Home loan market settles (The Brunei Times)

Published in the June 26, 2013 issue of The Brunei Times. Click here for original article

Home loan market settles

Potential home buyers who had held back on buying immediately after the new rates were imposed are now back in the market. Picture: BT file

 

Debbie Too and

Jennee Grace Rubrico

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

THREE months after the central bank imposed changes in key interest rates, the residential loan market appears to have adjusted to a new normal.

Potential home buyers who had held back on buying immediately after the new rates were imposed are now back in the market, opting to proceed with long-planned purchases in the wake of the changes. Financial institutions, on their part, have factored the new rates into their products and are now back in business after a number imposed a short-lived moratorium on home financing.

"We are still going to go ahead and take up a home financing product," said Rina, a potential home owner who had earlier expressed concern over the impact of the changes in the interest rates on access to home financing.

She said that she and her husband were going to push through with the plan to get home financing since there was "no choice".

The Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) on March 6 imposed new rates with the aim of enhancing the financial infrastructure and inculcating sound financial and debt management among users of credit.

Under the AMBD directive, residential property loans or financing now have a revised maximum effective interest rate or annualised profit rate of not more than 4.5 per cent per annum.

Following the amendment of interest rates, banks -- some of which froze home loans for around a week -- altered their packages to take into account the new interest rate regime.

Among others, banks decreased the amount they would finance for the property to 70 per cent -80 per cent of its value. Subsidies for home loan packages, which can amount to $15,000, were also cancelled.

Indirect impact

In an email interview, Dr Chua Yang Liang, the head of research for Southeast Asia for property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle, told The Brunei Times that the impact of interest rates on housing demand is "not as direct".

"Fundamentally, housing demand can be a consumption or for investment... In Brunei, as the housing market is still largely a domestic play, the rise or fall of interest rate may not change demand as quickly or as dramatically as you would expect," she said.

She also said that Brunei is a "relatively stable market" and added that while Bruneians might change their buying pattern in reaction to the shift in the interest rate, "we do not think that this alone is sufficient to lead to a structural shift to the residential market".

While overall the home financing market seems to be getting back on track, however, there could be changes in banks' share of the market as debtors flock to creditors with the most favourable packages.

Rasidah Haji Abu Bakar, a reporter for The Brunei Times and a home loan applicant, said that she is now opting to purchase property through Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) because the bank gives a longer repayment period compared to HSBC (B) Sdn Bhd, her previous choice.

"They (HSBC) changed their repayment period for home loans to 10 years and I can't afford to repay for a house in 10 years," she said.

She also said that SCB provided her with subsidies for the processing fees and other contractual agreements with the bank. Even with this, however, she is required to shell out more cash for her loans now since additional items such as the mortgage reducing term assurance -- an insurance cover in the event of the applicant's death or permanent disability -- would require a personal loan to pay off.

Cheok Fui Say, general manager of Retail Lending at SCB, said that demand for home loans has continued, but it was not clear if the increased demand was seen as a direct result of the rates revision.

She only said that "with the revised rates, customers are even more advantaged by the fact that all rates are equal and this would save them time from going from bank to bank to 'shop' for the best rates". She added, though, that the bank has seen a surge in applications for refinancing.

HSBC, on the other hand, said in reply to questions sent by The Brunei Times that volumes have gone down.

"(HSBC is) satisfied with the changes it has made on its home loan application, but obviously the volumes have reduced considerably over the past few months as a result of these changes."

HSBC's restructed home loan packages now have a repayment period that was shortened to 10 years, and the bank has told customers that it would only finance properties for up to a maximum of 70 per cent of their value. The bank has also taken away subsidies that used to amount to a maximum of $15,000 and included land valuation, insurance and others.

Other borrowers, meanwhile, opt to take up financing from banks that they have a history with. Rina, for instance, said that she and her husband would probably opt to go to Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) "because it's my husband's bank".

"We haven't met up with the home financing specialist to discuss what our package would be but we heard that financing would be up to 80 per cent only," she said.

A home financing specialist from BIBD said: "At the bank we would handle the financing option, and we offer financing up to 70 per cent of the market value or the selling price, whichever is lower."

She added that on a case-by-case basis the amount being financed could be increased.

Depending on the financial health of the customer, sometimes the subsidies can be included in the total amount for the home financing product, but if they are not eligible, customers may have to opt for a personal loan to pay for the subsidies. Baiduri Bank, for its part, says it has been doing well on the home financing front.

