DID YOU KNOW?

THE DANUM VALLEY Conservation Area in Borneo, State of Sabah, Malaysia has the best of both worlds — nature in a pristine state and world-class research facility. Together, they have placed the 438sq km of primary jungle on the international wildlife map, writes MARILYN GERARD. LOCATED 25km west of Lahad Datu is one of the world’s most complex ecosystems, the Danum Valley Conservation Area.Scientists from the world over come here to study wildlife in a primary forest, with many spending three years researching its scientific wonders and soaking up its charm.Central to the area is the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) set up by the Sabah Foundation, which has been home to researchers, nature students and wildlife lovers for the past 20 years.It is an anomaly: A fully-equipped centre with laboratory, library and computer centre plumb in the centre of what could be the best example worldwide of undisturbed flora and fauna. Run by the Royal Society South-East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP), it provides a platform for research besides conducting training and education programmes. Since its inception in 1986, more than 40 Malaysians have earned their PhDs based on research at the valley. Students from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Australia and the US have also used Danum as a research and training base.DVFC senior scientist Dr Glen Reynolds from UK has been mesmerised by the valley since setting foot there in 2000. The past seven years has seen him completing a PhD in forest rehabilitation besides assuming duties as the resident head of research facilities and 10 research assistants.He makes sure that scientists have equipment for research and do not want for anything. DVFC is a unique place to work at for both local scientists, as well as foreign scientists. Foreign scientists have benefited by working at DVFC as they had the opportunity to work with experienced Malaysian scientists. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of scientists coming to work at the centre. Many foreigners have come to the area with the assistance of the Sabah Foundation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the Sabah Forestry Department. The forest itself is the most important and best protected area, the only primary forest in Malaysia surrounded by natural forests and is well managed by Sabah Foundation.Danum is well known in the United Kingdom due to numerous British scientists having worked at DVFC since 1985. Universiti Sabah Malaysia is one of several local institutions which sends students here. While scientists have done great work at the valley, they have always worked in tandem with research assistants who are the backbone of the system.If you really love nature, Danum is the best place to be in.Its a gift of God."For visitors to the valley, accommodation is available at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge located an hour from DVFC.It can accommodate nearly 60 people at any one time with guides available for trips into the jungle.

www.borneorainforestlodge.cpm

DID YOU KNOW?

Even the respected New Straits Times newspaper in Kuala Lumpur has asked readers to make up their own minds about the photos. Villagers who claim to have seen the snake say they have given it the name of Nabau, after an ancient sea serpent which can transform itself into the shapes of different animals. People who have studied the photograph of the shape taken from the air have dismissed suggestions that it's a log. As one writer asked: 'A log can't be that winding, can it?' Others have suggested it's a speedboat, but this has been dismissed because of the twisting wake. The most common accusation is that the photo has simply been manipulated on a computer, while others complain that the river is a different. But villagers who insist the snake exists say that photos of the creature being taken in different parts of the river prove it is swimming about. Earlier this month scientists unearthed the fossil of a killer snake that was longer than a bus, as heavy as a small car and which could swallow an animal the size of a cow. The 45ft long monster - named Titanoboa - was so big that it lived on a diet of crocodiles and giant turtles, squeezing them to death and devouring them whole. Weighing an impressive 1.25 tons, it slithered around the tropical forests of South America 60million years ago, just five million years after the last dinosaurs were wiped out. Partial skeletons of the boa constrictor-like prehistoric killer were found in a Colombian coal mine by an international team of fossil hunters. For the record, the world's longest snake is generally recognised as the reticulated phyton, while the heaviest snake on record is a Burmese python. About this one we don't know how about you all do you thing this is real? Source from The Borneo Post and Mail Online (www.dailymail.co.uk)

DID YOU KNOW?

COCA-COLA can replace oil in cars. This unlikely theory was proved by British scientist Dr Jack Schofield in 1989 when he completed a 115 km round trip between Liverpool and manchester in a car whose engine was lubricated with Coke and a special additive. Dr schofield has developed a chemical that react to Coke or even tea to produce a lubricant that he claims can make engines last longer than they would with oil. In malaysia cooking oil from palm oil can become as an altenative lubricant this already been proven.

