WHY MALAYSIA SHOULD EMBRACE NEW PARADIGM FOR DRUG DISCOVERY BY USING ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY

“…….that drug discovery from our biodiversity is an imperative that cannot be postponed or stymied because of our own megalomania and persecutory complex that tends to over-protect our biodiversity. Malaysia’s healing gift to the world today may just come from the richness of our biodiversity but that can only be realized through research collaboration of scientists from both resource-rich and technology-rich nations of the world.”

The rainforests and the coral reefs of the tropical regions have been estimated to contain one-half to two-thirds of the world's biodiversity. They thus should be particularly rich sources of pharmaceutical agents. Yet less than 1% of rainforest plants have been studied for their pharmaceutical potential. Since the Convention for Biological Diversity, signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, there has been a greater appreciation of the value and benefits that can be derived from biodiversity. Among issues that have been contentiously pursued by biodiversity-rich countries were those pertaining to ownership and access to genetic resources, which converged into an agreement by 150 nations, including Malaysia, that biodiversity is a sovereign national resource. Essentially, this infers that in any attempt to exploit this biodiversity resource, as in the case of drug discovery, both suppliers and receivers should benefit economically.

The provision of royalties to the resource-rich country is frequently cited as a means of providing incentive for conservation of rainforests or coral reefs. In reality, the possibility of royalties derived from a new drug, for instance, may not provide sufficient incentive to the scientists or the host country involved. These participants often get discouraged because, as in other research-based venture, there is no guarantee of success. Even taking a very optimistic view, the usual paths and time taken for the eventual development of a new drug are often too slow, cumbersome and expensive. It has been estimated that as many as 10,000 to 50,000 compounds are screened for every commercially valuable drug that is discovered. Further, it may take as long as 12 years from the time of 'lead' discovery was made to obtaining the regular clearance for a prescription drug. Most prohibitive of all factors for any biodiversity-rich country venturing into drug discovery programme is the overall cost for R&D which often runs to more than US$250 million for a single drug. But a more likely guarantee for a lasting and visible benefit for these resource-rich countries is the enhancement of infrastructure through education and training, technology transfer and the provision of specialized equipment.

There is a clear need for intensive effort to discover new and inexpensive drugs from our rich biodiversity resource. Being young and still at a stage of fending for itself with respect to drug discovery, Malaysia is often faced with constraints that mitigate against a full development and growth of its own research capability. In recognition of the need to continually increase and strengthen its research capability, Malaysian scientists are encouraged to forge strategic alliances with many foreign universities and research organizations. Partnership with universities and institutions that have a strong tradition and capability in scientific discovery of drugs from biological resources must take priority. Particularly exciting is the international tie up with research organizations that have been using robotics to screen hundreds of thousands of compounds annually using a procedure called high-throughput screening (HTS). It is the process by which large numbers of compounds can be tested, in an automated fashion, for a variety of biological and pharmaceutical activities. HTS is capable of testing over 50 times as many samples for basic biological activity, largely due to investment in robotics and miniaturization. The greater the number and diversity of compounds that are run through a screen, the more successful it is likely to be. Today, fully automated robotic technology can screen 50,000 samples a day, or around 2.5 million samples each year. Miniaturization has also lowered the cost of screening, as the cost of running assays depends substantially on sample volumes.

In recognizing that HTS is the way forward in future drug discovery, Malaysian scientists should be encouraged to forge smart partnership with several research organizations locally and abroad to utilize this robotic technology. Together they can work collaboratively in the collection and identification of microorganisms and plants from both the coral reefs and tropical rainforest ecosystems. Our research efforts should concentrate on a variety of pristine and unique habitats found in conservation areas of Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. An extract bank should be developed at the national level where chemicals and compounds isolated from our diverse terrestrial and marine species are preserved and systematically coded for scientific investigations. These biological extracts can be screened for a variety of pharmaceutical activities by all interested parties and investigators locally and internationally. The high-throughput screening by robotic technology include bioassays for antimicrobials, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, enzyme inhibitor, apoptosis suppression inhibitor, tumor growth factor, cardiac receptor antagonist, platelet aggregation inhibitor and an array of other medically relevant reactions and pathways. Out of these thousands of extracts, ‘hits’ obtained would require further elucidation and development before any of them eventually end up on the shelf of our pharmacy. Such high rate of screening success can only serve to remind us that drug discovery from our biodiversity is an imperative that cannot be postponed or stymied because of our own megalomania and persecutory complex that tends to over-protect our biodiversity. Malaysia’s healing gift to the world today may just come from the richness of our biodiversity but that can only be realized through research collaboration of scientists from both resource-rich and technology-rich nations of the world.

CAPTURING ILLEGAL BLAST-FISHING ACTIVITIES.

Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, are hugely dependent on fisheries resources as the main protein source where the average consumption has been estimated to be twice the amount per capita of fish protein consumed by nations in the western hemisphere. With the increase in demand, most fisheries in these developing countries have operated at unsustainable levels as they resorted more and more to using destructive methods that are environmentally damaging. In the past two decades, fishers in Sabah Malaysia and the neighbouring countries have resorted to cyanide and dynamite fishing as means of landing near-term good harvest at the long-term expense of damaging coral reefs and driving valuable marine species to extinction. Dynamite fishing is typically carried out using home-made bombs of fertilizers and fuse-caps inserted into beer bottles. Each of these dynamites is capable of flattening two to three meters of reefs; effectively destroying coral formations that consequently limits recolonization process.

