Burning the Jerami

When the farmers have harvested the paddy, they will burn the ‘jerami’. Inccidentally, the Sumatran haze had occurred again this year. While burning of the jerami has been done traditionally, this method of fertilizing the soil had been blamed as one of the causes of haze in Malaysia.

Hi.. Testing

Hi..just testing here.

Proposal Approved!

Hi,

Just to share my happiest moment after one year of PhD candidacy, my research proposal was finally approved by the Divisional Research Management Committee. This news was relayed to me by Dr. Ian Clark , my supervisor through an emailed today.

Syukur to the Almighty!

Now I can full steam on my research-to borrow Ian's words.

Preparation for Site Survey

Hi..

I've not been posting new stories for the past couple of weeks. Or ever since I submitted my research proposal and ethics application to UniSA end of June. I've been regularly keeping updates to my group, myparks, an online community of park management fratenity in Malaysia. Membership as of today is 76! Keeping myparks a lively discussion group is indeed my goal. And of course this blog too!

While I've been reading and updating local literature, I've made some prelimenary correspondence with local authorities in Kuala Muda, Kedah, my site area. I'll be going there on the 19 til 26 August 2005. I'll update my stories while I'm on site later this month.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy 69th birthday dearest mom! My mother lives in Kamunting, Taiping.

Afal ke Arau

Masa berlalu dengan pantas sekali...ketika aku di Adelaide untuk menyiapkan proposal penyelidikanku, isteri di Malaysia melihat anak kedua kami, Afal memohon tempat memasuki IPTA. Minatnya terhadap sukan, khususnya bolasepak membuatnya mahu memohon bidang sains sukan di UiTM. Pada bulan Mac-April 2005 lalu isteri bersendirian menguruskan Afal ke tempat temuduga selepas mendapat panggilan dari universiti. Aku hanya mampu mendapat berita dari isteri melalui SMS dan Yahoo messenger setelah selesai Afal melalui ujian interview. Iringan doa agar dia beroleh kejayaan...... begitu doa ku dari jauh.

Hari ini kami akan menghantar Afal ke Arau, Perlis. Jam 3:00 pagi aku digerakkan oleh isteri. Rupanya mereka (isteri, Afal dan Ayin) tidak tidur! Pukul 3:15 pagi kami bertolak ke Taiping. Jam 5:45 pagi kami sudah tiba di tol Kamunting dan sampai rumah opahnya jam 6:00 pagi. Setelah selesai sembahyang subuh kami bersarapan dengan opah. Kemudian kami terus ke Utara. Afal memandu kereta dari Kamunting ke Gurun. Lepas tu aku memandu masuk Alor Setar Selatan dan terus ke Kangar. Sebelum sampai Kangar, kami masuk jalan pintas ke Arau melalui sawah dan ladang yang luas terbentang. Sejuknya hati melihat kampung dan landskap desa yang indah permai.
Gambar kiri menunjukkan Afal (berbaju putih, tengah) sedang berbaris untuk mendaftar di dewan UiTM Arau.

Nampaknya Ayin (berbaju oren sedang minum) tidak mahu melepaskan peluang mengiringi abangnya ke dewan pendaftaran. Dia juga mahu mengikuti jejak abangnya untuk mengambil jurusan sain sukan!

Research Seminar Presentation

I'd like to share with you my experience of presenting a seminar to the School of Natural and Built Environments after 10 months of work developing my research proposal. Finding a topic suitable for research was challenging. But today I presented a topic of research entitled The potential for rural landscape to be designated as an IUCN Category V protected area in Peninsular Malaysia. A copy of this proposal can be found by visiting myparks. Quite nervous initially because my supersivor had invited everybody within the School in the Mawson Lakes and the City East campuses.
The head of School, Prof. Patrick James (front with white shirt) had asked my supervisor about my presentation as he wanted to attend.
At 10am, I started my talk using power point presentation. I took about 30 minutes to present. Then there were several questions being raised. It took another 15 minutes for QAs.

