œ œ

 

INSIDE
TELLING IT AS IT IS Call to resume 24- page Face mask dud page
hour flow at M’sia-
Thai checkpoint
2 deal scammer to
be charged
5

ON THURSDAY JUNE 18, 2020

No. 7558 PP 2644/12/2012 (031195) www.thesundaily.my

DIVINE DUTY ... Devotees

pray while observing social
distancing at the Kuan Yin
Temple in Penang yesterday
as places of worship reopen
to the public after the
recovery movement control
order took effect on June 10.
– MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

No turning back
█ BY AMAR SHAH MOHSEN
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
o Second Covid wave must not happen or

P economy will be critically hurt if another

ETALING JAYA: Another round of
restrictions on economic
activities will be devastating to the
country.
The number of small and medium size
businesses that will go under could
double from current figures, estimated at
20%. In addition, the unemployment rate
could breach the 5% mark, thereby raising
the fiscal deficit closer to 10%, according
to economists.
But the good news is that businesses
are taking the necessary steps by
observing all standard operating
procedures (SOP) to prevent a second
wave of the Covid-19 pandemic (see story
on Page 3).
Economists said that imposing another
movement control order (MCO) could
also lead to a longer-term economic
impact that would take the country years
to recover from.
As such, they said it is extremely vital
that enforcement continues aggressively
MCO imposed: Experts
damaging for the economy considering earlier seen the number of new cases
current circumstances. dwindle to very low numbers, are now
“Our economy has already incurred geared up for another wave of infections.
severe setbacks because of the first MCO. The number of new cases have
Another round will only inflict further risen to double digits in both
damage,” he told theSun yesterday. countries.
“More SME (small and medium Health director-general
enterprises) will close down, and while Datuk Seri Dr Noor Turn to
this can be averted through government Hisham Abdullah had on
—
page 3
aid, it will be at a fiscal cost. This is several occasions said the
because another round of stimulus progress the country has
packages will have to be rolled out. made in the Covid-
“This will increase our budgetary cost, 19 battle
and of course, we will have to bear with was
the damage for a longer period, and hence
a slower recovery,” he added.
Countries such as China
and South Korea,
NEXT GEN

to ensure compliance with all SOP.

Sunway University Business School
professor of Economics Dr Yeah Kim Leng
which had
Traditional
page
said while he expects a second MCO
(if the situation warrants it)
would be less severe, 19 instrument,
it would
still be millennial music
 2 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS

‘Keep checkpoints open

Local councils decide
public amenity SOP
█ BY ELLY FAZANIZA
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: Local councils have

the prerogative on how to implement
the standard operating procedures
(SOP) for public amenities that have
reopened after the conditional
movement control order (CMCO).
around the clock’ Immigration, Customs, Quarantine should pick up.”
Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv
Rishyakaran yesterday said councils can
oBorder crossings should not be and Security checkpoint in Bukit
Kayu Hitam and the Customs,
Bilateral trade between Malaysia
and Thailand amounted to
decide how to address situations that
affect residents under their jurisdiction.
barriers to movement of cargo and Immigration and Quarantine
facility in Sadao because of a
RM105.36 billion last year, with
border trade accounting for 60%.
This is according to the Local
Government Act 1976 which applies to
tourists: Joint business council reduction in the volume of heavy
vehicle and cargo traffic.
It has been reported that
between 12,000 and 13,000 trucks go
Peninsular Malaysia. The Act was The shortened operation hours through the border every month. At
passed by Parliament under Article █ BY IAN MCINTYRE was part of the Asean Economic began yesterday. times, some cargo is detained for
76(4) of the Federal Constitution to newsdesk@thesundaily.com Community concept unveiled in The easing of traffic between the closer inspection, causing traffic
ensure uniformity of the law “relating to 2015. two countries has been attributed to congestion. This led to a decision to
local government” in the nine Malay GEORGE TOWN: A regional The objective was to eventually the prolonged lockdown to curb the keep the checkpoints opened round
states, Penang and Malacca. business organisation has urged see a seamless economic spread of Covid-19. the clock last year.
Petaling Jaya City Council is Malaysia and Thailand to allow integration within the region by Faudzi said requirements such as While freight forwarders want to
expected to release the SOP for the round-the-clock crossing at their transforming the group into a social distancing, crowd control, see the borders open for longer
operations of open markets and night border at the Bukit Kayu Hitam collective trade and investment personal hygiene and public hours, hoteliers are a little more
markets. checkpoint. force, he told theSun. healthcare adopted by both cautious.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri This, they said, is in anticipation It has been reported that the countries on the advice of the World Eugene Dass, who head the
Amirudin Shari recently announced of an increase in trade and tourism intra-trade within Asean was worth Health Organisation should not be Kedah-Perlis chapter of the
that commercial premises and bazaars as the two countries emerge from up to US$3 trillion last year. The allowed to affect border trade. Malaysian Association of Hotels,
in the state will be allowed to reopen in the Covid-19 pandemic. region is one of the world’s top “Border crossings must be feared that visitors would prefer to
stages beginning June 15. Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand trading zones. enabling factors, not barriers, to the remain in Thailand rather than
He said the National Security Growth Triangle Joint Business Faudzi was commenting on a liberalisation of trade and the check into hotels in Malaysia if they
Council’s (NSC) SOP would be used as a Council Malaysia chairman Datuk report that Malaysia and Thailand seeking of new markets,” he said. have free access either way at any
reference in the implementation and Faudzi Naim said 24-hour access will scale down operations at the “Given time, the volume of trade hour.
enforcement in the operation of all
markets coordinated by local
authorities. This would then be adjusted
based on the areas concerned.
He said music and art classes as well
as hiking activities of up to three
persons in a group, are now allowed as
long as social distancing is observed.
“Any form of activities in Selangor
whether economic, social and
recreational must comply with the SOP
set by NSC,” Amirudin said.
“The state government will not
hesitate to close premises or areas
deemed risky in the event any party fails
to comply with the SOP fully.”

M’sia still competitive

despite Covid-19
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s
competitiveness and diversified
economic structure are factors that will
help the nation get back on its feet
again.
On the other hand, a transformation
through digital empowerment is
essential to drive such an effort,
according to the Malaysian Investment
Development Authority.
Its chief executive officer Datuk
Azman Mahmud noted the country’s
manufacturing sector had remained
competitive despite the Covid-19
pandemic and remains one of the
world’s top manufacturing nations, a
feat achieved through the adoption of
the fourth industrial revolution or
Industry 4.0, Bernama reported.
He said continuous support from the
government in balancing public health
and the livelihood of the people would NEW NORMAL ... A member of the Malaysia Civil Defence Force checks the temperature of a man entering the Chow Kit Market in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, as
underpin the growth momentum. sectors of the economy are being reopened following restrictions to halt the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. – AFPPIX

Vernacular press digest

Duped into working for online betting scammers

█ BY KONG SEE HOH
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
A YOUNG Malaysian who responded
to a good-paying job as a customer
service personnel in an online
advertisement was duped into
working for an illegal gambling
syndicate in the Philippines at a
quarter of the promised salary.
According to Chinese press
reports yesterday which identified
the 28-year-old victim from Teluk
Intan, Perak, only as Chen, the
syndicate held his passport and
forced him to entice potential
customers to its online gambling site
where the bookies almost always win.
Chen, who flew to the Philippines
in February last year after he was
recruited following a brief exchange
of information on Facebook, wanted
to quit on realising he was cheated
but gave up the idea when he was
shown video clips of recruits being
beaten up for quitting.
He then planned his escape but it
was not until six months later before
he got his break.
On his way to a clinic after faking
illness, he managed to dash to the
Malaysian embassy which provided
the necessary assistance for him to
return to Malaysia.
Chen related his ordeal at a press
conference arranged by MCA Public
Service and Complaints Department
head Datuk Seri Michael Chong and
MCA Youth chief Nicole Wong Siaw
Ting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
“The recruiter promised a
monthly pay of RMB8,000 (about
RM4,800), free food and
accommodation,” said Chen.
“On arriving in Manila, I was taken
to a huge building where I was to
work and stay for the next six months
and had my passport taken away.
“One month later, I was told I
would be paid RMB4,000 but in the
end, I only received an average of
RMB2,000 a month after being told
that I did not meet the ‘sales’ targets.”
He said the syndicate, which was
run by Chinese nationals, provided
him with the script and he had to act
the part of a candy girl in enticing
“clients” in China to place bets at a
gambling site run by the syndicate.
The syndicate provided Chen and
an army of similarly duped young
Chinese-speaking recruits with a list
of potential clients, and their job was
to chat these “targets” on WeChat
and steer them to the gambling site.
“The syndicate will pay if the
clients win small but if they win big,
excuses such as system errors will be
used to refuse payment. The whole
thing is a scam,” said Chen.
 3
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020

NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS

TELLING IT AS IT IS

Says ...
Self-discipline and higher operation costs a small price to pay
Graphics_1 > Graphics Logos >The Sun Masthead .ai

█ BY EDDIE HOO coronavirus. But it serves more than
newsdesk@thesundaily.com that.
We could be asymptomatic
IT may seem like a harmless act when carriers of Covid-19. By wearing such
we discard our used masks masks, we don’t put others at risk of
indiscriminately. We may think that is infection. So, we wear them to
fine since there is always someone protect ourselves as well as those we
paid to pick up after us. come into contact with.
That couldn’t be further from the The safest way to get rid of used
truth. As pointed out by a doctor, masks is to put them into plastic
such lack of civic consciousness could bags, seal them and then place the
jeopardise the health of others. whole package in a rubbish bin.
Many of us view face or surgical It is not just the way that we
masks as protection, that helps to dispose of used masks that is
shield us from the spread of the important, but how we behave in an
open environment will help to
determine how safe all of us will be.
With the loosening of restrictions
to enable the economy to reboot, the
responsibility of tackling this virus
and ensuring there will not be a
second wave shifts from the
authorities to people individually.
Do we flaunt the relaxing of
previously restrictive measures put in
place during the containment
period? Or do we behave rightly with
the health of others in mind as well?
From restaurants to places of
worship, it is up to us to determine
how much and how prolonged a
duration of contact we should have
with others.
With the virus stoking fears of a
second wave of infections in China,
we know that the battle against
Covid-19 is far from over.
We are in a Catch-22 situation,
where we need to allow commerce to
thrive again while ensuring that the
easing of movements does not lead
to a spread of the virus.
Since commercial outlets are
being frequented more by the public,
operators could have their frontline
staff such as security guards, shop
assistants and cashiers tested for
Covid-19 at regular intervals.
Service and kitchen staff of
eateries should also be subjected to
such regular checks. In the case of
staff who handle the food,
transmission from them is highly
probable.
We have to depend on individual
and collective responsibility to battle
this. Self-discipline and higher
operation costs are a small price to
pay in this war to save lives and
livelihoods.

Screen all IRRESISTIBLE WEB ... With the increasing

number of online trading platforms promoting
themselves, browsing and buying items over the

commercial outlet
internet has become both a necessity and a pastime
for consumers. – ZAHID IZZANI/THESUN

frontline staff: MMA Ganabaskaran said the measures taken under

oMove proposed as the enhanced movement control order (EMCO)
has been effective in preventing the spread of the
additional measure to prevent virus.
“Placing only identified cluster areas or
second wave of Covid-19 hotspots under an EMCO and allowing the rest of
the country to proceed with some economic
activity was the right move,” he said.
█ BY RAJVINDER SINGH He also commended the Health Ministry
newsdesk@thesundaily.com move to conduct mass screening at affected
areas, which he said was successful in containing
PETALING JAYA: Screening frontliners in the the spread of Covid-19.
various business sectors is an appropriate move However, he said the people have the greatest
to prevent a second wave of the Covid-19 responsibility in ensuring full compliance with
pandemic, according to the Malaysian Medical the SOP.
Association (MMA). “So far, we have been having a high
Its president Dr N. Ganabaskaran said testing compliance rate of 90% to 95%.”
cashiers, waiters, servers and shop assistants can Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur respiratory
serve as an added measure to prevent the spread
of the virus.
He advised people who work in very confined
physician Dr Helmy Haja Mydin said there needs
to be a balance between public health priorities
and socio-economic demands.
‘Everyone must observe SOP’
spaces and who meet many other people daily to “The balance between economic and health largely down to the initial implementation of the Health Ministry to prepare for a possible
take extra precautions such as going for Covid-19 concerns should not be mutually exclusive,” he the MCO in March, just as the number of cases second wave, and put all necessary measures
screening regularly or make adjustments to their said. was beginning to spike. in place immediately.
work environment. “The economic engine will only start moving Under the current SOP, that was “By doing this, (with everyone) observing
Ganabaskaran noted that businesses, perhaps once health concerns have been addressed. But introduced following the easing of restrictions, the SOP, I think even if there is a second wave,
prompted by fears of a second wave of the Covid- without economic movement, there will be should there be a new cluster or spike in the infection rate won’t be as serious,” he
19 pandemic and the devastation it will cause, are increased levels of poverty which will affect the number of cases at a certain said.
taking no chances. health and healthcare delivery.” location, an enhanced MCO will be From Barjoyai expressed hope that such
On the whole, the business community has Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners imposed only in that specific area, front measures would ensure that the
taken all the necessary steps to ensure full Association president T. Muthusamy said rather than nationwide. page situation in the country will not reach a
compliance with the standard operating frequent testing of staff for Covid-19 would add Yeah said based on current point that requires another MCO,
procedures (SOP) such as wearing face masks significantly to the costs of operating eateries. developments in the country, the present noting the extent its impact could have
and ensuring personal hygiene to prevent “The question that arises is who should foot SOP was sufficient, provided that the Health on the economy.
another wave of infections. the RM200 bill for each person who has to be Ministry acts quickly to respond to new cases. “If we implement another two-month
“The fear of another MCO (movement control screened? We had to bear huge losses during the “If we can contain the spread, then we can MCO, I would say another 20% of SME will go
order) has given us the right balance.” MCO,” he said. avoid a nationwide MCO. Most importantly, under and it will force the government to
“The emphasis on safety has enabled “We are aware of the need to protect our Malaysians cannot be complacent, be they come up with more stimulus packages.”
businesses to resume operations and economic customers and we do it based on the frontliners, businesses or consumers. It is very “Can the government afford it? Not another
activities to continue,” he added. government’s guidelines.” critical there is no resurgence in cases,” he RM300 billion,” he said, referring to the
said. various stimulus packages and economic
Universiti Tun Abdul Razak economist Prof revival plan introduced by the government so
Dr Barjoyai Bardai said it was incumbent on far.
The rise of e-commerce
How e-commerce has fared and projections Home for elderly denies outbreak
for the next few years KUALA LUMPUR: The See Relief Agency Old detected at an old folk home.
Folk Home Volunteers Organisation has Sharil said the first patient was
denied claims of a Covid-19 outbreak at its asymptomatic when he tested positive on
USD (Millions)
2000 premises. May 16 and was subsequently admitted to
Its director Sharil Hussein said an infection the Sungai Buloh Hospital for quarantine and
1600 could have occurred from close contact treatment.
between one of the home’s residents, aged The patient fully recovered and was
1200 51, who recovered from Covid-19 and was discharged on June 3 and continued
discharged from hospital on June 3 and quarantine at the home while the second
800 another resident who was at the same patient was placed in the next room for
318.0

hospital for a checkup for hypertension. observation. The two were kept away from the
324.5
255.3
1,129.6
1,559.8

1,431.3
1,694.2
1,206.3

1,929.6

1,160.3

400
“The two shared a ride home in an other residents, he said.
811.4
968.7
507.0
641.8

431.7
510.7
587.7
703.5
986.7

652.7
869.0

427.9
569.0
708.7
850.6

ambulance. So there was close contact,” he However, the next day, the first patient
0
said. started coughing and was sent back to the
Fashion Electronics Toys,hobbies Furniture Food & He was responding to a comment on Sungai Buloh Hospital.
& media & DIY & appliances personal care Monday by Health director-general Datuk Seri A week later, the second patient, who has
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah that a 69-year old hypertension and diabetes, developed a fever
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 man had tested positive after being admitted and breathing problems and was taken to the
* Revenue in the e-commerce market is projected to reach US$4,179m in 2020. theSunGraphics © Kogulan to the Tanjung Karang Hospital for breathing Tanjung Karang Hospital, where he tested
* Revenue in millions (USD) by sector problems and the new case was from a cluster positive on June 15. – Bernama
 4 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS
Decision tomorrow
on return of students
PETALING JAYA: Foreign students will
know by tomorrow if they will be allowed to
return to Malaysia to continue their
education, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
said.
This includes students pursuing their
higher education and those who are
enrolled in international
nationwide, the senior minister said.
schools
“The Special Cabinet Committee on
Covid-19 will be meeting to discuss the
standard operating procedures (SOP) and
whether to allow foreign students to
return to Malaysia to continue their
studies.”
When the government announced that
the country would be placed under a
movement control order beginning March
18, many foreign students decided to leave
Malaysia. Since then, all foreigners were not
allowed to enter the country as the
government looked to minimise the spread
of Covid-19.
Questions arose after June 10, when
Education Minister Dr Mohd Radzi Md
Jidin announced that students sitting for
major public examinations and their
international equivalents, can resume their
studies at their schools beginning June 24.
This included international schools.
“I will make an announcement
pertaining to this matter on Friday,” he said
at a media conference after the committee
meeting yesterday.
On a separate matter, Ismail said Lorong
Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR) night market
hawkers and traders who thought the SOP
for resumption of operations were too strict,
could meet with Kuala Lumpur City Hall
(DBKL) to share their views.
He said the government will consider all
suggestions, provided they are raised
through the right channels.
“I ask that they meet with DBKL to
discuss it, and if DBKL feels the need to
amend the SOP, they can bring it up to the
Special Cabinet Committee for
consideration.”
BRIEFS
GIG WORKERS URGED TO
REGISTER WITH SOCSO
KUALA LUMPUR: Gig economy
workers are urged to register for the
Penjana Economic Recovery Plan
(PenjanaGig) under the Social
Security Organisation (Socso).
Registration for the matching grant
initiative began yesterday and will
be open until Dec 31, 2021. Socso
chief executive Datuk Dr
Mohammed Azman Aziz
Mohammed encouraged gig
economy platforms to participate in
the scheme, considering the risks
workers in this sector face. Through
PenjanaGig, gig workers would be
protected under Plan Two of the
Socso Self-Employment Social
Security Scheme with an annual
RM232.80 contribution given free
for one year. Applicants must be
gainfully employed by gig
economy companies registered
with MDEC such as food and parcel
delivery riders and drivers as well as
online e-hailing service providers.
– Bernama
MARKET TO REOPEN
AT HALF CAPACITY
IPOH: Only 60 of the 128 traders
from the popular Gerbang Malam
market in Ipoh will be operating
their businesses daily during the
recovery movement control order
(RMCO). They will be operating on a
rotation basis. Mentri Besar Datuk
Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said each
booth must keep to a three-metre
distance from one another to
prevent the spread of Covid-19. “It is
also necessary for everyone
entering the premises to adhere to
the standard operating procedures
such as checking of body
temperature, wearing face masks
and others.” – Bernama
Restaurant owners stand
their ground on SOP
oEateries rather lose customers than flout regulations
█ BY ALISHA NUR MOHD NOOR
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: While customers who arrive
in large groups usually insist on sitting at the
same table, most restaurant and eatery owners
insist on enforcing the relevant standard
operating procedures (SOP).
A cafe owner in Shah Alam, Nur Amalina
Jaafar, 34, said she would rather not relent to
such demands even if customers threaten to
walk out.
“I would rather lose some customers than
risk my business being suspended by the
authorities for not following the rules,” she said
yesterday.
Amalina was responding to a report that a
family of seven was fined RM1,000 each for
Up to 250 people now allowed
for events, meetings
█ BY AMAR SHAH MOHSEN
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: Government and private
events, ceremonies and meetings will now be
allowed but the number of participants or
attendees must not exceed 250.
Senior Minister (Defence) Datuk Seri Ismail
Sabri Yaakob said this is also limited only to
areas that have been declared green zones,
which are localities with no active Covid-19
cases.
He said the standard operating procedures
(SOP) must also be strictly observed at such
events. These include meetings, seminars,
workshops, courses, training and conferences.
He said the number of participants would
also depend on the size and capacity of each
venue. “There should be (enough room for)
social distancing of at least a metre,” he told a
media conference after a special ministerial
meeting on Covid-19 in Putrajaya yesterday.
“Participants must download the
MySejahtera app to be used to scan the QR
code when registering. Other SOP such as
wearing face masks and regular usage of hand
violating the SOP by sharing a table at a
restaurant in Ipoh.
The restaurant was also ordered to suspend
business for a week.
The Chinese press had reported that officers
from the local authority went to the restaurant
unannounced on June 10 and found seven
persons sharing a table.
Amalina said it is the responsibility of the
restaurant or cafe owner to disallow more than
two persons to share a table.
“Of course, it also depends on the size of the
table. A bigger table may accommodate more
people.”
She agreed the SOP is necessary to curb the
spread of Covid-19 and should be obeyed.
“Even if some customers try to persuade us
to allow more of them to sit at the same table,
sanitisers will also apply.”
Ismail Sabri said buffets would not be
allowed during these events.
His announcement comes as the
government looks to relax more restrictions
under the recovery movement control order
(RMCO), which came into force on June 10.
Other than the organising of events and
meetings, Ismail Sabri said the special
ministerial meeting also agreed to allow face-
to-face job interviews, following requests from
government agencies and ministries.
“This means it will no longer be necessary
for job interviews to be conducted online. This
also applies to the private sector.”
He said the Public Services Commission
would prepare an SOP on this, and that it would
be sent to the Health Ministry and National
Security Council for approval.
“The approved SOP will be used as a
reference by all ministries and agencies, as well
as private companies.”
Ismail Sabri said a total of 61 individuals
were arrested for flouting the RMCO on
Tuesday, nine of whom have been remanded,
and the remaining 52 issued compounds.
thereby violating the need for social distancing,
we have to refuse.”
Another cafe owner in Kuala Lumpur, Jared
Ng, said his priority is to adhere to the SOP and
he would constantly remind diners to observe
the rule on social distancing.
“The SOP may have made people reluctant
to go out to dine, but it is better to be in this
situation than to help the virus spread by not
observing the rules.
“The government has already given the
green light for customers to dine-in, so it is our
duty to follow the rules and regulations.”
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
had announced on May 4 that restaurants
could reopen for dining-in but several health
and safety measures must be put in place.
Based on the SOP issued by the National
Security Council, a large table meant for eight
may now accommodate only three or four
persons, while only two are allowed to share a
table usually meant for four.
Restaurant
owners are
ensuring that
dine-in
customers
strictly follow
rules on social
distancing even
at the expense
of losing
customers.
– ZAHID
IZZANI/
THESUN
St Anne’s Festival
to go online
GEORGE TOWN: For the first time in over a
century, the annual St Anne’s Festival will be
celebrated in cyberspace.
Usually held at a church of the same name in
Bukit Mertajam, the festival attracts thousands
of devotees – both Christians and non-
Christians – every July. The church and its large
compound would usually be filled with people
for the 10-day annual feast.
However, the ban on large gatherings to curb
the spread of Covid-19 means that the
traditional way of observing the event will have
to be put on hold.
Roman Catholic Bishop of Penang the
Reverend Datuk Sebastian Francis said instead
of going to the church, devotees could follow the
proceedings on social media.
He said in a statement yesterday that the
pilgrimage passage between the old and new
churches can be followed on webinar or other
digital platforms.
“The mission to love and serve others
through the Feast of St Anne will continue in a
way that is creative and inclusive.”
The mass – to be conducted in Bahasa
Malaysia, Tamil, English and Mandarin – will be
streamed “live” to worshippers.