One of the more evident effects of ‘bomb’ fishing is the absence of fishes belonging to the entire spectrum of ecological niches on the reef. Blast fishing would render the reef devoid of scavengers, plankton feeders and micro-benthos feeders. For example, the presence of triggerfish Balistidae would normally keep the sea urchin population in check. But with the removal of triggerfish through ‘bomb’ fishing, the sea urchin populations are allowed to expand and in turn denude the reefs through their grazing activities. . This will lead to a rapid depletion of grazing materials which are crucial in the life support system for a host of other marine communities on the reef. Denuded coral reefs will no longer serve well as nursery grounds for juvenile fishes and other vulnerable stages of reef communities that are usually sheltered and protected by the complex living composition and physical structure of the reefs. Many reefs have been converted to underwater quarries and the study found out that many species are already locally extinct.

Without rapid significant change in the human impact pressures, the coral reefs of Sabah will soon cease to function as providers of extractable marine resources for human use. A study of several coral reefs along Sabah eastern coasts indicated the intensity of damage caused by fish bombings where more than 90 percent of the reefs surveyed were pockmarked with hundreds of such bomb blasts (Ghazally Ismail et al. Marine Biodiversity Conservation in Sabah: Moving Past the Rhetorical Stages. In Biodiversity Conservation in ASEAN: Emerging Issues and Regional Needs Eds Ghazally Ismail & Murtedza Mohamed ASEAN Academic Press 1998). The study concluded that dynamite fishing for food fish and cyanide fishing for the live fish trade occur nearly everywhere and 99% of all reefs surveyed had significant damage to reef community.

Laws and regulations against destructive fishing practices have existed for a long time in most Southeast Asian countries but enforcement has been problematic and frustratingly inadequate. Malaysia has banned dynamite fishing but is unable to enforce the ban. The inherent difficulty and ineffectiveness of law enforcement to curb these fishing practices have been recognized as the primary stumbling block in the protection and management of our coral reefs that are of paramount importance to the future fisheries and tourism industries of Malaysia. The reefs most at risk are often in remote locations, where it is difficult for governments to bear the cost of extensive and effective surveillance. This same situation is experienced in many other countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

Indeed there is an urgent need for a new methodology and an advanced real-time monitoring, detection and notification system for capturing illegal blast-fishing activities. The production and availability of an effective and viable detection and notification system will be able to counter the illegal and unsustainable practice of blast fishing using dynamites in these areas. With the rapid advancement of both telecommunication and information technologies today, it would not be impractical to envisage the invention of a new intelligent sensor that can serve as a real-time monitoring device for monitoring, detection and notification of illegal blast fishing as carried out in the coral reef environment. The production of this new monitoring and detection system will provide, for the first time, an effective capability to counter illegal blast fishing. This in effect will result in the protection of many marine species from extinction and preserve the integrity of our threatened coral reefs from fish bombing activities. It will also help in preserving pristine eco-tourism assets crucial for promoting Malaysia as SCUBA diving destinations and other recreational activities.

To date, we are not aware of any such device that has been specifically designed to combat illegal blast fishing. Without any exception, all governments in the Asia Pacific and South American regions have recognized the menace and potential calamity that might accrue from the loss of their coral reef habitats. Yet their common predicament is the failure to effectively curb destructive fishing activities that have surged over recent years despite the existence of persecutory laws and regulations decreed by respective countries. The use of monitoring device will be more effective and practical compared to the current procedures of random surveillance and after-the-fact investigation. The investment incurred in the research and development of this device would not only prove cost-effective but also in a very short time result in a far more superior means of marshalling and preservation of our coral reefs in their intact natural state. This technology when developed in Malaysia could provide an opportunity for export to other countries experiencing the same problems with destructive fishing methods in the coral reefs.

It is also envisaged that various fishery agencies within the country and also in several tropical countries will be interested in the device to monitor or detect other disturbances in the marine environment. This would be plausible because the technology used in the development of this device is generic in nature and thus can be translated to useful products for monitoring and detection of other pollutants and disturbances within our marine environment. The technology may also be improvised and further developed to benefit other industrial sectors in Malaysia such as marine engineering and the construction of environmental monitoring device for other applications.

Theoretical and empirical derivation of the characteristics of typical underwater explosions as caused by illegal blast fishing activities need to be determined. Sensors will be derived to respond to such mechanical and visual activities. Detection, actuation and reporting activities will be integrated and controlled by a software to be developed and hardwares; most of which are intended to be customized from existing commercial products so as to save cost.

Engineers and university researchers will work on different aspects of the development simultaneously. The first phase involves determining the characteristics and properties of the phenomenon; deriving a workable sensor design; and, producing a feasible overall solution on paper. This project entails research work and development effort integrating electronic communications, information, energy and advanced material technologies. It is a challenging task which will entail and incorporate research and constructions from mechanical engineers (Dynamics, Advanced Materials, Design and Control Systems); electrical & electronics engineers (System Electronics and Bus, Integrated Circuits, Electrical and Power Systems); communications engineers (Data Communication, Signal Processing and Wireless Communication); computer software engineers (Programming and Logic); and, industrial engineers (Packaging). Such project presents an opportunity for Malaysian engineers and university researchers to work on a challenging case of multi-disciplinary Systems Integration – a nascent technology focus.

