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China's Tianwen-1 probe successfully entered orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a nearly seven-month voyage from Earth. http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20210211...
China's Tianwen-1 Mars Probe to Prepare for Landing after Entering Orbit
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IT’S going to be a cheap Chinese New Year. For one thing, I haven’t even gone to the bank to get new notes for ang pow. Since I won’t be visiting or expecting visitors, there’s no point in preparing the red envelopes.
Despite the amended SOP allowing 15 family members within 10km radius to attend, my reunion dinner will be kept to just seven of us – including my maid – living in the same house. My sisters will not be able to return from Sydney or Singapore this time.
I have hung up my red lanterns, traditional decorative knots, set up vases of pussy willow, silk peonies and peach blossoms and bought baskets of mandarin oranges to make the house more festive.
But there is a hollowness to it. No one has been feeling bullish ever since our infection rates spiked dramatically and the movement control order was reimposed and now extended.
As for the reunion dinner, no one feels like having the traditional steamboat which is best eaten with lots of people. So we will tapau salted egg crabs from our favourite seafood restaurant and I will add a few home-cooked dishes.
Our lou sang dish will be made with the store-bought pickled and preserved ingredients as well as freshly grated daikon, carrots, pomelo and Korean pear. Instead of raw salmon, I am going to try it with unagi, Japanese grilled eel.
This is the thing I miss most this CNY: not being able to meet friends for lunch and dinner and noisily toss the fish. In previous years, I could happily lou sang at least half a dozen times.
My sister who lives in Singapore told me the government has taken a different approach. Dining-in at restaurants is allowed but with strict instructions how it should be done.
She says diners aren’t allowed to remove their face masks except to eat and drink. They put the masks back on to chat after the eating is done.
That is actually the right thing to do. We relaxed our restrictions to allow dining and we assumed we were somehow safe to strip off the mask because we are eating and or drinking. Well, serves our ignorance right. That is probably one of the causes of infections going up and spreading into the community.
I learned of a case in Seoul involving two Covid-19 positive people sitting in a coffee outlet. They were asymptomatic and were in the shop for hours, working on their laptops, sipping their coffee with their masks off.
By doing so, they became super-spreaders to many others who were also unmasked and sharing the same enclosed space. What is interesting and telling is that none of the waiters and staff who were masked all the time got infected.
That’s why Singapore’s Health Ministry’s SOP for diners this CNY is as follows:
“Those who are dining out should make sure they wear a mask if they are not eating or drinking. We already do not allow singing (including by diners) and other live performances at F&B establishments and work-related events where food is served.
“Diners should also avoid raising their voices, at all times. This also means that face masks must be worn during the tossing of yusheng (raw fish), and that the lohei (tossing of the fish and the other ingredients in the dish) should be done without any verbalisation of the usual auspicious phrases.
“F&B establishments and enterprises serving lohei must ensure that both the staff and patrons comply with these requirements.”
That does take the joy and fun out of the lohei ritual because we loud, noisy Chinese do love “din-dining” but there is a good reason for the ban. Research already shows that when we sing or shout, our spit droplets fly much wider and further.
But an enterprising Singaporean vlogger has loaded a video on YouTube entitled Auspicious Lohei Sayings and Prosperous Wishes With One Minute of Huat Ahh! that you can play for some festive noise.
I think it’s a good idea to resort to playing the video even when we lohei at home with family members.
If you are not happy with the video’s sound effect, I suppose you can prerecord your own auspicious phrases with CNY music in the background and maybe the sound of firecrackers going off too.
Singapore’s SOP goes further: Since Jan 26, “To further mitigate the risk of large community clusters arising from infections that spread within a household and through them to all their contacts, we will impose a cap of eight distinct visitors per household per day. Individuals should also limit themselves to visiting at most two other households a day, as much as possible.”
As my sister mused, is this enforceable? Probably not. That’s why the SOP appeals to everyone to cooperate with the new measures.
That’s the best all of us, whether in Singapore, Petaling Jaya or Sydney, can do. Respect proper mask wearing, maintain physical distancing and spend as little time as possible in one place, especially if it’s an enclosed space. Avoid crowds and wash those hands frequently!
Meanwhile, like everyone else, I will breathe a sigh of relief on Friday when we see the last of the Rat and we usher in the Year of the Niu. Niu is the Chinese character that generally refers “to cows, bulls, or neutered types of the bovine family, such as common cattle or water buffalo”, says Wikipedia.
Somehow, when it comes to naming the Chinese new year, the English translation of niu is ox and not cow or bull. We don’t say “year of the cow” or “bull”.
Yet, the popular image of the niu depicted on greeting cards and ang pow envelopes, of mall decorations, is that of a bull poised to charge with mighty horns, full of power and virility.
Indeed, the bull figures in many cultures, worshipped as a god and the ancestor of kings in several ancient civilisations.
But it is the domesticated, humble cow/bull/ox that has served humankind much more. For thousands of years, as oxen, they have been harnessed to plough fields, thresh and grind grain, pull carts and other heavy loads. For that purpose, oxen are usually castrated – and therefore more docile – cattle. As cows, they provided milk and as cattle, were slaughtered for their meat and hides.
