28 October 2010
Through Facebook, I discovered that an old friend of mine has gone into the travel and tours business. She and husband is operating a holiday service to visit London, providing accomodation and other travel facilities in and around the UK. Go to http://www.mhhlondon.blogspot.com/ and you can choose all the attractive travel itinerary to the popular tourist attractions in UK. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye for first-time travellers to the UK; trip to the Cotswalds for the nature lovers; Stratford-Upon-Avon for the literary enthusiasts; Roman Baths for the history lovers, and many many more.
I have always loved London since my University days in 1975. Being a student then, I seldom had the chance to travel because of study commitments and financial constraints. The city of London has certain charms that only someone who has been there knows how to describe them. Somehow, once you visit London, you want to go back there again and again and again.....
Pssst....I love London but that does not mean I love Malaysia less!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Happy Birthday Celebrations
What a wonderful time we had at Tan Sri Salleh's 70th birthday bash at Pondok De Rimba situated at his hometown, Dangi, Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan. Invitees who came all the way to celebrate his birthday came from all walks of life, I could see that. Old friends and families came by the dozens....His so called pondok is so sweet with a beautiful tangga Melaka going up the house. Tan Sri Salleh obviously documented all of his life achievements by framing all his credentials and displaying them on the walls of his Anjung. What a meaningful personal gallery he has there for him and his friends to reminisce his track record of achievements.
The Palm Oil man Tan Sri Augustine S H Ong was there with his charming wife, forever looking young as ever. Its the palm oil, I think that is behind the heathy ageing and living.
Tan Sri Salleh told me personally, just as we were leaving, that he shall invite us over again for his 110 th birthday! InsyAllah.....Tan Sri, dipanjangkan umur, di murahkan rezeki. We shall be there...
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Melaka 2010 - Developed City
20 October 2010
20/10/2010 is a proud day for Malacca - the historical state in Malaysia. Today, Malacca (Melaka in Malay) is officially declared as a "developed state" and finally recognised so by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Jon Hall, who has been leading the OECD's Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies, said Malaccans had higher than the OECD's minimum levels in virtually all indicators.
To commemorate this auspicious occasion, the Malaccan government launched the monorail along the Malacca River, running from Taman Rempah (Spice Garden) in Pengkalan Rama to Kampung Bunga Raya Pantai in the heart of the historic city. The RM15.9m project is part of the state's aim to further tap the potential of the Malacca River as a tourist attraction.
Reliable sources told me that the Malacca River Cruise will in future be expanded to cruise along the Linggi River. Hope this will come true because way back in the late 90's, 3 of us bought an orchard lot each in Linggi, for reasons of our own. Hopefully, we can harvest some returns from our investment with the expansion of the River Cruise., insyAllah....
20/10/2010 is a proud day for Malacca - the historical state in Malaysia. Today, Malacca (Melaka in Malay) is officially declared as a "developed state" and finally recognised so by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Jon Hall, who has been leading the OECD's Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies, said Malaccans had higher than the OECD's minimum levels in virtually all indicators.
To commemorate this auspicious occasion, the Malaccan government launched the monorail along the Malacca River, running from Taman Rempah (Spice Garden) in Pengkalan Rama to Kampung Bunga Raya Pantai in the heart of the historic city. The RM15.9m project is part of the state's aim to further tap the potential of the Malacca River as a tourist attraction.
Reliable sources told me that the Malacca River Cruise will in future be expanded to cruise along the Linggi River. Hope this will come true because way back in the late 90's, 3 of us bought an orchard lot each in Linggi, for reasons of our own. Hopefully, we can harvest some returns from our investment with the expansion of the River Cruise., insyAllah....
Oil Palm - Replanting
19 October 2010
The Star today carried a news column on oil palm replanting, highlighting the role of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board(MPOB) on this issue. This semi-government agency under the Ministry of Plantation Management and Commodities is entrusted with the job of encouraging oil palm smallholders to replant their trees with higher-yielding clones once the palms passed thier economic life of 25 years. The smallholders will be given cash of RM1000 per acre if they undertook this replanting scheme with MPOB. However, response from the scheme has been lukewarm. The big players in the palm oil industry too are delaying to replant oil palm because of the relatively high prices that the commodity is fetching in the market place. If both the smallholders and their big brothers are unwilling to replant for reasons of their own, our country is going to be affected in terms of national oil palm productivity. We may no longer be the No 1 Palm Oil producer because our neighbour Indonesia is slowly overtaking us sooner than later!
Psss.....Do the smallholders need a much bigger incentive to replant oil palm????
The Star today carried a news column on oil palm replanting, highlighting the role of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board(MPOB) on this issue. This semi-government agency under the Ministry of Plantation Management and Commodities is entrusted with the job of encouraging oil palm smallholders to replant their trees with higher-yielding clones once the palms passed thier economic life of 25 years. The smallholders will be given cash of RM1000 per acre if they undertook this replanting scheme with MPOB. However, response from the scheme has been lukewarm. The big players in the palm oil industry too are delaying to replant oil palm because of the relatively high prices that the commodity is fetching in the market place. If both the smallholders and their big brothers are unwilling to replant for reasons of their own, our country is going to be affected in terms of national oil palm productivity. We may no longer be the No 1 Palm Oil producer because our neighbour Indonesia is slowly overtaking us sooner than later!
