Tsunami Disaster Memorial in Banda Acheh

12:36 PM Internet at Every Where

BANDA ACEH (Indonesia) - INDONESIA opened a US$5.6 million (S$8.5 million) museum on Monday to commemorate the 230,000 people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The four-level building in hardest-hit Aceh province exhibits photographs of victims, stories of survivors and an electronic simulation of the massive undersea earthquake that triggered the 10-metre-high waves.

It also describes the tremendous outpouring of support from governments, companies and individuals in the aftermath of the Dec 26, 2004 disaster, which caused death and destruction in a dozen nations.

More than $13 billion was pledged to house and feed survivors and to rebuild devastated coasts.

The government says the museum, designed by local architect Ridwan Kamil, is an important part of the recovery process, paying tribute to those who died and explaining to future generations what happened and why.

The opening was not without controversy.

More than 700 families are still living in barracks in Aceh, which was home to two-thirds of the victims, and some were disappointed to see millions of dollars being spent on a monument.

'They should be taking care of us first,' said Anisah Tahir, 50, who has been living with her husband and two children in a tiny room in a squalid camp in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. 'We need a decent place to live and sleep,' she said.

Indonesia is located in the so-called Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions. -- AP

Source: www.ap.org

Earthquake detected in Southern Sumatra

2:45 AM Internet at Every Where

KUALA LUMPUR: An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale occurred at 7.10am Monday in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department.

The epicentre of the quake was 134km southeast of Bengkulu in Sumatra and 723km southwest of Johor Baru, it said in a statement.

No tsunami warning has been issued, it added. -- Bernama

Source: TheStarOnline

Georgetown Penang Malaysia Shopping Guide

11:29 AM Internet at Every Where

Georgetown offers some delightful shopping opportunities in the form of modern shopping complexes and streets with cultural souvenirs and goods.The malls offer a range of shopping for modern goods ranging from fashion to electronics and jewellery to gadgets while the cultural shopping areas enable you to see and admire cultural designs and lifestyles of the different races in Penang.

KOMTAR
KOMTAR, which stands for Kompleks Tunku Abdul Razak, is a famous landmark in Penang and the tallest building on the island. Inside the tower is a small shopping mall that houses a limited range of goods and merchandise. What most people come here for is to take a ride up to the top for a panoramic view of the entire island, where you can see the Penang Bridge and Butterworth on the mainland.

PRANGIN MALL
The Prangin Mall is a relatively new shopping complex located right next to the KOMTAR building. The mall houses over 600 outlets in 8 levels, ranging from fashion to electronics and groceries to household appliances. This is also a popular destination for bootleg goods, especially DVDs of movies and music.

CHINATOWN
The area around Campbell road is Penang's very own Chinatown - this is the place where the first Chinese migrants to Malaysia settled. The old buildings, clan houses and shop lots are very well-preserved, offering visitors a glimpse into the history of Chinese settlers in the early 1800s'. For shopping, a lot of Chinese-centric commodities go on sale, such as jade jewellery, Rolex watches, traditional clothes, herbs, medicines to more modern products than include branded electrical products and luggage bags.

LITTLE INDIA
Situated around Lebuh Queen and Lebuh Chulia, Little India is just right next door to its neighbour Chinatown. For an Indian cultural shopping experience, Little India will amaze you with its 'Indian' sights, sounds and smells. The shops and stalls that line the streets stock everything Indian - from silk garments (sarees) to stainless steel Tiffin carriers and Indian sweets to flower necklaces. The atmosphere is permeated with the din of Bollywood music emanating from record shops and people talking and walking. Just down the street is the Mahamariamman Temple, a historic place of worship for the Indians of Penang.

JALAN PINTAI TALI (ROPE WALK STREET)
Antique lovers should take note - Jalan Pintai Ali or Rope Street stocks a large variety of antiques such as porcelain, chains, coins, glass, ceiling lamps and antique clocks. Prices are negotiable, so don't give up till you've got the price you wanted. On a side note, no one can bring out of the country any antiques under the law without permission from the export Director General of Museums, Malaysia. However, antiques brought in and declared at customs are allowed.

Source : www.penang.ws

Shop, Eat and CNY in Penang

8:26 PM Internet at Every Where

Thanks to Penang�s sizable Chinese population, the Lunar New Year celebrations in the area are especially boisterous. On the eve of the New Year, Malaysian Chinese turn up in their ancestral homes to eat, gamble, shop and celebrate with their families. Throughout the Chinese New Year season, Penang comes alive with innumerable parties and parades, but several events are particularly worth seeing if you�re visiting the area.

Chinese New Year Street Market
On January 18, the Little Penang Street Market condenses the entire Penang cultural and shopping experience into a single venue on a single day - with stalls and stores selling traditional Chinese New Year foods and trinkets, cultural performances going on in the streets, and the strains of Chinese traditional music filling the air.

The Street Market takes place on Upper Penang Ring Road, just across from the E&O Hotel.

