Whale Shark Butchered And Sold At Kota Kinabalu Fish Market

Hantu Laut

Openly displayed on the table at the Central Fish Market at Kota Kinabalu.Killed, either out of ignorance or typical don't care attitude.You have to be a diver to appreciate this gentle giant in the wild.

I was shocked what befalls my eyes when I went to the fish market this morning.There right in front of me were parts of a baby whale shark for sale.The juvenile was probably just a few years old.When I asked the fish monger where she got the fish from she said she bought it from a fisherman.When I told her it is illegal to kill this type of fish she just gave me a blank look and shrugged her shoulder, meaning she doesn't know or doesn't care.Some of the other male fishmongers were already looking at me and my camera suspiciously.I have heard of costumers being whacked by this illegal ingrates if they complain of being short-changed.I quickly moved away and left the market.

Most fishmongers at the market are Filipino migrants and many live across the bay in the biggest eyesore of Kota Kinabalu, the water village of Pulau Gaya called Kampong Pondo, the hive of Filipino illegal activities.Fish bombs,smuggled booze and cigarettes, shabu and stolen goods from the mainland, all can be found here.



It's a terrible sight just to see this gentle giant being slaughtered.It has very little commercial value here.This specie is protected in many countries in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific where they are mainly concentrated.They are also protected in Sabah waters but little have been done to educate the fishing community not to kill the specie.

Whale shark is placed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).It is also on Appendix II of CMS (Convention on Migratory Species also known as the Bonn Convention).Listing on CITES require member nations to monitor the international trade in whale shark product and to ensure it does not threaten survival of the specie.


Our Fisheries Department has done nothing in term of monitoring and enforcement.The whole fishing industry here is topsy-turvy and mired in all kind of illegal activities.

Typical civil servants who sit on their arses and take no pride in their jobs.Fish bombing, using cyanide to catch live fish and preserving fish using formalin are rampant practices here, endangering the people's health and the health of the ocean.The live fish we savour at seafood restaurants around the city may have traces of cyanide, not enough to kill you but has bad long term effect on your health.

The use of sodium cyanide first started in the Philippines in the sixties with the aquarium trade but have somehow made its way into the live fish trade throughout South East Asia.



Unlike in the West, ours is not a compliance society.Malaysians have the tendency to break the law if they think they can get away with it.The most glaring example can be seen on our roads.

What we need is strict enforcement to drive the message home.In this case the Fisheries Department should station permanent enforcement unit in all fish markets in the major towns to nap the culprits who indulge in any illegal activities.

The next time you go to the fish market beware of those fresh looking fish where even the flies don't dare to go near, it could be laced with formalin (formaldehyde).

Najib Not Out Of The Wood Yet.

Hantu Laut

Najib first 100 days in office has brought some positive results.His popularity soars to 65 percent from the low 42 percent when he first took office. His most popular move was the liberalisation and dismantling of some of the NEP requirements in certain sectors of the economy with a view of capturing FDIs that have detoured to other more attractive locations and at the same time boost domestic investments.The move is also good for local non-bumiputra businessmen, majority Chinese who now can have a more relax regime of doing business and broader scope of investment opportunities.

The abolition of the 30 percent equity reserved for bumiputra for IPO (Initial Public Offering) was probably the best of all actions taken so far by Najib. This allocation for bumiputra is one of the ingredients in the recipe of spoiling the bumiputras and the failure of the NEP.Those allotted with such windfall would dispose of the shares rather quickly to cash in on the quick and easy money.Given the opportunity who wouldn't. Malaysian public companies are not famously known for declaring cash or script dividends to its shareholders.Only those in the blue chip category are safe haven for long term investors. Long term investment in many Malaysian listed companies is like putting your money on the roulette table.

Like many other things given to bumiputras to expand their share of the economic cake majority would eventually end up in the China man's hand.The selling of these shares by government agencies and individuals was one of the reasons for the failure of the NEP to achieve its target of 30 percent equity.This is Najib first step telling the bumiputras that there would be no more of this type of largesse.