Pierre Imhof, the chief executive officer of Baiduri, said that the amendments to the interest rates did not have much of an impact to the bank's home financing packages as it had already been offering rates that were in line with the new rules prior to their effectivity.

Imhof added that the price that Baiduri grants under its facility is directly linked, or is in proportion, to the risk the bank has to take.

"What we have also seen is that there is a backlog to the access of ownership in Brunei and we definitely believe that a number of people are still keen to come and see us to find the right loan," he said. The Brunei Times

 

 

Off the beaten path: Taiping (BusinessWorld)

Published in the June 6 issue of BusinessWorld. Click here for the original story. 

Focus

Posted on 06:37 PM, June 06, 2013

By Jennee Grace U. Rubrico

Off the beaten path: Taiping

 0  0  0  New 

 

The decrepit shop houses that line the sidewalk of the main road hardly encourage tourists to check out what the town has to offer. Many look abandoned and stand as remnants of an era passed, when trade must have bustled and the tin industry that helped fuel an industrial revolution in the west was at its peak.

Taiping Lake -- www.wikipedia.org

Without a mall, theater, beach or port, and without a lot of buzz going around, the town of Taiping in the state of Perak, Malaysia, is easy to ignore. About the only thing it is known for is its zoo, which draws 700,000 visitors a year, mostly students who go on excursions to see the animals.

But there is more to the town than meets the eye. Unquestionably off the beaten path, Taiping rewards the adventurous traveler with experiences that are infinitely more profound than mere merry-making and leisurely sightseeing.

“We are a small town [but] we have a beautiful background of heritage. We still have our old buildings, and we have our nature,” says Hanim Ramly, the head of Taiping’s Tourism, Education and Publicity Division.

Developed by the British to be the administrative center in Perak in the 1880s, Taiping does not hide its age. A walk around the city reveals architectural treasures and heritage buildings at every turn. The District Offices building in the heart of the town was built in 1897 and continues to stand in full colonial splendor.

Other restored structures that transport visitors back to the era of the Empire’s occupation include old schools and churches set up by the British during their stay in the town, centuries-old houses and the first garrison to be built in peninsular Malaysia, the Taiping Prison, which was built in 1879. Other telltale signs -- like a red phone booth reminiscent of the ones seen in old movies -- also serve as serendipitous finds for those who take the heritage stroll.

Two museums in the town are perhaps more remarkable for their age and history than for the collections they house. The Perak Museum, also in the heart of the town, is the first museum to open in peninsular Malaysia and is a study in colonial architecture with its whitewashed walls, intricate towers and decorated windows. Built in 1883, the structure houses a collection of 8,474 items, of which 5,074 are cultural, 523 are nature-related and 2,877 are archeological. Adding to its vintage feel are a World War II aircraft and an old steam train that are parked on the grounds.

A side trip to the district of Matang, meanwhile, brings one to the second museum: the Matang Historical Complex, also called the Ngah Ibrahim Fort. Built as a residence of tin miner Ngah Ibrahim in 1858, the house is made in the style of old Malay buildings, with wooden floors and heavy wooden staircases running from both sides of the main door. At the threshold, visitors are met by an elephant in the room -- a statue of it that depicts how Ngah Ibrahim’s father Long Jaafar made his fortune from tin mining. According to legend, the elephant, owned by Long Jaafar, went missing and when found days later, was discovered covered in mud that had tin ore embedded in it.

Over the years, the residence changed hands. It fell under the British, who used it as a court to try a Malay chief for the death of a British officer; and the Japanese, who turned it into a strategic operations center during World War II. It is now under the Perak government, which has turned it into a showcase of its own history as well as that of the man who originally owned it.

Also in Matang is the Matang Mangrove Forest. Boardwalks beside the river lead visitors from the administrative office to the deeper parts of the forest, and visitors are guaranteed to see some wildlife. Our party, led by Taiping residents Dina and Hidir, had barely gotten to the starting point when a seasnake poked a diamond-shaped head out of the water and started eyeing us. Less than five minutes later, while we were still on the platform, Hidir pointed out another snake, about three feet long, sleeping with its body wrapped around a tree root.

During the 15-minute walk which saw us going half the distance of the trail, our party saw crabs in the mud below the boards, a woodpecker pecking on a tree, different tree species, and fish. We could also hear monkeys calling, but before we could get to them we decided that it would be safer for us to head back.

