Celebrating Nasi Lemak

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the rich, fragrant, and spicy dish, known as Nasi Lemak. 

The dish – considered the national dish of Malaysia and widely eaten year-round – is what many Malaysians start their day with. 

I am very Malaysian and I take my nasi lemak very seriously! And sharing with you that nasi lemak is best accompanied with Coca-Cola! 

Although the name translates from Malay as “rich rice” (a reference to the coconut milk included in the recipe) there is another origin story for the name. 

According to legend, the daughter of a widow named Mak Kuntum accidentally spilled coconut milk into the rice pot. “What did you cook?” Mak asked and her daughter answered. "Nasi le, Mak!" (Rice, mother!) 

There are many variations of the dish across the multi-ethnic melting pot of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and other indigenous and imported cultures, but the fundamental recipe – featured in today’s video Doodle – is rice cooked with santan (or coconut milk) and flavored with pandan leaf and galangal root, served with ikan bilis (fried anchovies), crispy peanuts (skin on), sliced cucumber, hard-boiled egg, and sambal (hot sauce) or a splash of tamarind juice, with an optional piece of fried chicken or beef rendang on the side. 

In fact, nasi lemak is so popular it’s also eaten for lunch and dinner, too! 

The 40-second video titled “Celebrating Nasi Lemak” featured the preparation of the ubiquitous dish:

Piggy Wares for the Lunar New Year

I came across this FMT article today featuring a Muslim couple, Adam Baderun and Yuslina Badrum who is trading at the Riverson Walk bazaar at Kota Kinabalu Times Square in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. 

What’s so special is that they are hawking a variety of laser-cut items specially designed for the Lunar New Year. Key chains, pins and bookmarks are carefully arranged in rows. 

But perhaps the most eye-catching sight of all are the figurines of pigs, in conjunction with the Chinese zodiac animal being celebrated this year. 

The pig is considered unclean by the predominant Malay-Muslim community, but this Sabahan couple has no problem selling the figurines, nor do their customers seem fazed by the sight of tudung-clad Yuslina hawking her piggy wares. 

Yuslina, nicknamed Yus, is of Kadazan-Sungai descent. 

Yus, a secondary school teacher, doesn’t understand the fuss over the animal in semenanjung Malaysia. She says if people truly understand their religion, they won’t get upset over trivial matters. 

“For me, there is no issue (selling pig figurines)”, she said. “Pigs and dogs are God’s creation as well”. 

And she added: “You’d be surprised how much we can learn and understand about other people’s culture if we promote tolerance”. 

Adam said all of the items at their stall are made in their own shop in Penampang using laser cut technology. When asked about their experience of selling the figurines, he said it is a non-issue in Sabah. 

“In the peninsula, the very mention of babi or pig will raise red flags. But for us, we know our faith. Selling the icons will not shake our beliefs. We don’t consume the meat, and the items are just art”. 

He stressed: “It’s not our place to look down on other people’s culture. In Sabah, we live in a multiracial and multi-religious setting, and we tolerate each other. We learn to appreciate our respective beliefs”. 

Adam is an aircraft technician. His father is from Perak and his mother hails from Selangor, but both have been living in Sabah for over 40 years now. 

“My parents have no problem with us selling the pig icons”, he told FMT. “They have been here for so long and have learned how tolerant a society Sabah is”. 

But the lessons on respect, tolerance and harmony that Adam learned came from his wife, Yus. He and Yus, both 32 now, got married in 2013. 

“My wife’s family consists of Muslims and non-Muslims. That’s where I effectively learned about tolerance and understanding the beliefs of others”, he said. 

Adam and Yus said the pig figurines have been a hit among their customers. 

In the past, they have also sold items commemorating Easter and Christmas, including decorative pieces inscribed with Bible verses. 

It’s all about investing the time and effort to understand each other – we are Malaysians, after all.

