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| Yong Chee Kong insists pledge of two million Sinovac doses to Penang is real |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 06:23 PM - Forum: Local News
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Labelled ‘bogus’ by Khairy, man claiming to be Yong Chee Kong insists pledge of two million Sinovac doses to Penang is real
Quote:He reiterated that he would only donate vaccines that he procured himself and was not offering funds to purchase vaccines.
“But they want me to pay to a company in KL. I don’t want that. I know the costs,” he said.
Yong also said he was consulting his lawyer about whether to call for a press conference and clarify matters following the minister’s revelation.
“I’m still thinking about it. Of course I want to clear my name,” he said.
KOTA KINABALU, May 20 — A man claiming to be the Sabah businessman offering to donate two million Sinovac vaccine doses to Penang insisted his offer was genuine and not “bogus” as described by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaludin yesterday.
Identifying himself as Yong Chee Kong from Hong Kong-based investment company Xintai Enterprise Development Limited, he told Malay Mail when contacted that there was no link to the firm as he was acting in his personal capacity to donate the vaccines and never wanted the exposure.
“This is now a political issue. It’s not fair to me. We only wanted to donate the vaccines, not give cash,” said Yong.
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| House GOP revolt against Trump sets up tough Senate battle on January 6 probe |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 02:51 PM - Forum: Politics
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(CNN)Thirty-five House Republicans chose the truth and American democracy over Donald Trump's personality cult. Now their Senate colleagues face the same battle of conscience over the effort to investigate the Capitol insurrection.
The House of Representatives voted to establish an independent, bipartisan commission on Wednesday, but the bill still has a cliffhanger path ahead as supporters seek votes of 10 Republican senators needed to usher it into law. It remains an open, if perplexing, question if Republican senators will stand in the way of an investigation into an armed attack that sent them fleeing for safety.
The revolt of 35 House Republicans against their leader, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy -- who pushed strongly for the bill's defeat -- represents the strongest rebuke yet of the former President from his own party ranks, far more than the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Capitol mob scene. The surprising size of the Republican vote for the commission may indicate the politics of the issue are not yet set in stone and could give some Republicans pause as they consider their position on investigating the insurrection.
"People said we would not get more than 20 votes in the House from Republicans," said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who negotiated the compromise bill with a GOP colleague.
"We got 35, I am optimistic on the Senate side," Thompson said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."
John Kasich, the former Republican governor of Ohio, wondered tentatively on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" whether the size of the GOP vote in favor of a commission was the "beginning of the breaking of the dam" against Trump.
"It is a big blow to the leadership that they lost these people and that's going to give momentum over in the Senate to see if they can find the 10 people to say they ought to get to the bottom of it," said Trump's former 2016 presidential primary opponent.
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| Ipoh audiologist starts campaign to get hearing aids for children of poor families |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 01:12 PM - Forum: Inspiring Stories
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Shocked by 11-year-old’s hearing loss, Ipoh audiologist starts campaign to get hearing aids for children of poor families
IPOH, May 20 — Audiologist Sylvia Lee has been having campaigns to get people to check on their hearing for signs of deafness since 2017.
The last time such a campaign was undertaken was in 2019.
Lee said she was supposed to have the biennial campaign this year but had to postpone it due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But after seeing an 11-year-old boy last month, Lee decided to kickstart her campaign again.
“The boy had told his grandmother that he could not hear very well in his left ear.”
“After undergoing checks, I was shocked to learn that he only had 10 per cent of his hearing in that ear.”
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| CEO of TikTok owner ByteDance to step down and move into a new role |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 12:06 PM - Forum: Business, Economy and Investment
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- Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, will step down as CEO and transition to a new role, the company said on Thursday.
- Another co-founder, Liang Rubo, who is currently head of human resources, will take over as CEO of ByteDance globally.
- The move comes after a tumultuous nine months for ByteDance after it was dubbed a national security threat by former President Donald Trump’s administration last August.
GUANGZHOU, China — Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, will step down as CEO and transition to a new role, the company said on Thursday.
Another co-founder, Liang Rubo, who is currently head of human resources, will take over as CEO of ByteDance globally and Zhang will move into a key strategy role at the end of 2021.
“There are still many things that we need to improve, and I think someone else can better drive progress through areas like improved daily management. The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” Zhang said in a note to employees.
