Slasher !

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie is scheduled to open soon and this movie tells of the origins of my favourite X-Man Wolverine. I have been thankful that in the movie series Wolverine has at least ditch his yellow coveralls that although cool and marks him as the outsider within the fraternity, that suit definitely does not lend itself as much as the jeans and singlet grunge look the Wolverine has nows. It is just that flashing of the admantium claws by Mr Wolverine nows reminds me too much of another movie character that although not as cool, was as much popular in the eighties as the X-Men Marvel Comics character in the late 20th Century. Do you remember him below that gave a whole generation of teens nightmares when they slept? Hello from him!

Gulai Pucuk Ubi Tumbuk Recipe To The Fore

I had noticed about this traditional Malay recipe collection book from a review in a local newspaper and today in celebration of paying off my income tax and to accumulater tax receipts for this year's assesment, I brought the family to Kinokuniya bookstore where I found it on sale. After paying for it and flicking through it, I was pleasantly surprised to find the recipe for the definitive Mandailing Dish, Gulai Pucuk Ubi Tumbuk was included in the recipe book. This virtually unobtainable dish from any malay food shop has finally obtained general credentials and at least this family's version of this traditional recipe can now be kept for perpetuity . Yes there are many family variations of this dish, and the condiments itself may change according to personal preference.

For those interest in the book, here is a brief descrition from the MPH website :

Title: A Taste of Batu Gajah : Traditional Malay Family Recipe
Author: Datin Seri Raihan Abdul Rahman; et. al.
Publisher: BLU INC MEDIA SDN BHD
Published Date: 01-APR-09
ISBN: 9834455704
Format: Paperback
Main Category: Food & Drinks
Sub-Category: COOKERY-MALAYSIA
Our Price: RM 80.00

Book Description

While A Taste Batu Gajah is about life – and the tastes - of this unique historical town in Perak, it is more importantly about authentic
Malay cooking with lots of heart and soul thrown in. The cookbook's recipes will remind you of a time when life was simple and good things were to be savoured.

The recipes in A Taste of Batu Gajah were and still are, cooked by Datin Norsiah, a woman who equates food with love.

I hope if you do decide to buy the book yourself, I hope you enjoy the collection of traditional Malay recipes that may not be available elsewhere.

Making New Out Of Old

According to the Dictionary of Naval Terms by Thomas J Cutler, a service life extension program is a program designed to extend the period of usefulness of service vessels by giving them an extensive overhaul and modernization refit. This is where the life of the hull and basic structure of a ship is extended by replacing the mechanical, electrical, propulsion, waste, and other systems and likely rebuilding the spaces and, of course, re-outfitting them. Nonetheless it has to be remembered that the lifetime of the refitted (SLEP) ship will likely be less than that of a new ship. Although almost all navies does this procedure, unfortunately for a small navy like ours with limited resources, SLEP has been a way to prolong the life of our naval assets as replacements are usually far in between and may not even be insufficient quantities. For example, our FS1500 Kasturi class frigates has since 1984 had refits under SLEP when their Sewaco combat system wasa updated 1999 and later refits, the 100 mm gun was upgraded to Mk2 configuration in 1994 and around 2002 their MM38 Exocet SSM replaced with the newer MM40 version. As reported by a journalist who attended the recent RMN media event, KD Lekir the second in the class has just finished her SLEP program but there seems to be no identifiable changes to her appearance to suggest a major modernisation refit was undertaken as shown by the photographs here.


