WITH FACTS, WE CAN THEN SHOW IT TO THE CHAMBER PRESIDENT THAT WE NEED THEIR LEADERSHIP TO HELP US TO WORK HAND IN HAND WITH THE GOVT.
WITH DL CONNECTIONS, IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO HAVE MOST OF THE BN ASSOCIATIONS TO AGREE TO JOIN THE CHINESE CHAMBER WHERE WE CAN SET UP A NEW WING INSIDE THE CHINESE CHAMBER ASSOCIATION TO REPRESENT ALL MALAYSIAN FARMERS IN ALL FEDERAL ISSUES WHILE THE LOCAL BN ASSOCIATIONS CAN SETTLE THE LOCAL ISSUES ON THEIR OWN.
AND ONLY BY THIS METHOD THAT WE CAN STOP THOSE FEW BN SDN BHD FROM CONTINUE WITH THEIR HIDDEN AGENDA.
..
Added on May 26, 2009, 11:29 amTHE CAVIAR OF THE EAST © Duncan Graham 2006
When Achmad Basuni and his wife Siti Mariah were building their new house in 2000 great good fortune swiftly flew in the window.
Literally.
A pair of swallows darted into the half finished kitchen and cast knowing eyes around the walls and rafters. Like all astute real estate buyers they knew exactly what they wanted: Security, space, a cool atmosphere, friendly co-tenants and easy access.
Any Westerner who found feathered ferals moving into their kitchen would probably call a pest exterminator, but this couple rejoiced. “It’s a blessing from God,” said Achmad who runs a motorbike workshop. Commented Siti: “I felt pity on them. I didn’t want them disturbed. So we just stopped building there.”
The kitchen was given over to the visitors and the home rapidly re-designed. When the swallows laid their first clutch Achmad substituted a pair of swiftlets’ eggs bought for Rp 60,000 (US $ 7)
Swiftlets have dark plumage. They’re closely related to swallows and slightly smaller. In flight they look sickle-shaped. Swallows are migratory and move between continents and hemispheres. Swiftlets live only in the tropics and usually nest in caves.
Unlike their bigger and better travelled cousins swiftlets build quite different homes; their nests are edible, keenly sought and highly prized: They’re the raw material for the Chinese dish Bird’s Nest Soup – also known as the Caviar of the East.
Depending on the quality and season a kilo of swiftlets’ nests (that’s around 100) can fetch around Rp 10 million (US $1,150) at the barn door.
News about the swallows’ selection flew rapidly round the couple’s village of Jeru, about 20 kilometres west of Malang in East Java. Soon a stranger was knocking with a startling offer: He’d buy their house for Rp 300 million (US $34,000), double its market value.
No sale. Achmad and Siti knew that if their unwanted bidder was prepared to pay that much cash it must be worth a lot more to them.
There are now more than 40 birds flashing in and out of their selected home through small holes set high in the four metre walls. After daybreak the birds zip across to Balekambang Beach on the south coast where the flying insects they catch on the wing are most prolific. The birds return at nightfall, a round trip of about 160 kilometres.
There are a few other lucky folk in Jeru. You can pick their bird barns by the flat grey windowless concrete walls. The giveaway features are small entrance and exit holes, about the size of two bricks.
Some families rejected by the birds find their neighbours’ good luck difficult to swallow. “The big problem is thieves after nests and eggs,” said Achmad. “One farm spends Rp 2.5 million a month on security, five times the normal rate for guards.
“Others visit paranormals to persuade the birds to relocate. I know someone whose house has been abandoned three times by swiftlets after black magic has been applied. But the birds eventually came back.
“I don’t know why we were chosen. We’re just ordinary Muslims, certainly not fanatic about faith.”
Those more pragmatic than psychic are said to be using recorded sounds of swiftlets broadcast through speaker systems to entice passing birds to enter their barn. The birds emit clicks to guide them, a system known as echolocation.
Nests are harvested every three or four months after the chicks have flown. A pair of swiftlets can raise two or three broods a year. Buyers from Surabaya do the rounds of the roosts and take the nests for processing.
Environmentalists are concerned that nest harvesting isn’t always well managed. Greedy gatherers who take nests before the chicks take wing are threatening the species.
(sidebar)
SWIFTS’ SPITTLE
Swiftlet nests are made from the birds’ saliva produced by glands under the tongue. The nests’ edible qualities have been known for at least 700 years. What’s not known is how the discovery was made and why anyone would think a dirty nest could make a tasty dish.
