Today we are celebrating Labour Day. Whole country on holiday. Some will go for holiday, some stay at home, and some community leaders will gather listening to the leaders talk and promise ans celebrating Labour Day. One thing in Malaysia we have to work harder for better life especially with the current world economic and local political situation. One thing for government servants we need to achieve the KPI (Key Performance Index). We hope KPI is fair and all government servant at all levels working hard as they are suppose to do and well quantify their contribution. We don't want some are curi tulang and all must work with full integrity.

In Malaysia, the Labour Day celebration began when former Deputy Prime Minister, the late Tun Dr. Ismail Abdul Rahman announced 1 May as a public holiday for workers in early 1970s. The announcement was made while opening the Labour Bureau Trade Union Seminar and the UMNO Trade Union at Dewan Belia in Kuala Lumpur on 20 May 1972.

This announcement was regarded as important because it not only recognizes the contribution of workers, but indirectly shows that Malaysia is in agreement with the decisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention, which approved 1 May as Labour Day.

More than four decades later, Labour Day is still celebrated in our country. The role of workers is certainly becoming more important amidst our nation’s drive towards a developed status by the year 2020 as workers’ commitment and dedication can determine the survival and sustainability of business organizations and companies in the long run.

Malaysia is not the only country to set aside a day to celebrate workers on May 1. Labour Day is also celebrated in some 80 countries around the globe which includes Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Myanmar, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam, among others.http://www.malaysiandigest.com/features/551935-why-do-we-celebrate-labour-day-some-little-known-facts-of-this-important-day.html

Today, our workers have attained fair pay, decent working hours, safe working conditions, and the dignity of a secure retirement. All lecturers in the public universities also demand for salary review for better pay. But when if country's economy not improving?

Labour Day is celebrated around the world on the 1st of May.

Historically, Labour Day is a day to commemorate the economic and social achievements of workers, notably the establishment of 8-hour work days.

Labour laws in the past were substandard and workers in the 1800s started coming together to push for fairer treatment in the workplace.

Since we last celebrated Labour Day on May 1st 2013, the unemployment rate of Malaysia has further improved to an all-time low of 3.2% and is still one of the lowest in the world.

Today, our workers have attained fair pay, decent working hours, safe working conditions, and the dignity of a secure retirement.

Read more: PM Najib's Labour Day message to Malaysians - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/pm-najib-s-labour-day-message-to-malaysians-1.583723#ixzz30U332rmD

What did I say last year on the same day about labour day and See what government responded to that idea. Salary review? work load? but the implementation need to be quick. Lecturers mus be strong and support the association.

http://drmat-ismail.blogspot.com/search?q=labour

It is common if workers asked for better salary because this is the history but the employer must know how to justify.

 

Sambutan Hari Pekerja jadi ganas

2013/05/02 - 08:10:01 AM   Berita Harian                
 

 

Polis dan penunjuk perasan bergaduh ketika sambutan Hari Pekerja membawa kepada rusuhan di Istanbul, Turki, semalam.

Protes tuntut hak buruh cetus ketegangan di Eropah, Asia

Athens: Kekacauan dan pertempuran meletus semalam antara polis dan penunjuk perasaan yang mengadakan perarakan sempena Hari Pekerja di Eropah dan Asia.

Perkhidmatan kereta api dan feri terhenti manakala hospital tidak dapat memberi perkhidmatan selepas kakitangannya melakukan mogok di Greece.

Pekerja Indonesia mengecat muka dan badan menyertai perarakan Hari Pekerja di Jakarta, semalam

 

Guna meriam air  

Di Istanbul, polis pencegah rusuhan melepaskan meriam air dan gas pemedih mata bagi menyuraikan penunjuk perasaan di tengah kota itu.

Beribu-ribu anggota polis berkawal di seluruh bandar bagi menyekat akses ke Dataran Taksim selepas penunjuk perasaan berhimpun di beberapa lokasi sebelum menyerbu sekatan anggota keselamatan.

Beribu-ribu lagi berarak di Sepanyol bagi membantah dasar kerajaan memperketat perbelanjaan.