Dina assured us that the trail was safe. We did meet several forest rangers roaming in pairs during the short trip we took around the mangroves, and a lot of log houses, which are rented out, are built on the river.

The natural endowments of Taiping are also visible in the town proper, where centuries-old trees that line its main roads droop towards the ponds and lakes of the Taiping Lake Gardens, a former mining ground that was converted by the British into a public garden. Close by, at 1,000 meters above sea level, Maxwell Hill hosts nature trails and boasts not only cool weather and flora but also the best view of the town below it.

Ms. Hanim, Taiping’s tourism head, acknowledges that while the town has a lot to offer, more needs to be done to get it to figure more prominently on the tourism map.

She notes that when tourists visit the town, they usually stay for only two or three hours. She also notes the lack of foreign tourists, saying that of the 700,000 visitors the town gets annually, only 0.8% come from overseas.

But promotions are under way, she said, and the town is working with the governments of neighboring cities to get more tourists.

There may yet come a time when more tourists would walk down Taiping’s paths, and the town would gain the recognition it deserves.

For the time being, though, the feeble shop houses that line its streets continue to guard its secrets, and only those who dare to see what lies beyond would discover the riches that this quiet, aged town hides.

Over $500m spent on fuel subsidies in 2011 (The Brunei Times)

Published in the April 20, 2013 issue of The Brunei Times. Click here for original article. 

Over $500m spent on fuel subsidies in 2011, strain on coffers

Jennee Rubrico
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, April 20, 2013

THE sultanate spent more than half a billion Brunei dollars on fuel subsidies in 2011, putting a "tremendous strain" on the national coffers, an official of the Asian Development Bank told The Brunei Times.

Minsoo Lee, senior economist in the Macroeconomics and Finance Research Division of the Economics and Research Department of ADB, said in an email interview that the sultanate spent US$470 million ($580.283 million) on general fuel subsidies in 2011.

This meant that the government shouldered US$1,159, or $1,431.84, of the fuel costs of each person in the country, he added.

"The government provides very generous subsidies to ordinary citizens through a variety of pathways, including electricity, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, or cooking gas), and transport fuels," Lee said.

"The costs of these programmes do weigh upon a government, even one with substantial financial resources. Transport fuels are held perhaps 45 per cent below market costs and are part of the overall energy subsidies," he added.

Transport fuel in the sultanate, said to be lowest in the region, ranges from 30 cents to 60 cents per litre at the pump.

Data from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH show that Brunei pays for almost half of the cost of the fuel that motorists buy at the pump.

On its website, the organisation noted that the commercial cost of gasoline with a 92 octane rating is at 92 cents per litre, but only retails for 51.9 cents per litre, with the sultanate covering the remaining 40.1 cents.

"The subsidy for diesel is even higher," it said, as it noted that the commercial cost for the fuel is at 91 cents per litre while it only sells at 31 cents, with the government shouldering the remaining 60 cents.

The GIZ draws up a database on fuel prices, taxes, price policies for countries in the world on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economy Cooperation and Development.

"Reallocating fiscal resources to infrastructure, health and education would spur growth and make it more inclusive," Lee said.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health proposed before parliament a $366.479 million budget for this year, to cover for payroll, additional manpower, purchase of medicines, hospital upgrades, procurement of laboratory equipment and health promotion, among others.

Social services, for its part, was given a $351.6 million outlay from the development budget to support projects in education, health, national housing and human resources, it was earlier reported.

The Ministry of Development has earmarked $313.2 million for the 2013/2014 financial year, for flood control projects, improvements in road safety, and public housing services.

The Ministry of Education, on its part, gets a bigger budget allocation than the amount the government spent to subsidise fuel in 2011. The ministry presented a $759.128 million budget for 2013/2014, up 3.8 per cent $731.066 million the previous fiscal year at the ninth Legislative Council proceedings.

The allocation was made for teachers' salaries, overhead costs, school buses, purchase of educational equipment, and training for teaching staff.

The budgets for these ministries, however, do not take into account support that may come from the 10th National Development Project, which was given $1.05 billion for this fiscal year.

Lee noted that while popular, selling fuel below true market prices "increases energy consumption, distorts energy development planning, and damages the environment".

