Thursday, March 20, 2014

For The Love Of All Things Indian

By CHUAH BEE KIM

BIG DEALS: Gear up for a colourful shopping spree at Global Indian Fiesta 2014

all pics by Malaysia-India Chamber of Commerce

JOHOR BAHRU: ONE need no longer make several stops at different places for Indian jewellery, accessories and hand-stitched embroidery -- at least, not during Global Indian Fiesta 2014.

A treasure trove of Indian products and food, the exhibition organised by the Malaysia-India Chamber of Commerce (Maicom) will be held at Galleria@Kotaraya, here, from Saturday to March 30, 10am to 10pm daily.

Maicom deputy president D.P. Ganapathy said local and overseas exhibitors would be setting up over 60 booths featuring textiles, saree, Punjabi suits, men's traditional attire, fashion accessories, cosmetics, spices and condiments.

There will also be North Indian sweets, Indian cuisine, Indian dishes, herbal products, interior decor and wooden and metal carvings.

Visitors will find products from Kashmir, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Visitors will also be able to find foreign and local Indian products that are only available at the Global Indian Fiesta.

After Johor Baru, the event, which ended in Sungai Petani, Kedah, two weeks ago, will be making its way to Shah Alam, from May 23 to June 1.

"After Shah Alam, it will head for Penang, Ipoh and back to Kuala Lumpur for the Deepavali celebration in October.

"Among the entertainment highlights are singing performances, talk shows, games and talent quests," said Ganapathy.

For details, visit the Maicom Facebook page.

Maritime Courses

NIMT in Educity, Nusajaya

By CHUAH BEE KIM

From left: Prof John Chudley, Prof Mike Wilkinson, Prof Malek Pourzanjani and Captain Razali Yaacob.

JOHOR BARU: One thousand new students are expected to enrol at the Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology (NIMT) Educity campus in Nusajaya when it opens in May.

Its president Prof Malek Pourzanjani said that number was expected to double by the end of the year at the institute, which has been built to accommodate 4,000 students.

Malek said this after signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Southampton Solent University (SSU) deputy vice-chancellor Prof Mike Wilkinson at the NIMT City Campus at Galleria@Kotaraya, here, yesterday.

Also present were SSU Dean of Maritime and Technology Faculty Prof John Chudley and NIMT founder and managing director Captain Razali Yaacob.

The city campus began offering diplomas in Maritime Transport Management, Port Management and Shipping Management in May 2011. It currently has 620 students.

Malek said NIMT would offer programmes in Maritime Health, Safety, Security and Environment, Maritime Law and Logistics in September.

With the signing of the MoA, homegrown professionals and students graduating from the NIMT can now pursue degree and graduate qualifications from SSU in the United Kingdom.

NIMT academic programmes are designed by academicians and industry players to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the maritime industry, maritime transport and its interface with associate industries.

The signing of the MoA will see an exchange of students from both countries. Plans for a twinning programme are in the pipeline.

Malek said NIMT, a Malaysia-Dutch private educational collaboration, was in talks with several global partners for joint collaborations.

"We are selective about who we want to work with. The two global partners we are in talks with are in the United States, Canada and Australia," he said, adding that NIMT was also looking at the possibility of working with a group of universities.

Razali said NIMT would play a significant role in nurturing Malaysian maritime professionals to meet the increasing demand for such professionals in Johor, which has a burgeoning oil and gas industry, in Malaysia and worldwide.

"However, students lack awareness of what the maritime industry is all about," he said.

Razali said 97 per cent of what went into Johor came through the three ports -- Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Gelang Patah; Johor Port in Pasir Gudang; and Tanjung Langsat Port, which is between the first and second ports.

Wilkinson said it was the same in the United Kingdom, where 97 per cent of its imports also came by sea.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Unending Debate

Hypocrisy of playing the racial card in Kajang

By Shahrum Sayuthi

How forcing this by-election could stop BN from employing the so-called racialist tactics has never properly been dwelled into but it is as clear as day that this ploy is Pakatan's way to win over impressionable moderates.