End of road for bogus
face mask seller
█ BY CHARLES RAMENDRAN
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Just 21 years old
and he has fleeced more than two
dozen people of over RM1 million in
various scams.
When public concerns over the
Covid-19 outbreak began in
February, he decided to take
advantage of it and preyed on social
media users.
Posing as an importer of face
masks, the unemployed man, who
has a criminal record for cheating,
claimed he had large stocks of face
masks and marketed them at low
prices. Attracted by the offer, orders
began pouring in from netizens in
March.
MOST POPULAR ... Road Transport Department director-general Datuk Seri Shaharuddin Khalid (right) and his deputy Zamakshari Hanipah showing popular
vehicle registration numbers during a press conference in Putrajaya yesterday. – BERNAMAPIX
Son of missing Aussie hopeful of finding answers
█ BY IAN MCINTYRE
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: The son of missing
Australian Annapuranee Jenkins is
hopeful of finding out what
happened to his mother after several
items belonging to her were said to
have been found by several local
residents here.
“We are trying to ascertain the
accuracy of the residents’ claims and
we hope that this is genuine,“ said
Former cop in teen shooting case dies
SHAH ALAM: Former police
sergeant Jenain Subi, who was
charged a decade ago for shooting
and causing the death of 15-year-old
Aminulrasyid Amza during a high-
speed chase here, died yesterday of
natural causes.
It is learnt that Jenain, 58, had
collapsed at a 24-hour convenience
store in Jalan Singa 20/C, Section 20
here at about 10.40am.
He was rushed to the Shah Alam
Hospital in an ambulance but was
oPolice arrest 21-year-old unemployed man for
fleecing victims of over RM1m in online scams
One of his victims was a 34-year-
old Iraqi woman, who has been
living in Malaysia for more than 10
years. She placed a large order for
face masks worth RM300,000.
The woman, who is a doctorate
student at a local university, had
planned to send the face masks to
Iraq as a donation to
underprivileged communities.
While the man usually did
business strictly by phone and
emails with other victims, he
decided to meet with the woman
Steven Jenkins.
The family had about 70 leads
and calls on his mother, who was last
seen on Dec 14, 2017.
The residents said they found an
asthma inhaler, Australian coins,
toiletries inside a purse together with
some ringgit notes near a
development site, about 5km from
the Sri Ramakrishna Orphanage in
Scotland Road, where his mother
was last seen.
They claimed they also found
pronounced dead by doctors on
arrival.
Jenain, who opted for early
retirement from the police force
recently, was believed to have
suffered a heart attack.
He was among several
policemen, who pursued a car
driven recklessly by Aminulrasyid
past midnight on April 26, 2010.
During the chase, Jenain, who
was then a corporal, opened fire at
Aminulrasyid’s car after repeated
and her family to gain their trust.
Sources said over the weeks, he
took payments from the woman and
her husband, an engineer, in several
meetings.
As days passed and the face
masks were nowhere to be seen, the
victim, who had enough of the man’s
empty promises, lodged a police
report.
It is learnt that the suspect had
been using a fake MyKad to identify
himself. He had gone into hiding
after getting wind that police were
some clothing and a dental
appointment card. Steven said the
items seemed to resemble the things
that his mother had in her personal
possession before she disappeared.
Northeast district police head
Asst Comm Soffian Santong urged
those in possession of the items to
surrender them to police.
He said investigations have
stalled due to lack of information
despite various media reports and
the family’s petition for help.
orders to pull over went unheeded.
Aminulrasyid, who was fleeing
from an accident he had earlier
caused, was killed instantly after a
bullet hit the boy in his head.
His car crashed into a ravine.
There was a massive public
outcry over the death of the minor
and the police force faced the flak for
months.
About two weeks after the
teenager’s death, Jenain, then aged
48, was charged in court for
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS
BRIEFS
after him.
However, last week the law
caught up with him. After tracing the
suspect, the federal police
commercial crimes investigations
department raided a house in
Cheras, where the suspect was
arrested.
Investigators learnt that the
suspect was responsible for about
seven cases of cheating involving the
sale of face masks online. The man
was also behind another dozen
cheating cases over the sale of
handphones in similar scams on
trading websites.
Sources said the man is expected
to be charged at the Duta court today
for allegedly cheating the Iraqi
woman.
“The trail has gone cold but the
file is open,” Soffian said.
“We have not received any
indications that the person has fled
the country, while there are hardly
any relatives around to help us.”
Steven had engaged an Australian
private security firm and posted
posters of his missing mother all over
the country, but there was no
breakthrough. The Australian
Consulate here is also seeking
information on the case.
unintentional manslaughter.
In September 2011, he was found
guilty of causing the death of
Aminulrasyid and was sentenced to
five years’ jail.
The following year, on appealing
against his jail sentence, he was
acquitted.
He apologised to Aminulrasyid’s
family over the loss of their child and
admitted that the use of his gun
during the chase was unnecessary.
– by Charles Ramendran
5
ACTION AGAINST RUDE
AIRPORT STAFF
PUTRAJAYA: Disciplinary action
has been taken against a Malaysia
Airports Aviation Security staff
following reports made by an
airport guest. According to a
report, the aggrieved party, who
is also a singer, was
discourteously treated when
attempting to enter the KL
International Airport terminal to
send off her family last weekend.
“Malaysia Airports does not
condone rude behaviour on the
part of any of its staff,” said the
airport operator in a statement
yesterday. It said it had
immediately launched an
investigation upon being made
aware of the incident, which
confirmed the report. Malaysia
Airports also extended its
apologies to the airport guest,
Noorul Huda Abdul Wahab and
her family, on the unfortunate
incident. It also reminded
passengers to refer to its website
for frequently asked questions
on the new normal practices
during the recovery movement
control order. – Bernama
COMPOUNDS ISSUED
FOR FLOUTING S.O.P.
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 52
compounds have been issued to
owners of premises since
enforcement of the recovery
movement control order (RMCO)
on June 10. They were issued for
flouting the standard operating
procedures. Deputy Inspector-
General of Police Datuk Mazlan
Mansor said among offences
committed were operating
beyond the permitted time limit.
Police had directed owners of
the premises to cease operations
by midnight but a few ignored
the warning and continued
running their business until 1am
or 2am. “Entertainment premises,
including karaoke centres, were
also found performing customer-
friendly activities. They were
issued with compounds for
reopening their businesses which
was still prohibited,” he said.
– Bernama
Two locals held in
Kajang over
drug trafficking
KUALA LUMPUR: Two local men
were arrested in Sungai Chua,
Kajang on Tuesday on suspicion of
involvement in a drug trafficking
syndicate.
Kajang district police chief ACP
Mohd Zaid Hassan said six firearms
and about 2.3kg of drugs, believed
to be methamphetamine, were
seized.
“Following their arrest, further
investigations by police led them to
an apartment in Subang Jaya where
they found the same kind of drugs,
four rifles and two pistols with an
estimated total value of RM350,085,”
he said.
Police also seized an airsoft gun
and a vehicle used by the suspects
for drug distribution in the Klang
Valley.
“The case is being investigated
under Section 8 of the Arms Act
1960.“
Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya district
police chief ACP Nik Ezanee Mohd
Faisal said police, acting on an “Ops
Vulture” tip-off, arrested 10 local
men aged 18 to 27 on suspicion of
engaging in unlicensed money
lending at a premises in Bandar
Botanic, Klang yesterday.
The arrests were made following
a police report lodged by a
complainant who had borrowed
money from 27 loan sharks,
totalling RM35,000. –Bernama
 6 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS
WHO positive over drug trial results
oGuidelines on treating
critically ill Covid-19 patients
to be updated
BRUSSELS: The World Health Organisation
(WHO) said it was moving to update its
guidelines on treating people stricken with
Covid-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial that
showed a cheap, common steroid can help save
critically ill patients.
Trial results announced on Tuesday showed
dexamethasone, used since the 1960s to reduce
Beijing grounds hundreds of flights, shuts schools
BEIJING: China’s capital has raised its
emergency level as dozens of new coronavirus
cases emerged and residents were barred from
any “unessential” travel outside Beijing following
a new outbreak of the virus that is yet to be
brought under control.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools
suspended and all residential compounds
ordered to reinstate strict screening after
authorities raised the city’s four-tiered Covid-19
emergency response level from three to two on
Tuesday evening.
All movement in and out of the city will be
“strictly controlled”, officials said at the briefing.
The city reported 31 new cases yesterday
while officials urged residents not to leave
NZ leader brands virus bungle ‘unacceptable failure’
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand prime
minister, Jacinda Ardern, has branded a
quarantine blunder, where two arrivals from
Britain left managed isolation in New Zealand
without being tested for the coronavirus but
was later diagnosed positive, as an
“unacceptable failure”.
“It should never have happened and it
cannot be repeated,” Ardern said yesterday,
adding that the military would now oversee
the quarantine of new arrivals and audit the
quarantine process.
A 24-day run with no new cases was broken
on Tuesday when it emerged two women who
inflammation in diseases such as arthritis, cut
death rates by around a third among the most
severely ill Covid-19 patients admitted to
hospital.
The WHO’s clinical guidance is for doctors
and other medical professionals, offering the
latest data informing clinicians on how best to
tackle all phases of the disease, from screening
to discharge.
Although the dexamethasone study results
are preliminary, researchers behind the project
said it suggests the drug should immediately
become standard care in severely stricken
patients.
For patients on ventilators, the treatment has
shown to reduce mortality by about one third,
Beijing, with fears growing about a second wave
of infections in China.
Tens of thousands of people linked to the new
Beijing virus cluster, believed to have started in
the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market, are
being tested, with almost 30 residential
compounds in the city now under lockdown.
At least 1,255 scheduled flights were
cancelled yesterday morning, state-run People’s
Daily reported, nearly 70% of all trips to and from
Beijing’s main airports.
According to the Chinese flight-tracking
database VariFlight, around two-thirds of
inbound flights and more than half of outbound
flights at Beijing Capital International Airport
were cancelled yesterday, while three-quarters of
recently arrived from Britain were allowed out
of quarantine early without being tested for
the virus, even though one had mild
symptoms.
The pair were eventually swabbed and
proved to be infected but only after they made
a 650km road trip from Auckland to Wellington
to see a dying relative.
Ardern said it was “absolutely nonsensical”
they were not tested earlier, and border
controls clearly needed to be tightened to
prevent similar failures.
She said Assistant Chief of Defence Digby
Webb had been appointed to oversee border
and for patients requiring only oxygen,
mortality was cut by about one fifth, according
to preliminary findings shared with WHO.
The benefit was only seen in patients
seriously ill with Covid-19 and was not
observed in patients with milder infections.
“This is the first treatment to be shown to
reduce mortality in patients with Covid-19
requiring oxygen or ventilator support,” WHO
Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said in a statement late on
Tuesday.
The agency said it was looking forward to the
full data analysis of the study in coming days.
“WHO will coordinate a meta-analysis
to increase our overall understanding of
A woman receives a parcel
inside a residential
compound that has been
put under stricter virus
control measures and
surrounded by barbed wire
after a new outbreak of the
coronavirus in Fengtai
district in Beijing, China
yesterday. – REUTERSPIX
outbound and more than two-thirds of inbound
flights at the new Daxing International Airport
were cancelled.
The outbreak had already forced authorities
to announce a travel ban for residents of
“medium- or high-risk” areas of the city, while
requiring all other residents to take nucleic acid
tests in order to leave Beijing.
Meanwhile, several provinces were
quarantining travellers from Beijing, where all
schools, which had mostly reopened, have been
ordered to close again and return to online
classes.
“The epidemic situation in the capital is
extremely severe,” Beijing city spokesman Xu
Hejian warned Tuesday. – Agencies
quarantine operations and was being given
access to military personnel and logistical
expertise.
“My view is that we need the rigour, we
need the confidence, we need the discipline
that the military can provide,“ Ardern told
reporters.
Health Minister David Clark acknowledged
widespread anger at the blunder.
Kiwis endured a stringent seven-week
lockdown to eliminate the virus in the country
which has recorded only 1,156 cases and 22
deaths in a population of five million.
– Agencies
this intervention.
“WHO’s clinical guidance will be updated to
reflect how and when the drug should be used
in Covid-19,“ the agency added.
But South Korea’s top health official
cautioned on the use of the drug for Covid-19
patients.
“(It) has already long been used in South
Korean hospitals to treat patients with different
inflammation,“ Jeong Eun-kyeong, head of
Korea Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (KCDC).
“But some experts have warned of the drug
not only reducing the inflammatory response in
patients but also the immune system, and may
trigger side effects. – Reuters
RECHARGEABLE MASK
BRIEFS
THAT KILLS VIRUS
HAIFA: Israeli researchers say they
have invented a reusable face mask
that can kill the coronavirus with
heat by drawing power from a
mobile phone charger. The
disinfecting process takes about 30
minutes and users should not wear
the mask while it is plugged in, said
Professor Yair Ein-Eli, who led the
research team at Technion
University in Haifa. The mask has a
USB port that connects to a power
source such as a cellphone charger
that heats an inner layer of carbon
fibers up to 70°C, high enough to
kill viruses. The prototype looks like
a standard N95 face mask, with a
valve at the front and rubber bands
to hold it in place around the head.
Ein-Eli said disposable masks, in
high demand during the health
crisis, were not economically or
environmentally friendly. “You have
to make it reusable and friendly, and
this is our solution.“ he said about
the invention. – Reuters
OUTBREAK NOT DUE
TO NORWEGIAN SALMON
OSLO: Chinese and Norwegian
authorities have concluded that
Norwegian salmon was likely not
the source of the coronavirus that
was found on cutting boards in a
Beijing food market, the Norwegian
fisheries and seafood minister said
yesterday. Following a meeting
between Chinese and Norwegian
officials on Tuesday, both countries
have concluded that the source of
the outbreak did not originate with
fish from the Nordic country, Odd
Emil Ingebrigtsen said. “We can
clear away uncertainty and the halt
in salmon export to China,” he told a
video conference including
journalists. – Reuters
Japan geishas
go online
HAKONE, JAPAN: Japanese geisha
“Chacha” sits on her knees with her
fingertips neatly placed on the wooden
floor, gracefully bowing to an audience
sitting not in front of her but miles
away, watching online.
Beneath spotlights, the graceful 32-
year-old geisha performs a traditional
dance, moving like a butterfly and
artfully unfolding and fluttering her fan.
The audience would usually be a
group of older, wealthy men, watching
appreciatively inside a traditional
parlour lined with woven tatami mats.
But today, Chacha’s audience ranges
from a young woman with a glass of
wine in her hand to a family with
several curious children.
The pandemic has nixed most forms
of nightlife, including geisha parties.
It has been devastating for geishas
like Chacha, who has seen her salary
evaporate. “Usually we are busy in April,
May and June,“ she said. “But this year,
we have no parties, zero.” – AFP
 7
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020

NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS

Police detain an activist

from Swadeshi Jagran
Manch, a wing of the
Hindu nationalist
organisation Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh,
during a protest against
China in New Delhi,
India yesterday.
– REUTERSPIX

Modi holds security meeting as China seeks to resolve border issues

NEW DELHI: India’s political
establishment held a security
meeting after a “violent face-off”
between Indian and Chinese forces
on the Himalayan border, which left
20 Indian soldiers dead and four in
critical condition, officials and
reports said yesterday.
The violence erupted at Galwan
Valley in Ladakh on Monday night,
where the two sides have been in a
stand-off since early May.
It was the first deadly clash
between the neighbours in at least 45
years.
Meanwhile, in BEIJING, China
said yesterday it does not want to see
any more clashes on the border with
India, adding that both countries are
trying to resolve the situation via
dialogue.
Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Zhao Lijian reiterated
that China is not to be blamed for the
clash and said the overall situation at
the border is stable and controllable.
Forty-three Chinese soldiers were
killed or injured, Indian news agency
ANI reported, quoting Indian
government sources but this was not
yet confirmed by Beijing.
Premier Narendra Modi, top
ministers including Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as well as
three military service chiefs met late
Tuesday to take stock of the tension at
the border, Defence Ministry officials
said.
Four Indian soldiers were in
critical condition, ANI reported
yesterday amid indications that the
death toll could rise.
The Indian army said both Indian
and Chinese troops “have
disengaged” at the Galwan area.
It said the incident involved no
shooting, while Indian media
reported that there was hand-to-
hand combat with batons and stones.
India blamed China for trying to
“unilaterally change the status quo”
of the de facto border, known as the
Line of Actual Control, rebutting
China’s claim that Indian soldiers had
crossed the border.
India and China fought a brief
border war in 1962 and disputed
several sections along their ill-
defined 3,500km border.
There have been skirmishes after
that but no loss of life at the borders
since 1975, when four Indian soldiers
were killed in an ambush by Chinese
troops. – Agencies

N. Korea threatens to
BRIEFS

MAN FINED FOR ‘FARTING

WITH INTENT’ AT POLICE
VIENNA, AUSTRIA: An Austrian man has
been fined 500 euros (RM2,406) for
breaking wind loudly in front of police, a
move that the police was at pains to defend

beef up military presence

oTensions spike as
offer of talks from
South Korea rejected
SEOUL: North Korea threatened yesterday to
bolster its military presence in and around the
demilitarised zone, a day after blowing up its
liaison office with the South, prompting sharp
criticism from Seoul.
In a series of denunciations of South
Korea, the nuclear-armed North rejected an
offer from President Moon Jae-in to send
envoys for talks.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s
Robots: Boon during virus crisis, bane later?
powerful sister Kim Yo Jong called it a
“tactless and sinister proposal”, the official
KCNA news agency reported, and she issued
an extensive diatribe condemning Moon as
apparently “insane”.
Seoul retorted with unusually stern
criticism, calling her remarks “senseless” and
“very rude”.
“We warn we will no longer tolerate the
North’s unreasonable acts and words,” said
Blue House spokesman Yoon Do-han, calling
Pyongyang’s rejection of Moon’s offer of
envoys “unprecedently senseless”.
And its defence ministry said the North’s
threats would violate several inter-Korean
agreements.
“The North will surely pay the price if such
actions are taken,” it said in a statement.
The row prompted Seoul’s Unification
Minister Kim Yeon-chul to offer his
resignation yesterday, saying he “takes
responsibility” for the worsening of inter-
Korean relations.
The demolition of the liaison office in the
Kaesong Industrial Zone, just across the
border in Northern territory, came after
Pyongyang vehemently condemned Seoul for
anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by defectors into
the North.
Activities at the office had already been
suspended for months due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Analysts say the North may now be
seeking to manufacture a crisis to increase
pressure on the South to extract concessions.
– AFP
yesterday. Local media reported that the
June 5 incident allegedly happened in the
capital Vienna, and that the man was fined
for “offending public decency”. Police wrote
on Twitter that “of course no one is reported
for accidentally ‘letting one go’.” They said
the man had behaved “provocatively and
uncooperatively”. Police say the man got up
from a park bench, looked at officers and
“let go a massive intestinal wind apparently
with full intent”. – AP
‘CHINA EXTRADITIONS
POSSIBLE UNDER NEW LAW’
HONG KONG: China’s planned national
security law for Hong Kong could allow for
extraditions to the mainland, the city’s sole
representative to Beijing’s top lawmaking
body said yesterday. The comments by Tam
Yiu-chung, a veteran pro-Beijing politician,
are significant because it was the threat of
extradition to China’s party-controlled
courts that ignited last year’s explosive pro-
democracy protests. Asked if that might
result in Hong Kongers extradited to the
mainland for trial, he replied: “If the central
government thinks it is necessary to do so,
then that is an option.” – AFP

PARIS: When human contact needs to be
kept to a minimum, robots can save lives and
factories. But when the coronavirus crisis is
over, will they amplify job losses?
It may be a mechanised arm pulling beers
in a Seville bar, a dog-like dispenser of hand
sanitiser in a Bangkok mall, a cooler on
wheels that delivers groceries in Washington
or a vaguely humanoid greeter at a Belgian
hospital that also checks you are not running
a fever.
These are some of the new jobs that robots
have taken on as lockdown measures have
seen humans confined to their homes.
“The moment there is a threat for humans,
you should send a robot,” said Cyril Kabbara,
co-founder of the French start-up Sharks
Robotics.
Its robot Colossus helped save Paris’ Notre
Dame Cathedral when flames engulfed its
roof in 2019, and has been adapted to help
remove lead that contaminated the site.
“Four or five years ago, when we presented
Colossus, they laughed at us. The firefighters
said: ‘These guys are going to take away our
jobs’,” said the entrepreneur.
While owners like robots as they can keep
operations running, workers can see them as
a risk to their jobs. Rightly so, according to
Brookings Institution researcher Mark Muro.
“Recent research suggests that the
deepening recession is likely to bring a surge
of labour-replacing automation,” he said in a
note for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“People who suggest that automation is
not taking away jobs in manufacturing,
they’re wrong,” said Oxford University
economist Carl Frey, citing China as an
example. – AFP
TURKEY DEPLOYS FORCES
AGAINST REBELS IN IRAQ
ISTANBUL: Turkey said yesterday it had
deployed special forces in northern Iraq in
an operation against Kurdish rebels, backed
by air and artillery support. “Operation
Claw-Tiger has begun,“ the defence
ministry tweeted. “Our commandos,
supported by combat helicopters and
drones, have been transported.“ The
defence ministry justified the operation
due to an “ upsurge in attacks on our police
stations and military bases”. – AFP
 8 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
SPEAK UP

