A Piece of Heaven (published in BusinessWorld)

Published in the February 16, 2012 issue of BusinessWorld. Click here for original story

Posted on 06:24 PM, February 16, 2012
TEXT and PHOTOS BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO

A piece of heaven

WATER CASCADED gently down a mountain slope to stone basins that allowed it to trickle into the stream below. In one of the pools, bathers were oblivious to the tourists milling around and taking photos. Towels and discarded shirts were strewn on the rocks to dry, while trees provided shade to those who elected to keep to dry land and explore the watershed.

THE BHARAT tea plantation at Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands

I stood at a vantage point to observe the falling water while further down, my parents chatted on rocks that broke the flow of the stream.
We were basking in the sun at Iskandar Falls on the way to Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia, taking a break from navigating the winding road that connects the tourist destination to the Tapah Interchange, which we had taken from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
It was going to be a two-and-a-half-hour trip by car to the chilly, hilly getaway from Kuala Lumpur, and we had only covered half the distance.
Sunny -- the cab driver we hired for the day trip who lives up to his name -- had maneuvered blind curve after blind curve in the two-lane strip of a highway that ran between a mountain and a cliff. We had been getting nauseous from the drive when we reached Iskandar Falls and found an excuse to get off the road for a bit.
By the roadside, stalls sold handicrafts, fruits and flowers. Except for those who intended to stay for a picnic or a bath, however, there wasn’t much to do around the area, so after taking pictures and preparing to once again zigzag our way to our destination, we hauled ourselves back into the cab.
Sunny told us it would take another half hour before we could get off the road.
“No one gets to heaven without dying,” I muttered, going for a laugh.
A truck passed us from the other lane. Then another truck with a trailer and a whole lot of wheels suddenly appeared in front of us. It seemed to have tailed the first truck and was now careening towards us. Our cab screeched to a halt, staying close to the mountain wall. The front of the truck passed us, and as it continued to move, I covered my ears and shut my eyes, convinced that the rest of it would hit our vehicle.
We all breathed a prayer of thanks when the truck’s brakes bit into the pavement, halting the behemoth completely and preventing its trailer from sideswiping our car.
Suddenly, that comment about dying to get to heaven was no longer funny.
Thankfully, that was the only near-mishap we had.
After a pit stop at the Tudor-style Lakehouse Hotel where we stretched our legs and took in the beautiful view of the Sultan Abu Bakar Lake as Sunny inputted the places we wanted to see into his GPS, our Cameron Highlands tour started -- with a visit to the bees.

BATHERS are oblivious to the other tourists at Iskandar Falls

Located in Jalan Boh in Ringlet town, the Highlands Apiary Farm grows different kinds of flowers and has bees flying all over the place to gather nectar from them. It was hard work trying to take photos of the bees, as they could never keep still.
The place has beehives on display, with one made of glass so that visitors can view the bees as they work. The farm, which has a heart-shaped pond filled with koi in the middle of the nursery, also grows strawberries and visitors can pick their own fruits if they want to buy them. Also for sale are bottled honey and bee souvenirs that range from pins to plush toys.
A few minutes’ drive from the apiary brought us to the main road of Tanah Rata where the Cameron Valley Tea House greeted us with a spectacular view of rolling hills that host the Bharat tea plantation.
Visitors can walk around the verdant maze but are warned against plucking tea leaves by a sign board that issues the admonition in three languages.
The path, while navigable, can be difficult to the uninitiated and those with the wrong footwear. But the scent of tea leaves that wafts through the air as one ambles around the plantation is worth the long walk down and the steep climb back.
We had drinks in the tea house that offers a wide array of choices for around RM6 (around P85). The mint tea infusion I had was the best I’ve tasted, and my mom’s strawberry tea, which I sampled, made me rethink my aversion to fruit-flavored versions of the beverage.
There is a shop beside the tea house that allows visitors to purchase the drinks that suit their fancy and recreate the delicious experience at home. While browsing through the products, I wondered whether the coffee growers in Batangas have thought of doing something similar for their plantations. It was shrewd and brilliant for an already profitable tea industry to incorporate tourism into its business strategy to generate even more earnings.
Our next stop was the adjacent town of Brinchang, where we had a delicious, filling lunch of noodles and pork before we visited Cactus Valley. Perched on a hill, the nursery invites visitors to see different kinds of cacti for a RM4 fee.
If only for the sheer number of cacti it hosts, the place is worth the entrance fee. It would have been great if there was a system to help visitors identify the cacti in the collection, but just seeing the plants in forms I would never have associated with the species was so astonishing that not knowing what they’re called didn’t matter so much.