DID YOU KNOW?

A VIA FERARATA (or ‘iron road’ in Italian, plural via ferrate) is a mountain path consisting of a series of rungs, rails and cables embracing the rock face. It allows access to scenic sections of the mountains that are typically available only to rock climbers and mountaineers. The excitement, scenic beauty and personal conquest you'll experience on a via ferrata is guaranteed to give you an invigorating nostalgic experience for years to come.There are more than 300 via ferrata routes around the world predominantly in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland and Spain, and a few places in the United States and Canada. The world's highest via ferrata, Mountain Torq - which also happens to be Asia's first - can now be found on Mt Kinabalu in the east Malaysian state of Sabah.

SUMMARY

At 3,800m, Mountain Torq is the world’s highest and Asia’s very first via ferrata.

East Asia’s first mountaineering training center.

located on Mt Kinabalu National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site renowned for its rich plant and animal diversity. Awarded the Malaysian Book of Records for the World's highest Via Ferrata.

HISTORY OF THE first via ferrata were built in the Dolomite mountain region of northern Italy during the First World War, to aid the movement of military troops. In 1917, the Italians (as part of the alliance formed by Britain, France and Russia) were fighting a ferocious war with the Austrians in the Dolomites. Amidst harsh winter conditions and an escalating casualty toll, both sides tried to gain control of the peaks to site observation posts and field guns. To help troops move about at high altitude, permanent lines were fixed to rock faces and ladders were installed so that soldiers could ascent steep faces. These were the first via ferrate. In 1936, the first via ferrata created for tourists was built by the Italian Alpine Club (a club that traditionally promotes mountaineering). Today the Dolomites probably still have the greatest number of via ferrate. The wartime networks of via ferrate have been restored and many new routes added. Steel cables have replaced the ropes and iron ladders and metal rungs have taken the place of flimsy wooden constructions used by the Italian troops.

http://www.mountaintorq.com/pg1_viaferrata.html

DID YOU KNOW?

WHEN sea water freezes, most of the salt is contained in pockets of liquid that do not freeze. sea ice thus contains between a teeth and a hundreath as much salt as sea water, and it can be melted and drunk like fresh water.

ONLY 2.8% of the Earth's water is fresh, and of that small proportion only 6% is liquid, 90% is looked up in the polar ice-caps, and the remainder is water vapour in the atmosphere. And about 98% of Earth's liquid fresh water is underground.

THE AMOUNT of water on Earth has remained the same since the planet was created some 4600 million years ago.

DID YOU KNOW?

NOT EVERYONE regards a nobel prize as an honour. In 1958, Boris Pasternak was forced by the soviet authorities to refuse the literature prize. They objected again when it was offered to Alexandr solzhenitsyn in 1970. He accepted and four years later was exiled from the Soviet Union.

Boris Pasternak (left) and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (small pic)

