Kubang Pasu Research Articles

Issues in 13th General Election: A Case Study of Kedah, Malaysia

This study was conducted to identify the issues that are expected or predicted in the 13th general election. The study was conducted in the state of Kedah, Malaysia as a case study. The population is comprised of people eligible to vote in the election to 13 in the state of Kedah and the sample of 500 respondents. The study took into account six focus areas in Kedah which cover four parliamentary constituencies and divided into six in the state of Kedah. They are Jerlun constituency (DUN Kota Siputeh) and Kubang Pasu (DUN Jitra and Bukit Kayu Hitam) which represent the ruling party-BN, while for the opposition, this study chooses the Parliament of Merbok (DUN Tanjung Dawai dan Bukit Selambau) and Pendang (DUN Tokai). The findings show that the quality and standard of living are the most important issues that are expected to be manipulated by the public during the election campaign as compared to other issues. Voters are so concerned by the rising cost of living in recent years due to the rising of prices, including fuel prices, and studies show they (people) feel pressured on the rising of living cost. As such, the contesting parties must update this problem and try to give priority to the development of physical infrastructure such as physical development, economic and social in one to match that quality of people's living standards and this should be done carefully.

Stratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the mid- to upper Palaeozoic succession in Northwest Peninsular Malaysia

The stratigraphy of the Devonian to Permian succession in Northwest Peninsular Malaysia is revised. The Timah Tasoh Formation consists of black mudstone containing graptolites and tentaculitids indicating a Pragian or earliest Emsian age. The Sanai Limestone overlies the Timah Tasoh Formation at Sanai Hill B and contains conodonts indicating a Late Devonian (Frasnian to possibly early Famennian) age. In other places, Late Tournaisian chert of the Telaga Jatoh Formation overlies the Timah Tasoh Formation. The overlying Kubang Pasu Formation is predominantly composed of mudstone and sandstone, and can be divided into 3 subunits, from oldest to youngest: (1) Chepor Member; (2) Undifferentiated Kubang Pasu Formation; (3) Uppermost Kubang Pasu Formation. The ammonoid Praedaraelites tuntungensis sp. nov. is reported and described from the Chepor Member of Bukit Tuntung, Pauh. The genus indicates a Late Viséan age for part of the subunit. Dropstones and diamictites from the Chepor Member indicate a glacial marine depositional environment. The Carbo-Permian, undifferentiated Kubang Pasu Formation consists of similar interbedded mudstone and sandstone. The uppermost Kubang Pasu Formation of Kungurian age consists of coarsening upward cycles of clastics, representing a shallow marine, wave- and storm-influenced shoreline. The Permian Chuping Limestone also represents shallow marine, wave- and storm-influenced deposits. A Mid-Palaeozoic Unconformity separating Early–Late Devonian rocks from overlying Late Devonian–Carboniferous deposits probably marks initiation of rifting on Sibumasu, which eventually led to the separation of Sibumasu from Australian Gondwana during the late Sakmarian (Early Permian).

Sedimentology of the Passage beds between the Kubang Pasu Formation and Chuping Formation, Berseri, Perlis

Sedimentology of the Passage beds between the Kubang Pasu Formation and Chuping Formation, Berseri, Perlis

Discovery of Late Devonian (Frasnian) conodonts from the “Sanai limestone”, Guar Jentik, Perlis, Malaysia

Late Devonian (Frasnian) conodonts (Ancyrodella, Ancyrognathus, Palmatolepis, Polygnathus, Icriodus, Ozarkodina and Belodella) of linguiformis Zone, which includes the Upper Kellwasser Event recorded in Europe, North America, China and elsewhere, are for the first time recorded from Perlis, Malaysia. The conodonts are fairly rich in the uppermost part of the Sanai which was previously reported as of the upper part of Upper Devonian (Famennian) age. Stratigraphically it is located near the top of the Jentik Formation, unconformably overlain by the Lower Carboniferous Kubang Pasu Formation. The limestone is pelagic in nature and consists of planar bedded, grey micritic limestone, with thin shale partings and styliolites. In addition to the conodonts, the limestone contains abundant fossils of tentaculitids, straight-coned nautiloids, trilobites and bivalves. The Sanai has a limited distribution in Malaysia and the assemblage of Malaysian Frasnian conodonts are closely compared with some conodont fauna (linguiformis Zone) of northwestern Thailand.