Chinese New Year Open House 2009
Penang's government will hold a Chinese New Year Open House at Campbell Street on the 29th of January, from 6:30 to 10:30 in the evening.

If you want to see traditional Chinese performing arts, this is the place to go. Lion dances and Chingay performances will compete for your attention, just as you're sampling the delicious food that comes with any Chinese New Year celebration!
Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration 2009

Chinese New Year celebrations in Penang are most boisterous in Penang's historical district, where the locals are proud of their city's status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On February 1, a Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration will be staged along Armenian Street, Cannon Street, Ah Quay Street, Soo Hong Lane, Acheen Street, and Chulia Street.

The celebration will feature some interesting activities such as a treasure hunt and a Chinese New Year cooking demonstration.

The Celebration will organize "Seven Towns" featuring the different cultures that have made Penang what it is today: Hokkien, Canton, Hainan, Teochew, Hakka, Wushu, and Malay. Visitors can wander through each "town" to explore the different cultural traditions of the city.

Different civic organizations also play a part in the day's cultural events: clan groups such as Khoo Khongsi, Lim Khongsi, Cheah Khongsi, and Yap Khongsi will present an opera show and a series of cultural dances.

Source: about.com

Interesting post-Tsunami take on Malaysia

1:28 AM Internet at Every Where

When I was interviewed by a local press on whether the tsunami justifies a second link for Penang - presumably to allow Penangites to flee - my first reaction was that even the media had been hit by the tsunami of paranoia!

It seems to me that there are some interested parties who are cracking their brains to push their pet projects, by hook or by crook. I told the serious sounding journalist that there are at least two ways to answer the question: first, there are many ways to address the danger from tsunami - eg, warning from bay watchers were enough to get hotel guests off the beach. What we need is to extend this life-saving service to all beaches.

Second, the second link need to be compared to the efficiencies of other transport investments such as public transport before we can jump into it. This is not a joke because a day before - and a day after the tsunami - another group of journalists from Kuala Lumpur dropped in and asked in all seriousness, How long will Penang Island stay up in the sea?� I replied that Penangs hills go up to 3,000 feet above sea level and if they are flooded, surely much more would be flooded in the mainland!

These are two real-life stories from my tsunami experience. However, there is a palpable sea-phobia in George Town. People are officially warned to stay away from the sea. From now on, the sea which inspired so many poets in history, has become a menace.

Such thinking may be short-lived but it has certainly been exploited by some interested parties to get rid of anything they don't want by the seaside. For example, the seaside heritage, Koay Jetty, is given more doubts after the tsunami, even by some of my better friends. But such doubts somehow is not extended to the new flats which will be located exactly where the jetties now stand!

Now let�s get the fact right - the heritage area is not facing the open sea which is vulnerable to another tidal wave attack. But what if it was? Does this justify the heritage's removal - after all, the jetties (there are seven in all) have been sitting there for over 100 years without any hassles? I think a pro-heritage position would be more likely to justify some shelter for it than to demolish it!

If anything, the tsunami danger should warrant the chief minister to rethink his town planning to line the seashore with high-rises which inevitably will mass people and property onto the potentially dangerous shore line. One factor offered by some observers about the high death toll in Thailand is that some of the hotels there are located too close to the sea.

It can be said that heritage buildings had been there for historical reasons outside the control of its original builders - but the builders of these modern flats are not similarly constrained, and thus there should be more accountability for their choice of location.

If the sea-front heritage were to be demolished because of the tsunami, it would be a shame - the jetties were there precisely because the earlier labour force of Weld Quay were not given any land to build their homes. They - and their offsprings - had gone through the thick and thin of living on the sea. It seems odd that the current compassion to these dwellers must come with a condition that these heritage buildings be demolished.

It seems that there is an unspoken wish, over and above the flat builders obvious vested interests, to erase this sad part of George Towns working class history as if they are not happy to let more generations to be reminded of how the `founding fathers had not been able to provide their labourers some decent land to build a secure home.

If this official thinking is allowed to prevail then truly our history is on for a clean-up, not by the tsunami from the sea but from the modern version of the same wickedness and exploitativeness of the `founding fathers�.

Source:www.malaysikini.com

4th Anniversary of the Tsunami Tragedy

10:56 PM Internet at Every Where

It has been 4 years now but memories of that fateful day still lingers on for many.

A lot has changed for the citizens living in Penang Island as since then the Malaysian government has built a concerted Tsunami Early Warning System in places like Penang Island, Langkawi Island and Kedah.

The victims in Tg Bungah Penang where their houses were totally destroyed by the tsunami 4 years ago have since moved into a new apartment block that was constructed by the government, ironically still located in the same site where the tsunami had actually struck. However, safety considerations have been incorporated into the design of the building where the entire apartment block is raised 25 feet from the groundlevel. Not sure how high were the killer waves back then but the authorities here feel that this height is sufficiently safe. The money used to build the apartments for the tsunami victims came from public donations and a total of 100 units were built.