Monday, March 23, 2015

How far we have a proper criteria and strictly follow the criteria. Can those anly two years involve in the university can determine and making judgement for promotion. If top management cannot make a fair judgement members of the faculty will never respect the the management. In Malaysian the fair judgment is not yet practice and hearsay still become a major ways of judgement.

CRITERIA FOR THE PROMOTION OF ACADEMIC STAFF

Consideration of all proposals for promotion should involve assessing the individual's overall contributions to UCL. These can best be judged under the following headings:
·           Research: contribution to the advancement of a subject by research and scholarship (defined as commitment to, and practice in, the acquisition and synthesis of knowledge and understanding);
·           Teaching: contribution to the advancement of a particular subject area through teaching and/or by educational innovation;
·           Knowledge transfer/exchange and engaging communities: contribution to quality of life or the economy through application of knowledge in practice to the benefit of the broader community (i.e. commerce, industry and the public domain); involvement in university projects to enhance engagement with the general public; and

·           Enabling: contribution to management or administration or other significant contribution to the achievement of university's wider goals and aims, which furthers the discipline, and/or facilitates and enhances the personal contributions of academic colleagues. 

The Academy of Sciences Malaysia was established by an Act of Parliament in 1995 (ASM Act 1994). The Academy strives bullet to be the ‘Think Tank’ of the nation for matters related to science, engineering, technology and innovation. bullet to pursue excellence in the fields of science, engineering and technology for the benefit of all. Membership of the Academy is by nomination and not by application. Each year Fellows of the Academy will nominate suitable candidate for consideration as Fellow. Election of Fellows will take place at the Annual General Meeting. The Question is how the nomination were made and candidates were chosen.

looking forward for understanding and celebrating Earth Day 2015 "we need to lead".

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Perhilitan nabs seven 'Facebook' illegal wildlife traders: Why this open market of wildlife smuggling in Malaysia? BUT will this repeat the history of wildlife trafficing in Malaysia?

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/03/13/Facebook-wildlife-traders-nabbed/
Perhilitan officers with some of the seized animals.

May be temporary incident for the developer and the architectures and engineers. BUT for naturalist we cannot rebuilt the nature. OR may be compensation can be another capitol for new business BUT for heritage business will lost forever.

Pekerja rumah rakit di Kampung Pendas, Gelang Patah, Johor jarang ke darat kerana menjaga sangkar ikan untuk memastikan ikan tidak mati. – Gambar The Malaysian Insider oleh Seth Akmal, 15 Mac, 2015.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/harga-yang-perlu-dibayar-untuk-pembangunan?fb_action_ids=887710071251193&fb_action_types=og.shares

In Asia, migratory raptors breed in eastern Russia, China, Mongolia, Nepal and Japan. They winter in Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Bali and the Indonesian islands to the south. Anyone with some knowledge of the geography of the region will realise immediately that Thailand is a vital land-bridge for the migratory raptors. Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/01/01/on-eagles-wings/#ixzz3UR1cvgIZ

SOARING HIGH: A resident oriental honey-buzzard. — Photo by Ch’ien Lee
Rupat island is very important to be protected and serves as good crossing for raptors to mainland and flying through to Japan, Korea and China.

Every year MNS with many other agencies celebrating Raptor watch to support the conservation of raptors migration and their migration routes. We need more knowledge and support from public and the authorities

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Tapir in Malaysia is endangered now. If government is really serious about conserving Tapir an integrated approach is needed, nor just working in silo within few scientists within limited budget and restricted to one department. Wildlife Department fpr example need to coordinate all fundings and research related to Tapir in Malaysia. Since Tapir in Peninsular so worth to concentrate on Tapir.

Asian tapir photographed by camera trap. Photo by: Rimba.

