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FEATURES
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 29/III/Aug/2006
Category: ENVIRONMENT
 THE brilliant lights enliven Petersham House, an historic building on London?s outskirts. As the sun sets, noble guests?the aristocracy and Hollywood stars?start arriving at the Elephant Family headquarters. The party beat becomes increasingly noticeable as waiters continuously offer the special menu, organically grown vegetarian dishes concocted a la India and British Raj.
The guest of honor is Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. There is only one item on the agenda: raising funds dedicated to saving Asian elephants. In addition to British and Indian nobles, the event was also attended by Hollywood stars such as Angelica Houston, Rob Lowe, and Goldie Hawn. Among the world?s jet set is Indonesian businessman Setiawan Djody. What is afoot?
Djody says he came at the invitation of Mark Shand, one of the leaders of the Elephant Family, a fundraising organization to save Asian elephants. ?Mark loves Indonesia so much,? he says. Shand lived in Bali from 1970 to the 1980s. ?We are friends and are active in flora and fauna protection,? says Djody to Tempo by international telephone line.
A fantastic party. They were successful in raising ?500,000 to reforest elephant habitats in Indonesia, India, and Thailand.
Thousands of kilometers from London, far from the hustle and bustle of a city, at the Gunung Leuser National Park, Tangkahan, North Sumatra, Sudiyono is caressing Agustin, the elephant he trains. Agustin is a smart elephant that he usually takes on patrols to care for the elephant habitat that is now facing attacks by illegal loggers. It is to this forest that some of the funds from Petersham House will flow. Elephant Family funds several save-the-elephant projects in Tangkahan, Aras Napal (both in North Sumatra), and Saree (Aceh). ?Today there are only 3,500 Sumatran elephants,? note Elephant Family officers in their website.
The big creatures are endangered. Their homes, the primary and secondary forests of Sumatra, are continuously under attack by illegal loggers and palm oil plantations. In South Sumatra, for example, from a total of 3.7 million hectares, 60 percent has been damaged. Elephants need a roaming area of 165 square kilometers in primary forests and 60 square kilometers in secondary forests.
Every year, elephants will also travel relatively the same route. When the forests?that are the elephants? routes?are transformed into palm oil plantations, there will be conflicts between the elephants and the people. That is the case with Oloan Hasibuan. He has run out of ideas on how to deal with the herd of elephants that diligently visits the plantation of PT PD Pati, Muko-Muko subdistrict, Bengkulu, where he works. Within the past three months alone, they have come four times. Hundreds of saplings were destroyed in a matter of hours.
Oloan was furious at the 3.5-ton animals. He and his boss then asked the Police?s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) to drive them away. However, there was nothing much that they could do. With rifles in hand, it was not as if they could kill the elephants. ?They?re worried that they?ll be blamed,? said Oloan. The Brimob troops could only rely on tear gas and shots into the air to chase the wild pachyderms away. It is obviously an expensive way and does not solve the problem. The elephants will keep coming back.
According to Wahdi Azmi, a save-the-elephant activist from Fauna & Flora International (FFI), the narrowing of the Sumatran elephant habitats is becoming serious. Besides, as a result of rampant palm oil plantation development, the herd of elephants is divided into several small groups. ?Two-thirds are now living outside the reservation,? said Wahdi, sadly.
Director of Conservation of Biodiversity at the Department of Forestry, Adi Susmianto, confirmed Wahdi?s charges. ?We (Directorate General of Nature Protection and Conservation) become victims of the government?s conflicting policies. On the one hand we?re ordered to preserve the elephants, but on the other, we?re pestered by other policies,? he said.
The guidelines from the Department of Forestry are actually clear. Government Regulation No. 34/2002 on Forest Arrangement and the Plan Formulation on Forest Management, Forest Utilization, and Forest Area Utilization, clearly forbids converting forests into plantations. However, such guidelines in the field are impotent.
Consequently, conflicts between elephants and plantation owners break out everywhere. In Riau, based on World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia?s records, since 2000, 45 elephants died, shot and poisoned. Elephants, on the other hand, killed 16 people. In addition, 201 elephants had to be captured and 45 of them died afterwards. ?Elephants must compete with humans for their living space,? said Nazir Foead, Director of Program Species at WWF Indonesia.
