Yesterday, The United States of America has sign a deal with Indonesia to forgive Indonesia debt to the US ($30mil) in exchange for Sumatra forest conservation.  Under this deal, Indonesia will pay the $30mil into a trust (instead of the US Government), of which the money from the trust will be used for conservation efforts. 

This news come as a breath of fresh air and the idea of debt-for-nature is an innovative solution to this predicament.  The Malaysian citizen has suffer on haze and the problem seams to become an annual event for so many years, one starts to wonder if we will ever get clear sky and fresh air.  The Government’s attempt has been fruitless, and in fact uproot some controversies involving Malaysian companies in Indonesia.  I remember at one point, the Indonesian Foreign Minister was saying why when Indonesia export fresh oxygen to Malaysia, no one appreciate nor care, but when there are some haze, everyone seams to jump on Indonesia on the issue?

This is true, Indonesia forest has been providing oxygen to the entire world, why should Indonesia bare the cost of conserving these forest? The rest of the world should pay too.  And on this line of thinking, debt-for-nature seams to makes sense as the first solution to wider forest conservation.  Not only Indonesia, many tropical countries has forest of their own, and why should they conserve the forest at their expense for the rest of the world, and especially the US and China who is among the top green house gas producers.  One day, the air we breath may not be free anymore, and for now, it seams that the US has started to pay for it. 

It was unfortunate that the Malaysian Media did not pick this up as this conservation efforts will reduce the amount of forest fires in the Island of Sumatera, and in turn reduce the haze floating over to Malaysia.  I for one are looking towards a Haze Free Malaysia in years to come..

Source:

WSJ : Orang Hutan Center : Tree Hugger : Huffington Post

Here are a few tilt shift photos that I’ve made from my recent trip up to Komtar Tower.  The view from the 60th floor was breath taking and provided a totally different perspective of Penang.  The day was also very cooperative with very little haze.  We could see as far as Butterworth BORR, Tg. Bungah, Penang Hill and Bayan Lepas.  Georgetown is still mostly covered by pre-war buildings.  High rise buildings are mostly found at the seafront like Gurney and the new Jelutong Expressway.  There is a sense of calmness viewing the city from the 60th floor, its the feeling that you get viewing a landscape or city from a mountain or a high location.  One can get lost in time dwelling at such locations. 

The Komtar Tower viewing platform was previously the Tower Restaurant.  Only in recent years, when the restaurant closes, this place was open up for public.  Sad to say, the place was poorly maintain with a few chairs and tables close to the windows, and the rest of the floor was empty.  This is far from KL tower nor those tower view abroad.  The good thing was that we were the only visitor there, we got the entire floor to our selves, unlike we have to fight for view in KL Tower or in Japan.  I believe the RM15 entrance fee may have contributed to the lack of traffic. 

Once arrive at the 60th floor, we were greeted by a friendly lady which sold us the tickets and gave us a bottle of water and two postcards each.  I guess this is the management’s lame way of making up for RM15 entrance fee.  The place looked liken an abandon empty building and it display the management’s lack of commitment to truly turn this into a tourist destination.  There is a vast potential for such a place, look at KL Tower for one, constant flow of tourist from abroad and locals as well.  When I was in Tokyo, their viewing tower was located at their City Council building as well and was also packed with local and foreign tourist.  If the management lack the will to make this tower a tourist destination with complete facility, maybe the building management should look into tendering this out to other companies that has interest, if not, at least run it as a state own non profit org. 

The place certainly lacks a few fundamental items that are a must have in such viewing facility.

1. A map of what you are looking at, with names of the famous buildings (located at each window plane)
2. A free view finder to get a closer look at the city
3. A few souvenir shops to remember Penang by. 
4. A restaurant for tourist to chill and get lost in time. 

Nevertheless, the view from up the tower was breath taking and provided plenty of opportunity for tilt shift photography or post processing tilt shift. 

We went down to Malacca a month or so back and my mother inl aw gave us one bottle of Apple Enzyme that she has made.  I have heard of it at that time because my boss and other colleagues were discussing the benefits and was sharing recipes.  I have not tasted it yet and that was among her first few bottles.  It has not mature yet when we first took it back.  About a week or so back, the Apple Enzyme matures, but we sort of forgot about it as it was tuck away in the kitchen cabinet.  Not only we were reminded by my mother in law that we took it out.  Yet, we didn’t want to open it yet.  Then this weekend, we open it and manage to get a liter of thick juice.  It was great, it has a tangy sweet taste to it and we have been having it morning and evening.  I didn’t pay much attention to the health benefits, I was intrigue by the taste.  And so, we set out to make a jar of our own.  I heard from my office that Dragon Fruit Enzyme taste the best, and so I got the recipe from my boss and gave it a shot. 

