OUR RICE EQUATION, INTO MALTHUSIAN NIGHTMARE

We do need brainy but brave ideas to overcome rice shortage in the country. There has been lot of talking for many years to bring the equation to self-sufficiency and beyond but there is no dedicated policy and national will to make it happen.


The world rice production in 2001 was 585.6 million tonnes. By the year 2020 the world must produce 760 million tonnes of rice in order to keep up with population growth. Is it achieveable? One cannot help but not to be optimistic.

Food production is characterized by constant linear growth rates and that of population is geometrical. There are multitudes of factors affecting food production. Calamities brought about by climatic change can be disasterous.

Suppose China has to import bulk of its rice from the two producer countries in this region - Vietnam and Thailand, inadvertantly our rice supply from the two countries would be outcompeted and reduced. Could the country resort to other suppliers? The answer is bleak because neighbouring countries are also dependent on imports or they are just self-sufficient - Bangladesh, the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan. To buy from the world’s open market is very competitive, only 7% o the world’s supply is available.

At estimated per capita daily consumption of 367gm/day of rice and with a population of 26 million the country needs 9,542 tonnes of rice/day or 3.4 million tonnes per year. A reserve of about 1 million tonnes of rice to last for at least 3-4 months in case of emergency is also needed. Current production in West Malaysia is at 65% self-sufficient. Sarawak and Sabah figures are dismally lower!

Tunku Abdul Rahman launching MADA by opening the the Pedu Dam watergate.

The Muda Irrigation Scheme (MADA) in Kedah is our foremost rice bowl encompassing an area of 96,000ha and producing about 40% of our rice. The mega project was completed in the early seventies with funding from the World Bank. About 5,000 litres of water is required to produce 1kg of rice.

Of late there has been substantial losses of padi land in MADA due to lack of irrigation water, to industrialization and urbanization. A 1999 survey indicated that the number of family members and people engaged in farm work in MADA will decrease by 14% and 38% respectively by 2013.






Rice production involves harmonizing a complexity of factors. The production equation is basically a function of land, water, climate, technology, policy etc. To increase production means that we need to increase land area for rice and productivity per unit area.

Kemubu Irrigation Scheme of KADA, Kelantan, another major rice production centre in the country.


Land for padi growing is being out-competed for residential, industrial and infrastructural purposes. There is competing demands for water for agriculture, drinking, home, and industrial uses and are pressing against hydrologic limits.

Pollution of groundwater and surface water by herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals have adverse effects on the environment and health. Strict regulations need to be enforced.

Climatic changes in rainfall patterns, wind directions, temperature rise due to deforestation, open burning, and global warming affect photosynthetic rates and hence plant growth and yield. Improved varieties in terms of yield, quality, pest and disease resistance need to be planted along with appropriate fertilizer and other cultural practices.

Mechanization, has improved production efficiency and obviate much of the laborious work in land preparation, sowing, and harvesting needs further research and fine tuning.





There has been talk of being self-sufficient in rice for decades but our political will and development strategies are not committed to attain the goal. Many including politicians view that to rely on import is more economical. It is a short-sighted and blatantly selfish approach. We need to lay the provision for future generations.

Food security is national security. Being self-sufficient means that we can take on globalization and the FTA squarely on the face.

The chloroplast rice genome mapped by Japanese rice scientists.



There is an urgent need for the country to establish a dedicated wholesome strategy to be self-sufficient in rice. The strategy should be comprehensive using cutting-edge science, technology and arts towards self-sufficiency of the rice industry. The existing structures, facilities, and institutions working on rice are but disparate entities. Their functions and efforts lack cogency and coordination resulting in serious gaps and bottlenecks plaguing the padi and rice industry.

Considering the complexity of the issues and challenges facing the rice industry it is imperative that Malaysia establish a NATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE using the framework of rubber, cocoa, and oil palm as templates. We have witnessed tremendous technological advancement in those crops. Their successes are made possible due to the adequate number of highly trained staff, advanced equipments and facilities, budget, policy support, and other enablers well committed to better achieve institutional goals.

Many Asian countries have long established their national rice research institutes to ensure food security.


