Posts

Posted on

Malaysia Celebrates A Meaningful 2021 National Sports Day – PM Ismail Sabri

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob described this year’s National Sports Day (HSN) celebration as a meaningful one as last year’s celebration could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In his speech when opening the National Sports Day 2021 celebration on Saturday, Ismail Sabri said this year’s celebration, which is held in a hybrid and virtual manner, was to celebrate the efforts and success in culturising sports and recreation as outlined in the National Sports Policy 2009.

 

He said since National Sports Day was first celebrated in 2015, sports and recreational activities had become a national agenda in producing healthy, active and fit citizens.

 

In conjunction with this year’s National Sports Day, the Youth and Sports Ministry has planned several programmes at the national level, including the Mega Aerobics Challenge and virtual run.

 

Ismail Sabri said the government was aware that the entire sports ecosystem was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing a total of 1,968 sports-related businesses having to close operation last year.

 

Most of them are promoters and organisers of sports events, retail businesses of sporting goods, fitness centres and sports instructors, he added.

 

“In line with the government’s principle of ensuring no one is left behind marginalised, the worries and concerns of those in the sports sector will continue to be given attention by the government,” he said.

 

According to the prime minister, on July 5 this year, the Youth and Sports Ministry announced several initiatives specifically to help sports industry players affected by the COVID19 pandemic.

 

Ismail Sabri said the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Sports and Recreation Sector under the National Recovery Plan Plan (or VAT) was an initial initiative to ensure that activities could resume.

 

He said that since the reopening of sports and recreational activities last Sept 9, the participation in sports activities had exceeded 1.4 million people, including in motor sports and extreme sports.

 

Ismail Sabri said the people should make sports and recreation a new norm as a daily practice to ensure a healthy, active and fit Malaysian Family.

 

Source: Nam News Network

Posted on

Singapore Must Press On With “Living With COVID-19” Strategy, PM Lee

SINGAPORE, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday said the republic must press on with its strategy of “Living with COVID-19”.

 

“We should respect COVID-19, but we must not be paralysed by fear. Let us go about our daily activities as normally as possible, taking necessary precautions and complying with SMMs (Safe Management Measures),” he said while addressing the nation on the current COVID-19 situation.

 

Lee noted that “Living with COVID-19” has not been a smooth and easy journey for Singapore.

 

The prime minister recalled that in August, after reaching 80 per cent vaccinations, the republic eased up the Heightened Alert.

 

“We expected cases to go up, as more people resumed activities and interacted with one another. But the numbers went up more sharply than we had anticipated, because the Delta variant was so infectious,” he said.

 

The prime minister noted that the next few months “will be trying” for the republic as daily cases were expected to continue rising for some weeks.

 

“Our healthcare system will still be under pressure. We can slow, but we cannot stop the Delta variant,” he said.

 

Lee said at some point, the surge will level off, and cases will start to decline.

 

“We don’t know exactly when, but from the experience of other countries, hopefully within a month or so.

 

After the surge stabilises, Lee said Singapore might still see future surges, especially if new variants emerge and might have to tap “the brakes” again if cases again grow too fast, to protect its healthcare system and healthcare workers.

 

“But we will be better able to cope with future surges. Our capacity and processes continue to improve. As more people are exposed to the virus and recover, our immunity levels will increase, and COVID-19 will spread less quickly among us.

 

On how will Singapore know when it gets to the new normal, Lee said that : “It will be when we can ease off restrictions, have just light SMMs in place, and cases remain stable – perhaps hundreds a day, but not growing.”

 

“When our hospitals can go back to business as usual. When we can resume doing the things we used to do, and see crowds again without getting worried or feeling strange,” he added.

 

As at noon Oct 8, Singapore reported 3,590 new cases of COVID-19 infection bringing the total caseload for the republic to 120,454.

 

Meanwhile, as of Oct 7, 83 per cent of the Singapore population has completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

 

Source: Nam News Network

Posted on

COVID-19 Daily Cases To Continue Rising For Some Weeks: Singapore PM

SINGAPORE, Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said today that, he expects COVID-19 daily cases to continue rising for some weeks, and that the country’s healthcare system will still be under pressure.

 

“We can slow, but we cannot stop the Delta variant,” said Lee, when delivering his message on updating the COVID-19 situation in Singapore.

