Bike-sharing in Taipei

by lee seok hwai

The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

More people in Taipei are using bicycles provided by the city to complement their journeys by bus and MRT.

THE hottest product in food-mad and broadband-needy Taipei these days is the bicycle. Not any bicycle, but one of the 3,859 shiny two-wheelers of the YouBike bike-share scheme run by the municipal government and Giant, the world’s largest bike manufacturer based in central Taiwan. The scheme’s popularity shows how bicycles can be incorporated into an urban public transport system, by filling in the gaps the subway and buses cannot reach.

At all hours of the day, residents can be seen at the 115 YouBike stations across Taipei, pushing out a bike to go to school or office, to lunch, the market or that morning tai qi routine at the park.

All that is required is a one-time, free registration using a Taiwan-registered mobile phone and the EasyCard, Taipei’s version of Singapore’s EZ-Link (or Malaysia’s Touch ’n Go). 

Users swipe the card on check-out and return of the bike, which can be done at any station. Registered users are entitled to free use of YouBikes for the first 30 minutes. Every subsequent 30-minute block costs between NT$10 (RM1.10) and NT$40 (RM4.40), depending on total usage. Foreigners without a local phone can use any smart-chipped credit card, but must pay to use the bikes.

“I think it’s great, very convenient and easy to use,” says Liu Tzu-ling, a 21-year-old business administration undergraduate, as she manoeuvred a YouBike out of a stand outside Gongguan MRT station.

Liu started using YouBike two months ago to move more quickly between the station and her classes at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. The trip takes her about two minutes – less than half the time it takes on foot. And there is a YouBike stand at her university.

“I haven’t had to pay anything so far,” she added.

Another YouBike convert is retiree Chih Te-liang, 69. Chih said he rides the bicycle to buy groceries, or simply for relaxation.

“As long as I don’t use it during the rush hours, I think it’s safe,” he said, referring to the crowded traffic in Taipei.

Liu Chia-yu, spokesman for the Taipei city government’s transport department, said that the YouBike fleet clocked a total of 1.25 million passenger trips last month, after breaking the one-million mark for the first time in August.

“We established YouBike to complement our existing public transport network and encourage residents to cut down on using private vehicles. And that’s exactly the purpose it has served, by helping commuters cover “awkward” distances which are too short for a bus or MRT ride yet too far on foot,” said Liu. 

The system costs the Taipei Government NT$268mil (RM29mil) under a seven-year contract with Giant.

Yet, not too long ago, YouBike was a veritable white elephant. Launched in March 2009, the service originally comprised only 11 stations, all in the Xinyi financial district. Users were charged NT$40 (RM4.40) upfront for the use of a bike for a day. As a result, the service logged an average of just 5,000 trips each month last year.

“Our opinion surveys showed that the scale of YouBike was too limited to be effective,” said Liu. “The public also didn’t like that they had to use their identity cards and another identification document, like the driving licence, to register as members.”

The system was tweaked accordingly and YouBike was relaunched in August last year at 30 stations in Xinyi and four more districts.

Spurred by YouBike’s success, neighbouring New Taipei City, Taichung and Tainan, in central and southern Taiwan respectively, are expected to launch their own bike-share schemes next year.

But there are problems too. Taipei, the most densely populated city in Taiwan with 2.6 million residents, has few dedicated bicycle lanes and too much vehicle traffic. YouBike users often ride on crowded sidewalks, vying for space with pedestrians.

Nonetheless, Associate Professor Chiou Yu-chiun at the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu City believes this problem will be resolved as residents get into the habit of cycling. 

“Previous efforts to set up cycling lanes fell through because there was little demand for them. I’m sure this will change in future,” he said. – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

The Star Online

Saturday December 28, 2013.

Jasa mu tetap di kenang

Sentuhan tangan guru dan pelajar yang sayangkan sekolah.

Sepanjang tembok Dewan Gemilang menerima sentuhan tangan-tangan guru dan pelajar menghiasi tembok kelihatan cantik dan kemas. Pn. Rosnah Samlee bersama Miss Zalina Jusoh(ZJ) dan beberapa orang pelajar bergotong royong (GORO) melukis dan mengecat tembok sejak semalam (Jumaat 27 Disember,2013) menyambung kerja-kerja yang di tinggalkan oleh Puan Nor Aida Redzuan yang berpindah ke Melaka. Terima kasih tidak terhingga kepada guru-guru dan pelajar saya yang begitu prihatin dengan sekolah mereka. Jasa mu tetap di kenang. Allah SWT memberikan balasan yang berlipatganda di atas jasa bakti yang di berikan. Terima Kasih.