 “Rice is so ingrained in the psychology of our people that we cannot suggest eliminating it. It is precisely because it is so important to us that we have a constructive starting point to develop interest and involvement in producing more and better rice, more cheaply and efficiently” - Tun Abdul Razak Hussin.

NAK KU BELAJAR JUMPA MENTERI

Tiap hari Ahad dari awal pagi hingga tengah hari ada flea market di bandar Ipoh. Oleh keran sudah lama tidak menjengok, pagi tadi kesempatan pergi dan membeli beberapa buku lama dengan harga murah. Buku kecil 72 muka ditulis oleh Mansor Sanusi ini diterbitkan oleh Sinaran Bros, Bayan Lepas. Tahunnya tidak disebut. Dibeli dengan harga 50 sen dan harga asal  $1.00.

Terkandung 21 karangan (pelajaran) pendek diikuti dengan soalan2 dipenghujung karangan. Yang menarik ialah Pelajaran 12, Si-Peladang dengan Dato' Menteri.

Tajuk itu memberi pengajaran kerana tak ku bawa durian kapada menteri bila hendak jumpa mereka. Sudah tiga menteri hendak saya jumpa dengan tujuan tertentu tetapi  tidak berhasil. Apa lagi sudah menjadi peladang selepas bersara ni.

Episod 1. Memandangkan keadaan padi-beras negara yang kian meruncing SAVE teruja menyerahkan memorandum serta dilampirkan dengan kertas-kerja  kapada Menteri Pertanian (dahulu) melalui Setia Sulit Kanan, Mohd Sukor Abd Manan pada Oktober 2007 (lihat dibawah). Serta saya hadiahkan sebuah buku bibliografi pertanian kapada beliau.

Selain daripada itu ada berbincang dengan Pegawai Khas Kementerian, Dr Noor Soeraya Norsham berkenaan penajaan buku bibliografi padi yang hendak diterbitkan.

Hingga hari ini tidak ada jawapan, apakan lagi temujanji dengan menteri. Bermakna memorandum dan cadangan tidak disampaikan kapada menteri.

Episod 2. Surat saya (2010) kapada Alyas Hj Amir, Setiausaha Peribadi Menteri Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan untuk mengadakan temujanji dengan menteri tidak berjawab.

Episod 3. Kerana ingin menyumbang kepakaran saya hendak jumpa MB Perak melalui Setiausaha Sulit Kanan, Rashidi Ibrahim untuk buat temujanji. Tidak menerima jawapan. Saya hadiahkan buku bibliografi pertanian kapada beliau juga. Ada dia minta buat kertas kerja untuk melatih belia menganggur tetapi saya  katakan supaya menggunakan pelbagai institusi latihan dan infra yang sedia ada.

Kesimpulan: Pegawai setiausaha tidak mengamalkan keterbukaan pejabat menteri. Mereka cukup sibuk, tidak hendak disibukkan lagi walaupun dengan idea lain.


Memorandum kapada Menteri:
2 Oktober 2007


YAB Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin
Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani
Pejabat Menteri
Aras 17, Wisma Tani
No 28, Persiaran Perdana
Presint 4, 62624 Putrajaya


Yang Amat Berhormat Menteri,
Per: Memorandum untuk Menubuhkan Agensi Khas Penyelidikan Padi dan Beras Malaysia
Merujuk perkara diatas kami dari pihak Sustainable Living Institute (SAVE) ingin mengemukakan memorandum kapada pihak Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani agar mengambil langkah untuk meningkatkan teknologi dan logistik kesemua aspek pengeluaran, pemprosesan, pemasaran padi dan beras negara secara menyeluruh digembelingi oleh satu agensi/institusi/lembaga ditubuhkan khas memajukan sektor padi dan beras.
Strategi menubuhkan agensi khas di jangkakan lebih berkesan untuk mencapai matlamat pengeluaran beras negara mencukup 100% mahupun lebih. Kita mengambil contoh tanaman seperti getah, kelapa sawit dan koko yang telah pesat maju selepas diwujudkan institusi penyelidikan atau lembaga masing-masing.
Diunjurkan bahawa daya pengeluaran negara-negara pengeksport beras akan berkurangan kerana bilangan dan keperluan penduduk sentiasa meningkat. Tanaman padi pula menghadapi cabaran dalam ekosistem dari aspek iklim, kesuburan tanah, pencemaran, pengairan, banjir, musuh dan lain-lain faktor yang kian meruncing dan tentu akan mengurangkan kadar hasil dan keluasan tanaman padi. Dalam keadaan tersebut Malaysia
tidak seharusnya bergantung kapada import terutamanya untuk keperluan generasi akan datang.
Bersama ini dilampirkan juga hujah-hujah dan maklumat-maklumat lain yang berkenaan agar memorandum ini mendapat perhatian dan tindakan dari pihak Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani.
Sekian dan terima kasih.