COMMENT by Yogarabindranath Swarna Nantha

More needed to address rise in NCDs

I
REFER to the letter entitled
“Health system must focus on both
Covid-19 and NCDs” published in
a news portal on June 3.
The Academy of Medicine of
Malaysia has highlighted the alarming
trends of non-communicable diseases
(NCDs) reported in the National
Health and Morbidity Survey in 2019
(NHMS 2019). The academy proposes
an urgent need for newer and
innovative steps to prevent further
escalation of this dilemma.
Although many would laud the
implementation of the strategies such
as enhanced primary care and national
strategic plans for NCDs as a step in the
right direction, many clinicians and
academics remain sceptical about the
long-term effectiveness of these
initiatives. The reasons that underscore
these reservations include the
following (and not limited to):
1) These plans reflect a highly purist
approach under the guise of well-
thought public health measures;
2) The primacy of conventional or
conservative methods (a triad of mass
screening, increasing accessibility to
health centres, and community
empowerment) over more inventive
techniques; and
3) The tendency to be sidetracked
by taking little notice of plausible
events that result in the astronomical
numbers related to NCD trends seen in
Malaysia.
Thus, where do we go from here? A
good starting point would be to address
the fundamentals or the big elephant in
the room.
How did we get to this point, why do
these numbers keep increasing
unabatedly?
In insightful articles titled “Nutrition in
Malaysia is bad” and “High cost of food
may lead to unhealthy kids, warns
dietitian”, authors allude to the
indifference to the needed reforms
associated with the nutritional status of
the nation.
They argue the rise in the cost of
staple food has led the population to
seek cheaper energy-dense
carbohydrate alternatives to stave off
daily hunger urges.
Despite very glaring evidence,
certain quarters have thrown caution
to the wind by justifying that these
trends are “normal” and have also
been observed in other neighbouring
countries. Unfortunately, the dismissal
of these facts does very little to mask or
explain the rising trends in obesity and
diabetes we face in Malaysia.
Rapid changes to our prevailing
food environment has possibly
attributed to the remarkably high
number of non-communicable
diseases in the nation – almost 63% of
our population has at least high blood
glucose/high blood pressure/obesity.
We also witnessed a gradual
deterioration in these trends as
documented in the NHMS 2019.
In view of all this evidence, we can
no longer abide by outdated ideas and
expect different results. We have
directly observed the consequence of
such an approach based on the
findings of nutritional surveys.
After two nationwide nutritional
surveys in a span of 10 years, sugar
(both refined and undifferentiated)
remains the second most consumed
food item, only second to rice. Hence,
newer strategies need to be explored
and implemented with a sense of dire
urgency.
Why is it taking so long for these
strategies to work (at all)?
Contrary to popular or wide held belief,
NCDs (especially diabetes) are highly
preventable. And there is also evidence
to show that diabetes is reversible when
identified and treated early.
Unfortunately, the focus of
mainstream approach to NCDs still
remains very detached or removed
from the idea of using the patient’s
own belief system to aid the delivery
of care.
At the heart of solving the
perpetual struggle between habit and
poor self-control is behavioural
change.
However, this can be an impossible
task if we have a fleeting and superficial
understanding of a patient’s personal
identity and their living experience
with the disease. Furthermore,
comprehensive frameworks were also
developed to monitor and appraise
steps taken to diagnose and prevent
diabetes.
Unfortunately, these generic
models (without any population based
or real world data) have been
conceptualised without taking into
account crucial psychological aspects,
primarily in relation to behavioural
change or self-management practices
in the population.
How can evidence-based approach
help inform us of what to do next?
In the paper titled, “Addiction to sugar
and its link to health morbidity: a
primer for newer primary care and
public health initiatives in Malaysia”,
the author highlights the potential flash
points and the probable solutions that
are central to the problem of an
unhealthy food environment.
From a policymaking perspective,
there should be an attempt to subsidise
healthier foods such as fruits and
vegetables. Health interventions
should focus on bringing about
awareness about the potential health
dangers of highly palatable foods like
carbohydrate-dense products.
Every family should also be
encouraged to have a healthy home
food environment. Also, there is need
to revive the act of healthy family meals.
From a self-management
perspective, several notable scientific
work in Malaysia has already been
conducted in Malaysia to assist the
planning of an evidence-based NCD
strategy. These models help explain the
psyche of patients from a very
naturalistic standpoint and could be
used to generate a more person-centric
approach to this conundrum.
By incorporating the elements from
these studies, a multi-pronged
approach can be formulated through
targeted screening of vulnerable
populations (e.g. food addictive
tendencies) and the creation of
practical steps towards behavioural
change by consolidating self-
management practices.
To break this impasse, policymakers
and health officials should abstain from
repackaging old wine into new bottles.
By adhering to a rehash of outdated
policies, we risk being blindsided by
rhetoric without achieving any
meaningful progress.
Instead, what we need is a more
laterally coordinated effort where
academics, policymakers and
clinicians can reach a mutual (without
trepidation or duress) on a well-
informed consensus for the betterment
of the society.
Dr Yogarabindranath Swarna Nantha
is a senior lecturer. Comments:
letters@thesundaily.com

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 9
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020

SPEAK UP

Deferring Budget 2021, pros and cons

R
EGARDLESS of the reason for
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk
Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz
to delay presenting Budget
2021 in the Dewan Rakyat by one month
from Oct 2 to Nov 6 this year, the new
timeline is excruciatingly tight.
Malaysia’s new fiscal year begins on
Jan 1, 2021. With 25 days allocated for
debate and the Dewan Rakyat session
scheduled to end on Dec 15 this year,
this suggests the current ruling
coalition, Perikatan Nasional (PN), is
extremely confident of passing Budget
2021 without any legislative hiccups.
Like any legislation, Budget 2021
must be approved by a majority in the
222-member Dewan Rakyat and the
Dewan Negara’s 70 Senators before
receiving the royal assent.
Since 1957, Malaysia has been
governed by three coalitions, Barisan
Nasional (BN) for 60 years until it was
trounced by Pakatan Harapan (PH) on
May 9, 2018 and then by PN when it
displaced PH on March 1 this year.
How many Senators, appointed for a
three-year term and allowed just one
extension, owe their appointments to
PH and will they need to be assiduously
courted?
Is 11 working days – from Dec 15 until
Jan 1, 2021 – sufficient time to ensure
budget allocations can be disbursed on
or soon after Jan 2, 2021?
Re-scheduling Budget 2021 to a
November date offers some advantages.
A later date will give Finance Ministry
boffins a better indication about price
prospects about a significant
contributor of federal overnment
revenue, oil.
Recently, international rating agency
Moody’s Investors Service cut by
US$8/barrel (RM34.16/ barrel) its
average price forecast for global
benchmark Brent oil to US$35/barrel for
2020 and US$45/barrel for 2021.
Moody’s lowered price expectations
assumed “lower oil demand for several
years” due to long-lasting changes in oil-
intensive travel and transport.
By November, Malaysian Treasury
officials will be better informed about
the devastation wrought by the Covid-19
lockdown on the US economy.
According to BBC, California was the
first state to go into lockdown on March
19 this year while Georgia, on April 3,
was one of the last American states to do
so. This suggests the lockdown’s full
impact could be statistically apparent in
May 2020 data.
Earlier this month, the Atlanta
Federal Reserve predicted a 52.8%
plunge in US second quarter Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) following data
from the Institute for Supply
Manufacturing (ISM) showing 43.1% of
firms see an expansion in May.
Extrapolating from ISM data, the
Atlanta Fed expects personal
consumption expenditure, comprising
68% of US GDP, to tumble by 58.1% in
the April-June quarter.
GDP is the total value of goods and
services produced within a country
during a year.
Last week, the US Labor Department
announced the number of unemployed
Americans swelled from 6.2 million in
February to 20.5 million in May this year.
This three-month surge caused the
unemployment rate to soar from 3.8% in
February, among the lowest since World
War II, to 13% in May, slightly lower than
April’s 14.4%. During the post-World War
era, April’s unemployment rate was the
“Budget 2021 highest while May was the second-
highest.
must be As countries ease lockdown
restrictions, this has prompted fears of a
approved by a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
Last Saturday, over 25,000 new cases
majority in the were reported throughout the US, the
highest tally since May 2, a Reuters
222-member article says. Many of these states are also
seeing record hospitalisations, a metric
not affected by increased testing, Reuters
Dewan Rakyat adds.
On Monday, shares on Wall Street
and the Dewan initially dived due to growing concern
over a resurgence of the Covid-19 virus
Negara’s 70 stateside but recovered sharply on news
the US Federal Reserve will buy
Senators before individual corporate bonds.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial
receiving the Average futures jumped, fuelled by a
Bloomberg report that US President
royal assent. Donald Trump is preparing a US$1
trillion infrastructure proposal.
If true, this highlights the magnitude
of financial assistance needed to
reinvigorate the US economy. Would a
similar scale of support be necessary in
Malaysia?
On Tuesday, news reports say a fresh
outbreak in Beijing totals 100
coronavirus cases, all linked to the
Xinfadi wholesale market that supplies
90% of the capital’s fruits and vegetables.
The first infection was confirmed on
June 11, 56 days after zero cases. This
news is worrying because China was
presumed to have decisively overcome
this virus.
A cell biologist at University College
in London, Jennifer Rohn suggests a
second wave of Covid-19 “is no longer a
matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ and ‘how
devastating’”.
Coincidentally, Budget 2021 will be
tabled in the Dewan Rakyat three days
after American voters decide whether to
re-elect President Trump or vote for
former vice-president Joe Biden to
become the new White House occupant.
On Budget Day, Malaysians will know
whether Americans have elected to
continue the country’s isolationist
policies, including relegating globalised
trade to the backburner and
withdrawing from the World Health
Organisation, or whether the US will
resume its global leadership role.
Opinions expressed in this article are
the personal views of the writer and
should not be attributed to any
organisation she is connected with. She
can be contacted at
siokchoo@thesundaily.com

COMMENT by Jonathan Tan Wei Kit LETTERS

letters@thesundaily.com

Why I prefer having classes online
IN today’s digital age, we need to
be more informed about all the
electronic platforms. There is no
reason not to learn. This hits home
during this Covid-19 pandemic.
The different phases of the
movement control order (MCO)
have made it clear that every
university, college and school
should have the appropriate tools
for online learning. We students
should not let the pandemic
hinder our learning at all. In fact,
there are benefits to online
classes.
First, they are convenient. We
can learn in the comfort of our
home without stepping foot
outside at all. If the class starts at
8am, we don’t need to drag
ourselves to wake up early at
about 5am or 6am to wash up,
have breakfast and beat the traffic.
When the class ends and there
is an hour lunch break, we don’t
need to rush somewhere to buy
takeaway and rush back to
campus, we now have the entire
hour to ourselves.
This new routine may need
some time to get used to but it can
be more relaxing. We can also
make our lives interesting by
incorporating different routines
daily.
Online classes also help us to
save. Yes, you read that right.
Staying home saves us money
because we spend our day at
home and not travelling anywhere
like taking the train or driving our
car to and from campus.
A one-way train ride from, say,
Sri Petaling LRT station to Hang
Tuah LRT station (that is closest to
my university) costs RM2 with a
student pass, or RM3.10 without
the pass. That’s a saving of RM4 or
RM6.20 per day and it adds up for
a month. Nothing to sneeze at. If
we drive to campus, we need to
pay for petrol, parking fees and,
possibly, toll charges. All that
easily comes to RM10 per day.
Furthermore, online classes
enable us to be more self-
disciplined. There are no
disadvantages to being more self-
disciplined. Studying online also
needs more self-motivation and it
allows us to be more conscious of
time management. There is no
one around to monitor our
progress physically, we need to
focus and be discipline in time
management in order to submit
assignments on time.
All that should give us an edge
in our future jobs/careers. A self-
motivated employee is one of the
most prized qualities by
employers, or so I have read.
Online classes can also get us
to take more time to connect with
others socially, including our pet
dog or cat. Ever wondered why our
pet is drifting further away from
us? Or that spark with our
significant other is slowly
dimming? Or our relationship
with our siblings is too quiet for
comfort now? Well, it’s time to fix
that.
Since we have more time at
home, we can spend more time
playing with our pet, be a better
listener to our significant other
and help our siblings with their
chores. Doing all these things
could make us feel happier. A
happy student is a productive
student. Our quality of life can also
improve.
No doubt, there are others who
oppose online classes. Since we’re
spending a great deal of our time
at home in front of our computer
screen, we’ll be losing out on
social interactions.
We can no longer have face-to-
face conversations with our
friends, classmates and lecturers.
It’s also challenging to get
everybody online at the same time
if we are going to have a
discussion about our group
assignment.
Furthermore, not everyone is
born with a silver spoon. To have a
stable internet connection for a
better online class session,
sometimes we need better
hardware. If our video call is
choppy, it means we need a faster
internet connection with more
bandwidth. If our video quality is
bad, it means we need to fork out
some cash to spend on a better
webcam or worse yet, a new
computer. All those costs can burn
a hole in our pocket.
Not everyone can be at the
same level or speed in being tech
savvy. There will be “laggards”
who can’t figure out why they
can’t switch on their computers.
Unfortunately, there is no shortcut
here other than exploring things
on our own, finding solutions on
YouTube or Google and fixing the
problems ourselves.
Finally, it will be tougher to do
group assignments as well.
Students and lecturers see each
other only online and there are no
interactions after class, so it will be
difficult to bond with group mates.
Despite the good and bad of
online classes, overall, I believe
the good outweighs the bad. They
can make us students having less
to rush about in the morning,
more productive, more
disciplined and self-motivated,
and a better person around our
loved ones and even our pets.
If we don’t make the most out
of new technology and move
forward in this digital era, we will
be like the newspaper, obsolete
and forgotten.
Jonathan Tan Wei Kit is studying
for the Bachelor of
Communication at Berjaya
University College.
Autism: Parents face challenges too
PARENTS of a child on the autism
spectrum can experience a range of
different feelings, which surface from
time to time. There are no right or
wrong feelings. These feelings are a
natural and normal reaction to
parenting. All parents respond to the
demands of caring in their own way.
Feelings are always individual and
everyone will react differently. Very
often parents will have to regard their
feelings as signposts. They will “tell”
parents when things are not going
well and need their attention.
The parents of the autistic children
may face parenting and mental stress.
It is due to the reason that autistic
children may have different or special
behaviours than other ordinary
children that parents will need to learn
to cope with all those behaviours,
especially when dealing with the
sudden change in behaviour.
In most of the families that have
autistic children, the parents would
need to sacrifice their own leisure
time, with some even choosing to quit
their work just to look after them full
time.
Feelings can sometimes become
overwhelming and lead to parents
acting in ways they don’t like. It can
become hard to think clearly on their
important decisions. Just as feelings
are individual, so are ways of dealing
with them.
However, there is a way to deal with
difficult feelings many parents say is
extremely helpful – by talking to
someone. Talking about problems
either to family and friends, to other
parents in a support group, or to a
counsellor, can help.
One possibility is to join a support
group or get on the internet and head
for an autism or Asperger’s forum. You
can meet other parents in a similar
position, have a break, get information
and support from others who know
what your situation is like. Sharing
ideas, feelings, worries, information
and problems can help you feel less
isolated. Sometimes, family and friends
don’t understand the stress of caring
for your child. People in the support
group or forum will understand
completely.
Also, the financial burden of a
family that has an autistic child is
greater than an ordinary family. The
excessive cost of raising autistic
children can sometimes derail the
family’s long-term financial goals.
Many families have no choice but
to give up rehabilitation training, and
many families insist on going through
financial aids just to ensure the
children are able to go through the
rehabilitation training.
In Malaysia, an average of one out
of every 600 children is autistic, and
although the wealthy can avail
themselves of private facilities to help
meet their children’s needs, the poor
have few reliable options.
This makes it difficult for parents
with autistic children to work, save
money and build a better life for their
families.
That’s why the Institute for
Democracy and Economic Affairs, an
Atlas Network partner in Malaysia,
created the Ideas Autism Center in
order to provide autism-related
services to low-income families and
allow them better access to the job
market.
For every parent who has an
autistic child, the journey is often
fraught with challenges, endless
research and difficult choices, as they
constantly seek out ways to reach out
to their child. But there’s hope, and we
as fellow Malaysians should reach out
and try to help in any possible way
besides making the best from the
growing assistance from the
government and related NGOs.
Lim Wee Kian
Head of Community &
Volunteerism Department
Beta Gamma Sigma UUM Chapter
Student Excellent and Leadership
Center (SELECT)
Universiti Utara Malaysia
10 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
MEDIA & MARKETING

M
ARK Zuckerberg is trend and the pandemic only
moving Facebook accelerated its adoption. I have
towards a substantially worked remotely (including with co-
remote workforce over founders) for the past eight years.
the next decade, making permanent There is a limit, as only certain types
changes that began in the past few of work can be done remotely, and
months. Many even then, important aspects of team
There are also many other people are rapport, happenstance, cross-team
examples of working from home working conversations, etc can be lost. It will
becoming the norm: Twitter CEO from home be interesting to see the impact as
Jack Dorsey recently told employees for the first more companies get comfortable
they could work from home time due to with the distance. Reliance on
permanently. Other smaller tech the technology to communicate and
companies have announced similar coronavirus monitor workers seems obvious, but
proposals. pandemic. how will this impact urbanisation?
Q: Will other major corporate
players eventually shift away from Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch and
offices? Associates
YES: Working from home is popular
Gary London, London Moeder with today’s employees as it provides

The new normal

Advisors
NO: At least not over the long term.
Until a vaccine is applied, certainly
liberal work-at-home options will be
all the rage. Post vaccine, I expect that
much of the work force will return to
their office, albeit in different ways. I
think we will see a great prevalence of
flex hours, shared or “hoteling”
space, and other innovations in our
workspace and time. This will
translate into somewhat lower levels
of demand for office space. But I do
not expect that most companies will
abandon the office, where ideas and
networks are hatched and enhanced,
for the isolation of the home, Zoom or
no Zoom.
Phil Blair, Manpowerd
YES: It has been quite an eye opener
to most employers how quickly and
successfully their entire staffs have
transitioned to working remotely.
And now that the technology is in
place, it is very easy to re-invent what
their workforce should look like. But
there is a broad range of remote
working options. From jobs where
oWill working from home become permanent?
eye contact with the client is essential
to workers being based anywhere in
the world, and everything in-
between. What combination is right
for what businesses will be finessed
over the next several years.
Alan Gin, University of San Diego
YES: Many companies are finding out
that they can be successful even with
their employees working at home.
Allowing employees to work from
home reduces the need for costly
office space and will be beneficial to
workers who want the flexibility that
working from home allows. There are
negative ramifications for the
economy in terms of businesses that
cater to people who work in offices,
such as restaurants and clothing
stores. There is also some worry
about the impact of social isolation.
Reginald Jones, Jacobs Centre for
Neighbourhood Innovation
YES: The shift to employees working
away from offices ushered by Covid-
19 has accelerated an already
emerging trend. Measuring
outcomes, companies are likely to
cite operating savings, reduced
employee commuting (helping the
environment too), and more time on
tasks that yield increased
productivity. Companies probably
will not have a 100% away from office
policy, but some periodic teaming in
the workplace. Employers must be
for a better work-life balance.
Technology companies will default to
this remote option more than others,
but office interactions are critical to
productivity. Naturally, this will be a
blow to office space if it happens too
conscious in maintaining innovative
thinking with the increased use of
quickly, but this virus has jump-
started lots of changes. Many of the
virtual platforms. changes will occur due to financial
considerations as we enter a fairly
Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene deep recession.
University
YES: The pandemic has Norm Miller, University of San
demonstrated that remote and Diego
decentralised workforces can operate N/A: Yes and No. Some firms can
effectively, although more for some easily make the transition to working
than others. Employees may be able from home, like call centres for
to stay in parts of the country closer to airlines or computer support, or
family members with lower housing when most workers are in sales, out
prices, while firms can save on the and about. Many back-office
high wage costs of large cities. Firms functions such as book keeping and
may allow employees to work some admin support can be done remotely.
days in the office and other days from But, where innovation, collaboration,
home. Giving workers more options team work, mentoring and escaping
should raise job satisfaction and their from kids at home matter, not to
productivity. mention the serendipitous meeting,
then these functions will be better
Austin Neudecker, Weave Growth served in the in-person office, at least
YES: Remote work has long been a for now. – dpa

theSUN ON MONDAY | APRIL

27, 2020 15

Stars who don't

ENTERTAINMENT
we tend to
their own way. Sometimes, for the
believe that beauty is reserved the girl
and
attractive Instagram models
CELEB SPEAK who walks down the street
looking
believe me
effortlessly stunning, but

All about
I say we’re all beautiful in our own
when
sweet way. we
“Sadly, a lot of the information
are not slim
absorb tells us that our waists
enough, or
enough, our skin is not clear

girl power
enough.
that even our faces are not sharpwe may
“Despite the negativity that
encounter, we should realise body
beauty extends beyond the It’s
into our mind and soul. to
beautiful and courageous
to embrace our body and
oBeauty queen Jens Cheong hopes
is
existence, just being you
pageants
reduce prejudice against beauty
beautiful enough.

settle for less

“Even as the pageant
winner, up until today I still
by empowering women receive comments saying I’m
not pretty enough to win this
to
the pageant just to try out and competition. So am I going
my life
█ BY JASON LIM see how far I could go; I wasn’t reflect on this and make
more beautiful? You bet I will. the

J
completely ready to compete
ENS CHEONG first gained our and to put myself out there to “But am I going to allow
attention last year when she be judged by the public, more to me?
negative comments to get
was crowned Miss Astro so winning the pageant, to be Definitely not. more
Chinese International 2019. quite frank. “Living a beautiful life matters
As she basked in the limelight, “In fact, I’ve always wanted to than just having a beautiful appearance.”
what most would
she became be an entrepreneur
a beauty
deem to be the most ideal instead, prior to this, I What is the relevance of
representation of beauty. worked in the pageant in a society?
really for
However, in an marketing field. It “Beauty pageants are
a vision for
interview with
I TRULY just goes to show empowered women who have
resilient and
theSun, Cheong how life works making themselves more
THINK EVERYONE right?
women to
rejects the It better, and empowering other as one to
that surprises you do the same; coming together
IS BEAUTIFUL
stereotype t
beauty pageants with different support each other, it’s empowermen the
that is about far more than
IN THEIR
measure women plans. This
merely by their journey may not physicality of beauty.
OWN WAY.
a
appearances, calling be what I “Beauty pageants have
that perception a leftover expected it to be, common stigma, mostly about
from a far more patriarchal – Jens Cheong but I’m ever so grateful girls mistreating each other,
era, proving to us that she to be where I am today sabotaging and gossiping
also backs.
possesses not just beauty, but while embracing life as it is.”
behind our
brains. “Although in the
Beauty pageants have long
been
important to you beauty pageant I was in,
her, joining What is most journey? myself and the seven
under scrutiny, although for
reclaiming throughout this again, I’ve stated other girls really have
the pageant wasn’t an act of but “Time and time
displaced narratives and identity, as that I really believe in the life-long been the most kind to
rather asserting her right as
a woman new each other. We would
t. process of acquiring always be there for
she seeks to promote empowermen why knowledge. The more I know, the
Therefore, instead of asking each other, and we
still a thing, perhaps more I’m able to share. I enjoy looked out for each
beauty pageants are need to make sure
have chosen talking, so I other’s backs.
we ought to ask why people of beauty that I know enough to keep “Throughout
to misinterpret the relevance decades the conversation going.

Celeb Speak
pageants, as for the past several towards in the the course of the
“Being pageant, it has
almost all pageants have pivotedof society entertainment scene
contributing to the betterment really changed
is truly a brand the way I see
and the well-being of the community? new experience
it things. I realised
a beauty for me, and that in any given
Why did you chose to become took me a while circumstanc es

A weekly column, published every Monday,

queen? queen, to to get used to
it.
“I didn’t choose to be a beauty I joined There’s a lot when women do
the judges did. to come together, we
be very honest, more to learn, and I’m excited it do have the ability to
if
embark on this journey, even also empower others,
be
means that things are going to

featuring popular and on-trend local celebrities

spread

Wahlberg movie
and
tough down the road.” positivity.”
you
Winning the title qualified

postponed until May 2021

What do you wish to
to compete in the 2020 TVB see in future
l

talking about their career, personal life, and what

Miss Chinese Internationa pageants?
Pageant in Hong Kong on Feb “Beauty pageants have
of 15, it has been cancelled due always been a subject
launch to the prolonged closure of most is to the pandemic. How has
ORIGINALLY scheduled to has the world’s cinemas. Hollywood affected your of controversy, some
on Aug 7, Paramount Pictures the that see them as a platform

drives them, as well as current and future projects.

nonetheless hoping that box-office preparations?
finally decided to postpone in business will resume in mid-July by to demean women
release of Infinite by nine months “I’m not very much affected with superficial
to the ongoing 2020. it. On a brighter note, I’ve portrayals, others pose
response Written by Ian Shorr and John managed to learn three new
coronavirus pandemic. been
Lee Hancock, the feature has D. a challenge to women
May dances which I was planning

The celebrities featured come from a wide range

will have to wait until by they subject
We adapted from the 2009 novel to perform for the pageant’s
as
to
28, 2021 for the Eric Maikranz, The Reincarnation
ist themselves
thriller starring talent showcase. Rather than judgements based on
M a r k
Papers. thinking it has all gone to physical appearances.
The story tells of the Cognomia, waste, I think it’s pretty
Wahlberg and a group of men and women for
who “The truth is, there

of disciplines and include actors and directors,

directed by amazing actually. are so many values that
have been reincarnated evil, “However, I am quite
A n t o i n e centuries. In their bid to fight I the judges examine,
Evan upset in the sense that through culture and
Fuqua. they are forced to rely on wouldn’t be able to
Paramount from intellectual review.
Michaels, a man suffering showcase my national “I hope there will be a

musicians, chefs, models and comedians. Celebrities

Pictures has (played by
schizophrenia costume and the other
had to change Wahlberg), who will soon learn of
that shift in public opinion
its plans in memories dresses and gowns for regarding pageants in the
his dreams are in fact which I was sponsored on
response to the his past lives. future, with far less
coronavirus Chiwetel Ejiofor, an international platform. controversy, and giving
“Regardless of how

previously featured include Tiara Jacquelina, Carmen

crisis, which Sophie Cookson, pageants their due justice
has led Dylan O’Brien disappointed I was, it’s only for what they stand for.
and Rupert right that the organisation “Not many people have
Friend will also cancel the event for safety the courage to put
feature in the purposes, and that is all Cheong believes that life is a themselves out there to be

Soo, Maya Karin, Shalini Balasundram and Haneesya

cast. – AFP- that matters.” constant journey of growing and judged by so many others,
Relaxnews what’s refining who we are. and to show imperfections
and
When you think of beauty, –COURTESY OF ROCKETFUEL being
the first thought that comes
to flaws in themselves, while
Wahlberg. ENTERTAINMENT willing to do better.”
mind?

