3 posts tagged “world”
Despite the current political turmoil that's happening in Malaysia I just want to express how proud I am to be a Malaysian. When you are in your hometown you might not realise it but once you open your eyes and see the world abroad, you will eventually understand.
Since before our departure I have realised the ties that we have with Great Britain and commonwealth countries in education. One of the good things was that we are able to study in one of the high quality universities recommended by the government of these countries. And up until today, even though some of the contracts are over, the universities keeps in contact with our government. And they even support renewal of the contracts with us, due to the good behaviour of our students. And the overseas college and universities can help to push things especially in acquring visas from their embassy/high commission (It happened to me and my batch). It shows how good relations we have with these people.
And with regards to passport and visas, we have virtually no problem travelling abroad except for Israel, due to our foreign policy. On my latest visit to the Balkans, I didn't have to queue up twice at night to get my visa done, like the Caucasians. "Malaysia?" the officer simply greeted me happily and checked my passport. I was honoured by that notion.
Then I recalled the time when I was in BTN. There was this guy telling us about how powerful Mahathir was in those days.
"If you let me keep my men in your country, I will ensure the safety of every personnel in your army" said the Prime Minister on his visit to Bosnia. There might be some truth in it.
In the place where I'm studying the local people always talk great things about Malaysia.
"It's my second home," said one. Some of the people here had served in the Malaya during the Communist/Confrontation era. It's as if the history book is alive. They can tell you bit by bit what really happened in during that time.
As for being a prominent country with a vast majority of muslims, our country is even recognisable in country like Bulgaria.
"Malazi? Malazi!" said a palestinian living in Bulgaria with a cheerful smile. They even treat me with palestinian cuisine. It was exciting.
If it is not because of the good relations with other countries, Malaysia wouldn't have gone up this far. I doesn't matter what is going to happen in future, I just hope for the best for my beloved country.
I went to the Green Fest last morning with my family and it was a blast. It was part of the Star Newspaper and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) activity which involved non government groups promoting nature. Though the place was crowded with people, particularly locals, I could still breathe the fresh air and feel the mild coldness of the forest. Most of the hundred year old trees are preserved here in FRIM, which is located somewhere in Kepong. Some people went for a jog here. Some even went cycling.
From the parking lot to the exhibition area was quite a journey. A lot of things were going on there. Contest forms, WWF promoters, the BRATs (if I'm not mistaken) and the most important one -free newspapers. You can get a free Star Newspaper just about anywhere. I was introduced to a few new stuff which I found intriguing. One of them is the palm based plates and cups. They were made to replace the paper plates and cups that we use for parties and such. Everything looked almost the same -except for the fact that they were brownish and smooth. The promoters said it could not last very long compared to the paper products. And another thing that surprised me was when we bought the plates. They put the plates into a sleek and light bag. It was very different from the normal plastic bag that we use, and was not durable. And I thought it was another palm based product not sold in the market. So much for the palm technology.
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Later I saw some Orang Asli (indeginous people) performing songs with nice melody. They even invited the visitors to play the instruments with them. Our walk stopped at the waterfall located near the canopy walk area.
Everything was great about the Green Fest except for some of the things which kind of irritates me. Some of the irresponsible visitors did not really understand the concept of the Fest after all. I caught one of them with my own eyes as she purposely throw the easy-to-get newspaper sheets on the road. The promoters were not excluded. Some of them smoke -contributing much to the carbon emission. The hawkers even put up much of the smoke that I could not even see what was coming in front of me. Maybe this was the first time such fest was held, so I can still forgive them. Hopefully the organisers would put these matters to their attention. Maybe put a notice that everyone should keep the environment clean, including reducing the carbon emission. We are trying to put awareness about the dangers of global warming, yet we are the one contributing to it. They should also put the exhibition on the road, since that it had caused quite a damage to the grass.
All in all I was satisfied enough with the joint effort by the Star and FRIM. They have put quite a good show.
In conjunction with the World Environment Day, I just produced a website to talk about things going around my hometown. I don't really sure whether it suits the theme for this year -which is global warming. But who cares? Environment is not just about one theme for each year.
The site talks about the flood that happened in Kuala Lumpur recently and the tragedy that happened in my hometown last year -in photo essays. Feel free to drop by and leave your comments in my guestbook. I would really appreciate it. You can also leave your comment here, in Vox.
Site address:
http://freewebs.com/mfnstudio/green
Thanks!