Thes project involves electronics, energy technology, IT, telecommunication technology and application of advanced engineering knowledge and is envisioned to spur and spawn a substantial amount of interesting research topics. It is a three-phase project that will produce an advanced system comprising of a network of self-powered, temper-resistant, two-tiered monitoring and sensing device that is capable of detecting underwater blasting and thence, relaying the location and event back to a central monitoring station.

Phase 1: An innovative methodology in conjunction with a conceptual model of the new device will be derived - which will enable N number of the new device to be placed optimally in the open sea to monitor, detect and report on illegal underwater blasting.

Phase 2: Prototype development and testing of the device and software will be conducted.

Phase 3 : A complete system integration will be conducted and a small-scale deployment of the system in the open sea for design verification will be demonstrated.

The milestones to be achieved would include the following:

1^st Milestone: A conceptual model of the new device will be derived that will be able to monitor, detect and report on illegal underwater blasting.

2^nd Milestone: Development of the prototype

3^rd Milestone: Result of the testing of the device and software .

4^th Milestone: Result on the small-scale deployment of a complete system integration in the open sea

ETHICAL CHALLENGES TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Intellectual property rights (IPR) is becoming in vogue these days. For a long time, IPR has been much of a cause celebre among intellectuals, corporate lawyers and show-business personalities. More recently, research and development (R &D) scientists and software engineers have joined the bandwagon when the ownership of the knowledge in their heads or the "product" they developed began to be seen as a priced commodity and become a contested property. Yet of more recent and immediate concern today is the potential loss of control and dispossession over the traditional knowledge of the indigenous people or the 'little societies' of marginalized peoples around the world. These may include the artistic, medicinal and ethnobotanical traditions that can potentially contribute to the commodities of the world economy.

Historically, this indigenous knowledge was scorned by the world of industrial societies but today has become intensely and commercially attractive. Everywhere throughout the underdeveloped nations of the world, indigenous societies find themselves in the middle of this sudden resurgence of interest. Their rich cultural heritage has been poked, probed and examined as never before. Their blood samples have been thoroughly investigated and their DNA mapped and sequenced to the minutest detail. The western industrial world, whether pharmaceutical or foodstuffs or crafts or music industry, has been quick in gathering these knowledge, converting them to products and selling them. Each time that happens, the heritage itself dies a little, and with it its people. Such rapid loss and extensive exploitation of the cultural knowledge of indigenous people have raised some serious ethical questions.

Foremost on this issue is the equitable sharing of profits arising from the applications of this indigenous knowledge. The intellectual creations of gifted individuals in these 'little societies' are often forfeited and go uncompensated. Even if there has been any attempt to accord a fair deal in the acquisition of these knowledge through universally accepted copyrights, patents or trademarks, it becomes problematic because indigenous knowledge is usually the intellectual legacy of a whole society accumulated over time by countless, nameless ordinary people. In other words, indigenous knowledge often has no individually identified creators or owners.

Since the early 1990's, we have witnessed a tremendous burgeoning of interest in the intellectual property rights (IPR) for indigenous people that refers to the rights claimed by indigenous people over their traditional cultural knowledge. Indeed the IPR for indigenous peoples has become a 'hot potato' issue. Driven by the complexity of the issue, the "civilized nations of the world" initially considered the matter too dangerous to tackle because it may place them at the losing end. Proper recognition of such rights may turn out to be economically disadvantageous to their own industries that are becoming increasingly dependent on the rich natural resources of the third world together with the indigenous knowledge of exploiting these resources. At the same time, indigenous societies, indigenous leaders and advocates for indigenous rights began to find means of gaining some measures of control over this worsening exploitation of their indigenous resources and cultural knowledge.

In due process, it must be recognized that the arena of IPR for indigenous people is divided into two platforms occupied by opposing interest groups: those who are seeking a usable and legal basis for indigenous IPR and those within the indigenous societies who are seeking to protect their traditional knowledge. Both sides of the arena must be able to effectively address the issues pertaining to access to and control over the cultural knowledge that are potentially useful through its applications. Careful considerations must be accorded to the extent and mechanism by which parts of that cultural knowledge are shared equitably with those intending to gain from the applications of this knowledge. Foremost on the negotiation table would undoubtedly be the quantum and means that would constitute a just and meaningful compensation for sharing that knowledge. This very point in question has been addressed at the international level and stipulated conceptually in the Agenda 21 of the Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro in 1994. At the national level, our commitment in tackling this issue has also been clearly indicated in the Malaysian National Policy on Biological Diversity unveiled in April 1998.

The scope of concern in debating IPR for indigenous people moves far beyond the question of economic returns and just compensation for sharing their knowledge with outsiders. From the viewpoint of indigenous societies, their concern encompasses non-materialistic issues as well. These include protection of sacred lands, preserving spiritual wisdom and ceremonies, according spiritual and religious respect to physical components in their environment and preserving sacred and 'pure' knowledge that should never succumb to the pressures of 'selling out' in the game of capita

GREED AND INDIFFERENCE: LESSONS FROM THE 1997 HAZE EMERGENCY IN SARAWAK

Air is a resource essential to all life forms. It is also an efficient medium for distribution of harmful chemical, physical and biological agents. Ever since human discovered fire we have been affected by air pollution. Indeed the majority of known illnesses and deaths caused by chemicals, smoke, dust and radiation since the Industrial Revolution have occurred through inhalation of these substances from fire, cigarette smoke and contaminated air. But how and why are we here in Borneo, a considerably remote part of the world, suddenly become subsumed by an environmental problem that are more commonly associated with big and overcrowded cities like Los Angeles or Mexico City. Malaysians, particularly those in Sarawak, are almost rudely awakened to come face to face with the grim and somber hazards of air pollution? We were suddenly jolted to our senses when a state of haze emergency was declared in Sarawak on the mid-morning of 19th September 1997.

