Choked in Smoke

 

Once again, Malaysia is shrouded in smoke-filled air. This is now becoming an "annual" affair much to the annoyance of Indonesia's neighbours. This problem which was raised by the Friends of the Earth in 1997 shows no sign of resolution.

 

This smog has caused much friction between Indonesia and her neighbours particularly with Singapore. Singapore suffering under a polluted air with a Pollutant Standards Index of 401 on 21.6.2013 "accused" Indonesia was not doing enough to address this problem. Indonesia retorted that the culprits are not entirely Indonesians but companies owned by Singaporeans and Malaysians.

 

My suggestion: Very severe penalty to be imposed on companies found to be carrying out open burning. May be RM10m at a time - an amount that hurts! Of course, many doubt whether this can be implemented and enforced in a country like Indonesia!

 

The sky at my house on 21.6. 2013. Air Pollutant Index reported to be 79.

 

The sky at my house on 22.6.2013. Patches of clouds are now visible.

Professionals are Leaving for Singapore

Yesterday, I had a chat with another engineer who has resigned after working in our office for over four years. When pressed on, he revealed that he and his architect GF (with Innotech) are planning to work in Singapore.

I could sense that all young professionals are not happy with the pay situation in Sabah. Sad to say, pays for professionals are generally lower compared to that offered in West Malaysia and Singapore. I could not fully explain why this is the case in Sabah. Some say it's because of the smaller market and the quantum of professional services from local projects are predictably not sufficient to be sustainable in the long haul. Or are bosses not prepared to allocate bigger portion of their income for staff remuneration but only for themselves?

This is critical issue to think about and to act on for the long term viability of professional practices by the local practitioners. In fact, quite a number of engineers after having worked a couple of years here and then decided to move to work in Singapore. The beneficiary is of course Singapore and the loser - Sabah.

We are forever left with the task of training fresh engineers! Fortunately or unfortunately, I am on my way out of full time professional practice!

Unique Things About Black People

A few things we were told by our local tour guide Linda Leung about the black people:

They have skin that secretes more oil and hence suffer less on dryness of skin. She asked us to touch the skin of black people to ascertain this. We did and it appears to be true.

They have better eye sight. Hence, we do not find a lot of black people wearing glasses.

They are good runners: Their ancestors have spent the whole life chasing antelopes, gazelles! Hence, many fast Olympics runners are black.

However, their bones are comparatively heavier. Hence, they are not great swimmers! So far, no good Olympics swimmers are black.

World Cup 2010 Stadium, Johannesburg

The final of the World Cup 2010 between Spain and Netherlands was played in this stadium. Spain defeated Netherlands at 1-0 during extra time. South Africa, the host nation was eliminated during the first round.

This stadium has a capacity of 84,490 and built at a cost USD $440 million.

Stadium at night, unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to see it lighted up like this.

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10 stadiums across South Africa were used to host the World Cup 2010. I also caught a glimpse of another stadium that was used in the Cape Town while our tour bus was passing along the road by the stadium.  This was built at a cost of USD $600 million.

Capacity:64,100

Life as a South African

According to our local tour guide, Linda Leung, South Africa has a population of 52 million. 78% are black Africans and 12% white. Officially, unemployment is 20 over percent. She put the figure at 43%.

Poverty is obvious as one traverses across this country. Along highways and in particular at traffic junctions, many black peddlers can be seen selling all kinds of things, most are selling home-made items of handicrafts. Some also act as walking advertisements promoting products or advertising upcoming events.

Making and marketing of handicrafts is big industry in South Africa. The blacks are very creative people.

Many blacks definitely have benefitted under the black government of Nelson Mandela and the subsequent black presidents. Thousands and thousands of houses have been built and given to the blacks free of charge.

Ironically, Malaysia exported their NEP to South Africa which they call BEE (Black Economic Empowerment). All businesses must employ a certain quota of black. 25% of the shares of a company must be reserved for black. This may be good initially when the poorer people are assisted to move up the economic ladder. However, taking the wealth from the minority and give it to the majority who do not work for it is not sustainable in the long term. If such policy is adopted indefinitely, it would only create generations of people who just live on crutches. Unless a deadline is set for such policy, this will eventually lead to a failed nation. In the end, the greatest losers are the people who are supposed to benefit from such policy :(

Zimbabwe is a good example of this. Currently, 10,000 Zimbabwean dollars can't even buy a loaf of bread. It's easy to be a trillionaire in Zimbabwe!

