Our climate...
Dear readers,
It's almost one year since I last posted in this blog. Within a year, so many things had happened. Which may be good for me. And probably bad too. But one thing remains, I ain't getting younger. Looking at my age, I wonder how much I have contributed to the society I live in, let alone the world. Some people are young, walking with old heads and thriving to change the world. Whether or not what they've done that is changing or have changed the world is actually for their own personal gains, God knows. So, I don't wanna miss the train. I also want to change the world, with or without any returns awaiting. For a start, I'll write. Today, I vow to myself that writing should rank among my everyday priorities, even a liner would suffice. This may jive with our beloved Nabi Muhammad saw who says "Sampaikanlah kebaikan walaupun satu ayat".
Talking about changes, this reminds me of the next Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Guyana, 15-17 October, 2007, where Finance Ministers will discuss a special theme on Climate Change: The Challenges Facing Finance Ministers. What a chance for me to again feast my eyes on beautiful places because I know beaches in Guyana are so popular and have attracted tourists. During the last year's meeting in Sri Lanka, my Minister decided to have one day off to venture inward the island and breathe some fresh air atop the hill where tea plantation areas carpet every inch of the land in green.
Back to this year's meeting, climate change has been chosen as the theme probably because it is a major global development challenge which requires urgent action. Over the last few months, Europe experienced a peculiar weather - extremely hot in one area, extremely cold in another, while floods in China is not showing any sign of receding. In Malaysia, uhm... I believe you guys are aware of the terrible floods that wrecked houses, shops, roads, and even lives, in Johor. Talking about rare phenomena. While we are most grateful to the Almighty for sparing us from destructive natural disasters such as earthquake, tornado, typhoon and volcanic eruption, to name a few, floods is a kind of disaster no one should take for granted whenever it starts to happen and what the causes are.
The main causes to flash floods in the Klang Valley have been identified as rivers clogged with rubbish, people becoming litterbugs throwing rubbish into rivers, overdevelopment in areas that were used to be water catchments, and many many more. SMART tunnel was built to overcome floods problem in the Klang Valley. However, within as many as 2 days after the RM1.3 billion tunnel was officially opened, flash floods haunted KL again and one of the victims was the tailor shop who recently did my lounge suit. When asked by the Prime Minister, the relevant authority's officer explained that only the tunnel for motorists had been opened and not the tunnel to redirect flood water out of KL. Is this a test from the Almighty? Maybe. But, flash floods will come to haunt KL people again, and it's up to everybody who's involved to ensure the tunnel is really smart.
Dear readers,
It's almost one year since I last posted in this blog. Within a year, so many things had happened. Which may be good for me. And probably bad too. But one thing remains, I ain't getting younger. Looking at my age, I wonder how much I have contributed to the society I live in, let alone the world. Some people are young, walking with old heads and thriving to change the world. Whether or not what they've done that is changing or have changed the world is actually for their own personal gains, God knows. So, I don't wanna miss the train. I also want to change the world, with or without any returns awaiting. For a start, I'll write. Today, I vow to myself that writing should rank among my everyday priorities, even a liner would suffice. This may jive with our beloved Nabi Muhammad saw who says "Sampaikanlah kebaikan walaupun satu ayat".
Talking about changes, this reminds me of the next Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Guyana, 15-17 October, 2007, where Finance Ministers will discuss a special theme on Climate Change: The Challenges Facing Finance Ministers. What a chance for me to again feast my eyes on beautiful places because I know beaches in Guyana are so popular and have attracted tourists. During the last year's meeting in Sri Lanka, my Minister decided to have one day off to venture inward the island and breathe some fresh air atop the hill where tea plantation areas carpet every inch of the land in green.
Back to this year's meeting, climate change has been chosen as the theme probably because it is a major global development challenge which requires urgent action. Over the last few months, Europe experienced a peculiar weather - extremely hot in one area, extremely cold in another, while floods in China is not showing any sign of receding. In Malaysia, uhm... I believe you guys are aware of the terrible floods that wrecked houses, shops, roads, and even lives, in Johor. Talking about rare phenomena. While we are most grateful to the Almighty for sparing us from destructive natural disasters such as earthquake, tornado, typhoon and volcanic eruption, to name a few, floods is a kind of disaster no one should take for granted whenever it starts to happen and what the causes are.
The main causes to flash floods in the Klang Valley have been identified as rivers clogged with rubbish, people becoming litterbugs throwing rubbish into rivers, overdevelopment in areas that were used to be water catchments, and many many more. SMART tunnel was built to overcome floods problem in the Klang Valley. However, within as many as 2 days after the RM1.3 billion tunnel was officially opened, flash floods haunted KL again and one of the victims was the tailor shop who recently did my lounge suit. When asked by the Prime Minister, the relevant authority's officer explained that only the tunnel for motorists had been opened and not the tunnel to redirect flood water out of KL. Is this a test from the Almighty? Maybe. But, flash floods will come to haunt KL people again, and it's up to everybody who's involved to ensure the tunnel is really smart.
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