HIGHLANDS APIARY visitors can pick the strawberries they want to buy.

One variety looks like an octopus, while another looks like a baby elephant. There’s one that’s shaped like a starfish, another that looks like a flower, and yet another that looks like a mushroom. The Hollywood western variety, with its tall, thin appearance was also present, as was its complete opposite, the spherical one.
The nursery also hosts other kinds of plants and flowers, including the carnivorous monkey cup (also called the pitcher plant).
Besides the impressive selection of flora, the nursery is also worth the visit for its quaint view of the houses and shops of Brinchang at the foothills.
Also in the town, Healthy Strawberry Farms offers all kinds of products that contain the fruit. The farm, which also allows fruit picking at certain times of the year, sells chocolate-covered strawberries, fresh strawberries, strawberry jams, and others. A word of caution about the strawberry ice cream, though: only the fresh strawberries they put in it come from the farm; the four scoops of ice cream over the fruits is a commercial brand.
The farm also sells potted plants for RM10. If a flower catches your eye and you don’t know what it is, ask the gardener. Thanks to them, I now know what a cyclamen is.
For the more culturally inclined, Cameron Highlands also highlights its Kampung Orang Asli (indigenous people’s villages). They aren’t easy to find, however -- it took us three attempts to find one of them, and by the time we got there, it was already too late in the day to explore the area.

SPHERICAL CACTI at Cactus Valley

It was on the way back to the Malaysian capital that we passed the Time Tunnel, a memorabilia museum. For a RM5 entrance fee, visitors see over 1,000 vintage items on display. While not everything in the collection is worth noting -- the old M&M toys just didn’t cut it for me -- a lot of the items can make one chuckle with nostalgia.
An old water thermos on a wooden table, an earthen stove and a charcoal iron reminded me of the things I used to see as a child in my grandparents’ house. The LP covers on the walls, old valises, and tin covers for chocolates also brought back memories. The old packaging of food products and sodas were interesting, as were the wall telephones with rotary dials and the mini jukebox that greets visitors at the entrance.
I wasn’t ready to see an “Octupus” game-and-watch unit in the museum, however. I used to play game-and-watch as a child, and I never thought that something of my generation would be found in a museum for vintage stuff.
I felt old.
The Time Tunnel also displays photos of the Cameron Highlands of yesteryears and shares tales of mysterious disappearances of affluent men in the area, earning it the moniker “local museum.”
The trip back to Kuala Lumpur took three hours -- via the safer, wider, and less meandering road to Ipoh.
Cameron Highlands, with its crisp, rainy weather, laid-back ambience, beautiful scenery and delicious farm products really is a piece of heaven on earth. And I was happy to note that one need not die to get a glimpse of paradise, after all.

