Meeting Pipeline Guru

Recently I met with a very prominent pipeline engineer when he was here in Malaysia for discussions with an oil company. I was also invited to the meeting. I had always wanted to meet him having read one of his three books and some of his more than 180 papers. Professor Andrew Palmer is well known world wide as one of the most famous pipeline engineers in the world. To my knowledge he is the only pipeliner with the title FRS – Fellow of the Royal Society, the oldest and foremost learned society in the UK. It’s equivalent to National Academy of Sciences in other parts of the world but because of history it held to its current name. It was first established in 1660 and among its most famous fellows were Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and more recently Stephen Hawking. Its current president is Sir Martin Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal. The fellowship is a recognition given every year to about 40 of the best scientists and engineers from the UK and a number of foreigners who are regarded as world authority in their own field. If they ever gave a Nobel Prize to a pipeline engineer, Professor Palmer would be one of the favourites to win.

Professor Palmer was a professor of petroleum engineering at Cambridge University from 1996 to 2005. He was also a visiting professor at Harvard in 2002-2003 and a number of other universities in the UK and US. Almost fifty years ago, he was an engineering student at Cambridge graduating in 1961. After compulsory retirement at Cambridge, he decided to move to the Far East and has taken a chair of visiting professorship at National University of Singapore. One might ask why would NUS take a retired old foreign professor to occupy the chair of one of its professorships. Here I think is where Singapore is again going far ahead of Malaysia in lifting the standard and reputation of its universities to become a world class academic institution. They invest a substantial amount of money attracting eminent academics and researchers to their country, providing the right infrastructure and world class facilities. Singapore’s investment is starting to bear fruit. So far their biotechnology enclave, Biopolis has attracted some big names in biotechnology research and push Singapore into biotech world map. NUS is one of the top 50 universities in the world in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) list (no. 33 in 2007). So if our Higher Education Minister is looking for a model to follow, he does not have to go on lawatan sambil belajar (or is it belanja?) to Europe or America for ideas and inspirations. Just look down south across the causeway. Come to think about it again, NUS used to be University of Malaya in Singapore. The big gap in ranking between our Universiti Malaya and NUS now tells us something about how Singapore and Malaysia manage their most valuable asset (i.e. brain, bright people) and develop it to achieve its best potential.

After the meeting in the morning, I took the opportunity to have further discussions with Professor Palmer over lunch in a halal Chinese restaurant. I told him how I wished I had met him when I was in Cambridge from 1993 to 1995. But during those years, he took his time off from academic world and spent his time in the oil and gas industry. He set up his own consultancy company, built it up and eventually sold it off before joining the academia again. It’s one good thing all our academics should do – spend some time on the field and learn to appreciate how equations and computer simulations actually work in the real world. It’s easy to pressurize a pipeline or smash it to pieces in the lab or on a computer simulation. But it does not necessary mean that it can be done when you are out at sea hundreds of kilometers from shore.

Despite being optimistic and enjoying his life in this part of the world, I noticed he had some reservation about academic institution in Singapore, and in this region generally. Because of its rigid, rule-based society and limited academic freedom, it does not encourage new ideas and creativity, two important elements in innovation and advancement of knowledge. And despite its energetic push to be at the forefront of research and technology in the world, Singapore is still lagging behind in freedom and democracy. The effects have already been felt in certain areas where some academics and scientists who accepted good monetary rewards and had been working in Singapore for some time decided to leave because of lack of freedom. Singapore probably thinks that it is necessary at the current stage of its development to impose controls on everything. But sooner or later, people are going to demand more individual freedom. Make no mistake. No amount of grain can persuade a bird to live in a cage.

In the middle of our discussion, I noticed that it was Friday prayer time. I excused myself and left the learned professor to continue his lunch with my Chinese friend. It was an honour for me to meet such a great man in my own field of work. He is not just a prolific researcher and successful entrepreneur, but also a dedicated educator who loves his work. Now when I read his book again, I feel as if I could hear his voice talking to me over lunch.