Voortrekker Memorial, Pretoria

Voortrekker Memorial was built to commemorate the migration of the Afrikaners and the Dutch from the Cape colony to Pretoria region between 1835 to 1854. This Memorial is sited strategically on a hill overlooking Pretoria.

The tour guide told us the history based on the numerous panels of carved human figures on the walls. After the Voortrekkers migrated to the area of present day Pretoria, frequent clashes happened between the Voortrekkers and the Zulu people. Finally, the idea of having a ceasefire agreement was mooted. Voortrekkers' leaders were invited under false pretence by the Zulu king, Dinggane for a peace negotiation. Piet Retief, Piet Uys along with 70 men with boys among them and 30 servants entered Zulu's region unarmed. That night, all the Voortrekkers were murdered by the Zulu.

Because of the renege, the Voortrekkers were deeply angered by such dishonourable act and vowed to avenge their dead compatriots.

Andries Pretorius led 470 men and 64 wagons into Dingane's territory on 16 December 1838. They won over an attacking army of 10,000 to 15,000 Zulu warriors. The Zulus sustained losses of an estimated 3,000 warriors in what became known as the "Battle of Blood River". The Boers sustained no casualties.

After the battle, Pretorius made an agreement with Dingane's brother which forced Dingane and those loyal to him into exile.

The Boers believed that God granted them victory and thus promised that their descendants would commemorate the day of the battle as a day of rest. Boers remembered it as "Dingane's Day" until 1910. It was renamed "Day of Vow", later "Day of Covenant", and made a public holiday by the South African government. After the dismantling of apartheid in 1994, the new government kept the day as a public holiday as an act of conciliation to the Boers, but renamed it "Day of Reconciliation".

The name of the city, Pretoria was named after Pretorius.

According to the local tour guide, every year on 16 December, many Boers come to pray non-stop the whole day at this Memorial.

At 12.00 noon on 16 December every year, the sunlight passes through the specially built hole at the roof top and lands exactly onto the memorial stone at the ground floor. This is quite an achievement in engineering and astronomy.

The roof level balcony has a good view of Pretoria.

After the dismantling of apartheid, the black took over power from the white. This Memorial which in a way could be perceived as being shameful to the Zulu is still being retained as a sign of reconciliation. Of course, this Memorial is now a key foreign exchange earner for South Africa. Removal of this iconic structure would be disastrous.

I believe Malaysia, known for distorting certain part of the national history to promote the agenda of a dominant race can learn a lot from this Memorial.

Look Alike

In the train ride in the Gold Reef City Amusement Park, I found a small girl among a group of students from the Limpopo region (northeast of South Africa) who looks almost like Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy Huxtable, the youngest daughter in Cosby Show).

In the restaurant in Lesedi Cultural Village, I told the man manning the food counter that he has the look of Mike Tyson. He immediately put up the boxing gesture confirming that probably many people have felt the same way about his look.

Lesedi African Lodge & Cultural Village

Lesedi African Lodge & Cultural Village was set up based on commercial consideration. Still, this is a good place to learn about the black people and their cultures in a very short time. Read here for more.

There are four main tribes of black people in South Africa: The Zulu, Basotho, Xhosa and Pedi.

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The Zulu people is the largest tribe in South Africa.

Zulu man can have many wives. While each of his wives and her children stay in separate hut, one hut is designated as common kitchen. They all cook and eat together in this kitchen

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A Zulu girl.

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The Basotho men wear a kind of hat which is very similar to what the Kazadan women wear. However, our local tour guide told us a different story. She said that the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty were the first to land on the African continent based on the feature of the Basotho hat which is similar to the Mongolian hat. Basotho people reside mainly in Lesoto.

Lesoto is one of the poorest regions in South Africa, 1 in 4 persons are infected with aids according to the local guide. Many migrant workers in Cape Town and Johannesburg come from Lesoto.

The common cooking area is built in open space. Cooking range has four sides. Cooking would be done on the side unaffected by wind. A clever idea!

Basotho Hat

Mongolian Hat

Kadazan Hat

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The most well known Xhosa: Nelson Mandela.

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Living quarters of the Pedi people.