Che Yahya Che Soh

Pengetua SMKSB@STAR

Sabtu 28 Disember,2013.

Jasa mu tetap di kenang

Langkanya Tulisan Jawi

 
Sumber http://zurinashafie.blogspot.com/

Beberapa dasawarsa yang lalu Malaysia yang dahulunya terkenal dengan nama Tanah Melayu menjadikan Tulisan Jawi sebagai pengantar rasmi dalam berurusan dengan pejabat-pejabat kerajaan dan perhubungan awam. Surat-surat khabar yang berlidah pengarang pengantar tulisan jawi menjadi tatapan masyarakat tempoh dulu. Papan-papan tanda pejabat dan sekolah-sekolah malah iklan perniagaan di sepanjang jalan semuanya dalam tulisan jawi.Generasi awal kemerdekaan fasih membaca jawi malah orang bukan Islam pun mampu membaca dan memahami dengan baik tulisan ini. Masyarakat Cina di Kelantan pada masa dulu boleh menulis dan membaca dalam huruf jawi dengan baik tetapi kini semuanya tinggal kenangan dalam lipatan sejarah pendidikan negara. Sesuatu yang menghairankan kita apabila pakar bukan Islam luar negara turut prihatin dengan nasib tulisan jawi yang semakin pupus tetapi kita tidak 'BERDEGIH' langsung dengan kebimbangan yang di suarakan.Seharusnya kita berasa malu dengan kepedulian orang bukan Islam yang begitu mengambil berat nasib tulisan ini.

 

Sumber: Internet

Perkasa Jawi

Pendekatan Islam Hadhari zaman Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (2003-2009) menjadi Perdana Menteri telah memberi sedikit nafas baharu dalam memperkasa bacaan dan tulisan JAWI melalui JQAF iaitu Jawi, Qur'an, Arab dan Fardhu 'Ain  bagi membolehkan anak-anak celik Al Qur'an kerana hubungan antara Jawi dan Al Qur'an sangat rapat terutama huruf dan sebutannya.Sebahagian besar huruf dalam tulisan jawi merujuk kepada Al Qur'an. Di zaman saya bersekolah dulu (Darjah 5 1965) Che'gu mengajar tulisan dan bacaan jawi. Murid-murid di beri teks dalam bentuk Rumi untuk di tulis dalam Jawi sehingga murid-murid faham dan menguasai kedua-dua  ejaan dengan baik.

Sumber: Internet

Mudah baca Qur'an

Jalan mudah untuk membaca dan menghafaz Al Qur'an ialah memahami tulisan dan bacaan Jawi dengan baik.Menghapus tulisan jawi dalam sistem pendidikan bermakna merencat dan  menjauhkan umat dari Al Qur'an. Bagaimana meminta anak-anak kita mencintai Al Qur'an sekiranya mereka tidak mengenal asas dalam bacaan Jawi? Ibu bapa moden juga jauh dari Jawi malah ada antara mereka yang tidak memahami tulisan ini.Huruf-huruf Jawi yang sangat sinonim dengan Al Qur'an seperti BA, TA, THA JIM (bukan Jim mata tonchik dalam Filem P. Ramlee) HA merupakan asas mengenal bacaan kepada anak-anak yang mempelajari kitab Allah SWT. Dalam filem Pendekar Bujang Lapok P.Ramlee bersama Ajis, Sudin dan orang-orang kampung mempelajari tulisan jawi melalui Che'gu Ros. Walau pun lucu dan kelakar tetapi mesejnya sungguh mendalam.

Martabat tulisan jawi

Semasa berada di Brunei Darussalam  selama beberapa hari pada penghujung tahun 2011, saya perhatikan semua bangunan kedai, tempat-tempat awam dan jalan-jalan di penuhi dengan tulisan jawi berdiri gagah menyambut tetamu yang berkunjung ke negara yang terkaya dengan minyak ini.Langkanya tulisan jawi mengundang kejahilan berpanjangan dalam kalangan umat terutama generasi muda yang lahir pada abad globalisasi ini.Kerajaan Brunei Darussalam memartabatkan tulisan jawi dalam semua urusan pentadbiran.

Sumber :http://kegiatanjpikb.blogspot.com

Wallahu'alam

Che'Yahya Che'Soh

Pengetua SMKSB@STAR

Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

Sabtu 28 Disember,2013.

Langkanya Tulisan Jawi.

Jabatan Pendidikan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur.

Bangunan utama kelihatan gagah dan elegan.