Q Method

For the past week I've been searching for a suitable research method. Such a frustating experience. I've learned that supervisors will not be able to help you. They will always point to me and say that this is my project. Gone were the days where you are given guidance to do your work! Well I don't expect that to happen to me either. Now I'm facing my research on my own! Subject matter that is. Yes, supervisors do provide some general guidance. But in any research, I need to know what I want, why I need the data, how do I analyze them to target my data towards answering my research questions.

For the past week also, I've been making contacts and initiative to consult Dr. Greg Brown. Thanks to his critiques, his views have sharpened my knowledge and shacked up my mind to look at my topic and explore the problems in several ways. Even that too had left me with my own way and decision to get my data. The problem about me was that even though I know there's a research problem at hand that needs to be addressed, I don't quite know how to identify its research objectives, making research questions, employing suitable methodology, methods of analysis and usage of data for drawing conclusions.

But I think I have the answer! Thanks God. First, don't please your supervisor that you always follow his advise. I've learned that there are no right or wrong answers in research. Or that your supervisor will always agree about his own comments made much earlier. As your research progreses, you have to make your own decision.

Here I will use Q method. This qualitative tool measures subjectivity in a systematic way.
For my study, three groups - residents, visitors and NGOs will be asked using photographs of key attributes of the rural landscapes. I'm trying to sought their views- strongly agree to strongly disagree about desirable rural landscapes eg. scenery, recreation, wildlife, traditional farming, sustainable life, cultural tradition, etc. These descriptors are derive from a landscape assessment to be conducted by me. Usually, they are taken from past studies or literature. But I wanted this to be Malaysia example. Since consultancy and government projects studies are not published in Malaysia, I have to draw rural attributes from my own research. What a limitation in Malaysia.

Decriptors by words and photos: Subjects will Q sort all photographs according to their views. Then an in depth interview will be undertaken to asked why they decided to for that opinion.

Out of this exercise, the data wil be factored analyse using software and results will indicate their feelings and opinions about the rich rural landscape attributes presensce in the area and hence cormfirnmed as having atrributes or qualities of Cat V IUCN.

Feedback from supervisor

I received written feedback from Ian today on my proposal submitted 12 days ago .
Here are the main comments:

1. Need to address research problem at the start of the Problem Statement section to allow readers to know what I'm studying about.
2. He acknowledged that lack of literature about protected area and Cat V was hindering me from writing the way I had wanted to.
3. To explain my method (expert method) in the Literature section.
4. Generally he said I'm almost there.

Confirms tickets back home

Woke up this morning..have my breakfast...and cooked chicken curry and rice. Thats my routine since I arrived in Adelaide in February this year. But today I'm going to the city for several reasons. One is to confirm tickets back home, second to get some supplies from Central Market (or popularly known here as CM or China Town) and third to attend the second workshop on NVIVO, the first of which I've attended last week in City West campus of UniSA...Oh....and another one is to get information at the transport info. centre at Currie St. about going to the Adelaide Intl. Airport to fetch my wife and Ayin on 25 May (next week).

All of the objectives have been achieved. Now I'm at the computer pool in City West campus entering this blog. Afterwards, I'm going to pray and then attend the workshop at 1:00pm.

See ye.

Letter from UiTM

As I was editing my list of references, I checked my email and saw one from Geri, the School's office secretary informing me that I have a letter mail from Malaysia. Well...so far, if its from Malaysia posted to the school, then it's from UiTM. Without waiting I walked to the office to collect it.

The letter says, in response to my application to return to Malaysia to undertake data collection, UiTM agrees that the period of stay in Malaysia will be considered to have fulfilled the one year local study period as stipulated in the contract. The university also requests me to inform them the actual date of departure back home.

Well...that's the rule of the game.

