Category Archives: World Affairs

So It Ends at Lahad Datu? Part 2

by

doc693jkigpg5z196dk26xh

Ops-Daulat

(Now it is a whole different ball game in Lahad Datu once the military steps in with its might with surgical air strike and armoured infantry mopping and search exercise – Photo sources: the Net)

The number of our fallen heroes went up to 8 before the Government decided to end their passive approach to the whole situation and came to their senses and finally brought in the might of our trained military power as how it should have been probably after the first 24 hours deadline to surrender unconditionally.

The fact that the Government pushed the military to be second liner to the situation perhaps caused more confusion and suspicion (one that Tian Chua accidentally got entangled for the wrong reasons when he questioned the passive action by the Government) and even ex-military men started to ask questions. First from Capt (Rtd) Hussaini Abdul Karim (http://hak55.blogspot.com/):-

News photographs show some troops in bullet-proof vests but no helmets; others in T-shirts and “soft” headgear; and many not wearing bullet-proof vests. This is wrong. However, soldiers guarding the area were wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests. There didn’t seem to be any trenches or bunkers with sandbags to protect troops keeping watch.

Some of the militants have SLRs using 7.62 mm bullets and 81mm mortars. These are deadly. A hit on the arm from as far as 600m, because of its sheer power, can kill. This is unlike the bullets used by our troops which are the 5.56 mm type where sometimes even a direct hit to the body may only injure and is not strong enough to kill. If I were the commander, I wouldn’t want to position my men anywhere nearer than 200m of the enemy.

Malaysian troops, police and the army, with our strength and superiority in numbers, equipment and logistics support, should be fully ready. Strafing from the air, harassing fire using high explosive ammunition from mortars, the light and even the medium guns of the artillery regiment should have been carried out. Tanks should have been deployed.

And another from Major (Rtd) D.Swami (http://7rangers.blogspot.com/)

We should have struck using the Malaysian Armed Forces with great audacity and at will to bring terror into the hearts of these Sulu pirates who think themselves hardy warriors.

The Police did not have the assets to destroy them. Those Sulu pirates were with automatic weapons and mortars, which killed two of our people. They had frigging mortars, for f***sake!! Najib and company were handling these terrorists with kid gloves, using the Police who are trained to handle internal security situations like the Bersih or Hindraf rally.

The Police are not trained to launch attacks on enemy locations, where the enemy fires back. It is not a Bersih rally. They do not have Mortars, Artillery, Infantry Fighting Vehicles or Special Forces skilled in Reconnaissance, Air Force and Navy. One of the principles of attack is, “the momentum of the attack must be maintained”. There will be more casualties as they did not observe this principle. I doubt the Police have any inkling of that. I guess more Policeman have to die before the sheep calls in the Military.

The Military knows that. It should be their job, as it is an external threat, they are equipped and trained for this. I am sure any soldier worth his salt is raring to go. This should be handled by the 5th Brigade Commander without sparing all the niceties. In fact there is a Tank Regiment in Kota Belud, that would make it all the more easier, minimizing the Malaysian casualties and maximizing casualties amongst the Sulu pirates. We can even use the FGA’s located in Labuan. A couple of sorties with them, followed by a mortar and artillery barrage, would be nice. After which the Infantry mounted in Stormers, accompanied by tanks can finish the job. We should use these assets which are there, instead of throwing away the lives of our brave Malaysian men.

But thankfully all that nonsense that went on for 3-odd weeks (which was way too long to be dealing with a foreign force claiming a stake of the country and asking everyone to buzz off) ended when Najib called in the military and told the intruders that there is only one way out for them – unconditional surrender.

First there was the surgical bombing using laser guided bombs using the F/A 18 jet fighters and BAe 200 Hawks and then pounding of the area with artillery to clear the area for the police and the armed forces to move in and do their mopping and search mission and with that managed to stop further casualties and in the same process managed to kill off up to 52 of the armed intruders and x number of arrested/caught. More battalions were moved up to Sabah and the naval blockade tighten to prevent more intrusion from taking place. And more recently Najib also issued orders the set up of special security areas to maintain high military presence – it makes a lot of sense, we do not want another wave of intrusion taking place soon after we had finished with the clean up of the current intrusion.