Dua badan sekerja terbesar, CCOO dan UGT menggesa pekerja dan golongan penganggur menyertai 80 tunjuk perasaan di seluruh negara itu ketika kadar pengangguran semasa 27 peratus.

Ketika menulis dalam akhbar kewangan, El Economista, Setiausaha Agung CCOO, Igancio Fernandez Toxo mengkritik kerajaan yang dituduhnya tidak bertanggungjawab kerana membiarkan kadar pengangguran begitu tinggi - 6 juta.

Sementara itu, beribu-ribu pekerja bergaji rendah menyertai perarakan Hari Pekerja di Jakarta bagi menuntut kenaikan gaji, faedah pekerjaan dan keadaan sekitaran kerja lebih baik.

Buruh di Kemboja, Filipina, Singapura, Bangladesh, Taiwan dan Korea Selatan juga keluar beramai-ramai mendesak supaya hak pekerja dihormati.

 

Warga Singapura menyertai protes Hari Pekerja membantah kos hidup tinggi dan dasar imigresen dalam bantahan di Taman Hong Lim, semalam

 

 

 

8,000 berarak di Manila

Seramai 8,000 orang berarak di Manila sambil menuntut kenaikan gaji dan kerja tetap sambil menolak kontrak kerja sementara selain mendesak harga makanan dan barangan keperluan diturunkan.

Selain itu, 3,000 orang menyertai bantahan di Singapura bagi mendesak kerajaan peka kepada kadar pendapatan tidak seimbang, gaji menteri terlalu tinggi dan kehadiran ramai pekerja asing.

Beribu-ribu lagi pekerja turut melakukan bantahan di Hong Kong termasuk pekerja dermaga yang melakukan mogok lebih sebulan.

Mereka mendesak diberi kenaikan gaji selepas kadar upah beberapa kali dipotong beberapa tahun lalu.

Sementara itu, beribu-ribu lagi anggota lebih 30 kesatuan sekerja berarak di Taipei meminta hak mereka dilindungi. - Agensi

Another try to get grants for research development. First stage already done and now working on the precomercial stage. Need money to support next stage of research. Unfotunately the people involve still learning about algae and floating bed method. The old team already change or retired. That is normal cycle. BUT research is going on in the university.

Malaysian scientist Jagjit Kaurah's "Floating Bed Method" may hold a solution to the world's food and fuel crises

Malaysian scientist Jagjit Kaurah’s “Floating Bed Method” may hold a solution to the world’s food and fuel crises

Often it takes a scientific outsider to find a simple solution that eluded peers in high tech labs with big budgets. Malaysian scientist Jagjit Kaurah works at the Universiti Putra Malaysia research station in Port Dickson, and he was walking on the beach one day when it occurred to him that the ocean provides for free the ideal temperature and agitation conditions that algal biofuels labs must replicate at great expense. After four years of experimentation and pilot studies he has patented his “Floating Bed Method” photobioreactor http://www.europatentbox.com/patent/EP2129213A1/abstract/230387.html and last December he commercialized his final pilot project.

Macroalgal rafts are nothing new in Asia. Generally anchored to the sea floor, they have been used for generations to lure and nurture large populations of fish, and more recently to farm marine biofuel feedstocks. Microalgal rafts on the other hand are sophisticated marine photobioreactors powered by solar radiation and wave action.

ìWe still have problems with fouling, handling the sea currents and waves better, and the durability of some of our components”, says Kaurah, “and other less pressing concerns which require extra labour to handle. Thatís the reason our costs are about US$1.50 (RM4.65) per kg.” To be ready for the biofuels market he says he needs to push the cost of production down to US$0.70 (RM2.17) per kg to be competitive. “But I know what needs to be done and I am confident I can get it down to US$0.70 within 12 to 18 months.î

While he works on lowering the propagation cost of his microalgae, Kaurahís first commercial operation will produce spirulina, aside from egg white the only other complete protein source that contains all the amino acids required by the human body in the correct proportions. Kaurah intends to supply aid organisations with the worldís cheapest complete protein source.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/4/12/lifefocus/8327270&sec=lifefocus