Happy 18th Birthday, Afal

A Happy 18th Birthday to you son. Abah hopes this occasion will be a colorful, meaningful and exciting one as you prepare to enter a next phase of your life full of challenges and surprises; yet welcoming and rewarding. We believe you are ready to take on these realms with an open mind and readiness.

Mak and Abah believe we’ve given you the right ingredients, grounded on good values, family oriented and intellectual vigor with religious knowledge.

Keep up the good work, right attitude, and always believe in yourself. Pray to Allah and make doa for He will always guide you if you sway into the wrong path.

Insyaallah, He will reward you with success and happiness.

May you celebrate your birthday today with joy and Abah pray that you are in good health.
Remember never say die…say try.

Happy Birthday!

Abah,
10, Spencer St.
Adelaide,
Australia.

Submit Final Draft Proposal

I cycled to campus to get my proposal printed: 37 pages - 3 copies needed. As I was rushing to get some final editing done on my computer, Dr. Barb walked passed by my room and asked whether I would like to attend an Honors presentation. This is a presentation of their research proposals (even though some may have already done their surveys). So I thought it would be beneficial for me to listen to their presentations and stuff.

A quarter past 10, I rushed back to my room, hit the print key...and off it goes to the printer room. All set, I successfully handed in to Dr. Ian, Dr. Barb and Delene. Then I cycled back home, just enough time for me to get my quick lunch. I quickly walked to the commuter station and catch a train at 11:40am that goes to the city. I hardly got a breath today because I wanted to attend a workshop NVIVO in city west campus which starts at 1:00pm.

It is a pretty good software that enables researchers to analyze qualitative data, organize into meaningful ideas and to toggle various attributes that you have. A pretty quick exercise though in this workshop.....but I managed to grasp the essentials of using this wonderful software for my research. It ended at 4:00pm

Got it! Tsunami site

I've found a good site for my research. This one will fulfill my research goal/research questions which is to demonstrate factors contributing to the effectiveness of protected landscape as a model in achieving sustainable development.

District of Kuala Muda, Kedah. Employing a survey method this way. To demonstrate qualities that are desirable in protected landscape, this tsunami district is selected:
1.The residents must believe about their area.
2.There must be an agreed description as to what is sense of place.
3.Survey their socio-economic profile, perception of their area using Likert method.
4.Will not indicate about designating this area as protected landscape
5.Will not explicitly associate tsunami with protected area.
6.Focus group discussion.

One variable from protected landscape is "the sense of place". This vulnerable quality of life is about how people (residents and visitors) perceive the area. How would I know that the residents know about their landscape?

Sample of population for the district will be identified from three geographical areas: coastal villages, town areas and the interiors/ remote to get a representative of the residents/sub-landscape areas of the district. Enumerators will go around surveying the areas.

My Birthday Today?

Well, yah..Today is my birthday. I don't want to highlight it but my wife had sent me an electronic birthday card from Malaysia! Thanks love! I know you would not miss sending one.

There's nothing special about today....As it is Sunday I stayed home...doing some reading, updating literature and going to the grocery.

Cheers.

Choosing a site for a case study

As I was thinking yesterday about my site/case study, after discussion with Ian and after reading the guidelines on cat v, it seems that i need to take a second look on how to designate area worthy of protection. Because from there i should be able to get the variables neeeded to measure in my research.It must meet the criteria of Cat V as set out by IUCN guidelines.

IUCN guideline states that the best is for the Govt itself to designate an area. It can also come from the NGO or from the residents themself. To be effective, the area must get the blessings and "endorsement" from the residents occupying the area. They must be made to understand that Cat V. is beneficial to them and the community.

The meaning of landscape

“Landscape” is a difficult word. It has many meanings and is interpreted differently by different people. Some societies have no word for it. However, the European Landscape Convention (ELC), the first international agreement to focus exclusively on the topic,defines it as “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors” (Council of Europe, 2000). In this, and in much of the literature, is the idea that landscape arises from the interaction of people with their environment over time (Lennon (ed.), in print; and ICOMOS-UK,2002).