Is it possible that all these years in our rush to prosper and emerge as a developed nation by year 2020, we have been lulled into a state of complacency? Have we been indifferent to the tell-tales that have been appearing before us? A good look around us will reveal the many symptoms and consequences indicating that our outdoor air has indeed long been contaminated. We have been immune to breathing polluted air brought about by concentrated urban areas and the use of fossil fuels in homes, factories, power plants and transportation. Acute and short-term episodes of respiratory illness associated with air pollution have continually affected us especially the young ones and those with chronic respiratory illness or allergies. But it is no big deal and there is no real cause for alarm as these problems are usually self- limiting and will be over in a matter of days, we said. So we go on with our daily lives as usual.

But, lo and behold, what has happened now? A state of haze emergency in Sarawak? Barely two months have passed after we in Sarawak were told to keep our young ones indoors because of the fatal outbreak of the purported Cocksackie virus, we are now confronted with another compelling reason to stay indoors lest we might choke to death outside. The number of cases of respiratory diseases and allergic reactions has risen at an unprecedented rate over the last few weeks. The dangers not only seem real but are actually here to stay and inflict more people on a long-term effect. More dramatic consequences of the haze pollution include the closing of airports and an increase in the number of road accidents due to poor visibility. The haze pollution we are experiencing today may also bring about effects that are less tangible. For instance, it can be safely predicted that damage and even death of trees and agricultural crops will also follow long after the haze is gone. In whatever ways the assaults are manifested upon us, it ought to be evident to us today that air pollution can be a major blight on our march to progress.

Local and Regional Environmental Effects of Forest Burning

Deliberate tropical deforestation which led to uncontrollable burning of forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra has been censured as the primary cause of haze formation and its associated hazards we are currently experiencing. Estimates put it that annually an area of more than 20 million hectares of tropical forests are cleared throughout the globe and a major proportion of this forest clearance for agricultural use occurs in Indonesia and Malaysia through open burning. The rate of deforestation in Tropical Asia alone is estimated to double each year. Deforestation is known to give rise to a number of local environmental effects such as erosion of soils, reduced rainfall, reduced capacity of soils to hold water and increased frequency and severity of floods and siltation of rivers. Another major contributory factor to the haze pollution is the burning of huge areas of crop plantations, particularly oil palm, in making preparations for the new planting season. The long drought season still prevailing in the region have also contributed to the fire raging out on control and spreading wildly for months on end.

Climate Change and Global Warming

Greenhouse gases and ozone depletion Our fervent wish at the moment is that a huge tropical gush of wind can blow away the last of the smothering mixture of gases and soots around us so that we can breath normally and go back to our normal routine again. But that may only help to solve some of our immediate problems associated with the current haze pollution, not quite all of them. Burning of forests are known to contribute to a host of other environmental problems that have far-reaching effects at both regional and global scales. An array of chemically or radioactively active trace gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide are released to the atmosphere during forest burning. The first three belong to the "greenhouse gases" that are known to contribute to the global warming. Carbon dioxide is produced mostly by burning fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and petroleum and also by burning wood. Methane is produced when wood is burned inefficiently like when forests are set afire. Nitrous oxide is produced in coal burning and also in forest fires. Small amounts of nitrous oxide are released during the burning of forests, but, as a result of microbial activity in the soil, most of the release occurs in the months following a fire. Nitrous oxide is not only a greenhouse gas, but plays a major role in the destruction of stratospheric ozone, which shields the earth's surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation. It has the ability to stay in the atmosphere for centuries and eventually floats up into the stratosphere, where it helps destroy the ozone layer. The ozone loss is not fully understood, but scientists believe that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) - one of the main greenhouse gases - are the primary contributor. The ozone layer, extending from about 18 to 30 miles above the earth shields the planet from the sun's ultraviolet rays, which can harm many forms of life. In human beings, damages from ozone depletion in the stratosphere can range from skin cancers to immune diseases to eye cataracts. Carbon monoxide is not a greenhouse gas but it can indirectly increase the concentrations of other greenhouse gases such as methane. More carbon monoxide is released during smoldering fires than during rapid burning or flaming. Thus all these subtle effects of forest burning will continue to play their deleterious role long after we have settled into our normal breathing not cumbered by surgical masks or gone back to our regular jogging schedules outdoors.

Greenhouse gases and global warming

The effect of the greenhouse gases on global warming and climate change should be of great concern to all of us because it will affect our health, our food supply and the plant and animal species around us. As emissions of these gases increase, more and more of Earth's radiant heat will be trapped and reemitted downward, warming the Earth's surface. The effect of these additional trace gases on global warming will be dramatic. The world could be 3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by 2030. What does this increase in degrees mean to us on planet Earth? In the last 10,000 years, the average temperature of the planet has increased less than 4 degrees Fahrenheit, but over the past 100 years alone, Earth's average temperature has risen by about 1.0 degree Fahrenheit. As numerous studies of the greenhouse effect confirm, a 3.6- degree Fahrenheit temperature change would bring with it profound and pervasive changes. For example, it has been projected that should temperatures increase by a mere increase of 1.4-degree Fahrenheit per decade, startling impacts worldwide will result: there will be extreme shifts in temperature in the high altitudes, more rain in the wet tropics, and a sea-level rise of as much as 1.5 meters by the middle of the next century - enough to erode beaches and coasts, destroy wetlands, and bring on severe flood damage to many low-lying countries.

