Threatened Malaysian wildlife moving higher up into the mountains

Elizabeth John, New Straits Times 2 Dec 07

SEREMBAN: Threatened by logging, land clearing and poachers, wildlife like the gaur and wild dog are moving higher up into the country's mountains. Camera traps set up by the Wildlife and National Parks Department have recently captured images of these animals in mountain forests between 1,500 and 1,700 metres above sea level.

These species usually roam lowland forests and their presence in places about the same elevation as Cameron Highlands is considered unusual and worrying.

The department's surveys, conducted between 2005 and this year, covered 4,120 square kilometres of the peninsula's main range.

In the assessment, the department found that much of the forested land below 1,000 metres had been opened up.

Habitat degradation caused by logging and forest areas converted for agriculture, plantations and housing schemes were recorded in almost all the survey areas below 350 metres.

Signs of encroachment, including dozens of wire snares, were also recorded.

These would have forced animals like the gaur, previously recorded in the lowlands of Taman Negara and the Royal Belum State Park, to move up to safer and less disturbed areas.

Some animals like the wild dog could also have migrated to higher ground, following their prey -- deer.

The results of the surveys were presented by the department's principal assistant director of conservation, Abdul Kadir Hashim, at the National Biodiversity Seminar 2007 earlier this week.

The migration would also have meant a change of diet and behaviour in these wildlife species, which needed further study, he said.

The assessment team also found tracks and traces of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros in the area but camera traps captured no images of the animal.

A prized target among poachers, the rhino has not been sighted in the wild in Peninsular Malaysia for many years.

Their find of footprints, faeces and a wallow has given the department some hope that there are rhinos in the area.

The teams also recorded a high diversity of large mammals -- 17 species representing 852 individuals.

In the surveys, at least 270 sightings of elephants were recorded during a 10- to 12-day period.

Large numbers of wild boar and white-handed gibbon were also recorded.

Cameras traps captured images of tigers, panthers, sun bears, tapir and several species of ungulates.

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Rare Sumatran rhino sighting in Malaysia

Yahoo News 2 Dec 07;

A Sumatran rhinoceros has been photographed in peninsular Malaysia in the first sighting for more than a decade, raising hopes the animal can avoid extinction, a report said Sunday.

The New Straits Times said the image, captured by a camera trap, snapped just a small part of the rhino but experts declared the wrinkly and folded thigh was unmistakable.

Rhino footprints were last found in southern Johor state in 2001 but it was only in 1994, when a stray animal wandered out of a forest in northern Perak, that the animal was last sighted in the wild, according to the newspaper.

The report did not reveal where the rhino was snapped, but said the photo was taken in a wildlife corridor targeted by the Wildlife and National Parks Department which also spotted elephants, sun bears and the bison-like gaur.

"We're going back to areas where the rhinos were once recorded, looking for more signs and taking samples," said Siti Hawa Yatim, head of the department's biodiversity conservation division.

"We're also looking for doomed animals -- individuals alone in a vast area which cannot survive without companions."

World Wildlife Fund Malaysia announced earlier this year that it had captured video footage of the extremely rare Borneo sub-species of the critically-endangered Sumatran rhino.

The footage, taken in a forest in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island, showed a rhino eating, peering through jungle foliage and sniffing the automatic video camera equipment used to shoot it.

The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the world's most endangered species with only small numbers left on Indonesia's Sumatra island, Sabah and peninsular Malaysia, according to the WWF.

The Bornean sub-species is the rarest of all rhinos, distinguished from other Sumatran rhinos by its relatively small size, small teeth and distinctive shaped head.

WWF says scientists estimate there are only between 25 and 50 of the Bornean sub-species left.

Rare sighting of the Sumatran rhinoceros
Elizabeth John, New Straits Times 2 Dec 07;

KUALA LUMPUR: The skin's coarse, folded and wrinkled but this flash of thigh has some hearts in the wildlife fraternity racing. It belongs to the elusive and critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros.

Although just a fleeting glimpse of skin, it is the first ever camera trap image of the animal in Peninsular Malaysia.

Rhino footprints were last found in Johor in 2001 but the animal was never spotted.

One stray rhino was captured in 1994 when it wandered out of a forest in Perak but elsewhere, the animal has not been sighted in the wild here since the mid 1990s.

Rhinos were long thought to be on the path to extinction in the peninsula, but the slightly hazy snapshot retrieved from camera traps on the main range has raised hope that there are still some in the wild.

The Wildlife and National Parks Department's eight cameras, camouflaged and strapped to trees, also shot dozens of other animals passing through a 10-square metre clearing.

It turned out to be a wildlife highway of sorts as the cameras snapped pictures of elephants, sun bears, tapir and even the rarely photographed gaur.

But it was the picture of grey-brown folds that stood out among the hundreds of others taken.

It was later compared to old close-up shots of rhinos previously held in captivity and verified by the department's veterinarians as that of the rhino.

The department was first led to the area when an inventory team surveying the main range discovered fresh footprints, a wallow and bones of a long-dead rhino, explained Siti Hawa Yatim who is head of the the department's Biodiversity Conservation Division.

In August, officers set up the cameras that were left in the area for one to three months.

The results showed just how rich the area was with wildlife.

Apart from the small area covered by the cameras, the department surveyed a forested area almost six times the size of Singapore.