Samudera in vibrant colours (The Brunei Times)

This came out on the January 16, 2012 of The Brunei Times (Click here for original story)

Jennee Grace Rubrico
KUALA LUMPUR

Monday, January 16, 2012

WHEN Dr Abdul Jalil Othman, associate professor at the University of Malaya, held his first solo exhibit as a visual artist last year, he chose to present a collection of 63 underwater paintings.The paintings, all done in abstract drawing on canvass and first showcased at the Muzium Seni Asia, depict life under the sea.
Called "Alam Samudera", the exhibit showcased paintings that he worked on over two years.
"I wanted everybody to understand nature because I love nature. I wanted to expose people and to show them that there's another life in another world, and people should think about that life I love to show the music of the colours," he said.
"I love the colour of the sea and the movement of the water, not to mention the fish. If you look at their movement, it symbolises harmony in another world they all move in the same direction," he added.
As an abstract painter, Jahlil uses his imagination when painting, and he said that he doesn't allow himself to be limited by things as they are seen. The sea, for instance, is represented by different colours in his paintings.
How he chose the colours of the sea for this collection, he said, depended on his mood when he was working on a particular piece.
"It doesn't mean that the sea must be blue. Sometimes it can turn into yellow, into red. This is just an abstract. It's not the real thing, but it depends on my mood also," he said.
It was during his first exhibit that Jahlil's paintings were priced by Malaysia's National Art Gallery at between RM2,000 (around $825) and RM18,000. "This was the price fixed by the art panel," he said.
He added that following that exhibit, he brought his Alam Samudera collection to the National Taiwan Sport University.
"The president of the university, Professor Kao, invited me to an exhibit, and I just came back two weeks ago," he said, adding that he has been getting a lot of support from UM.
Jahlil said that he is not able to sell his paintings outside of Malaysia.
"I can't sell during exhibitions overseas, because there are stringent customs requirements," he said.
Interested buyers, he added, can buy his art through Malaysia's National Art Gallery.
Having been painting since his school days, Jahlil decided to seriously pursue the art five years ago, while on a sabbatical in Japan.
"While I was in Tokyo, I showed them some of my paintings, and I saw so many people appreciate my paintings. It inspired me to be serious with my painting," he said.
He then started participating in group exhibits in other countries. "I travelled a lot to participate in them."
Jahlil says that he finds time to paint when he gets home from his day job at the university, where he is attached to the Faculty of Educations Department of Language and Literacy Education. While at home, he works for several hours, sometimes through the night.
"It's a form of escapism and to relieve my tension, and allows me to fulfill my interest and passion for drawing," he explained.
It takes him anywhere between a week to a month to do a painting, he said.
Asked if he felt an attachment to his paintings, Jahlil said that he didn't face any difficult selling them. "Sometimes, I even give it for free. (Selling the paintings) inspires me to produce more of them," he said.
Right now, Jahlil is gearing up for another exhibit, again to be housed at Muzium Seni Asia. This will be in April and it will be a different theme. This time, it's fireworks, he said.
The Brunei Times

Real-life Farmville (The Brunei Times)

This came out on the November 19, 2011 issue of The Brunei Times. (click here for the original story)

Real-life Farmville

Jennee Grace U Rubrico
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, November 19, 2011

