LIMA '09 Will Team Up With The Homestay Programme & Island Festival
Shirley, 3 June 2009, Sources: Bernama, The New Straits Times and websites mentioned below

Why ?
This year's Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace (LIMA '09) Exhibition will be held in Langkawi from Dec 1 to 5. This yearly exhibition will work together with The Homestay Programme & Island Festival. Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said that the aim was to attract local tourists to experience village life via the programme, and help villagers to earn some money at the same time.

The Homestay Programme is a programme that allows the tourists to experience life in a traditional Malay village, where guests will stay with their host families. Besides the popular homestays in Kampung Pulau Tuba, Kampung Sungai Itau and Kampung Bukit Tangga, some of the other residents of Langkawi agreed to participate in this programme after the discussion with the ministry.
"Most local tourists don't get the chance to see the exhibition due to limitations and high costs of accommodation, so with this programme they can not only enjoy the exhibition, but learn our local culture." said the Tourism Minister.
She also said that they will work with the Tourism Action Councils to present the culture of each state at the exhibition in a festival known as the Island Festival.
Moreover, daily night markets will be held at several locations in Langkawi. Shuttle bus services will be provided for a minimum charge of RM1 to solve transportation problem.
Meanwhile, the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that there will be a first-time display of a B-52 bomber from the United States Air Force (USAF), which will be among the major attractions for visitors to the LIMA '09 Exhibition. He claimed that this was the first time Boeing aircraft being brought by the USAF to LIMA in Langkawi.
Ahmid Zahid said that it would also be the first time that an aerobatic team from Indian, Sarang and Surya Kiran, who would be the pilots of a helicopter and a light aircraft, would take part in LIMA '09.
"We are proud to showcase out latest acquisition, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (submarine), and the Alenia Aermacchi MB-339 CM jet trainer. A total of 94 aircraft and 80 ships are expected at LIMA '09."

Related Articles and Websites:

Homestay, Island Festival To Be Part of Attraction For LIMA '09 LIMA 2009: This year's edition to double up as military & tourism event B-53 Bombers To Attract Visitors To LIMA 2009 Langkawi Homestay: Go Local!

Website of LIMA 2009:

http://www.lima2009.com.my/factsheet.php

By..Langkawi gazette

5 Star Hotel at LAngkawi

The Westin Langkawi

The Andaman Langkawi Resort

The Datai Langkawi

Tanjung Rhu Langkawi

Pelangi Beach Resort And Spa

Casa Del Mar Langkawi

Berjaya Beach and Spa Resort

Four Season Langkawi

Langkawi: "If you are living here . . .
Mark, updated: 23 June 2009
. . . YOU are responsible for this Island." (Prof. d’Abrera)

This is a very uncomfortable truth and there are many justifications why ‘we can not do anything’ about the real or perceived absuse of the environment on this Island. "What can an individual do? Isn’t it the big money that rules the destiny of this Island? If I say something, I will have difficulties." Now there is something, that you CAN do -
and that is safe to do, even for Expats living here (who indeed should behave like the guests they are): You can become a Member of the Malaysian Nature Society.

In this way you can express your stand and give your support to the right side. Do you want more shopping centers on Langkawi and Skyscrapers in Tanjung Rhu ? No? Ok, join the people who have the science, the experience, the connections and the trust of the Government. Join a Malaysian organization who has the same goal as you and works on educating people.
Help them to find and initiate new, practical, viable solutions. Like putting up an "Institute of Natural History" on Langkawi, which will act as a Museum and a Center for Scientists who will be working here. It will generate income without having negative side effects.
The Nature of Langkawi is still in pretty good shape. But time might come, when it will be important to have a strong voice with many followers on this Island to put some weight on the right side of the balance.
These times might come earlier than we think.
Here is how you can become a Member :The easiest way is to go and make a visit to
Ms. Fadzillah Binti Mansor
the Program Coordinator of the new Langkawi Branch of the MNS in the Frangipani Hotel.
Please give her a call before you go: 04 955 8599

The ordinary Membership for one year is RM 70.00 / RM 100.00 (depending on which magazines you want to receive).

by langkawi gazette

Langkawi has only two more years . . .

