8 theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 9 2009

news without borders

Penang bans
polystyrene at
official functions
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang
state government has banned gov-
ernment agencies and departments
in the state from using polystyrene
food containers at official govern-
ment functions.
“We are also encouraging
companies to refrain from using
polystyrene containers when org-
anising functions jointly with the
state government,” environment,
health, welfare and caring society
committee chairman Phee Boon
Poh said.
He said this was among the
environmental-friendly measures
adopted by the state govern-
ment in conjunction with World
Environment Day 2009 on Fri-
day.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan
Eng has also declared Mondays as
“No Plastic Bags Day” beginning
July 1.
“This is a serious commit-
ment on the part of the state
government to reducing the use of
plastic bags and we hope this ap-
proach will help Penang achieve
its goal of becoming a green
state,” he told a press conference
on Friday.
Lim said hypermarkets, super-
markets and mini markets agree-
able to the programme would sign
a declaration to honour it before
July 1.
“As a measure to encourage
consumers to bring their own bags
and not depend on plastic bags,
consumers will be charged 20 sen
a bag at check-out counters on
Mondays,” he said.
Lim said the funds collected
Role of ICT
Rape of Larut Hills
Thousands
attend
mass for
PETALING JAYA: A study on
the Larut Hills in Taiping by the
Federation of Malaysian Con-
What was more worrying,
he said, was that the catchment
area which was a major source
and let the “natural jungle
surrounding the hills perform
its function of absorbing the
would be channelled to the state sumers Associations has set off of raw water for the people of run-off water”.
government’s Hardcore Poverty victims of alarm bells with hard evidence Taiping and surrounding areas Fomca, he said, was also
Programme. daycare to show how the hills are being was being polluted with plastic alarmed at the construction of
Penang generates about 1,600 raped and destroyed for short- bags and other rubbish. a 40-room hostel on the hill
tonnes of sold waste a day, and in blaze term commercial gain. Plastic could release endo- slope.
2007, both its local councils spent a pg 11 The study, conducted in crine-disrupting chemicals He pointed out that the
total RM57.6 million on solid waste February and March this year, which cannot be detected by structure was concrete and too
management. showed indiscriminate dump- water treatment plant operators, heavy for the hills to bear.
“It is by reducing the exces- ing of rubbish in plastic bags, thus endangering consumers as There were previously
sive use of plas- illegal logging, construction a known carcinogen. wooden quarters in the area.
tic bags that of a bungalow and hostel Marimuthu said soil erosion Marimuthu expressed
we can also on the hill slope, silting of was a common occurrence concern that residents of the
eventually rivers and landslips. along the hill slopes as a result hostel would further pollute the
cut down Fomca president Datuk of illegal logging in the area. area as waste generated would
expenditure N. Marimuthu said recently Erosion has moved large invariably end up in the water-
on solid that if the state government amounts of soil into rivers, fall nearby.
waste man- did not take immediate making them shallow and Fomca’s other concern was
agement,” steps to arrest the situation, causing flash floods during the plan to build a rail service
Lim said. the hills would be “lost heavy rains, he said. up the hill which would pose
Accord- forever which would be a Marimuthu called on the not only an environmental haz-
ing to Phee, great tragedy, particularly government to stop all log- ard but also a danger to users of
more than for future generations”. ging in the area immediately the service. – Bernama
200 hyper-
markets,
supermar-
kets and mini
markets were
prepared to
New and cheaper
take part in
the No Plastic
Bags Day pro-
green hotels, please
gramme. PETALING current economic situation. and depends on the individual,“ Syno-
Lim also JAYA: Malay- Exploring attitudes towards hotels vate Malaysia managing director Steve
launched the sian travellers and factors surrounding travel choices, Murphy said.
state gov- want new, less Synovate surveyed over 6,600 respond- “However, hotel brands and owners
ernment’s expensive green ents from Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, should take note that word-of-mouth
climate change hotels, a survey has Brazil, France, Canada, Australia, the ranks high among Malaysian travellers
w e b p a g e , revealed. Netherlands and the United States as and negative reviews and comments can
http://climatechange.penang. In a survey of more than 1,000 Malay- part of a global hotels survey. be damaging to a hotel’s brand name,
gov.my, which highlights issues sians respondents conducted by market Malaysians said a bad hotel experi- not to mention its bottom line,” he said.
relating to climate change and research company Synovate, 62% said ence could ruin their entire trip, while “Our survey indicates that Malaysian
greenhouse gases and provides they stayed in new hotels each time they close to 91% agreed they would tell oth- travellers are adventurous and willing to
Penangites with tips on how to travelled, while 83% admitted they would ers if they had a good hotel experience. stay at different hotels each time they
address climate change. stay at less expensive hotels, given the “Personal experience is subjective travel, but are prohibited by cost factors.
“About 26% end up comparing dif-
ferent hotels before deciding what best
suits them. Hotel brands and owners
may be able to take advantage of this by
understanding customer needs better

in Asia’s and reaching out to them.”

