Spatiotemporal analysis on the squatter development: a case study in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur

As a Malay Agricultural Settlement gazetted in 1900, Kampung Baru (Kuala Lumpur) has been subjected to prolonged national interests (e.g. economic, social, environment and politic) and it is pressured by modern and future development. Theoretically, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon is prevailed in the area, but only few studies have been carried out to address the issues in a quantitative manner. Therefore this study aims at providing better insight the UHI phenomenon in Kampung Baru (Kuala Lumpur) and explicitly examining the temperature pattern and its vicinity effects. The field survey was conducted to collect the temperature and relative humidity using mobile survey method. Additionally, the fixed weather station had been installed starting from October 2013 in the study area and the data were compared with the rural area data from the Malaysia Meteorological Department. Thus, the intensity of UHI was estimated based on the difference between urban and rural temperature. In conclusion, this research quantified the UHI in Kampung Baru, and it can be a critical input to the urban development planning in a changing environment

COVID-19 Pandemic: The New Normal in Business Continuity Plan for Real Estate Firms in Malaysia

Coronavirus (COVID-19) whipped in the new decade of 2020, throwing the healthcare industry and associated professionals into turmoil in the face of an unprecedented global crisis. The consequences of the pandemic affect almost all market sectors worldwide. The rapid spread of the pandemic put whole nations in lockdown mode to stop the contagion which at the same time affected numerous businesses including those in real estate sector. Combination of Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Real Estate were discussed decades ago under the Business Continuity Management (BCM) canopy but the current pandemic has opened up a so called ‘new normal’ routine for such combination. Ambiguous dynamics, especially on the flattening of the pandemic curve, have disrupted companies across the globe. Linkages inherent to business environment in respect to domestic and international supply chains have created huge impact on the continuity of its operations in particular, and its contribution to the economic development at the macro level. This paper aims to provide some thoughts on how the supply chain in Business Impact Analysis (BIA) which is one of the key factors of BCP could help real estate firms in managing daily tasks during circumstances of crisis. That apart, with BIA, it would contribute to better BCP allowing for long term sustainability of the businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged researchers to think, introduce and execute vigorous approaches on business survival, to ensure the continuity of their operations. The appropriate steps in BIA will contribute to a better BCP for most real estate firms, especially in Malaysia. Hopefully, this paper can give some insights for academicians, but more importantly as well, for business operators within the real estate sector to assist in adjusting their firms in line with the ‘new normal’ brought about by COVID-19

Business practices among tour boat operators of Royal Belum-Temenggor, Gerik

This paper analyses the business practices among tour boat in Royal Belum and Temenggor (RBT) Forest Park, Malaysia, regarding the development of business and entrepreneurship based on tourism activities in protected areas. Series of questionnaire-guided interview and focus group meeting were carried out for information gathering processes. Ten boat operators and representatives from union for local tour boat operators in RBT have participated in the survey. The study indicated the local tour boat association has played a crucial role in safeguarding the welfare of boat operators by protecting local tourism market from outsiders (especially the foreign and big capital investors/companies) while making sure healthy competition among members. The study indicates that majority of local tour boat operators have started their business as worker for other tour boat operators, before slowly climbing the business ladder after capable to saving money and then renting or purchasing small size/capacity speedboats for a small scale operation. After being operating for a sometime, these small operators were able to create substantial internal funds normally from their savings and personal loans to re-invent for business expansion. In the case of RBT, it is worth mention that the local operators are a group of resilience tourism entrepreneurs whereby majority of them are considered as self-made entrepreneurs (learning through experience) without or with a minimal assistance and support from government agencies. In terms of operation, most of the local operators are utilizing modern technology especially internet for enabling them keeping up with market demand and expectation of potential tourists. Online booking may has increase interest among tourists where they can settle everything in a more convenient way before want to RBT. However, in light of positive prospects of tourism, this sector is facing challenges in making sure their businesses are making money to stay afloat such as seasonal pattern and issue of relocation to a ‘new’ temporary jetty which reduced the number of tourists’ to RBT significantly. Respondents also highlighted the issue of lack of involvement in marketing/promotional of tourism in RBT at international platform. The paper concludes with brief outlook on the future prospect of rural tourism program in fostering local tour boat operating businesses and entrepreneurship culture in the rich mega biodiversity area of Royal Belum

COVID-19 Pandemic: The New Normal in Business Continuity Plan for Real Estate Firms in Malaysia

Coronavirus (COVID-19) whipped in the new decade of 2020, throwing the healthcare industry and associated professionals into turmoil in the face of an unprecedented global crisis. The consequences of the pandemic affect almost all market sectors worldwide. The rapid spread of the pandemic put whole nations in lockdown mode to stop the contagion which at the same time affected numerous businesses including those in real estate sector. Combination of Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Real Estate were discussed decades ago under the Business Continuity Management (BCM) canopy but the current pandemic has opened up a so called ‘new normal’ routine for such combination. Ambiguous dynamics, especially on the flattening of the pandemic curve, have disrupted companies across the globe. Linkages inherent to business environment in respect to domestic and international supply chains have created huge impact on the continuity of its operations in particular, and its contribution to the economic development at the macro level. This paper aims to provide some thoughts on how the supply chain in Business Impact Analysis (BIA) which is one of the key factors of BCP could help real estate firms in managing daily tasks during circumstances of crisis. That apart, with BIA, it would contribute to better BCP allowing for long term sustainability of the businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged researchers to think, introduce and execute vigorous approaches on business survival, to ensure the continuity of their operations. The appropriate steps in BIA will contribute to a better BCP for most real estate firms, especially in Malaysia. Hopefully, this paper can give some insights for academicians, but more importantly as well, for business operators within the real estate sector to assist in adjusting their firms in line with the ‘new normal’ brought about by COVID-19