This resulted in the recording of 852 animal signs of 17 mammal species.

The most frequently recorded were elephants, wild boar and white-handed gibbons.

Right now, several surveys are being carried out in protected areas in Perak, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

"We're going back to areas where the rhinos were once recorded, looking for more signs and taking samples.

"We are also looking for doomed animals -- individuals alone in a vast area which cannot survive without companions."

As a result of the photo, the department is sending more people to the area and setting up extra camera traps.

The idea, according to Siti Hawa, is to establish the numbers and to decide, what steps, if any, should be taken to protect them.

"There is concern for their safety as there is logging being carried out near the area the photograph was taken."

Next year, the department will mobilise all the Rhino Protection Units which it set up in 1995 and will be buying and setting up more camera traps.

"We're hoping that there'll be more finds."

The department has also recently acquired the technique of extracting DNA from dung samples.

Once survey teams return with samples of rhino dung, they will be able to conduct the tests and compare them to rhino DNA in international databases for a final confirmation.

Siti Hawa said the department had made this a priority project.

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Second-Hand Goods Dealers Act kicks in

Channel NewsAsia 2 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE: The Second-Hand Goods Dealers Act has kicked in.

From 1 December, sellers of second-hand goods like cellphones, scrap metal, watches and other electronic items must register with the Police.

As of 19 November, some 200 dealers have already done so. Under the new Act, details of the buyer and seller of every transaction must be recorded, including the price and information on the second-hand product sold. Such details must be made available to the Police for five years.

The Act aims to make it more difficult for stolen goods to be sold in the second-hand market.

But second-hand dealers Channel NewsAsia spoke to, said they are facing a loss in business.

They said few people want to provide such details.

More than 1,000 cases of scrap metal theft were reported in the first nine months of this year, a 25 percent increase from the same period last year. - CNA/ir

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Dec 07

The Malay Lacewing
butterfly of the month on the butterflies of singapore blog

Drongo taking insects on the wing
Stunning photo on the bird ecology blog

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Coral Reefs Living In Sites With Variable Temperatures Better Able To Survive Warm Water

Science Daily 29 Nov 07

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2007) — Finally, some good news about the prospects of coral reefs in the age of climate change. According to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, corals may actually survive rising ocean temperatures in 'tough love' seas with wide-ranging temperatures.

Researchers discovered that coral reefs in sites with varying seasonal temperatures are more likely to survive the 'hot pulses' of Climate Change. Conversely, reefs living in environments with stable but higher temperatures are more susceptible to "bleaching," a global phenomenon where beneficial algae are "evicted" by corals, ultimately leading to the reef's demise.

The study, which appears in the journal Ecological Monographs, presents the results of an 8-year study on the reefs of East Africa.

"This finding is a ray of hope in a growing sea of coral bleaching events and threatened marine wildlife," said Dr. Tim McClanahan, Senior Scientist working for WCS' Coral Reef Programs and lead author of the study. "With rising surface temperatures threatening reef systems globally, these sites serve as high diversity refuges for corals trying to survive."

Coral reefs are composed of tiny creatures that live in colonies in mostly tropical and subtropical waters. Corals are home to beneficial algae, which gives reefs their stunning colors. During prolonged, unusually high surface temperatures, many coral species bleach, discharging the algae and leaving the reefs white and sickly.

The study examined temperature variations and coral bleaching events off the coast of East Africa between the years of 1998 and 2005.

The researchers also discovered that the coral reefs in sites with the most temperature variation were in the 'shadow' of islands, protected from the oceanic currents that reduce temperature variations in reef ecosystems. According to the authors of the study, the results suggest that corals in these locations are better adapted to environmental variation. Consequently, they are more likely to survive dramatic increases in temperature.

"The findings are encouraging in the fact that at least some corals and reef locations will survive the warmer surface temperatures to come," added McClanahan. "They also show us where we should direct our conservation efforts the most by giving these areas our highest priority for conservation."

On a broader scale, the Wildlife Conservation Society engages in coral reef conservation on a global scale, with projects on reef systems in Belize, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Madagascar. All of these nations are island environments that may have similar persistence across the global warming crisis.

Adapted from materials provided by Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Ill beluga whale at US aquarium dies

Associated Press, International Herald Tribune 1 Dec 07;

ATLANTA: A female beluga whale that had fallen ill at an Atlanta aquarium, died early Saturday morning, aquarium officials said.

The female whale, Marina, died about 2 a.m. Saturday, said Jeff Swanagan, the president and executive director of the Georgia Aquarium, touted as the world's largest.

"She was showing increased disorientation in her swimming behavior. Then she stopped swimming and stopped breathing," he said.

Officials do not know why the whale died. Swanagan said the aquarium would conduct a necropsy on Saturday to determine the cause of the whale's death, focusing on the whale's central nervous system.

The whale had stopped eating on Nov. 22 and had become disoriented, injuring her chin. She had been kept under 24-hour watch by aquarium staff and veternarians. About 16 staff members and volunteers were in her pool when she died, he said.

Marina was the second-oldest of four beluga whales at the aquarium. She was one of three whales that were transferred in November 2005 from Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium.

"We are saddened by the death of Marina," officials from the New York Aquarium said in a statement. "Georgia Aquarium's staff worked very hard to care for Marina during this critical time."