Yang benar,

(signed)
Sustainable Living Institute (SAVE)

OF TWO MALAYS, FRIEND (circumnavigated) AND FOE (circumvented) OF MAGELLAN

In 1506 Ferdinand Magellan, an impoverished nobleman-soldier came to be in the Orient when he joined Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of India,  leading a powerful sea expedition with 1,500 soldiers to Calicut.


Magellan in the Malay Archipelago

Magellan saved de Sequeira’s flotilla in Malacca in 1509 when he gave an early warning of an attack by the Malays. In 1511 he was a already promoted to captain and took part in the Malacca campaign under Albuquerque. After seven years in the Orient he returned to Lisbon bringing with him among others a Malay slave by the name of Traprobana (non-Malay sounding, a corruption; named Enrique by the Portuguese), and a woman slave both from Sumatra.


In Lisbon, Magellan grew in disfavour of King Manuel of Portugal. He left for Spain and denounced his Portuguese citizenship and became a naturalized Spaniard. In March 1518, King Charles of Spain agreed to sponsor him to find a new route to the Moluccas and hence fame to the Crown - five ships, crews, victuals, artillery, and supplies for two years of voyage were provided.


Epoch voyage

On September 20, 1519 Magellan in his flagship ‘Trinidad’ set from San Lucar, Spain for the epoch voyage with four sister ships - ‘San Antonio’, ‘Concepcion’, ‘Victoria’ and ‘Santiago’. The crew numbered 267 men consisting of many nationalities including Malays, Moors, and other natives. Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian knight was the historian of the expedition. Enrique the Malay became the interpreter-slave and foster-son of Magellan.

The five ships sailed westwards and reached the coast of Brazil. When the captains of three of Magellan’s ships mutinied they were quelled and the leaders executed. One of the ships later deserted and returned to Spain. Just to the year after setting sail Magellan crossed the straits around Patagonia which now bear his name. With four ships left in the flotilla they sailed across the Pacific and after much deprivations landed at Guam on March 6, 1521.

It was a very historic event when on March 17, 1521 Magellan made landfall in the Philippines at an uninhabited islet of Homonhon, south of Samar. They exchanged gifts with food brought by several natives who came in a boat from a neighbouring island.


When they sailed to Limasawa, another island south of Leyte, Enrique was made to good use to communicate in Malay with Rajah Kolambu, king of the island-kingdom. A Malay-Spaniard, and hence east-west friendship was sealed through a blood compact (kasikasi).





Proselytization

Magellan was over-zealous in trying to convert the natives to Christianity. Under the guise of friendship and a show of force that bedazzled the natives. Rajah Kolambu , along with his brother Rajah Siagu and subjects of the former, they kissed the cross of the Spaniards. That was on 31 March, 1521.
On April 7, 1521 Magellan reached the port of Cebu. Rajah Humabon ruled Cebu with eight chieftains and 2,000 lancers. By the week’s end about 800 Cebuans had converted including the Rajah who was given a new name, Carlos. Their pagan idols were burnt.

Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain of Mactan, an islet near Cebu refused to obey Magellan’s order to recognize Rajah Humabon as the king of all the chieftains in the region. On April 27, Magellan invaded Mactan with 60 Spaniards in three vessels and 1,000 Cebuan allies in praus. Magellan dispatched an ultimatum to Lapu-Lapu to which came the reply “I submit to no king and pay no tribute to any power. If our enemy have lances, we have also lances of bamboo and stakes hardened in fire”.