Hanee.
CELEBRITYCAUSES – AFP
“I truly think everyone is beautiful
in theSUN ON WEDNESD
15
AY | APRIL 15, 2020

LIFESTYLE
Struys was
undergoing intensive inspired to open OhanaJo after
yoga training in Rishikesh
– COURTESY OF JOJO , India.
STRUYS

The call of
Celebrity Causes inner peace
This column comes out every Wednesday, oJojo Struys felt it
was
her calling to help peop
with her knowledge le
and features a local personality wellness and healin
g
in

speaking about a social cause, either █ BY S. INDRA SATHIAB

ALAN

S
compartmentalis

as an ambassador for a social/charity

HE has evolved from e and prioritise
turning points the key or form.
model and emcee being an actress, being probably in the day, with the morning ”
to the most importan
and wellness guru. an entrepreneur “I feel the t. What is the best
busy woman who Jojo Struys is a very influence the way we start the day can everyday way to relieve yourself
runs her own TV mood of
production company of the day might and tone of how the rest “Stress stress? Researchers say this

organisation, or as an activist. The column

wellness centre (Kyanite TV) pan out. is linked to our thoughts activity helps boost
(OhanaJo Studio), and morning regimen ... there’sIt’s vital to have a perceive or respond and how and physical health.
– AFP
mental
conducts programm
es and special and something very
way. to whatever is coming we
that centre around empowe So be aware of your our

Could gardening
wellness. exercise so early ring about
She even did in the morning. doing especially if it’s negative,internal dialogue,
helps to It really complaining or
Channel called Jojo’sa series on Discovery kickstarti keep me grounded. It’s like blaming in nature. It’s always up

serves to create awareness of the cause,

to
she showcased someDiary of Asia in which meditationg the day in positive gear, and you want to view the glass as half us whether
places to de-stress.
The idea to open
of the most unique

OhanaJo in mid-2017
n really helps to calm
mind of whatever and clear
full. What someone might
stresses I might have. the or disaster in life, anotherview as a challenge
” opportunity.” might
empty or half
view as an
help boost your
body image?
came after she underwe
nt intensive yoga What helped you realise that your “I find

and to inspire readers to make a change

training in Rishikesh
, India, located at in teaching people heart lies extremel breathing techniques and yoga
foothills of the Himalaya the “I studied about wellness? y beneficia
little oasis as a holistic s. She describes her system Reiki, a Japanese mindfulness and l, as it’s all about
when I was 19 energy healing bringing you
she teaches people healing place, where
knowing years old, never present moment. Stress happens into the NEW research conducte
sound therapy and self-healing using yoga, conducti that years later I would mind is living in the
past or future,
when the
Kingdom has found d in the United
other exercises. ng Reiki workshop be
s [to teach people can use the breath to anchor youbut if you that individuals who

themselves. Causes/organisations that have

She feels blessed to] heal themselves gardening as a hobby enjoy
passion, her ‘ikigai’ to be working in her “I also studied
and others. present, this can
really shift
into the
perspectives and improved body image.may benefit from
known as ‘reason (a Japanese concept additional units help calm you down.
for being’). psychology, even in “The Led by Anglia Ruskin
clinical hypnosis University (ARU), the
During an interview
done via social graduated from my business , after I particulaamazing thing about breathwork new study looked
at
distancing, Struys Australia degree in it can r is that it requires no equipment in urban allotment sites84 gardeners from 12
about her wellness happily shared with us spirituali so the interest in the field

been highlighted include a school for refugee

be done almost anywhere and non-gard in north London, and
journey. ty, healing of “Try this right now. . eners from the 81
there. But a turning and wellness was always breathing Let us do some deep The participants weresame area.
You wear so many point was going to together. Breathe in to the series of questionn asked to complete
to attend my yoga
training. It felt like India three and slowly with control, a
time for yourself? hats. How do you find to actually a calling count of
count of aires to assess their
image, which is measured body
share exhale to the by a person’s
“It’s a challenge people along their knowledge and to help how in six. Repeat this a few times and notice appreciation of their

children, teaching people how to live a zero-

but
we all have the spiritual path.” a matter of moments
, you can bring in functions, and their own body and its
same 24 hours in the benefits of relaxation
imperfections, before acceptance of any
How do you define “When we lengthen into your being. and after spending
a day and it’s up “It’s not one particula wellness? the ratio of our exhale, in their allotment. time
to us how we r thing. It’s about how we help to slow down the pace of
you live your life thoughts our gushing The findings, published
and in the journal
spend it. It’s you make. It’s how all the lifestyle choices nervous and engage the parasympathetic Ecopsychology, showed

waste lifestyle, and helping underprivileged

important to you breathe, what you’re system and the significantly higher that the gardener
eating, how you’re relaxatio body’s natural levels of body pride, s had
moving your body, thinking, whether you’re ourselvesn response. We can empowe appreciation and appreciat body
night. It’s a state of or getting enough sleep at you need at any point in the day when you feelr functionality, compared ion for their body’s
being.” to slow down
when you feel things and take a breather or In addition, the more to the non-gardeners.
spent gardening in time the gardener

students stay in school.

How do you balance are getting too much. s
teaching as well as the pressure of ” the improvement their allotment, the bigger
Do you observe any in positive body image
“I’m following my running a business? “I am currently vegetaria special dietary habits? they left. when
down that I need heart and knowing deep made n. I also enjoy home The researchers point
to continue to do
this work, superfoopower smoothies with various gardening, which out that allotment
whether it’s on ground, is
world. online or all over
the them so energisin
ds in the morning
because I find small plot of land where gardeners rent a
in
We serve some of g.” been shown to boosta public space, has already
the most unique classes health. both physical and
in Asia and were blessed mental
Yoga & Sound Healing to be recently voted Is there such a
thing Although the effect
of allotment gardenin
(endorsed by the Studio of the achieving inner peace? as on body image has g
Ministry of Tourism) Year “When we shift our before, lead author not been investigated
entrepreneur, I feel . As an inner Professor Viren Swami
is remembering the what keeps me grounded perspective, everythin noted that the findings
original intention around us changes g previous research, are in line with his
open this space. It I had to with which
was Anything is possible it. spending time in natural has found that
people find a safe to help yes, I feel we can so improve positive body environments can
space achieve
to heal, shift, or inner peace! “My previous research image.
transform in “Life is never benefits of being in has shown the
any shape straight road. There a increasing urbanisatnature more generally, but
always be ups will people now have ion has meant that many
less
downs but if you and Professor Swami. “The access to nature,“ said
experience
can study are importan findings from this new
t
moments of inner
more show the significan because they specifically
t
peace, these golden on allotments, whichbenefits of spending time
patches of green space are typically quite small
moments are so
precious urban environments. in otherwise mainly

Contact theSun's Sales & Marketing team to book your advertising space.
and
healing.” “Positive body image
helps to foster psycholo is beneficial because it
resilience, which contribut gical and physical
being. es to overall well-
“Ensuring that opportun
are available to all ities for gardening
people is, therefore
may help to reduce , vital and
She teaches people on health services. the long-term cost burden

03-7784 6688 advertise@thesundaily.com

One
healing using yoga, self beyond policies that way to achieve this,
therapy and other
sound for all citizens, would ensure access to nature
exercises. of dedicated and sustained be through the provision
allotment plots.” – community
AFP-Relaxnews
 SunBIZ
THURSDAY
S E C U R I T I E S S D N.
197201001092 (12738-U)
B H D.

A Participating Organisation of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad

JUNE 18, 2020
A Trading Participant of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad
Editorial: Tel.: 03-7784 6688
Fax: 03-7785 2624/5
Participation Bought Sold Net Email : sunbiz@thesundaily.com
% RM m RM m RM m Advertising: Tel: 03-7784 8888
Fax: 03-7784 4424
48.6 Institutions 1858.3 1854.8 3.5 Email: advertise@thesundaily.com
36.3 Retail 1427.8 1348.0 79.8
15.1 Foreign 533.0 616.3 -83.3
126.45
8.61 2.77 137.32 4.12 22.95 3.00 49.47
100.0 3819.1 3819.1 0.0
Preliminary stats (excluding trade amendments). For final data, please refer to www.bursamalaysia.com
KLCI STI HANG SENG SCI NIKKEI TSEC KOSPI S&P/ASX200
Source: Burs Malaysia 1,526.32 2,669.62 24,481.41 2,935.87 22,455.76 11,534.59 2,141.05 5,991.77

INDICES
KL MARKET SUMMARY
June 17, 2020

CHANGE
MSM aims to be Asia’s
top liquid sugar provider
FBMEMAS 10,724.30 +56.43
FBMKLCI 1,526.32 +8.61
CONSUMER PRODUCTS 569.66 +4.96
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS 136.13 +0.36
CONSTRUCTION 175.98 +1.85
FINANCIAL SERVICES 13,218.40 +137.33
ENERGY 796.35 +1.91
TELECOMMUNICATIONS 638.03 +13.67 players and F&B businesses have started to
HEALTH CARE 2,274.10 -2.30 o Looking at the Middle East and North Africa as open, the demand for sugar in our country
TRANSPORTATION 690.11 -1.40
PROPERTY 641.72 -0.36 potential markets as it prepares to ramp up production has increased.”
Khairil said the consolidation of
PLANTATION 6,775.04 +28.01 operations from Perlis to Johor will reduce
FBMSHA 12,113.70 +11.22 the risk of supply disruptions significantly
FBMACE 5,980.13 +83.00 █ BY AMIR IMRAN HUSAIN SAFRI approximately 350,000 tonnes of sugar and reduce operational and refining costs.
TECHNOLOGY 41.24 +0.75 sunbiz@thesundaily.com products for FY2020. This is expected to “At the same time, MSM has been
contribute close to RM600 million in working closely with our parent company,
TURNOVER VALUE PETALING JAYA: MSM Malaysia Holdings revenue to the group,” he added. FGV Holdings, to maximise the potential in
7.545 BIL RM3.819 BIL Bhd aims to become the largest liquid The group is also considering possible MSM’s assets in Chuping, Perlis, which
sugar provider in Asia, according to its collaborations with food and beverage involves the development of FGV Agro
group CEO Datuk Khairil Anuar Aziz (pix). (F&B) players and downstream product Food-Valley, which is expected to
5 MOST ACTIVES
June 17, 2020
The group targets to market liquid sugar
beyond Asean, and Asia in general, to the
development such as flavoured syrup and
condensed milk.
contribute towards the national food agro
sector, while enhancing the local socio-
Middle East and North Africa if there is On prospects, Khairil said the industry economic landscape that includes
STOCK VOL CLSG (sen) +/– (sen) demand. had indicated a deficit of 5-6 million tonnes business and employment opportunities,”
MTOUCHE 317,111,600 8 +1 “The Johor plant has already hit its for 2020, but this has been reduced to he said.
AT 309,003,700 13 -1.5 highest utilisation rate of 34% and this year 500,000 tonnes. On the possibility of merger and
VSOLAR-OR 258,041,500 0.5 -2.5 we aim to ramp up production to the This is due to global developments such acquisition activity for the group, the CEO
NETX 211,538,300 1 UNCH breakeven point of 48-50%,” Khairil told the as the trade crisis between the US and said he has received a number of proposals
KNM 183,693,100 24.5 +1.5 media at a virtual press conference after the China, as well as the oil price crash which this year but they have yet to be deliberated
group’s annual general meeting. saw the world’s largest raw sugar supplier, on extensively as MSM needs to see the
He disclosed that the liquid sugar Brazil diverting its production from ethanol value of the incoming partner.
5 TOP GAINERS
June 17, 2020
produced in the Johor plant has received
encouraging response in the last five
to sugar as well as the closure of the
F&B sector due to the Covid-19
Khairil said one of the criteria for such a
partner is a party that has an extensive
months, exporting about 300 pandemic. network in F&B either locally or
STOCK VOL CLSG (RM) RM containers a month. However, Khairil noted that internationally, with sugar as part of the
PBBANK 3,215,700 16.96 0.54 “MSM has secured 200,000 tonnes there has been some positive party’s ingredient as this will carry the
HLFG 93,700 14.50 0.50 of sugar product exports until end of demand on a daily basis with the company further.
SAM 422,800 6.21 0.45 this year. As at May 2020, MSM has entry into the recovery movement “In terms of getting the opportunity to
SUPERMX-C77 2,000 3.18 0.34 exported more than 73,000 tonnes of control order (RMCO) phase, as grow the business through M&A, it is
HEIM 119,100 21.50 0.32 refined, liquid sugar and fine syrup, with domestic demand has increased something that the group is looking at
an estimated revenue of RM157 to 2,500-2,700 tonnes a day. extensively but at the moment there hasn’t
million. We are targeting to “The graph has gone been the right fit but we are still open in
5 TOP LOSERS
June 17, 2020
increase sales penetration
and boost our exports up to
up. Now that the
businesses, industry
terms of collaboration, especially in terms
of off-taking the extra volume in Johor.”

STOCK VOL CLSG (RM) RM

CARLSBG
TOPGLOV
TOPGLOV-C67
312,300
15,664,000
6,000
23.40
15.70
2.70
0.50
0.26
0.19
Aramco completes US$69b deal for 70% of Sabic
TENAGA-C75 2,923,600 0.055 0.145 RIYADH/DUBAI: Saudi Aramco has
MPI 166,400 10.98 0.14 completed its purchase of a 70% stake in
petrochemicals company Saudi Basic
Industries for US$69.1 billion (RM295.7
EXCHANGE RATES JUNE 17, 2020 billion) and extended the payment period
by three years to 2028, providing a cushion
Foreign currency Bank sell Bank buy Bank buy against weak oil prices.
TT/OD TT OD The deal values Saudi Basic Industries
US DOLLAR 4.3400 4.2150 4.2050
Corp (Sabic) at 123.39 riyals (RM140.66)
per share, 27.5% above the company’s
1 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR 2.9980 2.8790 2.8630 share price of 89.40 riyals, as the
1 BRUNEI DOLLAR 3.1110 3.0210 3.0130 coronavirus outbreak has hurt demand for
1 CANADIAN DOLLAR 3.1990 3.1130 3.1010 petrochemicals products and dented
1 EURO 4.8960 4.7380 4.7180 Sabic’s shares.
“It is a significant leap forward, which
1 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 2.8090 2.7060 2.6900 accelerates Aramco’s downstream strategy
1 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 3.1110 3.0210 3.0130 and transforms our company into one of
1 STERLING POUND 5.4590 5.2870 5.2670 the major global petrochemicals players,”
1 SWISS FRANC 4.5490 4.4450 4.4300 Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in a
statement.
100 UAE DIRHAM 119.5900 113.4100 113.2100 A man walks past Sabic’s headquarters in Riyadh. Sabic is the world’s fourth-biggest
Sabic is the world’s fourth-biggest
100 BANGLADESH TAKA 5.2090 4.8700 4.6700 petrochemicals company. petrochemicals company. – REUTERSPIX
100 CHINESE RENMINBI N/A N/A N/A Aramco and the Saudi state Public
100 HONGKONG DOLLAR 56.6200 53.8100 53.6100 Investment Fund (PIF) amended the Under a previous agreement, 36% of the managing cash flow, duplicated costs and
payment structure for deal, Aramco said in purchase price – roughly US$25 billion – access to debt markets within the same
100 INDIAN RUPEE 5.7900 5.4300 5.2300
a bourse filing today. would have been paid in cash on completion. group,” Hasnain Malik, head of equity
100 INDONESIAN RUPIAH 0.0320 0.0287 0.0237 Following a seller loan provided by the A source familiar with the deal, asking strategy at Tellimer, said.
100 JAPANESE YEN 4.0530 3.9270 3.9170 PIF, Aramco will pay instalments and loan not to be named, said the extended He said a guaranteed dividend stream
100 NEW TAIWAN DOLLAR N/A N/A N/A charges until 2028, extending a previous payment schedule aimed to enable Aramco would give short-term protection to Aramco
2025 deadline. to pay dividends to the government. and some minority shareholders, but raised
100 PAKISTAN RUPEE 2.6800 2.5000 2.3000
The first US$7 billion payment is due on Some analysts have voiced concerns the the question of whether the share price
100 PHILIPPINE PESO 8.8000 8.2900 8.0900 or before Aug 2, 2020, with the last oil slump would make it difficult for reflected long-term risk to the oil price.
100 QATAR RIYAL 119.5800 113.5200 113.3200 instalment, a loan charge of US$1 billion, Aramco to pay the government this year, The deal will inject billions of dollars
100 SAUDI RIYAL 117.0300 111.1000 110.9000 on or before April 7, 2028. although its first-quarter dividend was in into the PIF that can finance plans to
The transaction was funded through line with a plan for a US$75 billion 2020 diversify the largest Arab economy beyond
100 THAI BAHT 14.5600 12.9200 12.5200
promissory notes issued to the PIF at the payout. oil exports, including tourism projects and
Source: Malayan Banking Berhad/Bernama deal’s close on Tuesday, Aramco said. “The entire Aramco-Sabic deal is about a mega business zone. – Reuters
12 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
SUNBIZ
SCIB’s net profit more than doubles in first quarter
PETALING JAYA: Sarawak Consolidated
Industries Bhd (SCIB) saw its net profit for the
first quarter ended March 31 more than double
to RM4.28 million, from RM1.59 million in the
previous corresponding quarter, derived
mainly from the higher revenue growth in the
construction division.
Revenue increased exponentially to
RM51.78 million, from RM17.43 million, mainly
contributed by increase in project contracts
both overseas and within Malaysia, which
contributed to the construction or engineering,
Foreign investors back as
net buyers of M’sian bonds
oRM1.5 billion inflow in May takes their total holdings to
RM187.3 billion: MARC report
PETALING JAYA: Foreign investors returned
as net buyers of Malaysian bonds in May, in
spite of worsening growth prospects and
rising deflationary risks, according to
Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC).
Net foreign inflows came in at RM1.5
billion for the month, against an outflow of
RM2 billion in April.
“As a result, total foreign holdings rose to
RM187.3 billion, from RM185.8 billion
previously,” said the rating agency in a
statement.
It observed that the yields on Malaysian
Government Securities (MGS) remained
supported in May as Bank Negara Malaysia
(BNM) cut its Overnight Policy Rate for the
third consecutive time.
MARC noted that with growth prospects
worsening and deflation risks rising in the
face of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are high
expectations of further monetary easing.
Lysaght’s Q1 earnings fall 31% on MCO impact
PETALING JAYA: Lysaght Galvanized Steel
Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended
March 31, stood at RM1.62 million, a 31%
decline from RM2.34 million reported in the
same quarter of the previous year attributed
to a decline in revenue from the
implementation of the movement control
order (MCO)
Revenue for the period stood at RM14.72
procurement, construction and commissioning
(EPCC) segment.
On a geographical segmentation review,
Malaysia recorded the largest contribution at
RM20 million, or 38.63%, to the total revenue
for Q1FY20, followed by Qatar at RM17.57
million, or 33.93%. In addition, Oman
contributed RM12.46 million or 24.05% to the
total revenue. The remaining of the total
revenue was contributed by Indonesia at
RM1.75 million, or 3.38%.
Group managing director and CEO Rosland
A trader monitoring
prices on his screens.
MGS saw the largest
foreign inflows in May. –
REUTERSPIX
“Support also came from BNM’s move to
allow banking institutions to recognise MGS
and Government Investment Issues (GII) to
fully meet the statutory reserve requirement
(SRR) compliance,” it said.
As a result, MGS saw the largest foreign
inflows, with the flows largely concentrated in
tenures at the front-end of the yield curve.
At the end of May, foreign holdings of MGS
stood at RM150.5 billion, up 1.3% from April’s
RM148.6 billion, the rating agency said.
It elaborated that the net foreign inflow into
the local bond market in May suggests that
Malaysia continues to remain on investors’
radar, and BNM’s monetary easing thus far
and expectations of further easing down the
road are part of the reason.
In addition, MARC said Malaysia’s external
position remains commendable, thanks to
persistent current account surpluses.
“On top of that, government debt is largely
million, a 12.3% drop from RM16.79 million
reported previously.
According to the group’s Bursa Malaysia
filing, the coming quarters are expected to
remain challenging, given the foreign
exchange volatility and the increased
competition with lower quality products. At
the same time, the group said, its operations
have only resumed progressively since the
Othman said with SCIB’s newly accepted EPCC
contracts with an estimated value of RM864.54
million and order book standing at about
RM1.1 billion, the group is currently on track
with its internal target of RM1.5 billion for 2020.
“Further, we see many opportunities for
SCIB. In Sarawak alone, the state-funded
people-centric projects are awaiting to be rolled
out in coming years, which include the notable
Second Trunk Road, Coastal Road, Project
Rakyat, Water Supply Grid Programme and
more,” he said.
denominated in domestic currency, with that
denominated in foreign currencies making up
only around 3% of the total.,” it said.
Meanwhile, in the primary market for
MGS/GII, the rating agency observed that the
overall demand was weaker even as gross
issuance fell by 32.1%.
It calculated that while the 15-year GII
commanded a respectable bid-to-cover ratio
of 2.2x, the 10-year MGS recorded a lacklustre
1.7x, the lowest thus far this year.
“This was due largely to its large tender size
of RM4.5 billion, one of the largest year-to-
date. In the secondary market, however, there
was investor interest.”
Unlike the case for MGS/GII, it noted that
the gross issuance of long-term corporate
bonds surged 129.0% to RM7.1 billion in May.
MARC explained that big jump was largely
driven by issuances in the financial services
and diversified holdings sectors.
Meanwhile, DanaInfra Nasional Bhd
dominated the financial services sector with
its RM2.8 billion Islamic medium-term notes
(IMTN). In the diversified holdings sector,
Danum Capital Bhd led with its RM2 billion
IMTN.
implementation of the conditional MCO.
It said the disruption of economic activities
has affected supply chains and buying
behaviour with reduced consumer spending
and tightening liquidity across the market.
Under these circumstances, Lysaght said, it
constantly reviews its operations with a view
to increase productivity and enhance
profitability.
Outside Malaysia, Rosland said, the group
sees opportunities in Indonesia, Oman and
Qatar.
“We foresee vast construction opportunities
from the relocation of capital from Jakarta to
Kalimantan in Indonesia, infrastructure
requirements from Qatar for FIFA World Cup
2022, as well as the development of Special
Economic Zone which has attracted
international investment flow into Oman,” he
said.
No compensation for
HSR deferment, it’s
mutual decision: Azmin
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not pay any
compensation to Singapore for the deferment
of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail
(HSR) project as it is a mutual decision, said
Senior Minister cum International Trade and
Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin
Ali.
Azmin, who leads Malaysia’s side in the HSR
discussions with Singapore, said teams from
both countries would meet to further deliberate
on the technical aspects of the project.
“In principle, we’ve agreed that this
particular project is beneficial to both countries,
but we need to sit down and discuss the
technicalities of this project.
“So, we need more time. If we can conclude
the whole exercise within three to four months,
certainly we will meet again,“ he told reporters
after officiating at Miti’s 2019 Excellence Awards
ceremony here yesterday.
On May 31, both governments agreed to
defer the construction of the RM110 billion
bilateral project again until Dec 31, 2020.
The 350km-long railway project has been
suspended since September 2018 and was set
to resume at end-May 2020.
This is the second time the HSR has been
suspended. Malaysia remitted S$15 million to
Singapore to cover the costs of the delayed
project in the first deferment.
“The mandate given to us when we deferred
the project in 2018 until 2020, was to look again
at the costing of the project (such as) new
alignments and new design.
“Alhamdulillah, we’re able to reduced (the
cost) substantially for HSR, but now we have
agreed to continue the project (to resume after
being deferred the first time),“ he said.
Asked whether the government has enough
allocation to pay any additional cost arising
from the second deferment, Azmin said: “ for
that allocation, we need to discuss again.”
“The question of funding for the project will
be discussed because the country’s fiscal ability
now is definitely limited,” he added. - Bernama
Palm ends higher,
tracking rival oils
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures
closed higher yesterday, tracking rival oils as
stockpiling following concerns over the rising
number of new coronavirus infections pushed
prices higher on the Dalian Commodity
Exchange.
The benchmark palm oil contract for
September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Exchange rose 0.17% to RM2,360 a
tonne.
“Today’s strength comes from Dalian, trading
higher on the back of stockpiling with worries
of second wave of infection,“ a trader in Kuala
Lumpur said.
Earlier in the session, the resurgence of
coronavirus cases pulled down trading
sentiment as hopes for rapid economic
recovery wavered.
Rising palm oil production and some profit-
taking during the session capped gains in the
futures contract, traders said.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose
0.43%, and its palm oil contract rose 1.98%.
Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade,
however, shed 0.18%.
Palm oil is affected by price movements in
related oils as they compete for a share in the
global vegetable oils market. - Reuters