 

He said, the surge of daily cases will level off and cases will start to decline, at a timing that is unknown exactly right now. But from the experience of other countries, it will hopefully be within a month or so.

 

The prime minister said, it has been a long campaign against COVID-19. “The war continues, but we are in a much better position now than a year or six months ago.”

 

“Sometimes it may not feel like it, but we are making steady progress towards the new normal,” the prime minister said.

 

Singapore’s Ministry of Health announced last night that, the country added 3,590 cases of COVID-19 on that day, bringing the total tally in the country to 120,454. This is the fourth consecutive day when the daily new cases surpass 3,000.

 

The ministry also said that six more cases have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 142.

 

Lee said, Singapore must protect its healthcare system and workers at all costs, in order to get through the pandemic safely. He asked Singaporeans to support this effort by continuing to abide by prevailing Safe Management Measures (SMMs) and cutting back on social activities, to slow the spread of the virus, getting vaccinated, conducting self-test regularly to avoid infecting others, and recovering at home if infected, unless having serious illness or vulnerable family members.

 

He also said, it will take Singapore three to six months to get to the new normal, when the country can ease restrictions, have light SMMs in place, and cases remain stable.

 

He said, with vaccinations, COVID-19 has become a treatable, mild disease for most people. “So for 98 percent of us, if we catch COVID-19, we can recover by ourselves at home, just as we would if we had the flu.”

 

He also said that as part of living with COVID-19, Singapore must also connect itself back to the world. In particular, the country must continue to re-open its borders safely.

 

Singapore has started Vaccinated Travel Lanes with Germany and Brunei, and recently announced another with South Korea.

 

Lee said that Singapore is implementing more such arrangements, especially with countries whose COVID-19 situations are stable, so as to keep the country connected to global supply chains and help to preserve Singapore’s hub status.

 

Source: Nam News Network

Posted on

Chinese FM Calls For Building Closer China-ASEAN Community With Shared Future

BEIJING, As this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN, the two sides should cherish the valuable experience accumulated over the past 30 years, and build a closer community with a shared future, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said yesterday.

 

Wang made the remarks, when attending a reception to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN.

 

Since the establishment of dialogue relations in 1991, China and ASEAN have embarked on a path of unity and win-win cooperation, making important contributions to regional and world peace, stability, development and prosperity, Wang added.

 

Thirty years on, Wang suggested the two sides create a more favourable strategic environment, for the development of respective countries and long-term peace and prosperity of the region.

 

Wang stressed, the two sides should uphold high-level guidance and deepen strategic communication and political mutual trust, so as to draw a new blueprint for the long-term development of relations.

 

Wang also called for fostering new areas of practical cooperation, vigorously exploring emerging fields, such as, digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, and blue economy to promote regional green transformation and sustainable development.

 

Noting efforts to improve people’s livelihood and well-being, Wang said, China would continue to do its best to provide vaccines and other anti-pandemic supplies to ASEAN.

 

The two sides should strengthen cooperation in poverty reduction, disaster prevention and mitigation, and social development, Wang added.

 

Wang also called on both sides to safeguard long-term peace and stability in the South China Sea, practice true multilateralism and open regionalism together and jointly participate in global governance.

 

Source: Nam News Network

Posted on

Taiwan President to Pledge Defense of Sovereignty, Democracy

TAIPEI, TAIWAN —

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will pledge to defend the island’s sovereignty and democracy in a major speech Sunday, saying it faces challenges more complex and severe than ever, at a time when tensions with China have risen.

Democratic Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, which included this month four straight days of mass incursions by China’s air force into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

According to an outline of her national day speech Sunday, as described to Reuters by a source briefed on its contents, Tsai will say Taiwan is at the front lines of defending democracy and faces unprecedented complicated and severe challenges.

Tsai will reiterate Taiwan’s full determination to defend itself and maintain regional peace and stability, and she also will emphasize Taiwan will not “advance rashly.”

But when it comes to Taiwan’s sovereignty, there can be no backing down, she will say.

Speaking earlier Saturday in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to realize “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan and did not directly mention the use of force after the week of tensions with the island that sparked international concern.

Taiwan reacted angrily to the speech, saying only Taiwan’s people have the right to decide their own future, and decrying China’s coercive tactics.