Life Certainties

They say two things in life are certain: death and taxes. I’m not sure if I am prepared for the first one but with a definite deadline on April 30th, I had to spend almost whole of last weekend going through my purchase receipts and financial papers before submitting my tax return form (Borang BE) on-line. It’s good that it’s now possible to fill our tax return form via the Internet, have our taxes calculated using on-line applications and even get confirmation receipt from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN). This year LHDN expects more people to use the on-line applications and reduce congestion at its offices close to the deadline.

After 15 years of working life and slowly crawling up the salary ladder I finally find myself paying quite a substantial amount of tax. Like all sensible people, as much as legally possible, I tried to reduce my taxable income. I tried to claim reduction on every item in which I was entitled to. Yet after all the deductions, I still think that my tax amount was too much. With the kind of service I get, I feel I should pay much less.

To be quite honest, I will not have any qualms about paying taxes to the government if I know exactly where my money goes. If I know that my tax money is going to help the poor rakyat, I’m quite happy to contribute. But that is not the case for now. As long as there is no transparency in our government, we never know whether our money is being sucked into a black hole and enrich a few cronies. We see a lot of mega projects which don’t really benefit the people but put a lot of money into someone’s pocket. We see them build roads and highways but they collect tolls. They build five star airports and facilities but goods and service there are also 5-star. They distribute free goodies to kampong folks but only to people with certain political inclination. They use people’s money to pay for TV and radio but throw slanders on their political enemies. When will they ever learn that fairness and goodwill bring more support for them than hurling dirt on their enemies?

I’m not sure whether in the present circumstances taxpayers are getting their fair share. One way to make sure our hard-earned money go to the poor is by paying zakat. Zakat paid to a state religious authority is entitled to full rebate i.e. deduction from tax amount and not just from taxable income. We know zakat will be distributed to certain categories of Muslims who are entitled to part of our wealth and it does not include rich cronies. So it’s a way of fulfilling our religious obligation and at the same time also a really good way of preventing our money from going into the pocket of the rich. And with zakat you can pay it to any state government of your choice, not to the federal government, if that’s your wish. My zakat always go to the state which I think is poor and least corrupt. I would advise my friends to do the same. It does not matter which state you pay your zakat to, but make sure it will not go into enriching rent-seeking cronies.

There are ways not to pay tax. You can either migrate to a tax-free country like the Middle East or Brunei, or earn below the threshold, or put your money in a bag and carry it with you to Australia. Don’t worry too much about being caught. Even if you were, in Malaysia, you could still become a cabinet minister! Looks like for many of us there is not much choice not to pay income tax. So, despite all this anger, I still have my salary deducted every month by the LHDN and come April still have to file my tax return. It’s one of two certainties in life. No escape. Period.

Sedetik Bersama Sasterawan Negara

Pesta Buku Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur pada tahun ini berakhir petang tadi di PWTC Kuala Lumpur. Sungguh ramai manusia yang rata-ratanya umat Melayu bersesak-sesak mengunjungi pondok demi pondok di dewan pameran. Mungkin anggapan aku sebelum ini yang orang kita tidak suka membaca buku meleset. Mereka datang bersama anak-anak dan isteri dengan semangat ingin menambah ilmu. Semacam ada pesta hiburan di sana. Dan memangpun ada seorang dua selebriti yang dijemput khas samada untuk mempromosi buku mereka sendiri ataupun sekadar tayang muka di depan kaunter untuk melariskan jualan. Diskaun ditawarkan untuk banyak judul buku. Hampir setiap kaunter menawarkan pelbagai hadiah dan pakej istimewa untuk menarik pelanggan.

