JUST TO SHARE (Lau Tai Onn): My IEM Membership & Published Bulletin Articles

I joined The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) as a Student Member in September, 1979 (when I was in my final year of study in the University of Singapore), was transferred to the grade of Graduate on 28/10/1980, transferred to the grade of Corporate Member on 16/07/1984 and remained the same since then.

My only activity in IEM is to have voluntarily joined its Standing Committee on Information & Publications and Editorial Board as a member in the Session 2005/2006 and 2 years later I was appointed as the secretary of the Standing Committee in the Session 2007/2008 and continue to hold this post consecutively 12 years todate.

In my hitherto 40+ years of membership with IEM, I have only written articles thrice for publication in the institution’s monthly bulletin “JURUTERA” (with a current monthly printing quantity of about 20,465 copies and an estimated readership of 198,000 professionals) as follows:

1. August 2016 issue: “Cover Note” entitled “Combating the Inconvenient Truth” as part of the team effort of the Standing Committee in the production of that issue with the theme of “Global Warming: Adaptation & Mitigation”;

2. January 2020 issue: “Engineer’s Lens” entitled “Trojan Horse of Canakkale” (subsequent to my tour to Turkey in October/November, 2019) ; and

3. February 2020 issue: “Engineer’s Adventures” entitled “Stopover Tour of Almaty” (subsequent to my tour to Turkey in October/November, 2019).

The front cover of JURUTERA Aug., 2016

My Cover Note

COMBATING THE ‘INCONVENIENT TRUTH’

Global warming was the subject of the famous 2006 documentary film titled “An Inconvenient Truth”, about former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s campaign in raising international public awareness of this environmental issue.

The global warming is real, potentially catastrophic and human-caused as suggested in the film. It is undeniable and appropriate action must be taken to address this increasing ‘planetary emergency’ before it is too late.

Al Gore, who became more prominent as an environmentalist than a politician, concluded: “Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive…. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen.”

Engineers, endowed with the mission of fostering technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity are, needless to say, duty-bound to play a more active role in combating this “inconvenient truth” of global warming. With this in mind, this issue of JURUTERA is devoted to this topic with articles contributed mainly by members of this Standing Committee.

It is hoped that we will be able to inspire and influence the engineering community to mitigate, if not eradicate, the effects of global warming.

Let us reflect on Native American Chief Seattle’s quote made two centuries ago: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

If we do not protect Earth from global warming caused by our actions, it is only a matter of time before we perish along with it.

The front cover of JURUTERA Jan., 2020

My article for Engineer's Lens column

TROJAN HORSE OF CANAKKALE

On the seafront of Canakkale (an ancient city of Troy), in north-west Turkey, stands The Trojan Horse, a tourist attraction that I recently visited on November 1, 2019. The Trojan Horse is part of the story of the Trojan War between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans, as narrated by ancient Greek poet Homer in his two epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge hollow wooden horse (the horse being the emblem of Troy), hid an elite force inside and pretended to sail away. The Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek warriors crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army to enter and destroy the city of Troy, thus ending the war.

Today, a Trojan Horse metaphorically refers to tricky subversion introduced from the outside; it is also the name of a malicious online programme that tricks users into downloading it so to damage the programming or to steal personal information.

Though the Canakkale Trojan Horse is made of iron struts and fiberglass, it looks as if it is made of scraps of wood from the Greek ships and there are ropes wrapped around the legs. It is 11.4m tall, weighs 9.979kg and has been on display in Canakkale next to Moorabbin Park, since September 15, 2004. It was a gift from Brad Pitt who played the leading role of the Greek warrior Achilles in the 2004 movie, Troy.

The Trojan Horse at Canakkale

The front cover of JURUTERA Feb., 2020

My article for Engineer's Adventures

STOPOVER TOUR OF ALMATY

My wife and I joined a 10D/7N tour to Turkey in late October, 2019, using Air Astana, the flag carrier of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the flight from KL to Istanbul, we had a one-hour transit at the airport in Almaty where the airline is based and another 16-hour transit (6.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.) in Almaty for the return flight from Istanbul to K.L.

For the 16-hour transit, Air Astana provided breakfast and hotel accommodation at no additional cost as the Stopover Paid By Carrier (STPC) service.

All but two of our tour group of 25 members opted to join a half-day city tour (US$ 100 per person) of Almaty during the 16-hour transit; it was arranged by the tour leader and we were provided with a Kazakh local tour guide.

Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and it served as the capital from 1929 to 1997. The capital was relocated in 1997 to Astana, renamed as Nur-Sultan from 23 March, 2019, after long-term president Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned after having been in office since 1990. Kazakhstan was the last Soviet republic to declare independence prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The first place we visited was Kok-Tobe hill which is a popular recreation area with amusement parks on top of a hill 1100 meters above sea level. From the sightseeing platform, we could enjoy the panoramic views of Almaty city.

Then we visited the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan which is acclaimed to be one of the largest museums in Central Asia. It displays collections of Kazakh historical, archaeological, modern cultural and political artifacts. There were interesting exhibitions of equipment of a warrior of the 13th-14th centuries, the Great Silk Road’s trade, .import items and others.

Next was the Panfilov Park which is one of central Almaty's most popular strolling and hangout places for all ages. The park is named after the Soviet general Ivan Panfilov with a memorial of his 28 soldiers of an Almaty infantry unit who died fighting off Nazi tanks in a village outside Moscow during the World War II in 1941.

The most impressive sight-seeing spot is the Ascension Cathedral, also known as Zenkov Cathedral, located at the heart of the Panfilov Park.

The Ascension Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral constructed between 1904 and 1907. It is a five-domed and three-aisled structure with a built-in bell tower. The uniqueness of this church building is that it was completely made out of wood and without any nails. It is 56 meters tall and is among the top 8 tallest wooden buildings of the world.

An interesting story about the cathedral is that it survived a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1911 with minimal damage, while almost all buildings in the area were damaged. Some bishops attributed it to divine intervention, while others believed that it was due to the construction technology of “anti-seismic basket” invented or employed by the architect, Andrei Pavlovich Zenkov. Wooden beams were fastened with rolling brackets and during the earthquake shake the walls were moving smoothly that provided stability to the building.

Historically, the church faced hardship during the Soviet rule and was forced to be closed in 1927. Then it was robbed, all bells thrown down and the library partially destroyed. It was used to house the Central State Museum until 1994. Finally the Russian Orthodox Church was given back the cathedral’s control in 1995 and after undergoing some restoration works, it was reopened for religious service in 1997. Since then and up to now, the cathedral is a sanctuary for hundreds of Christians and a popular attraction for tourists.

The city tour of Almaty was actually not in our original Turkey package tour itinerary, but it turned out to be an eye-opening and enjoyable trip that should be considered a desirable destination by holidaymakers.