The fact that we are getting more of the intruders dead or caught whilst at the same time suffering no causalities of our own simply points that we are doing the right thing at the moment. But there is still room for improvement and lesson to be learned when it comes to dealing with foreign armed intrusion.

The obvious one would be the role of the military and the police in dealing with such armed intrusion? Semantics aside (one may argue that it is still considered as an internal affair and that is why we have the police in the lead), we would not seem a positive improvement to the armed intrusion stand-off if the military (with all due respect to the brave & skilled police commandos who had endangered themselves for the country and still fighting in the front-line) have not move in with their powerful assets in land, sky and sea. It is clear that there is a confusion as who to take the lead when such incidents happened (which may have explained the 3 weeks delay nonsense) – on whether the Home Ministry or the Defence Ministry should take charge.

In this instance, the answer is crystal clear – the police may come in to cordon the area and negotiate with the intruders to surrender themselves but once the order has been issued to wipe the Sulu terrorists, they should have fallen back and leave the military to do their job. Press releases thereafter should only come from the Chief of the Armed Forces, Gen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin or in some instances from the Defence Minister or the Prime Minister. The police will still have vital role to play with maintaining rule of order in other areas (they still have their normal policing work to do), with forensics of the dead bodies and to interrogate & process those who have been caught (and already cleared as not holding any vital information to the on-going military mission) by the military.

It will be even better if politicians with limited knowledge of military tactics and skills stay clear from the on-going military exercise and leave it to the experts to get the job done. This kind of confusion needs to be cleared before we face a similar intrusion in the future (although we hope this would be the last one). The amount of confusion (and unfounded rumours) generated at the first 3 weeks of the intrusion (and no thanks to strict media blackout) is simply astonishing.

Then we have this – one that well observed by Capt (Rtd) Hussaini Abdul Karim above and another by Singaporean former defence correspondent:-

During the three-week long standoff against a force which claims has 200 gunmen and even after blood was shed, Malaysians deployed for security duty do not seem to care much for their personal protection. Body amour is rarely seen.

When worn by some officers, the body amour appears to be of the soft body amour type which is not designed to withstand full metal jacket projectiles discharged from firearms or mortar rounds. Headgear in the form of ballistic helmets is almost never worn. And let’s not even go into protective eye wear like goggles.

(Source)

The American foot soldier in the Iraq and Afghanistan theatre of war complained the same thing at the initial start of the battle – the lack of body amour when facing a more determined insurgents and when the body counts started to rise, it took some time for the Government to act before the troops on the ground getting the right body armour. Coming back to the scenario in Lahad Datu, due to the media blackout and lack of details on the actual mission on the ground, it is possible that those in the front-line are actually have the right body armor but then if what we see on the news and media is reflective of what is our troops are using to face the heavily armed intruders, we need to revisit this if we are going to face a more sophisticated and trained foreign troops (remember, everyone with military interest in the region is looking at us on our tactics and state of readiness).

And finally there is a small incident of the media in Philippines (quoting their military intelligence) tying the culprits behind the armed intrusion with an opposition party in Malaysia. Utusan and TV3 (given this sweetener) wasted little time and jumped the gun and named Anwar was the one. I don’t think any Malaysian in their right mind (more so a leading politician at the time of general elections) would be dared to do that because it meant high treason and rightfully Anwar have denied the same and is now suing Utusan & TV3 for RM100 million for gross defamation. He should now raise the same concern to the same Philippines media and should demand them to name the opposition politicians. After all, Anwar is the Opposition Leader in the Parliament and any implication of the opposition with the armed intrusion (even if the media there did not name any names) is the last thing that the Pakatan wants at the moment. He should get this thing done and over now instead of just waiting out for the defamation suit trial date which will come over after the general elections.

In the meantime, whilst the rest of us would be looking forward to spend our time with our families on the weekend, our prayers and hopes remains entrenched with our security forces in Sabah to bring the armed intrusion to a swift end and without any casualities.