We bought a 5 liter bottle from Jusco, 1 kg of grapes, 10 kiwis, 2 large red dragon fruit, 200gm of dried longan and one liter of honey.  The fruits and jars were to be washed and air dried before the process can be started.  This is to prevent molding.  It was expensive, so dont ask how much.  I added the fruits in layers and drench them in honey and finally, I put about 250gm of brown sugar on top.  The enzyme is to be harvested in 15days time and we can’t wait to taste it.  Everyday, we have to open the bottle to let the gas out as the bottle was air tight.  Initially there was only one liter of honey, and almost immediately, the liquid level in the jar start to rise, and now about 3 days in, it has surpass the fruit level and all the fruits are floating up.  i fear the top layer of the fruits will be moldy.  I am now looking for a solution.  I can’t keep pressing them down because the minute I lift the plastic spatula (nothing metal must touch the enzyme – dont know why yet), it floats up again.  Nevertheless, we are truly excited and could not wait for the 2 weeks to complete.  In the mean time, we are enjoying the Apple Enzyme made by my mother in law, which taste terrific. 

Recently rumor mongering seams to be a social norm in my office.  About a few weeks back, there was a small article in the newspaper that the company is offering VSS to almost all the employees, giving birth to more rumors that the company is closing down.  The very next day after the article, The Star print an apology, but it does not help in quelling any other rumors from circulating. 

There was one instance saying that the company is closing the Penang operation and moving to Singapore.  The Singapore government was found to be giving so much incentive that it is cheaper to maintain the operation in Singapore than in Penang.  The rumor also quoted a handset R&D division in Motorola that took up the Singapore offer and moved the entire department there.  As further backup, the rumor also quoted that Marvell Singapore pull back the intention to close down the site there because of the government incentives.  This rumor remains a rumor and personally, I dont think there is much truth in it as moving operation is difficult and costly business, in addition, till today, not a single person from Singapore for a job transfer.  This rumor seams to poke at the Government for not doing enough for the folks here in this current economic situation compare to the neighboring countries. 

There was one instance saying that the current office/factory have been sold to the neighboring company and we will be moving to Suntech.  In addition, before moving there, the company will shed 1/3 of the employees, and other versions says 2/3.  The latest on this rumor has it that Suntech was too expensive, we are moving to Bukit Minyak instead.  There may be some truth on this rumor as the current factory space that we are occupying are meant for a factory.  The company has transform into a trading house and currently only need space for offices and small labs.  It would be much more efficient and cost saving to move to a smaller location.  This still remains a rumor as no announcement on this matter yet.  As I believe this rumor to hold some truth in it, but I dont believe we will shed 2/3 of the current people before moving there. 

There was one instance saying that the most recent April VSS offering will be shedding 250 people.  This is significant and account for 1/3 of the Penang operation.  When the day comes, the number of people leaving did not seams to come near half the specified amount.  This is proven to be not true.

There was one instance saying that one of the product division has been sold to a Taiwanese company, and it was a buy one free one package, where another product division was thrown in because that product division is just not been making money for many qtrs.  The two product division in question varies depending on the version that circulates, and my product division was being quoted in one of them.  This Taiwan company is a giant, and they have a financial strength to buy over.  I am sitting on the fence on this rumor as almost on weekly basis, I keep hearing that there will be announcement from the CEO in the evening.  Certainly, if my product division is being sold away, there will be a big question mark on my job status.  As I dont think the new company will shed away the entire Malaysian division, I do believe the new ‘master’ will definitely make changes to the structures and giving the pink slips to some to optimize.  I just hope it is not me.  On the other hand, my product division has been making money in the last two qtrs, it does not make sense to sell away a product division that is making money for the company.  Then again, we never know. 

You would think that with all these rumors going around, everyone will be hard at work fearing to loose jobs during this economic condition.  The morale in the office is at it’s ultra low.  The cafeteria seams to be occupied most of the time, with more people taking breakfast and tea brake and longer breaks too.  The cafeteria is like a market for rumor mongering. 

And just yesterday, I heard an astonishing rumor.  Our neighboring company is being sold off to Texas Instrument.  It just seams like the rumor mongering has gone bonkers.  I’ll just open my ears, and drink my coffee and get on with the day, as we never knows, out of the 100 bonkers rumors, one of them might be true, and sometimes, the most outrageous ones are indeed true.

One place that we have not been for ages is the Lorong Selamat Char Koay Teow.  We thought we allow this luxury since we have not been there for so long and we did enjoy the CKT there before.  The last time we were there, a plate of regular CKT was like RM5.50.  I believe that was quite some time ago.  Its now RM6.50 for a plate, and the taste still the same.  Its truly a luxury that we don’t get to enjoy often… We usually pay RM2.50 or RM3.00 per plate for a CKT, the Proton version of course.  The ones that is good enough to quench your thirst.  The BMW of CKT stands at RM6.50 per plate.  Almost 3 times the Proton version.  In the car industry, it would be 300 times, but in CKT world, its only 3x at best.  By the way, notice the empty tables and chairs, we were there early, at about 11.30am.  We left at about 12, and the place did not sizzle like it used to.  The Recession is getting to the folks in Penang.  BMW Char Koay Teow is not a true luxury.