An email to an editor

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 2:17 PM

Dear Miss xxxx ,

Hi! I was asked by xxxxx xxx, whom I guess a friend of yours, to contact you to discuss the possibility of featuring Putrajaya in your magazine. Putrajaya is just a mere 15 year old and was conceived upon some grandiose idea of a former despots, so I guess you are well aware, that common with many 15 yo, it’s lack of character and ‘soul’. The different with this 15yo is the idea behind the creation of the city, the principles behind the layers of bricks upon which the physical foundation of the city was set. Being a planned city, its unique in many ways, socio-economically and although the physical grandeur maybe a bit showy but it has shown some positive exemplary results so far. Not the best, but better than most cities in Malaysia.
The article that xxxxx sent you as an introduction to the city was written circa 2001, the year when tax payers money are aplenty and the former prime minister is still in power, so the mood set in there was a bit here and there and at times superficial. But it gives a general overview, of the initial planning and development of the city up to that point.
I’m sending you a presentation that I prepared for a presentation at a seminar organised by the Selangor state investment centre (SSIC Berhad) and Selangor DoE. This time round, the presentation was prepared with a clear intention of sharing of knowledge and experience of Putrajaya moving towards achieving a low carbon green city that is not just merely a political statement by some quarters but a real noble intention, albeit just being at the beginning of the journey toward the destination, to proof that Malaysia and Malaysian are not just good in planning, but at execution as well and sustaining it for generations to come.

I’ve not got any approval from my management in me writing to you, but I guess I risk it.

Thanks to you and xxxx,

Yours truly, just merely a person who wants to be a better person,
Azhar Othman

Bein' Green

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer
being red or yellow or gold
or something much more colorful like that.

It's not that easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big
like an ocean
or important like a mountain
or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine
it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.


Written by Joe Raposo, 1970. It was originally performed by Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson).