Will China's rise shape Malaysian Chinese community?

Khoo Boo Hong says overseas Chinese are no longer seen as the rich ones

In Malaysia's northern state of Penang, a distinct shift is being felt in the immigrant Chinese community, as it rides the wave of China's economic rise.

The Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi, one of the richest clan associations, used to send money back to their ancestral home in Fujian province, China.

But that is changing as places like Sin Aun, a fishing village that the clan members' families hail from, are now bustling and have no need for money sent from overseas.

"In the past, overseas Chinese were seen as more wealthy but now the Chinese from China are even richer than us," says the clan association's Khoo Boo Hong.

Indeed, Chinese money is becoming more visible in Penang. A bridge that is currently under construction is being partly financed by a cheap loan from the Chinese government. The 4.5bn Malaysian ringgit (US$1.4bn) project is set to be the longest bridge in South East Asia, stretching 24km (15 miles).

The Chinese community in Malaysia acts as a bridge for business opportunities in China.

In 2010, Malaysia was one of China's biggest trading partners from South East Asia. Two-way trade hit 147bn Malaysian ringgit (US$46.3bn) last year, with a push to more than double that amount by 2015.

Much of the trade has been established by the Chinese Malaysian community, says Oh Ei Sun, the former political secretary on Chinese affairs to Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Malaysia was the first South East Asian country to form diplomatic ties with China in 1974.

As a result the two countries have a special relationship, and the Chinese in Malaysia have tried to exploit this kinship by developing business ties with China, says Mr Oh.

The Chinese began arriving on Malaysian shores in the early 15th Century. Today, they make up 24% of a population of 28 million, and have always been more prosperous than other ethnic communities. According to a 2011 Forbes magazine list, eight out of the top 10 richest Malaysians are ethnic Chinese.

This wealth imbalance has fuelled long-standing resentment among the Malay majority. It erupted into deadly race riots in 1969 - violence that two years later led the government to implement an affirmative action plan called the New Economic Policy.

This gave ethnic Malays and indigenous groups privileges over the Chinese and Indians, such as cheaper housing, priority in university scholarships and civil service jobs. The policy officially ended in 1990 but it has been succeeded by similar plans.

Lim Cheah Chooi hires Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese managers for his factories in China

"The quota system is still in place on so many levels," says Teo Nie Ching, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Action Party. This limits job prospects for Malaysian Chinese in certain businesses, including listed companies, she says.

"After so many generations [the Chinese] still feel that we are second class citizens," Ms Teo says.

Analysts say this sense of alienation has made many Malaysian Chinese look for opportunities elsewhere, including China.

As the Chinese economy opens up, Malaysian Chinese act as a bridge because many are educated in the United States or Britain but they can also understand the Chinese language and culture, says Lim Cheah Chooi.

His engineering firm, Unimech Group Berhad, has production factories in China, but he employs Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese at the middle management level.

This is something you see even among local Chinese companies who export to the West, says Mr Lim.

"How many people can say they speak Mandarin, multiple Chinese dialects, Malay and English? Most Malaysian Chinese can," he says.

This advantage is maintained because of Malaysia's multilingual education system. Ethnic Chinese and Indians can choose to study at the primary level in their mother tongue.

With the rise of China, more and more people, including non-Chinese, want to learn Mandarin, says Yong Yeow Khoon, CEO of the Chinese-language newspaper Guang Ming Daily in Penang, who is also a board member at an independent Chinese school.

The number of non-Chinese in Chinese vernacular schools is estimated to have grown to over 60,000 over the last three decades.

Even the Malay prime minister has sent his son to learn Mandarin at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Optimists point to this as a sign of increasing acceptance of Chinese culture by the Malay community. But some say this is wishful thinking.

Although the government has been pushing for national unity through the 1Malaysia slogan, analysts interviewed by the BBC do not believe that there is a fundamental change in attitude towards the Malaysian Chinese.

Economist Cheong Kee Cheok, who used to work for the World Bank, says some Malays do not distinguish between the Chinese from China and the ones from Malaysia.

"Malaysia in some ways is hostage to its own politics," says Mr Cheong.

He also says that Malaysia needs to be more aggressive in accessing the Chinese market. It may have had a head start in China, but "unfortunately...never used this advantage".