The Reds Confront the Yellows

The red scarves say they are defending democracy and opposing violence. Image credit: Reuters

"Don't touch my republic" this red scarf protester declared. Image credit: AFP 

Across France, about 69,000 people took part in the eleventh consecutive weekend of yellow-vest (gilets jaunes) protests the interior ministry said. 

But now, a group calling itself the red scarves has held a march in Paris to counter weeks of anti-government protests by the yellow-vest movement. 

The "foulards rouges" are demanding an end to the violence witnessed at yellow-vest rallies. 

Note: The gilets jaunes movement grew out of fuel tax protests in November. It now embraces wider discontent with President Emmanuel Macron and has supposedly seen some of the most serious street violence in Paris since 1968. 

But the weeks of TV footage showing clashes with riot police and damage to public monuments have triggered a counter-movement and the red scarves now have about 21,000 followers on Facebook. More than 10,000 people took part in Sunday's march, Le Figaro reported. 

Just as quickly, a crack has appeared among the red scarves. One side is supportive of Macron and the other side does not. Laurent Soulié has rallied supporters on Facebook to back the president, RFI reported. And the other side, supposedly under Alex Brun, insisted the foulards rouges were "an apolitical citizens' movement". 

I can see that this whole situation will become very messy. 

Saturday’s match between Celtic and Hamilton Academical saw the former winning 3-0. Three different scorers, i.e. Callum McGregor (40), Ryan Christie (77) and Scott Sinclair (87) and the three goals helped their team move three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Hyperinflation Curses Venezuela

Inflation has spiked in Venezuela, making it difficult for people to afford basic essentials. Image credit: Getty Images

It is sometimes difficult to fathom how inflation impacts ordinary people’s lives. Many of us wouldn't know unless it hits us in the pocket. 

I thought the photo above helps us to appreciate the devastating effects of inflation. 

In Venezuela’s case, it is already labelled hyperinflation – and for Venezuelans, it is causing untold hardships in their day-to-day lives. 

The country once boasted Latin America's richest economy – boosted by the biggest oil reserves on the planet. But under former president Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013, and current President Nicolás Maduro, corruption, mismanagement and high levels of debt have seen the country's economy collapse. 

Chávez took advantage of the oil boom in the 2000s to borrow heavily and government spending soared. Then, during Maduro's first term in office, the Venezuelan economy went into freefall. Many blamed him for worsening the country's decline. And of course, plummeting oil prices in 2016 compounded the oil-dependent country's crisis.

According to BBC News, it highlighted a study by the opposition-controlled National Assembly which said that the annual inflation rate reached 1,300,000% in the 12 months to November 2018. 

By the end of last year, prices were doubling every 19 days on average. This has left many Venezuelans struggling to afford important household items such as food and toiletries.

Some Venezuelans have turned to charity for food.  Image credit: Getty Images

On Thursday, I was at the Ireka Toastmasters meeting, after receiving a call for help. I was needed as a speech evaluator.

Ireka were fortunate because my Fonterra Brands Malaysia Toastmasters meeting was cancelled just a day before. Sigh, these days, club meetings are not what I've come to expect!

The Tobacco Industry's Dark Influence

Malaysia’s Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) are among free-market think tanks globally that have received donations from tobacco companies and had opposed measures to curb smoking such as higher cigarette taxes, a report by The Guardian highlighted today. 

The UK daily had identified Ideas’ statements and work in objecting to the Malaysian government’s 2017 proposal to impose a hike in cigarette tax, in the latter’s bid to cut down on the death toll of over 27,200 Malaysians annually from smoking. 

Malaysia’s then deputy health minister Hilmi Yahaya had in March 2017 spoke of plans to increase the price of a pack of cigarettes from RM17 to RM21.50, with The Guardian noting that experts had backed taxes as a proven measure to reduce smoking and smoking-related health problems and deaths. 