WHO hasn't played or heard about Farmville, that addictive simulation game on Facebook where players are given tracts of land to farm on?
Many have spent hours planting and harvesting, and earning coins which are ploughed back into the farm, so that yet more coins are earned. The more money one earns, the more choices one can have for crops to plant and buildings to build.
Perhaps, you are one of those committed players who would time your planting and harvesting, so that if you have plans to leave for the day for school, for instance you don't have to worry about your produce spoiling before you could get back home for harvest time.
Many find it fun to call on neighbours for help out on some project, share goods and take care of livestock that almost guarantees money that could be used to buy cool additions to the farm. It's challenging to be responsible for the yields from a tract of land. And the rewards that come with seeing one's farm progress into a wealthy one, as well as the idea of earning coins to buy pretty things for the farm, makes it such a draw.
If you're one of those who would like to experience Farmville in real life, plant real crops or grow livestock with the help of friends, spend time growing them and when the time comes, earn money from all the hard work, then backyard farming is for you.
Many people who live in urban areas engage in backyard farming. There is even a variation: planting on the rooftops.
There are many reasons people go into backyard farming. Some do it to get a steady stream of food. A vegetable bed or a poultry farm would allow a family to get their food fresh from their backyard instead of from the market, where a favourite vegetable could go out of stock.
Others do it because they want to make sure that the food they eat is safe from cancer-causing substances that are present in artificial fertilisers. This is called organic farming.
Still others do it for its earning potential. Just like in Farmville, a backyard farmer can sell the produce at the market or to friends and earn from it.
"Home farming has come about as a result of the convergence of several different ideas related to economics, health and environment," the website Home Farming Basics (http://homefarmingbasics.com/starting-a-backyard-farm) states.
Anyone who wants to have a backyard farm has to do one basic thing: plan it.
"The best place to start anything is with some good solid planning. Determine what it is that you hope to accomplish and decide whether you have the resources to accomplish it, make adjustments, then set a plan in motion," the website states.
The website, which offers helpful tips for would-be backyard farmers, gives different options on what to grow and information on what one needs to grow them.
For vegetable gardens, "it is possible to raise a substantial quantity of root crop vegetables, and top crop vegetables on a very small area of land, or even in containers".
"The smaller the area, and the more consistent the need for production, the more labor intensive it becomes. You may need to replant the minute that one crop becomes inviolable, and have the new crops already growing and ready to transplant. It takes some serious planning and preparation, but it works."
One can also grow fruits at home, it adds.
"Fruiting vegetables are the easiest way to produce fruits for the home farmer with small acreage. Melons, cantaloupes, and strawberries can be grown in small areas, and can even go vertical," it says.
"With a little ingenuity and careful use of space, a reasonable quantity of food can be produced from small fruit trees, and fruiting vines like grapes. It is even possible to grow some small fruit trees in large containers."
Meanwhile, those who want to breed animals will "need to have a serious amount of space" for goats and cows. Chickens, though, are more manageable, the website says.
"Both chickens for egg production and fryers can be raised in a relatively small space with careful management techniques, but a wider area for 'free range' is preferred. Depending on your tastes and preferences, other small animals such as rabbits can also be raised for food production."
Backyard farming takes more work than a Farmville farm. Crops will take longer to grow, and it entails spending real money to improve on it.
Depending on what you grow, fertilisers, feeds, pens, tools and garden beds all require varying amounts of money.
You will also have to think of the elements, and you have to properly position your crops so that they get just the right amount of sun that they need to thrive.
But at its very core, backyard farming is just like Farmville. It requires dedication, hard work and commitment. It takes time away from other activities, requires planning and takes a lot of patience.
Whether you grow crops, or flowers, or livestock, backyard farming is bound to be challenging, fun and most of all, rewarding.
The Brunei Times

Exploring Ipoh (BusinessWorld)

Published in the August 04, 2011 issue of BusinessWorld

TEXT and Photos BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO

 

It was midmorning and the sun was unforgiving when we sat ourselves down in a dim sum restaurant. As soon as we got to Ipoh, the capital city of Perak in Malaysia, Waran, a teacher in one of the schools in the city and my mom’s former student, whisked us to breakfast.

