The view from the hillside

The front page of today's The Star newspaper has the photograph of some residents of Medan Damansara protesting about a hillslope development near their homes. In light of the disaster that happened at Bukit Antarabangsa on Saturday, the protesters want the project to be stopped. The Prime Minister has already announced that all hillside developments to be halted. I've read that in Penang, the authorities have issued such directives to developers.

At the risk of stating the obvious, haven't we heard all this before? It is not our typical Malaysian culture to react (or over-react, as the case may be) only after disaster has befallen us? Have we forgotten Highland Towers? Did we also forget that last year a landslide at Kg. Pasir Ulu Kelang buried a squatter settlement?

Our former Prime Minister coined the famous phrase `Melayu mudah lupa'. I would suggest that we modify the phrase to `Orang Malaysia mudah lupa'. Because, I can guarantee you, a few years on, the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide will just become another historical event. The hillside developments will continue and we will never learn our lesson.

Erecting buildings or structures on hillsides or slopes, in itself, should not be a problem. The world is not flat and we cannot totally avoid construction on hills or mountain sides. Countries like Japan, that has more mountainous regions than flat ones, have been building houses, highways and bridges on slopes for years. There are always engineering solutions to slope construction problems but if we fail to observe the rules and take short-cut measures, then disasters will happen. I believe we already have the necessary regulations and legislations relating to hillside construction. There is also no shortage of geotechnical engineers or soil experts in Malaysia either. So why do we continue to experience such misfortune? I guess there is no need for me to answer this one, you guys probably know the answer already.

Hillside houses and condominiums are built (and will continue to be built) because there is a demand. The main draw of such dwellings is the breathtaking view. I was in Penang last week and while driving on the Batu Ferringhi road, I can see many upmarket condos being built on the steep hillside. I can bet you, the view of the sea from one of the high-altitude units is `worth a million bucks'.

Misty view of the Kuala Lumpur skyline as seen from Bukit Antarabangsa

When my family and I travel to KL, we usually put up at my brother-in-law's place at Bukit Antarabangsa. Indeed we were there on Saturday when the landslide occured. Early that morning, my wife received a phone call from another relative telling us of the event and worrying if we were trapped. We quickly had a look outside to determine where exactly the slope failure had occurred. Thankfully, the access road to my brother-in-law's house was not affected.

Unfortunately, those living on the upper reaches of Bukit Antarabangsa were trapped and had no way out. All of them were later asked to vacate their homes because the electricity supply had been cut off. Because there was no vehicular access, they had to trudge out on foot through wet and slippery uphill tracks created by the rescue authorities.

I personally know three persons who had to make that trek. One is a former colleague, another is an old schoolmate and the third is my own cousin. The sad thing was that my cousin's wife just gave birth a few weeks ago (masih dalam hari lagi, kata orang Melayu). Mother and baby had to be assisted out of the area.

I feel very sad for all those who had to endure the hardship and my condolences to the victims. And for the tragedy to happen close to Hari Raya Korban... May Allah grant all of you patience to face this trial and sacrifice.

Update @ 21:15 Hours :

For a first hand account of the incident, read Dr. Rafick's blog entry -> here.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha

My wishes to Muslim friends on this holy season of Aidiladha or more commonly known as Hari Raya Haji. Hoping that all of us would learn the true meaning of sacrifice.

Image from the e-zakat website.

Day trip to Pulau Pinang

We left KL on Tuesday afternoon and headed out for Butterworth on the mainland side of Pulau Pinang. I had a project meeting the next morning at Penang Port. We were caught in a traffic jam at the Kepong area of the MRR2 and reached Butterworth around 9pm.

I was a regular traveler to Butterworth a few years back, having been involved in the earlier phase of our company's project for Penang Port. Aside from the arduous driving, I liked coming up to Penang because it has many good makan places. After checking-in that night, we went for dinner at my favourite char kway teow stall in Seberang Jaya. The price is only RM3.50 a plate for the large portion.

After the project meeting the next morning, I had a choice of either going to the famous Kepala Batas ikan bakar stall for lunch or trying out something else on the island-side. I decided to take the ferry across to the island because there was another project site that I wanted to visit.

Ferry terminal on Penang side

Church Street Pier

View of the marina with the clock tower in the background

We had lunch of mutton briyani at Restoran Hameediyah at Lebuh Campbell... delicious. After lunch, I took the opportunity to drive over to the floating mosque at Tanjung Bunga for prayers.

The mosque is built on piles above a sandy beach to give that floating impression during high tide. It was a bright sunny day and there was a glorious view of the sea with the mainland in the background.

Small fishing boats viewed from the mosque

On the way back, we stopped by the Seri Tanjung Pinang development at Tg. Tokong, just to have a look at how the area has progressed since we were last there. Our company was involved in the reclamation works that began in 2003. The developer (part of the E & O Group) has completed the construction of a few phases of upmarket residences and is presently building a waterfront service apartment complex. The houses are beautifully designed and comes with prices to match. Way out of my league, I'm afraid.

