As the demand for shark fin products surges ahead, around 100 million sharks are slaughtered every year. This cruel and unreasonable massacre is pushing the great fish to the very edge of extinction; threatening to empty our oceans and destroy marine ecosystems.
It begins with a single individual. Make the conviction today and join ASIAN Geographic’s online pledge to stop eating shark fin soup; help spread the word on this very urgent and real cause.
| Did You Know? |
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Fatal shark attacks average at a dozen or less worldwide, each year. |
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Humans are not part of a shark’s regular diet – most human attacks are cases of mistaken identity |
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In comparison, research indicates that humans kill around 100 million sharks each year. That’s roughly 11,000 sharks every hour, around the clock. |
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Every year, 1.7 million tonnes of shark flesh is harvested for human consumption. |
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The high levels of mercury in shark fin products can cause serious damage to your health. |
How to Help?
Don’t buy into the “since it’s already been killed, cooked and paid for, it’d be a pity to waste it” mentality. It is a vicious, never-ending cycle that must be stopped at some point. Picture this – if wedding dinner guests consistently and unanimously refused their shark fin soup, odds are the next happy couple to walk down the aisle won’t order it again for fear of the boycott. Try it. Make your stand now.
The entire content above is taken from ASIAN Geographic’s website with permission. The original page can be found here.
During the World War II in 1942, 400 Chinese civilians were massacred by the Japanese soldiers. Located at Punggol Point, this place is also known as Punggol Beach Massacre. The location has been marked as a national heritage site.
Punggol
Added more photos to Tasik Temenggor gallery.
07 February 2008 - It was the first day of Chinese New Year and North-South Highway is well known for speed traps and road blocks during the festive seasons. We kept our speed limit to not more than 120km/h. It was a slow and long drive to Gerik.
At 7.15pm we finally had our final stop at Gerik. After a sumptuous dinner (RM140 for 6 of us), we checked in at Gerik Rest House. The room is spacious. Four beds lined from one end to the other. There is an old wardrobe which gives you the fusty smell when you opened it. And the aircon rattled noisly when switched on for the first few minutes. For RM70, it was quite a decent room to stay for the night.
08 February 2008 - Jeti Awam Pulau Banding (Banding Island Jetty) is another 45 km from Gerik. When we reached the jetty slightly after 10am, we realised that there wasn’t any designated parking lots. We did what others did - parked by the slope and place a rock behind the tyres to prevent our cars from rolling down.
Soon after, our guide, Ridzuan, arrived and took us to Pulau Tikus on his boat. After we settled down in our very basic resthouse, we headed to another ‘peak island’ to view the stemless, leafless and parasitic plant - rafflesia. Rafflesia is known to have a lifespan of only 5-7 days. We were lucky to see the flower in full bloom.
Next on the itinerary was to visit the orang asli. We were greeted by Kevin, the penghulu or headman for the orang asli village of Tebang. After granted permission by the the penghulu, I wander around the village for a colourful photo session of the young and jovial children of Temenggor.
7 July 2008 - We are back in Phnom Penh for our flight back to Singapore. But it is not till 7.40pm the next day. So we book a tuk-tuk to bring us to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum the next morning.
Tuol Sleng, also known as S21 (Security Office 21), is a former high school transformed into a detention and interrogation center used by the Khmer Rouge. All the classrooms were converted into prison cells. All windows were enclosed by iron bars and covered with barb wires to prevent possible escape by prisoners. The classrooms on the ground floor were divided into small cells, 0.8 x 2 metres each, designed for single prisoners.
When the Vietnamese Army invaded in 1979 the S-21 prison staff fled, leaving thousands of written and photographic records. Altogether more than 6,000 photographs were left; the majority, however, have been lost or destroyed.
It is very hard to stare at the photos on display especially after you have seen the tools the prison guards used for torture. Being inside the museum makes one wonder how anyone can carry out the inhumane acts. The air surrounding this chilling site was solemn and quiet. I didn’t shoot alot here. I couldnt bring myself to take pictures of the prisoners photographs who were once in the same room where I stood and knowing, what is beyond my imagination, that they have gone through merciless and countles tortures by the Khmer guards.
This is the last series of our 17 days journey from Hanoi to down south of Vietnam - Ho Chin Minh and across to Cambodia. As it is a sad and mirthless series, I have converted all the Tuol Sleng photos into black & white.
