Disasters in Asian Region At Year-End of 2006

We are all hoping for the best of 2007 as 2006 draws to an end. In great spirit, regardless of religions and cultures, we wish everybody the very best and hope that peace will prevail for all.

Nevertheless, disasters knew no celebrations and had no mercy nor plead for christmas, eid ul adha or new year ceremonies.

It is interesting to note that many disasters occured on 26th December - Bam earthquake on 26 Dec 2004, Tsunami on 26 Dec 2005. 'King Lear' the tragic play by William Shakespeare was first staged on 26 December in 1606.

The following are disasters in the Asian region as we headed into 2007 :

Kyrzygstan - earthquake on 26 December 2006

An earthquake of 5.5 in the Richter scale occured struck Kochkor area, Naryn region, some 140 km south-east of the capital Bishkek. The earthquake was also felt in neighboring Kazakhstan.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Bishkek immediately established contact with the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Preliminary information received by the Government indicate mainly damage to housing, electric lines and communications and the need to provide heating for both the homeless and local medical aid centres. According to data provided so far, 2400 houses, two medical and obstetric centres, five administrative buildings, 9 schools, 1 kindergarten and one library have been damaged. Ten houses have been totally destroyed. There is no power supply or phone communication with the affected area. The Ministry of Emergency Situations has mobilized its resources, and, in a letter to the UN Resident Coordinator, has appealed for international assistance in order to provide food, heating equipment, clothing, medicaments and construction materials. OCHA has allocated a cash grant of USdlrs 10,000 to cover immediate needs.

Taiwan - earthquake on 27 December 2006

A powerful earthquake of 7.1 magnitude occured just off the Taiwan coast and damaged undersea telecommunications cables that link Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the United States.The disaster interrupts communications with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.Millions of Internet users and businesses in Asia woke Wednesday to find they had little or no access to telecommunications.

Tit could take days, even weeks, to repair the damage.

The earthquake killed at least two people in Taiwan, injured more than 40 people and damaged some buildings. The cable damage cut off at least half of Taiwan's main carrier Chunghwa Telecom's telephone capacity.

Many users in Hong Kong Wednesday have been unable to access Web sites based in the United States, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Many people in the city also found it difficult to make telephone calls to North America and around Asia. The disruption is affecting business in the region's financial centers. Some bankers and traders have complained of not having access to up-to-date stock or foreign exchange prices. However, trading in those markets operated normally.Phone and Internet connections in Japan and South Korea were also affected.

Indonesia and Malaysia - flash floods on 27 December 2006

Deadly flash floods swept the through the area. Heavy seasonal rain and rising waters over the weekend killed at least 100 people and forced more than 400,000 people from their homes in the western Indonesian province. In Malaysia, sudden heavy flooding has also created havoc, with at least ten people dead and many homeless.

Indonesia estimates more than 400,000 people in the country's northwestern Sumatra and Aceh provinces have fled for higher ground after dozens of landslides. In some cases entire villages have been swept away.

Rescue teams are searching for survivors by boat as the waters recede, though heavy rain continues to fall in parts of the affected area.

Malaysia - flood (2 weeks prior to new year but worst on 27 December 2006)

Heavy rains have flooded southern states, particularly Johor, for the past two weeks. At least ten people have died in the Malaysia floods and the government has said the severity of the disaster was totally unexpected. Authorities recovered the body of a three-year-old girl and her mother in the worst-hit southern state of Johor, part of a family whose car was swept away by floods.

Officials there say more rains are expected and emergency services are standing by.

As relief operations continued, the government deflected criticism from victims they had no advance flood warnings. Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said officials would start gathering data on crop damages on Johor, which he said had suffered significant losses after floods affected agricultural areas. Some 57,419 flood victims were Thursday camped out in relief centres around Johor, while another 2,188 evacuees are in relief centres in the western tourist state of Malacca and an additional 825 in central Pahang state.

Lecturing at Trolak Country Resort

It is nice being invited to give lectures. Today, the Society of Social Workers and ACCESS consulting agency invited me to deliver a talk on crisis management. I was replacing my boss since he was not around. So I made my way to Trolak Country Resort from Ampang Jaya at 8.38 pm. At about 10pm I reached Slim River. Paying the toll, I made my way into Slim River town for the first time in my life....actually I was looking for the GIRO ATM machine since I did not have time to withdraw money earlier. It was a small town. There were rows of old shophouses with Chinese owners mainly.

After getting money from the GIRO, I stopped at a Nasi Kandar restaurant and had mee goreng and teh tarik. Subsequently I went to the resort which was about 15km away from the restaurant. I missed the junction, turned back and finally reached the resort only to be horrified upon realizing that I left my laptop at the restaurant. I sped 140kph back to the restaurant and thank God, it was kept by the cashier. I thanked them and made my way back to the resort.

I presented the lecture on Crisis Management and it went well. At the end of lecture, I was given RM 100. I checked into my room and 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. The organizing committee sent the secretriat people to pass me another envelope containing another RM 100. They apparently were very happy with my lecture.