It follows that landscape is much more than scenery,or even a set of purely physical attributes: the visual aspect of landscape is only the outward face of complex human/ nature interactions. Also, landscape often has important associative and spiritual values to communities in many parts of the world. Compared therefore to the thinking behind the establishment and management of many protected areas, where the emphasis is on protecting what is seen as ‘natural’, the protection of landscape puts people at the heart of the operation – and indeed requires them to be there.

(This passage is taken directly from:)

Phillips, Adrian, 2002, Management guidelines for IUCN category V
protected areas: protected landscapes/seascapes. IUCN Gland, Switzerland
and Cambridge, UK. ( xv + 122pp)

"Learning how to manage natural areas for nature has a long history but still an ongoing topic for research; learning how to manage natural areas for people as well as nature is a fairly new area of inquiry, with a lot of room for expansion of knowledge” (Hamin, 2002, p. 356)

International housemates

Hi...I'd like to introduce you my sharehouse mates. Left to right, Routian from China, Chinonso from Nigeria, me from Malaysia and John (not in pic), from Australia.

Feedback from Dr. Fleur

I've received a written feedback on my draft proposal from Dr. Fleur on 6/04/05. She is my lecturer for Thesis Writing 1 class. She said that I've done a "well-written, engaging proposal". Thank you Fleur. But there are a few corrections though.

Areas for improvement:

1. tendency to place in-text citation at the end of sentence/ paragraph,
2. all statements needed academic support,
3. ethics clearance for human subjects after approval of proposal,
4. some clarification required for methods esp. questionaires and focus group, and
5. the use of font (serif) required for UniSA proposals and theses.

Triple-S seminar

Attended Mark Bishop's Triple-S seminar on 5/04/05 entitled, Exploring Earth, Understanding Mars: The adventures of a plenatary geographer from 1:00-2pm in Building P.

Feedback from supervisors

As mentioned earlier, I've submitted my draft on 30 Mac 2005. Today, we met and below are their feedback (Items to be deliberated include method, budget, case study/studies, examples of Cat. V in South Aust to visit, questionaires and samples).

In attendance: Dr. Ian Clark (Principal Supervisor) Dr. Barbara Koth (Associate Supervisor) Kamarul B. Shuib (PhD Candidate)

Dr.Ian:
It is a researchable topic.
Communicate landscape language that are understandable to all.
Method proposed is acceptable for qualitative type of research.
Need to explain use of Delphi(refer from those whom have done this before),questionaires and case study selection.
Better to investigate one case study than to compare two sites(need depth for PhD type of research).
Focus on variables that answers research question.
Background data on PA's and Cat. V in Malaysia needed to justify case selection.

Dr. Barb:
Generally ok.
Read Michael Hall's thought(U. of Otago, NZ) about landscape change and geography.
Use present tense in text.
Need to look at cultural landscapes and national parks.
Gaps in research in those areas.
Look at Mid-East literatures on PA's, esp. Egypt and Jordan. Good examples of landscape protection there because of sacred and ancient areas.
Grass root participation, kampongs chiefs, Govt officials, professionals play important roles in this research.
Look also at other countries eg.USA and see how they designate PA's.
Other areas that were discussed included budget, time table (esp. in conducting the survey), the case study area, frequency of meeting, and possible site visit to Cat. V in South Australia.

Chat with Delene

Today, 30/03/05 at 9:30am, I have a consultation with Delene Weber for about 35 mins. regarding my draft proposal. She was supposed to be my third supervisor.

Apparently she was not convinced of my work because of the broadness and the generality of the topic. After my explanation, she understood the reasons and justifications for conducting the research of Category V protected area in the Malay peninsular.