No exit situation or are there options?

Is the build-up of greenhouse gases amidst us an inescapable by-product of our civilization? Or do we still have the options for improving our air quality? Many of the industrialized countries of the world launched programs to improve urban air quality by controlling emissions from fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes and waste disposal. Until today Malaysia's Air Quality Act has not made its debut yet to guarantee that every citizen is entitled to breath air of a quality sufficient to protect human health and welfare. When passed and executed, the Act should be able to achieve its goal of setting national ambient air quality standards for the most commonly found pollutants around us. These standards not only must be achieved everywhere in Malaysia by specified dates but also must be maintained through programs limiting the emissions of existing and new sources of pollutants.

The greatest potential to deal with existing and future air quality problems is to have a policy that focuses primarily to prevent the generation of air pollutants wherever possible and the use of conventional air pollution technology to reduce residual emissions. We should begin by looking hard at the habits and activities of our society that result in air pollution. Next we should attempt to manage or restructure these polluting habits and activities in a way that minimizes the generation of the pollution. For instance, we should consider the movement of people and goods; the location of residences, work, and recreation; the production and use of energy; and other activities that use energy derived from fossil fuels.

A first step in carrying out this approach could be to create incentives for energy efficiency and conservation. Increased energy efficiency and conservation are cost effective, will result in substantial improvements in air quality and will promote sustainable economic growth. A second step would be to begin restructuring the ways in which people and goods are transported. Programs to encourage car-pooling and the use of mass transportation as well as the location of residences closer to work and recreation will have important air quality benefits in the long run. A third step would be to look at an alternative process, material, or fuel for the activity that generates air pollution. A fourth step is the application of best available air pollution control technologies to residual emissions from major sources. Combustion modifications, particulate control devices, and scrubbers could minimize emissions of air pollutants to our atmosphere. Unfortunately, so far, we have no inexpensive and effective technology available to do so, or any program for reducing fossil fuel use.

As we deliberate future actions, we should all subscribe to a philosophy of protection to keep the air that we breath as clean as possible from the impact of human activities. Clean air is essential in supporting a healthy ecosystem for a high quality life and, ultimately, survival. This philosophy involves changing lifestyles to reduce the generation of pollutants and the consumption of natural resources. It involves a moral view that the air should be clean for this and future generations. As for those in higher places in whose hands we trust them with policies and strategies to clean our air, may we remind them that there have been too many signposts of imminent dangers and dooms for us to ignore and plead our innocence or ignorance. Open burning, continued emission of toxic fumes and generation of other air pollutants through our own over-consumptive behavior and activities have been left largely unchecked. It is not for want of additional and new institutional legislation, but for more effective enforcement of the existing Acts and Laws on environmental quality and natural resource conservation. The scourge from our own greed and over-consumption has clearly indicated that indeed we have stepped over the line on the question of natural resource exploitation. The red flag is already up and it is time for us to reflect and take stock of our own polluting and wasteful lifestyles. In this respect, we are not asking the government to shift the spotlight from economic development to environmental and resource conservation but to strike a balance between them. Maybe the time is also ripe for us to begin thinking of other essentials of life like water and our biodiversity. Here again the signposts are pointing distinctly at the dangers that lie ahead. On one hand, Malaysian scientists are needed to carefully examine and bring into correct perspective the forces of both environmental and economic choices that can drive us into becoming a truly progressive nation.. Politicians and industrialists, on the other hand, must be rightly open and sufficiently sensitive as to cast away any cloud of suspicion that hangs over anyone who dares to bring into public eyes any violation of our environmental ethics and norms. Optimistically, we trust in some radical way, the recent plight of haze emergency in Sarawak, can help heighten our awareness and foster a sympathetic attitude in all of us to influence the future policies pertaining to forest burning. Future generations will applaud our foresight and action but will condemn our lack thereof.

The Bacteria Speaks: Understanding the Languages and Roles in Virulence

Many pathogenic bacteria produce an array of products that contribute to their virulence. In the majority of cases, expression of these virulence factors is not constitutive but strategically regulated in a cell-density dependent fashion. This phenomenon confers a pathogenic advantage on the invading bacteria such that they remain undetected by the host immune system until they have reached a critical population density to overwhelm host defenses and establish the infection. Through cell-to-cell communication, a minimal population unit or “quorum” of bacteria is achieved; hence the term “quorum sensing”. This discovery of intracellular communication among bacteria has essentially dispelled belief that only multicellular organisms are capable of coordinated activity. Individual bacterial cell is able to sense in their growth millieu the accumulation of diffusible signal molecules called autoinducers (AI) that are in turn responsible for the initiation and coordination of a variety of population responses. Quorum sensing in gram-negative bacteria involves two regulatory components: the transcriptional activator protein (R protein) and the AI molecules produced by the autoinducer synthase. Typically, gram-negative AI molecules are N-acyl-homoserine lactones (N-AHL).Upon reaching an intracellular threshold concentration, the AI binds to its cognate R protein to activate or repress specific genes. In opportunistic pathogens, these target genes are those involved in the regulation and production of a host of virulence factors including exotoxins, enzymes, biofilm production or antibiotic resistance. Melioidosis is a disease caused by the opportunistic bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei. One of the most perplexing problems about melioidosis is its apparent ability to exist in a dormant stage and to emerge at some later time when the host’s immune response is compromised. Chronicity or prolonged latency of this disease often leads to misdiagnosis and high fatality in individuals with predisposing conditions. The exact mechanism causing recrudescence of melioidosis is presently not well understood. Quorum sensing may well provide the answer to this mystery. Investigations into the existence and genetic expression of QS phenomenon in B. pseudomallei will help unravel the puzzle surrounding recrudescent melioidosis. The role of QS in the pathogenicity of B. pseudomallei needs to be understood with respect to the regulation and expression of virulence-associated genes coding for the production of its virulence determinants including exotoxin, extracellular proteases, pili, capsules and biofilms. It is of interest also to determine if its QS molecules possess any pharmacological and immunomodulatory activity that contribute to the pathogenicity of the organism. The ability to downregulate virulence-associated gene expression through blockade of cell-to-cell communication may offer a novel strategy for preventing the recrudescence of latent infections by B. pseudomallei in immunocompromised hosts.