Related articles

So It Ends at Lahad Datu?

by

sulusoldiers-642x453

(Just look at the fire-power in the back. Why it took so long to end this conflict? It is clear that these men were ready to defend their intrusion to the end and had push the authorities to back off until their demands are fully met. Why now? Why the sudden armed the intrusion after the Sultan getting payments from Malaysia for years now? Image source: http://news.abnxcess.com)

It has been almost 3 weeks and after the country’s sovereignty was molested by a couple of armed men and forced our mighty and well trained security forces to do “jaga” work – you know, the usual patrolling the perimeter to keep the unwanted media out whilst the armed men and his old Sultan continue to make undue demands on Sabah, it finally ends (well it is not the end of the armed men in Sabah though but rather the end of the passive treatment from the authorities – unfortunately no thanks to the armed men making the first move) today:-

The Prime Minister has confirmed that two police personnel were killed and three others injured during the clash between Malaysian armed forces and Sulu gunmen in Tanduo village near Lahad Datu, Sabah. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the armed Philippino group had ventured 1.5km from their holed up area and opened fire at the Malaysian security forces.

“I have given the full mandate to the ground commanders, namely the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and the Armed Forces Chief Tan Sri Zulkefli Mohd Zin to take necessary action deemed necessary,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Lahad Datu, Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib told reporters that 12 Sulu gunmen were killed in the clash between Malaysian General Operations Force members and the gunmen. The number of injured among the Sulu group is unknown.

(Source)

Since the waiting has ended and unnecessary blood (at Malaysian side) have been spilled, I hope that the authorities would not waste any more time sweeping up / kill off the rest of the intruders and tighten the borders to avoid future incursion from remaining rebel members in Philippines who may now hold grudge against Malaysia. It may not be the end but could be the start of more armed conflicts with the rebels in South of Philippines and who now have a reason to create trouble in Sabah as well.

It is unfortunate that we had 2 of our men died in the conflict and they will forever be remembered for their heroic action defending the country. We probably could have prevented this tragedy if we had acted earlier and with a larger and stronger show of force with aerial and artillery bombing first before the military instead of the police move in to finish off these intruders – the use of mortar bomb by the intruders seems to be suggest a change of tactics and use of the military (with a couple of PT91 MBTs leading the way)  instead of the police would have been better option but it is too late to discuss about it now.

Of course, in the meantime the pro BN blogs are trying hard to do some damage control on the inaction of their politicians over this intrusion of national sovereignty.

One conveniently linked the armed intrusion with some mumbo jumbo conspiracy theory that implies the involvement of the US and get this, some fellows from PKR (ya, why not – general elections is around the corner) mingling with the CIA and some hidden hands making Sabah Ground Zero. Perhaps it is true but it does not explain inaction to use the military and the passive treatment by the Government for the past 3 weeks and of the various extensions of the deadline that was given to these armed men that expired with no positive outcome. If the rebels did not start the shooting, who knows, another extension of the deadline would probably been thrown for the pleasure of the armed men and time would have passed by with a part of Malaysia in the hands of foreign rebels.

Another said it is a good “PR” work and any move by the armed forces would cause massacre of “old and starving men and women” and that would be bad for protection of human rights in this country. Huh? Are we supposed to take pity on the armed intrusion just and abstain from any action just because there are old and starving men and women in the rebel group who not only cross into Malaysia heavily armed but also demand their share of this country? Or are we suppose to defend our country at all cost and show that Malaysia is not a place where anyone can simply walk in and poke their finger at the sovereignty of the country, no matter what their excuse or mission may have been. No one negotiates with terrorists and so remains the same here. The moment they walked in the country with arms and claim a stake on it – it is an act of war.

Certainly with the end of the initial fire-fight, there is no longer the question of granting the intruders more time and extensions of deadline to leave the country – rest assured, that one would have gone unheeded and died a natural dead too. In the meantime, the world is laughing at us for leaving our front doors open and do nothing when a group of armed men enters and refused to leave and claim a stake on the place. It’s time to get tough all around and ensure that it does not happen again. Sovereignty of this country cannot be taken for granted for anyone – in or out of the country.

Related articles

Malaysia’s New Approach to Foreign Armed Intrusion?

by

69637_477362328978805_220642246_n

(Still remember the PDRM’s courtesy in the previous Bersih rallies organised and in attendance by none other than fellow Malaysians? Why it is not the same strong treatment against unwanted armed foreigners who also wants a piece of the country? The real question to be asked perhaps is on which side does the police and the Government are when it comes to the situation in Lahad Datu. It is getting more suspicious by the day. Image source: Facebook)

A couple days ago, I was flying back – the MAS flight was not that full and the in-flight service from the award winning cabin crew was top notch as usual.