Gelanggang Badminton di rehabilitasi menjadi Dewan
Dato' Asiah untuk kegunaan seminar dan mesyuarat jabatan.
Sumber gambar:  Portal JPWP

Tuan Abdullah Mad Yunus
Pengarah Pendidikan JPWP KL


Jabatan Pendidikan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (JPWP) terletak di Jalan Duta bersebelahan Stesen Bas ke Utara dan bersetentang dengan Stadium Hoki.Bangunan yang di serahkan kepada JPWP ini pada tahun 2005 asalnya ialah Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum,Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia sebelum berpindah ke Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Putrajaya.Pada ketika itu pentadbiran JPWP berada di Anjung FELDA Jalan Semarak selama beberapa tahun setelah berpindah dari Jalan Raja Muda Ab Aziz.Atas inisiatif dan sokongan padu Pengarah Pendidikan pada masa itu, Encik Yaacob Wan Ibrahim (sekarang Datuk) pentadbiran jabatan ini berpindah ke premis baru mulai tahun 2005 hingga kini.Datuk Yaacob tidak sempat mendiami pejabat baharu. Beliau bersara pada Mei 2004 di Anjung Felda.Puan Noor Rezan Bapoo Hashim (sekarang Dato') mengganti beliau sehingga tahun 2006 sebelum menjadi Pengarah Bahagian Pengurusan Harian Sekolah (BPSH) di Putra Jaya.Tempat beliau di isi oleh Haji Abas Awang sehingga Julai 2007.Encik Sulaiman Wak mengambil alih selama 1 tahun 6 bulan sebelum di ganti oleh Hj Radzi Ab Jabbar. Selama 2 tahun memimpin JPWP, beliau berpindah ke Perak Darul Redhuan dan tempatnya di isi oleh Hj Adenan Deraman yang bersara pada November,2011.Pengarah Pendidikan sekarang ialah Tuan Abdullah Mad Yunus mulai Julai 2012 menggantikan Ybhg. Dato' Khairil Awang yang berpindah  ke Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB) Seri Layang sebagai Pengarah IAB.

Che'Yahya Che' Soh

Pengetua SMKSB@STAR

Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

Jumaat 27 Disember,2013.

Jabatan Pendidikan Wilayah Persekutuan

Shaping and leading the future

  By Datuk Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid  | iabaiw@yahoo.com
Writer is a deputy vice-chancellor, INTI Laureate International University

THERE have always been futurists in society. There are also the nostalgists and revisionists who long for the recreation of some bygone real or imagined glorious pasts of their cultures.

In contemporary civilisation, which emphasises scientific evidence, scholars and researchers no longer really compete with soothsayers but with themselves. Divining the future is about preparation for the future or shaping the future itself. Visioning the future is the craft of gathering information, learning lessons, pinpointing future trends and making solid predictions.

Joel Arthur Barker wrote on Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future. He trains leaders regarding the power of vision and paradigm shifts. He has been to Malaysia several times.
In one of his talks, he invited leaders to understand the four verge relationships for leading strategically in the future, as follows:

ENTER virgin territory where there are no competitors;
PARTNER with elements in new territory and compete over there;
PARTNER with elements in new territory to bring back advantages to use in your own environment; and,
IMPROVE elements in the new territory with your technology and ideas.
He taught the power of vision, before the book by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, captured the imagination of leaders.

Powerful ideas are always around: researchers, scholars and policymakers must seize the ideas and act strategically to make a difference.

In the 1980s, futurists guided policymakers to make sense of the future. Pre-eminent among them were Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Wiener, who published The Year 2000: A Framework for Speculation on the Next Thirty-Three Years. The document with contributions from members of the Hudson Institute included a list called "One Hundred Technical Innovations Very Likely in the Last Third of the Twentieth Century".

Alvin Toffler was famous for his books, Third Wave, Power shift, and Future Shock. John Naisbitt, the prescient futurist was acclaimed for his books High Tech High Touch, Megatrends (1982) and Megatrends 2000 (1990), and Mind Set!.

Naisbitt analysed the long-term futuristic trends of American society, both chronologically and globally, with implications on other societies. Naisbitt noted that the "most reliable way to anticipate the future is by understanding The trends identified were:

BECOMING an information society after having been an industrial one;
FROM technology being forced into use, to technology being pulled into use where it is appealing to people;
FROM a predominantly national economy to one in the global marketplace;
FROM short-term to long-term perspectives;
FROM centralisation to decentralisation;
FROM getting help through institutions like government to self-help;
FROM representative to participative democracy;
FROM hierarchies to networking;
FROM a northeastern bias to a southwestern one; and,
FROM seeing things as "either/or" to having more choices.
In 1991, Stan Davis and Bill Davidson wrote Vision 2020. He then wrote Future Perfect, and Blur: The Speed of Change.