But the-then Ideas executive director Wan Saiful Wan Jan had reportedly opposed the idea, saying that the proposed solution of higher taxes was “wrong because it will only encourage illegal activities without reducing the number of smokers”, with the argument that “one out of every two packs” of cigarettes in Malaysia is smuggled and a tax hike would boost the illicit trade. 

The Guardian noted that the Malaysian government withdrew itheir proposal for higher cigarette taxes after 10 days, but said Ideas continued to speak up for months against the idea by issuing statements, opinion pieces and two reports which used tobacco firm-funded data to say taxes would intensify illegal trade. 

The newspaper cited South-east Asia Tobacco Control Alliance’s senior policy adviser Mary Assunta as commenting on Ideas’ work: “The obvious question is: Why the sudden keen interest in tobacco control?” 

“[It] coincides with when it started receiving funds from transnational tobacco companies”, she was quoted as saying. 

Assunta noted Ideas’ status as a high-profile think tank in Malaysia when arguing that its selection by the tobacco companies to front their position is similar to the latter’s strategy in other countries. 

“A 2014 Philip Morris International (PMI) strategy to counter the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control states it should find ‘allies that cannot be ignored’, and Ideas fits this criterion in Malaysia”, she said, referring to a major tobacco firm’s strategy. 

The Guardian pointed out that the tobacco industry had funded two separate findings that supported its stand of high smuggling rates of cigarettes in Malaysia, with Nielsen stating a 57.1 percent in smuggling rates and consultancy firm Oxford Economics saying that 52.3 percent of cigarettes here were smuggled. 

The newspaper also noted that Nielsen’s spokesperson had said they were unable to share the report and referred the newspaper to the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers when it tried to obtain a copy, while also highlighting that a Swiss-based PMI affiliate called Philip Morris International Management had paid for Oxford Economics’ report. 

Interestingly, the UK paper pointed out that a 2016 estimate by market research company Euromonitor International said tobacco smuggling in Malaysia was closer to 35 percent. 

Citing Ideas’ own financial disclosures, The Guardian said the think tank accepted funds from Philip Morris Singapore and Philip Morris Malaysia and that such funds from the Philip Morris International affiliates were during the 2015-2017 period, as well as funds from Japan Tobacco International in 2015 and 2017. 

The Guardian said British American Tobacco had replied that they had given donations to Ideas, but did not state which years the donations were made. 

In its examination of free-market think tanks worldwide, the newspaper’s analysis revealed at least 106 free-market thinktanks around the world took positions aligned with the tobacco industry in the last decade, accepted donations from the tobacco industry or both. 

Reporting by the Observer last year had also shown how the Foreign Office championed British American Tobacco’s interests abroad. It also said at least 30 free-market think tanks – including Ideas – were among the 47 think tanks who sent a letter in 2016 to the World Health Organisation to oppose the idea of plain packaging for cigarettes, and that Ideas had signed a second letter to the WHO in 2018 to again oppose plain packaging. 

Shame on Ideas!

If we say we know that cigarettes are killing us, then we should have the political will to outlaw the tobacco industry and totally stop the sale of these cancer sticks!

#ChurchToo: Christian victims of abuse

In the wake of revelations of systemic sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood and elsewhere, women all over the world are tweeting personal stories of abuse in the church to expose the religious teachings, leaders and cultures they say are contributing to sexism and violence against women. 

Started by spoken word poet Emily Joy and writer and religious trauma researcher Hannah Paasch, the hashtag #ChurchToo has quickly become an online repository of women's – and men's – accounts of being groped, raped, coerced and disbelieved by parishioners and pastors in church communities. 

The pair began #ChurchToo – a hashtag inspired by the #MeToo campaign documenting women's accounts of sexual harassment and assault – on behalf of abuse survivors who have been "silenced and erased".

In fact, ABC News had investigated and reported on domestic violence in faith communities  in Australia in much of 2018 and, during that time, had received reports of hundreds of women and even some men who had experienced abuse in religious settings. 