Speciation of heavy metals in paddy soils from selected areas in Kedah and Penang, Malaysia

This study was carried out with the intention of evaluating heavy metal contamination in cultivated paddy areas. The speciation of heavy metals in paddy soils was determined in order to gain insight regarding their origin and distribution in soils. Five sampling sites were randomly selected from Kedah (Yan, Kota Setar, Kubang Pasu district) and Penang (Bumbung Lima district), where the soils constituted marine alluvial deposits. A site in Langkawi, where organic paddy farming is practised was used as the control. The sequential extraction method was adopted in order to obtain the four heavy metal fractions namely the easily leachable and ion exchange (ELFE), acid reducible (AR), oxidizable organic (OO) and resistant (RR) fractions. This study shows that the soil samples were clayey (82 to 96% of grain size Mn>Cr>Cd>Pb>Zn>Cu. Heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Cr and Zn predominantly occurred in the insoluble form (RR fraction), with the oxides of Fe and Mn incorporated into the clay minerals. Although, the fertilizers and pesticides studied contained low amounts of heavy metals, the elevated amount of amount of Mn and Cd in the soils (ELFE fraction) could possibly be attributed to the longterm and repeated application of these materials to the cultivated paddy areas.

BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES IN A RURAL COMMUNITY IN KEDAH

Breast feeding has been actively encouraged in Malaysia in the last few years in all public hospitals. This study proposes to find out the prevalence of breast feeding in three villages in a rural community in Kedah, Malaysia. This was a cross sectional study on breastfeedingpractices in Kubang Pasu, a district of Kedah. Majority of the mothers initiated breast feeding but exclusive breastfeeding was only 21% for four months and predominant breastfeeding was about 12.6%. The breastfeeding practice was more prevalent among women from the higher educational strata and higher income than those from the lower strata and lower income (p<0.05). Mothers with a positive attitude on breastfeeding and those who possess a higher knowledge were associated with a longer mean total duration of breastfeeding (p<0.05).Spouse and family members played an important role in building up a mother's confidence to breast feed her child. Majority of the mothers received breast feeding information before birth from mainly the doctors and nurses. Older mothers, house wives and mothers with formaleducation practiced a longer duration of breast feeding (p<0.05). The study also showed that there is an increase in the knowledge of breast feeding among the mothers and that they have a positive attitude to breastfeeding. Most of the mothers initiated breast feeding earlyand they received support on breastfeeding from the nurses and doctors.

Stratigraphy of the Jentik Formation, the transitional sequence from the Setul Limestone to the Kubang Pasu Formation at Guar Sanai, Kampung Guar Jentik, Beseri, Perlis - a preliminary study

The transitional sequence from the Setul Limestone to the Kubang Pasu Formation is well exposed at Ouar Sanai, Kampung Ouar Jentik, Beseri District, northwest Perlis, Malaysia. The rocks of the study area are divided into three major units: Upper Setul Limestone, Jentik Formation, and Kubang Pasu Formation. The Upper Setul Limestone exposed in Ouar Sanai contains Scyphocrinites, which gives it a late Silurian age. The name Jentik Formation is proposed for the roughly 300 m thick sequence between the Setul Limestone and Kubang Pasu Formation. The Jentik Formation can be further divided into six informal units: (a) Unit 1; (b) Unit 2; (c) Unit 3; (d) Unit 4; (e) Unit 5; (f) Unit 6. Unit I consists mainly of black shales containing a Dacryoconarid-Monograptus­ Plagiolaria faunal assemblage, which gives an early Devonian age. Unit 2 consists of light coloured, unfossiliferous sandstones and shales. Unit 3 is mainly thick red mudstone, interbedded with sandstone, sometimes showing graded bedding. A brachiopod-Diacoryphe-Posidonomya faunal assemblage gives it a late Devonian age. Unit 4 consists of well bedded, dark limestone, containing straight coned nautiloid fossils. Unit 5 is composed mainly of black mudstone interbedded with cherts, with slump structures. The base of the unit contains a brachiopod-gastropod fossil assemblage. Unit 6 consists mainly of thick beds of brownish red mudstone, interbedded with sandstone. The red mudstones contain a Macrobole-crinoid fossil assemblage, which is earliest Carboniferous in age. The Kubang Pasu Formation is suspected to be unconformably overlying the Jentik Formation. The epicontinental sea that covered present day northwest Peninsular Malaysia during the Palaeozoic was probably density stratified. Transition from shelf carbonate, to black shale and redbed deposition could be due to shifting of the boundary between the oxygen minimum layer and the deeper oxic layer of the sea, triggered by sea level changes.

