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Saturday, July 28, 2012

BN's declining support among Malay voters remains questionable


The latest survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center says Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal popularity is unlikely to buoy the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) at the coming general election due to declining support among Malay voters, I got a great  deal on the bridge. 

Merdeka Center’s opinion survey conducted among voters in peninsular Malaysia showed that satisfaction with the sixth PM’s performance declined among Malay and Indian voters from 79 per cent to 75 per cent, and from 72 per cent to 69 per cent, respectively.

In politics, it’s a zero sum games, somebody wins, and somebody loses. Undeniably, everything is an issue as everything that politicians do is based on wealth redistribution. Candidates' popularity with voters becomes the utmost importance. If you lose, nothing remains to you.

Undeniably, opinion polls play a major role in political strategies. In its most basic form, opinion polling consists of pollsters asking members of the general public about their opinions on one or more specific subjects. Polling can take many forms, though many of the most thorough and ultimately useful polls fall under the classification of scientific polling.

The political polls that often kill the suspense of political campaigns are by accurately predicting the results before the first ballot has been cast.   On the negative side, surveys share with experiments the disadvantage of artificiality.  

There is always a risk that people's answers to questionnaire items may not reflect their true feelings or them subsequent actions.  Surveys can also seem superficial, when compared with field research.

A methodology relying on standardization forces the researcher to develop questions general enough to be minimally appropriate for all respondents, possibly missing what is most appropriate to many respondents. 

There are unforeseeable incentives and opportunities for opportunism to exploit the opportunity and make arbitrage profits as opportunism is understood as self-interest seeking and exploitation of beneficial opportunities especially through politic.

Thus the finds out of the Merdeka Center report that the prime minister and head of the 13-member BN coalition is in a rocky position due to declining support among Malay voter remains questionable.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Toyota Vois - proven performance and quality


Unbelievable car crashed before flying into a retaining wall of the hill and landed there. It’s happening in the main road from Nitar to Mersing, Johor
                                       Hanging up the hill?
The car,  Toyota Vois was driven by an old women wearing green. So far there are no injuries reported.


Incredible  action

 
 good performance
 
How it can be done?

 
                                                                                 Safety car?
Toyota holds the title of world’s biggest car-maker and the incident proved that it can cope with this type of incident.  

Toyota top the carmaker’s league again


Toyota Motor has returned to the top of the global carmakers’ league, Japanese media reported on Thursday, after the firm said it had sold almost five million vehicles in the first half of the year.

The group, whose brands also include Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino, sold a record 4.97 million units worldwide in the period, up nearly 34 per cent from the same period last year, according to company figures.

That vaulted Toyota ahead of rivals General Motors and Volkswagen, which sold 4.67 million and 4.45 million units in the first half respectively, local media said.

Toyota last year lost the title of world’s biggest carmaker — a spot it had held between 2008 and 2010 — following a slump in production and sales owing to Japan’s March 11 quake-tsunami disaster, floods in Thailand and the strong yen.

General Motors, with about 9 million vehicles sold last year, was the world’s biggest carmaker followed by Germany’s Volkswagen with more than 8 million vehicles sold. Toyota sold 7.95 million vehicles.

For all of 2012, Toyota said it expected to sell 9.58 millions units worldwide, but it was uncertain whether it could retain the global top spot for the full year.

Toyota shares were up 1.38 per cent at ¥2,856 (RM115) in yesterday's afternoon trade.
 

Thursday, July 26, 2012

RIO+20 - UN agenda is to throw would-be environmentalists off track


Rio+20 - the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, is the follow-up conference after the first Earth Summit. The conference is envisaged as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives, to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all.

The representatives of 188 countries’ met in a failed attempt to find a breakthrough at this year's UN-sponsored conference. The outcome makes nobody happy as it has been widely criticized for its lack of vision in the face of accelerating degradation of the planet.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236).

The first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED Earth Summit) also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, or Earth Summit was a major United Nation Conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.

The Rio+20 is the follow-up conference after the first Earth Summit which  took  place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

At the Earth Summit, world leaders adopted Agenda 21, a blue print to attain sustainable development in the 21st century. Agenda 21 includes Chapter 14, Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD). At UNCED, nine major groups were designated to represent civil society’s concerns in the follow-up work, and the UN established a Commission on Sustainable Development to guide and monitor the follow-up process, which included a major global stock-taking event every five years.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was set up after the UNCED Summit in Rio to meet annually at UN Headquarters in New York and to follow-up by monitoring and reporting on the implementation of agreements at the local, national, regional and international levels. The UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) provides the secretariat for the Commission.

The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was unprecedented for a UN conference, in terms of both its size and the scope of its concerns.

Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where countries adopted Agenda 21 - a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection - the UN is again bringing together governments, international institutions and major groups to agree on a range of smart measures that can reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources.