Death of Magellan
The reefs and shallow water prevented the boats to land. Magellan boasted and wanted to show the natives how Europeans fight. He picked 49 of his men, leaving 11 to guard the boats and waded to the shore. Magellan’s men fired the first shots from their arquebuses. The Mactans having waiting patiently for the attack now threw their weapons consisting of spears, arrows, flaming stakes, and arrows upon the invaders.
Magellan ordered his men to burn the Mactans’ houses. This enraged the natives further and attacked the enemies with full fury. Hard-pressed on all sides, Magellan ordered a retreat to the boats. They were in heavy armour and could not move fast in the shallow water. To cover his men, Magellan bravely stood ground and fought the Mactans.


‘A poisoned arrow wounded him in the right leg; twice his helmet was knocked off his head; and a bamboo spear struck him in the face. He tried to draw his sword from its scabbard; but he could not do it, for another spear had wounded his right arm. One of the Mactans slashed him on the leg, causing him to fall with face downward. And immediately other Mactan warriors pounced upon him and killed him with their spears and bolos.’


Pigafetta survived the fight with a swollen wound in the face. Eight other Spaniards were killed but many were wounded. Enrique was wounded slightly. Of the Mactans fifteen were killed. Lapu-Lapu became a Filipino hero as the Malay chieftan who repulsed Magellan’s invasion.
The Cebuans on seeing that the Spaniards were not invincible killed many of them. The survivors managed to sail away in three of the ships but one was later burned because of lack of men. The two remaining ships, Victoria and Trinidad used captured natives to guide them to Borneo. They landed at Brunei and was welcomed by Sultan Siripada.


Returning to Spain

The ships, Victoria and Trinidad  managed to reach Moluccas. Sultan Almanzor, ruler of Tidore welcomed the Spaniards and gave them food. The ships were repaired and replenished. It was decided that Victoria  laden with a cargo of spices and a crew of 60 men – 47 Europeans and 13 Malays to return to Spain via the Cape of Good Hope. While the Trinidad set sail through the Pacific to Panama.
On September 6, 1522, the Victoria, with tattered riggings and 18 haggard survivors, entered the port of San Lucar de Barrameda of Spain from where it started two weeks less than three years ago.
Notwithstanding his great navigational achievement, Magellan was disgraced in Spain for his alleged cruelty and disloyalty, and in Portugal he was announced as a traitor.


As stipulated in case of Magellan's untimely death Traprobana or Enrique would become a free man with an inheritance of 10,000 maravedis. Thus, he became the first Nusantaran to sail round the world in 1522.

NUSANTARA - IN THE DAYS NAKED (reposting)

(Reposting because pictures didn't show fully in the previous one. Apologies)

Nusantara or the Malay Archipelago is also known as the East Indies during the colonial times. It encompasses of more than 25,000 islands spread out in the maritime Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor. And to a lesser extent the Nusantara includes Madagascar, the Pattani region of south Thailand,  and the Chamic areas of Vietnam.


Adam and Eve as depicted in an early Persian painting. We all began from them.

Prehistoric time as depicted in Perak museum exhibit.





Beginning 400AD is considered recorded history for Malaysia.



 

Early Hindu empires in the Nusantara. Sri Vijaya (Sumatra) was the most famous and later on Majapahit of Java.

Wars as depicted in a stone carving of a temple wall during the Hindu empires.

Spread of Islam to the various areas in the Nusantara.

Court scene in the Spice Islands. English traders negotiating with the sultan.

Indonesian women are known for their industriousness.

Spinning yarn.

Sewang dance of Orang Asli during feasts at night.

Orang Asli girl weaving a basket.

Sarawak Iban couple with their heritage jars kept in their house.

Head-hunting was quite widespread in the Nusantara - Borneo, Philippines, Flores ...