In the midst of the intellectual fervour regarding the future, Malaysia's Vision 2020 was launched on Feb 28, 1991. The world is already in the second decade of the third millennium. The future which just happened, the future around the corner, and, the far future are all in the imagination and planning of man. The year 2020 is six years around the corner.

All the transformation plans, national development plans and blueprints are aimed at achieving Vision 2020. Has Vision 2020 prepared Malaysia for the uncertain future and with Vision 2020, is the future being shaped, based on the insight and real indicators of progress?

Notwithstanding the celebration of the insights of economists, a large number of mankind still refers to astrologers, mystics, fortune-tellers, psychics and Nostradamus-like priests to give them guidance to their personal futures or the prediction of the last three minutes of the world.

Economists look for past trends to predict future economic events. Historians describe history as lessons from the past for leading the future. In an age of unreason and uncertainties without historic precedent, new models of riding future waves and shaping the future have to be sought. In this respect, we need new knowledge, new mindset, modes of thinking and new visionaries.

Jerry Allan, teacher and architect, observed that "most of the big ideas of the 21st century will be combinations of single ideas from the 20th century". What are the ideas from the 20th century that we bring creatively to the 21st century? In addition, what are the significant ideas from the future that we bring back to understand our past?

iabaiw@yahoo.com

nst Friday 27 December,2013.

Doa mudah bersalin

Malam khamis 26 Disember, 2013 saya bersolat Maghrib dan Isyak di Masjid Kampung Baru berimamkan Hafiz dari Syria. Sebaik selesai solat Isyak sambil menunggu anak yang akan bersalin di Hospital Pakar Islam Kampung Baru (KBMC), saya bersilaturahim dengan mantan Imam Ustaz Abdul Aziz Al Hafiz yang telah lama tidak berjumpa. Kami bertanya khabar dan saya di maklumkan beliau telah enam tahun bersara dari JAKIM. Tugas terakhir beliau di Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor. Ustaz Ab. Aziz masih seperti dulu, wajahnya tak makan usia hanya badannya sedikit susut.Kejernihan wajahnya terserlah kerana keberkatan Al Qur'an yang menjadi amalannya.Sedang asyik berbual deringan telefon saya berbunyi beberapa kali lantas saya mohon diri untuk ke Hospital berdekatan. Beliau meminta saya membaca Alam Tarakayfa 3 kali dan Thumma Sabila Yassarah disamping Al Fatihah pada air dan di beri minum kepada anak yang akan bersalin. Terima Kasih Ustaz  kerana mengijazahkan doa kepada saya. Mudah-mudahan Allah SWT memberikan keberkatan hidup dan kesihatan berpanjangan kepada tuan sekeluarga. Amin. Alhamdulillah anak saya sudah bersalin pada jam 1.48minit malam yang sama dengan selamat.

Kepada ibu-ibu yang akan bersalin baca lah ayat tersebut mudah-mudahan Allah memudahkan segala-galanya.

ثُمَّ السَّبِيلَ يَسَّرَهُ ثُمَّ السَّبِيلَ يَسَّرَهُ

Wallahua'lam

Che Yahya Che Soh

Jumaat 28 Dismber,2013.

Mantan GC Jadi Penternak

Sdra. Ab. Aziz Omar penternak berjaya. 


Kambing dan biri-biri Cikgu Aziz sedang
meragut rumput .

Empat keping gambar di atas dari Blog AZMAR-FB mengesahkan sahabat saya Drs. Ab. Aziz Omar mantan Guru Cemerlang DG 54 yang telah bersara awal tahun ini (57) mempunyai wawasan yang futuristik.Beliau kini memiliki pusat ternakan kambing dan biri-biri di Kampung Beta Pasir Mas Kelantan.Tahniah dan syabas kerana berjaya merealisasikan impian menjadi seorang penternak secara komersial.Bidang penternakan menjanjikan pulangan lumayan bukan sahaja untuk keluarga tetapi mampu menjana sumber ekonomi negara. Tahniah.Kepada rakan-rakan, sahabat dan kenalan yang berhajat membuat AQIQAH boleh lah berhubung dengan sdra. Cikgu Aziz seperti alamat di atas. Saya rasa bangga di atas inisiatif sdra Aziz untuk menjadi penternak moden.

Che'Yahya Che'Soh

Pengetua SMKSB@STAR

Segambut Kuala Lumpur.

Khamis 26 Disember,2013.