The conference claimed to be a major success in raising public awareness on the need to integrate environment and development. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life in developed countries were drawn into the Rio process. They persuaded their leaders to go to Rio and join other nations in making the difficult decisions needed to ensure a healthy planet for future generations.

Although it claimed that Rio+20 is a chance to move away from business-as-usual and to act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the future, but the successes outcome of helping Governments to rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet have yet to be questioned.

In the preparatory process for the Rio Summit in 1992, there were a number of proposals for institutional reform to address the challenges of sustainable development. UNCED saw the adoption of a number of crucial agreements, including the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21. It also created new international institutions, among them the Commission on Sustainable Development, tasked with the follow-up to the Rio Conference, and led to the reform of the Global Environment Facility. But the scenario seems that the UN agenda is to throw would-be environmentalists off track, by funding a science fraud.

Agenda 21 designated nine sectors of society, known as CSD Major Groups, as critical for the development and implementation of policies for sustainable development. The nine major groups that work closely with CSD are: (i) business and industry, (ii) children and youth, (iii) farmers, (iv) indigenous people, (v) local authorities, (vi) NGOs, (vii) scientific and technological community, (viii) women, and (ix) workers and trade unions. But the issues not included in the document are (i) to end subsidies for fossil fuels; (ii) language underscoring the reproductive rights of women; (iii) protect the high seas; (iv) areas that fall outside any nation’s jurisdictions.

The summits seem cannot effectively generate higher public awareness and concern for the environment in undeveloped countries as a critical issue. On the other hand, it claimed that the agenda of the UN is to defuse the real environmental issues, by creating the CO2 false-flag, and a bunch of hog wash about man created climate change. Undeniably, the real UN agenda is reflected in the agenda of how to throw would-be environmentalists off  track, by funding a science fraud.

One of the main factors contribute to the failure of the summits in recent years is none other than the global economic turmoil. Wealthy Western nations are financially exhausted and unwillingly to commit to help in funding greener development for poorer nations. The conference finds no solutions to resolve this moral obligation. In fact, the real issue should be the corporate creations of toxic environments.

Nature does not negotiate with human beings. Attendees could all agree that there are major global environmental problems, but were unable to agree on what to do about them collectively. They could only agree to 'reaffirm' their original goals from 1992, for example, to achieve sustainable development and economic stability, and strengthen international cooperation. The conference produced virtually no progress since the 1992 summit agreements.
 
The summits produced nearly 700 promises and advances made by individual countries, companies and other organizations, in total worth about USD 500 billion if actually followed through. Due to recent Euro crisis and the turmoil facing the global economy at large has forced developed countries to tighten aid budget and reluctance to reaffirm the "Rio Principles" originally agreed in 1992.

Most of the developed countries who give aid to poor nations are unable to finance UN-sponsored conference as they have and others are cutting down aid budgets, in order to reserve the money to overcome their deficits.

With U.S. financial turmoil reverberating against the backdrop of a profound global shift in economic power, America’s capacity and capability as well as willingness to sponsored conference remains questionable.

Nonetheless, given America’s enormous stakes in a strong and resilient global economy, critically the “made in the USA” financial crisis comes at the same time caused policymakers confronting the emergence of a group of rising powers, notably from China and India to the Gulf states and Russia.

Undeniably, the world is facing a rapidly shifting economic environment. Following 35 years of strong economic output by the Group of Seven economies, during which they commanded approximately 65 percent of the global output and the so-called “BRIC“—Brazil, Russia, India, China—economies accounted for about 7 percent, caused the Group of Seven’s share falling to 58 percent over the past five years and the BRIC’s share rising to more than 11 percent. Thus it is difficult for America to lead on the main challenges the world are facing today.

Under these unforeseen circumstances, the U.S. have no better solution other than partner with more than 400 companies, including Wal-Mart, Coca- Cola and Unilever, to support their efforts to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020.
The problems become more complex when the developing countries insist that Rio+20 should at least renew the original commitments of new and additional financial resources, and to make efforts to meet the aid target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product. However, even these minimal aspects are being resisted by some developed countries.

In addition, some believe that China has become a well-developed or more developed country and should assume more responsibilities in the field of sustainable development. However, it is opposed by China as China's per capita GDP is only 53 percent of the world's average, and there are 122 million people living below the poverty line.

China is indeed in a period of accelerating industrialization and urbanization, but the problems it encountered in this stage have appeared to developed countries in the past two or three hundred years, so the pressure of environmental protection and resource conservation remains high for China.

The main question remains: “How do we maintain economy growth and by the same time protect the environment?”
 
It is indeed a good strategy to reaffirm the need to achieve sustainable development, reaffirm commitment to strengthening international cooperation; and reaffirm the need to achieve economic stability.