Just when we had passed Malaysian airspace and the plane started the descent, a short video on KLIA and Malaysia (hosted by the lovely Asha Gill) was shown on the overhead display and the foreigners around me seemed tantalized. One thing that Asha Gill said in the end and that brought tears to my eyes – she said she can go on and on Malaysia and there was a twinkle in her eyes when she said and I saw my fellow passengers had the same facial impression. I was feeling very proud indeed of my country and where it stands in the eyes of the world. For me, that is the truth and reality and I am sure it is the same for most of us.

But coming back to ‘tanah air‘, you will be confronted with unexplained insanity such as this:-

Police are still in negotiations with the 100-odd armed intruders, claiming to be from the Royal Sulu Army, who have been holding the authorities at bay in Kampung Tanduo, a coastal village 90km from Lahad Datu since Feb 12.

(Source)

Oh by the way, let’s not talk about the detention and the deportation of a certain Australian senator under the disguise of national threat which happened about the same time. That simply does not add up when one talks about national security. It is quite dumb if you ask me for the only overwhelming reason for this deportation seems to be the senator is pro-opposition and not because actual threat to national security (if you put this and the Lahad Datu intrusion side by side, what one lone unarmed elected lawmaker from a developed country could do?). In the end, it reflects rather badly on us (who claim that we have fair elections year in, year out) and with general elections coming up any time now, it appears to be nothing but dirty politics in play at the end.

But instead let’s look at the bigger boo-boo that is happening in Lahad Datu. Let’s take a step back and consider these things:-

  • These men are heavily armed
  • They are foreigners who insist that part of Sabah belongs to them and determined to get their wish done (even though how they going to do that is still a big mystery)
  • They had effectively ‘chased’ away Malaysians from their homes and basically turned them into refugees in their own country
  • Our armed forces are not weaklings and is a force to reckon with in this side of the continent and is ever ready to face any intrusion from in and out of the country (they have proven themselves many times over)
  • And yet the Government is still negotiating with these unwanted armed intruders and threat to national security with soft approach with plenty of deadlines that in the end went unheeded by the group.

Why?

Is it because they do not ‘upset’ other people from the same region in the past (probably ‘Malaysianised‘ under the project IC) and cause them to vote against the Government for the next elections? And all the sudden the number of votes had become more important than the sovereignty of the country? Or is it because the police have the inside information that the group had planted other intruders in other area in Sabah and will resort to mayhem if the security forces storm them with bloody consequences? That makes some sense but doesn’t giving longer time to this group only allows them to entrench even deeper?

TheSun reports:-

The Philippine Daily Inquirer also says Malaysia is in a no-win situation as a result of the standoff in Sabah. “If it uses deadly force on a small group of armed Filipino Muslims now holed up in the village … members of the fiercest of Philippine Moro tribe, the Tausogs of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, will retaliate. “If, on the other hand, Malaysia compromises with the armed group purportedly belonging to the Sultanate of Sulu, it will be perceived as a weakling by its neighbours.”

But that’s not all. A commentary by Ramon Tulfo in the same newspaper makes compelling reading because we are not talking about just the men and women who arrived by boat three weeks ago, but something more sinister. He says that even before the landing of 200 men in Lahad Datu, the Sulu sultanate had sent armed men in small groups to Sabah to escape notice from authorities. “The armed groups are being coddled by Tausogs in the Malaysian state,” he wrote.

Or is it because the government have screwed up things for these people (in the last peace deal) and feeling guilty (or rather worried the truth will be out) and buying time to sweep things under the carpet? Something seems not right indeed and the same echoed by the Pakatan politicians:-

The Barisan Nasional government could be using the Lahad Datu incident to divert people’s attention from the IC-for-votes Royal Commission of Inquiry proceedings and the Manuel Amalilio scandal, claimed PKR. PKR vice-president Tian Chua said that he found it bizarre that the Malaysian government was being lenient with the armed Filipinos now camped in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

“It’s been one week since they arrived. The BN government has a lot to explain,” Tian Chua said at press conference held at the party headquarters here today.

Tian Chua, who is also Batu MP, said that he found it irrational for the Sulu Sultanate to send armed men to intrude into Sabah just because of a historical claim. “I do recognise Sulu’s historical link to Sabah but to send 100 armed men to take over the state is not rational,” he said. Tian Chua also took a swipe at the immigration authorities for failing to stop the intruders from arriving at Lahad Datu.