The three other beluga whales at the Georgia Aquarium — Nico, Maris and Natasha — are eating normally, the aquarium said.

Another beluga whale, Gasper, was euthanized at the Atlanta aquarium on Jan. 2 after a long battle with bone disease and a weakened immune system.

Two whale sharks — among the aquarium's first stars when it opened in 2005 — died in June and in January. A chemical used to treat their exhibit is believed to have led the whale sharks — named Ralph and Norton — to lose their appetites and eventually die, said aquarium spokesman Dave Santucci.

"We have to accept the whole life cycle here as biologists and our public does, too — while you have all these births you also have deaths," Swanagan said. "It's part of the living collection. It's hard on us."

RELATED ARTICLE

Another Whale Falls Ill At Georgia Aquarium
WSBTV 30 Nov 07;

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50 years on: The Keeling Curve legacy

Helen Briggs, BBC News 1 Dec 07;

It is a scientific icon, which belongs, some claim, alongside E=mc2 and the double helix.

Its name - the Keeling Curve - may be scarcely known outside scientific circles, but the jagged upward slope showing rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere has become one of the most famous graphs in science, and a potent symbol of our times.

It was 50 years ago that a young American scientist, Charles David Keeling, began tracking CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere at two of the world's last wildernesses - the South Pole and the summit of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.

His very precise measurements produced a remarkable data set, which first sounded alarm bells over the build-up of the gas in the atmosphere, and eventually led to the tracking of greenhouse gases worldwide.

The curve set the scene for the debate over climate change, and policies, sometimes controversial, that address the human contribution to the greenhouse effect.

"It wasn't until Keeling came along and started measuring CO2 that we got the evidence that CO2 was increasing from human activities," says Professor Andrew Watkinson, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK.

"The graph is iconic from a climate perspective."

Dr Alistair Manning of the UK Met Office agrees. "It was the first real indication that CO2 levels were rising," he says. "That therefore started scientists thinking about the impact such a change would have on the climate."

'Tireless work'

Back in the 1950s, when Keeling began his experiments, no-one knew whether the CO2 released from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil/petroleum and natural gas) would end up in the atmosphere or be fully absorbed by oceans and forests.

"The goal behind starting the measurements was to see if it was possible to track what at that time was only a suspicion: that atmospheric CO2 levels might be increasing owing to the burning of fossil fuels," explains biogeochemist Dr Andrew Manning, also from the UEA, who worked with Professor Keeling in the 1990s.

"To do this, a location was needed very far removed from the contamination and pollution of local emissions from cities; therefore Mauna Loa, high on a volcano in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was chosen.

"Without this curve, and Professor Keeling's tireless work, there is no question that our understanding and acceptance of human-induced global warming would be 10-20 years less advanced than it is today," adds Dr Manning.

Sleepless nights

Professor Keeling discovered that carbon dioxide was rising continuously and that there were annual fluctuations in carbon in the atmosphere (the little squiggles on the line), caused by seasonal variations in plant growth and decay.

When he started his measurements in 1958, CO2 levels were around 315 ppmv (parts per million by volume - that is 315 molecules of CO2 for every one million molecules in the air); by the year 2005 they had risen to about 378 ppmv.

Yet despite the importance we place on climate change research today, Professor Keeling, known as Dave to friends and colleagues, struggled to secure funding for his monitoring efforts.

"Dave Keeling suffered many sleepless nights, even as late as in the 1990s, being forced again and again to justify continued funding of his programme," recalls Dr Manning.

"The fact that we are celebrating 50 years now is due purely to his incredible perseverance, courage and optimism."

He says the technical, analytical and logistical challenges of the work are enormous.

"To measure such tiny changes in the composition of the air, high on a remote mountain top in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is extremely challenging even today in the 21st Century," he explains.

"That Dave Keeling was able to successfully begin and continue such highly demanding measurements in the 1950s is a tribute to his brilliance."

Detailed monitoring

Today, carbon dioxide levels are sampled weekly at about 100 sites around the world.

Flasks filled with air are taken to a laboratory, where they are analysed for carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases and pollutants.

Aircraft collect similar samples at higher altitude, while space-borne sensors detect some gases remotely throughout the atmosphere.

"Putting together detailed monitoring like this often takes quite a lot of vision and faith in what you are doing," says Professor Watkinson.

"[The Keeling Curve] is even more valuable today in many ways even though the measurements have become more sophisticated."

Charles Keeling died in 2005, aged 77. He continued his research into carbon dioxide at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, US, until his final day.

By then he had authored nearly 100 research articles and had received the National Medal of Science - the US's highest award for lifetime achievement in scientific research.

His son, Professor Ralph Keeling, also a geochemist at Scripps, continues his work.

TIMELINE: carbon monitoring

1957 : Charles David Keeling starts work monitoring CO2 at the South Pole and Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii

1958 : Keeling starts first direct continuous atmospheric measurements of CO2

Early 1970s : The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), a US federal agency, starts monitoring CO2 worldwide

1995-2003 : Noaa's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) at Boulder, Colorado, develops and maintains the world's standard references for CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

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Has Singapore gone to the dogs?

Shuli Sudderuddin, Straits Times 2 Dec 07;

# They splash around unleashed at beaches
# They sit and eat at cafes

Dog ownership has risen, with some owners being accused of 'insensitive' behaviour towards others

EVERY dog has his day and for Bobo and Mia, that day is Saturday when they enjoy a splash-about at Sentosa's Tanjong Beach with their owner Lai Soon Leung.

