MARA ESSAY - STUDENT LOAN

On the 31^st of August 1994, I was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to a Malaysian father and Vietnamese mother. My sister and I are the only children in this family. At a very young age, we were taught by our parent to work hard and believe in what we do as success will come with time. Since my dad work with the Ministry of Foreign affair as a secretary, he travels a lot throughout the world therefore I spent most of my time studying abroad.

In 1997, at the early stage of my life, I started kindergarten in British School in Taipei, Taiwan. Few years later, we moved back to Malaysia, where I continued in Sri Utama International School for 4 years.  Upon finishing primary 4^th, we moved to Mexico where I was enrolled into British American School. Personally, this is a life changing experience for me as I exposed myself to new study environment, new friends and new culture. Throughout my time in this school, various spelling bee contests were held annually, either at school or competitive level where we had to compete against other schools. As my teacher had confident in my skills, she encouraged me to sign up in every spelling bee contest. Despite my low level of confidence I had in myself, every spelling bee contest I joined, I managed to finish in the top 5 most of the time. In 2006, my parents decided that I should further my studies in one of Mexico City most prestigious and distinguished school known as Greengates school. The school has a good reputation for producing top scorers in IGCSE (International General Certificate School Education) as well as IBD (International Baccalaureate Diploma). Before joining, I knew the bar and stakes have been set higher than the previous time and the study environment would be more competitive and challenging. Regardless of these concerns, I managed to score well in a few subjects that I had great interest in such as Geography, History and languages. Apart from studying, I was also an active member in after school activities. The first year, I joined the school cricket team. Every week we had training and at the end of each month a match against other school. However, in the second year I decided to try out for the school basketball team. This time, training and competitive match was more frequent. What I have learned from playing sport is that teamwork is essential in sport for success. Once quoted by a wise man, “Alone you can go fast, but together you can go further”. Nowadays, scientist, engineers, even diplomats work together as a team to find a solution to a problem. Even though the barrier was set higher academically and physically, my friends and I worked together to ensure that all of our difficulties were solved. After spending 5 years in Mexico, my family was posted to Stockholm, Sweden. This time I was enrolled into my 5^th school known as Stockholm International School. Here, I completed my MYP and IB course in a span of 3 years. I was also actively involved in Student council for 2 years. The main aim for student council was to find solution on how to create a better study environment in school as well as method to raise money for charity group such as RED CROSS, UNICEF, SOS BARNEN, etc. Here I developed my skills such as work ethics, researching, communication, analysing among others. Moreover, I also joined a football club afterschool. The football club played in several leagues and tournament and we were able to grab the first place in one Sweden most competitive league.

Sweden is where I have developed a keen interest in global, geography and history studies. One day I wish I could become a diplomat like my father and follow his footstep. For this reason, I have chosen to study in Monash University Sunway to pursue a degree in Global studies. Social Science faculty in Monash has produced many great alumni over the past years and has a stable ranking of being in the top 30 faculty worldwide according to the TIMES ranking. Furthermore, I have dream of going on a student exchange during my studies where I can gain more experience studying abroad Malaysia which will be beneficial for my future job. Understanding other people cultures and traditions would also be a plus for me. With determination, hard-work and perseverance I am willing to succeed as a diplomat. If one day I become a successful diplomat, I will thank MARA loan for giving me an opportunity of a life time to become what I have ever wanted. I aim to work with the government after my degree to establish and build solid bridges with other nations which will benefits both nations through investments and cooperation. Hopefully through this action, one day Malaysia can become a strong tiger economy that was dream many years ago securing thousands of jobs in all working sectors for our 28 million future workforces. As a diplomat, I would also like to put Malaysia back on the map where other countries view us as a respectable nation with a robust economy in the unforeseeable years ahead.

                                                                                                            Khairul Noor

Hot arid environments Case Study

Tuareg (ethnic group)

Tuareg are a large ethnic group that inhabits a large area of Western Sahara and the north-central Sahel desert. Their population worldwide is 1.2 million people. For my case study, I will concentrate mostly on the Tuareg in Niger. There is about 700,000 Tuareg living in Niger currently. Their main religion is Islam.