Nilai Proton Bagi Warga Malaysia

Pada tahun 1985, ketika Proton Saga mula dikeluarkan sebagai kereta nasional, saya masih di bangku sekolah. Walaupun baru berusia 14 tahun, saya terasa amat bangga dan percaya bahawa rakyat Malaysia mampu melakukan apa sahaja asalkan sanggup berusaha dan bekerja keras.
Rata-rata, rakyat Malaysia ketika itu memuji projek kereta nasional, lebih-lebih lagi apabila kereta tersebut mendapat tempat di Britain di samping memenangi anugerah antarabangsa.
Setelah lulus universiti, saya membeli Proton Wira Aeroback hijau metalik dan sehingga hari ini, setelah 7 tahun bekerja, saya masih memandu kereta yang sama tanpa sebarang masalah.
Saya berbangga membeli dan memiliki Proton kerana tahu saya menyumbang dalam menjayakan agenda negara sebagai sebuah pusat automobil dan sebagai satu-satunya negara Islam dan Dunia Ketiga yang mampu mereka bentuk, membina dan mengeluarkan kereta yang dibeli oleh masyarakat dari Britain hinggalah ke Australia.
Sehingga ke hari ini, saya terasa amat patriotik setiap hari memandu Proton ke tempat kerja atau melihat model-model baru Proton bergerak megah di jalan dan lebuh raya.
Untuk dua dekad, Proton menjadi lambang kesungguhan rakyat negara dalam iltizam penguasaan teknologi dan impian untuk berdiri sama tinggi dengan negara-negara maju dunia. Semasa berada di luar negara kerana melanjutkan pelajaran, apabila berbicara dengan masyarakat luar tentang pencapaian negara, saya pasti akan menyebut tentang keupayaan automotif negara dan dapat merasakan rasa hormat orang luar terhadap Malaysia.
Saya kira sumbangan besar Proton yang tidak dapat dinilai dari segi harga adalah penerapan keyakinan dan impian untuk maju dalam sanubari rakyat Malaysia. Ini tidak termasuk berbilion ringgit yang disumbangkan Proton daripada cukai keuntungan yang digunakan untuk pembangunan rakyat. Ditambah lagi dengan nilai keyakinan diri yang menjadi lebih ketara kerana setiap kereta nasional yang kelihatan berlegar di jalan raya menjadi pengingat yang setia bahawa rakyat Malaysia boleh dan mampu maju.
Begitu juga semasa krisis kewangan akhir 1990-an, Proton juga menjadi penyelamat kerana pembelian Proton oleh rakyat Malaysia mengelakkan pengaliran mata wang asing ke luar negara. Seluruh negara dunia Islam juga memandang Malaysia kerana tiada satu pun di antara mereka yang memiliki keupayaan automotif seperti Proton.
Proton secara tidak langsung juga menjadi satu-satunya lambang yang orang Islam boleh bergerak maju. Semua ini menjadikan nilai dan erti Proton sebagai terlalu tinggi untuk diterjemahkan dengan wang ringgit. Lebih-lebih lagi Proton mempunyai aset lebih RM5 bilion dan tidak dalam kedudukan berhutang malah untung.
Saya percaya pandangan ini dikongsi oleh ramai pemerhati senyap yang nasionalistik dan patriotik di negara ini. Saya percaya 20 tahun adalah terlalu muda dalam usia automotif. Pada usia yang sama, Korea belum pun memenangi hati pelanggan di seluruh dunia. Kereta-kereta Hyundai misalnya gagal di Malaysia 25 tahun lalu.
Saya percaya Proton akan responsif tentang perubahan global dan keperluan menghasilkan produk dengan material dan penghasilan yang halus, berkualiti, kompetitif dan futuristik. Saya percaya pengiktirafan oleh TUV Pfalz German dari segi kualiti Proton Savvy hanyalah permulaan. Sekiranya Proton berterusan berhempas pulas menambah baik kualiti atas asas yang sudah baik ini, Proton akan bergerak jauh.
Malangnya saya kecewa dengan kecaman, tohmahan, lekehan, kutukan dan penghinaan oleh sebilangan rakyat negara ini yang lebih cenderung supaya Malaysia melupakan sahaja cita-cita memiliki kereta nasional yang maju. Ada yang meminta supaya tidak perlu Proton memaksimumkan komponen tempatan sekali gus ini melemahkan semangat melakukan penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) rakyat.
Amat mengecewakan apabila ada yang bermati-matian menyebarkan segala cerita dan meminta rakyat Malaysia supaya tidak membeli Proton. Mengecam Proton menjadi semacam kepuasan dan keseronokan bagi mereka. Seorang pengulas dalam sebuah laman web kereta di Britain, baru-baru ini menyatakan kehairanan beliau kenapa rakyat negara ini begitu dahsyat mengecam Proton, sedangkan dia amat berpuas hati memandu Proton yang dibelinya.
Seorang rakan profesional saya menyatakan pula sekiranya Proton Gen-2 ditukar saja lencananya kepada Honda atau Toyota, sudah tentu berpusu-pusu orang Malaysia membelinya. Proton begitu berharga hinggakan syarikat seperti Volkswagen bersungguh-sungguh mahu menguasai Proton jika dibenarkan.
Saya fikir pengecam Proton harus memikirkan tentang erti dan nilai Proton untuk Malaysia dan negara Islam. Belajarlah daripada orang Korea dan Jepun yang lebih patriotik, nasionalistik dan sentiasa meniup semangat kepada industri automotif negara mereka sehingga berjaya dipasarkan di seluruh dunia.
Hilangnya Proton bererti kita menyerah kalah hatta sudah berada pada kedudukan untuk maju dan berkembang dengan apa yang dicapai hingga kini. Janganlah kita mengkhianati diri sendiri dengan membunuh Proton dan cita-cita negara.