He believes much more can be done to facilitate relations between the two countries. At the moment most businesses who get into China are through the individual efforts of Malaysian Chinese businessmen, he says.

He says Malaysian leaders are not serious about China's rise.

The latest visit from Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in April could lend credence to this theory.

Malaysian blogs were filled with complaints about the grammatical mistakes on the welcome banner put up for Mr Wen in Chinese, suspected to be roughly translated from Malay.

Interpretations vary but the Chinese banner read: "Official welcoming ceremony, with him together his Excellency Wen Jiabao official interview Malaysia."

Many comments on Lowyat.net forum said that was shameful, given that ethnic Chinese people form the second-largest population in this multi-racial country.

"What do you expect? No Chinese working in government," wrote automan5891.

Church and charity warn on solar

By Richard BlackEnvironment correspondent, BBC News

The morality of investing, or not, in solar energy was highlighted at the recent UN climate summit

The Church of England and the National Trust have written to the government saying recent policy changes put community solar power schemes at risk.

They fear the changes "signal a retreat" in government plans to move towards localised renewable energy.

This week, the High Court ruled that a plan to halve subsidies for solar panels was "legally flawed", and MPs' committees said it was "panicky".

The church and the charity want a UK target for community energy.

Both organisations have tried to take a leadership role in developing community energy schemes.

They believe this type of project is being unfairly penalised by proposed changes to the feed-in tariff (FiT), the scheme that pays householders and communities a subsidy for producing solar electricity.

Their letter, to Climate Change Minister Greg Barker, is also signed by think-tank Forum for the Future and charitable consultants Carbon Leapfrog.

"I don't think anyone could argue with the fact that the way FiTs were set up created a bit of a market bubble, and economies had to be made," said Patrick Begg, the National Trust's director of rural enterprises.

"But the way the government has chosen to change the models has really shaken confidence - and it's very difficult to be certain that when commitments are made about support for renewables, they're going to stick," he told BBC News.

The letter contrasts the "sudden lurches" in policy and support that the UK has seen with the long-term stability that underpins the success of community-scale solar electricity in Germany.

"Twenty years of solid support has led to 18% of [Germany's] national energy supply now coming from renewable sources, with 45% of schemes owned by co-operatives and farmers," it reads.

"In the UK, this is just 1.5%."

The organisations are urging the government to establish and maintain higher FiTs for community schemes.

The National Trust has about 150 renewable energy projects across the properties it owns, and has set a target of supplying half of its energy needs through renewables by 2020.

Dunster Castle in Somerset is one of the Trust's solar-powered properties

It is particularly concerned that in villages it owns, where communities have come together on insulation projects, enthusiasm for extending into solar power has rapidly waned.

The Church of England, meanwhile, says that about 300 churches have so far invested in solar energy, many spurred by the FiTs.

"It's not always straightforward, but a lot of churches thought it was a good opportunity to get involved, to be a good example to the local community," said David Shreeve, environmental adviser to the CoE's Archbishops' Council.

"The changes could affect the financial implications for churches going ahead."

The extent of support for household and community FiTs is currently unclear, with the government having said it would challenge Wednesday's High Court ruling.

It was planning to drop the subsidy from 43p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 21p from 12 December. The cut will probably come, but at a later date.

A consultation on other changes closes today.

Among other things, it proposes toughening the criteria on home insulation necessary to qualify for FiTs - a move that was described on Thursday, in a joint report from the Environmental Audit Committee and the Energy and Climate Change Committee, as likely to deal a "fatal blow" to the UK's domestic solar power industry.

Meanwhile, a report from consultants Cambridge Modelling predicts that the changes to FiTs mean it will take longer for solar systems to become competitive with electricity supplied from the national grid.

"In the absence of the changes, small solar photovoltaic installations are set to achieve grid parity by 2019," said Mark Hughes, the organisation's director.

"The changes to the scheme will delay grid parity and extend the need for feed-in tariff support by approximately three years."

Critics have said the cut in solar power support undermines the coalition's claim to be the "greenest ever government".

Mr Begg agreed that it does raise the question.

"The government set out quite a good agenda; and this kind of thing does start to shake our confidence that they are going to make good on their agenda," he said.

In a recent YouGov opinion survey, solar emerged as the UK's most popular energy technology, with 74% of respondents wanting the government to increase the amount in use.