Sunsuria inks
healthcare
joint-venture deal
PETALING JAYA: Sunsuria Bhd
yesterday entered into an
agreement with Dr Tan Bo Ren and
Sunsuria’s wholly owned subsidiary
BRS Medicare Ventures Sdn Bhd to
carry out integrated healthcare
businesses on a joint-venture basis.
Under the agreement, Sunsuria
will subscribe for additional 699
shares and Tan will subscribe 300
shares in BRS at the issue price of
RM1 each, where Sunsuria will
hold a 70% stake and Tan the
remaining 30% in BRS.
Sunsuria will fully subscribe for
such shares in BRS based on the
agreed proportions in cash through
internally generated funds.
Sunsuria said the purpose of
the joint venture is to undertake
the integrated health care
businesses in Malaysia that are
similar to, complementary to, or
ancillary to, the foregoing, and
such other businesses as may be
agreed by the shareholders
through BRS.
The board of BRS will comprise
up to four persons, of whom three
will be appointed by Sunsuria,
whereas one will be appointed by
Tan. The chairman of the board
and the managing director will be
elected by the parties.
“The joint venture is part of
Sunsuria’s pursuit to enhance the
value and vibrancy of its projects
and to enable Sunsuria to leverage
on Tan’s credential, experience and
technical know-how in setting,
managing, developing and
operating an integrated health
care centre,“ Sunsuria said.
Barring any unforeseen
circumstances, the subscription of
shares in BRS by Sunsuria and Tan
based on the agreed proportions is
expected to be completed by the
third quarter of FY20 ending Sept
30.
Eversendai issues
step-up free warrants
PETALING JAYA: Eversendai Corp
Bhd is undertaking the proposed
issuance of up to 390.6 million
new free warrants on the basis of
1 warrant for every 2 existing
shares.
The warrants will be issued at
no cost to the entitled
shareholders and the initial three-
year warrant exercise price has
been fixed at 32 sen per warrant.
“From the 3rd anniversary date
up to one market day prior to the
4th anniversary date, the 1st step-
up warrant exercise price has been
fixed at 38 sen per warrant. From
the 4th anniversary date up to the
maturity date of the warrants, 2nd
step-up warrant exercise price has
been fixed at 45 sen per warrant,”
the group said in statement.
Asuming the full exercise of up
to 390.6 million warrants at the
initial exercise price of 32 sen
each, the gross proceeds to be
raised is up to RM124.98 million.
In the event of the full exercise
of up to 390.6 million warrants at
the 2nd step-up exercise price of
45 sen each, the company could
potentially raise a maximum gross
proceeds of RM175.75 million.
The proposed free warrants are
not expected to have an
immediate material effect on the
earnings per share of the
company, as it is not expected to
raise any immediate funds upon
its issuance.
MIDF Amanah Investment
Bank Bhd is the principal adviser
for the proposed issuance.
E&E to take key role in
stabilising M’sian economy
o Sector will remain robust especially
with the rise in remote working, virtual
learning and e-commerce: Association
PETALING JAYA: The electrical and
electronics (E&E) landscape in
Malaysia has been identified as one
of the key sectors that will assume a
The global semiconductor market has shown early signs of resilience to the economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19
pandemic. – REUTERSPIX
MRCB-Quill REIT posts higher Q1 net profit of RM19.8m
PETALING JAYA: MRCB-Quill
REIT (MQREIT) achieved a net
profit of RM19.79 million in the first
quarter ended March 31 (Q1’20),
an increase of 2% from RM19.41
million a year ago, attributable to
higher revenue generated from the
selected properties and lower
finance cost, administration
expenses, trustee’s and manager’s
fee.
Its revenue jumped 1.2% to
RM42.22 million from RM41.72
million in the previous year’s
corresponding quarter.
Correspondingly, MQREIT
recorded a realised earnings per
unit (EPU) and distributable
Duopharma implements four-pronged growth strategy
PETALING JAYA: Duopharma
Biotech Bhd is moving into 2020
with a four-pronged growth strategy
which will see the group embracing
the expansion of consumer
healthcare product portfolios;
diversifying into high-value
biologicals and niche products;
upgrading manufacturing facilities
into world-class assets; and
enhancing its Asean presence.
Group managing director
Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar said the
group is retaining its focus on
strengthening its base while pushing
through to new frontiers.
“The year saw us maintain our
position as the leading
pharmaceutical company in Malaysia
in terms of sales volume and No. 2 in
terms of value. This was aided by
strong performance by our consumer
critical role in structural reforms, as
the economy moves towards the
recovery and regrowth stage, with
the Malaysian government
income per unit of 1.85 sen which is
2% higher than the EPU and
distributable income per unit of
1.81 sen recorded in Q1’19.
MQREIT manager MRCB Quill
Management Sdn Bhd (MQM)
chairman Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon
said the group is committed to
provide support where necessary to
its stakeholders.
It has put in place the necessary
precautionary measures at its
properties to mitigate the risk of
exposure to Covid-19, and will
extend assistance via rental support
to its retail tenants who have been
badly affected by the nationwide
movement control order.
healthcare business, and particularly
that of Flavettes Effervescent (vitamin
C) which has rapidly become the
best-seller in its category of immune
boosting range of products. We also
launched another biosimilar – uhera
for breast cancer, apart from rysaa
which is to treat anaemia.”
Duopharma is also about to
launch Letrozole, a breast-cancer
treatment product, produced at its
highly potent active pharmaceutical
ingredients plant in Glenmarie. It is
also expanding its halal platform.
He added that good progress has
been made in the group’s
manufacturing optimisation strategy
via investments made in new assets,
automation and the adoption of
cutting-edge technologies to
increase operational efficiencies.
On regional expansion, Leonard
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
emphasising digital transformation.
In a statement, SEMI Southeast
Asia said the E&E landscape will
remain robust in the coming months,
supported by the immense
opportunities offered by the
industry, especially with the rise in
remote working, virtual learning and
e-commerce.
SEMI Southeast Asia president Ng
Bee Be said the global semiconductor
market has shown early signs of
MQM CEO Yong Su-Lin said
amid market uncertainties,
MQREIT will remain vigilant on
managing cash flow and exercising
financial discipline to continue
delivering value to its unit holders.
Thus far, MQREIT has been able
to sustain a stable occupancy and
healthy weighted average lease
expiry, which stood at 4.65 years,
with an average occupancy rate of
90.5% as at March 31.
In terms of lease renewal,
MQREIT has 370,000 sq ft (19% of
its total leased net lettable area)
due for renewal in 2020 with the
bulk of these leases due in Q4’20.
93% of the leases due in Q1’20 have
said it is regaining its foothold in
Vietnam and Laos by identifying
potential partners in both markets.
Duopharma Biotech’s Asean
market activities contributed the most
to its international business in 2019,
charting 21% growth, which included
increased performance from the
Brunei and Myanmar markets.
In the wake of the Covid-19
pandemic, Leonard said 2020 will be
more challenging compared to
previous years.
However, given that contract
periods for the supply of
pharmaceutical and/or non-
pharmaceutical products to
hospitals, clinics and others under
the Approved Product Purchase List
has been extended to Dec 31, 2021
and the contract period of the Offtake
Agreement Program for the supply of
13
SUNBIZ
resilience to the economic turmoil
caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part of this strength comes from the
nature of the industry itself, which is
present and plays a role in growing
other vital sectors such as healthcare,
automotive and retail.
During a webinar hosted by SEMI
Southeast Asia, Malaysian
Investment Development Authority
(Mida) CEO Datuk Azman Mahmud
said digitalisation is crucial to
future-proof our businesses.
“Towards this goal, Mida has
taken a proactive step to embrace an
innovative initiative by introducing
Malaysia’s Lighthouse Project, a
concept of modelling companies
that have embraced digital
manufacturing and globalisation 4.0
in their business model and their
entire supply chain.
“We are also hard at work in
assisting existing companies from
various industrial sectors, including
the E&E industry to transform and
emerge as lighthouses,” he said.
Given this positive outlook for the
industry, SEMI Southeast Asia will
be organising a virtual Semicon
Southeast Asia 2020 which will run
from July 20-23, 2020 at Semicon
West 2020.
“Migrating Semicon Southeast Asia
2020 to a virtual platform is part of our
commitment to the health and safety
of our members, exhibitors, guests and
employees. Even during these
unprecedented times, connecting
industry players, especially SMEs,
remains important, as we focus on
staying adaptive and creative to ride
through the fluid landscape,” Ng said.
been renewed and early
negotiations have commenced for
the bulk of the leases due in Q4’20.
“In terms of capital
management, MQREIT continues
to be in a stable financial position
to meet its financial and
operational obligations, with a
gearing ratio of 38.3% as at March
31, MQREIT’s RM335 million
borrowings due on March 30, 2020
was refinanced for another tenure
of five years, thereby increasing its
debt average term to maturity to
3.32 years as at March 31, 2020.
After this refinancing, about 54% of
its total borrowings is on floating
interest rate,” she said.
human insulin formulations has
been extended until Dec 1 2020,
augurs well for the group.
“Additional allocation has been
provided to the Health Ministry as
part of measures to combat the
Covid-19 outbreak. This augurs well
with the group as approximately 50%
of our sales are to public service
sector. In this aspect, we are optimistic
that the healthcare sector will
continue to grow in 2020,” he said.
Finally, as part of its efforts to
boost digitalisation in the healthcare
industry Duopharma Biotech
recently invested more than RM1
million in a local digital therapeutics
pioneer, Naluri Hidup Sdn Bhd, to
provide an online holistic health
management platform which aims
to improve the health of people with
risks of chronic conditions.
14 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
SUNBIZ

HSBC revives plan to cut 35,000 jobs

LONDON: HSBC is resuming a
redundancy plan it put on ice after
the coronavirus outbreak, and will
cut around 35,000 jobs over the
medium term, a memo seen by
Reuters yesterday showed.
The bank will also maintain a
freeze on almost all external
recruitment, CEO Noel Quinn said
in the memo, which was sent to
HSBC’s 235,000 staff worldwide.
“We could not pause the job
losses indefinitely – it was always a
question of ‘not if, but when’,”
Quinn said, adding that the
oBank will maintain freeze on almost all external
recruitment in face of Covid-19 pandemic
measures first announced by HSBC
in February were “even more
necessary today”.
A bank spokesman confirmed
the contents of the memo.
HSBC had postponed the job
cuts, part of a wider restructuring to
cut US$4.5 billion (RM19 billion) in
costs, in March saying the
extraordinary circumstances of the
coronavirus pandemic meant it
would be wrong to push staff out.
Quinn said it now has to resume
the programme as profits fall and
economic forecasts point to a
challenging time ahead, adding
that he had asked senior executives
to look at ways to cut more costs in
the second half of the year.
The bulk of the job losses are
likely to fall in back office roles in
HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets
division, which houses its
investment banking and trading
businesses, a senior HSBC executive
familiar with the plans said.
HSBC sees natural attrition of up
to 25,000 roles each year but
redeploying all affected staff to
those roles was unrealistic, the
executive said.
Shares in HSBC have fallen 27%
since the start of March, with the
pandemic prompting it to set aside
US$3 billion in bad loan provisions
in its first quarter earnings.
Under the initial plan, HSBC
said it would merge its private
banking and wealth business, pare
back its European equity business
and reduce its US retail network.
Shares in Europe’s biggest bank,
which has come under fire from
lawmakers on both sides of the
Atlantic for its support for a new
security law in Hong Kong, rose by
0.5% in London yesterday. –
Reuters

Oil weakens on fears of new Covid-19 wave
LONDON: Oil fell yesterday on fears
that Covid-19 cases could rise, but
prices drew some support from
stimulus measures and hopes for
positive tests of a drug that could
save some critically ill patients.
Brent crude was down 21 cents,
or 0.5%, at US$40.75 (RM174.41) a
barrel at 0930 GMT. US West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) fell 31 cents, or
0.8%, to US$38.07 (RM162.94) a
barrel.
Oil prices were influenced by
opposing forces at the moment, said
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
“Positive risk sentiment as
gauged by rising equity markets
driven by aggressive monetary and
Australia, Britain
fiscal stimulus measures which
keeps supporting oil prices as well,
on the other hand a potential second
wave of infections weighing on oil
demand,” he added.
The administration of US
President Donald Trump was
reportedly preparing an up-to US$1
trillion infrastructure package to
support the economy.
To contain the spread of the virus,
Beijing ramped up efforts to contain
the outbreak and scores of flights to
and from the Chinese capital were
cancelled and schools shut.
However, markets found some
relief in World Health Organisation’s
decision to update its guidelines
after results showed the
corticosteroid medication
dexamethasone cut death rates by
around a third among the most
severely ill Covid-19 patients.
“We think the oil market is not
currently pricing in a significant
probability of either second waves of
coronavirus cases in key consumers
and the associated lockdowns, or
anything less than a rapid return to
economic business-as-usual,”
Standard Chartered analysts said,
pointing to a downside risk for prices
in the medium term.
Escalating tensions in the Korean
Peninsula also supported prices after
North Korea rejected South Korea's
BRIEFS
offer to send special envoys, and
vowed to send back troops to
demilitarised border units.
Weak economic activity still
weighed on demand. Oil imports in
Japan – the world’s fourth-biggest
crude buyer – slumped in May to
the lowest level in almost three
decades.
Business sentiment of Asian
companies also sank to an 11-year
low in the second quarter, a
Thomson Reuters/Insead survey
found, with some two-thirds of the
companies polled flagged a
worsening Covid-19 pandemic as
the biggest risk over the next six
months. – Reuters
INFIGEN PICKS A$828M
OFFER FROM IBERDROLA
BENGALURU: Spain’s Iberdrola
has made an agreed A$828
million (RM2.4 billion) bid for
Australian wind and solar firm
Infigen Energy, topping an offer
from Philippine conglomerate
Ayala Corp. Iberdrola is already
building a 320-megawatt
renewable energy project in
South Australia. Infigen accepted
Iberdrola’s offer and urged
shareholders to reject an earlier
bid from UAC Energy, a joint
venture of Ayala’s AC Energy and
Hong Kong-based UPC
Renewables Group, as the
Spanish bid was 7.5% higher with
fewer conditions. Infigen said its
top shareholder, British activist
investor TCI Fund Management,
has agreed to sell 20% of Infigen
securities, most of its holding, to
Iberdrola, if no higher bid
emerges. – Reuters

launch formal S’PORE EXPORTS FALL AFTER

free trade talks
SYDNEY: Britain and Australia
formally opened talks on a post-
Brexit free trade agreement
yesterday, Canberra’s top trade
official said, voicing hope a deal
could be reached this year.
“Later on, Australia and the
United Kingdom will formally
commence free-trade negotiations,“
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham
said, in a speech highlighting
Australia’s drive to diversify trade as
it is locked in disputes with China.
Britain’s conservative
government has heralded its
departure from the European
Uunion as an opportunity to deepen
trade relations with global partners.
While talks have already taken
place, formal negotiations had been
delayed until Britain left the bloc in
January.
Birmingham warned that even
with an Australia-Britain deal,
volumes were unlikely to return to
those seen in the 1970s – before Britain
joined the European Economic
Community and when its trade was
last focused on its former colonies.
“Australia will be looking to secure
better market access for goods
exports, especially in agriculture, and
high-standard rules on digital trade
and investment,” he said.
Talks on an Australia-EU trade
deal are already underway, and
Birmingham said Canberra would
also like to conclude them this year.
But he admitted that would be a
tough task with negotiations on
several trade agreements taking
place simultaneously.
He refused to say whether a deal
with the European Union or Britain
would be prioritised.
“The EU is a much bigger market,
and notwithstanding Brexit it
remains a much bigger market. But
that does not mean the UK is not a
significant market,” he said. – AFP
Weak global appetite for cars and slowing business spending putting a dent on Japan’s export-led economy.
– REUTERSPIX
Japan’s exports fall most since 2009 as US demand slumps
TOKYO: Japan’s exports fell in May
at the fastest pace since the 2009
global financial crisis as US-bound
car shipments plunged, bolstering
expectations for a deeper
contraction in the world’s third-
largest economy this quarter.
Weak global appetite for cars
and slowing business spending
could drag on Japan’s export-led
economy, as China-bound trade
remains weak, dashing hopes
mainland demand could offset the
weakness seen in other major
trading partners.
Official data out yesterday
showed Japan’s exports fell 28.3% in
the year to May, the largest slump
since September 2009. The result
was worse than a 26.1% decrease
expected in a Reuters poll and
extended double-digit declines for a
third straight month.
US-bound exports – Japan’s key
market – halved to mark the biggest
annual drop since March 2009, due
to more than 70% declines in
shipments of cars and car parts.
Japan is the world’s second-largest
exporter of autos.
“As Europe and America started
to re-open, exports may have hit the
bottom in May,” said Takeshi
Minami, chief economist at
Norinchukin Research Institute.
“That said, as new cases of
infections have risen in Beijing, it’s
hard to expect a steady recovery. If
such a situation drags on, it will deal
a body blow to small firms, raising
the risk of rising bankruptcies and
jobless in the latter half of the fiscal
year.”
US-bound exports fell to ¥588
billion (RM23 billion), the lowest
since February 2009, shrinking
Japan’s trade surplus with the
United States to ¥10 billion, the
smallest since records began in
January 1979.
The plunge in US-bound auto
exports weighed on Japan’s
automaker stocks with Mazda
Motor, Hino Motors and Isuzu
Motors all losing more than 4%.
While recent indicators suggest
the US economy is emerging from
the depths of its coronavirus slump,
businesses are still dealing with the
effects of travel and social
distancing restrictions.
Globally, automakers are
struggling to recover from heavy
lockdowns in many countries that
pummelled demand for cars.
Nissan Motor Co has announced
plans to slash production capacity
and its model range by about a fifth
to help cut costs, following a slide in
sales.
Exports to China, Japan’s largest
trading partner, fell 1.9% in the year
to May, due to declines in chemical
raw materials, cars and chip-
making equipment. It followed the
prior month’s 4% annual decline.
Shipments to Asia, which
account for more than half of
Japanese exports, declined 12%,
and exports to the European Union
also fell 33.8%. – Reuters
THREE MONTHS OF GROWTH
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s on-year
non-oil domestic exports
(NODX) growth fell in May,
official data showed yesterday,
breaking three months of
pharmaceutical-led gains which
had defied broader weakness in
the bellwether economy.
Exports fell 4.5% in May year-on-
year, data from the trade agency
Enterprise Singapore showed,
slowing sharply from the 9.7%
rise the month before. This was
worse than the 0.1% decline
predicted by economists in a
Reuters poll. On a seasonally
adjusted month-on-month
basis, exports also contracted
4.5% in May after declining a
revised 5.1% in April. Economists
had forecast an 8.5%
contraction. – Reuters
THAILAND APPROVES
41.8B BAHT PROJECTS
BANGKOK: Thailand has approved
five investment project
applications worth about 41.8
billion baht (RM5.74 billion), the
state investment agency said
yesterday. The pledges include a
24.1 billion baht plan for
electricity production by Thai Oil,
and a 5.5 billion baht project to
produce 30,000 electric battery-
powered vehicles a year by
Sammitr Group, the Board of
Investment said in a statement. –
Reuters
CHINA TO ISSUE 10B YUAN
OF SIX-MONTH BILLS IN HK
SHANGHAI: China’s central bank
said yesterday it will issue 10
billion yuan (RM6 billion) worth of
six-month yuan-denominated
bills in Hong Kong on June 23. The
auction in Hong Kong is aimed at
improving the yuan yield curve in
the financial hub, the People’s
Bank of China said in a statement
on its website. – Reuters

Kuan has been in the media industry for almost a decade.
Living in the moment
oChallenges give Joel Kuan a
reason to wake up every day
█ BY LEENA ZUKI
J
OEL KUAN is an emcee with a
background in Digital Media
Development. Staying at home
has been really boring for him,
but he occupies his time by creating
content. During our phone interview,
he shared that he was in the midst of
editing a video meant to encourage
people to stay at home during the
Covid-19 pandemic. The 27-year-old
has been paving a path in the
emceeing industry for around a
decade, once he discovered that he
was good at the job.
“I stumbled upon my career when
I was around 16 to 17 years old. I was
in church and they wanted to host
some event there. Then, they were
asking around to get an emcee to
conduct that particular event. One
aunty encouraged me to emcee the
event and I did it. I was
complimented for the good job I did.
“After that, I found out more about
emceeing before going to college.
Then I continued to build my profile.
When I finished college, I applied for
a job at Hitz.fm which lasted for
about six months, from there I
learned more about the media
industry and emceeing.”
Kuan not only finds happiness
through his emceeing career, but also
through his love for flying planes. He
recently obtained his piloting licence.
“It’s been my childhood dream to
fly a plane, actually. Since I am not
that old yet, I thought of chasing my
dreams.
“However, it is highly unlikely I
would use the piloting licence for
career purposes as I am in the media
industry, and I have been in this
industry for almost 10 years. I would
not want to throw away this part of
my life and rebuild something from
the ground up again.
“Therefore, I would fly the plane
for leisure purposes just to fulfil my
childhood dream, and to tick it off my
bucket list.”
15
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
ENTERTAINMENT
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOEL KUAN
As for obtaining
the piloting
licence, it was a
challenging
journey, but that
did not stop
him.
“It is very,
very difficult, as
there were a lot
of technical
aspects that I
had to study,
long flying hours,
and the fact that
the best time to fly
is really early in the
morning. So, during
my training, I had to
get up very early.”
Kuan also shared how
he cultivated the
confidence to emcee in front
of large crowds.
“When I was in primary school, I
was exposed to the stage already, for
instance, through story-telling and Kuan has had his fair share of struggles
other competitions. I used to have as an emcee.
stage fright where my hands and legs
would shake when I was on stage. My competition Call Me Handsome, and
parents advised me to look straight at won the title. After that, opportunities
the back, and to not make eye contact came pouring in for me.”
with the audience. For Kuan, the emceeing industry
“Then, as time went by, I found comes with its own fair share of
that looking at people’s forehead struggles that he must deal with.
would not scare me as much as “In the emceeing industry, people
looking into their eyes. At one point, I say that we make a lot of money [or
was thinking to myself that I should that] the working hours are short –
try looking into people’s eyes, and I yes, that is a fact – but they do not take
began to build my confidence from into account the competition that
there.” emcees have to deal with. low on our price.” services, I have no idea what to eat.”
Before emceeing became a full- “You have other emcees throwing At the moment, Kuan does not Kuan shares a single philosophy
time job for him, he helped out with prices, giving more benefits, and have any intention to expand his that encourages him to pursue paths
the family business, a travel agency. some even do it for free. Then career in other countries, as Malaysia that keep him on his toes.
“Three years into the business, I potential clients come and tell me: will always have a special place in his “Everyone should challenge
told myself that I’d had enough, as it ‘Hey Joel, I received this price from heart. themselves to come out from their
was not my cup of tea. My dad was another emcee and they are able to “Malaysia offers the best. In terms comfort zone, and see what they can
not around anymore, and I told my do half your rate.’ of weather, you can just put on a do. You only live once. If you do not
mum that I didn’t see the purpose of “We want to maintain our profile t-shirt, shorts, and slippers and you do it now, when you are older and
me doing this. and we can’t always drop our rate, but are good to go. We are spoilt with you are no longer physically capable,
“Then, I took a leap of faith and then we have to consider our survival choices of food, too. Even during the that is when you will have the time,
focused one hundred percent on my as well. So, we have to give and take movement control order when I but you will not be able to do the
emceeing career. Then, I joined the with clients, of course not going too wanted to get food from delivery things that you want to do.”
16 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
ENTERTAINMENT

Singing his own tune

o Roshan Jamrock of K Town Clan talks about believing Roshan Jamrock of
in oneself, especially when it comes to music K-Town Clan has
been busy with his
own ventures.
█ BY S. INDRA SATHIABALAN sound as well.”