Ipoh, Waran said, is known for its food, being the birthplace of Malaysia’s Old Town White Coffee and one of the country’s food meccas. We had tried to beg off from eating so soon after arriving, as we had been served pastry and drinks during the two-hour train ride that took me and my parents to the city from Kuala Lumpur; our host, however, would not hear of it.
“You can still make space for this,” Waran said, as five kinds of dim sum were served along with glutinous rice, dumplings, tea and white coffee. “This is light.”
I took a piece of prawn dim sum with doubts about finishing what was before us. A bite changed my mind. It was so tasty, with the flavors coming alive as soon as they touched the tongue. The others were just as flavorful.
Even the char siew pao (pork dumpling), which I didn’t think I had space for, was gobbled up. The softness of the bun coupled with the strong flavors of the meat was almost perfection. And while I did have a hard time finishing my portion of the delightfully salty glutinous rice, it was by no means a commentary on its taste. I was simply stuffed.
“It’s impossible to die of starvation in Ipoh,” Waran said. “You can die of overeating, but it’s with a full stomach.”
Ipoh owes its development to a mining boom during the 19th century, when tin was its main product. It has since positioned itself as a cosmopolitan city that is less crowded than the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
“Ipoh has everything,” Waran, a native of the city, said when we were back in his well-maintained nine-year-old Proton sedan. It certainly has wide roads, and a lot of one-way streets. The rows of shop houses we passed were reminiscent of the old section of Singapore.
“A river divides the city,” Waran said as we drove over a bridge. “On one side of the Sungai Kinta is the Old Town and on the other is the New Town.”
British influence is embodied by the colonial buildings in the Old Town, bits of which may be familiar; many were used as locations for the Jodie Foster-Chow Yun Fat movie Anna and the King.
At the Ipoh railway station, neoclassical architecture combines with Moorish domes and turrets. Nearby, St. Michael’s Institution, a government-run school that is part of the La Salle community, has stood for 99 years. The heritage building, simpler in design than the rail station, has strong clean lines, gables and arched verandas that open to the school grounds’ lush vegetation. The long hallways feel like ghosts haunt the place.
“Next year, we celebrate our centennial year,” says Waran, who is both an alumnus and a teacher in the school. “The building has not undergone major renovation work. This is the same staircase it had when it was first opened.”
The school was a Kempeitai headquarters during the Japanese occupation. On a marble slab, the names of La Salle brothers who fell victim to the war are listed. Beside a door, a plate marks a room used for interrogating Kempeitai prisoners. Here, Malaysian heroine Sybil Kathigesu “suffered the atrocities of wartime interrogation.”
The former torture room, Waran said, was now being used as a classroom.
Away from the city-center, a mystical Ipoh beckons. Wat Mekprasit (Mek Prasit Buddhist Temple) stands to welcome both the faithful and the curious. Statues of the Buddha -- including one that shows him cutting his hair with a sword meet visitors at the tiny parking lot of the temple, said to be one of the oldest in Ipoh. Two seven-headed snakes frame the way to the place of worship, which is best known for housing a gigantic reclining Buddha. A mural tells his story.
At the main prayer hall, where the giant Buddha lies and a monk was watching TV, a golden Buddha in lotus position sits on a layered altar. Surrounding the hall are graven monks, also in lotus position and with hands crossed in prayer, their faces reflecting the blissful expression of the reclining Gautama.
The silence of the temple was calming, and the cool cement under our bare feet gave some respite from the noonday heat.
