A good deal for Malaysia

by MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR

Emotional issues with Singapore are passe. It should be business and economic interests now between two neighbours.
It is a 217ha of land that runs from the north to the south of Singapore – the size of almost 300 standard football fields. A valuation exercise carried out last year found the total land area to be worth up to S$4bil (RM9.5bil).
The KTM Berhad railway land has been a thorny issue between Malaysia and Singapore for almost 20 years.
There had been plenty of arguments and bad blood over the railway land that was leased from Singapore.

Issue resolved: The Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) Tanjung Pagar railway station building will be conserved given its historical significance. It will be a centrepiece for the new proposed development on the site. — AFP

To Malaysia, the land represents its sovereignty while Singapore wants to develop it.
Where previous leaders had failed, two relatively young leaders are set to resolve the KTM land issue because they refused to be bogged down by old issues. It is a breakthrough.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has described the deal as historic while Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong summed it up aptly:
“It is time to rejoice.”
The KTM Berhad land that stretches from Woodlands and ends in Tanjung Pagar was leased under 1918 colonial ordinance for 999 years.
It is solely for operating a railway line to ferry goods and passengers to Singapore and vice versa.
Over the years, the surrounding areas have been overtaken by development with industries and waste treatment.
The Points of Agreement (POA) was eventually signed on Nov 27, 1990 on the status of the railway land but problems arose as each side had its own interpretation.
Now many Malaysians are questioning just how does Malaysia benefit by giving up the leased land?
What is the big deal with Tan-jung Pagar being relocated to Woodlands on July 1, next year?
For a start, it is as a super good deal for Malaysia.
It goes beyond land. It involves spawning the local economy and the connectivity between Johor and Singapore (see graphic).
M-S Pte Ltd will be set up by the end of the year with Khazanah Nasional holding a 60% stake and Singapore state investment arm Temasek Holdings holding the remaining 40%.
They will jointly develop the KTM land in Tanjung Pagar, Kranji, Woodlands and Bukit Timah.
At the same time, the six pieces of land earmarked for joint development could be swapped for four pieces of land in Marina South and one in Ophir-Rochor, the city state’s prime financial and business districts.

Marina South recently saw the opening of an integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands. Imagine the huge potential of development that can take place here.
Imagine, one day we may just get to see an iconic building in Marina South with Malaysia’s influence.
More good things are coming – a rapid transit system link Tanjung Puteri in Johor Baru and Singapore will be developed by 2018.
The link will connect with other public transport services in Johor Baru and the republic.
Some 80,000 Malaysians commute daily to Singapore to work and study. Their travelling time will be cut and traffic congestion across the Causeway and within Johor Baru itself will ease.
Word has it Kempas will be the next railway hub in Johor should Malaysia opt to move the railway station from Singapore soil in 2018.
Singapore has also finally agreed to become a partner in an iconic project in Iskandar Malaysia, the Malaysian growth corridor which sits next to the island city state.
This is the signal that the private sector has been waiting for from the Singapore Government.
Singapore businesses want to invest in Iskandar, knowing its full potential and given the success of China’s special Shenzen economic zone.
Khazanah and Temasek will form a 50-50 joint venture company to undertake the development of the iconic wellness township project in Iskandar.
For a start, the launch of the “live work play” wellness township concept will offer traditional and complementary alternative medicine and modern medicine.
Take a pick if you want Malay and Chinese traditional healing or don’t be surprised if ayurveda is available too. Where else would one find traditional healing methods in one place?
A new interest is growing among Singapore companies in Iskandar. That also means multinational companies operating in Singapore will take notice too.
When the investments start coming in, more jobs will be created.
Expect more exciting things to happen in the near future.
The negotiations have been tough. Some may argue, we are losing our rights to the railway land but KTM is losing money from the Singapore route.
Legal experts argue that Malaysia’s hands are tied. Malaysia’s interpretation of when the POA takes effect does not hold water any more.
It has been a long 19 years and six months.
By the time the Tanjung Pagar Railway station moves to Woodlands next year, it would have been 20 years and six months.
Under Najib, Malaysia is quite clear about where it is heading. We cannot wait for another 20 years to get things moving forward.
Sentimental and emotional reasons alone will not get us anywhere.
> Foreign Editor Mergawati Zulfakar plans to take a sentimental train journey to Tanjung Pagar before the KTM service stops going there.

British scientist becomes first human 'infected' with computer virus

British scientist becomes first human 'infected' with computer virus

BEIJING: A young British scientist stakes a claim to being the first human infected with a computer virus after he contaminated an electronic RFID chip implanted in his hand, reported China’s Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading, truly is the first human carrying a computer virus inside his body.