In Bengkulu the conflict is not as severe as in Riau. No elephants have been poisoned yet. ?But it?s just a matter of time,? said Aswin Bangun, Coordinator of the Seblat Elephant Training Center (PLG), Bengkulu. Two weeks ago Tempo went on patrol in the area on an elephant. Illegal loggers were freely roaming around (see Elephant Police on Patrol).
There is indeed no precise data on Sumatran elephant population and its annual decrease. According to Wahdi, it is estimated at between 2,800 and 4,800. Regarding its decrease per year, the estimated elephant population in Riau can be used as a basis. In 1999, according to WWF Indonesia, there were 709. Four years later, it has dwindled to between 353 and 431.
There are many new ways to kill elephants. One is to take advantage of the conflict between elephants and man. Using the excuse that elephant attacks threaten the safety of a village, some elephants are killed. Wahdi suspects that many ivory hunters deliberately come to conflict areas and pretend to offer help to solve the elephant problem. In the end, the elephants are killed and their tusks removed. ?But poachers are not the root of the problem. The root of the problem is still the annexation of the elephants? habitat,? said Nazir.
As a solution, Wahdi suggests the need for tightly protected conservation areas for elephants and other animals. The requirements are, besides a well-maintained forest condition, the surface area must also be adequate. Such forests can still be found in Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Bengkulu, and Lampung. In response to the suggestion, the government is planning to expand the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau from 38,000 hectares to 100,000 hectares. The problem is, the expansion will oust 2,000 illegal loggers. This is the crux of the matter.
If such an area can be realized, Oloan will be at ease, and the elephants will be pleased.
By: Sapto Pradityo (Seblat, Bengkulu), Deddy Sinaga
Tempo No. 48/VI/01-07 August 2006
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
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FEATURES
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 28/III/Jul/2006
Category: LIFE
 Leading physician Vichai Vijitpornkul, from Lerdsin Hospital, demonstrates surgery on a patient suffering from trigger finger. ? KOSOL NAKACHOL
A real threat to women who love shopping is not the high prices of the goods they buy _ it is the weight of what's inside the plastic shopping bags they take home.
Shopping addicts are among those at risk of developing a little-known condition known as "trigger finger", which often occurs in women, said Lerdsin Hospital's leading physician, Vichai Vijitpornkul.
The name is taken from the fact that the finger "locks" in place, bent as if to pull the trigger of a gun.
Carrying heavy weights or having fingers fixed in one position for a long time can cause the condition.
Shoppers who usually carry heavy bags on one or two fingers, housewives who grasp utensils when cooking or hold brooms for a long time while cleaning, and even office workers who hold their pens tightly in their hands every day are all prone to the painful condition, Dr Vichai said.
Women suffer from it more than men due to their lifestyles. Statistically, around 80% of patients are women while 20% are men, he said.
"The condition could occur in anyone but women, especially those aged over 45, are more at risk because their activities require the use of fingers in a repetitive manner," said Dr Vichai.
He said trigger finger is caused by a disorder in the sheath covering tendons that connect the muscles of the forearm with the bones of the fingers.
Certain daily activities can cause the sheath to expand and this blocks the movement of the tendons.
To solve the problem, Dr Vichai said, patients only need surgery on their fingers.
Doctors cut through the base of the fingers until they find the sheath inside. Cutting the sheath along its length will cure the problem.
The surgery causes a wide wound and patients usually need one month to recover. To make the operation easier, Dr Vichai uses a smaller surgical knife called a "blade probe", adapted from a dentist's probe. The new tool causes only a small wound and patients need only seven days to recover from the operation.
However, he said, the technique is not yet well known in Thailand and only a few doctors know it. Many patients had to be put on a waiting list at Lerdsin Hospital to have the surgery using this technique.
It is best to take steps to avoid developing trigger finger, Dr Vichai said. He advised shoppers to use shopping trolleys or paper bags to carry goods. If conventional plastic bags were still needed, shoppers should wear gloves or use thick cloth to protect their fingers.
Men should also be aware of the condition, especially those who play golf or often type.
"I never hold my wife's hand tightly like the time we first met," said a male patient who suffers from trigger finger as a result of typing for several hours a day.