After resting at Gunung Lang Taman Rekreasi (Lang Recreational Park), where one could go boating, feed the fish or simply rest tired feet while enjoying a view of canopied islands and a placid lake, we got to visit more unconventional places of worship: temples with limestone walls in the bowels of the earth.
Fronted by a white and red façade that is covered with inscriptions, Perak Tong (Perak Cave) houses a 12-meter high image of a sitting Buddha that greets visitors at the entrance. The Chinese temple houses more than 40 statues of the deity, each one different from the other.
In one corner, a priest was leading some people in worship. They were kneeling before one of the statues and chanting.
Calligraphy and Chinese paintings adorn the cave walls. On a slab of limestone, a pretty Chinese girl in traditional garb looks down on visitors while on another, praying monks kneel before a meditating Buddha. Painted on one of the inner caverns is a traditional Chinese landscape, drawn in black and white. On other walls, Chinese poems are illustrated with flowers and other paintings. The artwork in the cave could rival a museum’s gallery of oriental art.
Facing the cave is a garden with a statue of a lady gazing at the temple. “That is a goddess that is said to be protecting the temple,” said Waran.
Another cave temple, Sam Poh Tong, stands beside Perak Tong. Built in 1912, the Buddhist temple sports a more intricate façade than its neighbor’s, but the centerpiece is the Chinese garden of bonsai trees and the pond that hosts turtles and koi. The garden features stone pillars and a grotto of a goddess. With the limestone mountain as its backdrop, it is breathtaking. In 1993, it was named the best landscaped garden in Malaysia.
A walk through the cave -- which is decorated with images of Buddha carved on marble -- brought us to the tortoise pond behind the premises. There must have been a hundred sleeping in the gated pools under the afternoon sun. Waran said feeding the tortoises was allowed, but we contented ourselves with watching them adjust to the heat.
Across from the tortoise pond is a traditional Chinese building. The gates were locked, and no one seemed to be stirring inside. The white building with a red roof rises five storeys high. Like many ancient Chinese buildings, the awnings host animal sculptures on their edges. The only western mark we could see from outside the compound was a fountain that had a sculpture of a naked boy.
Our last cave was Kek Look Tong, which sits on a 12-acre site in Guning Rapat. It was the simplest among the three cave temples, containing 13 statues of Buddhist and Taoist deities and none of the murals of Perak Tong. But it surpasses Perak Tong and Sam Poh Tong in two aspects: first, the stalactite and stalagmite formations of the cave have remained intact.
Its second edge is not as easily seen -- one would have to walk all the way to the rear mouth of the cave to see a stunningly beautiful garden.
Shangri-la, my dad said.
Waran calls the place Garden of Eden.
The Web site of Kek Look Tong says that the award-winning landscape garden features a jogging path that circles two man-made lakes and hosts one of the longest reflexology footpaths in Ipoh. Bordered by mountains on three sides, the garden is a safe haven for endemic flora and fauna as well as migratory birds.
“The lakes are populated with carp, turtles and cichlids, while monkeys, lizards, and even the occasional mountain goat are sighted within, roaming the grounds,” it adds.
As we admired the view, a breeze blew from the garden and through the cave, enveloping us in a coolness that not only refreshed, but also comforted.
“No wonder the first man lived in caves,” Waran commented.
Thoughts of Ipoh filled my head on the trip back to KL that night. The city is many things: a food haven, a spiritual sanctuary, and an architectural treasure.
Ipoh is a city with charms that know no bounds.