Psss.....Do the smallholders need a much bigger incentive to replant oil palm????
Monday, October 18, 2010
Golden Age of Palm Oil
18 October 2010
The other day on ASTRO, there was a documentary and interview with Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, the former Minister of Primary Industries on Palm Oil. Despite his retirement from the industry years ago, this man is still passionate about our Golden Crop. My personal opinion is that he had been the champion of palm oil during his Ministerial days, after taking over from YB Datuk Paul Leong Kee Siong during the mid 1980's. In fact, the period of mid 80's till 2005 was the golden age of palm oil, to my mind. It was during this period that PORIM (now MPOB) made such a big impact in the edible oils and fats industry in the world. We made breakthough discoveries on the nutritional values of palm oil, fighting off the Anti Palm Oil Smear Campaign waged by the American Soyabean Association(ASA) with the positive results MPOB obtained from the research grants given to various established Universities all over the world to conduct research on palm oil. MPOB then was the premier research institute on oil palm and palm oil, true to its Mission and Vision statement. For the past 5 years, MPOB gradually lost its oomph somehow, even though Malaysian Palm 0il remained as the No 1 Oil in the world. (Pardon me, if I am wrong). Leadership plays an instrumental role in the rise and fall of an organization. It is Leadership also that make or break an organization.
I was happy and proud serving MPOB during the golden age of palm oil 1982-2005. During this period, Tan Sri Yusof Basiron was the Director-General of MPOB and YB Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik was the Minister of Primary Industries of Malaysia.http://www.mpob.gov.my/
The other day on ASTRO, there was a documentary and interview with Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, the former Minister of Primary Industries on Palm Oil. Despite his retirement from the industry years ago, this man is still passionate about our Golden Crop. My personal opinion is that he had been the champion of palm oil during his Ministerial days, after taking over from YB Datuk Paul Leong Kee Siong during the mid 1980's. In fact, the period of mid 80's till 2005 was the golden age of palm oil, to my mind. It was during this period that PORIM (now MPOB) made such a big impact in the edible oils and fats industry in the world. We made breakthough discoveries on the nutritional values of palm oil, fighting off the Anti Palm Oil Smear Campaign waged by the American Soyabean Association(ASA) with the positive results MPOB obtained from the research grants given to various established Universities all over the world to conduct research on palm oil. MPOB then was the premier research institute on oil palm and palm oil, true to its Mission and Vision statement. For the past 5 years, MPOB gradually lost its oomph somehow, even though Malaysian Palm 0il remained as the No 1 Oil in the world. (Pardon me, if I am wrong). Leadership plays an instrumental role in the rise and fall of an organization. It is Leadership also that make or break an organization.
I was happy and proud serving MPOB during the golden age of palm oil 1982-2005. During this period, Tan Sri Yusof Basiron was the Director-General of MPOB and YB Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik was the Minister of Primary Industries of Malaysia.http://www.mpob.gov.my/
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Oil Palm Replanting
13 Sept 2010
At our Raya Open House, I had wanted actually to request my old classmate Mr K Perumal to explain to my 2 brothers the economic feasibility of planting oil palm on rubber land. But the ocassion, I suppose, was not right, simply because it was Hari Raya and people do not want to discuss any heavy issues. I hope there will come a good time to discuss whether it is now timely to convert our rubber estate to oil palm. Our family rubber estate of 13 acres is now more than 25 years old, nearing its lifespan. Something needs to be done on the land, even though my aged mother convinced me that she is still getting some income from the rubber estate. I suppose I have to put this conversion idea on hold for some time yet.
Previous discussion with Perumal made me want to convert it immediately, but it would have to be a family decision when to embark on it. Once planted, it would take 3 years for the oil palm to bear its fruits, as compared to rubber which takes 7 years to harvest.
At our Raya Open House, I had wanted actually to request my old classmate Mr K Perumal to explain to my 2 brothers the economic feasibility of planting oil palm on rubber land. But the ocassion, I suppose, was not right, simply because it was Hari Raya and people do not want to discuss any heavy issues. I hope there will come a good time to discuss whether it is now timely to convert our rubber estate to oil palm. Our family rubber estate of 13 acres is now more than 25 years old, nearing its lifespan. Something needs to be done on the land, even though my aged mother convinced me that she is still getting some income from the rubber estate. I suppose I have to put this conversion idea on hold for some time yet.
Previous discussion with Perumal made me want to convert it immediately, but it would have to be a family decision when to embark on it. Once planted, it would take 3 years for the oil palm to bear its fruits, as compared to rubber which takes 7 years to harvest.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Hari Raya - Balik Kampung!
Hari Raya to me means going back to my hometown Kg Chin Chin, Jasin MELAKA (Malaysia). And this time, we held an Open House on the third day of Raya. What a wonderful turnout it was! My remaining old relatives were there - of course my aged mum Hjh Teh Zaharah and her equally ageing youngest sister Hjh Shamsiah Hj Musip. These are the remaining primadonnas of Kg Chin Chin, the flag bearers, so to speak, of the growing Lord Chin Chin Clan. Of course, there were also the young and vibrant members of the same clan, meeting up each other in the midst of the good mood of Raya, good food and drinks, strengthening the good relations that we always had for each other....
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