Visit to Bario, Sarawak

One of the most fascinating books I have read since coming to Malaysia is "The World Within" by Tom Harrisson.  It tells of the year Harrisson spent in a long-house in Bario, recruiting the locals to rise up against the Japanese occupying forces, when the Allies landed.  Bario is the place where the renowned Bario rice is grown.  But where exactly is it?  I found out recently, when I spent a couple of days there in the course of a visit to Sarawak.  When I told a "Star" reporter about my impressions, he invited me to write them down, as he thought they might be of wider interest.  So here goes.

The first thing to note about Bario is that it is not served by any road.  So the only way to get there is on foot (a two month walk from Miri), by river (a couple of weeks up from Marudi) or by air.  I chose the last option and took an ancient, but very reliable Twin Otter (designed and built in Canada for bush flying) from Miri.  On check-in I was surprised to discover that not only my baggage had to be weighed, but also me.  This was so that they could judge how much weight was still available for cargo.  Because the rear half of the aircraft was stuffed with cardboard boxes bringing everything conceivable up to Bario.

READ MORE ABOUT MY BARIO VISIT HERE

Putrajaya by night

I have been in Putrajaya dozens of times over the last three years to call on Ministers and senior officials.  Some people have doubts about the whole concept and of course it is true that Putrajaya still  lacks a real buzz.  But I have always found the architecture impressive and the planning interesting.  The inclusion of a Botanical Garden, Wetlands Area and world-class water-sport facilities are long-sighted and potentially a real asset to the region.

So I was fascinated to learn that there was to be a Putrajaya Night Marathon.  My daughter and wife were both going to participate.  And I decided I would have a go too.  I didn’t have to run the full marathon (40km), nor even the half-marathon.  I was able to join in the fun-run over 7.7km. 

The event was on Sunday, with the different races each having separate start times.  The 7.7km race began at 9.00pm, but we arrived early to soak up some of the atmosphere.  It was great. Over 8,000 people had entered.  Everyone seemed determined to have a good time. And Putrajaya was lit up wonderfully.  The start was outside the Palace of Justice, directly opposite the new mosque.  Many of the buildings and all the bridges were lit up.  Beautiful!

I managed to complete my race in just under an hour.  This had been my target, so I was very pleased.  But actually it was more about taking part and soaking up the spirit of the occasion.  On future visits to Putrajaya, I will always remember the crowds, the lights....and my race number: M1877! 

A Call to 10:10 Challenge

Many of us in the High Commission feel strongly about climate change.  The UK government does too and the British Foreign Secretary is signing up to the 10:10 Challenge (www.1010uk.org) on 8 February as part of the UK’s global campaign to raise awareness of the urgent need to promote a low carbon, high growth economy. 

We already have in the High Commission a “Green Team”, led by a local expert, who have been working for the last few months on calculating and reducing our carbon footprint.  So it was an easy call for me to sign the High Commission up to the 10:10 challenge.

This means that we have set ourselves a target of reducing our carbon footprint in 2010 by 10% compared with 2009.  My “Green Team” tell me that the main areas to achieve cuts are on:

·   air conditioning - we have already raised the temperature and reduced the running hours

·   air travel – we will cut back on flights where we can and make more use of video-conferencing

·   fuel consumption – we have arranged for our drivers and all High Commission staff to be instructed on driving more efficiently and we are looking at how we can use our official vehicles more sparingly

·   paper usage – we are monitoring paper usage and have set a target of 10% reduction this year.

We are also inviting British businesses in Malaysia to join us and take up this challenge.  I very much hope Malaysian businesses, other organisations and indeed individuals who feel strongly about climate change will do the same. 

Football Fever

One of the first questions I was asked in my very first press conference in Malaysia was “Which EPL team do you support?”  - I worked out pretty quickly that Malaysians are crazy about football (watching it rather than playing it!).  It is an essential part of my daily browsing of the local press to read the football pages.  Otherwise I would get caught out regularly.  I remember one very senior Malaysian asking me well into last season: “What is the difference between Tottenham Hotspur and a triangle?”  The answer: “A triangle has three points!”   (Spurs are of course now in a much better position in the league!)

As pretty much every Malaysian knows, the World Cup is to be held in South Africa this summer.  I was fascinated to learn recently that the cup itself, known as the Jules Rimet Trophy, was going to be on display at Mid Valley Mall.  So I and some of my colleagues went along to see it for ourselves.  I decided to really get into the spirit of things by wearing the official England shirt and also took a scarf promoting England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Even though we had arrived fairly early in the day, hundreds of Malaysian football fans were there.   Before we could get anywhere near the trophy, we wandered past lots of stalls and a stand by Rally International particularly caught my eye. They are a UK charity that brings young people out from Britain to undertake development work in Sabah.  Football training is one of the areas they work in, but their main focus is on helping with rural projects such as providing clean water.  They also work with Yayasan Sabah on environmental projects, such as the building of a rehabilitation centre for sun bears at Sepilok.