Reducing the real price for diesel or electricity, he said, weakens incentives to conserve on energy and inhibits the development of renewable resources, which Brunei has been pushing for.

"Worse, the main beneficiaries of energy subsidies are not the poor. If the intent is to make energy affordable to the poor, only the poorest 20 percentile should benefit from the subsidy," he said, adding that in Asia, only five to 15 per cent of the subsidy benefits go to the poorest of the poor.

Lee also said that Brunei's ability to produce oil does not make it less vulnerable to the impacts of fuel subsidies, noting that the country's affluence is critically dependent on the energy sector.

"The oil and gas sectors account for nearly two-thirds of Brunei's GDP (gross domestic product), roughly 95 per cent of Brunei's export revenues and about 90 per cent of government revenues," he noted.

"This dependence on a single natural resource makes the economy vulnerable to fluctuations arising from energy markets. In common with other small oil and gas exporting countries, the economy is subject to pressures from swings in global prices and domestic production issues," he added.

In the recently released ADB Development Outlook 2013, the bank ranked Brunei the third biggest provider of fossil fuel subsidies in Asia when considered as a share of a country's economy.

In the list of 11 Asian countries, Brunei, which provides subsidies of over three per cent of its GDP, or the total value of goods and services produced by a country within a period, trailed Bangladesh, at five per cent of its GDP, and Pakistan whose subsidies cover more than four per cent of its economy.

According to the report, a US$0.25 per litre increase in fuel prices causes a 4.5 per cent decline in real income of households in Asia and the Pacific.

The impact is partly direct, as households have to spend more on fuel, and partly indirect, as prices for goods and services increase with higher embedded energy costs, the report added.

Brunei produced 155,000 barrels of oil a day in January to September 2012, lower than the 166,000 barrels a day it produced in 2011.

The Brunei Times

Brunei telco rates highest in ASEAN (The Brunei Times)

Published in the April 13, 2013 edition of The Brunei Times. Click here for the original article

Brunei telco rates highest in ASEAN

Jennee Rubrico

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, April 13, 2013

THE sultanate has the most expensive tariffs for telecommunications services in the ASEAN, but this does not mean that it has the fastest Internet connection in the region, a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) the other day shows.

The 2013 edition of the Global Information Technology Report, which ranks 144 economies in the world for networked readiness, places Brunei at 135th for affordability of telecommunications services.

It beats the seven other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which were included in the study: Vietnam, which at 38th of 144 economies has the lowest tariff for telecommunications services in the regional bloc; Indonesia, at 39th, Thailand at 45th; Malaysia, ranked 50th; Singapore (55th); the Philippines (82nd); and Cambodia (112th).

The WEF does not include Myanmar and Laos, the two other members of the 10-nation grouping, in the study.

In computing affordability of telecommunications services, WEF factors in mobile cellular tariffs, fixed broadband Internet rates and a competition factor derived from the Internet and telephony sectors competition index.

Brunei fares the worst in ASEAN for mobile cellular and fixed broadband Internet tariffs, with charges averaging US$0.45 a minute for mobile cellular calls and US$81.20 per month for wired broadband Internet service.

In contrast, Thailand, which has the cheapest cellular phone rates among the countries in the region, charges only US$0.09 per minute for calls. Vietnam, for its part, charges US$28.01 per month for fixed Internet services, the lowest among the members of the regional bloc.

For the Internet and telephony sectors competition index which measures the level of competition for Internet services, international long distance calls and mobile telephone services on a scale of 0 to 2 (2 being the highest) Brunei is again at the bottom, with a score of 0.78.

The country has three telco providers: Telekom Brunei Berhad, DST and B-Mobile.

Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore are the regional leaders in the index with the score of 2. All the other countries in the region that are covered by the study score at least 1.79 in the index.

The WEF study also shows that the high Internet tariff of Brunei does not translate to faster connection the country has an international Internet bandwidth per user of 22 kb/s, a far cry from Singapore's 343.7 kb/s.

Brunei's bandwidth, however, is not the lowest in the region. The country of 400,000 people is only slightly behind Thailand's bandwidth of 24.6 kb/s, and is better than Cambodia's 13.5 kb/s, the Philippines' 12.4 kb/s, Malaysia's 10.7 kb/s, Vietnam's 10 kb/s, and Indonesia's 7.2 kb/s.

The WEF study also shows that Bruneians are Internet savvy, ranking second only to Singapore in the region when it comes to the use of virtual social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for professional and personal communications.