References:
1. Hedda Morrison. 1988. Life in a Longhouse. Summer Times, Singapore
2. Koos van Brakel. 2004. Charles Sayers 1901-1943: Pioneer Painter in the Dutch East Indies. KIT Publishers, Amsterdam
3. Stewart Wavell. 1958. The Lost World of the East: An Adventurous Quest in the Malayan Hinterland. Souvenir Press, London

NUSANTARA - IN THE DAYS NAKED

Adam and Eve as depicted by an early Persian painting. We all began from them.

Prehistoric time as depicted in Perak museum exhibit.


Beginning 400 AD is considered recorded history for Malaysia.

Early Hindu empires in the Nusantara.

Wars as depicted in a stone carving of a temple during the Hindu empires.

Spread of Islam to the various regions in the Nusantara.

Court scene in the Spice Islands. English traders negotiating with the sultan.

Industriouness of Indonesian women.

Sewang dance of Orang Asli (L), weaving a basket (R)

Sarawak Iban couple with their heritage jars kept in their house.

Head-hunting was widespread in the Nusantara - Borneo, Philippines, Flores ...

References:
1.Hedda Morrison. 1988. Life in a Longhouse. Summer Times, Singapore
2. Koos van Brakel. 2004. Charles Sayers 1901-1943: Pioneer Painter in the Dutch East Indies. KIT Publishers, Amsterdam
3. Stewart Wavell. 1958. The Lost World of the East: An Adventurous Quest in the Malayan Hinterland. Souvenir Press, London

etc.

PLIGHT OF THE JUNGLE DWELLERS

When undisturbed, the virgin jungle ecosystem is in a state of equilibrium. The multi-tiered trees are self-supporting due to nutrient recycling. Climbing these trees and sometimes choking them are vines and lianas. Myriad of creatures big and small depend on the jungle for their habitat and survival. Monkeys, squirrels, bats, birds, bees live on the trees.

There used to be large populations of seladangs, elephants, tapirs, tigers, deer, seladangs, snakes, iguanas, pangolins that roam the ground. Frogs, tortises, crocodiles, fishes thrive in the streams and rivers.


Imagined or real there are spirits in the jungle, evil ones and kind-hearted ones. And among all these hive and jive, live the human jungle dwellers, the Orang Asli, the so-called Proto-Malays, the pioneer brother of the Deutro-Malays.

The plight of my people, the Orang Asli are living on the edge. Unscrupulous people have taken many parts of the jungle ie. my kampongs and my towns so to speak.

They simply come in with huge machines to get timber and make way for roads and farms. What are we supposed to do?

Our sources of plants for food and medicine are increasingly difficult to get. The rivers where we take our bath and catch fishes are no more prestine but coloured like teh-tarik. Our catch of birds, monkeys, squirrels and snakes are getting meager day by day because you have killed them directly or indirectly or driven them far into the jungle.

Drink it natural, raw from the vine in the care-free days!


Now, we cannot hold wildboar feasts often anymore. When the outsiders use guns to hunt them wildlife dear to us such as seladang and deer, these animals become a rarity . We use traps and sumpit to hunt for food. The blowpipe dart cannot go very far as your bullets. Our catch are thus limited.

Moreover, many of us are getting old and cannot blow our sumpit strong like before.


We are an ignorant and confused lot. We live by the land. Whatever extra money we have we buy salt, sugar, rice, Panadol, and titbits for the children from the van-seller. Please do not make it more difficult for us by proclaiming that out traditional shifting cultivation is bad for the environment. How could we move the mountains with our bare hands and primitive tools? It is the supposedly civilized people with machines who flatten the mountains and destroy the forests and everything in them including us.

The jungle is now filled with emptiness.


Sometimes ago, one of our people in Kampung Reka in Kelantan claimed that he saw a Pak Belang (part of jungle law to call them indirectly and show respect) dragging a victim into the jungle. This was not the first and last episode. Since time immemorial there had been very many of our people were brutally devoured. At night we even have to compete with the elephants to gather durian fruits before they swallow them away.
We are the protectors of the jungle. The jungle is not neutral. We were then in the diffused forefront where the communists were active.

It was not easy to fight against the terrorists knowing very well that they were lurking somewhere there. We were sharing the same jungle and footpaths. It was like sharing the bed with the enemy – sumpit versus gun.