In Chinese culture, the niu is seen as good-natured, hard-working, dependable and associated with good harvests and fertility. It has been anthropomorphised to have the qualities of gentleness, loyalty and trustworthiness.
According to Jupiter Lai, a Chinese astrologer quoted by The Japan Times, 2021 is the Year of the Metal Ox with the earth element, “representing stability and nourishment” which is exactly what the world needs now.
The world was driven crazy by the devious Rat whose year was fuelled by its yang energy. The Ox will bring in much needed yin energy to calm things down. At least that’s what the fortunetellers are saying. And very carefully at that.
I actually find it quite amusing that all the feng shui and Chinese horoscope websites seem to be very cautious in predicting what’s in store in 2021. I know of none who got it right for 2020.
Even without the soothsayers telling us, we know there will be long and difficult months ahead. But for the next week or two, let’s try to uplift our spirits, give thanks for a brand new year and pray for everyone’s health.
Stay vigilant! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
By June H.L. Wong -The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
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Countries since independence with a young history (less than 500 years) tend to have a vast number of naturalised citizens. The United States, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are just some of the countries that gain independence from the colonial master at that time, Great Britain. Citizens by law have sworn allegiance to the country that hey live in and they have to abide by the laws of the country.
IN the blink of an eye, I turned 60 last year. I was born in 1960, just three years after Merdeka. I have been a Malaysian citizen from birth whereas my brother, who was born eight years earlier, had to go through a naturalisation process, from a red identity card to blue identity card to finally a naturalised citizen of Malaysia.
My father went through the same process even though he emigrated from China to Malaya in the 1930s. My mother was born in Jasin, Melaka, in the late 1920s and she too had to go through the process to become a naturalised citizen.
Countries since independence with a young history (less than 500 years) tend to have a vast number of naturalised citizens. The United States, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are just some of the countries that gain independence from the colonial master at that time, Great Britain.
Nobody can force a citizen to leave the country but citizens can make personal choices should they decide to leave and emigrate to another country. Citizens leave because of economic or political reasons, and to escape domestic civil wars.
As a country that embraces democracy, Malaysian citizens above 18 years old have the right to vote.
One citizen, one vote. Voting trends in Malaysia since independence have been by race, for example, a Malay candidate for a Malay majority constituency and so forth.
If this voting trend continues, we will continue to see the same composition of politicians by race in our Parliament in the future.
Due to slower growth rate and naturalisation policies, the minority Chinese and Indians have, by percentage to population, been on a reducing trajectory – the Chinese from 37% in 1957 to 22% in 2020 and to 18% by 2040.
It is inevitable that there will be a diminishing Chinese voice in Parliament.
With a diminishing influence in the decision making of government policies, minority communities will face diminishing share of economic and educational opportunities in this country.
What then can the diminishing minority communities do to ensure a fair share of economic and educational opportunities for the next 60 years?
As a Malaysian Chinese going into my twilight years, I have no answer to this dilemma.
Perhaps the Chinese community, especially the younger generation, would like to start a conversation on this topic.
My only advice is that the conversation tone must be positive and reconciliatory and not confrontational. It must be a win-win strategy, never a zero-sum game.
The conversation should be centered on self help within the community if no help is seen coming. The dialogue must be about the Malaysian Chinese investing their loyalty into this country in the hope of a brighter future.
The discussion must focus on helping the poor of all races and to bridge the gap between rich and poor Malaysians. Only then will we have a stable and just society.
Lending a helping hand
Most immigrants from China in the early 1900s were housed, fed and given a job by their clansman upon arriving at the shores of Malaya. They were identified by their village, district, province and by their spoken dialects.
As such, in Malaya then and Malaysia until the 1990s, you can still identify the dialects with the trade and concentrated communities of the same province in particular towns.
Till today, the older generation of the same dialects share a special friendship-bond as it was with their forefathers
These individual communities then set up associations by dialect, first in townships and then grew into a national association. Leaders of the association were normally business and academic leaders of the community.
The associations helped their members (mostly uneducated) to deal with government matters, for example land matters, and offered scholarships to bright students as well as financial and welfare assistance to the poor and the elderly.
The various associations and the local rich donated to build schools and temples.
Like all associations and societies, sustainability over the long term depends on new membership enrollments.
But the younger generation has no interest in joining and now the association’s role in the community is diminishing as well.
How can these associations reinvent themselves to play the community leader role again, especially in this pandemic recession? Offering refuge to their clansman or the poor Chinese community at large like before?
Many unemployed families are having reduced or no income and have problems putting food on the the tables and paying rent for a roof over their heads.
Can the association and the immediate community distribute foodstuff to these families like the Foodbank model in the US? These people have no place to turn to.
The Chinese community leaders can play a bigger role in protecting the welfare of the Chinese community.
When no help is forthcoming, the leaders must step up, the younger generation must participate and contribute in whatever ways they can to help the community and that no clansman goes hungry and is left behind.
