Nice gambit

Dr. Mahathir Mohamed quit Umno. To me, it's just an "opening gambit". Am anxious to know his "expected outcome" of this stunt.

Rice from the lab

The MP of Mambong in Sarawak, Dr. James Dawos Mamit just mesmerised me this morning. As I was switching the TV channels, I tuned into RTM 1 which was showing live telecast from the parliament. Dr. James was on air talking about the climate change and its effect on rice production. He was so full of facts.

I'm not really a rice eater. But topics on the shortage of food globally which include wheat (which is the ingredient to make pasta which I love a lot) and corn does attract my attention. So, I stayed tune to listen to what Dr. James has to say.

Dr. James was saying that if there's a change in temperature, it would hamper the growth of a rice crop. You'd get smaller grains or you may find that the paddy husk is empty when you harvest it. Therefore, the climate change has affected the production of rice all over the world. I supposed, we all know this fact already.

But what we don't know yet is, in Malaysia, Mardi apparently has conducted a lot of research on how to increase rice production locally. It seems, all the research are very fruitful. They've developed new rice species which could be harvested in a very short time. There are also rice species which eliminate the use of water. Thus, you don't need the traditional method of flooding the field to grow paddy for rice.

Dr. James highlighted that all these new species of rice should be passed on to the local farmers. This would expedite rice crops in the country.

This is so exciting. I hope Mardi will not wait any further to come forward and train the farmers to grow the new species of rice. Food is a national security. We must be able to grow sufficient food for local consumption.

I feel the earth move under my feet

What happened in Myanmar and China is unlike what Carole King described in her song, "I feel the earth move under my feet". And no, the faces of the victims are not mellow as in the lyrics of the song. They're all panic stricken.

Chile is another casualty in a series of recent natural disasters. A volcano somewhere in Chile (didn't catch the name of the village during TV news) was erupting and the authorities has issued warning to the villagers to evacuate their homes.

The villagers, mostly farmers fled abondaning their pets and livestock upon receiving the evacuation notice.

Guess what? Some animal rights group somewhere in the world (obviously not affected by the disaster) held a demonstation because the animals were not rescued from the village in view of the eruption. It was reported on TV news that the Chilean police and army personnel had to take turns to feed the abandoned animals amidst pressure from the animal rights group (or groups).

This is so disturbing. I mean, you'd run for your lives first in situation like this. You'd ensure that your love ones (in this case your family members first) are on safer grounds. People scrambled to get out of that area. They're scared, traumatised. They have no time to take the dogs out of the kennel. They have no time to herd the cows.

I'm just appalled at how people are so insensitive to human lives and emotions. This is just as bad as the Myanmar Junta who refused international help following Cyclone Nargis which killed thousands of its citizen. They don't care about rescue mission offered by various international bodies. All they care about is the referendum to seek support for a pro-military constitution. They just have to do it during the aftermath of a natural disaster.

I don't know if the climate change phenomena has also changed human rational judgement.

At least, in China, a country without a regulated human rights law, any kind of help is most welcome following an earthquake in Sichuan. Whether China is trying to be politically correct or not for accepting international aid, that's beside the point. We have no time to be political when disaster strike.

Raja Petra and freedom of speech

A friend asked me if I support Raja Petra, the editor of Malaysia Today. Raja Petra was arrested and then released for his article, "Let's send the Altantuya's murderers to hell" which was published in his website.

I told my friend that I don't support Raja Petra but I'm also against him being charged under the Sedition Act. The reason why I don't fancy him is because most of the time, his writings are just hogwash.

I am all for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. But I am also against irresponsible writings. My favourite quote is, "you are free to choose your actions but you are not free to choose the consequences".

Raja Petra made a very serious allegation in that particular article. But I don't think the authorities should remand him for that. Why can't they just question him about his allegation and find out if he has hard evidence to support that?

There are so many theories about the Altantuya's case out there. We all can speculate about what happened. But it's already a court case. If Raja Petra has some hard evidence, good. He can blog about it if he wants but at the same time, he should surrender whatever evidence to the authorities so that they can investigate further. I also want Altantuya's murderer(s) to go to hell. However, we don't know for sure whodunnit yet.

I hope, I don't sound like I'm protecting anybody here. The point is, when we publish something for public consumption, it has to be a responsible one. We don't want make blind allegations unless there are prove.

I also don't like the drama Raja Petra pulled by not eating in jail, not wanting to meet his wife and the collection blog readers collected for his bail.

But I salute his wife, Marina Abdullah when she said, "I want you home".