This was despite the announcement during LIMA 2007 that the government had handed over the letter of intent (LOI) to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd for service life extension program of Kasturi Class Corvettes for both KD Kasturi and KD Lekir of RMN. Nonetheless the exclusive photo above taken by Cari Forum Member Standupper on 15 April that was posted in the Security Agencies, Police and Military discussion board shows that the hull of KD Kasturi being completely gutted, probably in anticipation of the full modernisation announced in the LOI. Another source has advised that KD Kasturi entered the dockyard at the end of last year and only recently was prepared for the SLEP program. This modernisation is expected to consist of the following upgrade package as reported by Tempur defence magazine previously :

a. Installation of TACTICOS CMS to replace the Daisy Sewaco-MA Combat Data System

b. Electronics package including Thales DA-08 air search radar , Mirador-IR optronic director,
marine navigation radar , DR3000S ESM suite, ATLAS Electronik DSQS-24C hull mounted sonar, Link Y MK 2.5 and TERMA SKWS decoys.

c. Weapons system upgrade with the intallation of a Eurotorp B515 with A244S Whitehead ASW torpedoes at the ASRL position, the 100 mm gun would be replaced with a medium calibre gun , most probably with the existing Bofors 57 mm gun as the aft gun would be removed completely in order to extend the helicopter deck and two MSI 30 mm guns would replace the existing Emerlec guns.

Well we can only wait and hope that the modernisation upgrade as speculated above be carried out after the ship has finished her SLEP as otherwise her mission capability may not be sufficient to increase her survivability in the this more challenging environment as compared to when she was built in the 1980's. This is especially since we cannot afford to buy many new fighting platforms but instead have to rely on making new out of old ships that we already have.

Return Of The Armed Merchantman?

KL Security Review has reported that the Malaysian Navy confirmed that the Royal Malaysian Navy and Malaysian International Shipping Corporation(MISC) is negotiating to cooperate in upgrading a merchant ship to become a naval auxiliary ship to replace the navy ships deployment in the Gulf of Aden Bay for escort missions. Off hand this piece of news brings to mind the gallant armed merchantmen that served as the cradle and crucible to forge the Malay navy men during World War II with heroic gallantry and which now lends their names to the Navy's own patrol vessels. That was a time when navy combat ships were in scarce supply thus these merchantmen had to be armed as naval auxiliary ships to conduct patrol and escort missions. It seems now that our own navy can no longer afford to spare a navy unit to undertake the convoy escort missions and thus has to request MISC to furnish them with a naval auxiliary to undertake such missions.

The report stated that a merchant ship have been identified for the conversion and the ship selected merchant must comply with several conditions, for example, must have space for a hangar and accommodation for naval staff on the ship. The article also stated that MISC already operates vessels with helipads in their Offshore Floating Facilities fleet, but what they may have not realised are that such ships are tethered production and storage vessels, and the helipad conversions they have installed may not be suitable for a vessel that is supposed to be sailing in speed and in climatically challenging environment as can be seen from these photos of the various vessels. In fact if we are to peruse MISC's fleet, it may not make much sense to convert their ships just to ply the Gulf for escort duties without any payload, especially for only one unit and it also does not make sense commercially to convert several units for such a role just because modern ship designs just do not lend itself easily for conversion to armed merchantmen. In addition, the current modus operandi for the convoys is for our merchant ships to muster at a friendly port like Djibouti before transiting the Gulf under armed naval escort. Thus the period when the escort ship returns to a port of muster to berth and wait for the next convoy to form up means idle time for a merchant ship, and I believe would be a sticking point between the Navy and MISC. Another factor would be the crewing of the ship, as navy sailors may not be able to or cannot crew such a merchant men, and I doubt if civilian crews would want to endure such a task like convoy duties in the Gulf that some of our navy men from Ops Fajar has stated is a harrowing task.

So what should be the better solution in the humble opinion of this blogger you say? Well in this case I would like to remind you that the RMN are actually no strangers to operating leased commercial vessels in their fleet like MV Fajar Samudera, MV Mahsuri and STS Puteri Mahsuri in addition to commercial hydrographic vessels. The first two ships are being used to train their sailors including reservists. As the sending of KD Tuah has set a precedent of sending trainee sailors to the Gulf area of operations, then I do not see any reason why we should not send any of these two training vessels instead. MV Fajar Samudera on the left is more like a cruise ship to be a good naval deterrent while MV Mahsuri on the right is a 92 metre long 4000 tonnes ex-research vessel with a cruising speed of 12.5 knots, perfect for such convoy escort work. In addition, the ship design already incorporates a large helicopter pad in the stern and since it is a training ship, accommodation should not be a problem for the navy Special Forces men assigned to her. She also has a stern ramp for easy deployment of the Special Forces men and also has medical facilities on board and has served as a hospital ship during the Navy's exercises. Thus the conversion required for MV Mahsuri can be no more than installing non deck penetration medium calibre guns and repainting the ship to naval grey to show it means business. It fact this ship approximates most closely the size and capability of KD Mahawangsa and KD Inderasakti that has done their tour of duty in the Gulf.