The business manager unleashes the schnauzers before their swim despite a law that says dogs should be leashed in public.

Mr Lai, 43, shrugged and said: 'It's important for dogs to enjoy some freedom. My wife and I keep an eye on them and make sure they don't disturb anyone.'

That attitude has left some people barking mad, and others accusing pet owners of being irresponsible. The issue has become a bone of contention recently, partly sparked by an incident in September when an unleashed Siberian husky attacked a three-year-old girl at Tanjong Beach.

Matilda Sail required surgery on a partially torn ear and suffered other scratches and bruises.

In the past two months, the Forum pages of The Straits Times have published at least eight letters about unleashed dogs on Sentosa or dogs sitting on chairs at eateries.

Mr Stephan D�rrenberg complained on Oct 7 about 10 unleashed dogs on Tanjong Beach.

And on Nov 25, business development manager Ng Kwong Yee criticised the 'unhygienic' practice of letting dogs sit on coffee-shop chairs.

Even condominiums have not been spared the debate.

In October, residents of Richmond Park in Bideford Road shot down a management committee proposal that dogs should be put in trolley cages if taken outside.

Committee chairman David Chan said a Muslim cleaner had quit because pet owners failed to clean up after their dogs.

The angst over dogs in public spaces can also be put down to the fact that there are more dogs now, with the number of dog licences rising from 42,700 in 2004 to about 53,000.

And growing affluence means owners pamper their dogs more. Ms Eirene Phua, the owner of a two-year-old shih tzu, said: 'Pets have become a lifestyle. It is so common to see dogs and owners in public places nowadays.'

Owners know they could be fined up to $5,000 if they unleash their dogs in public but many feel some leeway should be given so pooches have space to run in Singapore's concrete jungle. Last year, AVA fined 150 dog owners for not leashing their pets.

Then there is the question of being sensitive to other cultures.

Ms Siti, a 21-year-old interior designer, says: 'My mother and I are scared dogs will run up to sniff us. It's also really insensitive when dog owners wash their dogs in open shower stations meant for humans.'

Owners have also been flouting a law that bars animals from establishments without licences for pets. The Sunday Times found three dogs seated on chairs in Holland Village at lunchtime last Saturday.

Businessman Frankie Chin seated his schnauzer in the alfresco section of Ya Kun Kaya Toast. The pooch, Bobby, also dines on an egg yolk placed in its own dog dish each time it visits.

Mr Chin, 51, said Bobby's feet were clean as it had been wearing shoes before being seated. But Mr Chin avoids halal eateries as he is mindful of Muslim sensitivities.

But 40-year-old banker Chris Chew, who owns a retriever, said putting a dog on a coffee-shop chair is inconsiderate.

Owners who flout the no-pets rule at establishments can be fined up to $2,000.

Forum letter writer Ng Kwong Yee thinks this is not enough. He wrote in demanding that the law also disallow pets within a certain distance of eateries. He said: 'I have nothing against pets but certain health and hygiene standards must be maintained.'

shulis@sph.com.sg

Run, Spot, run! Places for dogs off leashes

# Bishan Park Dog Run, Bishan Park 2.

# West Coast Park Dog Run, off West Coast Highway.

# Katong Park Dog Run, off Meyer Road.

# The Animal Resort Dog Run, off Seletar West Farmway 5.

# Pet Movers Dog Run, off Pasir Ris Farmway 2.

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Indonesia's Papua scarred by vanishing forests

Nabiha Shahab, Yahoo News 2 Dec 07;

Twenty-five years ago, Papuan tribal leader Ananias Muit was sent from his jungle home to Indonesia's Sumatra island by the local government to learn about lucrative palm oil, and bring it back.

A new short film, "Defenders of the Tribal Boundaries", tells how the arrival of a state-owned plantation company soon afterwards devastated Muit's community in the Arfak mountains of Papua's Bird's Head region.

"'Give us the land and we will give the money to plant,' they said. 'We will bring a palm oil plantation,'" Muit says, repeating the government's promise.

Instead, the forests were cleared, but factory effluent polluted the local river, making the water supply unusable.

"The promise was sweet, but now it is bitter," he laments.

"We were not compensated for our land or even thanked. Now we are really suffering, and we regret it."

The film, one of four locally-made shorts that highlight the shocking impact of deforestation in remote Papua, will be featured at a UN climate change conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which begins next week.

The 10-minute clips, shot by aid workers using handheld digital cameras over the past three months, demonstrate the impact expanding palm oil plantations and other destructive logging is having on local communities.

Indonesia is losing its forests at the world's fastest rate, with some two million hectares (4.9 million acres) disappearing each year, according to environmental watchdog Greenpeace.

Up to 80 percent of logging in Indonesia is estimated to be illegal -- due to a lack of political will to crack down as well as negligible law enforcement -- but the films demonstrate that even legal logging has far-reaching and negative consequences.

In "Tears of Mother Mooi", the people of Sorong issue an impassioned call to the government to revoke the licenses of two palm oil companies operating on their ancestral land.

Startling images of the devastated remnants of formerly forested areas, clear-cut for plantations, hammer home their plea.