Mark 18 June 2009 / Pictures: Shirley
We need a Langkawi Institute of Natural History !
In his hugely interesting, very motivated speech at a LADA auditorium, before about 60 people attending,

Prof. Bernard d'Abrera, explained, that the equilibrium between nature and habitat, the point between the ecological use of this island and it’s misuse, has now been reached.
If Langkawi continues to go along the same path it has taken in the last years, in regard to forest clearing for buildings and roads, we will have a considerably big impact in the direction of the destruction of the nature of the whole Island within the next two years, which will NOT be reversible.
This sounds like an alarming statement out of the blue. Why? What’s going on?
To understand this we have to consider two facts:
No 1: The Rain Forest creates it’s own weather
Each big tree of the Rain Forest sucks out tons of waters out of the ground daily, transports it into his leaves and transpires it through the non-shiny underside of his leaves into the air.
This humidity in the air condenses to clouds and comes down as rain. That’s why Langkawi has so much, and so predictable rainfall.
Once this mechanism stops working, because the cri tical mass of trees left to sustain it has been ‘over cleared’, the whole rain forest will start to suffer and go into decline.
No 2: The rainforest – once going into decline, can not recreate itself, because the Butterflies will be missing

What have the Butterflies to do with it ?
Here we have to know two things: Langkawi has such a big number of species of Butterflies (340) because his rain forest has such a huge number of different plants and trees. Each specie of butterfly is dependent upon a certain kind of plant or a certain kind of tree and in return helps this plant or tree to fertilize its seeds.
Once a species of Butterfly is extinct, because there were no more trees of a certain kind to sustain it, the seeds of the remaining trees of this specie will not be fertilized anymore: a downward spiral.
Simply counting the species of Butterflies immediately shows if a forest is untouched and in good shape (with many kinds of trees), or if it has already declined to a near mono culture of only a few species of trees left.
That’s why the Butterflies are so important, because Butterflies (and the Moths) are the ones who fertilize the seeds of the trees in the flowers on the top of the crown. This is not done by Bees or Wasps or any other insects, it’s done by the Butterflies.

“In planning the conservation of the Rain Forest, we have to think in a time frame of 500 years”, declared Prof. d'Abrera
No Forest Scientists or Ministry in the Geopark
Prof. d'Abrera explained, that “In planning the conservation of the Rain Forest, we have to think in a time frame of 500 years”. The changes in the forest can not be seen by a three week tourist or a land developer who only thinks in the range of a few years.
He then went on to explain what an incredible Jewel of Nature Langkawi really is, and that it can only be compared to it’s nearest neighbor island, Koh Tarutao, on the southern border of Thailand.
"Langkawi lives mainly from one thing: From the Rain forest. Without rain forest no tourists anymore…" But there is no ministry representing the scientific care for the rain forest on Langkawi. We do not care about the most important asset of the Island. We just take it for granted and are not even aware of its complex life cycles…
Prof. D'Abrera did lecture before the top people of the Langkawi Tourism Action Council. Its General Manager, Mr. Shaharudin Hjitam and the Manager Suziana W. Othman were present. At the end of the speech, in the question and answer session, Mr. Shaharudin showed that he had indeed understood the importance of the subject.

The d'Abrera initiative for launching the Langkawi Institute of Natural History
Do it now!
To work against the above deficit of forest scientists, DBRERA STRONGLY suggests, that Langkawi creates it’s own Institute of Natural History.
This, he said, for example, could be done in the remains of the Book village.
He himself, Prof. d'Abrera, would help to put the institute up, to create its rules and internal structure, organise the collection and exhibition of the samples and put together the scientific library. And: he would also be willing to teach there. He promised to bring in scientists from abroad (with funding) who would come and study their topics in the middle of where the objects of their studies live, instead of having to send samples to London, New York or Berlin…This Institute would be the first big world institute of Natural History being put IN THE FIELD and could within a short time be the center of research into classification and conservation procedures for the living species of Langkawi and all of Asia.
It would - at the same time - be a Museum and Tourist attraction, and the whole of Langkawi could benefit from it.
These are no shallow words, considering that Prof. d'Abrera, who has written more than 30 books about Butterflies, is regarded as THE international authority on Butterflies and Moths today and his books are the standard references on this subject.
Prof. d'Abrera will have talks with some ministers on the mainland next week and we can only hope, that his idea is the beginning of a new chapter of nature conservation in Langkawi.
The event in LADA was organized by the new branch of the Malaysia Nature Society, headed by Ms. Fadzilah (016 93 47760), who is establishing the office of the Langkawi Branch of the MNS in the Frangipani Resort.

...from Langkawi gazette