It seems that many survivors say the teaching in some churches on male headship and wifely submission had "laid the groundwork" for and exacerbated their abuse. 

Paasch, who writes about purity culture and the role and status of women in evangelical churches, said she hoped the chorus of voices would lead to a "cultural and theological upheaval". 

"This is not just a matter of 'people hurting people'", she said. "The ubiquity of abuse within the church is upheld by harmful, misogynistic, and racist theology", she said. 

It’s good that these injustices are now out in the open. Stop the oppression!

WSD-KL Updates on January 22

WSD-Kuala Lumpur updates for today:

I love this guy who’s featured as New York's real life transformer robot. It’s about passion and creativity, really!

At the Tournament of Champions on Monday, world No. 4 Joelle King had the upper hand when she cast Nicol David aside with a 3-1 win: 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 (42 mins).

Still, you can be sure David being the fighter that she is, is not giving up – she’s going to continue to keep at it. That’s Nicol David! 

Those who give up will not taste victory, no matter how much they desire it. It's not victory that is so important but the fighting spirit. Even when you fail, I think just the stubborn attitude of not giving up is already a triumph.

Definitely, we too can learn from her. Hold on tight and fight as hard as you can. That is courage. That is commitment to oneself. That is surely worth fighting for.

China's Economy Slows Down

It is confirmed – China’s economy is already slowing down. 

It’s no surprise – after all, it is common knowledge that China is moving up the value chain and it is emphasizing quality over quantity. 

But that’s not all. It's not just China. In fact, many economists say all of us should be worried. 

It’s a fact that slower growth in China means there is the potential knock-on effect on the global economy. 

The official figures out Monday informs us that the country experienced the weakest quarterly growth rate since the global financial crisis. 

China could only expand at 6.6% in 2018, the numbers showed. In the three months to December, the economy grew 6.4% from a year earlier, down from 6.5% in the previous quarter. 

The world’s second-largest economy accounts for one-third of global growth. 

Jobs, exports, commodity-producing nations – like it or not, we all depend on China to buy stuff from us. And when the country slows down and doesn't buy as much from other countries – we, of course, slow down too. 

According to the World Bank, growth in the Asia Pacific region is expected to diminish this year to 6% from 6.3% last year. 

Adding to this gloomy outlook for China is the US-China trade war which is not helping matters at all. 

Sure, in the short-term, there's the unintended, but positive, effect – evidenced by the expansion of business opportunities for countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, India and the Philippines as companies shift their supply chains from China to escape tariffs. 

In the longer term, the world will have to get used to a dwindling rate of growth in China, as Mark Williams of Capital Economics points out. 

"As China gets richer, its growth rate is going to slow. All successful economies go through this", he said. "That growth will slow even more significantly in the next five to 10 years".

This means emerging economies must learn to wean themselves out of this dependency on China – otherwise, they will not just suffer waning growth but they may even be worst off. 

Already, more pessimistic views indicate these countries are expected to grow at their weakest rate since the financial crisis, echoing China. 

It is urgent that Malaysia, for one, must diversify our markets.

WSD 2019 Lets You Embrace the Power of Speech

World Speech Day @ Kuala Lumpur is a day dedicated to celebrating speeches. 

Don't think that only Toastmasters can speak. Everyone and anyone can speak too because we all have a voice!

#unexpectedvoices 

That's what World Speech Day is all about.

On March 15, 2019, join us @ WSD-Kuala Lumpur and let us hear your voice:

Pray It's Not a Temporary Blip

Photo of Trump's head used in photocollage by Gage Skidmore: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0). Sink by Shutterstock/Christian Delbert

I came across this fact sheet about Donald Trump that informs Americans that just maybe, we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. For Trump haters, it means there is hope. 

According to the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, Trump’s approval rating is down 18 percentage points among suburban men, down 13 points among white evangelicals, down 10 points among Republicans, and down 7 points among the usually intractable cohort of white men without a college degree. 