Sahara desert is the largest hot desert in the world, covering about 3.3 million of square miles. Extreme dryness is one of the Sahara's main characteristics. The average annual rainfall is about 5 inches (130 mm). Daytime temperatures are among the hottest in the world, it averages about 33-35 degrees Celsius. At night, the temperatures are freezing cold. This is because the air in the region is dry and it has few clouds therefore temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Precipitation is rare in this area. Vegetation in Sahara is very sparse and scattered. Most area has no plant life kind of any.

There are many causes of aridity in Sahara desert. One of the reasons is that many of the deserts including the Sahara are located at atmospheric high pressure zones. These high pressure zones give rise to high temperatures because it is close to the equator and the weather pattern of the wind. Cold air descends in high pressure zones, becoming warm as it reaches the ground. Secondly, it is continentality. Most water is evaporates from the sea and then released on the land. Land closer to the sea received most of its moisture. As the air move inland, its moisture drops as well as precipitations.  Thirdly, rainshadow effect also plays a big role in aridity. In the case of the Sahara desert, it was not caused by rainshadow effect.

Due to the extreme environment in Sahara desert, the Tuareg had to change their living style to adapt their lives to the desert. In desert, both men and women dressed loosely so that doesn’t suffer heat. Apart from that, they also wear veils to cover their face.  They frequently moved around the Sahara desert on camels, because of the scarce resources such as grassland for their herds.  Thirdly, most of them live in tents made out of animal skin.

The main form of weathering in the Sahara desert is exfoliation, abrasion and water erosion. Exfoliation is when rocks surfaces get hot during daytime. As it gets hot, the rocks expand. At night when the temperature drop, the rocks contract. When this process repeats itself over and over again, the surface layer of the rock experience stress therefore it causes the skin layer of the rock to peel off. Abrasion is mainly through the wind moving sand particles over each other and blowing sand grain against rocks. Although water erosion is part of weathering, it doesn’t often occur in the Sahara desert because of lack of water and vegetation. Flash floods doesn’t occur often in the Sahara but during august, where the rain usually fall, Sahara desert experience flash flood which transport water to other part of the desert.

Currently in the Sahara, there are not many agriculture opportunities, but as you move to west Sahara, there is evidence of farmers farming crop there. It is possible to farm there because the area is close to the sea. Vegetation can be found at that part of area as it received most of the moisture from the sea. The most degradation is found where there is water. Here, habitats may be heavily altered by human activities. Previously existing tree cover has often been removed for fuel and fodder by nomadic pastoralists and traders.

There is a potential for mineral extraction. The French state owned company has been mining for uranium in Niger for Europe’s power needs. To keep the mining working, 2 cities have been created in the desert. Those cities have a population of 80,000 people. Mining uranium has made well water highly radioactive and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region's nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses. One challenge is that in Niger, the Tuareg used violence in an attempt to get their share of uranium revenues. There is also a tourism possibility in Niger. Many tourist come to the country to visit the sahara desert therefore the Tuareg can make a profits out of it by transporting tourist on camels to the desert. Tuareg handicrafts and handmade jewelry also attract tourist to the area.

A Tuareg settlement in Sahara does not lead to an unsustainable future because most of them still live traditionally for example in leather tent. Moreover, when the Tuareg travels around, they used camels mostly which does not released CO2 to the atmosphere. However, their farming method could lead to unsustainable future. Since the Tuareg doesn’t have the appropriate tools and knowledge to farm properly, this could lead to desertification and the Sahara desert keep expanding itself.  In addition to this, they moved around to keep their herds fed, therefore this also contribute desertification where the soil quantity and quality is reduced.  

Bibliography

·         http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,686774,00.html 

·         http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/ebony-tuareg-earrings

·         http://www.africanholocaust.net/peopleofafrica.htm#tuareg

To what extent were the policies of the United States responsible for the outbreak and development of the Cold War between 1945 and 1949?