The next step is to reduce the number of AP for import of cars.A review of all bumiputras given the APs to determine whether they genuinely carry on the business themselves or not should be done.Cancel those who don't.But don't be fooled by what you see.Some have found loophole by selling the company to China man and become nominee and proxy of the China man.They get paid for every AP they get and are given a comfortable office in the company to make it appears that they are running the operation.

Overall his reforms for the economy thus far has been well received by the business community and he must personally see to it that its implementation is true to the word and not make the same mistake that Abdullah made by not having a monitoring system to keep him informed.Likewise, a failed promise would be a political disaster.

The only thing that is cause for concern in his new policy is the Federal government giving guarantee to corporations to raise funds in the bond market.It is not yet clear whether this is for GLCs only or include private and public corporations and whether the issuance is for domestic market only or both domestic and international.The other bad aspect, if there were no transparency, is the use of this facility by those in power to guarantee crony companies.Najib should insist on stringent rules, conditions and monitoring to avoid abuses.

So far so good, he has proved the skeptics wrong, but too early to say things wouldn't change.The situation is still fluid and the journey is still long,winding and dangerous, one wrong step could cause everything to come tumbling down.

The opposition is ever ready to slaughter his reputation, more so now, after his popularity soars that is not good news for the oppositions.

Najib is not out of the wood yet, he has plenty to do to shift the supports back to the BN.

Former heavyweighs like Mahathir and Razaleigh should give him moral support if they want UMNO to regain its former glory. By the same token Mahathir wasn't wrong when he said UMNO needs revamping at the top.It's about time purging of corrupt leaders be carried out to show seriousness of the talk.

Education In Peril:Mahathir's First Salvo

Hantu Laut

Do not ignore him, he can cut you down to pieces before you know it.He is definitely the biggest blogger in the country and probably is the biggest in the region too.Just over a year his blog has received 20,906,770 hits.

Dr Mahathir Mohammad is not run of the mill critic, when he talks people listen and take notice.Cross his path and destroy his ideals and you would be damned. He has great following among the youths of this nation.The hundreds of comments he gets on his blog for every posting shows the kind of following he has. Translate this into votes and the multiplier effect you would be amazed how popular this man still is.

The government recent reversal of the use of English, mooted by him during his tenure, in the teaching of Science and Maths back to Bahasa Melayu, Chinese and Tamil is as misguided as the missile that missed to hit its target.The excuses given have no plausibility.The government should listen to the pulse of the people not the rhetoric of a few misguided nationalists and language extremists.

If the Malays in the rural areas can't cope with English and find it a verbiage it is not the language at fault, it's the fault of the Education Ministry, its implementing apparatus must have been faulty and failed miserably.Solutions should be found to remedy it, not kill it, to take the easy way out.There have been mission schools in the rural areas during colonial days and the native children of this country learn the language from day one.The excuse that rural children have difficulty dealing with the language is unacceptable.

It is also most disheartening and ridiculous for the Ministry of Education to say they can save RM40 million a year by not teaching English in the two subjects.What is RM40 million compared to the future of million of Malaysian children deprived of a critical tool for enhancement of knowledge and a medium for global communications.

It would be in the best interest of the nation that the government at least consider to retain it at secondary level.

As I have predicted earlier Mahathir will not simmer down until he proved himself right, as in the case of Abdullah, his constant attacks finally took its toll on Abdullah.

He has fired his first salvo at Najib here.

Mangling The English Language

Hantu Laut

It is the most widely spoken language and spoken in more parts of the world than any other language and by more people than any other tongue except Chinese.It's the official language in most Commonwealth nations and lingua franca in many parts of the world.

The English language which falls within the Anglo-Frisian group of the Western Germanic language has evolved over 1500 years and has the most extensive vocabulary.

It is estimated that the English language has over 1 million words and is growing.It is also a bastardised language as it borrows words from other languages.It is the dominant international language in
communications,science,business,aviation,
entertainment,diplomacy and the Internet.

How could you go wrong learning and knowing this language.

Mahathir must be heart broken when he was told by the Minister of Education and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that the government has decided to drop English as the medium in teaching Science and Maths.The government has decided to teach English only as a subject.Muhyiddin said it was not politically motivated but read what he says here in Manik Urai.