The historic Rio+20 summits has come and gone, but it was hard to find a happy soul at the end of the Rio+20 environmental summits as this conference was a conference to decide to have more conferences to safeguard the dignity of the summits.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Abdul Rahman: Lulusan Sijil Perhutanan telah diperluas

Dato’ Prof. Dr. Hj Abdul Rahman berkata, kerjaya lulusan Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Pengawas Hutan tidaklah  hanya tertumpu kepada Jabatan Perhutanan semata-mata malah telah diperluas kepada bidang-bidang dan lain seperti,  eko-pelancongan,  landskap, kompleks perkayuan, dan industri berasas keluaran hutan dan dan juga agensi lain seperti PERHILITAN.

 

                                                      Dato' Prof. Dr. Hj Abdul Rahman 

Ketua Pengarah Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia berkata demikian ketika berucap pada Majlis Penyampaian Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan Sesi 2010-2012 dan Sijil Perhutanan Pengawas Hutan Sesi 2011-2012 Institut Latihan Perhutanan (FORTRAIN) di Dewan Alwy, Bahagian Latihan Perhutanan, JPSM, Kepong hari ini.

 

Katanya, beberapa orang lepasan daripada FORTRAIN telah pun membina kerjaya masing-masing di beberapa agensi kerajaan dan swasta. Sehubungan itu, adalah menjadi hasrat JPSM untuk terus meningkatkan mutu kemahiran dan ilmu pengetahuan setiap pelatihnya bagi memenuhi juga pelbagai kehendak agensi-agensi lain,  terutamanya yang berkepentingan dengan pembangunan sektor perhutanan negara.

 

Menurut beliau, di FORTRAIN, semua pelatih-pelatih berkesempatan didedahkan kepada kandungan kursus perhutanan yang digubal selaras dengan Wawasan dan Misi JPSM iaitu untuk mencapai tahap kemahiran mengurus dan membangunkan khazanah hutan secara berkekalan yang tinggi serta membantu mengoptimumkan sumbangan khazanah hutan kepada pembangunan sosio-ekonomi Negara Malaysia. 

 

                             Dato' Dr. Mod Ali menandatangani buku pelawat

 

Menurut Dato’ Prof. Dr. Hj Abdul Rahman, pendedahan sebegini rupa adalah diharapkan dapat melahirkan pelatih-pelatih RH dan PH yang berilmu dan berkemahiran tinggi serta sekaligus beupaya memantapkan lagi usaha-usaha JPSM untuk mencapai lapan (8) objektif-objektif berikut : -

 

(i)     untuk mengurus sumber hutan negara secara berkekalan bagi pengeluaran berterusan hasil dan perkhidmatan hutan serta penggunaannya secara optimum bersesuaian dengan keperluan alam sekitar;
(ii)             untuk meningkatkan bekalan pengeluaran hasil dan perkhidmatan hutan melalui aktiviti-aktiviti perhutanan bersesuaian yang akan meningkatkan kualiti, produktiviti serta penggunaan sumber hutan;
(iii)   untuk terus membangunkan teknologi mantap yang bersesuaian dengan keperluan alam sekitar bagi pemeliharaan, pengurusan dan penggunaan sumber hutan;
(iv)       untuk memelihara dan melindungi kepelbagaian biologi hutan, air serta tanah, dan penggunaannya secara berkekalan;
(v)      untuk meningkatkan kualiti dan kecekapan kilang-kilang pemprosesan berasaskan keluaran hutan serta menambahkan aktiviti-aktiviti hiliran dengan nilai tambah yang tinggi;
(vi)       untuk memperkukuhkan pembangunan sumber manusia bagi menyokong sektor perhutanan;
(vii)        untuk meningkatkan kesedaran awam berhubung peranan hutan terhadap alam sekitar dan pemeliharaan melalui pembelajaran serta penyebaran maklumat; dan
(viii)      untuk meningkatkan sumbangan sektor perhutanan kepada pendapatan negara, pertukaran wang asing dan peluang-peluang pekerjaan.

                Upacara menanam pokok oleh Dato’ Prof. Dr. Hj Abdul Rahman 

 

"Di sepanjang tempoh pengajian di FORTRAIN, semua pelatih-pelatih juga diberi pendedahan kepada kepentingan penekanan ilmu perhutanan yang mencakupi konsep pengurusan ”Kepelbagaigunaan Hutan (Multiple uses of Forest) di bawah perlaksanaan amalan SFM.”

”Dalam hal ini,  sumber hutan dikelaskan kepada 12 ”Kelas Kegunaan Hutan (Forest Functional Classes)”,  sepertimana Seksyen 10(1) Akta Perhutanan Negara 1984, ia itu hutan pengeluaran kayu di bawah perolehan berkekalan; hutan perlindungan tanah; hutan tebus-guna tanah; hutan kawalan banjir; hutan tadahan air; hutan perlindungan hidupan liar; hutan simpanan hutan dara; hutan lipur; hutan pelajaran; hutan penyelidikan; hutan bagi maksud-maksud persekutuan dan hutan taman negeri.”