However he, the human carrier, might no actually be “infected” the chip he has embedded in his hand surely is.

Dr. Gasson implanted a chip into his hand that gives him access to lab facilities without needing a key or magnetic card, and allows him to be the only person who can access his mobile phone while it is locked to all others.

But he went so far as to infect that chip with a virus, wanting to test whether or not it will be possible to infect other chips in the system with a proverbial slight of hand.

The results shows he succeeded to infect his PC, that the virus in the chip in his hand was able to migrate to the desktop computer.

On why someone would want to do that, Dr Gasson’s reasons is the awareness that more and more people have chip-based electronic parts in their bodies - a pacemaker for example - and that we will have to learn all we can about how such vital instruments may be impacted by other electronic devices.

“This type of technology has been commercialised in the United States as a type of medical alert bracelet, so that if you’re found unconscious you can be scanned and your medical history brought up.”

Also, he thinks that implanted chips, like we now use them for dogs and cats, will most likely find their way into the human body in one way or another.

However, concerns raised by Dr Gasson worries Professor Rafael Capurro of the Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute of Information Ethics in Germany, who said: “If someone can get online access to your implant, it could be serious.”

Supporting his claim, Professor Capurro contributed to a 2005 ethical study for the European Commission that looked at the development of digital implants and possible abuse of them.

“From an ethical point of view, the surveillance of implants can be both positive and negative. Surveillance can be part of medical care, but if someone wants to do harm to you, it could be a problem.”

In the future, Dr Gasson scientist said there is the distinct possibility that in a security obssessed world, chip implants may make passports and credit cards obsolete in the future. -- Bernama

British scientist becomes first human 'infected' with computer virus

How to stay safe on Facebook

PRIVACY and security must be dirty words at the Facebook HQ at the moment as the world's largest social media network comes under fire for its privacy policy that has left users exposed and vulnerable.

Amazingly, it was reported that Facebook's privacy policy is a whopping 5,830 words long, even more verbose than the Constitution of the United States which reads at 4,543 words.

Here are some of the precautions you need to take to stay private and safe:

Make friend lists

Categorise your “friends” into various groups according to what information you want them to have access to, from “Work Friends” (minimal access) to “Acquaintances”, “Family” and “Close Friends” (full access) .

Restrict access to profile

To prevent strangers from accessing your page, it is advisable to allow “Only Friends” to access your profile.

Remove your address and phone number

This may be useful information for your real friends and family but imagine what will happen if the information falls into the wrong hands.

Remove your full birthdate from your profile

Identity thieves can use it to obtain more information on you and even gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you want to remind your friends about your birthday, remove the year.

Be careful when registering for new applications

It is all fun and exciting to try out new games and quizzes but what many don't realise is that you may unknowingly be sharing all your information with the developers who can then sell your data or spam you.

Go to “Privacy Settings” and tick “Applications”, followed by “Settings”. Uncheck the boxes for the personal information that you do not want them to obtain.

Still, according to security expert website, the CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online, Facebook users unwittingly expose themselves to five dangers that might be beyond their control: their information is shared with third parties; their privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign; malware from Facebook advertisements; fake profiles from scammers; and real friends who unknowingly make them vulnerable.

How to stay safe on Facebook

Follow procedures, religious officers urged

By ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN

PETALING JAYA: Islamic religious authorities should follow procedures when they are carrying out khalwat raids.

Non-governmental organisations said officers conducting the raids would not be accused of acting beyond their jurisdiction if they did so.

They said this when asked to comment on the incident in which a 21-year-old college student fell to his death from an apartment in Gombak while trying to escape a khalwat raid.

It was reported that the raid was carried out by several mosque committee members after residents complained of immoral activities at the apartment.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) said khalwat raids shouldn’t be carried out in a way that degrades human dignity.

“The practice of barging into people’s houses, and bedrooms in particular, clearly violates an individual’s right to privacy and human dignity protected by the Quran,” said its legal affairs officer Ratna Osman.

She added that khalwat raids contravened several injunctions in the Quran.

Expressing sadness over the student’s death, she said such an incident would not have happened if procedures were followed.

Malaysian Council For Child Welfare honorary secretary Ismail Majid also said khalwat raids should be carried out according to guidelines spelt out by the state religious authorities.

“I don’t know how the raiding party carried out their operation, but the youth must have panicked and jumped out the window.

“Usually, raiding officials will knock on the door and introduce themselves before checking whether any form of immoral activity is taking place in the house.

“Standard operating procedures should be followed. Otherwise, their methods may be questioned if something untoward happens,” he added.

Social activist Datuk Paduka Marina Mahathir wrote in The Star on Tuesday that religious officials should be held accountable if death or injury occurred during khalwat raids.