“What are we negotiating? When they are leaving or something else? It all look very dramatic to me,” he said.

(Source)

And what kind message the government is sending out by continuing to negotiating with armed terrorist group? That any armed groups can waltz in and the armed forces of Malaysia will step by and will negotiate with them to leave peacefully? Didn’t they learned anything from the Americans in dealing with the terror groups?

What happens if one day, another armed factions from the neighbouring countries (mind you we still have a bloody conflict down south of Thailand) or worst likes of Al-Qaeda decide to do the same? What is the point of buying high-tech submarines, cream of Russian fighter interceptors and best of the military fire power when we are reduced to using roses and soft approach to armed men? Why we have not gotten some of our best snipers and take some of the ringleaders with a shot to the head (after giving one sole deadline of 24 hours of course) and move our commandos to sweep out the rest of the intruders from the country? After all, we already had these intruders cornered and we know where they all are.

And tactically, the delays by the armed forces in flushing out these intruders and sent them, back to whatever hole they crawl from may have dire consequences. Whilst it may have gained valuable time for the security forces to do their intelligence and reassess the correct tactics (do they need a small platoon or need to do carpet-bombing) to take down this group when the order finally comes, it had also allowed the group to dig in further defensively which may prolong bloodshed once the battle to flush out the intruders starts. A well defended area may take longer time to take down but it will be taken down eventually given our military might but at what cost?

The thing is when armed men storm into this country uninvited, chase away Malaysians from their homes and their way of life and continued to show their middle finger to the sovereignty of this country, the last thing we want the Government to do is to hold back the quick retaliation with the strongest measures possible and proceed instead continue to negotiate and imply that we are soft and weak and willing to do anything to avoid bloodshed on side of the armed intruders. So once again, question must be asked on whose side the Government and the police really are in this conflict? One hope that the Government will come to their senses and end this intrusion now and without further delays or further negotiations. We have given all the time to these intruders to make up their mind and they have made their stand very, very clear.

Related articles

Prepping In Malaysia Part 3

by

Update 1: Some 300,000 residents living in Cheras and Ampang will celebrate the New Year without water supply as it will take Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) up to one week to restore the service to their areas (source). Still think that we need a major disaster to happen before we start prepping? All it needs is a fault in the pump house and you are out of water for a week – that is a real case scenario right here in Malaysia.

Back to the original post

(Remember; when disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed. — Steven Cyros)

Kuantan Flood

(Streets or rivers in Kuantan? Yes, it is a yearly affair for those who live along the East Coast but the West Coast has its share of flash floods too. We may not have killer hurricanes or earthquakes or volcanoes, unlike our nearest neighbours but we do have our share of natural disasters. And given the frailty of our infrastructure, maintenance and dirty politics, we are also exposed to possible blackouts and water supply disruptions. Are we ready for it? Image source: TheSun)

Welcome back, a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just one more post on “2012″ before the end of 2012 (please read Part 1 here and Part 2 here). The world as we know it did not end last week and we will likely to have a very smooth journey into 2013 but it did not deter me from prepping for unforeseeable disaster in the future. If you have been following up on this blog, I talked about Mayans and 2012 way back in 2007 (almost 5 years before the deadline on 21.12.2012) but I did nothing back then – no storerooms, no bug-out-bags, no canned food, no water storage, nothing. But then, counting down towards 21.12.2012 and as I realised the importance of preparing for emergencies, it has become a good excuse to be a prepper. Moving forward, the challenge would be to maintain the same prepper’s mindset beyond 21.12.2012.

Anyway, it was interesting to read the various comments in the net & mainstream media when the world as we know it did not end last week. Some were positive (especially from fellow preppers – they were determined more than ever) and some were not. Some even ridiculed the Mayans civilizations – an ancient civilization that had fully developed written language and a well developed understanding in art, architecture, mathematics and astronomy. What if we got the Mayan calendar all wrong and we are off the mark by couple of days or years? Wouldn’t that be interesting? Others ridiculed the fact that there are people prepping for doomsday. Was it a sign of people not believing in having Plan B or taking things for granted? – I don’t know but based on what I have read in the papers, there seems to be some misconceptions on prepping.

