Rightways to Success

Thursday, 2 May 2024

M'sia to see more Chinese tourists during golden week, ‘Golden’ opportunity for Penang

The Labour Day golden week, which runs from May first to fifth, is one of three major holidays in China, after the Chinese New Year and National Day celebrations. Tourism Malaysia is expecting a 30% increase in tourists compared with 2023 during the period

M'sia to see more Chinese tourists during golden week

International Labor Day: China's Travel Holiday

Breath of fresh air: Chinese nationals with a tour guide making the best out of Labour Day holiday to visit Penang Hill. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: This is the “Golden Week” in China – a time for Chinese nationals to take a much-needed break, its beginning coinciding with International Workers’ Day.

And many of them are doing just that in Penang.Making up a large number among international tourists in Penang, they thronged tourist attractions such as Penang Hill.

Project manager Jerry Chen, 42, from Suzhou, said his colleagues are spending three days in Penang to celebrate their break from work.“Visiting Malaysia is now visa-free, so we took advantage of it.

“We had visited Malaysia in the past, but never to Penang so this is an eye-opening trip for us.

“The food, especially, is our favourite,” he said yesterday.Another tourist from Beijing, engineer Ming Xingshi, 32, and his wife Li Jiumei, 30, decided to leave work for a week.“Since there is a day off in the middle of the week, we decided to take the whole week and travel.“This is my third time in Malaysia and we are familiar with most of the food and culture here.“This time, we are putting up at a homestay nearby,” said Ming.Another group from Taiwan, comprising retirees, is spending 10 days in Malaysia and are caught up in the Labour Day crowd.

Their tour leader Sylvia Chen said the group is more into visiting places of historical significance.“The group of 16 was in Singapore and Melaka prior to coming to Penang.

“They are taking their itinerary at a slower pace and the crowd on Labour Day added to their excitement.

“So far, the food and culture in Penang is suitable for them and they are blending in well,” said Chen.

Apart from tourists from various countries, many locals also took the opportunity to spend the Labour Day in various places, including shopping malls and eateries.

Long queues were seen at famous eateries in George Town.There was a large crowd visiting attractions such as street murals, heritage clan houses and private attractions within the heritage enclave, with heavy traffic at busy roads coming to a crawl.

It was reported that Penang recorded a 370% increase in tourists from China within the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year.

State tourism and creative economy committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said this is thanks to the visa-free policy and direct flights between Penang and China.

He said between January and March this year, Penang International Airport has received 22,420 visitors from China, compared with 4,768 arrivals in the same period last year.Wong said that these are only those who arrived via direct flights from China, while those who came via other means, such as through domestic flights from other states, were not factored in.

Travellers from Indonesia and Singapore, which stood as the highest number of arrivals, recorded an increase of 30.44% and 74.33% this year. This translated to an increase from 75,141 to 98,012 for Indonesia and from 22,310 to 38,890 for Singapore.

There are now 21 direct flights between Penang and China on a weekly schedule, with four more flights to be added at the end of May.

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Varsities rising up in rank | The Star

VARSITIES RISING UP IN RANK - USM News Portal

Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Chinese man earns green beret

Setapak lad saluted for being first Chinese commando in ...

Chinese accountancy graduate earns coveted Green Beret

PETALING JAYA: Leftenan Muda Chan Ming Youn beat all the odds to achieve his aim to become a member of one of the world’s toughest military units – Gerup Gerak Khas or Special Service Group.

The 25-year-old from Setapak, who graduated from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), earned his “green beret” on Sunday after passing 12 weeks of harsh and gruelling training.

“My parents were deadset against me joining the military, otherwise I would have done so soon after my SPM. They wanted me to get a degree and a job related to what I studied.

“I had constant arguments with them when I insisted on joining the armed forces because it is my childhood dream.

“I want to serve and protect my country in the most noble way I know,” he said in an interview yesterday.

To appease his parents, Chan, who is the youngest of three siblings, took up accountancy at TAR UMT and obtained a bachelor’s degree. While studying for his degree, he signed up as a reservist with the Territorial Army Regiment to fulfil his yearning to be a serviceman.

As the longing grew with his stint as an army volunteer, he decided to apply to join the army as a cadet officer in 2022.

Upon passing the interview and undergoing regular army training for nine months, he was briefly posted to the 2nd Royal Ranger Regiment before he set his mind to enrol in February as a candidate in the commando unit, which is known through its Malay acronym GGK.

He was then put through the GGK’s basic training, an exercise that determines whether a candidate qualifies to make it as an elite member of the special forces before he is assigned to undergo other specialised skills in weaponry, parajumping and close-quarters combat to become a full-fledged commando.