J
UST before our interview with Roshan
Jamrock (real name Roshan Nair), he and
his K-Town Clan buddies Big Bo and Dra-
Vid had just finished a recording session.
Roshan runs a studio with another partner and
when the movement control order (MCO) was
announced, all the band’s activities were put on
hold.
When asked about the recording, he said:
“This is for a single. This is the direction we are
taking. We will be focusing more on singles, and
not so much on albums.
“I recently launched my solo album,
ROCSTEADY. I took the full digital approach.
What makes my album different is that not all
my songs have been released on streaming
platforms. So when you buy my album
(available on the band’s website), you will get
songs that [have never been] released
elsewhere. It has been selling well.”
He noted that due to the times, the band has
had to release all its work digitally, and also saw
a lot of shows cancelled.
“We have had three shows cancelled and
done jobs in the side. It is a bit tough on the live
performance side, but we have still been doing
things from home. We have been streaming
concerts, but nothing beats live shows.”
Malaysia has had a rap and hip hop scene for
many years, but artistes are still considered a
part of the independent music industry. When
international recording label Def Jam
Recordings set up a Southeast Asian branch late
last year, it was a testament to the thriving hip
hop scene in this part of the world.
Roshan said: “I think many people are [now]
looking at Asia.”
The name K-Town Clan was derived from
the fact that all three members hail from Kajang,
and from their love for Ninja comics, which
featured different clans.
“We kept it as ‘Kajang Town Clan’, which
means everyone from Kajang can be a member
of this clan.”
The band has released two albums to date,
Playground (2011) and Crunk Cowboys and the
Moon $hine Music (2018).
Though their music is ‘hip hop crunk’, K-
Town Clan has their own unique vibe, making
them sound different from other hip hop bands.
“[On] the production side, we like to add
some Indian sounds in our music. Otherwise
everything will sound the same.”
As a solo artiste, Roshan likes a wide variety
of musical genres.
“K-Town has been doing this for 15 years
now. We have our own sound, audience and
target market. K-Town does ‘party music’, crazy,
loud and very suited for parties. To be very
blunt, if you are drinking, that is the kind of
music you want to listen to.
“When I sing solo, I could suddenly pick up a
guitar and sing a love song and do the party
Roshan admitted that he spent too much
time in his younger days trying to fit into a
mould and to be accepted.
“I believe you should be yourself, do what
you want. If you want to do a love song, do a love
song. Don’t worry about people putting a label
on you. As a solo artiste I can produce, and pull
off a lot of different things.”
Roshan has been featured on the soundtrack
of the hit 2016 Indian movie Kabali, as well as
on the soundtracks of other Indian Tamil-
language films such as Kaala (2018) and
Bairavaa (2017).
“It was cutting edge for me, especially. I
don’t speak proper Tamil. As with people
pursuing something, you have goals and
dreams. I never had any intention to tap into
the Indian market but all of a sudden I was
in the studio recording a Rajnikanth song.
“It led to two different movies, singing
four different songs. Why I feel it is
amazing is that it shows that life can take
a different turn. You never expect it to
happen.
“I am the last person you would
think would do a song for
Rajnikanth. For a guy who could
barely speak Tamil, I hit the jackpot
with the King. I embrace it and am
grateful for this opportunity.
Sometimes things like this make
you wonder.”
He feels when things like
this happens, it gives younger
artistes the hope that it could
also happen to them. “All I have to
do is put in the work and it could happen
to me. We never know what could bloom
out of our perseverance.”
(from left) Dra-vid, Big Bo and
Roshan Jamrock of K-Town Clan
broke new ground with their music.
– COURTESY OF K-TOWN CLAN

BTS announce Japanese version of album, with two original songs

AFTER topping the charts with
their latest Korean album Map of
the Soul: 7, mega boyband BTS –
comprising members Jin, Suga, J-
Hope, Rm, Jimin, V and Jungkook –
have announced their first full-
length album in Japanese in over
two years, Map of the Soul: 7 - The
Journey.
This album will feature
Japanese versions of songs from
the septet’s Korean album, Map of
the Soul: 7, which sold an
astonishing 4.17 million units
since its release in February this
year.
Among them are hit songs like
ON, Black Swan, Make It Right,
Dionysus and Boy with Luv, whose
accompanying video featuring
American singer Halsey notably
smashed YouTube’s record for
South Korean boyband BTS will be releasing its first Japanese album in two years. most views in 24 hours at the time
of its release.
The much-anticipated Map of
the Soul: 7 - The Journey will also
include two new original Japanese
songs, respectively entitled Your
Eyes Tell and Stay Gold.
According to an announcement
on the website of BTS’s official
Japanese fan club, Stay Gold will be
revealed to the public on June 19.
The upcoming single is set to
appear on the soundtrack of
upcoming Japanese crime TV
series The Spiral Labyrinth-DNA
Science Investigation, whose April
2020 premiere was put on hold due
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Map of the Soul: 7 - The Journey
will be available on digital
platforms on July 14, and physical
editions of the album will be
available as soon as Aug 7 in the
United States.– AFP-Relaxnews
 17
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020

LIFESTYLE

From passion to plate

█ BY AZIZUL RAHMAN ISMAIL

T
HEVI KULENDRAN initially
started her social media
presence – focusing on her
culinary creations – out of
her own personal interest. “Then
friends wanted to learn these recipes.
So it became a recipe-sharing
platform,” she said during a recent
interview with theSun.
And now, if you visit
@theviskitchen on Instagram or
Facebook, you can see that it has
become so much more.
“I started cooking when I was
about 17. But back then, it was more
of just a chore. My sisters and I would
take turns to cook,” said the 41-year-
old stay-at-home mother.
“Then when I got married and
had kids, I started to cook more
again. I wanted the kids to have
nutritious meals. I started
experimenting a lot. More like a self-
taught cook and baker, thanks to all
the online tutorials and YouTube
videos.
“Of course [I had] cookbooks too,
but to learn how to bake, you need to
look at tutorials. I used to watch a lot
of programmes on the Asian Food
Channel and Food Network,”
added Thevi.
During the movement
control order (MCO) Thevi
spent a lot of time with her
two children, 12-year-old
Aiden and nine-year-old
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THEVI KULENDRAN
oThe mother of two turned what was once a chore
to her into a eye-catching social media presence
Rheanna, who share their mother’s
passion for cooking.
The MCO also enabled Thevi’s
husband Stuart Ramalingam, also
the general secretary of the Football
Association of Malaysia, to spend
more time at home and join in.
“I love cooking all types of
cuisines. While I love cooking curries
and other Malaysian recipes, I also
try to find shortcuts to make them
quick, yet still maintain the
‘yumminess’ of the dishes.
“Hopefully these recipes can help
those who want to cook, but don’t
really want to spend long hours with
preparation. With some tips and
tools on how to make cooking fun
and quick in the kitchen, you can
save time to do other things
with friends and family,”
said Thevi.
Her inspiration
comes from many
sources. Some of it
comes from lessons
taught to her by her

grandmother, and some from British (clockwise from

culinary legend Nigella Lawson, just top) Harissa-spiced
to name a few. tofu, purple sweet
“Recipes are like guides. You can potato hummus,
give five people the same recipe but figs and kale; slow
each dish may come out differently. roast lamb shank
It’s how the individual would on creamy mashed
interpret it according to his or her potatoes; and oven
preference and experience. roasted ayam
“Cooking for the first time would percik with nasi
make you want to follow the bunga telang and
recipe exactly. Then when you tempeh chips.
cook it the second time,

(left) Thevi with her

children Aiden and
Rheanna.

you’ll want to change it to suit the also taking pictures of my food. So

way you want it to be. So you get
creative, you get a little braver to add
on ingredients, try a different
technique, and so on,” said Thevi.
If you have visited Thevis Kitchen
on Instagram or Facebook, you know
that her skills are beyond just making
food easy to prepare, and delicious.
Thevi has also mastered the art of
making food look good.
“One of the things I really enjoy is
plating food and food photography
keeps me interested to come up with
exciting dishes,” said Thevi, who
takes her photos using her
smartphone camera.
She said that she honed her
photography skills from years of
practice, looking at what works, what
doesn’t, and getting inspiration from
other like-minded foodies on social
media.

Upgrade your spaghetti with carmelised lemon, spicy fennel

HOW many times have you had a
pasta dish that was swimming in
heavy cream or too much cheese?
Pasta doesn’t have to weigh you
down, as this recipe shows: With
fresh herbs, carmelised lemon
wedges and spicy fennel, it
captures all the high notes of
Italian cuisine.
Ingredients (makes 3-4 servings)
250 grams spaghetti, 2 fennel
bulbs, 3 garlic cloves, 3 spring
onions, about 10 cherry tomatoes,
2 lemons, about 10 stalks of lemon
thyme, a large bundle of flat
parsley, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon fennel
seeds, 1 teaspoon sugar, olive oil,
salt and pepper
Preparation:
1. Cook the spaghetti until it’s al
dente, reserving a glass of pasta
water for later.
2. Remove the fennel bulbs’ thick
stalk, then cut bulbs into thin
strips. Mince garlic. Remove the
green parts and root of the spring
onions, and chop the remaining
white portion into thin rings. Cut
tomatoes into quarters.
3. Zest one of the lemons and
express all its juice. Cut the other
lemon in half. Cut one half into
thin wedges, juice the other half.
Mix the fresh lemon juice with
sugar.
4. Coarsely grind fennel seeds with
a mortar and pestle. Pluck the
leaves of the lemon thyme.
Coarsely chop the parsley.
5. In a large pan, heat 2
tablespoons of olive oil. Add the
lemon wedges and saute until
golden brown. Remove the wedges
and set aside.
6. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive
oil and add the fennel strips. Cook
at medium heat until they’ve
softened and taken on some
colour. Add the garlic and half the
spring onions, and continue to
cook.
7. Pour in lemon juice. Season
with lemon zest, fennel seeds,
lemon thyme, salt and pepper.
Add half a glass of the reserved
pasta water and allow some of it to
cook off some.
8. Add spaghetti, tomatoes, lemon
wedges, parsley and the rest of the
green onion, and mix well. Cook at
medium heat, until the tomatoes
become soft and have slightly
broken down. Serve immediately.
– dpa Spicy fennel and caramelised lemons make this pasta dish something special.
18 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
LIFESTYLE
Perret has been
called the best
pastry chef on
the planet.
Reopened Brussels bars ‘invaded’ by thirsty beer drinkers
AS some Brussels cafes reopened
after almost three months of
lockdown, thirsty Belgian drinkers
were more than ready.
But at L’Union, a beloved
neighbourhood bar in the St Gilles
district of the capital they had to bide
their time a little longer – and give
each other a little space.
At 9:30am the first man who
orders a draught is disappointed. “No
beer yet. Not before 11am.” He opts
for a green tea and counts down the
minutes.
The cafe, which like many in this
city owes 60% of its turnover to beer,
and is gearing up to return to
business, and make up for lost time.
As the record-breaking sunshine
of the coronavirus lockdown gives
way to the more typical chilly drizzle
and slate skies of spring, 50 people
have turned up.
Couples, old friends, the elderly,
and teleworkers with laptops have
stormed L’Union for coffee and
biscuits even before the house beer
starts to flow.
“I was a bit worried beforehand,”
admits 58-year-old Bart Lemmens,
who has run the quirky bar with its
mismatched chairs and metal-
topped bar.
“We’re not a gastronomic place.
We work to create a convivial
atmosphere. I was afraid we’d lose
that.”
Things are not as they were before,
Gimme s’more
oHow a French chef cracked America’s sweet tooth
I
T sounds like a kind of
cruel joke. Taking the
world’s best pastry chef,
who usually cooks for the
creme de la creme at the Ritz in
Paris, and seeing if he could satisfy
the sweet tooth of hardscrabble
Americans who eat from fast food
trucks.
But despite his almost non-
existant English, and his equally
rudimentary understanding of
the down home American
palate, Francois Perret was
game for the experiment,
which was shot for the new
Netflix series, Chef in a Truck.
So much so, that the man
who was pronounced the best
restaurant pastry chef on the
planet last year by the august
World’s Great Tables even
created two US-inspired
desserts for the Ritz.
For two weeks, Perret
travelled around
California trying out
local treats and
traybakes and then
tried to come up
with ways to
refine them
and still
please
t h e
average
however. Staff numbers have been
cut, and the tables have been pushed
further apart to create a safer
distance.
Kissing dangerously
Lemmens had been worried about
ensuring that social distancing
guidelines are respected, but his loyal
customer base has been well
behaved.
Most of them. “Hi there, chief! Do
I get a kiss?” demands one early
arrival. They pause, they smile, then a
quick peck on the cheek, Belgian-
style: “Let’s live dangerously”.
In the shopping district of
Etterbeek, in the “Petit Paris” cafe the
landlord is too busy with relieved
clients to speak.
“I missed the social side of life,”
says 66-year-old Jacques. He has
come from the Flemish suburbs of
the city and is glad that, with the bars
open again, there’ll be somewhere
where he can answer a call of nature
while waiting for news.
Away from the ordinary working
districts of the city, things are less
busy.
Signs posted on the bar Ixelles, has dropped table service in
immediately across from the favour of becoming a high-end deli.
European Union’s Berlaymont Things were slow to get started in
headquarters that serves journalists the tourist heart of the old city, too,
and diplomats say it will not reopen where the famous bars in the old
until June 15. guild building around the Grand
And the swanky Le Voltaire in the Place have extended their terraces
leafy residential streets of southern further into the square.
American.
The 39-year-old Frenchman told AFP
that he loves watching people eat his
creations because their expressions “do
not lie” – a chance he rarely gets at the
Ritz.
“It was great to take part in an
adventure like this, to be in direct contact
with the people who are eating your food,”
he said.
Culture shock
Even so, the culture shock between the
sophisticated palates of the jetset, the
pressed linen tableclothes and scurrying
waiters of the Ritz and the lunchtime truck
stops of workaday Los Angeles could not
be more stark.
Technically too it was also a challenge
for a chef used to the best equipped
kitchens in the world, with his brigade of
30 highly-trained cooks, to be reduced to
cooking in a truck with only two helpers.
But the pay-off for being forced out of
his “comfort zone” was worth it for Perret,
whose new creations normally have to be
tasted and signed off by the Ritz’s strict
kitchen hierarchy.
“There was no service, you had to do
everything yourself,” he said.
“You are there in front of your
customers and you see their reactions.
“When someone eats (in front of you),
they cannot lie. You see straight away from
their face whether it works and they like it
or not,” he said.
While Perret occasionally goes out into
the dining room to present his desserts at
the Ritz, usually he has to peep
o u t matter how it is used. It has more power of
Belgians have been eager to have their favourite beers.
Tax breaks
Even if the Belgian taste for beer
appears undimmed, the epidemic
will leave its scars. Prime Minister
Sophie Wilmes had announced that
state measures to support furloughed
workers and help the hospitality
sector would continue until the end
through the kitchen door or ask waiters for
feedback.
However, his big challenge in the land
of sugar and syrup-drenched cookies and
cakes was to make goodies that were
nowhere near as sweet but just as
moreish.
To do that, Perret latched onto the
American habit of eating savoury dishes
with sweet ketchups and sauces, coming
up with pear and honey tacos.
‘Sugar unites’
Perret also took that American picnic and
camping institution, the s’more – fire-
roasted marshmallows sandwiched
between biscuits with chocolate – and
gave them a haute cuisine twist.
“The base of my s’mores is puff pastry,
and there is nothing more French than
that. Stuffed with chocolate ice cream, we
then dipped them in molten
marshmallow.
“It is a pastry which looks very
American but the conception is very
French,” he added.
Perret scorched every one with a
blowtorch as a little nod to the camp fire
and the treat’s scouting heritage.
A version of the s’mores he created, as
well as the tacos – this time made with
apricots, which are now in season in
France – are on sale in the Ritz’s very own
patisserie.
Despite the gulf in gastronomic
cultures between France and the US, “we
are not all that different from each other,”
Perret insisted.
Sugar “unites people”, he said, “no
seduction” than any other ingredient in
the gastronomic arsenal.
From the moment that we start to eat
solids as very young children, “we start
mythologising patisserie”, Perret argued.
“We punish kids by threatening to take
away their dessert, not their meatloaf,” he
added, with a wink to another very
American dish which is actually based on
a French classic. – AFP-Relaxnews
of the year.
Citizens will get a rail pass allowing
them 10 trips inside the country to
support tourism, while employers
will be urged to hand out “catering
checks” to encourage employees to
head to the bars and buy a few
rounds. – AFP-Relaxnews

The erhu master
Next Gen
o Sim Er Wen bridges both Western and Eastern
music using traditional and modern instruments to
create his own sound
█ BY S. TAMARAI CHELVI
C
HINESE traditional music and
art has always played a part in
24-year-old Sim Er Wen’s life,
thanks to his father, a traditional
Chinese music instructor.
Starting with the guzheng at age 10,
and later the erhu (Chinese fiddle), Sim
has mastered both Western and
Eastern music instruments. Today, he
plays pop music using the erhu, and
loves to explore traditional music
instruments of various ethnicities.
“I always do something more
challenging, which is not in my
comfort zone. When I am in my
comfort zone, I feel that I am not
growing. I feel I am left behind, just
like a boat that is not moving
forward in the water,” said Sim.
The gifted Sim also won the first
prize in the 2018 Vision Petron
National Student Art Competition for
his composition Melodi Malaysia, by
including traditional musical
instruments from different races in
Malaysia, such as the tabla (Indian),
gamelan (Malay) and erhu (Chinese).
“The important part of the win is the
recognition. It was a personal
achievement for me,” said Sim, with a
sense of pride. As a young music
instructor, Sim has taught students from
all walks of life, from children to the
elderly. He hopes one day to become a
renowned music composer.
When did you start playing the erhu?
“I started to play music when I was in
Sim hopes to Standard Four. When I was young, I
become a started to play the guzheng first, and
successful later, when I was in Form Three I found
composer that the erhu was more suitable for me.
someday. “I like the sound that comes out of the
– AMIRUL
SYAFIQ/
THESUN
\TRIVIA
Favourite composer: “Hans Zimmer.”
A music piece you are learning at the moment:
“Galloping Warhorse by Chen Jun.”
Favourite musician: “Chen Jun.”
Hobby: “Photography.”
Art subject: “Horse, in Chinese brush painting.”
erhu, it sounds very ‘emotional’.
“For me, the sound of the erhu is
different from any other musical
instrument, as it has richer harmonic
tones, similar to the human voice,
compared to other (string) instruments
such as the violin and cello, which have a
more ‘woody’ tone.”
What other musical instruments do
you play?
“I have learned both Chinese traditional
and Western musical instruments. I can
play seven instruments – erhu, guitar,
violin, guzheng, piano, ukulele and
percussion. I love to play musical
instruments which belong to the string
family, such as the erhu and violin.
“In order to have a better
understanding of music improvisation,
and to collaborate with other
instrumentalists, I decided to further my
studies in music theory, which provides
insight [into the art], and I discovered
that all things in music are connected
and make up one ‘big picture’, and that
opened up [my imagination], which
[helped] me to be free musically.
“Then, I applied that music theory
knowledge to learn other Western music
instruments such as the violin, guitar,
piano, ukulele and others. Through the
exploration of different musical
instruments, I found that woodwind
instruments such as the flute were more
challenging for me. I am more [suited for]
string instruments.”
Who inspired you to learn music?
“My parents were a big influence on me.
My father plays the erhu and cello, and
he is a Chinese orchestra instructor who
also teaches Chinese brush painting,
while my mother teaches Chinese
calligraphy. My whole family plays
traditional music. We do everything
together.
“The first time I performed on a stage
was in a shopping mall, during a
19
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
YOUTH
calligraphy art competition. While the
judges were deciding on the winners, my
parents asked for permission to play
music. Then, we occupied the stage. We
did our first performance as a family.
“Each one of my family members
plays a musical instrument. We are an
orchestra on our own.”
Do you feel the younger generation
should learn traditional music?
“Nowadays, the younger generation is
more into Western musical instruments
such as the piano, guitar, violin and
others.
“I am trying to influence the younger
generation to get more interested in
traditional music instruments. I have a
series of YouTube videos under the
channel name ErWenStudio, whereby I
play a lot of pop music with the erhu.”
What are your future plans or projects?
“In the future, I want to be a music
composer and a singer.
“I established my own independent
production house in 2016, called Yi Dian
Production House Sdn Bhd. I am
planning to produce MMO, or minus one
music, background music for films,
advertisements and social media, as well
as composing music for other artistes.
“I also produce and shoot videos, edit
music videos, background music and
sound effects. At my current job as a
junior producer, I do work as an editor,
sound designing and composing or
scoring music.
“I am more into composing music for
artistes. Knowledge of music has given
me an opportunity to help other artistes,
but I want to be the guy who is standing
in front of people and performing.
Composing music for others is the first
step. I hope to step into my space
someday.
“I want to be a singer, who can
compose both Western and Chinese
music.”
20 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
FEATURE