Google: Big brother is watching you (The Brunei Times)

Published in the July 27, 2011 issue of The Brunei Times

Jennee Grace U Rubrico
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

SO YOU now have a Google+ account. Congratulations on being one of 18 million subscribers as of July 24 who got an invitation to the most exclusive social network party in ages.

Google which has had its share of flops since the launch of Gmail in 2004 is back on its game with its by-invitation-only strategy for Google+. Unlike the other social network, where anyone with an email address and Internet connection can sign up, Google+ is - for now, at least-restricted to the elite millions who have the power to decide if a hapless non-user should be given a pass to the party. Sigil of privacy
Never mind if, based on July 22 statistics from analysts, website Findpeopleonplus.com, most of the subscribers are engineers, software developers, web developers, programmers or other people who work with computers and the Internet. And never mind if Google itself tops the list of companies with the most number of employees signed up to the social network, at 9,704. According to Google, the social network which was rolled out on June 28 had been growing by two million subscribers per day until recently. Sooner or later, there's bound to be a demographic in which we mere mortals could belong.
Google+'s draw - apart from its exclusivity - is the control a user has over his account. Under the beta version, a user has sole control over what posts appear on one's wall - erm, stream. Should he wish to post incriminating photos of himself on his stream for everyone to see, that is his prerogative. His sister, who may derive pleasure in embarrassing him in front of his friends, will not have the same privilege. Not on his stream, at least.
There is also Circles, which has been touted as the sigil of privacy in a realm where it is thought to be non-existent. By assigning people to circles, users control who can see a particular post which is great, because people who may not be interested in knowing what book you've read recently would not have to know that you've just finished Bridge on the River Kwai.
But the real power of Circles is that it filters posts that come from others. This is important for a social network that doesn't require someone's consent to be included in someone else's network. If your ex has decided to put you in one of his circles in a malicious attempt to get you to read updates on his love life, his efforts will be in vain as long as you don't put him in any of your circles. He gets your public updates, and you get a notification that an update from him is waiting in your "incoming" stream. But you can always decide to ignore the notice. If this doesn't work for you, you can always block him, and neither of you would be getting the other's posts.
But while Google+ protects you from others, it does not protect you from Google itself. Like it or not, the social network is yet another platform from which the Internet giant could cull information about its users.
The thing about Google is that its services are integrated, and a user's information is shared by most of the platforms. Using Google's services is like giving the Internet giant permission to take your fingerprints and trace your activities. With all the data we have been feeding Google through Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Chrome, Reader, Google Docs, Calendar, Buzz, and now Google+, it is not farfetched for a conspiracy theorist to think of it as the real world's equivalent of Eagle Eye's ARIIA, the omniscient, omnipotent super-computer tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world.
Information on everyone
For all we know, Google has already gathered enough information on everyone to rule the world. But maybe not.
How does Google use data from users? "We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Google services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services," it says in its terms of service.
For Google+, "we will record information about your activity such as posts you comment on and the other users with whom you interact in order to provide you and other users with a better experience on Google services".
It adds that information provided by others - such as people who put you in circles, or tag you in photos-are also collected to be used as aggregate statistics about Google+ activity and shared "with the public, our users, and partners, such as publishers, app developers, or connected sites".
Governments are aware that Google is sitting on a treasure trove of information and have been asking its help. Google complies.
"We receive requests from government agencies around the world to provide information about users of our services and products," it says, adding these "primarily cover requests in criminal matters".
Criminal investigation
"We can't always be sure that a request necessarily relates to a criminal investigation, however, so there are likely a small number of requests that fall outside of this category," it adds.
There have always been provisions in Google's terms of service that have caused discomfort among users; but resisting the Internet giant would be futile. Short of committing cyber hara-kiri, there is no way to avoid the omniscient Big Brother.
In any case, Google users seem to have already factored this in. Gmail users, especially, have had an earlier encounter with privacy issues - and have kept using the service since.
I console myself with the thought that having a virtual fingerprint is just like having a real one. Unless a need arises for that fingerprint to be located, it remains in the dark recesses of the storage rooms. So I convince myself: There is no need to be afraid.
Besides, with 18 million Google+ users and more Gmail subscribers, there are surely people with more colourful lives than mine who would occupy the time of Google, and that of the powers-that-be.
And if it comes down to it, cyber hara-kiri is always an option, and I can rest assured that Google+ won't retain my data. But it always bodes well to remember, before putting up a Google+ post: your parents may not see it, but Big Brother is watching.
The views are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Brunei Times. The Brunei Times

Bimp-Eaga can tap $1.5t global halal food market (The Brunei Times)