Implications of the Bok Bak Fault movements on the structure and lithostratigraphy of the Pokok Sena area

Exposures of the Lower and the Upper Paleozoic sediments in the Pokok Sena area were recognised as equivalent to the Mahang and the Kubang Pasu Formation respectively. The Mahang Formation consists of mainly weathered slate, and minor siliceous mudstone and chert. The lower part of the exposed Kubang Pasu Formation comprises dark laminated mudstone and dark grey chert. The sequence is overlain by interbedded mudstone and sandstone. Thick sandstone interbedded with thin shale represents the upper part ofthe formation. The area has topographically asymmetric NNW ridges with W-vergent thrust faults and oblique lateral faults. Exposures at several localities display the slate of the Mahang Formation overlies the younger Kubang Pasu Formation. The formations are separated by moderately steep reverse faults. Merging and combination of lateral slips and reverse movements reflects a transpressional deformation within the Paleozoic sediments. A flower geometry is defined by vertical to steeply dipping lateral faults which have shallow plunging slickensides and moderately steep dipping reverse faults.

Significance of Monodiexodina (Fusulininacea) in geology of Peninsular Malaysia

Monodiexodina sensu stricto is a very rare genus of the Fusulinacea which was found in the Permian deposits. Its distribution is restricted to a narrow sliver extended from the central of Afghanistan in the west to Japan, Eastern Russia and Malaysia in the east. Only three species of the genus have a wide distribution in the south Asia and Southeast Asia. They are Monodiexodina sutschanica, Monodiexodina shiptoni and Monodiexodina kattaensis. Their restricted geographic distribution may reveal their paleobiogeographic province which is very important for establishing paleogeography. Monodiexodina shiptoni is a good index fossil which was used as a zonal marker for the Artinskian, late Early Permian. The geographic distribution of the species suggests that the species were warm-water species which occupied the tropical or subtropical shallow seas. In Sibumasu block, only Monodiexodina sutschanica and Monodiexodina shiptoni were found in either limestone or calcite cemented sandstone which overlies the pebbly mudstone of glacio-marine origin. In East Malaya block, two species of Monodiexodina were found in the Sumalayang limestone. They are Monodiexodina kattaensis and Monodiexodina shiptoni. They are associated with many species of Fusulinacea. Their occurrence may give some clues to the evolution of the paleoclimate and tectonic history of the two blocks during the Permian. Monodiexodina is a very rare genus of the Fusulinacea. It first appeared in the Middle Cordilleran region, became widespread during the Sakmarian, and restricted to the Tethyan region during the Artinskian and the early Late Permian (Ross, 1967). There are two groups of Monodiexodina. The first is Monodiexodina sutschanica group which consists of Monodiexodina sutschanica (Dutkevitch), Monodiexodina shiptoni (Dunbar) and Monod'iexodina matsubaishi (Fujimoto) which is considered as Monodiexodina proper. The second is Monodiexodina kattaensis group which includes Monodiexodina kattaensia (Schwager), Monodiexodina bispatulata Williams, Monodiexodina prolongata (Berry), Monodiexodina steinmanii (Dunbar and Newell), Monodiexodina wanneri (Schubert) and Monodiexodina wanganensis Sossina. This group is morphologically intermediate between Monodiexodina strict sense and genus Parafusulina (Choi, 1973). Recently, two species of Monodiexodina, Monodiexodina sutschanica and Monodiexodina shiptoni (plate 1) were discovered from the calcareous sandstone bed of the top part of Kubang Pasu Formation, at the excavation site of Timah-Tasuh Dam in Perlis (Basir Jasin and Koay, 1990). The