Our ancestors must have choked on a lot of sticks encrusted with dung and vomited feathers and broken eggs before they found an edible variety.
The stratospheric price means bird’s nest soup is a food only for the mega rich. Few restaurants in Surabaya have it on their menu. Those who do can charge up to Rp 2 million a bowl (US $225).
For this sort of money diners want more than a lip-smacking experience. So it’s no surprise the nests are supposed to possess extraordinary characteristics from improving skin tone to warding off tuberculosis, curing consumption, dysentery, malaria … the list has no full stop. And, of course, enhancing sexual performance.
These claims are unlikely to be denied by anyone whose credit card has just melted on the restaurant cashier’s swipe machine. The catch is that the real or imagined benefits don’t come with just one big banquet to celebrate the commercial coup. Promoters say a regular diet of 10 grams a day is necessary.
The cooking process is critical. A microwaved or boiled nest will be nutrition-free. Best to steam slowly after soaking which expands the nest. The taste is said to be sweet, more like a dessert.
Surabaya distributor Dendy Van Hallen said the best nests came from bird barns in Java. These nests were usually clean and glossy, almost transparent. Cave nests from Papua and other outlying regions were often contaminated by feathers and dirt and worth only Rp 1 million a kilo (US $114).
“I send to restaurants on demand,” he said. “Most ask diners for a week’s notice so they can prepare ahead – it’s not a dish you can order on the spot. The bulk of our nests go to Jakarta.
“We do little preparatory work in Surabaya – cleaning up the nest is done in the restaurant where they soak and remove impurities.”
If you’d like to make your own soup at home a Malaysian company sells boxes of six tiny jars for Rp 200,000 (US $ 23). Each jar has an off-white jelly which the label says is made from birds’ nests, ginseng, sugar and ‘white fungug’.
Indonesia produces 80 per cent of the world’s edible birds’ nests. Most come from West Java and are exported to Hong Kong, Holland, Singapore and Taiwan. The last official published figures show Indonesia’s annual production around 27 tonnes. That’s a lot of swiftlet spit.
##
(First published in Jakarta Kini, August 2006)
Added on May 26, 2009, 11:38 am" The ex-situ conservation
measures proposed includes providing special
houses in which the Edible-nest Swiftlet will
breed, thereby significantly building up
populations in these islands, and providing an
alternate source of livelihood for nest
collectors, farmers, and poorer sections of the
community as well as forming an important
source of revenue for the islands."
http://www.envfor.nic.in/divisions/csurv/a...port_E_2008.pdfPage 18 ~ 19.
Added on May 26, 2009, 11:48 am"2. Commercial Species
i. Edible-nest Swiftlet
Research in collaboration with local authorities on cave swiftlet houses was done to identify their abundance and distribution all over Peninsular Malaysia. Research on nutrient contents of the swiftlets' nests are being carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Medical Research (IMR). The main objective is to identify the differences in nutrient contents of the birds' nest from samples taken from Bentong, Pahang; Bandar Hilir, Melaka; and Kuala Krai, Kelantan. "
http://www.wildlife.gov.my/webpagev4_en/bh...Konservasi.html
Added on May 26, 2009, 11:56 am"
a) edible-nest swiftlets are widespread and abundant with no immediate conservation risk;
"
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/doc/11_01.pdf
Added on May 26, 2009, 12:07 pmEdible nest swiftlets are widespread and abundant
across their historical range. Their aggregate populations
are estimated as tens of millions, based on current
yields from nest harvesting. Despite documented
declines in some cave populations, there is no immediate
conservation risk.
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/10/doc/E10-50.pdfPage 1
Added on May 26, 2009, 12:08 pm" They wished to emphasize that the Committee was recommending repeal of Resolution Conf. 9.15 on conservation of edible-nest swiftlets of the genus Collocalia
because the Resolution had been extremely successful and was therefore no longer required. "
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/other/Plen.pdfPage 6
Added on May 26, 2009, 12:10 pmLink to cites reports :
http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u/ci...ts&start=0&sa=N..