Often it takes a scientific outsider to find a simple solution that eluded peers in high tech labs with big budgets. Malaysian scientist Jagjit Kaurah works at the Universiti Putra Malaysia research station in Port Dickson, and he was walking on the beach one day when it occurred to him that the ocean provides for free the ideal temperature and agitation conditions that algal biofuels labs must replicate at great expense. After four years of experimentation and pilot studies he has patented his “Floating Bed Method” photobioreactor and last December he commercialized his final pilot project.
Macroalgal rafts are nothing new in Asia. Generally anchored to the sea floor, they have been used for generations to lure and nurture large populations of fish, and more recently to farm marine biofuel feedstocks. Microalgal rafts on the other hand are sophisticated marine photobioreactors powered by solar radiation and wave action.

“We still have problems with fouling, handling the sea currents and waves better, and the durability of some of our components”, says Kaurah, “and other less pressing concerns which require extra labour to handle. Thatís the reason our costs are about US$1.50 (RM4.65) per kg.” To be ready for the biofuels market he says he needs to push the cost of production down to US$0.70 (RM2.17) per kg to be competitive. “But I know what needs to be done and I am confident I can get it down to US$0.70 within 12 to 18 months.”
While he works on lowering the propagation cost of his microalgae, Kaurahís first commercial operation will produce spirulina, aside from egg white the only other complete protein source that contains all the amino acids required by the human body in the correct proportions. Kaurah intends to supply aid organisations with the worldís cheapest complete protein source.

Hundreds of bird-watchers converged on Port Dickson during Raptor Watch Week. Dont miss to scan the skies

The white-bellied sea eagle circled over Ilham Resort with a metre-long fish in its talons.

Raptors need thermals to soar hundreds and even thousands of metres up in the sky and glide across the Straits Of Malacca to Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson, where the birds congregate yearly before continuing their journey to north Asia.
 the thermals were missing and so were the big birds of prey. there are thousands of raptors in Pulau Rupat, Indonesia, waiting to soar over here. "Pulau Rupat, which is where the raptors will launch from Sumatra before heading to Tanjung Tuan, has had some of its forest cleared for plantations. This is a cause for worry, as the development could interrupt the usual route of the raptors,"

Read more: Raptors begin annual migration - Holiday - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/holiday/raptors-begin-annual-migration-1.53893#ixzz2MsLwMvzr

One year, more than 10,000 birds soared over the straits to Tanjung Tuan in a single day. MNS members who have been counting the raptors for the last 13 years.
Raptor Watch is a huge event in Port Dickson, drawing tourists from all over the country, and even from abroad. The birds fly here not over one weekend but over a period of about four months, from late January.
The migratory raptors flee the winter in Siberia, China, Korea and Japan towards the end of the year before returning in spring. Raptor Watch Week is also one of Malaysia’s premier eco-tourism events.
Although there was a near no-show by the raptors on Saturday, Raptor Watch week was by no means a washout.
Playing host for the 13th consecutive time, the MNS had lined up many nature-related activities, including talks, to promote eco-tourism. These included Nature Walk, Seashore Walk and Mangrove Walk.
Since February, more than 23,000 raptors had been spotted by counters stationed at the Tanjung Tuan lighthouse. The counters will continue their labour of love until April 1, for a total of 42 days. Last year, 58,000 raptors were spotted over 43 days flying over Port Dickson.

The number of raptors spotted during their annual crossing over the Straits of Malacca has seen a decrease over the years, mainly due to habitat loss and environmental changes, such as global warming.

From the hundreds of thousands during the Raptor Watch, one of the biggest bird-watching events in the region, from Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson, in the 1960s, the migratory birds now number in the tens of thousands.
In 2010, counters spotted more than 73,000 raptors, and the following year saw the number drop to 57,000. It is anyone's guess just how many will be seen during this year's Raptor Watch on March 10 and 11. "These birds of prey are good indicators of the health of the environment and food chain. For example, the decline in the population of the Brahminy Kite has been linked to the disappearance of the mangrove habitat in Indonesia. By monitoring raptor populations, we can keep an eye on the state of our environment and prevent it from reaching critical conditions."