“Just as others are held responsible when accidents happen, religious officers must be, too,” she added.
Follow procedures, religious officers urged

Improve your pronunciation

Exploring English
By Keith Wright

LEARNERS’ pronunciation and confidence will significantly improve when they know the rules that apply to speaking English.

To help learners with this, The 4S Approach to Literacy and Language – Accelerated English Programme teaches The 4S Keys to Pronunciation.

A very simple Key to remember is that multi-syllabic nouns usually stress the first syllable, e.g. gar/den; den/tist; pi/lot; oc/to/pus.

The main exceptions to this rule are those words that have an obvious “root” component from which they have been made, e.g. invisible; reporter. When a “root” is part of a word, it is usually the root-syllable that is stressed.

The 4S Key To Pronunciation teaches: In a multi-syllabic word, the stress also can be on the root or base from which it has been built. For example: ex/pend/i/ture; e-val/u/a/tion; re/sour/ces; in/fla/tion; e/vac/u/a/tion.

In contrast, when a word is used as a verb, the stress usually shifts further down the word to another syllable. Compare the following sentences:

The President will address the Congress (verb) – What is your new address? (noun).

If one is unsure what syllable to stress in a bi-syllabic word, it is “safe” to stress both, e.g. ham/mer.

Another easy Key to remember is: double consonants usually split, e.g. but/ter, span/ner.

Speakers need to know also that when a word or syllable ends in a consonant, it is said to be “closed”, and the previous vowel is usually short or regular.

The relevant 4S Key teaches: Closed syllables end in consonants and the vowel is usually ‘short’, e.g. ban/ner; cof/fee.

Another way to remember this Key is: consonants usually close – vowels usually open.

When the double consonants split in a word, the first syllable is “closed off” by the first of the double consonants, which makes the preceding vowel “short” or regular, e.g. hap/py; tof/fee; win/ner.

Double consonants have another Pronunciation Key: they usually follow short vowels.

The final “e”

In English, thousands of words end in the vowel “e”. A characteristic one needs to remember for pronunciation purposes is that it is rare for the final “e” in a word to be pronounced.

Usually, when a word ends in the vowel “e”, it is silent but the preceding vowel is “long”, i.e., it says its own name, e.g. bake; scene, ride; note, cute.

The relevant 4S Key To Understanding Pronunciation teaches: The final silent “e” lets the other vowel do the talking.

There are only a handful of common words that say their “final e”, i.e. apostrophe, catastrophe, epitome, hyperbole, recipe, posse, coyote – the, me, she, he, we, thee and the names of people such as Marie, Debbie, Annie, Kylie, Ronnie, Donnie, etc.

There are other closely linked 4S Keys that relate to vowels making their “long” sound. The first one refers to “open” syllables, i.e. those ending in a vowel, e.g. mo/tel, Pe/ter, du/gong, ti/ger, ta/ble, ho/bo, pre/fer, no/tice.

Open syllables usually end in a long vowel. In contrast, closed syllables end in a consonant.

The main exceptions to the Open Syllable Key are those words that end in the vowel “e” where the final “e” is silent, e.g. take.

Another 4S Key teaches about “stand-alone” vowels, i.e. syllables that consist of just one vowel such as a/gent, e/ven, i/tem, o/dour, u/niform, ex/am/in/a/tion, etc.

Stand-alone vowels are usually long.

The common exceptions are words beginning with “a” such as a/bout, a/gain, a/do, a/mount, etc.

In these words, it is now common practice to make the “uh..” sound one hears in comma and panda.

Knowing the keys to understanding pronunciation is a sure way to quickly improve one’s ability to pronounce words correctly.

Of course, there are exceptions that need to be remembered, for example with words that have been borrowed from other languages, or because of the presence of what are known in 4S as the Influential Consonants.

When a learner has mastered the Key that relates to a particular “clue” word, dozens of other related words can also be pronounced correctly and with confidence.

For example, when one knows that the “o” vowel in mo/tel is pronounced as a “long” sound — because open syllables usually end in a “long” vowel — one can also correctly pronounce related words, such as mo/tion, mo/tor, ho/tel, vo/ter, vo/cal, so/cial, po/tion, de/vo/tion, and so on.

Keith Wright is the author and creator of the 4S Approach To Literacy and Language (4S) — a modern, innovative and proven method of accelerating the learning of English.

The 4S methodology and the associated Accelerated English Program (AEP) mentioned in this fortnightly column are now being used internationally to enhance the English language proficiency of people from a diverse range of cultures and with different competency levels.

E-mail
contact@4Sliteracy.com.au for a free copy of the 4S file: “101 Wrongly Pronounced Words”.


Improve your pronunciation