PRIVATE EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA: ARE WE RISING TO OUR IDEALS?

1. Introduction

Academics who have worked and seen the growth of universities in Malaysia will readily subscribe to the view that our higher education has rapidly become subject to the marketplace in the last decade. Professors and other academics on the campuses of public universities often harbour different views to this relatively new trend. Some deplore it saying with distaste that their teaching services are now arranged in return for payment; a mere process whereby students come to obtain credentials for employment purposes. The academic researchers lament that their research funding now are predominantly made available only in view of immediate serviceable outcome or tangible product; rather than driven by intellectual curiosity regardless of where it leads. On the other hand, the private higher education providers and the marketplace however applaud this trend. Private colleges and universities see themselves contributing not only in the training of more qualified and skilled human resource for the country but also in the quest of new knowledge. It is this later aspiration that often comes under close scrutiny. Is it true that private institutions of higher learning (IHL) in Malaysia today are helping to meet our future demand for human capital that is so required to propel the nation to achieve its fully developed status by 2020? Are they meaningfully helping the government in forging a new future?

2. The Rationale and Process

It is a truism that provision of higher education has been predominantly a public sector responsibility. But the rapidly changing economic environment, technological advancement and social demands have thrown the providers of higher education into a state of introspection. The public universities, their roles to the society, governance, accountability, finance and indeed the education they provide itself, have been under increasing scrutiny.

Among the pressure points acutely felt by public universities in Malaysia in the last decade or so are calls for them to be more diverse, creative, innovative and more efficient. They were challenged to respond, manage and adapt to changes and realities of the 21^st century effectively for survival and growth. One way to bring about that change is to remove the barriers to the establishment of private universities. In Malaysia, reforms of the policies that aim at removing these barriers have been proceeding to allow active participation of the private sector in the provision of higher education. Privatization of IHL in Malaysia was seen as the panacea to the ever-increasing demand for higher education, the high costs of its provision and the dearth of quality graduates with knowledge and skills that can propel Malaysia into international economic competitiveness.

Privatization in reference to higher education is a new phenomenon not only in the Malaysian context but also the world economy. Operationally, privatization connotes a greater orientation to the student as a consumer and the concept of college education, encompassing its courses, research outputs and consultancy services, as products of the university. Taking foot as the norms in the running of private enterprises, these universities will give increasing attention to image building, competitor institutions and market niches, pricing and enhancement of net earned revenue. Essentially privatization is a process or tendency of institutions of higher learning to assume the characteristics of private enterprises; only with respect to operational norms but not functional. Hence a private university or college is still required to fulfill the established roles and obligations expected of any public institution of higher learning.

3. The Ideals and Trends

Inevitably the process of university privatization will follow a distinct pattern that can be characterized by three production scenarios; (i) massification of education, (ii) marketization of education and learning and (iii) managerialization of knowledge.

3.1 Massification of education

The production of goods or services in large quantities is called massification. Often the use and practices of specialization and standardization become essential components of such production. Thus massification of education is the employment of the instruments of mass production for the development and distribution of knowledge and learning. With the rapid advancement in the communication and information technologies today, distance education and online learning are exploited to make university education more affordable and the process of teaching and learning more efficient.

3.2 Marketization of education and learning

Marketization is the treatment of education and learning as a commodity, to be packaged, displayed and selected for consumption by a paying public. Clearly in the private enterprises, the market is the most efficient way to distribute a resource. Thus marketization or commoditization of education is seen as an effort to improve education.

3.3.Managerialization of knowledge

Managerialization is the process whereby the production and distribution of knowledge is taken over by a team of non-academic managers. Essentially the professors and academic personnel who have the expertise to develop the products of education relinquish some control over the production and distribution of knowledge to purely managers who know little if at all about the subject in question or learning materials for educational delivery.

4. Reality Check and Outcome

In recent years, much rethinking and reengineering have been put in place to make tertiary education in Malaysia more committed and able to rise to the challenges og globalization. How has privatization of higher education fared in terms of governance, pedagogical inputs, student output, research productivity, efficiency and equity considerations? Let us critically consider some of the obstacles and outcomes that have emerged since the process was put into motion slightly more than ten years ago.