Read more: Raptors begin annual migration - Holiday - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/holiday/raptors-begin-annual-migration-1.53893#ixzz2MsLjes6B

Malaysia are 19 years behind South Korea in terms of productivity, the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry said today, naming graft, leakages, complacency and archaic labour laws as road blocks. - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-19-years-behind-south-korea-complacency-graft-among-culprits#sthash.apc651Yd.03gYxJwG.dpuf

Forbes discusses how Malaysia should compare it with the best economies in the region instead of the weaker ones at the Asli conference in Kuala Lumpur today. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, October 17, 2014 - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-19-years-behind-south-korea-complacency-graft-among-culprits#sthash.apc651Yd.03gYxJwG.dpuf

Who write the history? Usually the current authority and always talk good about them and delete others. This make history become interesting and challenging. More research needed and more evidence and witness to proof. BUT who are going to do it? May be those who are dominating media, having money, power and skill and knowledge personal and deep interest in power and history.

Postage stamp of the Straits Settlements from 1883.The history of British involvement in Malaya goes back to 1786, when the East India Company established a trading post on Penang Island. Sir Stamford Raffles founded a British settlement on the island of Singapore in 1819 and by 1830 the British Straits Settlements also included Malacca. From the 1870s the sultans of the small Malay states began accepting British ‘advisers’, who were effectively rulers. In 1896 a federation of Negri Sembilan, Perak, Selangor and Pahang was established with its capital at Kuala Lumpur. Heavy immigration from China and India was encouraged to supply labour for British rubber plantations and tin mines.

Invading from the north, the Japanese rapidly overran Malaya and took Singapore in 1942. After the war, in 1948, a Federation of Malaya was created under British protection, but British and Commonwealth troops had to put down a Communist insurrection, which lasted into the early 1950s. It was by now agreed that Malayan independence was the answer to the Communist claim that they were fighting to free the Malayan people from the British yoke. An election in 1955 was won hands-down by the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) by running Malay candidates in Malay-dominated areas, Chinese candidates in Chinese areas and Indian candidates in Indian ones. The UMNO’s leader Tunku Abdul Rahman became prime minister when the independent Federation of Malaya came into being in 1957.

At a ceremony in the new Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Abdul Rahman proclaimed Malaya as ‘a sovereign, democratic and independent State founded on the principles of liberty and justice, and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations.’ He went on to say that Malaya had been ‘blessed with a good administration forged and tempered to perfection by by successive British administrators’ and called for Britain’s legacy not to be forgotten or spoiled in the future. A message from the Queen welcomed Malaya to the Commonwealth and numerous Commonwealth premiers sent goodwill wishes. The Union Jack was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted in its place, while elsewhere in the country there were fireworks, bonfires, dances and concerts.

The federation was renamed Malaysia in 1963, when besides Singapore and all the Malay states it also included two areas in North Borneo – Sarawak and Sabah. Singapore opted out and went its own way in 1965.

- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/malayan-independence#sthash.hZZtIa4W.dpuf

Labour Day: History of Right and Equilibrium

Look at the teachers OR Lecturers. They are over work!. if they are teaching 12 hours a week meaning their minimum involvement with students are 12x3=36hours a week. In one week they have 40 hours. If they involve in administration matters, students counseling, students activities (sports and co-curriculum) etc. then they are over work! Imagine professors in the universities; teaching, students consultation or supervision, preparing lectures, questions, and preparing seminars, conferences and publications, meetings, etc. Their work are not suppose to be under stress but with the datelines, students demand and short term outcomes make lecturers/professors are stressful and not productive.

Some facts and figures on water related issues and recommendations

Some Facts and Figures

* At least 1.8 million children under five years-old die every year from water related disease, which is one child every 20 seconds.

* It is estimated that close to 90 per cent of diarrhoea cases, killing some 2.2 million people every year, is caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene.

* Over 50 per cent of malnutrition cases globally are associated with diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections. Diarrhoeal diseases come second after respiratory infections in terms of labour productivity lost due to illness.