We encourage our young to join the Senoi Praq as jungle trackers and scouts that helped saved lives of many government soldiers during the emergency. They get some monthly pension, meager though.




Some years ago, there was a case of a group of local Malays (Kelantan) who tried to seize our land and we had to rough them up in self defense. A few got hurt. Several of us were brought to court and appeared on TV handcuffed. How haggard looking and malnourished they were! Theirs was a minor offense compared to ones who traded in dadah and whatnot. They are rich and yet want more and more. Ours was a case of survival, theirs greed above all, above patriotism.


We need protection or ways to defend ourselves and our families. There are so many intruders nowadays, humanoid and non-humanoid that come into the so-called reservation that you have alienated for us.

Was it true that a far-distant blood-cousin of us who lives along the Yuat River in that far-flung Papua New Guinea had his blood sample taken? They said that he has immunity against malaria and wanted to study and patent his cell line. They say that there are provisions in the global agreement on the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) for intellectual property rights and equitable sharing of benefits.
Now, if somebody come to my people and try to do something like that, what shall we do? We cannot run to the nearest police station to report immediately because it is so many miles away! Our area is not accessible by mobile phone either. We are hapless people.


Our health

Although we have the jungle reservation to live in (and die) but the boundry is constantly being encroached. Before the past general election, the government proposed to establish a botanical park in Perak. We objected because part of our land may be taken. Thus, our area is getting smaller and we have no title to the land.

A couple of years ago a number of children died from unknown causes in Cameron Highlands. The wanton use of chemicals by farmers have contaminated the groundwater and rivers - where our daily lives centred. The health of our people and surroundings are in dire need of rehabilitation. Booze and AIDS have come to our reservation. What has our government caretakers got to say to our predicament? Dia orang tu memang macam tu!

For some of us, the government has built us houses fitted with zinc roof. But the roofs are too low and become unbearable during the heat of the day. We still prefer the traditional huts of palas roof even though we have to go deeper into the jungle and be free, at least for a little while more.


For long term sustainability the government could help to improve our living standard by:

1. Demarcate suitable agricultural land and give advise, supplies, guidance and incentives how to grow food and economic crops.

2. Help market our agricultural produce and jungle products.

3. Train us in various trades, skills, and crafts so that we could be more self-reliant and provide us better job opportunities.

4. Improve our health by providing better sanitation, medical services, drinking water, electricity and other amneties.

5. Build playgrounds, courts for sepak takraw, volleyball and such, community halls that also serve to play indoor games.

6. We need land titles for our reservation to secure ourselves legally and assure us security in this “Tanah Tumpah Darah Ku”.

DID JOHN LENNON BEEN TO CAMERON HIGHLANDS?

At 18 years old, 1957 John Lennon was just a quarry man. He had some experience in singing in the church choir.

He teamed up with George Harrison and began to get bootleg recordings in Liverpool, 1960.

In 1960, John and his band made their wild stint at Club Indra, Hamburg, Germany.
In 1961 they were at Liverpool making local hits in cavern and clubs and a year later made their first recording. In 1963, Beatlemania was born with their top two songs. "I want to hold your hands" became the top five songs in USA. John married Yoko Ono in March 1969.

Perchance I have in possession a visitors' book of C. Highlands kept by the Tourist Promotion Association based in Tanah Rata dated between 5.7.1963 to 22.9.1965. (The visitors' book was available from Basrai Brothers, 173 Batu Rd, KL or 5 Chulia St, Singapore).

This means that the book was fully signed-in almost 10 years before my first assignment as a MARDI researcher at C. Highlands, April 1973-Dec 1973. A later sojourn spanned six years, 1990-1996.

Registration of earliest and latest entries in the Visitors' Book

On the empty fore page was written in blue ballpen ink as below. Most likely someone played a practical joke to sign-in as John Lennon when the Beatlemania just began. The idea is preposterous that John Lennon ever come to C.Highlands. In the last empty page of the visitors' book was signed J/S Chaplin, 111 Rochester Rd, Surrey, England and perhaps he was the one who was pulling the leg.
To verify my curiousity I wrote to John Lennon's website by no reply.