As Pakatan's tired script goes, only those in Pakatan are cool, genuine Bangsa Malaysia, while BN people are devoid of good traits and are just a band of racists.

On the ground, Pakatan's campaigning strategy reflects a totally different scenario.

While BN candidate Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun concentrated her campaign on providing good service as a wakil rakyat, the Pakatan camp had over the past few days resorted to attacking her personality as they tried to convince the Chinese in Kajang to despise her.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua started the ball rolling on Sunday when he resuscitated the issue involving the relocation of SRJK(C) Damansara in 2001, and accused Chew of not even lifting a finger to stop the decision when she was the then Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament from 1999 to 2008.

Despite Chew's explanation on the rationale for the relocation and what MCA had done to protect the interests of the school and pupils, the attacks against her on the issue have persisted.

Yesterday, PKR's Simpang Pulai assemblyman Tan Kar Hing reiterated the accusation that Chew had not been concerned enough about Chinese schools.

It's a sweeping assumption, especially when Chew herself was educated in a Chinese school and even received her tertiary education in a prestigious university in Taiwan.

The 13-year-old SRJK(C) Damansara issue was again raised at Tan's press conference, with the opposition leader bringing in tow some Petaling Jaya residents who used to oppose the relocation of the school.

Present was Bock Tai Hee, the former secretariat chief executive officer of United Chinese Schools Committee Association of Malaysia, or better known as Dong Zong.

Bock, who is campaigning in Kajang for PKR candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail insisted that the Chinese school system had been discriminated by the BN government.
Ironically, he could not defend his own stance.

When asked if there was any other country in the world with a Chinese school system other than Malaysia and China, Bock gave a resounding "no" for an answer.

Bock also admitted that even Singapore, with a high population of Chinese, had closed theirs down.
Yet, he insisted that the existence of Chinese schools in this country was because of the struggles of the Chinese community and that the BN government's ultimate aim was to close them down altogether.

Most unsettling was when Bock repeatedly referred to the national schools as "Sekolah Melayu (Malay schools)", which were purportedly given preferential treatment by the BN government,

It seems that people such as Bock and the Pakatan leadership had conveniently chosen to ignore the fact that Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the deputy prime minister, had repeatedly promised that the government would never close Chinese schools.

Also, conveniently forgotten by them were the billions of ringgit spent by the Federal Government annually to assist Chinese schools in terms of teachers' salaries and other contributions for their upkeep.

They evidently will never let go of the Chinese school issue and will use it as fodder to stir up the sentiments of the Chinese community to go against the BN government.

The glaring question then pops up: so who is really playing the racial card?

I Love The Rain

By CHUAH BEE KIM

I am sure I do not need to tell you the title of the song, whose melody is simple yet infectious, and whose lyrics beautifully reflect life.
Last Saturday, Johor folk saw the rain again, if only for a little while. I'm not sure which parts of the state but in Johor Baru, where my office is, the sight, sound and smell of rain really made everyone's day, even though it was only for a very short while.
After all, it hadn't rained for about three months.
The fact that it started to rain after the long dry spell made us realise how we tend to take things for granted.
How we waste water when we wash our cars, or just let water leaks go unattended without any urgency to repair it.
Regarding the latter, there is a water leak in Susur 1, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, which has been left unattended for months. I wouldn't be surprised if it is still leaking.
Fortunately, Johor did not have a water crisis, with the exception of Kluang where the residents' water supply came from the Sembrong Timur treatment centre.
Syarikat Air Johor Holdings (SAJ) had to introduce scheduled water supply exercises for the 150,000 residents there.
The move was implemented after the water level at the Semborang Timur river dipped to 0.2m, which was below the critical level of 0.5m.
The low level affected the output for the Southern Water Corporation treatment plant there.
The Semborang Timur Dam even went to as low as 0.1m at one time.
Some non-governmental organisations tried to help out by supplying water channelled from higher ground, and distributing the water to the villagers using a private tanker.
However, SAJ said this was not advisable as the water was not treated and could pose a threat to one's health or skin condition.
Then, on Sunday, it poured.
I usually carry an umbrella with me wherever I go but, due to the dry spell, I forgot to bring one when I went out that day, and so was caught in the rain.
However, I was happy and thankful for the rain.
A friend of mine who had been posted to Saudi Arabia told me that in that country, it's not only the children that come out and play in the rain. It seemed to him that people of all ages there would rejoice whenever it rained.
He said he had even come across people in Saudi Arabia who would stop their vehicles and get out just to touch the rain.
I have never been to Saudi Arabia, but I have heard about the dry spell in that country.
Last Monday, it rained again in Johor Baru. And again, as I am writing this. It is raining cats and dogs.
Now, instead of drought, one would be checking if there is any flash flood at flood prone areas.
In case you're still wondering about the title of the song, it is Let Her Go, by Passengers.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