And while there are more mobile phone subscriptions than there are people in the sultanate, with an average subscription of 109.2 per for every 100 people, the WEF report shows that the country's telecommunications market has room to grow.

The report shows that only 56 per cent of Bruneians are Internet users, lower than Singapore's 71 per cent and Malaysia's 61 per cent. For every 100 people in the sultanate, only 6.3 have mobile broadband Internet subscriptions, compared to regional leader Singapore's 114.1, Indonesia's 22.2, Vietnam's 18, and Malaysia's 12.3.

And although it ranks third in the region for the category, Brunei only has 5.7 subscriptions for fixed broadband Internet for every 100. Singapore has 25.6 and Malaysia, 7.4.

The country fares better when it comes to households with Internet access and those with personal computers.

According to the WEF, 65 per cent of Bruneian households have Internet access while 79.6 per cent have personal computers. In the region, it trails only Singapore, with 84.8 per cent and 86.1 per cent respectively.

Software piracy in the country, at 67 per cent of the total software units installed, is the third lowest in the region, after Singapore's 33 per cent and Malaysia's 55 per cent.

The study does not indicate Brunei's mobile network coverage rate, or the percentage of total population covered by a mobile network signal. It is the only country in the region with unknown network coverage levels.

On the regulatory indicators, Brunei scored a 4.1 on a range of 0 to 7 in the assessment of its ICT laws, trailing Singapore (5.8), Malaysia (5.2) and Indonesia (4.2) in the region. It ranks third in the region for intellectual property protection, after Singapore and Malaysia.

Competition in the country is within the global average, with Brunei scoring 4.8 on a range of a low of 1 to a high 7. Competition in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand is seen as more intense.

Brunei also lags other countries in the region in the number of procedures and the time required to start a business, at 15 steps and 101 days respectively. Malaysia, and Singapore, which lead in the first indicator, only require three steps, while it only takes three days to start a business in Singapore.

The Philippines, meanwhile, requires more steps than Brunei to start a business (16), but processes the requirements faster, at 36 days.

Brunei is above the global average of 4.3, in a range of 1 to 7, for the social impact of ICT on access to basic services. It scores 5.1 amd is behind Singapore and Malaysia. It is also on the upper side of the range for Internet access in schools, scoring 5.3 in a range of 1 to 7, putting it in second place in the region, after Singapore.

For overall networked readiness, Brunei is ranked 57th of 144 economies, three notches down from 54th place last year.

The Brunei Times

'Brunei 3rd in Asia's fuel subsidy list' (The Brunei Times)

Published in the April 10, 2013 issue of The Brunei Times

Click here for original story

'Brunei 3rd in Asia's fuel subsidy list'

Jennee Grace U Rubrico
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

THE fuel subsidy the sultanate gives to its people is among the highest in Asia when considered as a share of its economy, a report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows.A ranking of 11 Asian countries that provide a fuel consumption subsidy in the 2013 Asian Development Outlook puts Brunei third, after Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The fuel subsidies provided by Brunei, which according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) is the biggest net exporter of oil liquids in the Asia Pacific, account for over three per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) as of 2010, the report states.

The Oxford Business Group, in its country report on Brunei for 2011, placed the sultanate's GDP in 2010 at $11.846 billion at constant prices.

The country of about 400,000 people offers fuel prices of between 30 cents and 60 cents at the pump.
Statistics from the country's Royal Customs and Excise Department show that Brunei's prices for Super 92 petrol, as of May 2010, were about 22 cents per litre cheaper than in east Malaysia's Limbang, while Premium 97 was about 27 cents per litre cheaper.

The country produced 155,000 barrels of oil a day in January to September 2012 lower than the 166,000 barrels a day it produced in 2011.

Bangladesh, which tops the ADB list, provides subsidies that eat up five per cent of its GDP. Pakistan, meanwhile, provides subsidies translating to more than four per cent of its economy, according to the ADB.

Vietnam and Thailand trail Brunei, with subsidies accounting for around 2.8 per cent of their respective economies.

Placing sixth was Malaysia, which provides subsidies translating to around 2.5 per cent of its GDP.
Former OPEC member Indonesia, which subsidises fuel by as much as 2.5 per cent of its economy, came in seventh.