By: Onnucha Hutasingh
Bangkok Post 24 July 2006
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
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FEATURES
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 28/III/Jul/2006
Category: BOOK REVIEW
 SEA Phoenix is a true story about a tiny submarine of the Pakistan Navy, the men who sailed her, the men who rescued her and one chicken bone.
This remarkable story was not exactly kept secret, but was low profile enough. Most people in Pakistan are not aware that we lost a Midget submarine to the ocean depths in September 1995. What people know even less about is the superhuman rescue effort the Navy successfully put into the operation to recover this submarine. And it all starts with a chicken bone.
First of all, we should know what a ?Midget Submarine? is. The ones that the Navy uses are called ?X-Craft?. These are small 100 ton submarines that are quite lethal. They are a much more advanced model than the Midget that was mounted at Karachi?s ?Submarine Chowk? sometime back. That was an old generation Midget in which one could not stand up straight, and the submarine itself had no radar, poor sonar and a lousy periscope, so they had to navigate blind or do it by dragging a diver behind the sub who knocked on the hull with a hammer to tell the crew inside to turn left or right by five degrees. And if one wanted to go to the toilet, one either did it outside the sub or in a bucket. The new generation of Midgets, the X-Craft ? one of which is the subject of this book ? are far more advanced. They suffer from none of the problems of the earlier models, they have full underwater navigation abilities, room to stand up straight in, and a real toilet. Plus, they have real firepower, which has been doubled on the X-Craft since 1995, including the X-Craft that had drowned and was rescued. And they are double the size of the old ones.
The book is full of details about the internals of the X-Craft. But far from boring the reader, they provide a backdrop that removes confusion as they are woven in seamlessly with the narrative. The writer of Sea Phoenix, Mian Zahir Shah, a submariner himself, has done an excellent job of rendering technical details understandable for the landlubbers amongst us. To help, he himself has drawn all the drawings and cartoons like a pro (in colour), explaining the events and conditions and techniques. Many of the cartoons are humorous, especially those that explain life in the Navy (like a wife, holding her nose, ordering her sailor husband to take a shower).
The book is basically in three parts. The first part is when the crew of X-Craft 01 went on a training exercise off Karachi on Saturday, September 23, 1995. They settled the submarine on the ocean bottom at about 100 feet depth and had lunch that involved lots of chicken. The captain had a choice about what to do with the leftover chicken bones ? he could toss them overboard once they surfaced ? or he could use this opportunity to instruct the crew in the use of the ?trash ejector?. He chose the latter.
Not going into details, one stuck chicken bone and the use of too much force to close the stuck ejector resulted in the ejector malfunctioning and tons of seawater flooding the submarine. The whole scene is described in the book and is as clear as if one were watching a movie, thanks to Shah?s superb writing. The crew should have died then and there, if it hadn?t been for their training and specially for the captain, Lt. Commander Noor-ul-Islam?s leadership.
As all survived, miraculously escaping ?the bends? by minutes, they floated on the ocean but kept together until they were rescued. This can be considered the second part of the book ? the rescue of the crew. The book tells us how they were rescued even though it wasn?t clear where they were as they were drifting in the ocean currents.
The third part of the book is about the salvage operation, something the Pakistan Navy had never tried before with a submarine. In fact, there were only three submarines that had sunk, been salvaged and then put back into service ? a British, and American and a Russian sub (which was later leased to India). The Pakistan Navy?s X-Craft, makes it the fourth such case in the world, which puts our service in an elite bracket. What makes it further unique, is that all our crew survived.
And now for a few words and facts that made an impression on this reviewer:
Most memorable orders shouted: ?What?s all this? WHAT?S ALL THIS???, by Capt. ?Rasyoon walla Baba?, of the PNS Kalmat ... the ship that brought X-Craft out of the ocean and back home.
Most laconic press release: Appearing in the middle pages of Dawn, ?Naval Accident ? A submersible used for training of Special Services Group (Navy) met with an accident in the training area off Karachi. All crew members, however, were recovered unhurt.? A fine example of how to say everything while saying nothing. This is all the public knew about the incident until this book.
Most hopeful question: ?Tum zinda ho???? (Admiral Bokhari)
Most impressive punishment: If a SSGN trainee and his ?buddy? get separated in the water (during training), they are tied together by a length of rope five feet long, until they learn their lesson. Yes, they even go to the toilet together.