Ronny Dimara, a resident in the community and director of Triton, a local non-governmental organisation that produced the film, said most of the footage had to be recorded secretly.

Much of Papua is closely monitored by Indonesia's military, who stand accused by activists of human rights abuses. Journalists require special permission from the Jakarta government to visit the region.

"We played the film in front of about 20 tribal leaders and they said the problem (of the two companies) needed to be addressed soon," Dimara told a press briefing in Jakarta after the films were screened.

"Early next year we will meet again in a bigger group to decide whether we still want the companies in our area."

The third film, "Gaharu: Disaster or Blessing?", shows how the profitable agarwood industry -- known locally as gaharu -- has brought a myriad of social problems to one Papuan district.

Father Dicky Ogi, who leads an organisation working to offer locals better education, said that along with higher incomes came gambling, prostitution and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"Education is key, so the people can judge the benefits of selling their land," he told reporters.

The final piece, "Destiny... My Land", explores how external investors exploited the forests of a local community that had previously lived off the land for generations.

"These films may be local stories but they are very relevant to the national and the international level, so we urge people to watch these films," said Jago Wadley from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an independent campaigning organisation that helped the local groups produce the films.

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Siemens sees wind business up 30 percent this year: report

Reuters 1 Dec 07;

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Siemens expects sales at its wind power business to grow 30 percent this fiscal year to end-September and its profit margin should reach double digits, the head of the wind business told a newspaper.

"We want to be in the top three in the industry by 2011," Siemens' Wind Power unit chief Andreas Nauen told German weekly Euro am Sonntag in comments released on Saturday ahead of publication on Sunday.

Siemens does not break out separate results for its wind power business. Last month, it said it won wind turbine orders from North America worth more than $1.1 billion euros in the year to date.

Nauen said wind power sales and orders had been growing at an annual rate of more than 50 percent and the business's profit margin was more than 9 percent last fiscal year.

He saw great opportunities in offshore wind farms. "We expect that offshore will have a breakthrough in Germany, too, next year," he said.

Germany is one of the world's leading players in onshore wind power but its offshore ambitions have been beset by red tape and environmental concerns.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Robert Woodward)

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Tall Stories: from hut to housing estate

Straits Times 2 Dec 07;

FROM wooden walls, mud floors and congested shophouses to concrete units in a planned housing estate, the early residents of Queenstown certainly had a lot to learn and adapt to.

One such 'lesson' was learning to deal with the height of these new blocks of flats - 14 storeys at Forfar House, 10 storeys at Tanglin Halt and 16 storeys at Commonwealth Close.

Or new facilities such as running water and flushing toilets, commonplace today.

Mr Calvin Low, aged 49, moved to Tanglin Halt in 1964 when he was five. He recalled: 'From afar, they looked like giant pigeonholes - stacked-up concrete boxes, some with impressive columns of stairs at either end - arranged with military precision on an angry, red and ochre landscape of exposed earth.

'As we approached on our rickety lorry, with all our family and possessions in the back, the clean, sweeping lines of corridors rising to the sky and the distinct smell of new concrete and fresh paint brought a spring to our step. We were finally moving into our very own flat. It may have been small, but it was our castle in the sky.'

Hailing from Kampung Batak in the Eunos-Kaki Bukit area, his family moved to a three-room flat in an eight-storey block in Queenstown. 'I'd never been that high up in the air before in my life and the adults were anxious that I didn't take a liking to peering over the precariously thin, four-inch parapet wall for a better view,' remarked Mr Low.

Nor were they keen on him riding the lift for fun in case it got stuck, or yelling when playing, for the neighbours were a mere hollow concrete block thickness away.

For a long while, this was all part of the novelty of living in a high-rise block of flats. The faces of new neighbours, the half-finished roads and buildings in the neighbourhood, the newly planted saplings and even the raw earth itself, awaiting development, lent a sense of frontier fervour to the residents' lives.

It was a singular experience mirrored across a whole segment of Singapore society who had moved from rural villages, slums and the chronically overburdened inner city to the frontier town that Queenstown was in the early 1960s.

For many Queenstown residents, overcrowding still remained a fact of life. Not that they really minded. Mr Dominic Teo, 61, a retired army regular, moved to a three-room flat in Margaret Drive in the 1950s. It was home to 16 members of his family, including Mr Teo's grandmother.

'That time, I was not sleeping on a bed; I was sleeping on a plank. My grandmother was sleeping on the bed. Still, it was better than in the kampung. It was all muddy, and dark without street lights in the kampung. It was cramped in our flat.

'But we all didn't feel it because we were young. They would just put down a plank and we would just sleep, all squeezed together,' said Mr Teo.

'When I was living in an attap kampung house, it was scary. Because, when you hear fire engines, you worry about your house getting burnt,' he added. His wife Margaret Lim, 59, knows that fear first-hand.

Her family survived the Bukit Ho Swee fire in 1961 and was resettled at Strathmore Avenue in Princess Estate.

Princess Estate was also where the family of Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, 53, Minister of State for Defence, moved to in 1959, when he was five, leaving behind the Killiney Road workers' quarters where he was born.

'We were on the third floor and it transformed my parents' lives. They told me because they used to have to queue for long periods to use the toilet and then also to use the kitchen. So there was a schedule like a military schedule.

'When they moved to Queenstown in their own flat, to them it was heaven. They had their own bedroom; own kitchen, own toilet; they separated the toilet and the urinal. So they were very happy.'