Other countries in the list were India, where fuel subsidies are estimated to be around 1.5 per cent of its GDP; Sri Lanka, at one per cent; the Philippines, at around 0.6 per cent, and China, at around 0.5 per cent.
Noting that governments impose consumer subsidies to guarantee affordability and protect households from potential shocks of fuel price increases, the ADB nevertheless stressed that the move artificially reduces the price of energy and encourages over consumption.

Simulations done by the bank show a US$0.25 ($0.30) per litre increase in fuel prices causes a 4.5 per cent decline in the real income of households in the Asia Pacific.

"Such subsidies are well-intentioned, or at least popular, but they increase energy consumption, distort energy development planning, and, when applied unevenly, provide incentives for adulteration and illegal cross-border sales," the report states.

It added that while subsidies were meant to help the poor, the less well-off "benefit little" from reduced fuel prices.

"If the intent is to make energy more affordable to the poor, only the poorest 20 percentile should benefit from the subsidy. In fact, the poor in Asia benefit little from subsidised fuel prices because many lack electricity and gas connections, few own vehicles, and most transport sparingly," it said.

Citing a study by the IEA, the ADB noted that in nine Asian countries with the highest fossil fuel subsidies and two countries in Africa, only 15 per cent of the benefit of kerosene subsidies and five per cent of subsides for liquefied petroleum gas went to the poorest 20th percentile.

In the meantime, the amount that the government shoulders "puts pressure on the budget and external account".

The ADB recommends that economies switch from general transfers to targeted subsidies to benefit the poor and reduce over consumption.

"Poor households are identified for benefits like food distribution, education support, and medical treatment. The energy subsidy could be similarly targeted," it said.

"For example, a cash payment scaled for the energy used by a typical energy-poor household, not tied to the households' energy consumption, would extend access without encouraging wasteful use."

It said this system would give beneficiaries an incentive to use less energy and keep the surplus from the payout to fund other needs.

"This achieves the objective of restraining energy use without creating the perverse incentives that so frequently drive energy systems off track.

"Replacing general energy subsidies with subsidies targeting the energy poor can immediately restrain energy demand without denying those in need. It can go a long way towards laying the foundation for Asian energy security," the ADB said. The Brunei Times

Zoomania (BusinessWorld)

published in the November 9 , 2012 issue of BusinessWorld. Click here for the original article.

Focus

Posted on 06:03 PM, November 08, 2012
Text and Photos by Jennee Grace U. Rubrico

Zoomania

Under artificial lighting that approximates the gleam of the moon, lions roar, tigers swim in a pool inside their enclosure, and owls stare hard from inside their cage. The animals that are awake are on hunt mode, but content themselves with feeding on prey that’s served dead.

OTTERS interact with the visitors of the zoo

It is 8.30 p.m. at the Taiping Night Safari, and while the day walkers sleep in their darkened cages, the nocturnal mammals, reptiles, and birds lose the lethargy that weighs them down at daytime. They now have full use of their faculties, and in the limited space that they have, are raring to get the night going.
Sitting on a 14-hectare piece of land in the heart of Taiping’s Lake Gardens, the Zoo Taiping & Night Safari is noteworthy in a number of ways. The 51-year-old zoo is the oldest in Malaysia, having hosted fauna since 1961. It is also the only night safari in peninsular Malaysia, and is a breeding center for some of the world’s endangered animals. The animal park has also put the sleepy town of Taiping, in the state of Perak, on the country’s tourism map.

A baby elephant bred at the conservation center
 walks with adults in their enclosure

Every year, 700,000 visitors go to the town north of Kuala Lumpur to visit the animal park, Hanim Ramly, the head of Taiping’s Tourism, Education and Publicity Division, said in an interview.
The visitors are mostly students from all over Malaysia who take school trips to the town, roughly three hours away from the capital, to learn more about the 200 species and 1,300 animals it hosts.
The zoo opens at 8.30 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. It reopens as a night safari from 8 to 11 p.m. On holidays and Saturdays, opening hours extend up to midnight.
Visitors can go to the park during the day then come back in the evening to see how the animals, a sizable number of which are nocturnal, change under the veil of darkness.
At night, they remain in their enclosures, so visitors can safely navigate around the property. It gets a little disconcerting when you know that vicious animals such as crocodiles, hippopotamuses and panthers -- not to mention snakes -- lurk somewhere in the area, and the only sources of light are the soft glow of bulbs that are installed in certain enclosures to mimic moonlight.
But, Dina, a zoo ranger and our guide for the trip, says there has not been, to her knowledge, any untoward incident at the zoo involving guests.

