As defined by the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), a “large dam” is at least 15 m tall or must carry at least 3 million cubic meters of water. The controversial Bakun Dam, located at Balui River, about 200 km from Bintulu town in Sarawak, easily meets these criteria of a large dam. Once…
Extraordinary minds discuss ideas
From August, 2010
What’s the point of Malaysian universities? University rankings and commercialization
Update (Sept. 15, 2010): A modified form of this article was published by New Straits Times (NST) newspaper today. Malaysian universities today are very different from those ten years ago. Today, greater emphasis is placed on research output, a measurable quantity that supposedly indicates the overall quality of research that is done at a particular…
Facebook, pillow, and sanitary pad are not the most important invention in history
I stumbled across a survey by “Youth Says…” from NST (New Straits Times) that asks the question from Malaysian youths, aged 15 to 25: What is the most important invention in history? This is certainly a contentious issue that would bring in varied answers, but what caught my eye was the answers from some youths.…
Why only one child? RM1.1 million to raise a child in Malaysia
Updated (Aug 18, 2013): This article was used as a source of reference by New Sunday Times for their cover story, “Too expensive to have children”, pg. 12-13. I was also interviewed by the NST journalist, Tan Choe Choe. Updated (May 7, 2011): Local radio station, BFM 89.9, carried a podcast story about this blog…