Suggestions for improvements:


Create tables, maps and descriptions that show historical timeline and extent of PA's in Malaysia;
Identify the different park agencies-Fed, State, Local, Regional, Private;
Study Category V: Depth on variables - focus on one, looking at quality of life?;
Search for World Parks Congress 2003 proceedings;
Could conduct before and after surveys of the park, esp., if its a new one.
Great to buy this book: Worboys, Graeme L., Lockwood, Michael & De Lacy, Terry 2005, Protected area management: principles and practice, 2nd Ed.,Oxford University Press, Melbourne. price AUD$99.00

Hand in Draft Research Proposal

Dr. Ian Clark, my supervisor, noted that I have handed in my draft research proposal this morning (30 Mar 05) for discussion at consultation Friday 1 April at 3:00pm.

Triple S-seminar

Attended Triple S seminar on 29/03/05 entitled, Kangaroo Island Tourism Trends, from 1:00-2:00pm in Building P.

Orientation for Research Candidates 2005

Attended orientation session for research candidates 2005 on 14 March from 2:30pm to 5:00pm at Brookman Hall, City East campus.

Prayer Times in Adelaide

Assalamulaikum....

I've have attached here the prayer times for Adelaide.




If any of you would like to see prayer times for other major cities, please visit this site:




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Study period 2, 2005: First meeting with Supervisor

Hi there...

At 10:00am this morning, I had a meeting with Dr. Ian. In the meeting, we discussed several things. But first things first. I was changed yet to another room; From P2-07 to P2-20 (same floor). This is the room that Yati (a former Malaysian postgraduate student from UIAM occupied for 2 years). Along the way I met Dr. Barb. Well, she has asked about Habsah and whether she would be coming again this semester.

Actually that's not much discusion. It lasted about 20 minutes. He explained the reasons why I had to take Research methods and thesis writing classes was that they weren't sure about my English and statistical capabilites when they decided to approve my application. Anyway, I'm only taking these as audit classes. These would be useful to me too.

Next meeting? Maybe 1 hour per month or as need arises. Both Barb and Ian will sit together with me to avoid contradicting advices. He further explained about plagiarism, joint publication ownership, and general information. He's now the Dean of Teaching and Learning besides teaching loads. He lend three research methods books to me! Wow...fact stuff.

He was quite amazed that I could settle down within a very short period of time. He further noted that I should start writing and update literatures so that I could submit my research proposal by June. He would be coming to Singapore for a conference from 20-24 June 2005. perhaps by then he would drop by in UiTM.


See ye.

Leaves for Adelaide

Sending me off at KLIA are from left, Afal (my second son), wife, mother-in-law, and Ayin (my youngest son)..where?...of course the one that took this photo!

Plan of Studies? Who cares.

Hi....its been a while since I last posted about my progress. Things have not gone in my way yet. The last time I told you about how difficult I was to explain to BLPS regarding my ticket...yes..it still remains that way. They told me that they'd bring my application to the meeting. Actually they didn't. Later I was told that they could make a decision administratively without a meeting. And this the dilemma of a split PhD research. Who cares.

I was surprised as to why they had done this to me. I've acted according to the plan of studies which was approved by my supervisor, my Dean and their office!

Any way, its not worth arguing with them. As time is drawing nearer to my departure date, I decided to make my own ticket booking. Finally I managed to get the 23 February return flight paying RM3050...who cares?

Memo on Heritage Landscape

A Memorandum to the National Heritage Department Malaysia

With reference to the proposed Malaysia’s Heritage Bill, as reported by Berita Harian today (2 February 2005), the honourable minister Dato' Seri Dr Rais Yatim was quoted as saying that he needed input from various parties including academicians regarding the draft Bill. He mentioned about the need to include visual heritage like writings and music in addition to buildings, historic sites and monuments.

We applaud his considerations to include other intangible heritage in this very important Bill. We would hereby like to propose that landscape heritage be included in the Bill. We will explain why landscape should be included as our national heritage.

We believe that the thrust of this Bill should be the conservation of the heritage of the Malays for they are the original inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago. They lived in this region especially in the Malay Peninsular for hundreds of years before being colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. Throughout their existence and due to their humbleness, the Malays had readily accepted outside influence from various cultures and practices from the Middle East to the Orient during the Sultanates. Thereafter they interfaced with the European influence during the modern era. The Malays have always valued and cherish their land dearly that they would fight against any intruders who wished to destroy their country and values.