The figure for wind was 56%. Only 16% wanted the use of coal to increase, while 43% preferred a reduction.

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Coal reserves in Brora in Sutherland 'safeguarded'

Coal was first collected from the River Brora and a beach near the town in the 16th Century

Reserves of coal at the site of the UK's most northerly deep coal mine have been "safeguarded" in Highland Council's new planning policy.

Coal was thought to have been first collected from a beach and river at Brora, in Sutherland, in the 1500s.

Mining later began inshore and the last shafts closed in the early 1970s.

Council policy protects the coal remaining from being built over or, if development has to take place, it would be extracted first.

The story of Brora's coal industry features murder and tragedy.

An earl linked to its early years was poisoned along with his wife by a servant, while 15 miners died in a coal mine roof fall in the 18th Century.

The policy regarding the coal is set out in the local authority's Highland-wide Local Development Plan.

Next month, councillors will consider conclusions and recommendations made by four Scottish government-appointed officials who examined the planning document following public consultation on its contents.

The officials' 614-page report of examination allows Highland Council to push ahead with finalising the Highland-wide Local Development Plan, which guides future house building, woodland creation and quarrying.

Remains of a salt pan at Brora where salt was produced using the coal

The government-appointed officials said the council's policy "safeguarding" Brora's coal resources was adequate.

In their report of examination, one wrote: "I note that the fifth paragraph in policy 54 says that mineral reserves will be safeguarded from incompatible development, except where there is no alternative site for the development or the reserves will be extracted prior to implementation of the development.

"I find that this adequately meets the concern regarding coal at Brora."

Coal was first recorded at Brora in 1529.

It was found at Back Beach and around the River Brora. Its uses included in the production of salt and for curing salmon.

The Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion (Scape), a Fife-based trust involving the University of St Andrews, investigated the remains of salt pans on sand dunes at Brora in 2007.

The pans were large metal trays that were filled with sea water and heated below by fires fuelled by the coal to produce salt.

According to a 2004 report by historian and archivist Jacqueline Aitken, Brora's coal mining was both the most northerly in the UK and the only one to exploit "relatively young" coal of about 200 million years old.

The rest of the UK coalfields mine coal of about 310 million years old.

Brora's coal was deposited in a huge freshwater lagoon near the estuary of a large Jurassic age river, according to Ms Aitken's report.

Slow burning and creating a lot of smoke, the coal could spontaneously combust. In the 1700s, a boat's cargo of Brora coal caught fire as it was being taken to Portsoy.

Ms Aitken said records show the 11th Earl of Sutherland was involved in the early coal and salt industries.

He and his wife were poisoned at Helmsdale Castle in 1567 by servant Isabel Sinclair, a relative of rival aristocrat the Earl of Caithness.

The murderess later hanged herself.

China bullet train crash 'caused by design flaws'

China's cabinet has received the official report into the crash

A bullet train crash which killed 40 people in China in July was caused by design flaws and sloppy management, the Chinese government says.

Almost 200 people were injured in the crash near the south-eastern city of Wenzhou.

"Missteps" by 54 officials led to the disaster, the long-awaited official report says.

The crash led many Chinese to accuse the government of putting development and profit before safety.

It also triggered a wave of popular anger against officials who were accused of trying to cover up the seriousness, and causes, of the crash.

After receiving the report, China's cabinet criticised the railways ministry for lax safety standards and poor handling of the crash, according to Reuters.

Premier Wen Jiabao was presented with the official investigation's conclusions at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The accident occurred after one train stalled following a lightning strike, and then a second high-speed train ran into it. Four carriages were thrown off a viaduct.

The report found that serious design flaws in control equipment and improper handling of the lightning strike led to the crash.

More serious penalties could follow for some of the 54 officials criticised in the report.

Among the officials singled out was the former railways minister, Liu Zhijun, who was sacked before the crash, accused of corruption.

Liu "has the main leadership responsibility for the accident," the report says.

Following the accident, the authorities called a temporary halt to new high-speed rail projects and placed speed restrictions on trains.

China had planned to lay 16,000km (10,000 miles) of high-speed track by 2015, which would make it the biggest high-speed rail network in the world.

It had hoped to make its rapidly developing railway technology an export success: Chinese train companies were aspiring to compete with Germany's Siemens and Canada's Bombardier by selling their technologies to foreign companies.