1. The world did not end on 21.12.2012 and nothing will happen in the near future.

Now if we analyse the hype of 21.12.2012, it merely mentions that the Mayan Long Calendar (by some extension and interpretation, the world) ends on 21.12.2012. The thing is Mayan had never predicated what would cause the end of the world (if one takes the end of the calendar to be the end of the world).

A number of possible disasters (both natural and man made) have been mentioned as the possible cause of the end of the world – major earthquakes, super volcanic eruptions, high possibility of a bull eye’s hit by large asteroids (or dark comets), ark floods, giant tsunamis, an all-out nuclear war (triggered by rouge countries or terrorists) and civil unrest, solar storms, drastic polar shift, ice age, break out of plagues, alien attacks, etc and even though we were lucky enough not to see it happening on 21.12.2012, some of it remains a major threat to mankind

Our rich history of mankind is dotted with incidents of major disasters that had wiped out thousands or millions in the past. We only need to turn to our history books and remind ourselves. Can we say for sure that nothing will ever happen in the future?

2. Prepping is a waste of time, resources and money – we can always get things from the hypermarket even on a bad day.

In the same manner we are grateful that we have a spare tire in our car when we hit a puncture in a dark lonely road or we had brought along the umbrella when it starts to rain, there is no harm coming up with a fall-back plan – a Plan B sort of. No doubt prepping takes time, resources and money but can we call it as waste?

Being in Malaysia where at the worst, our “disasters” are confined to flash floods, blackouts and water interruptions, we need not spend the time and money preparing for the worst. When disaster strikes, we simply wait for the Government to send help (in form of relief centres, financial aid and sundry items). Some may decide to spend time with relatives and friends until the time of disaster simply passes over. But what happens if we are to face a disaster that is not familiar to us – say solar storms and extended blackouts and water interruptions or a major plague (still remember H1N1? It’s almost end of 2012 and it is still here) and when it will some time before the Government can do something about it?

And don’t forget that we are also cursed with the usual mentality of doing things at the last moment. If we know that we need to hold-on on our own for a few days before we can rescued, rushing over to the hypermarket to stock up on food and water at the last minute could be overwhelming experience – not only we have fight our way to little food and water that may be left, buying things at the last moment could be expensive too (it’s a different story if one have been building up the storage over a longer period)

My grandmother was one of the earliest supporters in the family when it comes to prepping and she insists (to this day) that I am doing the right thing. She went through the Japanese occupation of Malaya and May 13 and she knows all too well the importance of storing up food, water and other essentials when disaster strikes and it is not safe to venture out.

3. Buying canned food as part of prepping is dumb as it does not last long and if nothing happens, it goes to the waste.

It’s a fact that canning is still one the best ways to preserve food and has a long shelf life, some with 2-3 years before it can be “unsafe” to eat. Canning has several advantages when it comes to storage too. It does not need refrigeration, easy to stack up, highly portable (great for bug-out-bags), completely sealed and well cooked during the canning process and this kills any bacteria that may be present and still keeps the nutrients intact.

My idea of prepping is to continue to store and keep something that we use and eat on a regular basis. Forget about keeping canned food for disasters – even normal days we still use canned food on a very regular basis and that includes sardines (and mackerel) which is great for curry or sambal and is a good source of protein, tuna spread (my son love it with bread for breakfast), baked beans and green peas. We simply decided to buy extra 5 cans instead of the usual 1-2 cans whenever we go for our shopping and over time, we would have stocked up enough cans that can be used for the future. So we did – we bought 5 cans, use up 2 cans for our usual cooking and keep the balance 3 cans in the storeroom and the cycle went on until we have a sizeable storage of canned food that can used in the event we cannot venture out to buy food.

All the canned food have been properly labelled and arranged based on expiry dates – the one with the longer dates are stacked up at the back whilst the one going to expire soon is stacked up at the front. And we only buy those canned food that we use on a regular basis (nothing exotic) – so this rotation of cans will make sure that we don’t end up having expired canned food and if nothing happens, we can still use it for our regular use (when I started prepping, my canned food was running out faster than I could store them).

4. All house water tanks are enough to last for 3 days (taking into consideration the 72 hours factor), so what is the big deal in storing more water?

We use water for drinking, cooking, the toilet and shower and perhaps to water the garden and wash the car. But when the taps goes dry, we need to conserve whatever water we have, primarily for drinking and cooking – we can only survive an average of three to five days without water.