Local economic development – assessment of local attitudes towards conservation and tourism around Royal Belum-Temenggor Forest Complex, Perak, Malaysia

This paper shall present and discuss findings from an investigation of locals’ attitude toward conservation and sustainable ECT in two Orang Asli villages around Royal Belum and Temenggor Forest Complex (BTFC), Perak. Twenty respondents participated in the questionnaireguided surveys i.e. twelve and eight respondents from Semelor and Sungai Tiang respectively. The results from the questionnaire survey unveiled positive attitudes of the community towards tourism (92 per cent level of agreement) and strong support for biodiversity conservation (95 per cent level of agreement). The economic fulfilments of the household and income generation are amongst reasons given by the local for future ECT projects. New local jobs will be created and poverty addressed, as indicated by 0.95 Relative Importance Index (RII) value. Similarly, we observed RII value for environmental reason and a growing concern for protecting natural and cultural resources from overexploitation and extinction (with RII value of 0.95). This study found that benefits resulting from the protected conservation area might substantially increase local supports for better conservation. This paper conclude by putting forth two recommendations to be considered for designing and implementing more comprehensive framework and operational need for sustainable ECT and conservation namely: (1) determination of local community needs and readiness towards sustainable ECT through comprehensive and collaborative research, and (2) organisational and capacity building aimed at preparing community and their stakeholders in realising sustainable ECT development and conservation efforts in protected area

In-situ measurements and GIS-based analysis of the microclimate at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

Developing tropical countries are expecting a large number of population in the near future, thus, environmental degradation issues due to excessive economic development and urban climate change are becoming a major threat to modern society. In order to improve urban design and sustainable architecture, in accordance with this specific tropical climate, a quantitative grasp of the microclimate in a developed city is highly desirable. Moreover, only a few studies have been carried out on the aforementioned issues in a low-latitude tropical urban region. Therefore, this study aims to provide a better insight into the use of in-situ microclimatic measurements and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), particularly in analysing the effect of greenery coverage and morphological aspects, i.e. height to width ratio of built-up features, for understanding the microclimate pattern at the university campus. The study area is situated at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, (UTM KL), which is a local-scale city campus environment, located near the Kuala Lumpur city centre. The urban microclimate was observed for the duration of one year. The climatic data were mapped and spatially analysed in relation to different land cover types in the GIS environment. Moreover, the effect of green areas and building morphology are critically evaluated with regards to the changes made to the local climatic variables in the campus. As a result, this study reveals that the effects of greenery coverage and the morphological characteristics on the campus providing a good indicator of the microclimate pattern in a developed city campus. In conclusion, with the support of in-situ measurements and GIS analysis, the campus temperature properties were quantitatively evaluated, and this directly contributed to a better understanding of climate change in the city of Kuala Lumpur

Weathering satellite system in Royal Belum: a methodological framework and challenges

Southeast Asia are almost 80% covered with tropical rainforest. One of the largest tropical rainforest are located in the far north of Peninsular Malaysia is 370, 000ha evergreen forest in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex. It is the second largest single forest block in Peninsular Malaysia after Taman Negara National Park. Belum-Temengor is a hilly to mountainous region ranging in altitude from 130m to 1,533m, straddling the Main Range, Peninsular Malaysia’s backbone. Conversation at Belum- Temengor is based on a series of land use categories, and one of the categories are gazette as a protected area in 2007 namely as Royal Belum State Park (119,500ha). There were many conservation initiatives in order to protect this forest from illegal harvesting of forest products and wildlife poaching that continue to pose a severe threat to its biodiversity. The impact from all the illegal activities also contributes to climatological changes for the forest and their surrounding as well. As the forest gives the most natural gasses (Oxygen (O2) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2)) to the globe as well as the cooling effects, few studies on the carbon stock and climate change on going as for this area. For forestry and natural resource management purposes the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) help address a number of navigational, positioning and mapping needs. Normally, satellite navigation and positioning system are used from the GNSS signal in space emitted to its receiver located on the ground or attached to any movable objects (animals, vehicles, etc) to attain their accurate whereabouts. For forest managers the use of GNSS system to gather the information on the land boundaries, forest plots inventory, road mapping and other features of interest. Nowadays GNSS signal capabilities is routinely use in numerical weather forecasting. Both observations of Total Electron Content (TEC) in the ionosphere and Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) in the troposphere are valuable for atmospheric sciences. In this research, the application of the continuously long hours of GNSS observation across the Royal Belum Forest will provide significant water column information of the Royal Belum Integrated Water Vapour (RBIWV). Focuses solely on RBIWV, the cooling effect of the Royal Belum State Park towards the climatology of Malaysia as well as its climate change impact to the region can be quantitatively attributed