Murphy said the survey also com-

development pared views of travellers of different nat-

PETALING JAYA: Researchers, experts
and policymakers will gather at Wawa-
san Open University (WOU) in Penang on
Thursday for a four-day conference on
how Information and Communication
Technologies have helped solve some
of Asia’s development problems.
The Pan All 2009 Conference is
sponsored by Canada’s International
Development Research Centre (IDRC)
in partnership with WOU. Participants
comprise mainly researchers and res-
ource persons linked to the IDRC’s Pan
Asia Networking (PAN) Programme.
The participants have been engaged
in a variety of research for more than a
decade, producing interesting results:
» to meet the pressing education
needs of Asia’s populations, research
in distance learning technologies
undertaken in 11 countries has helped
develop a more effective, accessible
and inclusive system of education;
» in the Philippines, an online approach
to diagnose tuberculosis promises to
speed up treatment of the disease in
rural areas and make more efficient use
of scarce medical resources;
» across the region, the OpenNet Ini-
tiative has shone a spotlight on online
censorship in Asia by showing, for ex-
ample, how internet-based applications
such as Skype are monitored.
Laurent Elder, leader of the PAN pro-
gramme, said conference participants
would also identify the next steps in
research and priorities that will shape
the future of Asia’s information society.
“Questions that come to mind are:
Can technology play a role in lifting Asia’s
economies out of the recession? In a
digital Asia, how can people’s privacy be
protected, especially from state actors?”
Wan Ahmad explains
how the Persuasive
Multimedia Learning
Environment works.
Art of gentle persuasion
GEORGE TOWN: Parents can look
forward to their children being less
anxious about visiting the dentist,
thanks to a multimedia applica-
tion created by the Universiti Sains
Malaysia’s Centre for Instructional
Technology and Multimedia.
Dubbed Persuasive Multimedia
Learning Environment, the prog-
ramme helps parents and teachers
to motivate children aged between
six and nine years into being less
apprehensive about receiving dental
treatment.
Behind the application is
lecturer Dr Wan Ahmad Jaf-
far Wan Yahaya, who said the
application allows users to practise
a “target behaviour” by imitating the
behaviour of animated characters,
including nurses and dentists.
“I created this software based
on my knowledge of multimedia
and persuasion,” he said, explaining
that his own experience in dealing
with his children refusing to visit the
dentist spurred the creation of the
programme.
Wan Ahmad said the application
had been tested on about 300 children
aged six to nine years, 80% of whom
had responded positively.
“Some of them even encouraged
their friends to visit the dentist,” he said
at a demonstration of the programme
at the National Apex Development
Indicator centre at USM last week.
Wan Ahmad said lack of knowl-
edge of treatments and inadequate
parental persuasion were among the
reasons children were anxious about
visiting the dentist. “This application
will help them understand dental
health better.”
The software won the gold medal
at the national Invention, Innovation
and Technology Exhibition 2009 last
month.
ionalities and found several similarities.
“Over half of Japanese, French, Brazil-
ian, Dutch and citizens of the UAE said
they, too, like trying new hotels, while
over 95% of travellers from Canada,
France, the Netherlands and the US said
they would tell others if they had a bad
hotel experience.”
The survey found that in choosing a
hotel, close to 35% of Malaysian travellers
look to colleagues, friends and relatives
for recommendations, while 18% take
the initiative to visit a hotel’s website.
About 13% read about hotels on travel
review sites, blogs and magazines while
11% ask travel agents for advice.
Malaysians also choose hotels on
other criteria such as technology and
specific recreational services. Sixty-six
percent research a hotel’s technology
offering before booking a room, while
40% said they prefer a hotel with a spa.
“A little surprising maybe, but urban
Malaysians who travel are fairly tech-
savvy and will want the same offerings
outside of the country as they experi-
ence within Malaysia, where high-end
hotels are well set up technologically.
They also seek to pamper themselves
and hotels with spa facilities may have
an edge,” Murphy said.
A hotel’s green credentials are also
important. The survey asked Malay-
sians to choose a statement that best
described their feelings about all-things-
green in their home away from home.
Interestingly, over 27% said they will
not stay at a hotel which did not have
an environmental policy. Close to 43%
chose the pragmatic-yet-caring ap-
proach, saying a hotel’s environmental
policy is important to them, but they
don’t research it ahead of time.
For more information on Synovate,
visit www.synovate.com.