Even light exercise

lowers the risk of
heart disease
NEW research from the United States
has suggested that even a small
amount of exercise could be effective in
lowering the risk of cardiovascular
disease for those who are obese or
overweight.
Footgolf is a Carried out by researchers at the
relaxing, non- Ohio State University, the new study
strenuous sport looked at data gathered from 22,476
that can be participants aged 30 to 64 years with

Two-in-one sport
played socially no history of cardiovascular disease
and (CVD) at the start of the study.
competitively. The participants’ self-reports on their
physical activity levels were used to
place them into one of three categories:
those who did no exercise at all, those
BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR exercising for one to 149 minutes per
o FootGolf Malaysia’s Jeff Cottam speaks about the sport
█

S
week, or exercising for more than 150
INCE the commencement of the minutes per week.
recovery movement control order They were also categorised
(RMCO) on June 10, most according to their body mass index
industries have reopened. But (BMI), with around a third of the
some remain closed, such as the participants classified as being
entertainment industry and certain “overweight” (with a body mass index
contact sports. of 25 to 29.9), and a little more than a
According to FootGolf Malaysia third classified as being “obese” (with a
(FGM) general manager Jeff Cottam, BMI of more than 30).
football players are now turning towards The rest of the participants were
the previously unknown sport called classified in the “normal” range.
footgolf. The findings, published in the
“There is [currently] a ‘footgolf pandemic’, journal PLOS ONE, showed that the
because there is nowhere else to kick a ball overweight and obese participants
except on a golf course. Basically, there is an Cottam is considered a were more likely to have a higher risk of
uptick in people coming to play,” he said. pioneer in bringing footgolf developing CVD over the next ten years
Footgolf is exactly as its name implies to Malaysia. – COURTESY OF than those with a BMI in the normal
– it’s a combination of both football and JEFF COTTAM range.
golf. However, the good news is that for
“98% of the game is played exactly those who are obese, doing 150
like golf. The only difference is you’re at Bukit the age of players ranges from the low 20s to an minutes or more of moderate or
using size 5 balls and the holes are 21 Jelutong, it upwards of 50 years. He also spoke about the vigorous exercise each week lowered
inches,” Cottam explained, further was an ideal sport’s global nature, and competitive facet. the risk of of CVD by a surprising 50%,
claiming that the sport essentially setting to “There is a World Cup. We do go to the Asia and that even exercising for just 10
helps golf courses, the way introduce Cup too, which we [attended] last year and minutes at a time lowered the risk by
snowboarding helps ski footgolf placed fourth,” he said. “These are global 34%.
resorts. b e c a u s e competitions. A lot of professional footgolfers For the overweight participants,
“Footgolf helps bring a Malaysia is that take this on full-time, get sponsors and doing any amount of exercise cut the
new revenue stream and known to have climb the ranks to be the best.” risk of CVD by 47%, and exercising for
a new demographic, a lot of Prior to the MCO in March, ranking more than 150 minutes a week reduced
because we know passionate tournaments were held every month to find top the risk by 52%.
that golf courses f o o t b a l l e r s,” players who were to represent Malaysia in Japan “This shows that increasing physical
in Malaysia and C o t t a m at the end of the year. activity even a small amount, as little as
globally are claimed. “[The] sport has been struggling to garner 10 minutes at a time, is associated with
struggling The initial popularity [despite being] around for ten years, lower risk of cardiovascular disease –
w i t h idea to bring and no one knew about it. Then suddenly for example, a 30-minute walk has the
numbers, as footgolf to Covid-19 came around and sprouted new roots same benefits as completing three 10-
[golf ] is an Malaysia came from around the world with new players,” Cottam minute walks,“ said Xiaochen Zhang,
expensive Cottam’s business said. lead author of the study.
sport.” partner, who wanted During the current RMCO period, the The researchers add that a standard
Though the people to see the golf playing of footgolf under FGM has been given 150 minutes of exercise a week is the
sport itself has courses that he the green light. number that is widely recommended
been around in the designed, so that they “We spoke to MITI officials, spoke to [the by medical experts, with The American
West for over ten years with over 500 could experience the Malaysia National Security Council] and local Heart Association, The American
courses, in Asia footgolf is relatively sport of golf and authorities to see whether or not we could go College of Sports Medicine, and the US
new, with Malaysia being the newest attempt to play footgolf. ahead. As we operate exactly like a golf course – Department of Health and Human
country to establish the sport. Further explaining the four people per group, social distancing and all Services all advising that adults should
“It’s just a good sport that no one’s macro aspects of footgolf, that – they said there was no reason for us not to get at least 150 minutes of exercise
really played. For the 18-holes we have Cottam pointed out that operate.” each week. – AFP-Relaxnews

Olympian’s online workouts feed Philippines families

FILIPINA weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz about 50 people who Still, the lockdown broke her daily training
noticed live-streamed concerts were collecting joined sessions that regimen, keeping her away from weights for 14
money for coronavirus relief and was struck by lasted up to three hours, days for the first time in her career.
inspiration: why not raise funds with an online and gave them a rare “I felt like I was losing my mind already. I’ve
workout? chance to train with an been carrying the barbell for 18 years and all of
Since then, the Olympic silver-medallist – elite athlete. a sudden it’s gone. Those were the kinds of
and strong contender for her country’s first anxiety that I felt,” she said.
Games gold – has made enough money to buy ‘Losing my mind’ But she got access to some equipment, and
food packs for hundreds of hard-hit families in Diaz rose to fame in with her coach’s urging, got back to work. She
the Philippines. 2016 after snagging a was relieved to find her strength was still there.
Diaz has done it all from Malaysia, where she surprise silver in the 53 Instead of a Tokyo berth, the past months
was training to qualify for the now-postponed kilogramme category in have been about a different kind of
Tokyo Olympics when much of the world Rio, becoming the accomplishment for Diaz: helping her
locked down against the virus in March. Philippines’ first female countrymen get through the coronavirus crisis.
“I thought (distribution) would be Olympic medallist and Diaz has raised Rosemelyn Francisco’s family in Zamboanga
impossible because I’m not physically present,” ending the nation’s 20- money for needy City, Diaz’s home town, is one of the first to get
Diaz, 29, told AFP. year medal drought at families with her help from the athlete’s initiative, and is deeply
“It’s a good thing that I have trusted friends the Games. workouts. – AFP grateful.
and trusted family members who understand Two years later, she Her family was not wealthy to begin with,
why we need to do a fundraising.” won gold at the Asian and the pandemic has cost her husband his
That circle of supporters has handed out the Games in Indonesia. “I thought all the hard work would soon be construction job.
packages, which include vegetables, eggs and However, her quest to qualify for Tokyo is on over... then it was extended,” she said. “But I’m “The food she donated has everything that
rice, to more than 400 families. hold ahead of the Games’ rescheduled opening still thankful I can still continue with (the we need, including eggs,” said Francisco, 27. –
The food was bought with donations from in July 2021. training) I need to do.” AFP-Relaxnews
 21
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020

* SPORTS

Halep doubtful for US Open

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CASHLESS MEDICAL CARD THE COMPANIES ACT, 2016 and the US Open with organisers
Build Annual limit up to
AND
IN THE MATTER OF
VETRO SYSTEMS (M) SDN. BHD. set to put strict health
Dream RM2 Million
the most affordable color copier
without compromise
IN THE MATTER OF Registration No. 199501002258
(331452-M) protocols in place for the Grand Slam due
Homes No Medical check-up up
to 65 years old
o COPY oPRINT
MLT HUBJAYA SDN. BHD.
[201201009869
(In Members’ Voluntary Winding-Up)

At a General Meeting of the Company duly

to the Covid-19 pandemic, a
Our Services Include:- o SCAN oFAX
(983389-H)] convened and held at Wisma Goshen, spokeswoman for the Romanian told
Cashless outpatient 2nd Floor, 60, 62 & 64 Jalan SS 22/21,
New Home Construction Cancer treatment
o SCAN
TO EMAIL
(IN MEMBERS’ Damansara Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Reuters.
o MOBILE PRINTING Selangor Darul Ehsan on Friday, 12th
Interior Renovation Hospital Cash Income o DUPLEX PRINTING VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION) day of June, 2020, the following special The United States Tennis Association
resolutions were duly passed:
Exterior Home Remodelling benefit up to oWIRELESS PRINTING (USTA) received the green light to hold
& Improvement Rm200 per day (with WIFI Modems) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN 1. THAT, the Company will be liquidated by
way of Members’ Voluntary Winding Up. their marquee tournament in New York as
General Contracting INCOME o USB PRINTING & that pursuant to Section 459
RM5k to Rm35k SCANNING 2. THAT, Mr. Tan Kee Huat and Ms. Lam Lee
scheduled from Aug 31-Sept 13 without
of the Companies Act, 2016, San both of Norvic Corporate Services fans.
Contact us at Contact No : Sdn. Bhd., Wisma Goshen, 2nd Floor, 60,
0182175363 the FINAL MEETING of the 62 & 64, Jalan SS 22/21, Damansara New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
012-6067475 abovenamed Company will Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Darul Ehsan be appointed as Joint said the USTA would take “extraordinary
www.facebook.com/kkbuilderss be convened and held at 48 and Several Liquidators to act for the
Jalan Kota Laksamana 2/15,
purpose of winding-up the Company’s
affairs and distributing its assets.
precautions” to protect players, including
Taman Kota Laksamana, robust testing, additional cleaning, extra
Health & / Well- Distributors 3. THAT, the said Liquidators be authorised
133
ness 252
Agents Wanted Seksyen 2, 75200 Melaka on to divide amongst the members in locker room space and dedicated
specie or kind, the whole or any part
20th day of July, 2020 at of the assets of the Company and may, accommodation.
for such purpose, set such value as
10.00 a.m. for the following they deem fair upon any property to be “Everyone is still waiting on an official
divided as aforesaid and may determine
purposes:- announcement of details from the US
Ayurvedic Others
296 how such division shall be carried out
as between the members.
Open and tours about the season,” the
Hospital 1. To lay before the Zahedi Bin Mohd Zain
Director
spokeswoman said in a statement to
Meeting, the Accounts Reuters.
06-2323670 3 Signs You Become of the winding-up of the Dated this 18th day of June, 2020. Halep
Unlimited 4D Champion Company by the Liquidator IN THE MATTER OF THE
“But if the conditions are as set out on
Detox with Fast-Track Target COMPANIES ACT, 2016 paper for US Open, as Simo (Halep) has
for adoption and or giving and
Rehab 4D Podium System, RM480 any explanation thereof; IN THE MATTER OF been consistent in saying, it’s highly
VETRO SYSTEMS (M) SDN. BHD.
Stress Relief Registration No. 199501002258 322 Notices unlikely she will play.”
Chronic Disease Class Coaching by 2. To resolve under Section
(331452-M)
(In Members’ Voluntary Winding-Up) Her coach Darren Cahill had told
Management Victor Yap - The Famous 518(3)(b) of the Companies NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the creditors IN THE HIGH COURT OF MALAYA Reuters last week the protocols were
Book Author Act, 2016, that the books, of the above Company are required to
send in their names and addresses and
AT JOHOR BAHRU
PASCA WINDING UP “incredibly difficult” and would probably
Ayurhelpline
of the Year accounts and documents the particulars of their debts or claims NO: JA – 28PW – 78 – 05 / 2020
not work for the two-times Grand Slam
012-3914822 of the Company and of
and the names and addresses of their COMPANIES (WINDING UP)

55, Taman sentosa, melaka

solicitors (if any), to the undersigned (the
Liquidators of the said Company) at the
NO. : 42 -41 OF 1986 winner.
Call to reserve the Liquidator thereof,
be destroyed after the
belowmentioned address by 5.00 p.m. on In the Matter of Section 218 of the “Of course the conditions of the US
your seat 20th day of July, 2020:- Companies Act, 1965
expiration of three months Open can still change and it is my
Health & / Well- Distributors c/o Norvic Corporate Services Sdn. Bhd. In the Matter of Hong Huat Realty (M)
133
ness 252
Agents Wanted Tel : 012-216 8427 from the date of the Final Reg. No. 200201033104 (600769-D)
Wisma Goshen, 2nd Floor
Sdn. Bhd. understanding that the players will have
Between
Read more...www.4Dpodium.com Meeting. 60, 62 & 64 Jalan SS 22/21
Damansara Jaya
well into July to decide whether to enter or
UNITED ASIANS BANK BERHAD
AGENT / WHOLESALER 47400 Petaling Jaya …. Petitioner not,” the spokeswoman said, adding that it
Selangor Darul Ehsan And
WANTED Dated this 18th day of June was a “fluid situation so nothing is set in
The creditors (either through their
BEST Noodles For Diabetes
2020 solicitors or personally) who do not
HONG HUAT REALTY (M) SDN. BHD.
…. Respondent stone”.
file their debts and claims on or before
& high blood pressure the specified date and time above will NOTIS USUL Men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his
Ow Pee Juan be excluded from the benefit of any BENARKAN semua pihak yang terlibat women’s counterpart Ash Barty have also
Nutrition extract from distribution made. hadir di hadapan Y.A. Hakim/Timbalan
Black tartary buckwheat Liquidator
& Highland barley
322 Notices
48 Jalan Kota Laksamana Tan Kee Huat
Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi Malaya di
Johor Bahru, Johor pada 6 Julai, 2020 jam
raised concerns about playing in the
Ethics Above Profit 2/15 Taman Kota Laksamana
Lam Lee San(f)
Liquidators
9:00 a.m. untuk mendengar permohonan
Penyumbang-Penyumbang syarikat
tournament under health protocols while
DALAM MAHKAMAH TINGGI MALAYA Responden untuk perintah-perintah Nick Kyrgios said the USTA was being
Center for INCOME
RM5K to RM15K
DI PULAU PINANG KEBANKRAPAN
NO. PA-29NCC-1412-12/2019
Seksyen 2, 75200 Melaka Dated this 18th day of June, 2020. seperti berikut :-
“selfish” by opting to go ahead with it. –
Natural Medicine Per : YEOH WAI YEN
(NO. K/P: 880915-07-5114)
1. Bahawa penggulungan Syarikat
Hong Huat Realty (M) Sdn. Bhd,
Responden dalam tindakan ini
Reuters
Ayurvedic clinic ....Penghutang Penghakiman [“Responden tersebut”] melalui
perintah bertarikh 24 September, 1986
03-2287-2111
36,lorong maarof, bangsar
Ex Parte : SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISE
DEVELOPMENT BANK MALAYSIA BERHAD
[“Perintah Penggulungan tersebut”]
digantungkan untuk selama-lamanya
dan/atau ditamatkan dengan serta-
INSIDE EDGE
(NO. SYARIKAT : 49572-H)
...Pemiutang Penghakiman merta;
Ayurhelpline 0126634822 Contact No : 018-2175363 NOTIS 2. Bahawa Jabatan Insolvensi Malaysia,
Johor Bahru, Johor dilepaskan tugas
Jonny wants gloves back
Kepada : dalam pengurusan; kawalan dan
pentadbiran dalam syarikat Responden
186
Office Premises
252
Distributors YEOH WAI YEN
(NO. K/P:880915-07-5114) tersebut dengan serta-merta; JONNY BAIRSTOW says he wants to
to Let Agents Wanted The Golden Triangle,
Relau,
322 Notices 3. Bahawa mulai tarikh perintah ini return to the England Test squad for next
dibenarkan penyumbang-penyumbang
11060 Pulau Pinang month’s home series against West Indies as
ISLAMIC
seperti berikut dilantik kembali untuk
Grade A Office at Dan/Atau NOTICE IN NEWSPAPER menjadi ahli lembaga pengarah
the designated wicketkeeper, not a
SAVING
dan menguruskan; mengawal dan
Bandar Sunway To Let YEOH WAI YEN
(SUBSTITUTED SERVICE) mentadbirkan syarikat Responden
specialist batsman. Jos Buttler has been
tersebut:-
PROGRAMME
(NO. K/P:880915-07-5114)
Area : 610 Sq. Ft. 348-13A-01, Jalan Khoo hye Keat, IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE a. Yap Sing Hock
the preferred Test stumper recently while
Taman Sri Air Itam,
Rental : RM1700/- HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION (k/p : 490619-01-5447); Ben Foakes is considered technically best
Renovated with
AGENT WANTED Pulau Pinang
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE b. Yap Seng Chang of the three. Bairstow was dropped for the
AMBIL PERHATIAN bahawa satu Notis ACTION NO. 2482 OF 2015
Free Reserved
QLife and PA coverange Kebankarapan telah dikemukakan
(k/p : 510601-01-5073);
tour of New Zealand in November and
di Mahkamah ini oleh Small Medium
Carpark lot
QNo Medical check up Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia
c. Lin Shou Jen
(k/p : 570210-71-5284). played only one Test in South Africa as a
BETWEEN
Amenities : KTM Existing illness
Q
Berhad yang menjalankan perniagaan
di Tingkat 23, Menara SME Bank, Jalan 4. Bahawa kesemua dokumen-dokumen specialist batsman. “I was disappointed to
assured Acceptance Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur SECURITIES AND FUTURES COMMISSION Plaintiff dan/atau rekod-rekod yang berkaitan
lose the gloves at the time,” Bairstow told
Commuter, BRT dan cawangannya di Seberang Jaya dengan syarikat Responden tersebut
Sunway Station &
Last Joining age up
Q Enterprise Centre, No. 12A, Jalan Todak
and yang termasuk tetapi tidak terhad
British media. “My stats were very good
3, Pusat Bandar Seberang Jaya, Bandar
to 80 years old kepada dokumen/rekod berkaitan
Sunway Pyramid
Sunway, 13700 Perai, Pulau Pinang dan
Mahkamah telah memerintahkan bahawa MAXIM CAPITAL LIMITED 1st Defendant
kewangan; perakaunan ; bank ; asset/
liability dan lain-lain dokumen/rekod
and I didn’t feel like I had done anything
INCOME Notis Kebankrapan dan Permintaan yang berkaitan dengan Responden wrong with my keeping. I was getting
Selling : RM398,000 RM5k to RM35k above Mengeluarkan
tersebut
Notis
hendaklah
Kebankrapan
disampaikan
An unknown person or persons purporting to carry on a
securities dealing or asset management business known
2nd Defendant tersebut hendaklah diserahkan oleh
Jabatan Insolvensi Malaysia, complimented highly by people on that.”
kepada kamu secata penyampaian Johor Bahru, Johor dan/atau
Call : 012-2014850 (Mr. Leong) CONTACT 019 9321315 ganti dengan menampalkan sesalinan
as MAXIM TRADER and using the websites
www.maximtrader.com, www.maximtrader.biz, sesiapa yang berkaitan kepada bakal The 30-year-old, said he had used the time
bermeterai Notis Kebankrapan tersebut jemaah lembaga pengarah-pengarah
bersama-sama dengan sesalinan www.maximtaiwan.com and/or partner.maximtrader.com syarikat Responden dalam tempoh during the coronavirus shutdown to work
bermeterai Perintah penyampaian ganti 30 dari tarikh perintah ini dibenarkan
yang diperolehi ditampalkan di Papan To: 1st Defendant – Maxim Capital Limited; and atau mana-mana tarikh dan/atau on his batting technique. “I’m pleased with
Kenyataan Mahkamah Tinggi Malaya tempoh yang sesuai yang ditetapkan
di Pulau Pinang, di premis di alamat
2nd Defendant – An unknown person or persons purporting to carry on a oleh Mahkamah yang mulia ini the way my batting has been going,”
terakhir Penghutang Penghakiman yang
diketahui oleh Pemiutang Penghakiman securities dealing or asset management business known as MAXIM TRADER
menyerahkan ;
Bairstow said. “There have always been
and using the websites www.maximtrader.com, www.maximtrader.biz,
di The Golden Triangle, Jalan Dato Ismail
Hashim, Relau, 11060, Pulau Pinang dan www.maximtaiwan.com and/or partner.maximtrader.com
5. Bahawa syarikat Responden tersebut
dan/atau penyumbang-penyumbang challenges that have been asked and I’d

CLASSIFIEDS
di premis di alamat terakhir Penghutang
Penghakiman yang diketahui oleh
Pemiutang Penghakiman di 348-13A-
01, Jalan Khoo Hye Keat, Taman Sri Air
Special Promotion
Itam, 11500 Ayer Itam, Pulau Pinang
dan melalui penerbitan Notis dalam
satu akhbar harian tempatan berbahasa
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menjadi penyampaian yang sempurna
dan cukup akan Notis Kebankrapan
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satu Afidavit atau Saman Dalam Kamar
disokong oleh Afidavit bagi maksud
tersebut. Jika kamu ingkar, satu Petisyen
boleh difailkan terhadap kamu.
aFull colour a10-day duration Notis Kebankrapan tersebut boleh
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Promote your business and
CHIA HUEY TING
Penolong Kanan Pendaftar
Mahkamah Tinggi Malaya
services with us today! Georgetown
Notis ini telah difailkan oleh Tetuan
Call 03-7784 6688 or email Ghazi & Lim yang beralamat di
Tingkat 19, Plaza MWE, No. 8, Lebuh
shoba@thesundaily.com
Farquhar, 10200 Pulau Pinang,
Peguamcara bagi pihak Pemiutang
Penghakiman yang dinamakan di atas.
diberikan kebebasan untuk memohon
sekiranya ada keperluan;
like to think I’ve risen to those challenges.”
TAKE NOTICE that:-
6. Kos permohonan ini ditolak dari estate
... as Shai Hope’s
1. On 13 May 2020, the 2nd Case Management Conference was heard before akaun syarikat Responden tersebut;
Master Ho. Master Ho ordered, amongst others, the following directions:-
(a) Upon confirmation by the Commission that Counsel advice has been obtained
7. Relif-relif lain yang difikirkan
suaimuafaat oleh Mahkamah yang
mulia ini.
for turnaround
and that the case is ready for trial, there be leave to the Commission to set
the case down within 49 days for a 3-day trial before a bilingual judge alone Bertarikh 16 Jun, 2020 WEST INDIES batsman Shai Hope is
in the fixture list; and
aiming to achieve a “turnaround” in his Test
…………t…t………
(b) There will be a 30-minute pre-trial review before the trial judge on a date 12 Tetuan Tay L. E. & Co.,
career now he is back in England, the
weeks before trial (the “Court Order”).
Peguamcara Pempetisyen
Kepada,
scene of his greatest triumph in the five-
2. On 17 June 2020, the Commission wrote to the Court confirming that Counsel
1. Jabatan Insolvensi Malaysia, Johor
day format. Three years ago Hope became
advice has been obtained and that the case is ready for trial. The Commission
also filed the following documents with the Court:-
Bahru, Johor the first batsman to score two hundreds in
2. Pempetisyen - UNITED ASIANS
BANK BERHAD melalui Peguamcara a first-class match as his side recorded a
(a)Notice of setting down; Pempetisyen
stunning five-wicket win over the hosts in
Nota:- Sesiapa yang mempunyai niat
(b)Application to set a case down for trial; and
untuk menghadiri pendengaran Notis the second Test. Yet those remain his only
Usul ini pada 6 Julai, 2020 mesti
(c)A bundle of documents for set down purpose (collectively, the “Documents”). two centuries in 31 Tests, with Hope
menyerah atau mengeposkan kepada
Tetuan Tay L. E. & Co., yang bernama
averaging a modest 27.23. That contrasts
di atas satu notis bertulis akan niatnya
3. A copy of the Court Order and Documents can be obtained from the Hong untuk berbuat demikian. Notis tersebut
mesti mencatit nama dan alamat orang with an impressive average of 52.20 from
Kong High Court Registry and the Legal Services Division of the Securities and
Futures Commission of which the office is at 35th Floor, Cheung Kong Center, 2
tersebut, atau sekiranya ia adalah satu
firma, nama dan alamat firma tersebut
78 one-day internationals, suggesting he is
Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong. atau peguamcaranya (sekiranya ada) dan
mesti diserahkan atau sekiranya diposkan
no flash in the pan, and he is eager to
Dated the 18th day of June 2020. dalam jangkamasa yang munasabah. boost his Test figures during next month’s
NOTIS ini difailkan oleh Tay L.E. & Co., three-match series in England. “The key is
Securities and Futures Commission
The Plaintiff
Peguambela & Peguamcara, yang
beralamat di 50A, Jalan Abiad, Taman to make sure that I make use of these
Tebrau Jaya, 80400 Johor Bahru Johor.
35/F, Cheung Kong Center
2 Queen’s Road Central
[Ruj. Kami: TLE/2129/HHR/ opportunities and do whatever I can to
L/19/#hd4/M]
make the team win,” said Hope in a
Hong Kong Tel No: 07-331 4455;
Tel:- (852) 2231 1222 Fax:- (852) 2521 7884
Ref: 122/LG/1000/0049
Faks No: 07-332 4455 &
Email: tlesimon@gmail.com conference call yesterday from Old
Trafford.
22 theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
SPORTS