The Cold War was a period of international tension between the USA and the USSR that developed at the end of Second World War in 1945. It dominated international relations for over forty years. It was a conflict that involved economic measures, non-cooperation and propaganda but no direct armed fighting between the two sides. Many historians argue that the USA was largely responsible for the outbreak and development of Cold war from 1945 to 1949. From the Revisionist School point of view, it sees the Cold War as the result of the actions of the USA rather than the USSR according to Gauci. This approach stress the defensive aspect of Stalin foreign policy faced with an aggressive USA attempting to gain economic dominance over Europe. However these contradict the Orthodox school point of view. It states that the Cold War was the product of the aggressive and expansionist foreign policy of Stalin policy and the USSR. Suspicions between the two superpowers in Yalta and Potsdam Conference were seen as the main caused for the development of Cold war. Policy such as Truman Doctrine, containment and McCarthyism caused further tension between these two countries which eventually led to the outbreak of Cold War.

 At Yalta conferences in 1945, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed upon demilitarisation of Nazi Germany and establishment of United Nations. Furthermore, Soviet Union agreed to join the USA in war against Japan, in return for receiving some of Japan Island in the Far East. Following Roosevelt death, Truman became the next president of the United States. He described Roosevelt as being too soft on the communist; therefore he introduced the Iron Fist, which was a tougher approach to the USSR. In the same year, Truman attended the Potsdam conference and was determined not to inform Stalin of the decision to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan.

Four days after Yalta conference, the American Bombed Hiroshima. It was hoped that Stalin would take notice and become more amenable in Europe. Gauci acknowledge that Stalin saw the failure of Truman to at least inform him of the bomb as a deep insult and, far from making Stalin more amenable, it increased his suspicions and distrust of US motives. Second Bombing on Hiroshima brought the surrender of Japan without the help of Soviet Union. Stalin was therefore denied a part in the occupation of Japan.

The USA which was constantly looking around for evidence of Soviet expansion, the event in Greece in 1947 confirmed their worst fears.  In Greece, since 1944 there have been a civil war between the monarchist and the communist and the West became convinced that this was another sign of Soviet expansion. Firm action was taken to alter Soviet expansion plan. As a result, Truman Doctrine was issued in 1947. It stated that the USA would aid any country and government under attack by armed minorities. It was aimed at preventing the spread of communism. This was put into action when USA sends aid and military advisers into Greece to combat the communist.

To continue aiding Europe countries devastated by World War two, Marshall Plan succeeded Truman Doctrine. To Stalin this was evidence of US imperialism. Marshall Plan was a plan to provide US financial support to war torn Europe. Over $ 17 billion were provided to Western Europe stated by Gauci. The conditions attached to receiving the aid was to provide economic records and open up their economy to US capital interest. The Soviet Union viewed Marshall Aid as nothing more than an attack on communism. 

Tensions escalated with Truman's policies and actions. The United States saw the Soviet Union and Communism as intimidating and expansionist, and tried to control the expansion. However, this led to the Soviet Union viewing the USA as being aggressive and expansionist as well, especially with the Marshall Plan.

In response to the Berlin Blockade as well as the Berlin airlift in 1948, NATO was established. USA realizes that to maintain the Berlin airlift requires a lot of effort; therefore they set up NATO to avoid events such as Berlin airlift in happening again. The USA opened talk with Canada and the countries of Western Europe with the aim of committing itself to a military alliance. The result was the setting up of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. It was a defensive nuclear arms treaty that gave protection over the countries in the pact from an attack from the East and the Communists. This eventually led to the creation of Warsaw pact in 1955.

The policies that United States undertook between 1945 to 1949 formed the basis of clash and ideology and building tension with the United States.  Both sides viewed each other as aggressive in their expansion and tried to fill in the power vacuum left in World War two. However the policies of the USA was seen as provocative and this led to the development of tensions and ideological clash; therefore this was the main cause which led to the outbreak and development of the war from 1945 to 1949.

Vietnam in Cold War

The Cold War was essentially a battle of ideologies between the Communist East and the Capitalist West. The Vietnam War (between 1955 and 1975) had an important impact on the development of this war. According to historian Steve Phillips, “To the American Government the [Vietnam] War was less about Vietnamese independence than it was a conflict between communism and the capitalist free world.” In this way The Vietnam War furthered the course of The Cold War, and greatly influenced the public opinion of American citizens, as well as the image of America worldwide.