Evidence of their outstanding relationship with their landscape is revealed through phrases like tanah air ku, the national anthem Negara ku and numerous others. Early historical documents associated the Malays and their landscapes included Puteri Gunung Ledang, Mahsuri and the burnt rice; state symbols like negeri di bawah bayu, padi kuning or even our national crescent, the tiger that symbolises bravery of the forest. In short, the Malay landscapes exist and can be distinguished from others through its strong identity, heritage, culture and place. It is in this landscape that the Malays had lived in harmony over time.

The Colonial occupation has brought about changes to the landscape far serious than the Malays would have realised. The so-called modern era had done damage to people’s value, heritage, tradition and their landscapes. Though originally resided in urban settlements, they have slowly been moved out into the interiors due to the division of labours for economic reasons by the colonial power. Their true settlements, being pioneers, were normally at the river estuaries. These lived-in landscapes are never destroyed because the Malays had always worked in sympathy with them. The remit was that do not destroy the landscape if they give you benefits over time. This ‘sense of place’ is still evident today if one were to see them carefully throughout our country.

As they moved into the countryside, the Malays are true to their loved for the land. They cultivate, farm, and live in harmony with the landscape. Examples are the traditional methods of farming; many different types of Malay kampongs neatly nestled in the rural landscape. Of course during that period there was no mention about landscape heritage protection and conservation. When the British came, they were not interested to protect them either; they were only interested to gazette wildlife for game and hunting purposes. But the working landscapes in the urban and the countryside truly characterised the Malay identity and their origin.

Today, the absence of a strong and effective law may not be able to control land uses and development that would destroy the characters and identity of our urban and rural landscape heritage.

This Bill will define the meanings of heritage in its true sense. If the country wants to preserve our Malay landscapes, we propose that now is the best time to include it in the Bill. If landscape is not defined as a heritage, we fear that the Malay identity will vanish in the name of modernity and growth.

We sincerely hope that the Ministry will give it utmost consideration to this very important heritage: the landscape heritage of the Malays.

Thank you.

Kamarul Bahrain Shuib

Methodology Rethink

Just couldn't get my mind straight on this methodology thing. How do I do my research???

Only yesterday I told that I've got the research framework done!....and today I'm blank!!. Is this
normal for a PhD student?

I have a research topic, an outline, case study, and some references...yet I'm lost! Ya...total lost.

This morning I had a discusion with my wife over breakfast at Shaaz Curry House. Topic? Well you know....my research methodology! And still no clues as to my method. In the office, I tried to get some piece of mind. Look on the net. Wife helped out too. Search the web. Meanwhile... I contacted my supervisor asking for HELP! Below is the second methodology that I came up and sent to him.

Awaiting response.

Methodology Two:
1. Listing and conducting inventories of all protected landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia
(about 5 or 6 areas on current UN List)
2. Assess their status against the IUCN management objectives
3. Conduct survey of visitors
4. Interview relevant Departments, evaluate legislations and policies pertaining to
their jurisdictions affecting protected landscapes/ seascapes
5. Evaluate their effectiveness, strength and weakneses
6. Benchmarking to Australian policies and management practices/ IUCN
7. Recommend model (framework) for park planning and management in Malaysia.

Finally... A Research Framework!

Thanks to Almighty...Finally I got my framework idea sketched out at about 6:50am this morning. The moment of sight came about 5:45am, when my wife kejutkan Ayin to watch his favourite show on Astro. I suddenly woke up, thought about all my readings so far...I knew that I could write up the framework, but just couldn't get my brain to rough it out. I've been soaked with the readings and topic...the funny thing was that I kept improving my topic rather than concentrating on the work.

