from becoming doctors. Whatever it may be, so far, all arguments originate internally and might I add, unconvincing. And nobody as yet, has postulated a possible external factor.

Let me explain what this external factor could be.

Just a few minutes ago, I saw BBC World News and it was a report about Viktor Yushchenko in France talking about a possible ascension of Ukraine into the European Union. Now, remember that Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin during the infamous bitterly held 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. At the same time, he is a pro-western and his rival in the presidential race was pro-Moscow.

Yushchenko won that ballot but Russia and pro-Moscow Ukrainians were unhappy with the election result. There were some reluctance on the pro-Moscow side to admit defeat to Yushchenko and later, committed election fraud. But in the end, after heavy local and international pressure, Yushchenko received the presidency.

From 2004, let’s roll to 2001 when Russia sold a number of MiG’s to Malaysia. If I am correct, Malaysia and Russia reached a new level of understanding in several areas like trade and education. If information at ReCom.org is accurate, the recognition of various universities under Russia’s sphere of influence came merely weeks after the understanding.

Do you see where I’m heading?

Russia is no doubt unhappy with the change in Ukraine. Concurrently, Russia has veto power in the UN Security Council and Russian President Vladimir Putin ultimately rules Russia. He has shown the world that he is more willing to flex his muscle. Yukos is an excellent example.

Tying the ribbon, it is quite possible that Russia is pulling strings somewhere in order to give Ukraine a hard time while the people in the upper Malaysian echelon are bending to Putin’s demand.

How probable could that be? I don’t know.

p/s – OMG! Please stop this “Which Malaysian Blogger Are You?” Like wildfire, it is burning rationality out of the Malaysian blogosphere. You are you. Take a hint.