When I talked about water storage for 3 days, I was talking about drinking water and for a family of 8 (5 adults and 2 children) and excluding whatever left in the house water tank. As recent as 2012, there are places in this country that had experienced water supply disruption lasting up to a week. My friend had water supply to his housing area disrupted for more than a week and after numerous complaints, they finally sent some water tankers for the residents but guess what, it was sent when most of them was away at work and it was not enough to cover all houses! That almost started a riot. And more recently there have been threats of water disruptions as well.

Ask yourself this question – will your house water tank last your family for at least a week? If yes, good for you but if it does not, what is your Plan B if you experience water disruption? Wait out for the Government water tankers who may or may not show up at your residential area or when you are away at work? Or rush over to your local sundry shop and buy crates of expensive mineral water (forget trying to replenish your water storage with the water kiosks in front of the shops – it may have gone dry too)? Or store up water upfront when you still had water in your taps and recycle them often so that the water in your storage remains fresh and safe? Which one is easier to do?

5. Preppers are people who are simply afraid to die (ya this was one of the more interesting one that I read). When it is time to go, nothing stops you from going.

Tell me one person who is not afraid of death? Suicide bombers perhaps. Yes, all of us have to “go” one day but does it mean we will leave it to our fate and go down without a fight? What about the people who have beaten the odds and survived from a near impossible situation? Still remember of those who crashed in the Andes and survived? The fact is no one wants to die and if you have people to take care (family, relatives or friends), you will do whatever it takes to keep breathing and survive. And you don’t have to be a prepper to do that – just ask anyone who have a family to take care of. So, it’s nonsense to link preppers to people who are afraid to die.

We are grateful that 21.12.2012 was not the end of the world but in the same juncture, it should be the start of prepping. The future is uncertain and we should not take things for granted. No one is forcing anyone to be a prepper but think about it, especially if you have small kids and elderly parents to take care of.

Related articles

2012 Updates: It’s This Week, Folks!

by

mayan calendar

(The Mayan Calendar ending on the year 2012 could have been due to this reason – who knows – and we are freaking out for no good reason in 2012. Image source: http://www.abovetopsecret.com)

Mayan’s Long Calendar will end this Friday and thus end of the world as we know it, so believed by many doomsday believers.

However, it is very likely that we will make it to next week (and the coming months) without any major incidents. After all, I am sure all of us have made major plans to do things and go places in the coming years and we expect to get things done as planned. We have yet to see any news on the discovery of any large asteroid heading directly towards the planet or the appearance of the mysterious Planet X which will collide with planet Earth on 21st December 2012. And so far no one had pressed the doomsday panic button – not from any Government officials, space agencies, well-known public figures or NGOs. Although we have been seeing more than usual earthquakes and typhoons (such the recent Typhoon Bopha which hit the Philippines and caused more than 1000 casualties) in the past months, that has not been something that we have not seen before (and yes, we have seen worse).

But then again, it does not mean we can just stand-by and take all things in complete ignorance of any dangers to the civilization as we know it (you seriously think that we are all alone in the universe and the planet Earth is completely immune to all types of dangers from in and out? Dream on, brother!). There is always of 0.0001% chance of something creeping up on us when we least expected. It has happened in the past and it can always happen again in the near future. Whatever said and done, we should never stop prepping for the future.

doomsday ark

(The doomsday ark in the movie 2012 – in the movie, an ark ticket was sold for 1 billion Euro. I wonder what would be the cost if doomsday scenario is real and a real ark is built with limited seat for all and whether the smaller, poorer nations will even be eligible for a place in such ark. Image source: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com)

Think this as a possible conspiracy scenario – what if all the heads of Government have been called for a secret meeting and been forewarned of an impending danger to the planet say some 3 – 5 years ago (if you had been keeping an eye for interesting rumours, you would have heard about the letter from a “Norwegian politician”) and a consortium of companies have been selected to built a doomsday ark of sort in secret (with each Government contributing based on their allocation of a place in the ark for their people) and as the ark is being built and the list of survivors being drawn up, they are told to keep the whole thing hush-hush to avoid a massive global panic. Yes, in the same way the Government covered up in the movie 2012. And just imagine watching CNN on the eve of doomsday at your local mamak stall, having your teh-tarik & roti canai when the news of the impending danger is officially announced to the masses and in the background, you catch a glimpse of the Fat Mamma entering the ark with all her shopping bags. It may or may not happen.

