Royal Malaysian Customs Department(Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia)

Hello, today i am going to share somethings I know about the Royal Malaysian Customs Department. This is because I think quite a few people really know about the functions and importance of JKDM. As a nation of Malaysia, we should possess a strong understanding about JKDM because it is a government agency that is responsible for nation's indirect tax policy. Besides, it also plays an important role in trade and industry. Business men who need to import or export goods must have a better understanding in it so that we can protect our rights.

History

In 1948, the Customs Department was established with the formation of the Federation of Malaya across the whole Malaya Peninsula. Under the Customs Ordinance 1952, this department was put under the control of the High Commissioner for Malaya and headed by a Comptroller of Customs. Besides, it also gave the Federation Council power to issue all the rules and regulations on Custom's affairs. Due to the high human resources demand, a training center was formed in Bukit Baru, Melaka to recruit working staff and boost their performance in order to fulfill the needs of the country.

On 16th Sept 1963, the structure of the Customs Department administration was reshuffled again with the inclusion of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore into the Federation of Malaysia.The Customs Department was divided into 3 main territories, that is Malaya Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak.Each of territory was led by Regional Comptroller of Customns and Excise. On 29th Oct 1963, Yang Di-Pertuan Agong had conferred the title Royal to the Customs and Excise Department. This was an honor from the government for the Custom Department's great contribution to the country.

Roles

1. Formulate and enforce legislations, policies and procedures in line with international best practice
2. Evaluate procedures, policy and legislation related to duty/tax exemptions
3. Collect and analyse data related to Customs Department
4. Consultation and advice to business community

Vision

To be a World Class Customs Administration by the Year 2015

Mission

1. To spur economic growth
2. Preserve national security and society's well being
3. To ensure effective and efficient legislative compliance

Service Ethics

Trustworthy Services, Sincere and Dedicated

Organizational Culture

Togetherness
Respect
Understanding
Spiritual
Totality

Contact

Links
http://www.customs.gov.my/
http://www.wcoomd.org/en/about-us/international-customs-day.aspx
http://perkasawpkl.wix.com/home#!

I was surprised that there exists World Customs Day. On 26 January every year the Customs administrations of 178 Member States of the World Customs Organisation organize various national events to celebrate the first session of the Customs Co-operation Council. On its part, the WCO Secretariat chooses a topic for the International Customs Day. In 2013, the 26 January' celebrations are devoted to the topic "Innovation for Customs progress".

Council Home Trip

Today, I went to Council Home to help educating the poor children. I woke up at 8 a.m.( so early during Sunday) and made preparation. Bus took off at 8.45 a.m. and I reached there around 9 a.m.  My instructor gave a short briefing first before the lesson started. It was so exciting when I saw all the children were being so energetic and cheerful.I was in charge to teach Form 1 and Form 2 students. Although it was just 4 students but I still hoping to educate them properly. Before the class was started, a tazkirah had been given to the students. As a Non-Muslim, my friends asked me to take a round when the tazkirah is given. Therefore, I joined the Standard 4-6 class. The children were very active in seeking my advice in doing their homework. I guided them patiently so that he could finished his work easily. I had helped a child named Hamqal in finishing his Science and Mathematics paper.

After that, we had a tea break. It was so funny when I heard the conversation between the children. It led me to flash back my childhood memory which is really really sweet. Then, I begin my lesson with the Form 1 and 2 students. My teammates(Amyra and Suraiya) and I gave a short briefing before we began the activities. We taught the students about basic grammar rules and tense. It was sad to know that their English level was under average. I truly hope to improve their English but it was impossible because the time given was just 3 hours. So, We gave some exercises to help them differentiate the usage of tense and word. Then, we started a activity to help them to improve their writing. 4 papers with number marks were given to each students and let them wrote down the essay title that they wished to write. Then, the papers were collected and distributed randomly among students. Each student needed to write an essay based on the title.

While waiting, we created sentences with error for students to correct them later. Before the essay were marked, we copied all the sentences with error on the whiteboard and requested students to correct them. They were managed to make correction on most of the sentences which is very good as it proved that they were really understand our teaching and able to apply it.Some of the sample sentences with error like:
1. I am was yours.
2.She was slapping by the man.
3. He read three book.

Before the class ended, I also helped a student called Mariam to improve her English. She is a Form 4 student but I think her English level is quite bad as she does not know much grammar rules and lack of vocabulary. I am truly worrying about her as she will sit for SPM next year. Therefore, I chose to give her tuition personally so that I can understand her English level more. I was able to teach her some vocabs and tense before the time reached.

At 12.30 p.m., the class ended and we had a short discussion with my instructor, Dr. Fazilah. I can feel that she is really caring towards the children and unmarried mothers. She conducted a lot of projects to help educating the poor people. I wished I can spend more time to join her projects because it is really meaningful and beneficial. This experience actually gave me a chance to remind myself about the importance of study. We as human often forget why do we need to study? We did not realize that there are a lot of people who desperate want to deepen their knowledge but limited by family background or physical ability. Hence, I hope this can be a big wake-up call to all of us showing that we must grab the chance properly so that we will not waste it.

 The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
by Oliver Holmes

Digital Camera is about Outdated???