 

Walking further on, we came accross a fantastic 3-D film all about the history of the World Cup, with grainy footage of past finals.  Finally, we reached our goal.  Standing in front of us, in a glass case and heavily protected by security, was the World Cup!  Everyone had a chance to have a photo taken.  Mine was, of course, with my England bid scarf!  It was quite a treat to know that I was right beside the trophy that had been raised in victory by famous players like Bobby Moore (England), Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) and Zinedine Zidane (France) and Pele (Brazil).

The only time England won the World Cup was in 1966, when the tournament was played on home soil.  Bobby Moore (later “Sir Bobby”) was the captain and Geoff Hurst scored a memorable hat-trick.  One of my boyhood heroes, Bobby Charlton (now “Sir Bobby”) was one of the stars.  And I had a chance to meet him a few months ago, when he visited Kuala Lumpur with Manchester United.  What a pleasure that was!

I’ll be interested to see this summer how many Malaysians will be backing England to win the Cup.  I suspect quite a lot!!!  

Why are Malaysian cinemas so cold?!

Over the last few years, the issue of climate change has been bleeping ever more insistently on the global radar screen as increasing evidence surfaces to demonstrate that climate change is real and that humans are at least partly responsible.

British people experienced torrential flooding in 2007 and arctic temperatures this winter - prompting wry jokes about the effects of global 'warming'. Malaysians are also experiencing the effects of erratic weather patterns. Unseasonal flooding in Johore in 2007 prompted the well-known cartoonist LAT to wittily respond with a cartoon in the New Straits Times newspaper, depicting two water buffalo near a lake. One water buffalo has just dunked his foot in the water and pulled it out quickly: " Ohh, hot! " he says to his buffalo friend. Jokes aside, the seriousness of the matter is understood and climate change remains firmly in the headlines around the world.

Over the last three years the British High Commission in Malaysia has been running a series of events to raise public awareness of climate change. On 19 January we hosted a forum for about 300 representatives from government, local businesses, universities and civil society, to discuss the outcomes of Copenhagen*. Forum panellists from a diverse background all agreed that Copenhagen had been disappointing.

Gurmit Singh, Chairman of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development in Malaysia felt "thoroughly disgusted" at the lack of progress. He argued that governments alone cannot be expected to solve the problem and that progress will only happen when we all take responsibility for the energy we use. Dr Lian of the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment felt the negotiating process at Copenhagen was not transparent or inclusive enough and was saddened that more was not achieved. Business figures seemed to be far more optimistic about matters. Geoffrey WIlliams of OWW Consulting was literally "bristling with optimism" and felt that the private sector was well placed to raise substantial funds to tackle climate change.

I agreed that the British government shared the frustration felt by the panellists at the lack of progress at Copenhagen. Although a legally binding Treaty failed to materialise and commitments to cut emissions were not forthcoming, other issues such as significant comittments on finance and the Copenhagen Accord* must surely be seen as a step forward.

The questions that followed the forum reflected great interest, with thoughtful musings offered from all sides of the room. I left feeling I had learned a great deal from the discussions and reflected on Gurmit's call for us all to make more of an effort to be 'green'. My personal aims will be:

1) to make an effort to turn off the lights (this reminds me of UK papers reporting amusing imagery of HM The Queen stalking corridors to switch off the lights after her staff have negligently left them on!)

2) to keep the air con at 'moderate' rather than 'Arctic' (why are Malaysian cinemas so cold?!!)

3) to lead the way for the High Commission to join the 10:10 challenge – an ambitious project that aims to unite every sector of British society to achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010: http://www.1010uk.org/

4) to live more sustainably by re-using and recycling. Making good use of leftover food is an excellent place to start and I can recommend an excellent 'Bubble and Squeak' recipe at http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes.

*Copenhagen was a major meeting that took place in Copenhagen in December 2009, which brought together 192 countries from around the world to discuss the steps the international community needs to take to mitigate climate change.

*The Copenhagen Accord was agreed by a group representing 49 developed and developing countries that account for over 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

It's Good to Talk!

Education is a very important component in the relationship between the UK and Malaysia so I spend a good chunk of my time talking to, and visiting, schools and universities. The High Commission works closely with the British Council here in Malaysia and I really enjoy being given the opportunity to explore some of the different initiatives that they are involved in.