China aspires to export its high-speed rail technology

But after July's crash that looks less likely.

The railways ministry said on Friday that it planned to invest 400 billion yuan ($63bn; £40bn) in infrastructure construction in 2012, which is lower than the figure for this year.

The current minister, Sheng Guangzu, said that rapid railway development should be maintained, as it "plays an important role in the country's social and economic development, especially in boosting domestic demand," according to the Chinese government's website.

Brazilian economy overtakes UK's, says CEBR

A large part of Brazil's economy relies on the production of commodities

Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world's sixth largest economy, an economic research group has said.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said its latest World Economic League Table showed Asian countries moving up and European countries falling back.

The CEBR also predicted that the UK economy would overtake France by 2016.

It also said the eurozone economy would shrink 0.6% in 2012 "if the euro problem is solved", or 2% if it is not.

CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Brazil overtaking the UK was part of a growing trend.

"I think it's part of the big economic change, where not only are we seeing a shift from the west to the east, but we're also seeing that countries that produce vital commodities - food and energy and things like that - are doing very well and they're gradually climbing up the economic league table," he said.

A report based on International Monetary Fund data published earlier this year also said the Brazilian economy would overtake the UK in 2011.

Brazil has a population of about 200 million, more than three times the population of the UK.

Brazil's economy grew by 7.5% last year, but the government has cut its growth forecast for 2011 to 3.5% after the economy ground to a halt in the third quarter, with analysts blaming the country's high interest rates and the worsening situation in the eurozone.

And although Brazil currently sells more to China than it imports, Brazilian manufacturers have complained that their industries are being affected by cheap mass-produced goods from the Asian giant.

The CEBR also said that Russia moved up one spot in its league table to ninth in 2011, and predicted that it would rise to fourth spot by 2020.

It predicted that India, the world's 10th biggest economy in 2011, would become the fifth largest by 2020.

And it said European countries would drop down the table, with Germany falling from fourth in 2011 to seventh in 2020, the UK from seventh to eighth, and France from fifth to ninth.

Giant escalator installed in Colombian city of Medellin

The escalator in Comuna 13 is divided into six sections and ascends nearly 384m

The Colombian city of Medellin has opened a giant outdoor escalator for residents of one of its poorest areas.

People living in the Comuna 13 district - which clings to a steep hillside - previously had to climb hundreds of steps to get home from the city centre.

The escalator is divided into six sections and ascends nearly 384m (1,260ft).

The mayor of Medellin says it is the first project of its kind in the world aimed specifically at the poor.

In the 1980s Medellin was known as the murder capital of the world and a major drug-trafficking centre, but in recent years it has undergone a renaissance.

The $7m (£4.5m) escalator is the latest in a series of transport infrastructure projects that are helping to transform the city.

It has a modern metro system, and some other hillside neighbourhoods are served by cable cars.

About 12,000 residents of Comuna 13 will benefit from the escalator, which is free to use and shortens a half-hour walk to about five minutes.

Previously they had to walk the equivalent of a 30-storey building to get to and from the city centre.

Comuna 13 remains one of Medellin's poorest and most violent neighbourhoods.

But the authorities hope the escalator - combined with other social projects - will help integrate its residents with the rest of the city and the wider economy.

China gets approval for Afghanistan oil exploration bid

China's rapid economic expansion has resulted in a surge in demand for fuel in the country

China has gained potential access to millions of barrels of oil after it won approval for oil exploration and extraction in Afghanistan.

The country's cabinet approved a deal to allow China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to develop oil blocks in the Amu Darya Basin.

The basin is estimated to hold around 87 million barrels of oil.

The deal comes as China is looking to expand its oil resources in wake of a growing domestic demand.

"The Afghan cabinet has ordered mines minister Wahidullah Shahrani to sign an oil exploration contract for Amu Darya with China National Petroleum Corporation," Afghanistan president's office said in a statement.

The state-owned CNPC will carry out the oil exploration and extraction with a local partner, the Watan Group.

While there has been a lot of talk about the potential of natural resources in Afghanistan, analysts said that it was too early to predict the profitability of the venture.

"To a certain extent they are taking a punt," Tony Regan of Tri-Zen, a Singapore-based consultancy, told the BBC.