* Over half the world's hospitals beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water.

* Almost 900 million people currently lack access to safe drinking water, and an estimated 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest proportion, with around 221 million and 330 million respectively living without basic sanitation.

* 90 per cent of the wastewater in developing countries discharged daily is untreated. 80% of all marine pollution is land based - most of it wastewater, damaging coral reefs and fishing grounds

* Each day each one of us uses - and discards - some 150-600 litres of water: 60-150 litres per person per day in developing countries to 500-800 litre per person per day in the industrialized world

* People in the industrialized world generate 5 times more wastewater per person than in developing countries - but treat over 90% of the wastewater compared to only a few percent in developing countries

* Improved wastewater management has resulted in significant environmental improvements in many European rivers, but dead zones in the oceans are still spreading worldwide

* Agriculture accounts for some 70-90% of all water consumed, mainly for irrigation. But large amounts also return to rivers in terms of run-off - near half of all organic matter in wastewater comes from agriculture

* Industrial wastes, pesticides from agriculture and tailings from mining also create serious health risks and threats to water resources, costing billions of dollars to monitor, much more to clean.

* Use of bottled water is increasing, but it takes 3 litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water - and in the USA alone an additional 17 million barrels of oil.

* Worldwide 200 000 million litres of water are produced every year, creating also an enormous waste problem from spent plastic bottles.

*

* 20 million tons of phosphate is mined to fertilize crops, and there are concerns that natural phosphate may become scarcer over the coming decades.

* Nearly half of the agricultural phosphate applied is washed away and ends up rivers and oceans where it plays a part in triggering algae blooms that in turn damage ecosystems and fish stocks

* The area of dead zones - locations of reduced or absent oxygen levels - has now grown to cover 245,000 km2 of the marine environment including in North America; the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

* Wastewater also generates methane, a climate gas 21 times more powerful than C02. It is also generating nitrous oxide which is 310 times more powerful than C02.

* It is estimated that wastewater-linked emissions of methane and nitrous oxide will rise by 25 per cent and 50 per cent respectively in just a decade.

* Climate change may aggravate the problem with droughts concentrating wastewater pollution in rivers and lakes and increased flooding overwhelming ageing sewage infrastructure in cities and towns.


Recommendations

# Countries should adopt a multisectoral approach, including ecosystem management, to cope with rising wastewater production

# Countries must establish national plans from water source to ocean and create national to local strategies. Over 70% of the water is consumed by agriculture for irrigation.

# Financing and investment are urgently needed and must address design, ecosystem restoration, construction, operation and maintenance of waste water infrastructure. Public management of the water supply and wastewater management have provided best results for broad public benefit, with private sector mainly beneficial in improving operation and maintenance

# Communities and nations should plan for increasing incidents of extreme weather and rising urbanization in the future.

# For effective waste water management, social, cultural, environmental and economical aspects must be carefully considered

# Education has a crucial role to play in water and wastewater management, helping to ensure water, nutrients and future opportunities for employment and development are not wasted.

Finland v England Education systems: Where Malaysia like to adopt?

Private schools

The vast majority of children attend comprehensive schools in Finland. The country has a handful of faith-based and alternative schools, which are legally private but funded by the state. They cannot charge fees but may set their own catchment areas. In England, 7.2% of children attend private schools, which are free to select pupils and charge fees. A private education costs parents an average of £10,100 a year.

Exams

Finland has only one set of national exams, the matriculation exam when pupils are about to leave upper school, aged 18. But children are tested regularly on what they have learned. In England, children have national tests in English, maths and science at the end of year 6, aged 11. They sit another set of national exams when they take GCSEs at 16 and then have A-levels at 18.

Free school meals

Every Finnish child is entitled to a free school meal, in both primary and upper schools. Finland began providing free school meals 60 years ago, both to encourage children to attend school and help them learn.

In England free school meals are currently available only for children from families receiving unemployment benefit. The coalition scrapped Labour plans to extend free school meals to families below the poverty line, which is calculated as £19,500 a year for a couple with two children.