The irony is Muhyiddin said it has been explained to Mahathir and they have convinced him and he has accepted the government decision, but here Mahathir rebutted the claim and said they only briefed him and did not take into consideration his suggestions. This certainly is not good for Najib and it will not be the last he heard from Mahathir. The old man is known for his consistency, persistence and the will to pursue his beliefs with missionary zeal.

Raja Petra of Malaysia Today posted an interesting article on 'Why English should not be taught in Bahasa Malaysia' (I believe pun intended) and posted a circular written in English from a student from one of the leading universities in this country. I reproduce the circular below:

4th UiTM INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FIESTA
19 – 23 November 2009 FUTSAL-RUGBY 7- TENPIN BOWLING-BADMINTON

Dear Sport Friends,

Regarding about the global issue H1N1 happens around the world, sadly to be informing that our UiTM International Sports Fiesta will be postponing to 19-23 November 2009.

For all teams which have been confirm to participate in our events, we have to say sorry for this announcements and our Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Health also advise to us to change the date for this current situation.

By the date have been confirm incoming this November hopefully your teams still can participate in our event and don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.

And again, we would like to say sorry about the date change for the sake of our health among us.

See you in this November at UiTM Malaysia!!

Regards,

Mr. Mustaza Ahmad
Director
Sports Centre
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Malaysia

The message is clear and well understood.The writer should have written it in the Malay language and saved him the embarrassment.

You can read Raja Petra's full article here.Whether the letter is real or fictional is hard to tell.

Why is the government giving up so easily, taking the easy way out? A survey conducted by Merdeka Centre showed 58 percent of respondents wanted it to stay. Why not bring in good English teachers from overseas to teach the students as well as teach those local teachers who are not proficient in English.The other bigger aspect which the government overlooked is the availability of these teachers domestically.I am sure there is a big pool of housewives who are proficient in English that could be enticed and turned into English teachers. The other possibility are wives of English speaking expatriates.All of them could be tested for their standard of English before accepting them as teachers.

The standard of education in this country get screwed every time the Minister of Education changed.Each have their own idea of what the curriculum should be.Adding to the problem are the government educationists in this country taking little or no pride in their jobs.Teaching just for the sake of earning an income is the worst misdeed of a teacher. Teaching is an honourable profession and teachers are supposed to have conviction, dedication and love what they are doing, that is imparting knowledge to their students.

I remember in the old days when most teachers were feared, you either love or hate them, but with respect.They were look upon as mentors and people of knowledge.

During my time, English was the medium of instruction and you have to learn the language from young at primary level or if you come from a Malay or Chinese primary school you have to attend 2 years of bridge class to polish your English before going to secondary level at government English school.Those days most English schools were Christian mission schools and here you start learning English from the first year.

Although, language can be learnt at any age, to bring back proficiency of the English language the government must introduce and make it compulsory at the primary level, in all schools in both urban and rural areas.Just teaching English in Science and Maths may not be sufficient to make the students more proficient in the language.One must learn the basic structure of the language and starting young would be the best option.

Malaysia will gain much from bringing back English as the lingua franca.I agree with Mahathir that the government should at least retain the teaching of Science and Maths in English at the secondary level.

I remember well my principal in secondary school, a strict disciplinarian English man whom we students hated and called the "Bulldog".He made it a point to teach every class once a week with his version of the English language. When Rawcliffe teaches everyone listens in fear, those who missed a breath, mispronounced a word, spelled a word wrongly or didn't know the meaning would end up being called "rotten cheese", "sour grape" or the ultimate insult of being told "your grandmother would be kicking in her grave listening to you murdering the English language" but in all honesty Rawcliffe was the best English teacher I ever had in my secondary years.What goes in stays in.

Below are few examples of mangling of the English language Malaysian style:

i just want to ask...i matriculation's student...i got band 2 in muet 2008...if i repeat muet as calon persendirian 2009...how bout the result that i'v obtain from muet 2008? is it might be effect for my courses that iv been chosen before?

Posted by Anonymous | Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:43:00 PM

A teacher in a primary school said this to the class "7 push 4 equal how many". What he tried to teach was "7 - 4 = ?" and he simply translated it from "7 tolak 4".

At least the Singapore government is trying its best to stop Singaporeans speaking Singlish, Are we going to promote more Manglish in this country or teach our children to speak proper English.