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The Ooi's, father Ooi Leng Sun and his two sons Michael and Gino, are a remarkable family. Leng Sun's hobbies - orchid cultivation, dogs, cats, fish and birds - fascinated the boys who took to bird breeding, a hobby which eventually led to the establishment of the Penang Bird Park, now a tourist attraction.  Michael, specialist in orchid culture and Gino, who holds a doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry have been breeding birds since 1982. The Bird Park was set up eight years later; it now has 300 species of birds. Breeding of birds is aimed at the  conservation of pheasants, parrots, fruit pigeons, owls, eagles, hornbills, curassows, herons, finches and spoonbills. The collection includes almost everything from the tiny sunbird to the  great birds-of-prey, pelicans and the gigantic cassovaries, emu and ostrich. 
 

ON BAIL

Arrested: Ong Boon Keong, the well known social and environmental activist and  organic farmer. Ong and others had stopped the chief minister's car one morning and placed a banner across it on behalf of tenants of rent controlled premises. Besides running SOS - Save Ourselves, a body devoted to the interests of tenants threatened with eviction after the ending of rent control Ong runs an organic food shop at Cintra Street, an outlet which bears all the marks of enthusiastic amateurism. NGO's  SUARAM and ALIRAN have called for his release 

[Ed. Note: The repealed Rent Control Act controlled rents of houses built before 1948. It is said that such houses number 25,000] 
 

VISITORS

The Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir, visiting Penang for the first time gave a charity concert at Dewan Sri Penang. Artistic director and choirmaster Prof. Jiri Chvala's version of Chan Mali Chan was received with prolonged clapping which the choir rewarded with an encore. Especially in Mozart's great Ave Verum Corpus the Czech boys and girls mesmerised the Dewan with glittering flights of sound
 

ALIRAN 

Aliran Kesedaran Negara - National Consciousness Movement - ALIRAN  is a Malaysian reform movement listed on the roster of the  Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. 

It prints a journal Aliran Monthly and also runs a website at www.malaysia.net/aliran/