Stay longger hours in the office may be can save elecricity and water bills at home.

The Star: Saturday November 24, 2012

Malaysians put in long hours at work out of necessity

Reports by P. ARUNA, WONG PEK MEI, JOSEPH KAOS Jr and WINNIE YEOH

 

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians put in long hours at work out of necessity as they need to make more money. MTUC president Mohd Khalid Atan said many worked overtime as they got triple the daily salary rate on public holidays and double on rest days. “According to a survey by the Labour Department, 35% to 40% of our private sector workers in most industries earn less than RM700. How can they cope with the current rising cost of living with such a salary?” he said in an interview.

Mohd Khalid was responding to Expedia’s 2012 Vacation Deprivation Survey that showed Malaysia has the world’s fourth most dedicated workforce, after India, Brazil and Italy, with almost 90% of employees working even when they are on holiday. A total of 40% of respondents said they were reluctant to go on vacation because they feared their bosses would not be happy about it.
Khalid said he has received complaints that some employers deducted incentives and allowances of their workers when they went on annual leave. “I have seen this when I was working in a factory for 17 years and it’s still happening today,” he said.
Cuepacs president Datuk Omar Osman said it was unfair to ask civil servants to cancel their planned vacation with their families. “Bosses should have a contingency plan if an employee is going on holiday,” he said. He said he has received many complaints from civil servants that their department heads have “threatened” to take action against them if they refuse to work on their offdays.
When asked if employees should still respond to calls or e-mails related to work when on leave, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said certain conditions need to be met. “If the matter is urgent and the employee has been the only one managing a particular task, then it is reasonable to respond as it could affect the business of the company.
“However, if it can wait, then it would be unreasonable for the employer to push their employee to work during their leave,” he said. myStarjob.com editor and Leaderonomics CEO Roshan Thiran said the productivity of the workforce was still low. “We need to figure out how we can increase our productivity by doing as much as before but in less time,” he said. He added employees should not fear having to take time off to revitalise as they would get burnt out if they don’t.

How this multi million dollars algae can be utilised. Our tradition do not trust our own people, so we gave ideas for others to develop.

The Star: Tuesday April 12, 2011
Microalgae - Jagjit Kaurah thinks he has the answer
By NATALIE HENG
star2green@thestar.com.my

Breaking the algae cost barrier – can one Malaysian scientist do it?

JAGJIT Kaurah thinks he’s onto something. He’s always been an inventor of sorts but this time he’s aiming big, and is ready to take on the big boys.

For years, giants such as Boeing, Exxon Mobil, Bill Gates, BP and the US Military have pumped billions into microalgae research in hopes that these microscopic proto-plants might turn out to be the world’s answer to dwindling fossil fuels.

Up until now, the only thing standing in the way of microalgae and their potential to solve the world’s twin crises of climate change and a looming energy shortage has been the amount of money it takes to produce and harvest the stuff.
Jagjit Kaurah showing containers filled with microalgae at the Universiti Putra Malaysia research station. He intends to grow microalgae in the sea off Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan.

Most commercial operations which do deal with microalgae focus on marketing the more nutritious species as an expensive nutraceutical on the health foods market.

Kaurah, however, says he has developed a method of bringing down production costs to a level where prices will revolutionise both the health food and biofuel industries.

Similar claims have been made before, only to have initial hype fade like a mediocre sunset; so the next six months will be critical for Kaurah, who intends to take his technology commercial near the seaside town of Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan.

If his current claims about finding a way to produce microalgae at a cost of US$1.50 (RM4.65) per kg, (less than half that of current world leader Michael Borowitzka’s US$4 per kg) stand up commercially, he might well put Malaysia on the world map as a leader in microalgae production.

Microalgae have everything you could possibly want from a renewable energy resource. They grow fast, have a high oil content and unlike crops such as sugar cane, oil palm and switch grass, their growth is not limited by the availability of land to grow on. And when they grow, microalgae sequester carbon dioxide.

Up to to 68% of its dry weight is made up of of oil which can be converted to biodiesel through a process that is similar to converting oils from other feedstocks.

