Landslides for kids sounds better than landslides for dummies, since the dummy in charge here is Malaysia’s Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Chuan.

According to Minister Ong, the recent landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa was a not a result of human negligence.

Why?

Because the minister visited Bukit Antarabangsa a few days after the deadly disaster and concludes:

"If it was human negligence, the landslide would have occurred a year or two after the houses were built but the houses here were built since 15 years ago,"

Ok, up to you: is this landslides for kids or landslides for dummies?

Does the Minister have any idea how many years it takes before a defective man made slope comes down again as a landslide?

It’s clear why the Minister of Malaysia’s Housing didn’t visit Bukit Antarabangsa like the PM, DPM and other dignities the first day of the disaster.

Why?

Saying such utterly stupid things would really have flared up tempers…

Warning signs of a landslide

For all of you MALAYSIA MY SECOND HOME holders looking to buy property in Malaysia, behold the following warning signs of a landslide:

• landslides happen on slopes where the natural vegetation is cleared. For example… due to housing construction
   
• a previous landslide predicts a future landslide : the last landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa was less than 20 years ago
   
• landslides happen when governments approve construction areas with transparent rules that can be investigated by third parties

In short: if you buy property in Malaysia: do NOT buy your property on or nearby a hill.

Even if the hill is fully covered with rainforest and the government has stated that the hill will be permanent forest…

That’s exactly what they said about the area close-by where I bought my condominium 10 years ago: the "permanent forest" nowadays consist out of a few skyscrapers that tale away all the light in my condominium…

Summarized: landslides happen on slopes during the rainy season in countries like Malaysia where:

• there is no transparency in why constructions are accepted by the government on slopes
   
• there are no landslide prevention projects (HongKong is well known for their landslide prevention projects!)

Facts on landslides

Quickly simply say Mr. Ong, Malaysia’s Housing and Local Government Minister?

Who gives the permits to built on a slope in Malaysia and why or why not is one allowed to built on slopes?

There are 5 different types of landslides, so Mr Ong: which one of the five landslides below are you talking about?

1. Debris flow landslide

In this type of landslide, slope material becomes saturated with water and may develop into a debris flow or mud flow landslide.

The landslide may pick up trees, houses, and cars. The mud will block bridges and rivers causing more floods.

2. Earth flow landslide

An earth flow landslide is a flow of saturated, fine-grained materials typically moving at speeds from 17 to 20 km/h.

The speed of an earth flow landslide depends on how much water content is in the flow itself: if there is more water content in the flow, the higher its speed will be.

This kind of landslides slower than a mudflow but faster than a fluid flow landslide. This landslide will cover houses with solid material carried along by the flow from within, not so by taking trees and debris with it along the way.

Clay, fine sand & silt and fine-grained, pyroclastic material are all signs of earth flow landslides.

Earth flow landslides typically occur during periods of high rainfall when the ground gets saturated with water.

What about drainage you might ask?

I can show you many roads in Malaysia where at the lowest point of the road there is no drainage hole, because the holes are just made every so many meters…

When basic logic isn’t visual on Malaysian roads, most likely adequate drainage systems on hills with housing areas are non existent or not up to value. I would love the Malaysian government or constructors prove me wrong!

3. Debris or rocks avalanche landslide

A debris or rocks avalanche is a type of landslide due to chaotic movement of rocks, soil and debris mixed with water or ice (or both). They are much faster moving than debris landslides and occur normally on very steep sloops.

These types of landslides are usually triggered by the saturation of thickly vegetated slopes which results in an incoherent mixture of broken timber, smaller vegetation and other debris.

4. A slump landslide

A slump is a rare, poorly understood type of landslide, typically with a long run-out.

This type of landslide is often very large and flow very far, even slightly uphill again.

5. Shallow landslide

Shallow landslides often happen in areas having slopes with:

• high permeable soils
   
• on top of low permeable bottom soils.

The low permeable bottom soil traps the water. When the top soil is filled with water, it becomes so heavy that it starts sliding over the low permeable bottom soils.

Who is responsible?

In Malaysia:

you are responsible
when your house is covered with a landslide.

I heard in the Malaysia news of yesterday:

The Government, contractor and buyer is responsible…

So be warned when you buy property in Malaysia under the MALAYSIA MY SECOND HOME program, you are responsible for your house being affected by a landslide.

• since most likely you are not a geo-engineer conducting many samples of the ground before you buy your property and
   
• you have no clue why the government approves hill side projects (the ruling party UMNO does, the opposition party takes over and suddenly no more hill side project in the same gets approved… Yes we are talking Bukit Antarabangsa here … where is the logic???) …

… do not buy property in Malaysia on slopes!

Landslides for kids summarized

The only smart thing to do is to buy your property far away from any hill, especially when the slope is to steep for comfort.

Look at the above picture: that slope is way too steep for comfort because the rain that falls down in Malaysia falls during the rainy season "with the buckets" in stead of "with drops" like in Europe.

If you buy properties in western Europe, you have more guarantees that you can trust your house is built in a safe area, but always remember that beautiful and – cheaper than Europe – Malaysia is not Europe.

But how cheap is cheap when one day you find yourself of your kids death under the rubble of a landslide?

Technorati Tags Ampang, bukit antarabangsa, dummies, dummy, facts on landslides, government minister, kuala lumpur, landslide, landslides, landslides for kids, local government, Malaysia my second home, MM2H programme, ong, ong ka chuan, types of landslide

If there is one thing to remember about Badawi, it’s how he reformed Malaysia’s one party democracy to the road of multiple parties democracy and to the power of the people.

Without being disrespectful, Badawi did it all the way "sleeping" with little or no interference.

Unlike his predecessor Mahathir who did ‘everything’ himself, even choosing the bolts and nuts to be used for constructing the Twin Towers.

Of course both are exaggerations but they illustrate the point I am trying to make.

• During Mahathir’s rule, Mahathir thought what was best for the country and acted upon his ideas.
   
• During Badawi’s rule, Badawi opened the way for Malaysia to be governed by the power of the people.

It’s clear that in a political landscape where a man like Mahathir oversees everything, there is little or no place for new forces to form to oppose the government.

• The latter would be acceptable when such a central government erases all the causes for an opposition to be formed.
   
• The latter is unacceptable when a central government erases all opposition to be formed.

However, sleeping his way through parliament wasn’t ideal to speed up the process of transparency and putting a hold to corruption.

But then, how to rule a country when everybody is asking you to go?

Badawi has been subtle in changing the political landscape. Just like Badawi loves farming, it seems he cleared the field for a ‘multi parties democracy’ to grow.

How much you criticize Badawi for not doing much, you must understand that clearing a field of all weeds takes lots and lots of energy and during the weeding process you aren’t harvesting anything.

And when Badawi planned to clear the political weeds in 8 years, it could be very volatile that at the moment the field has just been cleared: another planter takes over…

That’s having done all the dirty work and then seeing your new land taken away from you by somebody else.

• We hope that Badawi has put very strong seeds in Malaysia’s democratic soil that can withstand any new farmer using even the strongest weed-killers.
   
• We also hope that the few plants Badawi planted during his legacy, won’t be uprooted by his successors.

Badawi’s legacy is clear though: plant the trees of a new democracy: as Badawi’s trees will grow even when Badawi is sleeping.

Technorati Tags badawi, Badawi sleeping, Malaysia, Malaysia Newspaper, malaysia today, party democracy