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Sabah Dragon Boat Race

Recently the 24th annual Dragon Boat Race was held here in Kota Kinabalu. For the many years it had been around, I’ve heard of the event but have never had the opportunity to witness it for myself. The first and last dragon boat race I attended was back in 2000 at Naha Okinawa. It was known as Naha Hari there and is held every year following the Golden Week holidays there. I myself participated in one such race held further north of island at Manza Beach as part of the participants from the Okinawa International Centre. The boats at the Naha Hari were more elaborate looking then the ones here.

Okinawa Naha Hari. Shot in May 2000. Boats are more elaborately decorated

According to Chinese legend, the festival was celebrated to remember a famous poet known as Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river in protest of the corruption and degradation of ideals that caused his country state to be invaded by enemies. The legend says that on hearing of Qu Yuan’s act, the common people got into their fishing boat and rushed to the middle of the river in attempt to save him. Drums were beaten and rice dumplings were thrown into the river to ward off fishes and evil spirits away from Qu Yuan’s body. These acts became ritualized then spread to other countries in the region not only as traditional festival but as a sport.

I had always wanted to photograph the event but I was disappointed at first as the race was quite a distance from the shore. One needs a descent zoom to capture up close. I only had 250mm max but on an aps-c sensor it is as effective as a 400mm! Nevertheless there were many scenes to capture on shore.

Dragon Boats let off at the starting line.

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Obama the Fly Swatter

Last year I posted an entry about former US President Bush dodging shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist.  Well in a recent broadcast interview, President Obama demonstrated that he has some ninja-like reflexes himself.  I’m not sure about American flies but I always have a problem swatting one myself.  See for yourself.

The Air we breathe

On our flight back to KK after attending the MSC Malaysia Open Source Conferece, we had to fill in a health declaration form as part of the country’s effort to curb the spread of Influenza A H1N1.  But I was surprised when we reached KK International Airport, no one asked for that form that we filled.  So I thought what’s the use of the form.  Well no wonder we already have the 6th confirmed case of the flu.  I was concerned as we do not know if anybody in the same flight back had been in close proximity with someone with the flu.  The air we breathe is circulated in the place so I’m not sure if there’s any filteration.

A few years ago, the father of one our family friend died due to lung cancer. I was surprised because I knew that the father was a non-smoker.  However they live next to a stone quarry, so I figured the air is also saturated with dust particles.   Also old houses use asbestos-based ceilings which may caused mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer that affects the lungs.

UPDATE 12/06/2009: World Health Organization (WHO) declares Influenza A H1N1 a pandemic.  Better start wearing those masks.

Wesak - Celebration of Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death

On May 8 2009, Buddhist all over the world celebrated Vesak (Wesak) to venerate the birth, enlightenment and  death of Gautama Buddha.  In Malaysia, it is celebrated in a large and joyful scale due the large population of Buddhist devotees.  Since we will be in KL that week, I had planned ahead to visit the Maha Vihara temple complex at Jalan Berhala, Brickfields on the 9th of May instead since it was a weekend and for sure there’ll be bigger crowds.  It was convenient for me since we stayed at Bukit Bintang area,  Brickfields is at the starting point of KL Monorail @ KL Sentral.    After about 5 minutes walk, I reached Maha Vihara.

Maha Vihara actually means “Great Monastery” in Pali.  It was established by the Sinhalese community in Malaysia as a place of worship.  Today it is one of the nations foremost learning centres of the dharma or Buddhist scriptures. Many years ago while studying at Sunway College,  I had an opportunity to attend a lecture given by the Chief Priest of Malaysia and Singapore, the late Venerable Dr. K . Sri Dhamananda.  It was an interesting lecture which gives lot’s of insights into Buddhism.

Coincidentally, Wesak is a vegetarian day for Buddhist devotees.   I think it’s a healthier way to lose fat rather than go for the best diet pill.

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Starting an Open Source Revolution: Are you open to change?

After three days of attending the inaugural MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference, I sense a wildfire stirring up inside me just waiting to get out.  The geek and developer in me is starting to get fired up again.  I’ve not practiced serious and extreme programming for quite some time now.  I really missed those days.  Today’s talk by Chris DiBona- the Open Source Programs Manager for Google inspired the geek in me again.

For many years now, I’ve been passionate about Open Source and everything it stands for. Though I use Microsoft as a desktop operating systems, I have a distaste for it’s licensing strategies and monopoly but not necessarily it’s technologies.  Having said that on both accounts - Open and Closed source, I’m a proponent of collaboration and interoperability.  And that’s the message I’ve personally been driving to my fellow colleagues at work.

This conference just shows that Open Source is a movement that the whole world of IT needs to contend with.  Even Microsoft, ironically is one of the platinum sponsors of the event, is showing some restraints in its approaches to the whole idea of Open Source.  Hopefully soon, we shall see Microsoft will go full fledge in embracing the Open Source model.

So what is it that I’m all fired up about?  Well for one, we need to start creating a strong presence of Open Source in Sabah.  I’ve observed, the open source movement in West Malaysia have established themselves already.  I know for a fact there are many Open Source proponents in Sabah and are using it.  It is time that we need to start a revolution at our home turf.  The question is now - Are we open to change?