In my next article, I would like to discuss about education and career choices for the new generation of Chinese youth.
I would like to start a conversation about our Chinese SMEs who are suffering in silence and in clear desperation of financial assistance.
I welcome all positive recommendations and ideas and you can write to starbiz@thestar.com.my.
In the meantime, help your community by buying from your local SMEs and hawkers. Help the elderly and the poor by whatever means possible. Let us build a caring and supportive community.
That will be a good start. One small step towards the next 60-year journey.
by Tan Thiam Hock is an entrepreneur. Views expressed here are the writer’s own.
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We are targeting as much as 80% of the population or 26.5 million Malaysians to receive the vaccine free of charge.- Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
The country will embark on its largest ever immunisation programme, involving some 80% of Malaysians, when free Covid-19 vaccines roll out at the end of the month, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The Prime Minister also warns that stricter enforcement and harsher penalties – including jail terms – will be imposed on anyone who flouts pandemic regulations.
PETALING JAYA: The country will embark on its largest ever immunisation effort when the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, targeting some 26.5 million Malaysians, rolls out at the end this month, says Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“We are targeting as much as 80% of the population or 26.5 million Malaysians to receive the vaccine free of charge,” he said in a special live address yesterday.
He said the first batch of vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech would be arriving soon, describing this as a “ray of hope” for the nation in its fight against the virus.
“The first phase of the immunisation programme will involve the vaccination of 500,000 medical and non-medical frontliners, which is expected to be completed by April,” he said.
The second phase, he added, would involve those in high-risk groups such as those 60 years and above, with heart ailments or high blood pressure, were obese or diabetic, and the disabled.
“A total of 9.4 million people (from high-risk groups) is expected to receive the vaccine under the second phase from April to August,” he added.
Muhyiddin said that the third phase would involve the rest, aged 18 and above, with vaccinations to be carried out from May this year to February next year.
“The national Covid-19 immunisation programme is the largest vaccination programme ever to be carried out in the country.
“I call on all Malaysians to mobilise available efforts and resources to ensure the success of the programme.
“We are all in this together, and only together can we win,” he said.
He stressed that the vaccination programme was crucial as it would help the country develop herd immunity, which would bring the pandemic under control.
Muhyiddin added some 600 storage and vaccination centres would be opened nationwide for the programme.
He said that authorities would rely on the Emergency Ordinance 2021 to temporarily use halls and other facilities for the vaccination rollout.
He also promised that more details on the immunisation programme such as registration, location of vaccination centres and related information, would be made known in due time.
Muhyiddin said that Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has been tasked with overseeing the programme to allow the Health Ministry to focus on healthcare services in fighting the pandemic.
On a separate matter, Muhyiddin said that private hospitals had stepped forward to contribute 1,409 beds to help treat Covid-19 patients, which would ease the pressure on government hospitals, and 1,344 of these beds would be in regular wards and 65 in intensive care units (ICUs).
He added that the Health Ministry also set RM27mil to work with 31 private hospitals to outsource the treatment of non-Covid-19 patients.
Muhyiddin also said that concerted efforts would be made among public and private medical laboratories to increase Covid-19 screening capacity.
Currently, he said 68 government and public laboratories had the capacity to carry out 76,000 Covid19 tests daily.
He added that 16 former National Servive and Kem Wawasan camps would be temporarily turned into detention and quarantine centres for illrgal immigrationys and inmates to lessen overcrowing.
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PETALING JAYA: Former attorney general Tommy Thomas has harsh words for Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose resignation as prime minister in February 2020 paved the way for Muhyddin Yassin to take power.
In an epilogue to his recently-published memoirs, Thomas described Mahathir’s resignation as “a monumental betrayal”.
In a Churchillian turn of phrase, Thomas said: “Seldom in our nation’s history have so many million voters been let down by the actions of one man.”
Mahathir resigned on Feb 24, causing the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government two years after it came to power in the 2018 general election. His resignation led the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to seek a new prime minister and cabinet from members of Parliament.
Muhyiddin was appointed five days later after the King consulted political leaders to determine who commanded a majority in the Dewan Rakyat. He formed a government of parties in the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
Thomas said the formation of the new government “by a coalition of Malay-centric parties that proudly proclaim their race and religion” had brought disastrous consequences to multi-racial Malaysia.
He compared Muhyiddin Yassin to former US president Donald Trump, saying they both represented the rise to power of those lacking credibility and principle.
Both Muhiddin and Trump represented the modern ‘”kakistocracy”, he said, using a term invented in 17th century England to mean “government by the worst; to describe the political rise of the least qualified or most unscrupulous”.
Calling it a “misgovernment for profit”, Thomas said the kakistocracy served a political agenda – the shameless pursuit of hate politics: (Trump’s) America First, or the Malay/Muslim Agenda of the PN government.
He also said that Trump displayed “dictatorial conduct” during his tenure, disregarding conventions, norms and even legal requirements. Malaysia’s opposition parties have used similar terms against Muhyiddin after his government declared a state of emergency.
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