4.1. Affordability and Democratization

Critics of massification of education are quick to see this as a disaster. They point to the segmentation of the learning process into neatly standardized classes, each of which teaches a certain subject, through which the students progress year by year, tier by tier, as though on an assembly line. In practice, they further argue, teaching will cease to be the toil and craftsmanship of an individual. A professor will no longer be challenged with the opportunity to provide and custom fit lectures to fit a small group of students assembled before him.

While university professors assert that the only form of teaching must be via face-to-face mode of delivery or in-person lecture, the proponents of massification of education highlight the continual frustration to society as a whole in the challenge of providing a university-level education to the majority of the population. Obviously teaching and learning must evolve to reach everyone and not only the favoured few with the time and money to spend attending university lectures.

4.2. Choices and Relevance

Indeed the number of private IHL in Malaysia today has increased by many-folds in the last eight years reaching a staggering 669 colleges and universities in total. Our attempt at democratizing higher education accompanied with the challenges of shifting the role of university from educating an elite to educating the greater population seems to have clearly taken a fast-tract mode and probably emerge triumphantly as another one of many Malaysia’s success stories. But are these private colleges and universities helping to meet our future demand for human capital that is so required to propel Malaysia to achieve its fully developed status by 2020? The euphoria may be short-lived when we consider the direction of growth of these private IHL with respect to the nature of study programmes and fields of specialization they are offering to the greater population.

Unlike the Industrial Master Plan (IMP) which was aimed at enhancing the growth of the manufacturing sector, Malaysia’s second IMP or IMP2 covering the period of 1996 to 2005 has set its focus on increasing competitiveness through strengthening industrial linkages, enhancing value-added activities and increasing productivity. The emphasis here is the inevitable shift from the labour-intensive to a knowledge intensive hi-tech industries. To support a sustainable industrialization programme, it was duely recognized that the quantity and quality of science and technology is of utmost importance. High technology and knowledge-based industrial activities demand an adequate pool of highly-skilled research scientists and engineers with post-graduate education. We need people who are able to understand, assimilate, adapt, innovate and develop new technologies. With the rapid growth of information and communication technologies in every aspect of industrial activities today, the need for high levels of science and technology personnel has become greater than ever before. Yet Malaysia faces an ever-increasing shortages of skills that its industry needs for technology deepening. Compared to our neighbour Singapore that has 4000 scientists per million population, we have a mere 350. The underlying reasons for this are numerous which sadly include the lack of coherence in our education system that fails to take into cognizance both the societal relevance and industrial needs. There is a need to reinforce the importance and relevance of both the scientific and technological values in our education policies.

But how far have our mushrooming private IHL taken this requisite as their imperatives in running their daily business? Advanced courses in science-based courses such as information technology, engineering and medicine are often made available through twinning with universities overseas. This possibly is the logical path taken to avoid huge capital investment by the local partners in having to provide expensive research facilities and laboratories required for education and training of research scientists and engineers. Unfortunately, such arrangement will still put a high price tag on the course fees and thus not widely sought after by poorer students. Regardless, in their desperate bid to equip themselves with the ultimate paper qualifications, students often opted for cheaper non-technical courses such as business studies, economics, management and hospitality programmes. If left unimpeded, such a trend can only achieve in widening instead of bridging the gap between the pool of science-based and non-science based human capital for future Malaysia.

4.3. Economy and Governance

Crisis of resources, encompassing issues on resource optimization, financing and accountability, often preoccupies Malaysia’s universities in the past decade. To effectively deal with questions of resource optimization and financing, privatization of university education may help alleviate certain specific problems. An important factor that makes this issue so pressing is the dramatic increase in enrollment numbers at our public universities rendering them less able to cope with a demographic bulge due to scarce resources.

Privatization also suggests the adoption of economic management practices associated with private business, such as aggressive marketing, contracting out and outsourcing of non-academic services, productive labor relations and minimization of payroll expenditures. Decisive decision-making and “top down’ management will inevitably set in. Each academic program, department or school will also serve as a business unit that can contribute to profitability. Widespread use of audits and accountability measures will help justify the expenditure often deemed unnecessarily excessive in furthering the cause of higher education. More often than not, defenders of public universities find themselves on the same side with advocates of university privatization when considering potential benefits to be derived from top-down management, lessening public bureaucracy, financial transparency and accountability, increased flexibility for faculty entrepreneurship and wealth creation.

Proponents of managerialization of knowledge resulting from privatizing education further claim that teams of people working in unison will be able to manage educational attainment far beyond that of any individual professor. No professor has the expertise nor the time to professionally provide all aspects of educational delivery. Unless professors work as part of top-flight educational teams, their achievements will be eclipsed over time by teams of skilled professionals producing top-flight educational materials.

4.4. A corporate sell-out through marketization?

Debated far and wide has been the trend toward the commoditization of education or universities. By allowing and accepting a market system to generate, disseminate and apply knowledge, are academics finally succumbing to a corporate sellout? Since time immemorial, the world of academia has always revered knowledge as a public trust. To defenders of public universities, knowledge is destined and to be exploited for the benefit and improvement of all humanity, freely shared and freely used. Privatization of universities or education thus is perceived as in contradiction to the concept of public ownership and free distribution of intellectual capital strongly held in principle by true-blooded academics.

In the university culture, the monopoly and control over the distribution of knowledge have always been reserved for the professors, their peers and the select few who attend university classes. Instead with the privatization of education, the market is now deemed as a more efficient guarantor of quality than the elite guild of academics or university professors.