Ex Singapore Prime Minister Profile

Lee Kuan Yew (born 1923) became prime minister of Singapore in June 1959. During his administration Singapore became part of Malaysia in September, 1963, and attained independence in August, 1965, after separation from Malaysia. Under Lee's leadership, Singapore was transformed into a modern and affluent citystate. Lee Kuan Yew was born in Singapore on September 16, 1923. He came from a middle class Chinese Hakka family which had been established in Singapore since his great grandfather migrated to the island in the mid-19th century. In 1931 he attended the Telok Kurau English School. Four years later, he moved to Raffles Institution, where he excelled in his studies and was always at the top of his class. Even at that early age, Lee demonstrated his potential and one of his teachers in Raffles Institution correctly predicted that he would "do well, unusually well" and attain "a high place in life." In 1939 Lee sat for the Senior Cambridge Examination and emerged as the top student for the whole of Malaya. The outbreak of World War II in Europe made him shelve his plans for further studies in England. He returned to Singapore and accepted a scholarship he had won to study economics, English literature, and mathematics at Raffles College, where he met his future wife, Kwa Geok Choo, and some of his future colleagues. When the Japanese conquered Singapore in February 1942, Lee was nearly 19 years old. The Japanese occupation had a tremendous impact on Lee. His studies at Raffles College were interrupted, and he learned Japanese and became a translator for the official news agency, Domei. More important, it was during this period that Lee's nationalist pride was kindled. He was painfully aware that the Japanese as well as the British, as foreigners, had no right to govern his people. He therefore resolved to make Singapore independent and free from foreign rule. Lee described the impact of the Japanese occupation on him in the following way: I did not enter politics. The Japanese brought politics to me. … The Japanese occupying forces were blind and brutal and made me, and a whole generation like me, in Singapore and Malaya, work for freedom - freedom from servitude and foreign domination. We decided that from then on our lives should be ours to decide, that we should not be the pawn and playthings of foreign powers. (Quoted in Alex Josey, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore: 1968.) Although Lee's political philosophy and ideas took root during the war, they had developed, like those of his colleagues, during his early college days in England, where he was exposed to the ideas of Fabian socialism. Immediately after the war, Lee went to England, enrolling first at the London School of Economics and then proceeding to Cambridge University, where he studied law. At Cambridge he established an excellent academic record and won a star for special distinction by graduating with a "double first" - that is, first class honors in his two crucial comprehensive examinations. Chooses a Political Career Lee returned to Singapore on August 1, 1950, and was married on September 30, 1950. He joined the law firm of Laycock and Ong and after a few years established his own company, Lee and Lee, in partnership with his wife and elder brother, who was also a British-educated lawyer. However, he was more interested in politics and the anticolonial movement in Singapore. He became the honorary legal adviser for several trade unions after being acquainted with their leaders. He first caught the public eye in February 1952, when the Postal Workers Union succeeded, with his guidance, in obtaining important concessions from the colonial government. During the same year the first of his three children, Lee Hsien Loong, was born. From 1952 to 1954, Lee met Goh Keng Swee, Toh Chin Chye, S. Rajaratnam, K. M. Byrne, and Samad Ismail weekly or fortnightly in his home. They discussed, among other things, the formation of a political party which would accommodate nationalists as well as those with radical political views. Their deliberations led eventually to the formation of the People's Action Party (PAP) on November 21, 1954, with Lee as its secretary-general. In April 1955, the PAP fielded four candidates in the election for a partially elected government, and three of its candidates were elected, including Lee, who was the PAP's candidate for Tanjong Pagar. This made Lee the longest serving member of parliament in the 1980s. In the first general election of May 30, 1959, the PAP fielded candidates in all the 51 electoral constituencies. It won 43 out of 51 seats and obtained 53.4 percent of the votes. On June 3, 1959, Singapore attained self-government, and two days later Lee and his colleagues formed the first government, with Lee as the first prime minister. A Capable Prime Minister Lee retained his position as prime minister when Singapore joined Malaysia in September 1963, and also after the attainment of independence in August 1965. The PAP government under Lee's leadership was in power for over a quarter-century as it was re-elected in the September 1963, April 1968, September 1972, December 1976, December 1980, and December 1984 general elections. Singapore's political stability and rapid economic growth during 1959-1990 and its resulting affluence was not accidental but the result of Lee's dynamic leadership and effective policies. When Lee and his colleagues assumed office in 1959, they were faced with the serious problems of high unemployment, severe housing shortage, and widespread corruption. Accordingly, they initiated an industrialization program, a low-cost public housing program, and a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy to tackle these problems. Lee's government succeeded in solving these problems as per capita GNP rose by 15 times from US$443 in 1960 to US$6,634 in the mid-1980s. During the same period, unemployment was no longer a problem with the attainment of full employment and the proportion of the population residing in public housing increased by ninefold from 9 percent to 81 percent. Furthermore, corruption was no longer a way of life in Singapore by the 1980s because of Lee's personal commitment to its eradication through comprehensive legislation (the Prevention of Corruption Act), an effective enforcement agency (the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) whose director reported to Lee directly, and periodic revision of civil service salaries and improvement of working conditions. Indeed, the quality of life in Singapore in the 1980s was much better as Singaporeans were not only better educated and informed, but also enjoyed a higher standard of living, better medical care and housing, and a longer life. If Stamford Raffles was the founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew was undoubtedly the founder of modern Singapore. In fact, Noel Barber sub-titled his book The Singapore Story (1978) "From Raffles to Lee Kuan Yew." Apart from being the only prime minister of Singapore for over 26 years, Lee was also perhaps the only non-Communist leader who succeeded in collaborating with the Communists during the nationalist struggle without succumbing to them after the struggle was won. He himself said that he and his colleagues were able to ride the Communist tiger without being eaten by it afterwards. The success of his various policies to make Singapore a better place to live in legitimized the PAP government's rule and kept the Communist threat under control. In 1984 Lee announced that he would retire from public office in 1988, at the age of 65 years, following the practice of major U.S. corporations, although he held onto the position of prime minister until 1990. The cabinet which was formed after the December 1984 general election was dominated by the younger leaders, who were expected to take over from Lee and his older colleagues. In 1990 Lee turned over the reins of government to Min Goh Chok Tong, who became the the second prime minister in Singapore's history. Lee found himself in some controversy after he left office: it was reported in The Far Eastern Economic Review that he and his eldest son had purchased condominiums in housing-scarce Singapore at discount prices, a charge Lee strongly denied, and the New York Times reported that Lee won a $71,000 libel suit in April of 1997 against Christopher Lingle, a reporter from the International Herald Tribune, who had charged Lee had used Singapore courts as instruments of repression. Lee was hospitalized for heart surgery in early 1996, but swiftly recovered. In a speech given June 7, 1996, to the Singapore Press Club and Foreign Correspondents Association, and reported by the Straits Times, Lee expressed his belief he had left his country in capable hands. "Singapore must have two preconditions to succeed: leaders who are tough-minded, dedicated, determined, able and honest, and people who are aware of our country's fundmanetal vulnerability who are willing to pull together to face challenges. We have to remain more tightly-knit, better organized and more capable or we will eventually be reabsorbed." About his decision to leave office, he said, "We put in our government a team of men of high capabilities and integrity." As to the question of whether Singapore can survive without him, Lee answered, "Yes, provided my country keeps strengthening its ties by continual self renewal and adjusting its policies to meet changing circumstances."