High-rise living - a fact of life for most Singaporeans today, made its debut in Queenstown. When the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) developed its first neighbourhood in Princess Estate in the 1950s, it built the 14-storey Forfar House, Singapore's tallest housing block at the time. It was the estate's crown jewel.

Forfar House was also known as chap si lau (Hokkien for 14 storeys).

'Chap si lau was also famous for another reason,' said Prof Koo.

'It's called tiao lau (Hokkien for committing suicide by jumping off a building). In those days, if people wanted to commit suicide, they would go to a high building.... So they would go to Forfar House. That place became very famous for suicide.'

Mr Ronald Pereira, 54, director of a printing company who lived in the area since 1957 remembered stepping into Forfar House only a couple of times for fear of the place.

'I don't think suicides happened very often. People talked about it. But it became a place you'd be scared to go to. When you're a kid, ghosts, everything comes to mind,' he said.

10 Stories: Queenstown Through The Years, by Calvin Low, is a joint collaboration between the National Heritage Board, Central Singapore Community Development Council and Queenstown Citizens' Consultative Committee. It is on sale at major bookshops for $30.

From huts to high rises
Straits Times 2 Dec 07;

Queenstown consisted of hills, swamps and cemeteries before it was transformed into Singapore's first high-rise housing estate.

Below are edited excerpts from a new book - titled 10-Stories, Queenstown Through The Years - charting the 55-year-old estate's colourful history as seen through the eyes of its residents.
WHEN Ang Beng Teck was born in Boh Beh Kang (Hokkien for No Tail River) in 1928, he was just one more bawling addition to an extended household that comprised six families living together under one attap roof. He did not want for minders or playmates, growing up in close quarters with the families of his five paternal uncles.

'Hut', however, was not a fitting description of the Ang abode. It had 'over 10 rooms', and a large living room and kitchen - all built by his uncles and his father, who was just seven when he arrived in Singapore from China.

In those days, births and deaths, and every life event in between, were shared experiences of joy and grief for the whole kampung (Malay for village).

'Last time, people were so close. If anything happened, all the kampung people would gather,' Mr Ang recalled.

Not any more. 'Now, if anything happens, nobody would even know about it,' he lamented.

But his wizened features reveal no hint of surprise at this loss. After all, Mr Ang has witnessed far more tumultuous changes in his 79 years - with World War II putting an abrupt end to his kampung days and the transformation of the physical landscape itself into today's Queenstown.

Boh Beh Kang was relatively remote, and deliberately so, for its earliest residents sought to escape the chronic congestion of the city for the relative peace of this backwater area.

Whole lives were enacted within the shadows of Hong Yin Sua (Hokkien for Hong Yin Hill) and Hong Lim Sua (Hokkien for Hong Lim Hill), the two hills that dominated Boh Beh Kang.

Before the War, people spent more time interacting with one other at work and play. There was no electricity. There was no radio or television; and certainly no Internet or online gaming to keep one away from others. After dark, the most one could do was to read a book by the glow of a kerosene lamp, as the former Boh Beh Kang villagers recalled.

Other pastimes involved socialising. After the day's toil in the farms, at the nearby Hock San brickworks or the quays of the Singapore River, where some villagers worked as coolies and odd job labourers, the adults - mainly men - would visit the local coffee shop to catch up with friends.

The humdrum of farm work was occasionally interrupted when someone got married. 'Last time, getting married was different. It was like in the movies - the newly-weds would wear red clothes and sit in a rented horse carriage,' Mr Ang Kok Tee, 84, a relative and fellow Boh Beh Kang villager said.

Wedding feasts were self-catered. 'We'd slaughter the chickens, ducks and pigs and cook them. There usually weren't many tables - just for people in the kampung,' recalled Mr Ang Beng Teck.

'Then when the bridal couple arrived and everyone was seated, they'd set off firecrackers,' Mr Ang Kok Tee recalled. The men and womenfolk attended the wedding feast separately.

'The women would be invited to attend in the afternoon. The men, in the evening,' said Mr Ang Beng Teck. But both men and women would sit together at the gambling table, playing card games and reviewing the day's chap chi ki (Hokkien for local lottery) results.

'Nowadays, people play with dollars, but in those days, they'd wager only three or five cents. People were more thrifty,' Mr Ang Kok Tee recalled. Not that there was much money around, nor a bank in sight.

Whatever cash they owned was hidden in a quiet corner of the home, Mr Ang Beng Teck explained.

The idyllic, if spartan, life of the Boh Beh Kang villagers was rudely interrupted when the Japanese invaded during World War II.

'When the Japanese bombed this place, the whole stream was on fire! When the artillery shells came, you couldn't see them. But you would hear their sound 'shiu shiu shiu shiu'. And you'd know they are here,' Mr Ang Beng Teck said.

Life was even more difficult under the Japanese.

'Food was hard to get. Everything had to be registered before you could get your rations. If you want rice, oil, or kerosene, you have to register with the kampung chief and show him your ration card.

'Even to get roti (Malay for bread) you need to register. The roti was as hard as rocks because they used red palm oil to make them,' Mr Ang Beng Teck said.

Resourcefulness saw the farmers of Boh Beh Kang through those lean times.

Mr Ang Kok Tee recalled: 'There was not enough rice, so we grew our own tapioca and sweet potatoes in the hills and mixed these with rice.