Added on May 26, 2009, 1:24 pm"
This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 100,000-1,000,000 km². The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as 'abundant' in at least parts of its range (del Hoyo et al. 1999). Global population trends have not been quantified; there is evidence of a population decline (del Hoyo et al. 1999), but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. "
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/142760/0
Added on May 26, 2009, 1:32 pmLC = Least Concern
Defination :
LEAST CONCERN (LC)
A taxon is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
Added on May 26, 2009, 1:33 pmDefination Of Endangered Species :
ENDANGERED (EN)
A taxon is Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the following criteria (A to E), and it is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild:
A. Reduction in population size based on any of the following:
1. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population size reduction of ≥ 70% over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the causes of the reduction are clearly reversible AND understood AND ceased, based on (and specifying) any of the following:
(a) direct observation
(b) an index of abundance appropriate to the taxon
© a decline in area of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or quality of habitat
(d) actual or potential levels of exploitation
(e) the effects of introduced taxa, hybridization, pathogens, pollutants, competitors or parasites.
2. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population size reduction of ≥ 50% over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible, based on (and specifying) any of (a) to (e) under A1.
3. A population size reduction of ≥nbsp;50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer (up to a maximum of 100 years), based on (and specifying) any of (b) to (e) under A1.
4. An observed, estimated, inferred, projected or suspected population size reduction of ≥ 50% over any 10 year or three generation period, whichever is longer (up to a maximum of 100 years in the future), where the time period must include both the past and the future, and where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible, based on (and specifying) any of (a) to (e) under A1.
B. Geographic range in the form of either B1 (extent of occurrence) OR B2 (area of occupancy) OR both:
1. Extent of occurrence estimated to be less than 5000 km2, and estimates indicating at least two of a-c:
a. Severely fragmented or known to exist at no more than five locations.
b. Continuing decline, observed, inferred or projected, in any of the following:
(i) extent of occurrence
(ii) area of occupancy
(iii) area, extent and/or quality of habitat
(iv) number of locations or subpopulations
(v) number of mature individuals.
c. Extreme fluctuations in any of the following:
(i) extent of occurrence
(ii) area of occupancy
(iii) number of locations or subpopulations
(iv) number of mature individuals.
2. Area of occupancy estimated to be less than 500 km2, and estimates indicating at least two of a-c:
a. Severely fragmented or known to exist at no more than five locations.
b. Continuing decline, observed, inferred or projected, in any of the following:
(i) extent of occurrence
(ii) area of occupancy
(iii) area, extent and/or quality of habitat
(iv) number of locations or subpopulations
(v) number of mature individuals.
c. Extreme fluctuations in any of the following:
(i) extent of occurrence
(ii) area of occupancy
(iii) number of locations or subpopulations
(iv) number of mature individuals.
C. Population size estimated to number fewer than 2500 mature individuals and either:
1. An estimated continuing decline of at least 20% within five years or two generations, whichever is longer, (up to a maximum of 100 years in the future) OR
2. A continuing decline, observed, projected, or inferred, in numbers of mature individuals AND at least one of the following (a-b):
(a) Population structure in the form of one of the following:
(i) no subpopulation estimated to contain more than 250 mature individuals, OR
(ii) at least 95% of mature individuals in one subpopulation.
(b) Extreme fluctuations in number of mature individuals.
D. Population size estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals.
E. Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, whichever is the longer (up to a maximum of 100 years).
Added on May 26, 2009, 1:40 pmLASTLY,
SOME TALK K,
SINCE THE CRITERIA FOR ENDANGERED SPECIE IS WITHIN 500KM2, THE POPULATION OF MATURE SWIFTLETS MUST LESS THAN 2500...
SO, I SUGGEST THAT THOSE IDIOTS GO TO JOHN CHEN FARM IN SITIAWAN WHERE IT IS SITUATED MAIN ROAD WITH THREE LINK SHOPS AND COUNT
HOW MANY SWIFTLETS RESIDED THERE DURING THE NIGHT !!!!
OR
GO TO DATUK MAH FARM IN SUNGAI PETANI, AND I MEAN ONE OF THEM ENOUGH LOH AND COUNT HOW MANY MATURE SWIFTLETS RESIDED IN HIS FARM,
ENDANGERED???......DIAO NEI 
!!..
SWIFTLET IS NOT AN ENDANGERED SPECIE, BUT THOSE IDIOTS WHO LIST THEM AS ENDANGERED ARE INDEED
THE ENDANGERED SPECIE LAH!!!.....IDIOTS!!!....
...This post has been edited by ChanK: May 26 2009, 06:49 PM 
May 24 2009, 09:34 AM
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