Barca turn up heat on Real ball a lot and gave them a chance.
”They could have scored,
but then we controlled
that subtlety with the ball.”
In an earlier match, Getafe dropped more
points in the race for Champions League
LIONEL MESSI was rugby tackled and then But his team’s reward things. qualification as they failed to break down
scored a penalty as Barcelona put the pressure for a rather ”They close up very Espanyol despite their opponents playing most of
back on Real Madrid by easing to a 2-0 victory underwhelming well and defend the match with 10 men.
over Leganes at an empty Nou Camp yesterday. performance is a five-point excellently, so it’s not A goalless draw represents a missed
Messi was hauled to the ground in the first advantage over Madrid, who easy to open up opportunity for Jose Bordalas’ side and they
half by a diving Unai Bustinza wrapping two arms can reduce that back to two by space.” We could even have lost to Espanyol, who had
around his waist and he was knocked over again winning at home to Valencia don’t yet Bernardo Espinosa sent off in the 16th minute
in the second, this time earning a penalty, which tomorrow morning (4am have but are building momentum.
he converted. Malaysian time). Getafe stay fifth, level on points with fourth-
After 33 appearances, Messi now has 26 goals The Catalans had a hard placed Real Sociedad, who will play their game
this season. In his last eight games, he has seven time breaking Leganes down in hand at Alaves tomorrow (1.30am).
goals and eight assists. early on until Fati broke the – AFP
The 17-year-old Ansu Fati had earlier given deadlock before half-time.
Barcelona the lead, continuing his breakthrough ”I knew it was going to be
season with a fifth goal in eight league starts. difficult,” Setien explained. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (left) is
Leganes could have made the reigning ”Unless you have the tackled by Leganes’ Unai Bustinza
champions feel uncomfortable if Miguel-Angel fortune of scoring early during the La Liga match at the
Guerrero had taken either of two golden early and opening the game Nou Camp stadium. – AFPPIX
opportunities but the first was cleared off the line up, it will be
and the second denied by the post. complicated.
“We had a bit of luck at the beginning,” ”We started well
admitted Barca coach Quique Setien. but then lost the

5129/2020 17/06/2020 (WED)

SPORTS TOTO MALAYSIA SDN BHD (8420 - D)

Silent celebration
TOTO 4D PRIZE PAYMENTS GUARANTEED IN FULL
1st Prize 6524
2nd Prize 6075
3rd Prize 1943 Draw Date: 17/06/20 (Wed) Draw No: 5076/20 Venue: PERAK TURF CLUB

Special Consolation No fans, no beer showers: Bayern’s closed door title party
1633 5065 6967 2602

W
9764 7094 9349 1965 HEN footballers dream of And instead of waving triumphantly to 9132
3491 9914 3989 9824 clinching a national title, it is thousands of travelling fans, it was a handful of
9258 4189 6140 7489 likely they imagine wild officials sitting in an empty stand who 9477
3453 1536 7089 7155 celebrations with their received the players’ applause 1151
teammates and the cheers of their instead.
adoring fans ringing in their ears. Bayern will not travel home to 1281 + 2891 6450 + 1750
But Bayern Munich, after Munich directly so a night of
10,079,974.66 confirming an eighth successive celebration in a Bremen hotel 7370 + 9623 9984 + 2558
Bundesliga crown at Werder would seem likely; drinks were 3255 + 0999 6405 + 9650
6524 6075 6075 6524 Bremen yesterday, must do things promised by everyone. 8323 + 9067 4197 + 2014
6524 1943 1943 6524 differently due to the coronavirus “I have no idea what the plan is 3457 + 1007 6573 + 3145
6075 1943 1943 6075 outbreak. for tonight,” said Flick. “I only know
993,446.27 “That is special. It’s a little that (club coaching legend) Hermann
complicated to celebrate without fans,” said Gerland has said I should drink something
Winning combination of any 1 of Top 3 & any 1 of Special prizes.
Robert Lewandowski, whose 31st goal of the with cola, I think whiskey. I’ll do that because RM3,142,089.40
season secured the crucial 1-0 win. he’s earned it.”
“The atmosphere and the passion of the Club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 9132 + 9477 9477 + 9132
1st Prize 6524 + fans is missing. But we’re happy that we’re promised a modest celebration in Munich 9132 + 1151 1151 + 9132
German champions. It was a long fight.” eventually but pointed out that even wives and 9477 + 1151 1151 + 9477
2nd Prize 6075 + Bayern traditionally celebrate titles by families could not be invited given the strict
throwing locally produced wheat beer over hygiene policy that enabled matches to RM488,923.70
3rd Prize 1943 + MONKEY each other. That was not permitted this year resume behind closed doors.
4th Prize Special Prize + though caps and t-shirts, acknowledging eight The league trophy will be handed over after
5th Prize Consolation Prize + in a row and their 30th championship overall, the last match away to Wolfsburg on June 27.
were on hand. What form that will take exactly remains to be
6th Prize Any 4D drawn number “I would have accepted the beer as it seen.
comes,” said Bayern coach Hansi Flick. “Of But when you have as many titles as Bayern, 079 132 + TIGER RM1,244,315.10
TOTO 5D & 6D PRIZE PAYMENTS GUARANTEED IN FULL
course you don’t like it but the players have perhaps doing one differently isn’t the end of
also deserved to give it to me.” the world. – dpa 199 477 + DRAGON RM3,559,833.30
9 3 8 3 6

9 3 4 6 6
3 8 3 6
8 3 6 Munich Flick the right switch 161 151 + BOAR RM1,229,106.70
2 1 3 5 1 3 6 WHEN Bayern Munich’s bosses named Hansi 2014 World Cup title, Flick had then gone over
Flick as interim coach to replace the sacked to a German Football Association sports
Niko Kovac in November, no-one believed he director position. 871 281 652 891 376 450 561 750
9 2 5 8 2 3 was heading for a record-breaking season and Coaching did not look like an immediate 447 370 159 623 069 984 862 558
a shot at the treble. option before his appointment at Bayern. 473 255 260 999 456 405 389 650
9 2 5 8 2 2 5 8 2 3 However, the 55-year-old former Bayern When Kovac was sacked with the Bavarians 258 323 429 067 034 197 002 014
9 2 5 8 5 8 2 3 midfielder has taken his debut season by storm outside the leading positions and the team in
and won his first silverware when the Munich disarray, Flick’s promotion was to be a 933 457 451 007 996 573 023 145
9 2 5 8 2 3 side beat Werder Bremen 1-0 away yesterday to temporary two-game solution before a big-
9 2 2 3 secure their eighth consecutive Bundesliga name replacement was found.
TOTO GAMES GIVES YOU MORE WINNING CHANCES!
title. But after a winning debut in the Champions
He becomes only the third Bayern coach to League, Flick’s team demolished title rivals 132 477 151
12 26 31 33 43 54 have also won the title as a club player, joining Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the Bundesliga only
Franz Beckenbauer and Kovac. a week after a 5-1 thrashing by Eintracht
15,467,791.13 With the German Cup and Champions Frankfurt had triggered Kovac’s departure.
League still up for grabs, more trophies could The club’s bosses, impressed by the quick RM758,551.80
follow. turnaround and the team’s attacking game,
3 32 40 43 51 53 “Since Hansi Flick took over the team we are announced Flick would be staying until further 132 + 477 + 151 477 + 151 + 132
4,176,339.47 playing attractive and successful football,” notice and Bayern won five out of seven league 132 + 151 + 477 151 + 132 + 477
Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. “We games under him to go into the winter break. 477 + 132 + 151 151 + 477 + 132
can only pay him and the team a big Bayern have cruised to the German Cup
16 32 38 42 45 49 40 compliment. final, in which they face Bayer Leverkusen on
“We wanted to give our fans titles but also July 4, and have set a league record with 90 Refund for MCO affected tickets
Jackpot 1 6,015,399.15 to delight with attacking football. We goals after 30 matchdays. valid till 16­8­20. T&C appl
Jackpot 2 139,029.85 succeeded in that.” Having won a club record 25 games from
Before his appointment, Flick, known for his his first 28 matches in all competitions, Flick
detailed planning and meticulous data analysis, had already signed a long-term deal until 2023.
had no experience as a Bundesliga head coach, With the Champions League due to restart
Visit www.sportstoto.com.my having been surprisingly appointed as Kovac’s at some stage, Flick’s first season in charge
for e-Results and more info. assistant at the start of the season. could turn from impressive to spectacular with
A former Germany assistant coach to the Bavarians rightfully eyeing a treble. –
Joachim Low who helped guide them to the Reuters

Safety protocol key to restart
█ MIGUEL DELANEY
C
ONVINCING players that it was safe
to return to training was the key
moment in Project Restart, according
to Premier League chief executive
Richard Masters.
That development in early May
was the first time there was real
confidence about a return, after
“weeks of uncertainty”.
Masters said there was
“excitement” but also some
caution ahead of this morning’s
resumption, as he also outlined
the Premier League’s
considerable contingency
planning in case of any second
wave.
“When the whole county went
into lockdown, every industry
sector was wondering when some
semblance of normality could be
returned to,” Masters said in a press
conference.
“But as soon as we’d spoken to
government, as soon as we’d
spoken to our clubs, we put in
place really what I’d
describe as a skeleton
plan, trying to take
it step by step,
trying to fill in the
gaps ever since
and I think the
m o m e n t
when we were
really able to
a s s u r e
everyone that
going back to
stage-one
training was
safe, I think
from the point
onwards, it
Virgil ‘more important’ than Alisson
VIRGIL VAN
DIJK’S
signing has
been more
important
than that of
Alisson in turning
Liverpool into serial winners,
according to Don Hutchison.
Holland international Van Dijk
joined for a club record £75
million (RM401m) in January
2018 and has been a revelation,
while Alisson arrived the
following summer from Roma.
Asked which acquisition has
been more important, former
Liverpool midfielder Don
Hutchison claims it has been Van
Dijk’s influence on the players
around him that sets him apart.
“It is a good question. We all
recognised that Liverpool
needed a new No.1 who was
going to play behind defenders
and who had a personality,” he
told Premier League Productions.
Newcastle takeover in doubt after warning
THE World Trade Organisation
(WTO) say the Premier League
should not approve Newcastle’s
proposed £300 million (RM1.6b)
takeover.
Toon owner Mike Ashley has
agreed to sell the club to PCP
Capital Partners, an organisation
backed by the Public Investment
Fund of Saudi Arabia.
However, talks over the deal
have stalled in recent weeks.
There has been plenty of
opposition to the deal, with many
urging the Premier League to
reject the takeover bid.
The WTO have put together a
report on whether Saudi Arabia’s
government have been involved in
23
theSUN ON THURSDAY | JUNE 18, 2020
SPORTS
SIDENETTING
Ole needs top-four finish: Berbatov
MANCHESTER UNITED manager Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer should no longer be seen as a “transitional
Players’ willingness to return to training kickstarted figure” at Old Trafford, but only a top-four Premier
League finish would cement his position at the club,
the League’s return after weeks of uncertainty former striker Dimitar Berbatov said. Berbatov
believes Solskjaer has the support of the United
felt that we were on the right track. new normal, the new rules that have been hierarchy to rebuild the squad but needs results to
“I’m feeling very excited. It’s the put in place, we’re confident the clubs, the end speculation about his future. “It’s massive for
culmination of a lot of hard players and the staff involved will do that United to finish in the top four,” Berbatov said in an
work, a lot of consultation, and we can take confidence from the testing interview. “It will give confidence to the manager. We
with clubs, players and results, 16 out of over 8,500 tests that the all know he gets criticised and put under pressure
managers, and other new measures we put in place are providing and people are constantly speculating about his
position, but this would cement him in the job.”
organisations, a safe place to work, so excitement but
particularly the obviously tempered with the view that we
government, and I think need to keep on track.” Bittersweet for Ancelotti
those sort of early weeks If there is any second wave, Masters says EVERTON’S Andre Gomes is fit for their return to
of uncertainty have been there is a plan in place. Premier League action against leaders and local rivals
replaced step by step with “Obviously we’ll be going into next Liverpool on Sunday (Mon 2am Malaysian time),
a growing confidence we season with a clearer understanding of what manager Carlo Ancelotti said yesterday. Gomes, who
could get to this point. would happen in various eventualities so I required surgery after suffering a fracture-dislocation
“I think the real prize is think that is going to help,” he said. to his right ankle in November, had just made a
completing the season, and “Everybody has learned an enormous comeback to the side before the Covid-19 pandemic
suspended. “Gomes is not going to have a problem
obviously we have to be amount over the last three months, for Sunday,” Ancelotti told the club’s website. “The
careful, we have to observe certainly we have, and I think what we’ve physical condition of the team in general is good and
t h e learned is that you have to be nimble and we’re looking to recover Yerry Mina and Fabian
responsive, and you have to have Delph. They’re both close to coming back to training
contingency plans. but remain doubts for the game on Sunday.”
“We know there is a prospect of a second
spike and we’ll be ready, and we are
anticipating that in our planning,
obviously hoping we can return to a
full Premier League season.
“There are embryonic
discussions going on at 365/20 17/06/2020
government level, cross-
sport this is, regarding the 1983
return of fans to sport
generally. 9438
“We’ll be a willing
participant in all of 4655
that and would
want fans back
in the stadiums 6402 1241 1586 6406
as soon as it’s 2004 1830 9354 8610
safe and
appropriate to 1708 7669 4404 8110
do so.” – The 3575 2983 7836 8403
Independent
9028 3935 1350 6703
“He hasn’t got any
weaknesses in his game, he is RM 2,327,971.11
6ft 4, he is great in the air, he is
fast and has got gears he can
1983 + 9438 1983 + 4655
go through, and he’s a winner.” 9438 + 1983 9438 + 4655
“But Former Reds star Steve 4655 + 1983 4655 + 9438
then McManaman agreed that the RM 183,294.70
you go Dutchman has been
to the instrumental in the team’s
top table improvement, but praised the
and bring influence of Alisson.
Van Dijk “I think it is the effect that
in when Van Dijk has on the players
all the top around him, but I would also
teams in say that about Alisson.
Europe were “But Van Dijk in a foot race
trying to buy is going to beat both centre 02 03 05 07 10 15 24 34
him and set a forwards, he chips in with
transfer record. goals, so I think the confidence
“I think if I that he gives the players
was going to around him is massive.
lean to one I “I do really like the signing of 08 36
would go Van Dijk Alisson though and we hardly
because I think he focus on him because Liverpool
is now the best just keep on winning. I think he
centrehalf in world has been exceptional.” – Daily
football. Star
833855
illegal streaming of sport, which offers illegal streams to 83385 33855
including Premier League sporting events.
action. The likes of FIFA, UEFA, the 8338 3855
The report was finalised Premier League, La Liga have tried
yesterday, with the WTO to take action against beoutQ, 833 855
urging the Premier League however, the cases were 83 55
to reject the takeover bid. unsuccessful.
They said: “Should the Therefore, the case was handed 38
Premier League approve the to the WTO.
Newcastle takeover by KSA, it Newcastle’s new owners will 09
would be acting inconsistently need to pass a fit and proper
with its own decisions and test before they get a majority RM 5,851,830.31
factual evidence as part of the stake in the club.
WTO proceedings.” And the report casts major RM 244,732.03
It’s claimed the WTO report doubt over whether the
condemned Saudi Arabia over Premier League will
piracy. allow the deal. –
The WTO say the Saudi Alisson Express
government is behind beoutQ, Newspapers

THURSDAY • JUNE 18, 2020
Solskjaer’s season could be triumph or disaster
█ MARK CRITCHLEY
REMEMBER when every bad
Manchester United result would be
followed by a reminder that this was
their worst-ever start to a Premier
League season?
Well, this is still Manchester
United’s worst-ever start to a Premier
League season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have 45
points after 29 games. David Moyes
had managed 48 by the same stage of
his miserable 10 months in charge.
To be honest, the raw numbers
have made for pretty grim reading
since September. And yet before the
pandemic, a fragile sense of optimism
was building around Old Trafford.
United went 11 games unbeaten in
all competitions, scoring 29 goals and
Bayern’s Serge Gnabry (left) misses a
chance against Werder Bremen during
their Bundesliga match. – REUTERSPIX
‘We need you’
L Klopp sends stirring Premier League message to Liverpool fans
IVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp has
“promised” fans that he will work out a
way for his players to feel their support
while urging the club’s fanbase to stay at
home away from stadiums.
The long wait for the Premier League restart is
over and games will be coming thick and fast
with clubs still having plenty to battle for.
There are those fighting at the bottom of the
table for survival while the battle for a top-four
spot is as tight as ever.
But for Liverpool they’re on the verge of
making history as they need just six points to
clinch their first top flight title in three decades.
There will be a bittersweet feeling when the
Reds do eventually secure the title as expected
with games being played behind closed doors.
The players and club will not be able to
celebrate with fans while hopes of an open-top
bus parade around Liverpool have been put on
hold until it is safe to do so.
There have already been clips from around
the world of some fans flocking outside their
club’s stadiums to show some support to their
teams playing.
theSun is published and printed by Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd (221220-K) of Lot 6, Jalan 51/217, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7783 7435 • Tel (Editorial): 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7785 2624/5 Email: newsdesk@thesundaily.com • Tel (Advertising): 03-7784 8888 Fax: 03-7784 4424 Email: advertise@thesundaily.com
conceding only two.
That run included two Manchester
derby wins, a victory at Stamford
Bridge, safe passage to the FA Cup
quarterfinals and putting one foot in
the last eight of the Europa League.
What changed? The arrival of
Bruno Fernandes, for one, has added
an element of unpredictability and
invention to a team that was badly
one-dimensional.
Authoritative wins over Tranmere,
Watford, Club Brugge, Derby and
LASK also suggest Solskjaer’s United
are finally learning how to win
without playing on the counter-attack.
And upon restarting, United will
be strengthened by the return of top
scorer Marcus Rashford. Paul Pogba
is fit again too and ready to add to
his grand total of eight appearances
English fans have been urged against taking
such measures with no clear indication on when
supporters will be allowed back into stadiums.
Klopp has built a special bond with Liverpool
fans over the past few years having helped push
the Reds to the very top and will undoubtedly
want to share the special triumph when possible
to do so.
But the Liverpool boss has delivered a
powerful message to his fans, insisting their
support will be felt from the comfort of their
homes.
“Football is back,” he opened the video
address with.
“It will be obviously for some reason
completely different but you can still make it
really, really special.
“A lot of things were already sad in the last
few weeks. A lot of things we thought about in
the past few weeks, lets go a little bit back a
few months when we all got aware of the
really special problem we will have from now
on, altogether in the same moment – the
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We started well but then lost the
ball a lot and gave them a chance.
They could have scored, but then we
controlled things… They close up very well
and defend excellently, so it’s not easy to
open up space.”
– Barcelona manager Quique Setien
this season. games against teams they have at the first time of asking.
There are plenty of reasons to be typically struggled to beat. Instead, that worst-ever Premier
positive, then. But whether this season Six of United’s final nine Premier League start could become a worst-
is determined to be a success or not League opponents have already ever Premier League finish.
will depend largely on Champions taken points from them this season. A season of ups and downs at
League qualification. All but one of that six are in the Old Trafford is still waiting to be
Winning the Europa League is one bottom half. defined as either a triumph or a
option, if the competition ever Between now and the end of disaster. – The Independent
finishes. Qualifying domestically is July, we will learn whether that pre-
more likely and, if Manchester City’s lockdown form was a temporary
two-year ban is upheld by the Court bounce or a sign of something more MANCHESTER UNITED (2019-20)
of Arbitration for Sport, fifth-place sustainable. League position: 5th
should be enough. We have been here before, of Form: DWWDW
As it stands, United would take that course. A wave of victories saw Next fixtures: Tottenham (A),
final spot but they have nine games to Solskjaer appointed on a permanent Sheffield United (H), Brighton (A)
make sure of it. basis in March of last year, only for Cups: Europa League last-16 vs
Their restart begins with two United to lose eight of their final 12 LASK, FA quarterfinals vs Norwich,
crucial meetings against fellow games. EFL Cup semifinalists
Champions League hopefuls Suffer another anti-climax like Player of season so far: Marcus
Tottenham and Sheffield United. that and United can forget about Rashford
After that, they face a stretch of returning to the Champions League
whole world. All the things are only really special because of
“There was a moment when we all realised you.
that obviously football is not as important as we “We had now a few sessions and internal
thought the night before when we played against games in our stadium and the biggest difference
Atletico. was before the game ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’
“I think that’s a good lesson to learn to be without you.
honest and it was an important lesson, not for me “It’s still a wonderful song but without you it’s
or you especially because we all have our own not even 5% but that’s how we have to take it in
problems. Health was always above all the other the moment.
things. “There will be a moment when the whole 300
“We had to show responsibility and we or 400 million choir can sing it and that’s the
showed responsibility. There were times when moment we’re all waiting for.
we didn’t know exactly if we will play again this “Until then we still play football and it’s still for
season. you. It means we will be in the stadium and you
“Now we stand here and the league will start will be at home.
again because we behaved really responsible. “I can promise you we will feel your support. I
“We did the things we had to do because we will make the boys feel your support. We will use
wanted to save our loved ones and all the others it. You are still the 80-90% of the petrol in our
as well. tanks.
“The League starts again which is great so we “We really will use that and we will need that.
can play again and we can go for our massively “But the final message: Stay safe and support
big target again. us from home. We are still with you and ‘You’ll
“For this we need you. We always needed you. Never Walk Alone’.” – Express Newspapers