The only problem this idea would face is that MV Mahsuri is currently privately owned and crewed by civilians under the command of the Navy. But then this should not be too difficult to resolve as there is already a precedent for our oil industry players to supply equipment for the Navy's Paskal for use in their oil platform protection duties. So why not our shipping industry players led by MISC then not buy over the ship and present it to the navy for use in the escort missions, or at least lease the ship on the navy's behalf for the navy to operate. If the MV Mahsuri is not available, then I am sure in the current state of shipping industry that is in the doldrums, it would be easy to find another suitable or much better ship to undertake the task. Would RFA Argus or its Chinese equivalent Shicang class be too much too ask?

Islamic And Fashionable?

My wife recently on the occasion of her birthday finally decided to mark it by starting to don the tudung and hijab. Thus it seems coincidental that this article appeared in The Star discussing what it would mean to be fashionable in Islam, or is Islamic Fashion an oxymoron in itself.

Firstly let me put together the relevant bits from the article for the base of my comments later. The article mentions that "According to the Quran, men and women are required to dress modestly by covering their aurat, which refers to the area from the navel to the knee for the former and all parts of the body except the face, hands and feet for the latter. However, there has been much debate on how this can be interpreted and how far one needs to go to ensure proper Muslim attire compliance. If the idea is to dress modestly and not attract attention to yourself then surely “Islamic fashion” is a misnomer, as fashion is all about adorning oneself and attracting attention." It goes on to explain the origins of Islamic Malay clothing where " upon conversion to Islam, a whole new concept of covering up emerged among the Malay Muslims, who chose a kind of a tent shape....that the habbaya from the Arabian Peninsula became the kebaya matched with a shawl and sarong, which was tied in a style called tindih kasih. Then there is the Turkish long tunic that became the baju kurung, worn with a wrapped and draped sarong. The wrapping and draping concept appears in the Cik Siti Wan Kembang outfit (from Kelantan) that comes with a wide shawl and, later on (also for Kelantan women), the kain batik lepas, a piece of batik material. The bright 2m coloured fabric was used as a head covering; it became multi-functional to suit daily life,” .

Thus in the present era, fashion from the Islamic point of view is where "The Islamic silhouette does not emphasise the figure, especially the chest. The designs should focus more on practicality, in keeping with Muslim activities in daily life. Which basically means comfortable and practical clothing that a Muslim can wear while performing everyday tasks. In today’s context, the most recognisable form of such comfortable, practical and, of course, modest garment in Malaysia is the baju kurung. That is a variation of the jubah that Muslim women elsewhere wear. Increasingly, Muslim women wear the outfit with a headscarf that’s called hijab in the Middle East but usually is referred to as the tudung, (cover) locally.As the name suggests – from the word kurung which means to confine – this shape of dress was to protect the human body from unwanted elements,”.

Unfortunately Among designers, there are different schools of thought where one feels that it’s about infusing Islamic values and modesty into the world of fashion while the other feels very strongly that fashion and Islam cannot mix as this means to invite people to look at you, and that’s wrong as they feel hat women should be modest and not attract attention.. Nonetheless my own personal opinion agrees with this statement by Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir who is actually against the term Islamic fashion and feels religion and fashion should not be mixed and points out that "“our mothers and grandmothers have been wearing traditional dress all their lives, so are we now saying that they are not Islamic?" Therefore it does really make sense to me when she says that

“I object to it because it implies that those of us who don’t wear these types of garments, particularly if we don’t cover our heads, are not Muslims. I think everyone should dress modestly and that is enough. Dressing in ‘Islamic fashion’ does not mean you are a better Muslim than one who does not.”