Published in the July 17, 2011 issue of The Brunei Times

Jennee Grace U Rubrico

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Bimp-Eaga sub-regional grouping is poised to take a bite out of the trillion-dollar global halal food market, a ranking official of one of its member-countries said.
In a talk with reporters yesterday, Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar V Purisima said that the halal food market presents an opportunity for the sub-region, which counts as its members Brunei Darussalam as well as provinces and states in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The Halal Journal estimates that halal food currently accounts for approximately one-fifth of world food trade, and values the industry segment at US$1.2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) as of 2010. The trade publication which focuses on the halal market also states that the industry segment grows by US$500 million annually.
"Individually, we already supply halal food to the market, but not as Bimp-Eaga. Tapping the market as Bimp-Eaga with a Bimp-Eaga halal certification with a Bimp-Eaga brand is something we should start looking at because these are the key blocks to make sure that the Asean integration happens," said Purisima, who was in the Sultanate to attend the 65th birthday celebrations of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.
He said that during Haj, Saudi Arabia alone needs to feed millions of pilgrims for a month. In 2010, 2.8 million pilgrims were estimated to have taken part in the Haj.
"Just for the needs of this Haj, we can target that as a major opportunity. We can collaborate. It can be the land of the Philippines, it can be the money and technology of Brunei, it can be cooperation with the Malaysian and Indonesian companies, and maybe also some of the areas in Malaysia and Indonesia," he said.
"If we reach out to the market, in Saudi Arabia, and partner with them as support for the region and give us some preferential access to the market so long as were competitive, that would be good."
He also said that members of the sub-regional grouping can even "specialise" in the types of food to produce, with areas designated as Bimp-Eaga centres for chicken, corn, fish, prawns, beef and other food products.
"When you look at it, we should even reach out to New Zealand and Australia. They have so much of the lamb and cattle. We can bring them here, process them here because it's cheaper, and certify it," he said.
For this to happen, the growth area needs to build the infrastructure that would facilitate trade, Purisima said.
"The key there is making sure that we build the infrastructure: the ports, the seaports, the cold chain, the processing facilities," he said.
Meanwhile, Purisima also said that on a country-to-country basis, the Philippines could tap Brunei's know-how on halal certification.
"The Brunei halal food brand is recognised worldwide and we'd like to work with the Brunei halal food authority to make sure that we improve our halal certifying bodies in the Philippines and maybe have a joint project," he said.
The Bimp-Eaga comprises Brunei; Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia; the federal states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the federal territory of Labuan in Eastern Malaysia; and the islands of Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines.
The Brunei Times

Asean seeks to boost fund for infrastructure projects

Published in the July 17, 2011 issue of The Brunei Times

Jennee Grace U Rubrico

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is hoping to beef up a fund that is being set up for infrastructure projects in the region.

Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar V Purisima told reporters yesterday that the 10-member grouping hopes to entice central banks in the region to invest in the Asean Infrastructure Fund (AIF). The AIF will be a combination of equity contributions from Asean member-states and bond issuances.
Asean member-states have pledged to contribute US$335.2 million ($408.41 million) to the fund.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give a counterpart of US$150 million as well as hybrid capital, amounting to US$162 million, in the form of debt and equity.
"We believe that the AIF is a very good initiative. Our goal is that it becomes so successful that the credit rating becomes very high hopefully in the A's so that the central banks of the region can invest in it so that it can become bigger," Purisima said.
He said that at around US$400 million, current pledges for the fund are "a good start".
"But given the infrastructure needs of the Asean, we really need all the capital to be funneled to that," he added.
The ADB has estimated that the region requires infrastructure investments amounting to US$596 billion from 2006 to 2015, with an average investment of US$60 billion per year.
Purisima said that the central banks in the region have the means to invest in the fund.
"We do have the reserves. Across the region we have substantial foreign exchange reserves. Our challenge is to create the mechanisms for recycling these investments, and AIF can be one of that," he said.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Malaysia had foreign currency reserves of US$120.58 billion while Singapore had foreign currency reserves of US$238.5 billion in May 2011.
The Philippines, meanwhile, had foreign currency reserves of US$59 billion, while Thailand had US$177 billion in the same period.
Asean aims to establish the AIF during the informal Asean Finance Ministers' Meeting in September.
The fund was conceived to provide funding for the huge infrastructure requirements of the Asean. Indicative projects include those in the energy, transport and water sectors.
Based on discussions among the Asean member-states, the AIF will be a corporate entity, with a board that will take the key decisions of selection of projects as well as their implementation.
The AIF will be headquartered in Malaysia and will be administered by ADB on behalf of Asean member-countries.
Malaysia has pledged US$150 million for the fund, while Indonesia said it was giving US$120 million. Laos and Cambodia have pledged US$100,000 each, while Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore pledged to contribute US$15 million.
Asean Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan, however, had earlier said that the fund was not going to be enough to support the implementation of the Asean Master Plan on Connectivity, pointing out that Asia needs to invest about US$8 trillion in overall national infrastructure between 2010 and 2020.
"In addition, Asia needs to spend about US$290 billion on specific regional infrastructure projects in transport and energy that are in the pipeline," he said. The Brunei Times