Aku datang sendirian dengan komuter. Lokasi stesen Putra amat mudah sekali untuk aku menapak ke PWTC di Bangunan UMNO. Dan aku rasa tindakanku tepat kerana dengan kesesakan yang sebegitu teruk, kalau anak-anak aku bersama, aku mungkin terpaksa menghabiskan masa melayan kerenah mereka sahaja daripada menumpukan perhatian kepada buku dan jurujualnya.

Di kaunter Bernama aku nampak orang ramai berkerumun. Lalu perasaan ingin tahu aku membawa aku ke sana. Rupanya dengan membeli sebuah buku yang berharga RM5 sahaja pembeli diberi peluang mendapat autograf dari angkasawan kedua negara Dr Faiz. Ramai juga yang mengambil peluang bergambar dengannya. Di situ juga bahan cenderamata Radio 24 “Radio Berita Pertama Negara” dan siaran Berita Bernama di Astro dijual. Nasib baik angkasawan pertama negara Dr Sheikh Muszaphar tiada bersama. Kalau tidak lagi sensasi dan sesak jadinya.

Setelah hampir 3 jam membelek-belek buku, aku melewati depan kaunter Wira Bukit Sdn Bhd. Di kerusi sofa di tengah-tengah pondok pameran, aku nampak pemiliknya sedang menyain buku-buku yang baru dibeli orang. Wajahnya memang dikenali ramai. Masakan tidak dialah Sasterawan Negara Datuk A. Samad Said yang mengekalkan penampilannya sejak dari dulu. Rambut putihnya panjang ke paras bahu, janggut dan misainya dibiarkan berjuntaian. Beliau selesa berbaju-T, berseluar slack dan berselipar jepun. Kali pertama aku melihatnya ialah lebih kurang 15 tahun yang lalu sewaktu beliau menunggu bas mini wilayah di stesen Bangkok Bank di tengah-tengah bandar Kuala Lumpur. Lima belas tahun lepas juga beliau berpakaian begitu. Statusnya sebagai seorang sasterawan negara dan gelaran Datuk tidak langsung mengubah zahirnya. Beliau tetap dengan penampilannya yang santai. Bagiku itulah uniknya A. Samad Said selain kata-kata puitis yang lunak menghiasi karya-karya sasteranya. Sebelum aku meminta beliau mengautograf buku yang baru aku beli, sempat aku berbisik dengan jurujualnya apa panggilan yang sesuai sebelum aku mula bercakap dengan orang besar sastera negara itu. Panggil saja Pak Samad jawab jurujual tersebut. Lalu aku terus mengambil tempat di hujung sofa di sebelah Pak Samad dan memintanya menyain buku nipis berjudul “Ilham Di Tepi Tasik”, sebuah koleksi esei sastera Pak Samad yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2006 dan kini dalam cetakan kedua.

Mungkin generasi muda kini lebih menggilai novel cinta remaja. Pak Samad sendiri pernah melahirkan rasa kesalnya dengan tindakan Kementerian Pendidikan yang memilih novel ringan untuk dijadikan bahan rujukan sastera di sekolah dan menyisihkan karya-karya agung sasterawan negara. Kekecewaannya itu diluahkan dengan tidak mahu lagi menggunakan gelaran Sasterawan Negara yang diterimanya itu. Walaupun beliau tidak mahu lagi dipanggil Sasterawan Negara, namun di hati peminat sastera beliau adalah sasterawan negara yang tulen.

Pada usia 73 tahun pena sasteranya tidak pernah tumpul dan karyanya yang merentasi beberapa dekad masih segar untuk dinikmati generasi muda. Beliau telah menghambakan seluruh hidupnya untuk menyuburkan sastera Melayu di rantau ini. Aku merasakan di kaunter jualan petang tadi aku bukan sahaja membeli sebuah buku, malah memetik salah satu dari bunga sastera Pak Samad. Semuga ilham Pak Samad akan terus menjelmakan karya-karya tinggi untuk dinikmati pencinta sastera.

13-4-2008