The proposed Framework follows:

Protected Landscapes: A Sustainable Model for Park Planning and Management in Malaysia


INTRODUCTION
Landscape
Origin and Meanings of Landscape
Working Definition
Regional Landscapes and Natural Environment
The Protected Areas
The Malaysian Situation

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
STUDY PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES
WHY PROTECTED LANDSCAPE?
SCOPE OF STUDY
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
DEFINITION OF TERMS
ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
METHODOLOGY:
Case Study: Templer Park, Selangor, Malaysia
TIME TABLE
BUDGET
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES

I will post each section as I develop my writings....

At noon, I went to see JKLB regarding my ticket to Adelaide. Funny thing was that they seemed to like to tekan this poor student about everything! We are always at their mercy. Propose date of departure? 20 Feb 2005.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha.

A Place To Stay

Taking out of her own PhD time, my wife have been looking in the internet searching for a rented room for me to stay when I go back to Adelaide in mid- February 2005. This followed after not- so- good experience that we encountered with a reputable Lodge that caters primarily for Malaysian students. The owner had claimed that I wouldn't want to put up a holding fee in order for him to reserve me a room!

This turnaround statement was indeed absurd, as just four months ago I'd personally phoned him...booking for a room... and he was so nice and welcomed. Well...as the Malay proverb says, rambut sama hitam, hati lain-lain. Dulu lain...sekarang lain.

Any way... luckilly, I got a deal with an advertiser, a sharehouse in Parafield Gardens about 4km from Mawson Lakes campus. A $55/wk room (3-bedroom sharehouse with 3 others.)
Got this deal 0n 15 Jan. House aside, now I need to find a bicycle to ride to campus!

Formulating survey instrument

9.1.05

Hi,

This weekend, I've been staying home reading two yearbooks--by IFLA. published in 1990 and 1991, these books provided good materials for my research. The theme of 1990 was tropical landscapes while 1991 focused on coastal landscapes. While many countries have good policies and legislation for protection of their landscapes/ seascapes, Malaysia has always lack behind in its policy for protecting our valuable assets.

It is sad to see Malaysia do not recognize our coastal landscapes worthy of protection. We have long coastlines strecthing from Perlis to Kelantan and up till Sabah. But we do not have legislation for their protection. And many of the settlements living there for centuries are Malays. These rural and our countryside, with outstanding landscape characters, must be protected if we really value our history, people and country.

My readings in landscape architecture literature have defined these as natural and cultural landscapes. In IUCN, they are called protected landscapes/ seascapes under the protected areas systems.

In one of the papers that I read, there is a method where it uses card register of all landscapes.

I will do a pilot survey (as a draft instrument) in Kemaman when my wife brings her students there in the next two weeks.


---K


posted by kam @ 10:43 AM

8th Malaysia Plan Mid term Review

6.1.05

I was searching on the Net about Dr. Mahathir's paper, Landscaping the Nation. But I've found this site that might be interested to you.


posted by kam @ 2:47 PM

Happy New Year

3.1.05

today I'm doing my literature review.


posted by kamqs @ 10:13 AM

Letter to Perhilitan

Today, I posted a letter to the Pengarah, Bahagian Kawasan Perlindungan, PERHILITAN to request that they allow Templer Park to be my study area. I also attached a copy of my research proposal. Hopefully Tn. Haji Sahir Othman (Director) will approved my application.


posted by kam @ 8:00 AM

3.1.05

research topic

I'm writing my research proposal today...but still searching for materials in the internet. I'll have to go back to Adelaide in February to audit classes.

On study leave

Hello,
My name is Kamarul. I'm just started using blog offered by Blogspot.com. Currently, I'm doing my PhD at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. My proposed topic is "Protected Landscape: A sustainable model for park planning and management in Malaysia."
I'll be posting my thoughts and articles of interest regularly on this issue as I develop my research. I invite everyone interested in this field of research to read my blog or give comment on anything about protected areas in general or protected landscapes/seascapes in particular.
Thank you.
--K