We left the island by way of the Penang Bridge and was caught in the evening traffic snarl. It took us almost an hour to cross over to the mainland. I have no doubt that the second bridge planned for Penang is desperately needed.

A dry start to December

While the whole of the country is experiencing the rainy season that has brought on great distress in the form of floods and landslides, it is somewhat a dry start for me in this month of December in terms of blog posts.

It's not that I've run out of stories to tell but the last week was awfully busy. I haven't much time to log on to Blogger and respond to comments to my previous post. Sorry guys about that... will try to catch up on your comments this weekend. I wasn't able to drop by other friend's blogs either.

The last week was spent working from my company's head office in Kuala Lumpur and it would remain so for the next two weeks. I drove to Butterworth midweek to attend a project meeting. Yesterday evening I attended the wedding dinner of the eldest daughter of the boss. In between, I squeezed some time to drop by the opening of the latest Big Apple donuts outlet being run by some close friends at the new Aeon Jusco shopping mall in Keramat AU2.

I'll post about those events once I've downloaded some pics from my digicam. Thank you for your patience.

Of creed, colour and a clamp

I'll start off with the clamp first.

It is now the school holiday season here in Malaysia. During this time, Muslim parents who have young sons are planning for the `rites of passage' ritual for their boys. It is circumcision time... an anxious time of their life for the young boys. Sometimes the parents, especially the moms, are filled with anxiety and worries too.

The process of circumcision has changed a lot. The trade of the traditional Tok Mudim is dying away as most parents nowadays send their sons to private clinics. Doctors can even now offer their young patients the option of using circumcision clamps as opposed to the standard` snip and stitch' method. The clamp is a device that helps simplify the process because there is no need for sutures or dressings. The cut also tend to heal faster.

I've read some negative reviews about this particular method but having chosen this option for my youngest son's circumcision a few years ago, I can attest to its advantages. The clamp method is now widely used in Malaysia and some other developing countries. Not many people know that this device, commercially known as the Tara Klamp, was invented by a Malaysian doctor.

We'll come back to this subject a little later. I want to touch now on the subject of creed and colour.

Creed and colour relates to religion and race. In Malaysia, these two issues are so intertwined in the fabric of society and hardly a day pass by without something about race or religion being discussed in the mainstream media. The last few weeks have been no exception. I'm of course, talking about the decision of the National Fatwa Council regarding yoga.

Many blogs have touched on this issue and I do not wish to delve too deep into the merits of the decision itself. I just wish to share my observations based on what has been reported in the papers and the views and opinions of other bloggers. So here goes, in simple point form :

1. The National Fatwa Council cannot issue a fatwa or edict that is enforceable nationwide. Jurisdiction on Islam is a state matter.

2. The practice of yoga is not haram as long as it is not accompanied by mantras or chants that equates with the divinity of Allah swt.

3. The announcement by the council is a case of poor planning and foresight. Otherwise the Prime Minister and some Sultans would not have seen fit to publicly give their views on the matter.

4. The announcement has caused over-reactive response from both supporters and detractors. The response has come from non-Muslim individuals and communities too.

I do not think that this is the end of the story yet. I believe the Council could have handled this issue in a much better manner. While I appreciate their intent in issuing the directive (primarily that the Muslims who perform yoga do not become deviated in their faith - terpesong dari aqidah), they could have adopted a more thoughtful approach. The Gazer of Navels has an excellent example of how it could've been done -> here.

As I've said, many non-Muslim groups and bloggers have entered the discussion on this directive. This has prompted some Muslim groups to react by saying that `This is none of your business!'. Many Muslims are even chiding other fellow Muslims for questioning the ruling.

In my view, when it comes to issues like this, we Muslims cannot prevent non-Muslims from airing their opinions. Malaysians are not an exclusive society of this or that race only. What ever happens to one race could affect another... it's just a question of degree. We cannot fault our non-Muslim friends from showing their concern. What's important is the way this concern is raised... again we are back to the question of approach.

Similarly, Muslims cannot hold on to the position of exclusivity. By shutting out discussion, we are hindering the process of understanding. If we wish to attract other people to our religion or at least to understand it better, we should be encouraging interaction rather than building walls. We have to recognise that opinions and efforts of individual non-Muslims have their merits too.

Which now brings me back to the story of the humble circumcision clamp. After sending their sons to be circumcised using the clamp method, not many Muslim parents realise that the inventor of this device is a non-Muslim doctor. Dr Gurchran Singh won the Gold Award for his invention at the Geneva Exhibition in 1996.

Dr Gurchran donated thousands of his clamps to the young boys of Acheh in the aftermath of the tsunami. It's simplicity of use meant that the clamp was ideally suited to the non-hospital environments available in Acheh. This story of the good doctor helping out our neighbours in need was recorded by the Discovery Channel. Something that all Malaysians can be proud of.