'Children today are so lucky! If food is dropped onto the floor, they wouldn't eat it. Last time, we would just pick it up, blow blow, and eat it.'

Post-war life was no easier. Mr Ang Kok Tee, who worked as an odd-job labourer at the brickworks and later at the ABC Brewery, said: 'We earned just over 10 cents a day. Of this, we spent two cents on rice with some curry gravy on it. And then, we had to get back to work. No kopi (Malay for coffee), no drinks. There was no money for kopi. We just drank tap water.'

Despite this, the old men still miss the simplicity of life in the old days.

'Life in the past was better. We didn't earn much, but things were cheap too. No need to pay water or electrical bills, nothing!

'Just $2 a year for the address, that's all,' Mr Ang Kok Tee said.

But village life at Boh Beh Kang was quickly drawing to a close. The British government had made plans to develop the land for Queenstown. And by the 1960s, the villagers had to move out.

Mr Ang Beng Teck moved to Tanglin Halt where he opened a grocery store. The transition to an urban existence was hard for the former farmers.

'Of course, in the beginning, we were all very sad and frustrated. We were really not used to the new environment,' Mr Ang Beng Teck said. 'When we moved to Tanglin Halt, the rent was $380. But it kept increasing every three years. In the kampung we didn't have to pay for water.

'Everything became a financial burden - the bills, the rents. Even to go out, you needed transport fares."

But Mr Ang Beng Teck was resigned to the change. 'Even if you were not used to it, you had no choice in the matter.'

How 'Boh Beh Kang' and 'Chap Si Lau' came to be
QUEENSTOWN was developed from swampland that was home to a famous Hokkien village called Boh Beh Kang, which means No Tail River in Hokkien.

Boh Beh Kang refers to the stream that flowed between two hills, Hong Yin and Hong Lim. The name came about because the villagers could not identify the source of the stream.

The stream branches off in two directions; south-east to the Singapore River, and north-west to Sungei Pandan and eventually to West Coast. Hence, it appeared that there was no 'tail' to the stream.

The residents were mostly immigrants from Tong'an in Fujian, China. Many were members of the Ang extended family.

When the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) started planning Queenstown in the 1950s, engineers reclaimed the swamp and the Boh Beh Kang stream became a large concrete monsoon drain running between Commonwealth Avenue and Stirling Road. The drain still exists today. Older residents still refer to the canal as Boh Beh Kang.

The canal was partially covered when the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) viaduct was built in the mid 1980s. Today, it re-emerges as the Alexandra Canal after the Queenstown MRT station, flowing east towards Kim Seng Road.

In the early days, Queenstown was distinguished by the 14-storey Forfar House, (see facing page). That is how the place became known as Chap Si Lau, Hokkien for 14 storeys.

FAMOUS QUEENSTOWN RESIDENTS

Wonders of modern living

'When I first moved to Queenstown, the thing that amazed me most was the modern sanitation...to move into a flat where you could just pull the flush and everything disappeared. That was the most, to me, amazing thing because I had never experienced it.'
SENIOR MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG, 66. Moved from Pasir Panjang, where the family had no electricity and no modern sanitation, into a three-room flat in Commonwealth Drive in 1962. Lived there for 21/2 years with his family before moving out when he got married in 1965.

Outdoor fun

'The Stirling Road side, among the Mei Ling estate. It was a cemetery and we used to go up there, fly our kites, catch spiders.'
MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEFENCE KOO TSAI KEE, 53. Moved into an SIT flat in Princess Estate in 1959.

Neighbours who spread the joy

'My neighbour had a TV set. We couldn't afford to buy one. And I used to ask, 'Uncle, can I come and watch TV?' So very proud, I will come in and sit down, watch the movie or whatever it is. And then go back to my home.'
DJ BRIAN RICHMOND, 60. Grew up in Block 80, Strathmore Avenue in the 1960s.

Childhood inspiration

'When I wrote my essays, songs, poems, short stories, etc, the subjects which I used, quite a lot of them were derived from my growing-up days in Queenstown.'
XINYAO SINGER-SONGWRITER LIANG WERN FOOK, 43. Moved into a rented two-room flat in Margaret Close in 1964; then to Block 6C, Margaret Drive in 1971. Moved out of Queenstown in 1987.

Treasure trove of life stories

'I wanted to give the sense that there are a lot of stories in every household, but when you walk past each window or gate, you might not be immediately aware of the stories.'
FILMMAKER WOO YEN YEN, 36. Grew up in Mei Ling Street, Commonwealth Avenue and Stirling Road. Singapore Dreaming, the movie she made with her husband Colin Goh, is based on her grandmother's flat in Commonwealth Avenue.

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Farm Feasts in Singapore

Eating at a remote, rustic location is becoming a draw for the Singapore urbanite
Huang Lijie, Straits Times 2 Dec 07;

SINGAPOREANS, it seems, will do anything for a unique dining experience.

And this includes travelling 30 minutes to a far-flung farm in Mandai Agrotechnology Park to eat in a greenhouse surrounded by orchids.

Since opening in May, Forrest at Orchidville in Lorong Lada Hitam, off Mandai Road, has seen customer numbers grow from fewer than 10 to more than 100 on weekends.