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| Past, present and future: The evolution of China's incredible high-speed rail network |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 11:47 AM - Forum: Business, Economy and Investment
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(CNN) — At the beginning of the 21st century China had no high-speed railways.
Slow and often uncomfortable trains plodded across this vast country, with low average speeds making journeys such as Shanghai-Beijing a test of endurance.
Today, it's a completely different picture. The world's most populous nation has -- by some distance -- the world's largest network of high-speed railways.
No fewer than 37,900 kilometers (about 23,500 miles) of lines crisscross the country, linking all of its major mega-city clusters, and all have been completed since 2008.
Half of that total has been completed in the last five years alone, with a further 3,700 kilometers due to open in the coming months of 2021.
The network is expected to double in length again, to 70,000 kilometers, by 2035.
With maximum speeds of 350 kph (217 mph) on many lines, intercity travel has been transformed and the dominance of airlines has been broken on the busiest routes.
By 2020, 75% of Chinese cities with a population of 500,000 or more had a high-speed rail ink.
Spain, which has Europe's most extensive high-speed network and occupies second place in the global league table, is a minnow in comparison with just over 2,000 miles of dedicated lines built for operation at over 250 kph.
In contrast, the UK currently has just 107 kilometers while the United States has only one rail route that (just about) qualifies for high-speed status -- Amtrak's North East Corridor, where Acela trains currently top out at 240 kph on expensively rebuilt sections of existing line shared with commuter and freight trains.
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| Bitcoin falls further as China cracks down on crypto-currencies |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 11:41 AM - Forum: Business, Economy and Investment
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The price of Bitcoin fell below $34,000 (£24,030) for the first time in three months on Wednesday, after China imposed fresh curbs on crypto-currencies.
Beijing banned banks and payment firms from providing services related to crypto-currency transactions.
It also warned investors against speculative crypto trading on Tuesday.
It follows falls in Bitcoin of more than 10% last week after Tesla said it would no longer accept the currency.
On Wednesday afternoon, Bitcoin recovered some ground, although it was still down -10.4% at $38,131.
Meanwhile, other digital currencies such as Ether, which acts as the fuel for the Ethereum blockchain network, and Dogecoin lost as much as 22% and 24% respectively.
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| Salma Hayek says she battled a near-fatal case of Covid-19 |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 11:13 AM - Forum: Celebreties News
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(CNN)Salma Hayek is opening up about her battle with Covid-19.
In a recent interview with Variety, the actress said she contracted the virus early on in the pandemic and almost ended up in the hospital.
"My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad," Hayek told the publication. "I said, 'No, thank you. I'd rather die at home.'"
Hayek said she went on to spend seven weeks in self isolation at her home and that she was even put on oxygen.
Although she is back to work on Ridley Scott's "House of Gucci," she said she still doesn't have the energy she once had.
Hayek is among the celebrities who has publicly shared their experiences with contracting Covid-19 in the last year.
Source: CNN
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| Umno men in Cabinet may become party outcasts |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 10:09 AM - Forum: Politics
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PETALING JAYA: An Umno grassroots leader has warned colleagues serving in the Cabinet that they risk being ostracised by their own party as Covid-19 takes its toll on the economy and people’s livelihoods.
“The anger is there for everyone to see,” he said. “Many Umno grassroots members are worried that the party will suffer from its association with the present administration.
“After the Umno general assembly, there were already calls for our ministers to quit the Cabinet but they stayed on.”
The leader, who ranks high in the Umno hierarchy, spoke to FMT on condition that his name is withheld.
He said the ministers should “at least go all out to fight for the right policies and measures” if they felt they had a duty to remain in the Cabinet because of the Covid-19 situation.
He said they were putting Umno at risk by ignoring calls coming from experts and “even Umno leaders” for a strict and short lockdown and for the reopening of Parliament and numerous other suggestions that could help the government address the pandemic effectively.
Umno leaders in the Cabinet should “reflect and start speaking up” if they harboured dreams of leadership positions ahead of the party polls, he added.
Three names are being bandied about for the contest for the Umno presidency in this year’s party polls. They are Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein and defence minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
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| Who really profits from Covid-19? |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-20-2021, 09:56 AM - Forum: Politics
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It’s our second year of this absurdity with Covid-19.
I say absurdity while not taking this pandemic lightly. For most of us, the suffering is real.
