PLACE OF WORSHIP

PLACE OF WORSHIP

        A place of worship can be spelt in any way.

 There are many spellings in the Malay language for a mosque in Malaysia.

 For example: MASJEED, MASJID, MESJID . But another very interesting spelling is found in a particular 100 year old mosque situated along the main road near Bagan Serai, Malaysia. The   unfamiliar spelling  is MASIGIT!!

The Masigit Lawas (Banjari spelling) was built by one of the original settlers, Hj. Din who was a Banjari from Indonesia.

Preventing Wild Boar Damage in Oil Palm Plantings

Wild Boar Damage to Oil Palm Plantings

Wild boars can be pests in  new and replantings of oil palms. They  dig up the whole clod of earth with roots. They pull out the young shoots  and eat them. The incidence of damage depends on the weather and the wild boar population. The wild boar is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 but can be hunted with a permit. Various methods have been adopted to prevent or minimise wild boar damage.






1. In under plantings the base of oil palm fronds are stacked around the seedlings. The wild boar could not attack the seedlings because of the spikes/thorns of the fronds. These spikes/thorns  poke the snout of the wild boars.

2. Wrapping the planted seedlings with old/used  zinc sheets. The zinc sheets are about 1.5 foot high. This method prevents the wild boar from attacking/pulling out the young shoots. It is highly effective.

3. Wrapping the planted seedlings with plastic sheets This method is not effective.

Bukit Merah Lake/Dam - Pictures

Bukit Merah Lake/Dam 

 Pictures taken in early 2016 before the drought.

Bukit Merah Lake

KTM doubl tracking railway line

Home of the Arowana

The northern gate of the dam

Bukit Merah Lake/Dam

Bukit Merah Lake/Dam Perak


    Bukit Merah lake hit headlines during this year's dry spell March to early May.
When the dam was constructed in 1902 and completed in 1906 Bukit Merah lake was created.The dam was constructed with mud/earth  and is one of the oldest if not oldest in the country. The original objective was to supply water to the rice bowl of Perak, Kerian. Later on the water was drawn to supply to parts of Larut Matang and Kerian.

     About 20 years ago in the mid 1990s a new township with a lake town resort was developed under the name of Bukit Merah Lake Town. It covers an area of at least 1000 acres.While the area between the lake and the North South Expressway was being developed, illegal and legal agricultural  activities were on going.


     Part of the Pondok Tanjong forest reserve was invaded causing disturbance and damage to the environment. USM carried out a study in 2007/08 on the lake and concluded that the sedimentation was 10 to 15% of the lake volume. The serious drop of the water level caused a water crisis and the Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry announced the proposal of drawing water from Sungei Perak that will cost RM300 million.


   Meanwhile, the rain has come and very soon the water level will be back to normal. And as usual all the BIG HOO HAA of shortage of water in the lake  will be FORGOTTEN until the next dry season.

Below are some related articles from the newspapers.

 For further reading please refer :

•     Ipoh Echo Issue 237 - Ipoh's Community Newspaper
•     Bukit Merah Lake Brief (22 & 23 Feb. 2010) By JPS District Engineer Tn. Hj. Hidzrami bin Hj Shamsul Anwar

         CHINESE FESTIVAL" CHENG BENG"


This festival usually comes one month after the Chinese Lunar New Year. Some people who miss the CNY get  together would try to meet up during the "Cheng Beng".  This once a year family affair is deep rooted in Chinese culture a festival to express the value of filial piety of ancestral worship.

 They visit the graves of their ancestors, clean up the place, pray with offerings and end with burning of joss paper. Many of the traditional practices have been discontinued  and made simpler. Placing of flowers on the graves is quite common now. In fact some modern offerings have been added like the burning of paper tech gadgets - mobile phones, lap tops. This act of visiting the graves of the loved ones is quite similar to that of the Christians' All Souls Day.

This year a show of filial piety was demonstrated in another form. WhileI was rewriting with red paint the first Chinese character "CHOE" on the tombstone, Ong Teng Lek, my nephew encouraged his son, Jericho, the grandson of Ong Chin Hong to take over and finish the rest of the  4 other characters. It was indeed unusual for a fifth generation descendant to show such filial piety!

 The grave which is at least 80 years old  is that of Lee Nya Cheek {husband- Choe See Peng) the maternal great great grandmother of Jericho.

      Met not, Lee Nya Cheek
      Its all in memory
      Through filial piety!!!

TAIPING
 Shortest Traffic Light

Taiping has many firsts for example,  Prison, Railway Station and the list goes on.
The highest condominium of 25 storeys Crystal Creek is near completion and will be the first in Taiping.

Taiping also maintains the only SHORTEST traffic lights at the junction of Jalan Istana/Jalan Muzium.  Wonder if its also the frrst ??

YAMAZAKI - Regret?

The bottle of Yamazaki was given to me by my youngest son who is a teetotalller. Had heard and tasted of the Japanese Suntory Whisky but not Yamazaki. With the little information of Yamazaki! read in the internet one fine night my wife and I decided to open and have a taste. Wow! It was great The whisky was fine and smooth . Not only that, we did not get the "snorting" feeling at the nostrils one gets when drinking some types of whisky.

 The bottle was then shared with my "outlaw" who is a CONnoisseur and he was surprised that I had the whisky. With less than a quarter bottle we decided to keep the remainder to ourselves. Then when my teetotaller son came home and surprisingly, he took a half a peg with dark chocolate. He enjoyed it!!! Now the whisky is gone!!

The empty bottle was noticed by my son in law Tim during Facetime conversation and he said that it was difficult to get one in America.  Next, when a grandniece visited us during Chinese New Year she said that it was very difficult to get it  in Australia. Its a RARE WHISKY. But we had finished it.

 Regret? No we enjoyed it-every drop of it!!!