Kaurah explains how the idea of growing microalgae cheaply came to him. On a beach trip to Port Dickson one day, he was watching the waves. Up till that point, he was versed to a very basic level on the reasons why microalgae production is so expensive. Among them are the fact that photobioreactors require large capital costs, whilst meticulous temperature regulation and constant agitation are required for algal populations to thrive.

It was then that a light bulb moment occurred; he realised the sea could be a potential solution in breaking the cost barrier, thereby providing a solution to three of the world’s most pressing issues – climate change, dwindling energy resources and malnutrition.

“You see, microalgae are not like plants. With plants if you have a 10 to 15 degree change in temperature it doesn’t affect them too much. With microalgae, even with a four degree change they go into funk. But in the sea, temperature change is almost zero. And the sea waves will give you free agitation ... mixing is very important.”

Kaurah is not the only person to have had that idea. It has surfaced before but there have been no big attempts at setting up a bioreactor for microalgae in the sea. The Floating Bed Method (FBM) is what Kaurah calls it, and after five years of scheming, constructing, failing and re-calculating, he says it finally works.

At the Universiti Putra Malaysia research station in Port Dickson where he conducts his trials, Kaurah points out long, barnacle-covered pipes piled up a short walk from the shoreline – remnants of his final commercialised pilot project which he completed last December.

“We’ll be cleaning off the barnacles soon and transporting them (the pipes) to the new site,” he says.

He’s waiting for state government approval to set up his first commercial plant.

The FBM consists of a large structure of interconnecting pipes that float on a large bed of water. A network of nets or ropes attached to them hold up a colony of big long garbage bags. In these bags there are dense populations of microalgae, scaled up first in a series of vesicles starting from small flasks to five-litre plastic containers to 20-tonne bioreactors.

The entire structure when set up at sea is about 50m by 50m in size. A harvesting system connects microalgae in the “garbage bags” to processing or storage containers on the shore.

The bags are almost completely impermeable, with carbon dioxide and other exchanges taking place through tubes that connect the inside of the bags with the harvesting pipes.

“They act as a totally enclosed bioreactor, so it’s very clean,” says Kaurah.

So what makes Kaurah’s FBM different from the multi-million dollar projects out there? For one thing, it enables a massive reduction in photobioreactor capital costs. Another is that other expensive temperature regulation and agitation services are provided free by the sea and waves. Kaurah also says he has found a solution to scaling issues, however his harvesting system remains for now a closely guarded secret. He is secretive about some things as certain elements of his technology are pending a patent application.

The journey to get where he is wasn’t easy. Many a battered prototype has been washed up onto the shores of Malacca where some of his earlier trials took place. He solved some of the issues by making the entire structure submersible but other issues have kept him from achieving fuel price parity with crude oil.

“We still have problems with fouling, handling the sea currents and waves better, durability of some of our components and other less pressing concerns which require extra labour to handle. That’s the reason our costs are about US$1.50 (RM4.65) per kg.”

To be ready for the biofuels market, he said he would need to push the price of production down to US$0.70 (RM2.17) per kg in order to be competitive.

“But I know what needs to be done, and I am confident I can get it down to US$0.70 within 12 to 18 months.”

While he works on getting the cost of propagating microalgae down, Kaurah’s first commercial operation will produce the variety of microalgae called spirulina.

Aside from egg white, spirulina is the only other “complete protein” source, which basically means it contains all the amino acids the body requires in the correct proportion – part of the reason why it is both a popular nutraceutical and a popular candidate for solving malnutrition. Kaurah intends to supply aid organisations with the world’s cheapest complete protein source to tackle malnutrition problems.

At the moment, he says the cheapest dry bulk suppliers provide spirulina at US$10 (RM31) per kg, so he will bring the price down to US$3 (RM9.30) per kg for aid agencies, and supply other businesses such as health food companies at about US$5 to US$6 (RM15.50 to RM18.60) per kg.

Based on current world aid budgets, Kaurah believes he can supply spirulina at prices cheap enough to eliminate malnutrition across the world.