Recounting his experience during his 12-week training stint at the Sungai Udang Army Camp in Melaka, Chan said it was the toughest moments he had ever undergone in his life despite his love for the military.

Soon after the exercise began, his body was in immense pain and aching all over and then riddled with blisters, bruises and torn skin.

He said the most difficult task he faced was a 160km run with other recruits that left the soles of his feet inflamed and torn.

“In the jungle, we were to survive on very little food, and went hungry. When we ran out of supplies, we had to feed ourselves with whatever we could find in the forest such as monitor lizards and pythons.

“It was beyond what I had ever imagined.

“The training will break you both mentally and physically but that is what it takes to be an elite member of the special forces and to make us resilient.

“I almost lost my mind and had thoughts of giving up halfway through the training but the comradeship of my fellow recruits and the constant support of my trainers kept me going.

“The camaraderie was amazing. We were united as a unit and there was no differentiating anyone by race.

“We were like brothers who watched over each other’s backs and ensured we stayed sane. This was the greatest thing I will never forget,” he said.

On Sunday, Chan received his green beret, blue lanyard and a dagger, which qualified him as commando, from 21st GGK commander Mejar-Jen Adi Ridzwan Abdullah in a graduation ceremony at the Sungai Udang camp.

Chan said his parents who were present were pleased to see him in good health.

“I know they are proud of me although all they asked me was if I had eaten and in good health. Those words were enough to affirm their support.

“During the tough training, my thoughts were also on my parents who had raised me and I just did not want to let them down.

“That too kept me motivated,” he said.

When contacted, Mejar-Jen Adi Ridzwan said Chan is the first Malaysian Chinese in decades to pass out as a commando.

“He had applied to undergo the tough training moreover, and was not assigned to it. This is very admirable and he proved himself very well.

“The last time we had Malaysian Chinese commandos was almost 20 years ago. There were many of them in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Hence, we are seeing a revival of Malaysian Chinese returning to serve the army like how their predecessors did.

“We are happy to see this and we hope more non-Malays will join the armed forces,” he said.

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Monday, 29 April 2024

Do BMI letters help?

A us state experimented with sending parents letters about their child’s body mass index in an effort to fight obesity.

SIXTH-GRADE (equivalent to Year Six) boys were lining up to be measured in the Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School library in Arkansas, United States.

As they took off their shoes and emptied their pockets, they joked about being the tallest. “It’s an advantage,” said one. “You can play basketball,” said another.

A taller dude can get more girls!” a third student offered. Everyone laughed.

What they didn’t joke about was their weight.

Anndrea Veasley, the school’s registered nurse, had them stand one by one.

One boy, Christopher, slumped as she measured his height. “Chin up slightly,” she said. Then Veasley asked him to stand backward on a scale so he didn’t see the numbers.

She silently noted his height as just shy of four feet, seven inches (139.7 centimetres) and his weight as 115.6 pounds (52.4 kilogrammes).

His parents would later be among thousands to receive a letter beginning, “Many children in Arkansas have health problems caused by their weight.”

The letter includes each student’s measurements, as well as their calculated body mass index (BMI), an indicator of body fat.

The BMI number categorises each child as “underweight”, “normal”, “overweight” or “obese”.

Christopher’s BMI of 25.1 put him in the range of obesity.

> Is it really useful?

In 2003, Arkansas became the first US state to send home BMI reports about all students as part of a broader anti-obesity initiative.

> But in the 20 years since, the state’s childhood obesity rates have risen to nearly 24% from 21%, reflecting a similar, albeit higher, trajectory than national US rates.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the state obesity rate hit a high of more than 26%.

Still, at least 23 US states followed Arkansas’ lead and required height and weight assessments of students.

Some have since scaled back their efforts after parents raised concerns.

One school district in Wyoming used to include a child’s BMI score in report cards, a practice it has since stopped.

Ohio allows districts to opt in, and last year, just two of 611 school districts reported BMI information to the state.

And Massachusetts stopped sending letters home.

Even Arkansas changed its rules to allow parents to opt out.

Multiple studies have shown that these reports, or “fat letters” as they’re sometimes mockingly called, have had no effect on weight loss.

And some nutritionists, psychologists and parents have criticised the letters, saying they can lead to weight stigma and eating disorders.

BMI as a tool has come under scrutiny too, because it does not consider differences across racial and ethnic groups, sex, gender, and age.

In 2023, the American Medical Association called the BMI “imperfect” and suggested it be used alongside other tools such as visceral fat measurements, body composition and genetic factors.