April 6: Cast Your Vote (If U Love Indonesia)

Pak Taufiqur

The Consulate-General of Indonesia in Johor Baru is ready for the 2014 Indonesian legislative election that will be held in Malaysia on April 6.

A total of 327,000 eligible voters in Johor, Malacca, Pahang and Negri Sembilan are urged to cast their votes on this day.

Consul-General Taufiqur Rijal said a team of close to 1,000 election helpers have been roped in to be deployed to the four states in 300 rented vehicles. They will leave the consulate office in Jalan Taat on April 5 to venture into oil palm estates and remote areas to reach out to eligible voters on April 6.

A week before April 6, the consulate office will also despatch 16,000 self-addressed envelopes for those who want to cast their votes by post.

On April 6, voters can also head to the consulate office or the official residence of the Consul-General in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru, to cast their votes from 8am to 6pm.

I met Pak Taufiqur on Sunday, at an event called the "Pentas Menuju Pemilu". He took over from Jonas L. Tobing on Sept 1 last year.

Prior to his appointment as the Consul-General in the Johor Baru office, Pak Taufiqur had served in Sabah from 1991 to 1995 as the vice-consul. He was then posted to Kuwait from 1997 to 2001 as Head of the Consular Section, before helming the Consulate-General of Indonesia in Saudi Arabia from 2003 to 2007.

Meanwhile, the envoy is also waiting for the green light from both the Indonesian and Malaysian government to open a Sekolah Indonesia in Johor (most likely Johor Baru).

Currently, there are Indonesian schools in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Sekolah Indonesia will prepare schoolchildren for the Sekolah Dasar (primary), Sekolah Menengah Pertama (secondary) and Sekolah Menengah Atas (upper secondary) examinations.

As for the Indonesia Open University online courses, Pak Taufiqur said there are currently about 200 students in Johor pursuing degree and diploma programmes.

Monday, March 17, 2014

You Go Girl

The minister counsellor of the Consulate-General of Indonesia in Johor Baru, Djudjur S.H. Hutagalung (left) giving Shella Rini the thumbs up after she won the 2nd place in the public speaking competition on Sunday.

Called "Pentas Menuju Pemilu", the event was organised by Universitas Terbuka Pokjar Johor, and held at the Consulate General of Indonesia in Johor Bahru, a satelite office of the Indonesian Embassy in the southern region. The office is located at Jalan Taat, Johor Bahru.

A total of 9 Indonesia Open University students took part in the public speaking competition, organised in conjunction with the 2014 Indonesian legislative election that is happening in Malaysia on April 6. A total of 327,000 eligible voters in Johor, Malacca, Pahang and Negri Sembilan are urged to cast their votes on this day.

The Indonesian Consul-General Taufiqur Rijal (right) congratulates the champion Gupran, while Shella and 3rd place winner Surina, watches on.

Shella's first public speaking experience. The title of her talk "Semangat Nasionalisme".

That's me on the far left, feeling extremely happy and so proud of Shella. On the far right is Aarina Melinda Marzuki (wife of Djudjur S.H. Hutagalung) and next to her is Noranisa Wahid (wife of Taufiqur Rijal).

The judge for the public speaking competition was Andi Anto Patak, an undergraduate of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.