In 1800s, Miri was an unknown fishing village of a few families trading ...
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In 1800s, Miri was an unknown fishing village of a few families trading occasionally with passing ships. Miri as the first oil town in Malaysia, this discovery has put Miri on the road to progress.
The discovery of oil in 1910 on Canada Hill has a significant place in the history of modern Miri. Canada Hill is where the oil industry in the Sarawak started, with the successful drilling of well Miri-1 in December 1910. The growth of the oil industry has helped to transform Miri from a small fishing village at the turn of the 20th century into a modern and prosperous town in the 21st Century. The first derrick constructed was affectionately called 'The Grand Old Lady' and produced oil for 62 years.
Since 1910, this Grand Old Lady located 150 meters above sea level, had witnessed various historic and physical development which had taken place in this oil-rich town of Miri, which now is not only known for the "black gold" but also its attractive tourism industry.
It is believed that this well, now a monument, produced the first oil found in the country on Dec 22, 1910 and continued pumping out the precious commodity for the next 62 years producing 658,650 barrels of oil before it was closed on Oct 31, 1972. At the time it ceased operations, the "Grand Old Lady" was producing a mere seven barrels of oil a day.
Due to its sentimental value to the residents of Miri, the Sarawak state government on July 10, 1985, restored the Grand Old Lady and accorded her status as one of the state's important historical monuments.
The history of the Grand Old Lady dates back to the late 1800s when the then Baram Resident, Claude Champion de Crespigny found that there was oil in the Baram region.
Centuries before he noted this, the indigenous people living in and around Baram region had been using the oil as fuel, calling it "minyak tanah".
In 1888, Charles Hose who took over as the subsequent Baram Resident continued Crespigny's work and before retiring, Hose did another intensive study about the presence of oil there.
Soon after retiring, Hose requested permission from the then Sarawak White Rajah, Sir James Brooke to present his studies to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, an oil exploration company based in London.
In 1909, Hose returned to Miri, this time bringing along geologist, Dr Josef Erb, and after several series of studies the expert was convinced that the Baram region including areas surrounding Miri was rich in oil.
Erb then decided to build an oil well on top of the hill and a Canadian, by the name of McAlpine, was assigned to erect the well. The hill was named Canada Hill, honoring his contribution.
On Aug 10, 1910, McAlpine successfully completed a 87-metre high wooden tower -- now known as the Grand Old Lady -- and soon after drilling work started using the cable tool method, the only available drilling technique known at that time.
After several months of drawing blanks, they struck oil from the grounds of the hill on Dec 22, 1910 at a depth of 150 meters.
Located within the Sri Hartamas and Mont Kiar...
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Sri Hartamas @ Kuala Lumpur
Located within the Sri Hartamas and Mont Kiara precincts, Hartamas Shopping Centre stands pround as the latest commercial entity in the affluent residential area. With approximately 200,000 square feet of nett lettable space spread over three levels, Hartamas Shopping Centre features two anchor tenants - CitiSuper and SenQ - and a variety of concept stores that feature items such as fashion and accessories, jewellery, home decor, electronics, food & beverage, health & beauty and many others.
Hartamas Shopping Centre is positioned as a neighbourhood shopping centre. Its design and interior reflects the contemporary taste, making for a pleasing shopping experience. Unlike mega-sized shopping complexes which actually offer a lot more of just the same thing, HSC is smaller but still packs a diversified shop mix. With Phase 2 under development (which features a cineplex) HSC is poised to be a major shopping attraction in the near future.
Our Anchor Tenants
Citi Super, located at the ground floor, is a grocery store which, in addition to housing all the essentials, carries a wide variety of specialty goods from Korea, Japan and elsewhere. It also features a vast array of fresh produce and seafood.
The other anchor tenant, SenQ, boasts the latest home appliances and electronic goods. With a wide selection of digital cameras, flat-screen and plasma televisions, DVD players and a full complement of home appliances, customers have hundreds of items to choose from.
Plaza Damas
One of Hartamas Shopping Centre's more unique features is its integration into the Plaza Damas development. Hartamas Shopping Centre is situated among complete streets, shop offices, service apartments and alfresco shopping arcades, giving the area a holistic, neighbourhood feel. More so than other shopping centres, Hartamas Shopping Centre provides its patrons with a true lifestyle shopping experience, taking everyone's needs into account
A wide range of F&B outlets to satisfy all taste buds includes choices such as Modesto's Easy Pizza, Daimon, Starbucks Coffee, Kim Gary, Only Mee, Sao Nam Vietnamese Restaurant and Paddington House Of Pancakes. There will be more to come in the future.