Ex Malaysian Prime Minister Profile

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad became the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981.Born on 20 December 1925 in Alor Setar, the capital of the State of Kedah, Tun Dr. Mahathir did his early and secondary education in his home town. In 1947, he gained admission into the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.Upon graduation, he joined the Malaysian government service as a Medical Officer. He left in 1957 to set up his own practice in Alor Setar. Tun Dr. Mahathir has been active in politics since 1945. He has been a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) since its inception in 1946.He was first elected as a Member of Parliament following the General Elections in 1964. However, he lost his seat in the subsequent General Election in 1969. Owing to his keen interest in the country's education, he was appointed Chairman of the first Higher Education Council in 1968, Member of the Higher Education Advisory Council in 1972, Member of the University Court and University of Malaya Council, and Chairman of the National University Council in 1974.In 1973, Tun Dr. Mahathir was appointed a Senator. He relinquished this post in order to contest in the 1974 General Elections where he was returned unopposed. Following the elections, Tun Dr. Mahathir was appointed the Minister of Education.In 1976, Tun Dr. Mahathir was made Deputy Prime Minister in addition to his Education portfolio. In a Cabinet reshuffle two years later, he relinquished the Education portfolio for that of Trade and Industry. As Minister of Trade and Industry, he led several investment promotion missions overseas. Tun Dr. Mahathir was elected as one of the three Vice Presidents of UMNO in 1975. In 1978, he won the Deputy President seat and in 1981, he was appointed President of the party. He was returned unopposed as President in 1984.In the 1987 party elections, Tun Dr. Mahathir defeated his challenger to retain the Presidency and in 1990 and 1993, he was again returned unopposed as party President. Under his leadership, the ruling party Barisan Nasional (National Front) won landslide victories in the 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1999 General Elections.Tun Dr. Mahathir is married to a doctor, Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah bt Mohd Ali, and they have seven children Marina, Mirzan, Melinda, Mokhzani, Mukhriz, Maizura and Mazhar.Tun Dr. Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister on October 31st 2003.