From the late 1850s until the outbreak of the Second World War, Vietnam was under French colonial control. During World War II Vietnam was occupied by Japan. “The French, however, wished to reassert control over the region” (Phillips), but according to historians Keely Rogers and Jo Thomas, “most Vietnamese had no desire to let Vietnam return to the rule of the French after 1945”, and thus a struggle for power ensued. Due to long term domination by their oppressors, there was a popular rise of nationalism, led by the communist Ho Chi Minh. Minh was one of the main defenders of Vietnam during the Second World War, and leader of the Vietminh communist/nationalist party.  However, fearing a communist takeover of Vietnam and the threat of the “domino effect” (a theory which stated that once one country would fall to communism, all of its neighbours would too) America, under president Harry Truman began to send military aid. According to Rogers and Thomas, “In March 1950, military aid was sent to help France defeat the Vietminh. This aid was continued by Eisenhower”. By 1954 United States was funding 80% of the war.  However, the civil war was, according to Phillips, “a crushing defeat for France”. During the final Vietnamese offensive alone “16,000 [French] troops were either killed during action or captured afterwards. French rule could no longer be sustained” (Phillips). Thus, in 1954 the Geneva Accords were signed, agreeing on various topics.  Vietnam would become independent, there would be a temporary division of Vietnam on the 17 parallel, with Ho Chi Minh controlling the north of the country, and Bao Dai (the former emperor who had collaborated with the French) would rule the south. There were to be free elections to unite the country in 1956. However, America disapproved of this agreement and did not sign the Geneva Accords as they did not agree with the placing of a communist as leader of North Vietnam.

In retaliation, America created SEATO (the South East Asian Treaty Organisation), signed by Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. These countries agreed that in the case of an attack on one of them, (if they anonymously agreed) they would take military action. Meanwhile, America was sending increasing amounts of military advisors. According to Rogers and Thomas, “there were 17,000 ‘advisers’ in Vietnam by the time of Kennedy’s death [in 1963]”.. According to Rogers and Thomas, “None of these measures succeeded in limiting the growing success of the Vietcong attacks on the South. Indeed, measures such as the Strategic Hamlets Program and the spraying of Agent Orange only alienated the local peasant population further.” The emperor of Southern Vietnam, Bao Dai, according to Phillips “preferred to live the life of an international playboy and was removed in 1955. Real power now presided in Ngo Dinh Diem… he was a dictator and his government was riddled with corruption”. Features of his regime included the repression of religion, lack of reform, which created growth of opposition.

After the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of 1964¸ where an American Destroyer was shot at by North Vietnamese patrol boats, America became militarily involved in the war. Due to the SEATO alliance, soon Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand were also supplying troops. They employed policies of search and destroy missions to eliminate Vietcong (a communist guerrilla organisation operating in South Vietnam) members, spraying of harmful chemicals such as the infamous Agent Orange on jungle and the Strategic Hamlets program, by which peasants were resettled into fortified villages to avoid potential  communist sympathies. These did little to help the situation. They also introduced a new strategy called Operation Rolling Thunder, which involved “the selection of strategic targets in North Vietnam to be bombed in order to put pressure on the North to stop supplying the Vietcong, end the war and start negotiations” (Phillips).  However, this operation was a massive failure; “The USSR and China were quick to offer replacements for supplies damaged… during Rolling Thunder, supplies to the Vietcong by the North actually increased” (Phillips).  Despite this failure, or perhaps because of it, America was dramatically increasing its number of soldiers. According to Phillips, “Within 9 weeks [of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident] 99,000 US soldiers were in South Vietnam… the number of troops increased rapidly, reaching 385,000 in 1966 and 535,000 in 1968.”