Meant for awareness

All that highlights a question: What purpose do BMI school measurements and letters serve?

Nearly 20% of American children were classified as obese just before the Covid-19 pandemic – up from only 5% some 50 years ago – and lockdowns made the problem worse.

It’s unclear what sorts of interventions might reverse the trend.

Dr Joe Thompson, a paediatrician who helped create Arkansas’ programme and now leads the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, said BMI letters are meant to be a screening tool, not a diagnostic test, to make parents aware if their child is at risk of developing serious health issues such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory problems.

> Sharing this information with them is critical, he said, given that many don’t see it as a problem because obesity is so prevalent.

Arkansas is also a rural state, so many families don’t have easy access to paediatricians, he said.

Dr Thompson said he’s heard from many parents who have acted on the letters.

“To this day, they are still our strongest advocates,” he said.

The programme also led to new efforts to reduce obesity.

Some school districts in Arkansas have instituted “movement breaks”, while others have added vegetable gardens, cooking classes and walking trails.

One district sought funding for bicycles.

The state does not study whether these efforts are working.

Researchers say the BMI data also serves an important purpose in illuminating population-level trends, even if it isn’t helpful to individuals.

Parents are generally supportive of weighing children in school, and the letters have helped increase their awareness of obesity, research shows.

At the same time, few parents followed up with a healthcare provider or made changes to their child’s diet or physical activity after getting a BMI letter, several other studies have found.

In what is considered the gold standard study of BMI letters, published in 2020, researchers in California found that the letters home had no effect on students’ weight.

Dr Hannah Thompson, a University of California-berkeley assistant professor who coauthored the study, said most parents didn’t even remember getting the letters.

“It’s such a tiny-touch behavioural intervention,” she said.

Practical advice needed

Arkansas now measures all public school students in even grades annually, except for 12th graders (equivalent to Form Six or pre-university) because by that stage, Dr Thompson said the students are “beyond the opportunities for schools to have an impact”.

The change also came after many boys in one school wore leg weights under their jeans as a prank, he said.

Kimberly Collins, 50, remembers being confused by the BMI letters sent to her from the Little Rock School District in Arkansas, stating that all her children were considered overweight and that one daughter was classified as obese.

“It offended me as a mama,” she said. “It made me feel like I wasn’t doing my job.”

She didn’t think her children looked overweight and the family paediatrician had never brought it up as a concern.

Assist Prof Thompson said that’s the biggest problem with BMI letters: Parents don’t know what to do with the information.

Without support to help change behaviour, she said, the letters don’t do much. >

“You find out your child is asthmatic, and you can get an inhaler, right?” she said.

“You find out that your child is overweight and where do you even go from there? What do you do?”

Dr Kevin Gee, a professor at the University of Californiadavis, who has studied BMI letters, said the mailings miss cultural nuances.

In some communities, for example, people prefer their children to be heavier, associating it with comfort and happiness.

Or some eat foods that they know aren’t very nutritious, but are an important way of expressing love and traditions.

“There’s a lot of rich contextual pieces that we know influences rates of obesity,” he said.

“And so, how do we balance that information?” &

Collins’ daughter, now 15, said that as she’s grown older, she increasingly feels uncomfortable about her weight.

People stare at her and sometimes make comments. (Collins’ mother asked that her daughter’s name not be published because of her age and the sensitive nature of the subject.)

“On my birthday, I went to get my allergy shots and one of the nurses told me, ‘You are getting chubbier’,” she said.

“That didn’t make me feel the best.”

Collins said it pains her to see her soft-spoken daughter cover herself with her arms as if she’s trying to hide.

The teenager has also begun sneaking food and avoids the mirror by refusing to turn on the bathroom light, Collins said.

The girl signed up for tennis, but stopped after other children made fun of her, her mother said. (See From teen to adult: Weight stigma lingers on p8)

Looking back, Collins said, while she wishes she had paid more attention to the BMI letters, she also would have liked practical suggestions on what to do.

She said she had already been following the shortlist of recommended healthy practices, including feeding her children fruits and vegetables, and limiting screen time.

She isn’t sure what else she could have done.

Now everyone has an opinion on her daughter’s weight, Collins said.

One person told her to put a lock on the fridge.

Another t old her to buy vegan snacks.

Her mother bought them a scale.

“It’s a total uphill climb,” Collins said with a sigh. – KFF Health News/tribune News Service

This article was produced as a part of a project for the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship. KFF Health News is a US national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programmes of KFF – the independent source for US health policy research, polling and journalism.