“Religion and fashion are two separate worlds. Yes, I think women have a right to dress in any way that pleases them and be modest about it as well. But I don’t think it needs to be called fashion. If it is fashion, not only is it by definition attention-getting but it’s also fleeting and transient and requires you to change every so often, even when there is no reason to.

“Following fashion can enslave you too. Does the Quran give fashion guidelines? No, it just tells us, men and women, to behave modestly. God is beyond fashion.”

So to me the best would be to emphasise on common sense and practicality in Muslim wear and keep in mind that conceptions of modesty and appropriateness vary between different Islamic denominations and individuals, and you may need to straddle the two worlds somewhat uneasily and try to find a balance. I believe the answer may be beyond all of us, and in the end, how one chooses to interpret religion is strictly between oneself and God.

We May Not Be Green Yet, But We Are Heading There

There has been some comments on the Earth Hour bandwagon like the following quote from the Star, but what I want to do is to comment on what the writer has wrote on the little people who care who actually make going green happen.

Similarly, Earth Hour has come and gone (I was out for a meal so technically my lights were switched off). While the bandwagon was brimming with green groupies, after more than two weeks, where are we now?

The point is that grand gestures are easy to embrace – cool, too, when they come with enough do-gooder publicity. But how many of us are even thinking about switching off our electricity for an hour every day or every week after that? Thought so.

The writer has basically asserted that from her exposure that ''that green causes .... are generally targeted at those who can afford to go green and spend time thinking about it. “For those who are struggling to earn a living, it is unfortunately a non-issue.”" This is based on her experience that when she returned from abroad, her exposure to garbage separation there amounts to nothing locally as she believes that all the garbage would still go to a single bag and will later unceremoniously dumped together into the landfill.

What she does not realise is that in Malaysia, it is exactly the opposite as it is these poor people who are the little people who actually help in recycling our society's waste in a big way. I am not talking about the metal thieves who help recycle our metal gates and gratings and such but I wonder if she really has not seen these little people with a piece of long metal that is hooked at the end to help them hook the drink cans out of garbage bins and longkangs. Or she has not seen how our enterprising garbagemen who has taken the initiative to separate the garbage themselves to sell to the recycling centres as shown by the photos here, or our own landfill scavengers who brave thrash landslides and methane blasts to separate the garbage at site, with some lucky ones finding the occasionally missing gold jewelry as a jackpot sometimes, something I know from personal experience when I was doing a project at some of the landfills. This not even taking into account the ubiquitous old newspapermen doing the rounds that is not only limited to newspaper nowadays but other junk too.

And the reason for these recycling enterprise? Its just cold hard cash as it is really true that there is money in garbage. So never mind if we still do not practise formal garbage separation via coloured thrash bins or sacks. As long we try to separate the recyclables from our trash and keeping them separately until they can be thrown away together later on, we would have done our own little bit to help the environment by helping those who actually are doing the recycling bit make the job a little bit easier. You really don't need to wait to go brown, blue and green to go green.

KD Hang Tuah To Return Month End

KL Security Review has reported that KD Hang Tuah's deployment in the Gulf Of Aden will end at the end of the month. And I speculated wrongly in my previous post that this would deprive the navy trainees from on board training, as KLSR has reported that the trainees are actually deployed on this voyage with the main benefit is to allow the trainee officers to carry out its mandate to study ocean-going training and experience. This is a good strategy by the RMN to utilise the funding for this voyage to also provide ocean going to the trainee officer, which due to lack of resources the Navy rarely emulates the major navies' midshipmen training ship round the world voyages. Nice going! You guys are really stretching the dollar for the good of the Navy.

Post Script

From a newspaper article that appears on the day after this posting was made, the RMN CNO was quoted as saying that Ops Fajar was to be terminated due to the economic slump that is happening whereby fewer merchant ships are moving in the danger area. The high cost of monitoring and escorting the merchant ships through the Gulf that is fully borne by the Navy was another factor in the decision to terminate the operations.