The spike in the number of infections, the daily dose of information about the shortage of hospital beds, the armed forces being tasked to set up temporary hospitals, the country’s medical services being placed in “code blue”, the failing businesses, the loss of livelihoods and ultimately, the loss of life; are all terribly alarming.
But there’s still so much ludicrousness even during these awful times.
And it’s not from the people who don’t stay home or wear the prescribed face masks. It is so easy to blame them for these spikes. Look around you, please. Most Malaysians are doing as we are told.
Picking on ordinary, helpless people who are afraid for their lives, by saying that they are the cause of these spikes is simply preposterous.
Victimising the average Malaysian is akin to picking the lowest hanging fruits. We are easy pickings for the authorities and get harangued and harassed at every turn.
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| The Burden of Privilege on the Malaysian Economy |
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Posted by: superadmin - 05-19-2021, 07:45 PM - Forum: Stop Racism and Religious Bigotry
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Published on January 27, 2021
By Sukudhew (Sukhdave) Singh
Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Malaysia | Former Independent Director, Khazanah Nasional Berhad
There are three systems of privileges that are operating in Malaysia: race, religion and titles. All of them are intended to confer privileges to certain groups and come with exclusive economic benefits for those who are favored by these systems.
There is no problem with earned or deserved privilege because such privilege is based on a significant contribution to society and the economy. Such privilege is justifiable given the contribution to the greater good. Also, extreme inequality never benefits a society and cannot be justified. Therefore, extending certain privileges that would enable the economically disadvantaged groups in a society to progress and make a better living are also justifiable. What is not justifiable is when the system of privileges is abused, as is clearly the case in Malaysia, and unearned and undeserved privileges are bestowed. There are social and economic costs to any privilege system and the abuse of these systems only increases those costs.
The Privileges of Race and Religion
Let me deal with race and religion first, which by design, have fractured Malaysian society and created a system of privileges that is hard to justify. Let me illustrate with a couple of examples:
When a Malay tycoon can buy a string of houses in Malaysia at discounted prices while middle income non-Malays have to pay full prices to buy their family homes (effectively subsidizing the tycoon), such discriminatory and unwarranted privilege is justified by a system of privileges related to race.
When a Muslim man can walk into a supermarket and demand that it removes the section containing the “non-halal” products consumed by non-Muslims, there is a religious privilege system that is empowering such inconsiderate and uncouth behavior and its associated belief that the customs and practices of one part of society supersede those of the others.
Race and religion have been used to enshrine a privilege system that has created different classes of citizens in the country. Political shenanigans like the large-scale giving of blue ICs to foreigners in Sabah have elevated those foreigners, because of their religion, to enjoy privileges that are denied to other long-standing citizens of the country. When race and religion are the determinants of privilege, merit has a much smaller role in society and in the allocation of economic opportunities.
As it is, the privileges of race and religion have elevated mediocre minds to where they can tell the rest of society what it can and cannot do. The privileges of race and religion have lifted unqualified and incompetent individuals into positions of leadership. The privileges of race and religion have provided opportunities for individuals to enrich themselves through dishonest means, to betray public trust, to loot public funds – all with impunity. The privileges of race and religion have legitimized rent-seeking as an economic activity. The privileges of race and religion have allowed exclusive access to economic resources through institutionalized discrimination. It is primarily to safeguard these privileges that Malaysia has been unwilling to sign up to some very basic international conventions on human rights, including the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The New Economic Policy was misguided. Instead of focusing on economic need, it decided to focus on race. Had it focused on economic need, it would have achieved superior outcomes in reducing all forms of economic inequality, it would have led to far less distortionary policies, and it would not have entailed the massive waste of taxpayers’ funds. Most important of all, it would have cemented a Malaysian identity where all citizens in need are treated equally. By making the NEP race-based, it has allowed unscrupulous individuals to hijack the benefits to enrich themselves while enacting self-preserving policies that are definitely not in the interest of the Malaysian economy, and may not even be in the interest of those that the NEP was supposed to help.
I am very pessimistic that the Malaysian economy will ever be unshackled from the fetters of the NEP. It has proved to be too profitable for those who have hijacked its benefits and a large deluded sector of our society continues to be fed the narrative of “us against them,” that has been the foundation of such policies. This means that the economic distortions created by these policies will continue to undermine the Malaysian economy at a time when the global competitiveness of the Malaysian economy is being challenged as it never has been before. It is a burden of privilege that the Malaysian economy can ill-afford.
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