One of Hartamas Shopping Centre's most service-friendly features is its Concierge. Shoppers who register at the Concierge will be able to use a variety of services designed to enhance their shopping experience, including parent room, wheelchairs, umbrellas, taxi service, valet service, first aid, personal butler service and lost & found. While some services require reservation, the concierge is available upon request, and subject to availability.
Hartamas Shopping Centre is accessible via the Penchala Link, Jalan Duta or NKVE.
Palm oil is a kind of vegetable oil grouped broadly as ...
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WHAT IS PALM OIL
Palm oil is a kind of vegetable oil grouped broadly as follows:
1. Seed oils, such as groundnut or peanut oil, maize germ or corn oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and soya bean oil; and
2) Fruit oils, especially olive oil, sunflower oil and palm oil.
It took a long years for oil palm of Malaysia to occupy its present position in biological, technical, managerial and environmental.
Oil Palm has both perennial and evergreen nature (giving a continuous year-round canopy cover intercepting a high proportion of incoming radiation), the year-round production of fruit bunches and the high partition of total assimilates into harvested product.
The fruit of new tree varieties has a higher proportion of flesh (from which the palm oil is obtained) relative to kernel (from which palm kernel oil is extracted). Generally, palm oil is used as cooking oil while palm kernel oil is used in making processed foods.
You can look forward to enjoying soap, shampoos and other palm oil products with a clean conscience following overwhelming acceptance by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - a group of producers, buyers, retailers, financial institutions and NGOs - on a set of criteria for the responsible production of palm oil.
Known as the "RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production", the criteria give companies much-needed guidelines to produce palm oil in an environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible way. Its ratification was the result of a year-long participatory process involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders. WWF- Malaysia is an active member of the RSPO and was represented in the Criteria Working Group that helped develop the Principles and Criteria.
JOHOR BARU - AN EXODUS of businesses from Johor Baru has begun and the b...
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JOHOR BARU - AN EXODUS of businesses from Johor Baru has begun and the blame for the shift is being placed upon the new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.
Money changers, restaurant operators, traders and hawkers are moving out. Even cigarette vendors claim they are finding it tough to continue to do business following the opening of the complex last month.
Malaysians who work or study in Singapore are among those most bothered by the new complex, as a crossing of the 1km-long Causeway, which used to be mere 15 minutes, now takes more than half an hour.
Many business owners are describing the CIQ as the 'JB killer', as 50per cent of traffic now bypasses the city and its shops.
The new complex is about 500m further inland than the old one, which was conveniently sandwiched between the city and the Causeway.
The situation is expected to worsen when government agencies relocate to the Johor State New Administrative Centre (JSNAC) in Nusajaya, which is about 30km away, in the coming months.
Petty trader C. Letchumanan Kutty, 35, has started packing up goods at his employer's magazine and tidbits stall, which has seen business fall by 60per cent since the new CIQ opened.
Laundry operator S. Letchumy, 46, is planning to shut down within two months. Her business has fallen from 50 customers a week to just 20.
Mr Thaher Ali Akbar, 32, another worker at a magazine and newspaper stall, said: 'We have not decided whether to move out but we are worried about our future...'
Said Malaysian Indian Business Council president P.Sivakumar: 'Is the government planning to turn Johor Baru into a ghost town?'
He suggests that the old complex be reopened for motorcycles and pedestrians to create a win-win situation, as that would bring 5,000 to 10,000 travellers into the city again.
The new CIQ has also hit tourism.
It lacks trolley facilities for tourists and is not disabled-friendly, says Johor Tour Guides Association president Jimmy Leong, adding that many Singaporean tour groups are using the Second Link instead.
For accountant Choo Hooi Peng, 37, who has been riding buses for the past 10 years to cross the border to Singapore, where she works, the new CIQ meant that she has to endure an extra 20-minute walk from the entrance of the complex to the bus bay.
Now, eight months' pregnant with her third child, she complained having to wait in long lines to get into a bus, and at times for more than half an hour.
She added that the old CIQ was more commuter friendly as it was only a short distance from entrance to exit. It took her less than five minutes, even when she was pregnant.
Malaysians studying in Singapore also complain that the long trudge to get passports stamped at the CIQ is tiring.
'I prefer the old complex. The new one is quite big, so you have to take a big U-turn back to your bus,' says Bryan Ravi Nambiar, 12.
The Immigration Department, the lead agency heading the CIQ among 22 other government agencies based at the complex, has acknowledged most of the complaints.
Johor Immigration director Mohd Nasri Ishak, who is heading a special CIQ operations committee, says he is doing his best to resolve the problems.
He is gathering feedback and will present it at the next meeting where representatives from all 22 agencies will be present.
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