                                           Gambar bersama pelatih yang tamat kursus

Beliau berkasta, FORTRAIN merupakan satu-satunya Pusat Latihan Perhutanan di Semenanjung Malaysia yang menawarkan Kursus Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Sijil Perhutanan Pengawas Hutan.  Kedua-dua Kursus Sijil Perhutanan ini juga telah diberi pengiktirafan oleh Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) Malaysia pada 21 April 2003 yang mana telah mengiktiraf Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Sijil Perhutanan Pengawas Hutan bagi maksud perlantikan ke dalam Perkhidmatan Awambagi mengisi jawatan-jawatan kosong Renjer Hutan dan Pengawas Hutan di Jabatan-Jabatan Perhutanan Negeri dan Ibu Pejabat Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia.

Kursus Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan melibatkan 2 tahun (4 semester) dan Kursus Sijil Perhutanan Pengawas Hutan melibatkan 1 tahun (2 semester). Kriteria pemilihan adalah termasuk juga calon yang sedang berkhidmat dan mempunyai kelayakan berkenaan.”

                                                       Upacara melepaskan ikan

”Bagaimanapun, bagi pengambilan terus ianya melibatkan calon-calon berkelulusan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) dan  Peperiksaan Menengah Rendah (PMR).  Lain-lain kriteria adalah seperti calon-calon mempunyai kepakaran tertentu adalah bonus kepada sesuatu permohonan.” 

Menurut beliau, untuk melengkapkan kecemerlangan FORTRAIN sebagai Pusat Latihan ini, pada masa kini, Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Sijil Perhutanan Pegawas Hutan yang dikeluarkan oleh FORTRAIN telah mendapat pengiktirafan daripada Lembaga Akreditasi Negara (LAN). 

Pencapaian yang memberangsangkan ini telah membolehkan seramai lima (5) orang lepasan Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan yang akan menerima sijil pada hari ini telah ditawarkan untuk melanjutkan pelajaran di peringkat Diploma Perhutanan di Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Sebelum ini juga beberapa pelatih lepasan dari FORTRAIN telah melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat ijazah dan sehingga kini memegang jawatan tinggi di Jabatan Perhutanan Semenanjung Malaysia.

”Sehingga kini,  sambutan permohonan kemasukan untuk mengikuti kursus sijil di FORTRAIN adalah amat sengit. Pada tahun ini sahaja, sebanyak 1,150  permohonan yang memenuhi syarat-syarat kelayakan telah diterima. Namun begitu hanya 10 peratus daripada permohonan ini sahaja dipilih berdasarkan kapasiti keupayan semasa FOTRAIN. Ini menunjukkan bahawa sambutan untuk mengikuti kursus Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Pengawas Hutan sangat menggalakkan.”

”Sehubungan dengan itu, JPSM berhasrat untuk meningkatkan bilangan kemasukan ke FORTRAIN pada masa akan datang sekurang-kurangnya ke tahap sekali ganda iaitu seramai 240 orang pelatih berbanding dengan bilangan kemasukan sekarang.”

”Perkara ini akan dipanjangkan untuk mendapat pertimbangan pihak Kerajaan dalam membantu menyalurkan peruntukan untuk membina prasarana tambahan dan meningkatkan jumlah bilangan tenaga pengajar yang lebih berkaliber agar memenuhi keperluan semasa seiring dengan pelbagai perkembangan baru isu-isu perhutanan serta peningkatan kehendak terhadap kepentingan pengurusan dan pembangunan khazanah hutan kepada kesejahteraan kehidupan masyarakat.”

Beliau berkata, tenaga pengajar di FORTRAIN sehingga kini adalah terdiri dari mereka-mereka yang berkaliber serta terlatih dalam bidang perhutanan seperti Dendrologi, Anatomi Kayu, Pengusahasilan Hutan, Pengurusan Hutan Secara Berkekalan dan bukan bidang perhutanan seperti Pengurusan Maklumat, Penulisan Laporan, Ikhtiar Hidup dan Kemahiran Kendiri. 
 
”Natijahnya ialah lepasan dari FORTRAIN bukan sahaja terlatih sebagai Rimbawan semata-mata tetapi seorang yang berintegriti, berilmu, berkemahiran, berketerampilan dan memiliki nilai-nilai murni.  Ini lah persiapan-persiapan penting yang telah didedahkan oleh FORTRAIN kepada semua pelatih-pelatih kursus Sijil Perhutanan Renjer Hutan dan Sijil Perhutanan Pengawas Hutan.”

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