Three other eateries on farms here are also thriving, thanks to customers who are drawn by the novelty of dining in the lap of nature.

For instance, Poison Ivy Bistro in Bollywood Veggies, a farm in Neo Tiew Road in Kranji run by the former Netball Singapore president Ivy Singh-Lim, attracts some 500 diners on any given Saturday.

Each food outlet was opened at a cost of between $100,000 and $500,000 and seat on average 50 people each. Forrest at Orchidville, converted from one of six orchid greenhouses on the farm, has room for 300 diners.

Restaurants near farms have been around since the 1970s. Think the seafood outlets at Punggol jetty near the pig farms that have since closed and, more recently, Farmart, a farmers' market in Sungei Tengah Road, which includes a handful of food stalls selling everything from barbecued seafood to chicken wings.

The new eateries that have sprouted in the last five years are, however, located on the farms themselves and offer a dining experience that is more than just about eating in a lush environment.

Mr Kenny Eng, 33, director of Gardenasia, which operates the two-year-old Petals and Leaves Bistro in the Nyee Phoe Flower Garden in Kranji, says: 'We're offering customers a holistic lifestyle choice, an opportunity to indulge in countryside living that cannot be replicated elsewhere. Dempsey Road has greenery but it doesn't have farms.

'So people who come here to dine can admire the plants growing in our nursery or explore neighbouring goat and fish farms.'

Business consultant Tan Lay Li, 31, who dines at the Petals and Leaves Bistro monthly with her two sons, aged three and one, says the Western-style eatery offers a 'great nature getaway'.

She says: 'Instead of shopping in a toy store after a meal, which is what happens when my family eats out in a mall restaurant, my kids can get close to nature in the gardens.'

These farm restaurants, however, were mainly set up not so much as newfangled alternative dining spaces but rather as a solution to keep visitors happy.

Mrs Singh-Lim, 58, whose bistro opened in 2004, says: 'Bollywood Veggies, which was completed in 2002, was an oasis for visitors seeking the countryside, but they needed sustenance, a place to eat and drink while spending the day here.'

Indeed, the way-out location of these farms and the lack of food and beverage options in their vicinities discouraged visitors from lingering.

This prompted Mr Heah Hock Heng, 72, owner of Mandai Orchid Garden in Mandai Lake Road, to start Cafe Vanda in 2002, which sells beverages and simple snack foods. The following year, he opened Vanilla Pod, a restaurant serving contemporary European cuisine, to complement the cafe.

And because of Forrest, customers are lingering at Orchidville after their meals, resulting in walk-in sales at the orchid wholesale exporter increasing fourfold, says its director, Mr Joseph Phua, 54.

The owners admit that growing a crowd at their eateries took time, but word-of-mouth recommendations helped boost business.

Vanilla Pod, according to Mr Heah, broke even in a little over a year without aggressive marketing.

In fact, with the word spreading about these eateries, its diners are no longer just families or visitors in search of a weekend retreat.

Mr Eddie Ng, 52, manager of a manufacturing company in Woodlands, for example, was enjoying a casual business lunch at Forrest on Tuesday.

There on a recommendation, he says the relaxing ambience and good food make the place worth a return visit.

While these eateries are doing well, other farms are not racing to start opening food outlets.

Mr Jimmy Yap, 45, business development manager of fish farm Qian Hu in Sungei Tengah in Choa Chu Kang, says that the company has no plans to expand its small refreshment area, which sells mainly tidbits and snacks to visitors.

This, he says, is because opening a formal eatery on the farm would take attention away from its core business - fish rearing.

lijie@sph.com.sg

Where to eat
# Bollywood Veggies: Poison Ivy Bistro
100 Neo Tiew Road,
Tel: 6898-5001

Open: 9am to 6pm, Wednesdays to Sundays and public holidays

Most of the vegetables on the menu are harvested from the farm. With Lynn Ee, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, helming the kitchen in recent months, diners can expect a more sophisticated use of herbs and flavourings in the dishes. Popular items include the papaya chicken and banana curry (above).


# Mandai Orchid Garden: Vanilla Pod
200 Mandai Lake Road,
Tel: 6368-0672

Open: 11.30am to 3pm and 6.30pm to 11pm, Mondays to Fridays; 9am to 11pm, Saturdays and Sundays

Contemporary European cuisine such as hot pot mussels and braised lamb shank are offered at this restaurant, which gets its name from the fact that vanilla is an orchid.


# Cafe Vanda
Open: 8am to 11pm daily

Simple snack foods from the Vanilla Pod kitchen include sandwiches and fried chicken wings.


# Nyee Phoe Flower Garden: Petals and Leaves Bistro
240 Neo Tiew Crescent,
Tel: 6793-6500

Open: 11am to 10pm, Saturdays; 10am to 6pm, Sundays and public holidays

Comfort Western-style food keeps the diners happy here. Recommended items include fish and chips and chicken chop with mushroom sauce.


# Orchidville: Forrest
10 Lorong Lada Hitam,
Tel: 6552-7003

Open: noon to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9.30pm, daily

This air-conditioned greenhouse restaurant boasts an insulated roof that allows light in but keeps heat out, making it more energy efficient. Most of the restaurant staff, including the chefs, are from the recently shuttered Dragon City Sichuan Restaurant in Copthorne Orchid Hotel. Specialities include Sichuan drunken chicken and pork knuckle noodles.

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