Mr Regan explained that CNPC will have to spend a considerable amount of money to explore the basin before it can actually find out about the amount of oil that may exist there.

"It is about five to ten years before they can get a feel of what is under the ground and start commercially producing it," he added.

The approval is a major win for China as it has been looking to invest in resource-rich Afghanistan.

However, analysts said that resources is not the only sector that China is looking to invest in.

"The deal is a way of getting a foot inside the door," said Charles Chaw of China Knowledge Consulting.

The ongoing war in Afghanistan has seen its infrastructure and economy being damaged.

Analysts said that as peace returns to the country, it will require a lot of rebuilding activity in order to trigger economic growth in coming years, something that China is keen to tap into.

"China is looking towards a much bigger scale of investment," said Mr Chaw.

"This could involve projects in infrastructure, including high-speed rail in times to come," he added.

DIY solar panel maker heads to Africa for charity

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter

Mark Kragh explains how to make a solar-powered mobile phone charger

In a north London suburban street there is an unassuming wooden door which leads into a garage-cum-workshop which at first glance is remarkable only for a drum kit at one end.

A second glance reveals a bunch of solar panels stacked against the wall and a man, busy breaking them up and reassembling them in a very home-made fashion.

The end result is DIY solar kits that can recharge phones and batteries. They look makeshift but they have the potential to make a huge difference to people thousands of miles away in Kenya.

As the director of KnowYourPlanet, Mark Kragh's day job is to resell solar panels to small businesses and hobbyists.

But in February he will travel to Kenya to distribute specially-made kits he is giving away as charity, and to show local people how to make more.

For many in Africa there is little access to electricity due to mains power shortages. Infrastructure has not kept pace with the explosion in mobile phone ownership so it is not unusual for people to walk for several hours just to charge their phones.

"Often, charge points are driven by petrol or diesel generators, which are dangerous to operate and of course emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants. A daily phone charge can cost a considerable amount relative to people's wages," said Mr Kragh.

He was inspired by a chance conversation with a friend to experiment with using solar power as an alternative method to charging phones and batteries.

"The project started a few years back when my friend in Senegal asked me if I had any cheap options for solar power for Africa. I told him that PV [photovoltaics] was way too expensive and not a viable option, it required batteries and many other components and he should just forget about it.

"I kept thinking about this, could this really be true? Why could we not use a renewable energy? So I did some research and realised there was an entire community of people who already make solar panels from scrap," he said.

He was also inspired by his grandmother Dr Elisabeth Svendsen, a lifelong charity worker who founded the UK's Donkey Sanctuary.

"She passed away this year but my granny travelled in Africa for 40 years, hands-on with all the good and bad that brought with it. She made a huge impact on the local people's lives and I hope that I will be able to carry on this work in my own way," he said.

Mr Kragh wants to source as much material as possible in Kenya

The kits he creates are made from solar panels that manufacturers have rejected.

"There are very strict rules," said Mr Kragh.

Slight chips in the corner render the panels useless for traditional solar energy use but perfect for the DIY kits Mr Kragh has designed.

He aims to make them deliberately makeshift, creating a fairly crude circuit of solar panels on plywood.

The panels also require some more sophisticated kit.

"Initially we will bring specialised materials with us such as voltage regulators, UV stable encapsulants, solar cells and PV ribbon," said Mr Kragh.

But over time he hopes to be able to source components locally.

"To start with that would be glass, LEDs, batteries, wood and metal, wires and connectors. A great part of the pilot is simply testing and trying lots of non-solar materials to see what works," he said.

"Our main concern is the intense sun which causes degradation due to the high levels of heat and UV rays," he added.

Armed with a £5,000 grant from charity World in Need, Mr Kragh aims to build at least 1,000 kits when he arrives, training local people along the way so that they can build new ones and service old ones.

The ultimate goal is to create a $1 (64p) solar charger which has at least a five year lifespan.

"We aim to train local people in these techniques to create cottage industries, giving people locally the opportunity to generate income and keep currency in the community, rather than pay European and Chinese manufacturers and distribution chains and retail networks," said Mr Kragh.

And, in case you were wondering about the drum kit in the corner of his garage - it is for letting off steam and celebrating good deals. Come March Mr Kragh will be hoping to sound out a distinctly African beat.