Articles for The Malaysian Naturalist
These articles were written by Angela Hijjas for The Malaysian Naturalist, the magazine of the Malaysian Nature Society.
- Permaculture in the Tropics2002
by Angela Hijjas from The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 55 no. 1 Permaculture is a name coined and patented by the Australian visionary Bill Mollison. Mollison alerted Australians to the importance of protecting biodiversity and agricultural land. As well as promoting an organic, interlinked and labour saving agricultural approach, he also encourages gardeners to plant ...
- Tending the Garden2001
by Angela Hijjas Recently the Selangor Branch showed the new three hour BBC series by David Attenborough called 'State of the Planet', and I have been mulling over it ever since. The main issue he explores is the impact of humans on the global landscape of plants and animals and he ...
Gardening in the Forest2001by Angela Hijjas from The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 54 no. 4, 2001. To lay out a garden in the world's oldest tropical rainforest is an exciting and daunting prospect. The Nature and Education Research Centre at Endau Rompin was opened in March by the Chief Minister of Johor, and the new facilities required some ...
A Gardener's Review2001by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 54 no. 3, 2001. I was a rank beginner when I started writing on landscaping with indigenous species. Since then my interests have broadened, and my garden has become an obsession, but why did I choose indigenous, and how far am I in achieving my ...
Conservation for Children2001by Angela Hijjas Now that my children are adults, I look back on my record of creating awareness about conservation issues with them and realise that communicating knowledge about our environment is not necessarily automatic just because the parent is concerned. I generated one child as actively involved, joining me bird ...
Garden Colour2000by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 54 no. 2, 2000. As I have often noted in this column, Malaysian species are not known for colour, unless you are fortunate enough to see the huge Rafflesia in full bloom on the forest floor, or Bauhinia kockiana (left) enveloping a tree canopy on the ...
A Tropical Fragrant Garden2000by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 54 no. 1, 2000. Perfumed plants should be included in a naturalist’s indigenous garden to make up for the lack of colour in Malaysian species. Fragrance adds a delightfully unique character to a tropical garden, but the plant’s utilitarian ‘objective’ for creating perfume is ...
Neo-Colonisation1999by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 53 no. 3. For the naturalist gardener to transform a bare patch of ground to forest, one needs to simulate the natural processes of plant colonization. The inexperienced gardener who plants durian seedlings and expects the fruit exactly on cue seven or so years later ...
Palms1999by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 53 no. 1. Of all tropical plants, palms are the most mysterious. Their appearance indicates a primeval history that predates the usual trees and flowering shrubs that comprise the bulk of most garden planting. Their form and structure are exotic and offer the focal point ...
Tropical Water1999by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 52 no. 4. Water and its lack or excess has become a much debated topic in KL, where floods alternate with droughts, and taps droop to a drip when rains miss the catchment and fall in the city heat sink instead. I am responsible for ...
The World's Largest Garden Gnome1999by Angela Hijjas for The Malaysian Naturalist vol. 52 no. 3 For gardeners (and this is the MNS gardening column), the tropical rain forest presents an ideal of wild perfection whose luxuriant growth we try to emulate on our small plots. It provides the inspiration for the landscapes of our imagination, but ...
The Interactive Garden1999by Angela Hijjas From The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 52 no. 2. Gardening is essentially a manipulation of the natural environment. We elect to save or eliminate, plant and nourish or neglect, and the result is a man made garden. For the naturalist, there is the added objective of nurturing as much of nature ...
Plant Indigenous1998by Angela Hijjas With the accelerated loss of forest habitats gardeners can try to make a difference to the survival of birds and other small creatures by selecting indigenous species to enrich urban habitats. Most Malaysians only have small gardens or make do with a few pots on a balcony, so ...
Gardening's Current Affairs1998by Angela Hijjas from The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 52 no. 1, March 1998 After six years, parts of my garden are beginning to fulfill imagined promises: a wider variety of birds and insects come part and parcel with more species of plants and the growing trees stretch the canopy to greater heights, ...
A Sense of Place in the Landscape1997by Angela Hijjas from The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 51 no. 3&4 The new facilities at Kuala Selangor Nature Park were opened with some fanfare last month, complete with the attendance of the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Dato Dr. Ting Chew Peh. The function also served to launch Hari Landskep, and ...
Taman Sari1997by Angela Hijjas for The Malaysian Naturalist, vol. 51 no. 2, December 1997. The name 'Taman Sari' evokes the fragrance and grace of a lush Javanese garden, with bees probing for nectar in masses of flowers. The first Sultan of Jogjakarta, Mangkubumi, the 'guardian of the earth,' chose the name for the ...
Transitional Landscapes1997by Angela Hijjas for The Malaysian Naturalist vol. 50 no. 3 April 1997 As an enthusiast of indigenous gardening, I am always interested in what everyone else plants. Tropical gardens range from the pseudo-jungle of the 'Balinese' style (masses of spectacular sub-tropical species) to the 'Bandaraya' style of intricate baroque detail, with ...
The Gardening Lifeline1996by Angela Hijjas from The Malaysian Naturalist vol. 50 no. 1, December 1996 Some of us share a compulsion to garden and find great tranquility as we perform the apparently mindless tasks of watering and weeding. Gardening fulfills a desire to beautify our surroundings by rearranging things but there is more to it ...
Sustainable Architecture1996by Angela Hijjas Recently I was asked by a local architecture magazine to write about my house as an example of sustainable architecture. No investigation on the merits of this proposal was suggested, so I duly considered the salient points, knowing full well the outcome. If my home is considered a ...
Letters to the Editor
Unsustainable logging of Temengor lags behind international precedent2006Published 15 August 2006 Above: A view of the Temengor rainforest, courtesy of KH Khoo and the Malaysian Nature Society. Recently there was news that the Gola rainforest, an important biodiversity site in Sierra Leone, in Africa, was to be set aside for conservation, and logging was to stop. His Excellency Alhaji ...
- Could Forests Worsen Global Warming?2006
Published in The Sunday Star, 15 January 2006 The recent research findings that forests generate methane, a gas responsible for global warming, should not really surprise us, as it highlights how little we understand how ecosystems work. But loggers take note: this is no reason to cut more forest or to ...
- Proposal to Transform Paya Indah Into Illegally-traded Protected Species Sanctuary2005
Published in The Star, 1 March 2005 Dear Sir, I was concerned by the articles in the Star of 22nd February about thecaptive breeding programme operated in Janda Baik without legitimateauthorization. It seems apparent that this particular breeder has a specialrelationship with someone in Perhilitan, and the fact that it can't beexplained ...
- Crisis in Captive Breeding for Sumatran Rhinos2005
The recent deaths of all five captive Sumatran rhinoceroses at the Sungai Dusun Sumatran Rhinoceros Conservation Centre in Selangor is yet another step towards extinction for this unfortunate species. Despite the successful breeding of other endangered species in captivity, it is unlikely that the entire process can be achieved for ...
- Protecting the environment strengthens our culture2004
Dear Sir, Regarding the article in April 22nd's edition of the NST, I would like to express similar concerns about the recent poaching incidents in the Endau Park, Johor. If we cannot protect our tigers, elephants and rhinoceros in designated reserves, then there is little reason to be optimistic that they will ...