The market is also seen as an effective means of distribution. Markets work on the principle that the exercise of choice is more efficient that the exercise of control. Marketization gives students the option to decide for themselves what they want pursue their education in than to have it decided for them. The quality of education then is best indicated when the products of education, namely its programs, research, ideas and opinions, are useful for the society at large and that people desire them as goods.

Unfortunately marketplaces are known to fail. Markets work only if there is sufficient supply of a commodity. Choice is only efficient where choice may be effectively offered and practiced. When commodities are in short supply, choices are no longer the prerogative of the marketplace but forced. In such scenario, the marketplace collapses in on itself, spiraling out of control, rewarding the rich and powerful and leaving the mass without.

4.5. Efficient versus Effective Quality Control

Arguments put forth in support of privatization of universities often express three magnanimous intentions; namely to improve the quality of university education, to make university education more affordable and to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes. The improvement of quality and standards is a central goal of all higher education institutions and every effort is made to translate this into operational performance at the institutional level. Critics and opponents of university privatization however pointed out that placing higher education under corporate lock and key will not automatically translate into improvement in the quality of higher education. “Market” is not necessarily an efficient guarantor of quality. Their market-driven and profit-oriented nature can allure private universities and colleges to compromise academic standards to commercial interests.

In order to maintain the quality and standards of academic programmes offered by private colleges and universities in Malaysia, the National Accreditation Board (Lembaga Akreditasi Negara or LAN) has been formed. LAN will serve as the single most useful mechanism to monitor standards and ascertain their comparability with other public and internationally established universities. The same body is also responsible for evaluating strengths and weaknesses of course content and quality of course offerings by private IHL in the country. However with the huge increase in the number of private colleges offering explicitly diverse academic programmes within disciplines and departments, doubt has been cast on the ability and effectiveness of a single national authority to cope with the tasks of maintaining quality and standards of the diverse areas of specialization within a specific academic area. Will LAN be sufficiently competent in the long-term to monitor and provide inputs to guide the curriculum structure and course content in order to make them relevant to the nation’s economy? Should another advisory body made up of practitioners, industrialists and public-sector representatives from respective fields be formed to ensure that courses and programmes offered by private IHL match the needs of the clients and the nation?

The academia expressed concern about who should carry out the evaluation to ensure the objectivity and credibility of higher education provided in this country. Evaluation of academic quality can determine whether a university has achieved its academic goals and reached the standards it has set for instruction, research, and student achievement. They advocate that effective quality assurance can only be undertaken through evaluation of academic performance carried out by academics or peer groups only. When maintaining quality and standards of higher education falls under the auspices of a national council or board comprised of non-academics, the process of evaluation is often characterized by conflicting rationales and expectations. Inevitably there will be confusion over terminology and methodology, and mistrust about the purposes of evaluation results. In the absence of expertise and academics from specialized backgrounds to evaluate the diverse programmes offered by private IHL, the accreditation board tends to use quality yardsticks that are non-academic. Hence becoming absorbed with tasks of ensuring the private IHLs have adhered and complied fully to the rules and conditions of their establishment. The Board often gets bogged down with regulatory functions such as application guidelines and deadlines, licensing and approval procedures, safety issues of premises, number of contact hours for teaching and learning, student-staff ratio and other matters remotely related to the quality of teaching and learning. While emphasis on such quality assurance procedures may appear efficient, they may not be effective.

5. Conclusion

Far from being used to subvert the nature and purpose of privatizing university education, all the above characteristics lend credibility to claims from proponents of university privatization that a timely decision towards empowering the private sector to come forward and participate actively in providing higher education in Malaysia can only lead to these institutions becoming more responsive to the needs of the students and employers alike. It is thus within the realm of possibility to expect that these colleges and universities are capable of preserving and promoting every aspect of the academic norms while at the same time putting into place effective management practices of private enterprises.

Given time to reflect and do some stock-taking, maybe it is timely for our private IHL to act and avoid being seen as too mercenary in nature but acculturate themselves to lending a hand in support of the government’s effort to increase the nation’s pool of research scientists and engineers. On the part of the government, there are ample opportunities to tap on the enthusiasm and commitment of the private IHL by creating enabling environment for the education and training of our future research scientists and engineers. They can organize and coordinate joint R&D with a pool of private industries and manufacturing firms. Public funding for research has been generously extended to private IHL to enable procurement of capital equipment for specific long-term R&D projects. The high cost of establishing appropriate world-class R&D laboratories by private IHL in Malaysia should no longer pose as a deterrent to these colleges and universities in offering both undergraduate and graduate studies in areas much needed to realize our own unique ‘industrial revolution’

why i bother to blog

guess i am kind of bored with nothing to do these day after my retirement 3 years ago. hey why not try blogging...everyone's doing it, there must be some good in that...post my thoughts, past and present, on the net to share with others who might be in the same boat with me...bored and having all the time in the world to kill. after all i do have an opinion on just about anything on earth...anything i see, hear and read around me...why keep my thoughts to myself...despite some people have more than often told me i am too opinionated for my own good..but what the heck, share them with others...some people may even find my thoughts and opinions quite tolerable and even useful and good for their souls...my views and opinions on things have always served as my guiding light in accomplishing things in my life albeit at times in my failures as well....but that's life...as you go through the nooks and corners of your mortal life, the goal is to make sure that accomplishments exceed failures, greatness exceeds humiliation,laughters exceed tears and goodness exceeds evils!