Why we are making noise and busy doing research on pesticides content in rivers down streams of highlands vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands. All understand about heavy usage of pesticides and very sure excess pesticides leach to the river systems. We monitoring and guidance of using pesticides. Centre for research in Cameron Highlands is needed.

http://www.eco-business.com/news/banned-pesticides-found-cameron-highlands-water/
The samples were analysed and we found some of these traces show the pesticides were used a long time ago while some point to them having been used in recent year
More shocking was the discovery of traces of endosulfan beta — a dangerous endocrine disruptor chemical
Several types of pesticides, banned both locally and internationally, have been found in the water catchment and riverine system in Cameron Highlands.

Image result for pesticides cameron highlands

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Field biology is very tough and not many can do especially now with computer and challenging weather. With new technology studies on wild animals and field biology in general become more interesting. How to bring more young students interested?

PROF. MA DYA DR. AHMA D ISMA IL

Ecotourism must go along closely with ecology, biodiversity and conservation. The authorities must be in front in procedures, regulation and enforcement. Experts in ecology, wildlife ecology and etnobiology must involve with both authorities and the tourist operators. Royal Belum is an important asset for the country and wildlife is very important to keep and protected.

Not that easy to convince District office, DID, Politician and government officers to join NGO and University for river cruise at Sungai Sepang Besar. With a proper connection then the ideas can be accepted. Sepang River facing threat of encroaching river reserve of buffer zones. We need to improve Sepang River health for ecotourism and recreation activities.


Since 2006 I followed through every year the hornbills nesting in clay jars on the ground. Need strong public support to make this programme successful. No money gained no body rich but number of birds are increasing.

DDT contamination in Cameron Highlands was reported many times since 2012. May be before. It was highlighted in the main local news papers. BUT who cares. Thats why I suggested to have center for research and monitoring for highlands ecosystem/ecology.

http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?file=%2F2012%2F12%2F12%2Fnation%2F20121212065450&sec=nation
Dirty water: This river in Ulu Ringlet turns very muddy during heavy rain. — AZHAR MAHFOF / The Star
CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Two toxic and illegal pesticides known to cause serious health problems to humans are poisoning Cameron Highland's major rivers.  Banned pesticides DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and lindane (gamma hexachlorocyclohexane or HCH) in Sungai Bertam and Sungai Telom. The United States' Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had classified the pesticides as a probable human carcinogen.
Both DDT and lindane have been completely banned in Malaysia. They are among the list of toxic chemicals identified in the Stockholm Convention of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which Malaysia signed in 2002 but has yet to be ratified.

http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Letters/2013/02/01/Banned-but-still-in-use/
Lindane and DDT are suspected to be in use in the farms and plantations of Cameron Higlands. The use of lindane was discontinued after January 2000. Therefore, the use of lindane and DDT is illegal.
Lindane and DDT, which are known as persistently organic pollutants (POPs), are organic compounds that have long half-lives in the environment and undergo slow physical, chemical, and biological degradation.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Do not forget 14 March 2015 for raptor watch in Tanjung Tuan Melaka.

Another international recognition on my contribution in environmental education in Malaysia through Malaysian Nature Society,

Algae culture still struggling for the mass production. Demand for food supplement and bio fuel pushing aggressive research on mass culture. Further more algae was suggested as simple food in the outer space. Research on zero G using algae in the progress.

Dr. Ahmad Ismail menunjukkan spirulina yang dihasilkan di UPM,
http://m.utusan.com.my/sains-teknologi/sains/spirulina-8232-di-belakang-rumah-1.62565

As I said before we cannot wait until another disaster like big flood in 2014 then we offer a research grants. We must continue with research for this threaten dengue.

Another contribution to academic excellence through academic staff association. This my third term as a president still continue my demand to strengthen the deans and directors, best services from administrators and supporting staff and this year continue with fully involvement of academic staff in university's events. By having all these the university will be stronger and all staff are together for the excellence.

Raptor watch counting is on progress now. We need more nature lovers and high class photographic skills to capture good pictures of raptors.

how we can produce more field biologist on extreme environments with recent technology to support conservation and understand more on ecology and behaviour of wild animals.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1247288842039484&set=vb.106426632792383&type=2&theater