Most impressive encounter with Marine life: A whale came to see the salvage operation and ?scanned? the underwater divers with its Ultrasound. The divers felt the power of the whale?s Sonar as a shrill whistle, even though they couldn?t see the whale itself. Satisfied, it then went back. What an intelligent animal! Thank God Admiral Fasih Bokhari, who was personally supervising the salvage operation (he was the inspiration behind it in the first place), stopped someone on the deck from shooting the magnificent creature, as it was considered a threat to the divers underwater.
Most telling encounter: Admiral Mansoor-ul-Haque, who had zero faith in his men and announced that he intended to go to the US and beg for their help in the salvage. Damn the cost to the nation.
Most useful gentleman: Lt. Commander Karim Bukhsh (retired but reemployed by the navy), Engineering Officer of PNS Iqbal base. Without his knowledge and skills for inventing the needed equipment, the salvage operation would have been impossible.
Most appetizing fact: The Navy lives on ?Paratha? and the divers live on ?Mithai?. They need the extra energy. And there seems to be something of a love-hate relationship between the cooks and the men.
A piece of equipment that refused to die: The Captain?s Casio watch that he lost when the X-Craft sank. After encountering crushing pressures, mud, acid and seawater ... it was found still working.
The man who most deserved a gift of bullet-proof vest: OOD Iqbal base. (Officer on Duty).
When M. Zahir Shah was writing this book, he collected enough material about the operation itself and life in the navy, for a book that would be over 800 pages long. He whittled that down to 400 plus pages and streamlined the book. It reads like a thriller and doesn?t have any slow bits. One can not put it down.
This is the writer?s second book, the first being the very successful, Bubbles of Water about life in the Pakistan Navy. We eagerly look forward to more of his works.
And yes, they also recovered the chicken bone stuck in the trash ejector.
Sea Phoenix: A True Submarine Story
By Mian Zahir Shah
PN Book Club, NES Directorate,
NHQ, Islamabad
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
ISBN 969-8318-04-6
426pp. Price not listed
By: Shahzad Hasan
Dawn 23 July 2006
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
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FEATURES
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 28/III/Jul/2006
Category: ENVIRONMENT
Kanchanaburi _ A plan to build a water diversion tunnel under Srinakarind and Pu Toey national parks to feed rice-growing areas in the Central Plains has drawn fierce opposition from environmental officials and conservationists. Critics say the two parks are adjacent to Huay Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuary and the tunnel would harm pristine forests and cost the sanctuary its World Heritage status.
Cabinet last year let the Irrigation Department choose a consultant to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the project.
National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department chief Damrong Pidet urged the government to exercise caution in proceeding with the project which involves a 40km tunnel under areas designated as protected forest. The tunnel will siphon water from the Srinakarind dam in Kanchanaburi to feed farmland in Uthai Thani and Suphan Buri.
Construction requires underground rock blasting and could harm flora and fauna, critics say.
Thailand had to be careful because any adverse impact on the Huay Kha Khaeng sanctuary may put the area at risk of losing its World Heritage status, Mr Damrong said. The UN World Heritage committee had recently started considering the withdrawal of World Heritage status from an area in Germany after plans were made to build a road through it.
About 20 World Heritage sites were on the committee's watchlist and Huay Kha Khaeng might end up as one of them.
Rataya Chantian, head of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, said the project would have immense impact.
Environmentalist Pinan Chotirotseranee said the project was aimed at boosting the popularity of Thai Rak Thai in the central provinces. The government approved the project's feasibility study during a mobile cabinet meeting. The budget is 6.48-10.66 billion baht.
Siporn Maneechote, director of Chai Nat Irrigation office, said the tunnel option was the least invasive. Other water diversion projects would take more forest areas in Kanchanaburi, he said.
The project was a water management plan for farmers in Uthai Thani and parts of Kanchanaburi, Chai Nat and Suphan Buri. It would take up to 20 years to complete as it had go through a public consultation phase before going to cabinet again.
Former Thai Rak Thai MP for Kanchanaburi Paiboon Pimpisittawon said it could go ahead on condition that Kanchanaburi people share the benefit, with the right to use the water first.
Many districts in the province faced a water shortage, he said
By: Piyarach Chongcharoen
Bangkok Post 26 July 2006
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
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