By 1968, the war was looking grim for America. After the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive against the South, “the consequences of the offensive were to lead the USE to re-evaluate its commitment to Vietnam” (Phillips).  The Tet Offensive was an initiative by the Vietcong carried out in February 1968, which was meant to coincide with Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. The offensive consisted of simultaneous surprise attacks on 35 towns and cities in the South, using 80,000 troops. According to Phillips, “with over half their soldiers killed, the Tet Offensive was a severe military defeat for the communists. Yet, its wider impact was to swing the situation heavily in their favour.” Phillips also states that, “events within the USA were, at the time, pushing the government to consider whether the human and financial costs of the war were worth the gain, especially as victory over the communists was beginning to look unobtainable.” Both sides were desperate for the war to end. In 1968, Richard Nixon became the new president of America. His solution to the Vietnam problem was ‘Vietnamisation’, or “training and supplying arms to the government of South Vietnam so that US troops could be withdrawn” (Phillips). However, this policy, according to Phillips, “showed that Nixon, like his predecessors, had failed to understand the nature of the war… South Vietnam had become, more than ever, an army without a country.” There were 415,000 American troops in Vietnam in 1970, and this number dropped to 239,000 in 1971 and only 47,000 in 1972. The troops that remained had low morale. “Desertions became commonplace, increasing by 400 per cent between 1969 and 1971. More concerned with their own survival, soldiers sometimes killed their officers rather than obey orders to fight... in 1971 15% of US troops in Vietnam were addicted to hard drugs and four times as many soldiers were being treated for drug-related problems as they were for combat wounds” (Phillips).

In 1972 the communist launched what is now called the Easter Offensive. “This offensive contained large numbers of North Vietnamese forces supplied with Soviet weaponry” (Phillips).  It ended in a stalemate; “the realisation that there would be no quick end to the war led both sides to engage in peace talks while continuing to fight” (Philllips). American hopes for an all-out military success had faded, however, according to Phillips, the government believed that “if they could not win the war, they could still inflict enough damage on North Vietnam to bring to the negotiating table in the future.” During the Paris Peace Talks of 1972, this situation was reached. Henry Kissinger, the American National Security Advisor, and Le Duc Tho, the leader of the North Vietnamese delegation had agreed on a ceasefire. This ceasefire was agreed to on the terms that the forces of North and South Vietnam would retain the areas which they currently controlled. This was advantageous to North Vietnam as they controlled large areas of the South. The other condition of the ceasefire was that all foreign troops had to be withdrawn from Indochina (South-East Asia). However, the South Vietnamese government under the new leader President Thieu, who was not included in negotiations, refused to accept this settlement. According to Phillips, “he viewed it as an abandonment of his regime to the forces of communism”.  According to Rogers and Thomas, “After a decade of military involvement, the loss of hundreds of thousands of American lives, billions of dollars and the damaging division of U.S. public opinion, the Americans pulled out of Vietnam in 1973.” Now that most US troops had been withdrawn, “North Vietnam was determined to unite the country and South Vietnam, not deprived of nearly all US military help was too demoralised to offer much resistance” (Phillips) The newly made ceasefire “only delayed the final outcome of the war” (Phillips). In March 1975 the communists launched a Spring Offensive against the South. According to Phillips, “the South Vietnamese army fled in panic”. President Thieu resigned, and fled abroad while the presidential palace was invaded by the North using Soviet tanks. Phillips states that “the speed of South Vietnam’s collapse took the North by surprise but without US support the regime in the South, lacking any popular support of its own, had crumbled”. In this way, the Vietnam War ended.

“In the context of the Cold War, the Vietnam War was a victory for communist and a failure for US policy” (Phillips). The was originally intended to protect South-East Asia against communism, however upon its conclusion Vietnam became unified under communism, and later in 1975, Laos and Cambodia also became communist, bringing US fears of the Domino Effect to life. Vietnam also created major budget troubles for America. Between 1965 and 1975 the United States spent $111 billion on the war. Popular dissatisfaction demonstrated by public protests and epitomized by the heartless massacre of women and children in village of My Lai by American troops in 1968, which caused “widespread revulsion in the USA… the My Lai massacre was only one example of the atrocities committed by both sides during the war” (Phillips). The dissatisfaction of American people and huge budget deficits created by the Vietnam War were major causes of détente (relaxation of tensions) between the USSR and America between 1971 and 1979. According to Phillips, “The Vietnam War had started as a war of independence that turned into a war over the future direction of the country by the intervention of outside forces operating within the context of the Cold War.”