Consider the fact that we simply do not have the resources and time to scan the entire sky for any changes to the alignment of the star and planetary system in our galaxy that may have put gravitational force on the planet Earth (that may set mega earthquakes and tsunamis) or asteroids such as 4179 Toutatis that flew past us last week (you were aware of it? we have about 1,325 of them on watch list and the number is growing) or the so-called dark comets that may have been missed previously and is hurling towards the planet undetected. We have probably spent more money into military expansions, mismanagement of the economy and corruption than on astronomy and space explorations. Yes, we have NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russians, the Chinese and not forgetting our very own Angkasawan that manages anything that related to space exploration and astronomy but it does not mean that they have unlimited budget, time and manpower to get their tasks done. Even the powerful, well-funded and equipped NASA is relying on amateur astronomers to look out for asteroids. The question is are we looking at the right spot in space and how much of it is under our radars.

And who knows, perhaps we already have an alien mother-ship hovering on our atmosphere in an unknown stealth technology waiting for some countdown that ends on 21st December 2012 (remember the movie Independence Day?). One can just hope that they have a good appetite for corrupt and greedy politicians and businessmen and they will leave the solar system once they have “cleaned up” the planet.

Yellowstone_SuperVolcano

(A sleeping giant that may wake up one day. Image source: http://www.cuttingedge.org)

We still have the time bomb lurking under the vast Yellowstone National Park which some say will wipe most of America out with estimated 100 million dead, leaving the sole super power in the world (to some degree) in ruins and incapacitated. And if you think we all in Malaysia will be safe as we are far away from this hotspot, think again – a cloud of ash & debris will linger on the atmosphere for months if not years, bringing down the global temperature and creating major havoc on agriculture all over the world. Imagine the steep cost of food and breakout of famines around the world. Imagine with the US out of the picture, guess who is going to fill up the power vacuum as far as Malaysia is concerned? Well, be prepared to shed the National language and English from our schools and use Mandarin (or who knows, Hindi) on full time basis instead. With rogue countries like North Korea and Pakistan in the picture, doomsday scenario will be more realistic than ever.

And some scientists are expecting that the planet Earth is long due for a major geomagnetic reversal (for some also known as the polar shift). Will it happen this week or in the coming weeks? The scientific community as whole seems to concur on the theory that changes in geomagnetic happens over a long period and does not change all too sudden. But what if it does? What it means to us when it happens?

If a large pole shift could happen suddenly, the redistribution of land and water it caused would be nothing short of cataclysmic.

In the short term, it would mean earthquakes, strange weather patterns, massive tsunamis capable of drowning parts of continents, and possibly gaps in the planet’s magnetic field — our shield against harmful cosmic rays. In the long term, the redistribution of land and water in the tropics, subtropics and poles would fundamentally alter ocean currents and the heat balance of the Earth, resulting in widespread climatological shifts.

Ice caps might melt and reform elsewhere, or remain melted, driving sea levels down or up.

(Source)

And most 2012 doomsday websites are talking about the more obvious and realistic danger to the world (and I am thinking the same) – a major solar storm that will bring down the power grids and leaves millions without electricity for months. And for a society that is so dependant on electricity for almost everything that it touches, from running the computers, pumping fuel, running the water supply to homes and businesses, etc, without electricity, this society would simply breakdown. A real doomsday threat, no thanks to our own growth and over reliance in technology. But then, again we had gone through the sun’s 11 years cycle many, many times before and we somehow had survive it without much fuss and danger to our power grids. Will we see the “big one” any time soon?

Think about it – some doomsday scenarios can be far-fetched but does it mean it will never happen? Anyway, it is just a food for your thoughts, considering that all the hype on the Mayan Long Calendar coming to an “end” this Friday. But as I mentioned before, it is very likely that we will make it to next week (and the coming months or years) without any major incidents. However don’t stop prepping and keep one eye opened for any eventuality as the world as we know it will eventually end one day. It may not happen this Friday or next year or next 10 years or not in our lifetime – we just do not know when and how but there is no harm to be prepared and educating our kids to be prepared as well.

Have a good week ahead, enjoy the “fireworks” on this Friday and I will see you next week, same time and at the same place.

Related articles