Malayan tigers frolic in the water

Operating mainly through revenues generated by ticket sales, the nature park nevertheless avoids money-generating gimmicks like animal shows. But if they are lucky, visitors may see the beasts being given food during feeding time. Guests can go around on foot, or by taking the trams that the zoo provides for both day- and night-time operations.
Meeting guests immediately after they pass the turnstile are some of the smallest and rarest monkeys in the world. Among the residents are the endangered golden-handed tamarin, the saddleback tamarin, and the pygmy marmoset, said to be the smallest monkey in the world. The slow loris, which moves at the same pace as someone suffering from arthritis, is also housed in the complex.
Their bigger counterparts, the old world monkeys, are housed in a different section of the zoo, where they have enough space to swing around.
"The difference between the old world monkeys such as the chimpanzees and the orangutans, and the new world monkeys, besides their size, is their tails. Old world monkeys do not use their tails for swinging or holding things," Dina says.
Primate lovers would have to come during daytime because at night, the apes sleep.
Fans of otters will delight in the park’s naturally adorable residents. They are bubbly, with bright eyes that follow visitors’ movements even as they also move around in their glass enclosures to ask for food. And they seem to be awake both during the day and at night.

Scarlet ibis and flamingo share an enclosure

Cat lovers, meanwhile, have a lot to see with the zoo’s sizable collection of felines, which range from the small cats to their great kin. In the park are several civet species, the medium-sized Asiatic Golden cat, panthers, lions and tigers.
Dina reveals that the zoo has successfully bred Malayan tigers, which are on the endangered species list. On its web site, the San Diego Zoo also mentions Zoo Taiping & Night Safari as one of the conservation centers for Malayan tigers.
The zoo has also successfully bred elephants, monkeys, deer and night herons. When other zoological parks in the world need any of the creatures that Taiping has too many of, an animal swap usually happens, Dina says.
The park boasts a good mix of endemic and exotic fauna. Besides the Malayan tiger, the endemic animals include the Asian elephant, Malayan sun bear, wild boar, bearded pig, tapir, and gaur, which is Perak’s state symbol.
Among the exotic species are the arapaima, the world’s biggest scaled freshwater fish, which are endemic to the Amazon river basin. The vicious fish, which look like overgrown arowana, eat smaller animals. They can grow up to 11 feet, are considered to be living fossils for not having changed over the past 13 million years, and are on the endangered species list due to overfishing and loss of habitat.
Also in the zoo are the scarlet ibis -- bright red wading birds which are also endemic to South America. Wallabies, cassowary and ostriches from Australia, as well as deer, zebras and giraffes from Africa are also residents.

Wild boars take a nap during the day

The center tries to provide an environment that takes the animals’ welfare into account. Flash photography, for instance, is not allowed. While this would make taking pictures at night difficult, it also reduces the stress the animals are subjected to.
Young males are also separated from the alpha male when they become a threat, in apparent deference to the laws of the jungle. And in the case of lions, Dina says they take turns in taking the viewing platform.
"We try to keep the setting as close as possible to the animals’ natural habitat," Dina says, noting that the park tries to operate as an open-concept zoo.
Just how close an approximation to the animals’ natural habitat is it? Enough for them to keep their instincts, it seems.
"A baby monkey fell from the tree above the arapaima pond," Dina recounts. "It was eaten by the fish."

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Zoo Taiping charges an entrance fee of RM12 per person while the Night Safari charges RM16 per person. Taiping can be reached by bus, train or car. Visitors who drop off the bus or railway station can take a taxicab to the animal park.

25: Looking Back, Moving Forward (book)

For its silver anniversary, BusinessWorld came out with a coffeetable book called 25: Looking Back, Moving Forward.

I was asked to write one of the chapters of the book -- on the Philippine power sector. Running for 10 pages, the chapter discusses how the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, the law passed in 2001 to rectify the problems in the power sector, has or has not been able to meet its mandate.

The book also tackles other sectors and the issues they grapple with. Philippine telecommunications, agriculture, and the stock exchange are just some of the important industries discussed extensively in the book.

25: Looking Back, Moving Forward was launched on July 28, 2012, and will soon be sold to the public.

For inquiries, call +632-5359901