"For the first time, we saw a fairly consistent pattern of having his base showing evidence of a cracking", said Lee Miringoff, director of MIPO, which conducted the poll. 

Let's pray this is not a temporary blip.

Just like Nicol David, Low Wee Wern is a fighter!

In just four tournaments since her comeback in July 2018, Low (right) moved from 254 to 52 in the latest world rankings, a remarkable achievement considering she was the No. 5 ranked player in the world before an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in her knee that needed multiple surgeries kept her out of the game for 21 months. 

She made four finals on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour and won all of them starting with the Malaysian and Tasmanian Open in July, Australian Open in August then the Queensland Open in October. 

At the Tournament of Champions in New York City, USA on Friday, Low did well to beat Egyptian, world No. 24 Mayar Hany 3-1: 12-10, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6 (42 mins) in the first round. 

But she lost 1-3 to another Egyptian in the second round, world No. 8 Nouran Gouhar: 11-4, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6 (39 mins). 

Still, Low made a good effort nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Nicol David, who received a first round bye, disposed Egypt's Rowan Elaraby 3-0 on Saturday: 11-9, 11-7, 13-11 (33 mins). 

And next, she’s playing New Zealander Joelle King on Monday.

Thumbs-up to the Smoking Ban

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad (left) must be lauded for sticking to his guns regarding the smoking ban in all F&B outlets. 

As he correctly put it: "It's just not about banning or prohibiting but more to ensure we have safe and clean air in particular in these public places". 

According to one news report dated January 12, 2019, enforcement officers have visited more than 30-thousand locations and issued upwards of 14,000 warnings since the law came into effect. 

Indian Muslim restaurants in Johor have recorded a 20% drop in business following the smoking ban in all eateries, according to Johor Indian Muslim Entre­preneurs Association (Perusim) secretary Hussein Ibrahim who pointed out that 200 out of their 338 members were involved in the restaurant business and they have been hit badly (The Star Online, January 20, 2019). 

Ting Choo Hew Chinese Coffee & Tea Shopkeepers' Association are unhappy: "…we've had a lot of complaints from our members that business is down by about 40 percent” (CGTN, January 12, 2019). 

The Malaysia Singapore Coffeeshop Proprietors’ General Association reported a drop of at least 20 percent in business (Malay Mail Online, January 10, 2019). 

Let them complain lah – I for one am happy that I no longer have to worry about getting the lingering acrid smell of cigarettes on me.

And yes, I believe the majority is adhering to the no-smoking law.

I took these photos last week at Q Bistro in SS15 in Subang Jaya, Selangor and there was again observance of the No Smoking law – I was there for my (drenched) nasi kandar and Coke:

Law-abiding smokers:

On Saturday, the game between Liverpool and Crystal Palace was a 7-goal thriller that gave me regular anxiety attacks. 

The latter were the last team to beat the former at Anfield in the EPL back in April 2017 and the south London club almost repeated that feat when Andros Townsend gave the former a well-worked lead after 34 minutes. 

The Reds then came flying out of the blocks in the second-half though as Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino helped their team hit back within eight minutes of the re-start. The Eagles levelled through James Tomkins in the sixty-fifth minute before Mo Salah scored his second goal of the match, bundling home after the visitors’ goalie fumbled a soft James Milner cross and gifted the ball to the Egyptian ten minutes later. And Sadio Mane scored to give Liverpool a 4-2 lead that finished Crystal Palace despite Max Meyer sweeping past Alisson Becker in the fifth minute of stoppage time. 

A massive relief! We have now hit 60 points and move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League!

And on the same day too, Celtic were playing in the Scottish Cup, fourth round where they won 3-0. 

Scott Sinclair (37, 56) and Timothy Weah (83) contributed to this win as they strolled into the last 16 at the expense of Airdrieonians.