Haha, It's been one year since my last post. I was quite busy during that time as I need to prepare for my Malaysian Examination of Certificate and sure I got a quite good result(straight As). Hehe!!! Well! back to my topic that is "Is Pixel about to die?" Okay... Why do I say this? This is because I just saw a video this evening regarding the new technology that is vector-based video codec. Wao!!! (What the heck is this) Yes, I have no idea about it when I was being introduced to this term for the first time.



At present, we are using digital camera to take photo. According to Wikipedia, digital photography uses an array of electronic photodetectors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The captured image is then digitized and stored as a computer file ready for digital processing, viewing, digital publishing or printing. We often heard people talking about pixel determines the quality of a photo. Actually, what is pixel?

Pixel(n)  is the product n = w × h for a given maximum resolution (w horizontal pixels by h vertical pixels). This yields e. g. 1.92 megapixels (1,920,000 pixels) for an image of 1600 × 1200. The majority of compact as well as some DSLR digital cameras have a 4:3 aspect ratio, i.e. w/h = 4/3. According to Digital Photography Review, the 4:3 ratio is because "computer monitors are 4:3 ratio, old CCD's always had a 4:3 ratio, and thus digital cameras inherited this aspect ratio." 

Just because digital pictures are built from a rectangular grid of coloured cells, or pixels, it needs  huge amounts of data and have to be compressed which lead to losing visual quality. Besides, it is also difficult to process a digital picture hence a new technology had been invented to solve this problem.

A vector-based video codec is a  computer programme capable of encoding or decoding a digital video stream by using contoured colours to present the image. The researchers at Bath have developed this new, highly sophisticated codec, which is able to fill between the contours, overcoming the problems previously preventing their widespread use. The result is a resolution-independent form of movie and image, capable of the highest visual quality but without a pixel in sight. This is a significant improvement in photography field and I truly wish to see the final product of it after a few years.  

Below are some links which I get all the required informations:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2012/12/11/pixel-die/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography

Ways to improve water security

  Firstly, government needs to recognise basic principles that underpin good water management; Then, they must develop a stronger enabling environment of policies and laws to prevent water pollution happened. Government also has to build more appropriate institutional frameworks to improve water security. Besides, government needs to share, adopt and adapt management instruments and tools with other advanced countries like Japan, China and Canada.

  Secondly, government needs to ensure the availability of adequate and reliable water resources of acceptable quality in order to underpin water service provision for all social and economic activity in a manner that is environmentally sustainable. They also needs to mitigate water-related risks such as flood, drought and pollution. Furthermore, environmental experts have to address the conflicts that may arise from disputes over shared waters, especially in situations of growing stress, and turning them into win-win solutions.

  Thirdly, Ministry of Health needs to ensure equitable access to water services and resources through robust policies and legal frameworks at all levels. They have to build resilience in communities in the face of extreme water events through hard and soft measures. Meanwhile, they also need to manage water more sustainably as part of green economies by restoring ecosystem services in river basins to increase river health. They also responsible for increasing water productivity and conservation in all water using sectors by sharing economic, social and environmental benefits of  transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers.

  Lastly, development of an appropriate stock of infrastructure (storage, flood control) also essential for water security. Government needs to develop a proper legislation and adequate institutions to improve water infrastructures. Moreover, integrated and comprehensive water planning also has to be conducted wisely. Water conservation can also be done  by developing a sustainable policies and legal frameworks and institutions for water management and dispute prevention and resolution. 

Causes of water insecurity

  

Water insecurity caused by a lot of factors. The major cause of water insecurity is climate change occur in the world. Climate patterns are changing in the tropics and high latitudes,and decrease in the sub-tropics and mid latitudes. Studies indicate that, in future, changing patterns of precipitation will increase the risk of flooding and drought. Increased variability of precipitation will impact on the timely supply of water resources, and complicate water security efforts. Global warming also decreases the storage capacity of these glaciers in Arctic, it will increase water supply in the short term, but significantly reduce supply and altering river flow regimes in the long term.

  Not only that, degradation of fossil groundwater supplies also a major factor contributes to water insecurity.  Mining of fossil groundwater resources is most significant in North Africa, Libya, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. In these arid and semi-arid areas, fossil groundwater supplies are the only reliable source of water. However, as there is typically very limited recharging, mining of these resources is almost always unsustainable.

  In addition to that, water insecurity also caused by water quality and environmental assets. Deterioration of surface or groundwater quality makes water more difficult to treat. Increased flooding results in land degradation and an increase in contaminants washed into watercourses.  Moreover, human actions are also a significant contributory factor in the deterioration of water quality. Eutrophication of water supplies is identified as a significant water quality issue globally. Waste-water, industrial effluent and nutrient rich water from agriculture cause a rapid increase in algae and microscopic organisms in watercourses leading to oxygen depletion which damages the ecosystem.

  Other than that, ageing and poorly functioning water infrastructure also issued as one of the cause of water insecurity. In urban areas water supply and sanitation networks are often insufficient and subject to failure (leakage). The ageing of costly irrigation infrastructure has been identified as a problem in many parts of the world, and has been the catalysts for water security planning. Poorly functioning public irrigation infrastructure has forced farmers to switch to self-developed groundwater supplies, which in many places are now over-abstracted and can become non-renewable.