Whilst in Penang on my Suffolk House visit I paid a visit to St Christopher’s School in George Town.  This British-curriculum school has been serving the Penang community for over forty years.  And for twenty of those years, it has been headed by Mr Jones, a Welshman and proud of it!  I was delighted to hear that the school is thriving and that the Board of Governors has recently agreed to construct a new teaching block, work on which began the very day I visited!  Mr Jones knows the name of every single child at St Christopher’s and the evident eagerness of the children is a marvellous tribute to the great work he, the teachers and the Board, put in.  I heard that Year 5 had been visiting a local hospital.  When asked what they had seen, one little boy answered “Dracula’s Bank”!

I also dropped in on The University of Science Malaysia. Designated in 2008 as the Malaysia’s “Apex” university, it is also soon to be home to the British Council’s English language operation in Penang. The Vice Chancellor expressed his delight to me that the teaching of English, so critical to the success internationally of Malaysia’s young people, would be so accessible to his students. We also discussed opportunities for research collaboration and ways in which we can take advantage of funding offered under the UK Prime Minister’s Initiative (PMI)*.

My last stop was a local school, SKM Dato’ Onn. I met the winners of a Global Citizen competition, which had brought participating staff and children to a grand final in Taiwan.  I was shown Christmas and Hari Raya cards, which children had prepared while learning about the meaning of different festivals and traditions. The school was also hosting a web conference with schools in Bromley (near London) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). This link-up is part of the British Council’s excellent “Connecting Classrooms” programme – designed to bring children from the UK and Asia closer together. I found the pupils enthusiasm to be utterly infectious! I was particularly struck by the real potential of  “Connecting Classrooms” and I hope that it succeeds in its aim of building lasting partnerships between pupils from different cultures. Find out more at http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-connecting-classrooms.htm

*PMI: The UK Prime Minister’s Initiative has made funds available for research as well as providing opportunities for British students to spend time at Malaysian universities. There are some 12,000 Malaysian students at UK universities, but only a handful of young Brits in Malaysia.  We are doing what we can to achieve a bit more balance.

*Connecting Classrooms: This innovative programme is designed to build lasting partnerships between schools in the UK and others around the world through web conferences, facebook and other online media. These ‘virtual’ relationships are then strengthened with real ‘live’ visits! 

Breathing Life Back Into Suffolk House

Penang* is one of my favourite places in Malaysia and George Town is without doubt my favourite city. It has inspiring colonial architecture, a bustling atmosphere and fantastic food.

In 2008 the old city centre of George Town was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The Penang state authorities have since been working to develop a strategy to ensure that George Town is preserved for future generations. The UK, being mildly obsessed with heritage preservation, has a great deal of experience at regenerating inner city areas by using art and culture to breathe life back into old spaces. The British Council have therefore been working hard to bring the Penang state government and Khazanah together with experts in the field. In January, Donald Hyslop, of the Tate Modern and a veteran of the Bankside Development on the south bank of the Thames spent a few days talking to local experts and explaining some of the things we have done right – and wrong.

This provided an opportunity for Mandy Johnson, Director of the British Council in Malaysia to host a reception at Suffolk House*. I joined her at the event and was glad to have the opportunity to meet up with old friends from the Penang Government, the Penang Heritage Trust and the local community. It was a particular pleasure to meet up again with Laurence Loh, the architect responsible for the splendid restoration of Suffolk House.

Consular staff at the reception

Suffolk House

*Penang: The island of Penang was the first part of Malaysia that the British discovered.  Capt. Francis Light of the East India Company recognised the island as a safe and suitable harbour for the Company’s ships and managed to negotiate a Treaty with the Sultan of Queda (now Kedah), which allowed the Company to use Pulau Penang “in return for a force to assist him against the people of Selangore”.  Light was appointed Superintendent of Penang in 1786 and christened the new settlement Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir apparent, the future George IV.  He named the capital George Town after the reigning sovereign George III.

*Suffolk House: This was Francis Light’s residence and was named after the county in which he was born. It has recently re-opened to the general public following extensive restoration. The total cost of refurbishing and restoring Suffolk House was RM 6 million comprising RM 2 million each from HSBC, the State Government and public fund raising. To mark Donald Hyslop’s visit I handed over to YB Chow Kon Yeow, Executive Council member responsible for Local Government, Traffic Management and Environment (representing the Chief Minister) a facsimile copy, found for me by the British Library, of Francis Light’s 1791 Treaty with the Sultan of Kedah, under which “the English Company” undertook to pay 6,000 Mexican dollars a year for the use of the island of Penang.