China refuses to speak to Tsai, re-elected by a landslide last year on a promise to stand up to Beijing, believing she is a separatist.

She has made strengthening Taiwan’s defenses a cornerstone of her administration to enable it to mount a more credible deterrence to China, which is ramping up an ambitious modernization program of its own military.

Tsai spent Saturday evening at a national day reception at the Hsinchu air base in northern Taiwan, where she thanked the armed forces for their efforts to defend the island.

Source: Voice of America

Posted on

Hong Kong’s Boy Band Mirror Reflects Expats’ Yearning for Home

LONDON —

Jenny Chan strode through central London on a late summer Saturday afternoon, heading for the South Bank Lion statue opposite Big Ben.

There, by the River Thames, the 57-year-old mother and her two children joined a group of fellow Hong Kong expats who had gathered to sign a banner for Anson Lo, a 26-year-old singer with Hong Kong boy band Mirror.

About 200 people, most wearing clothes in Lo’s signature pink, wrote messages on the giant scroll. The banner had been hauled to the United Kingdom by Mirror fans, and its London stop on Sept. 25 was just one of many scheduled for outposts of the global Hong Kong diaspora. Its final destination is Hong Kong, where it will be presented to Lo himself.

The 12-member Hong Kong boy group Mirror originated in 2018 on the first season of King Maker, an elimination-style talent contest produced by Hong Kong’s ViuTV. The producers hand-picked contestants to form a boy band around the winner, Keung To. Mirror’s first release, roughly translated as One Moment in Time, debuted in November of that year.

Mirror’s trajectory — from its emergence before Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests of 2019 to its superstar status in the Cantonese-speaking world — has made listening to the band “a type of resistance,” wrote Mary Hui on Quartz, as China cracks down almost daily on Hong Kong’s civil society.

Inspirational lyrics

Mirror members are identified more by their signature colors — Keung To’s is peach — than their politics. But it was widely reported via Facebook that former journalist and activist Gwyneth Ho, detained on a national security charge and facing the possibility of life imprisonment, cried upon hearing their song Warrior, which includes a line that translates to “I’d rather die / And I won’t retreat.”

Such lyrics help explain why Mirror is now a common thread among those fleeing China’s repression in the once freewheeling former British colony. Today, wherever Hong Kongers gather, Mirror provides the soundtrack, with hits such as Ignited and Boss.

Howard Chan, 23, and his sister Maggie Chan, 16, were studying in the United Kingdom when Maggie discovered Mirror late in 2018 on a show streaming online. She was drawn by the Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong. VOA is using pseudonyms to ensure the safety of Chan family members as China tracks people overseas under Hong Kong’s national security law.

Through the band, the younger Chans told VOA Cantonese, they have connected with old friends in Hong Kong and friends who had moved to Australia.

Maggie Chan, a high school student, said she persuaded her brother, a Ph.D. candidate in engineering at a U.K. university, to join her in binge-watching Mirror’s ViuTV shows.

Howard Chan became a Mirror fan.

Their mother, Jenny Chan, moved to London in August 2019 to take care of her children. She continued watching a daily sitcom on TVB, a Hong Kong station often labeled pro-China.

Her children pushed her to quit TVB, but she resisted until the COVID-19 lockdown, when she started watching ViuTV.

Jenny Chan became a Mirror fan in part because “they’re handsome.”


The U.K. Chans rely on Thomas Chan, a 60-year-old patriarch and an executive with an international company in Hong Kong, to collect Mirror-related material and send it to them.

When he visited in July, he pushed through jet lag by binge-watching Ossan’s Love HK, which features Mirror’s Edan Lui and Lo.

The 15-episode series is a remake of a Japanese “boys love” drama. ViuTV’s Cantonese version is the first of the genre to air in Hong Kong.

Thomas Chan became a Mirror fan.

Mom worries about band

Despite Mirror’s popularity, Jenny Chan worries about the band’s fate given China’s targeting of effeminate male celebrities.

Her favorite, Lo, is known for his androgynous style.

Described by her son as politically liberal and open to new ideas, she also worries that the band’s influence may upset authorities.

When hundreds of fans attended a Hong Kong birthday event for Lo in July, they ignored police orders to disperse, instead waiting for a pink double-decker bus proclaiming “Happy Birthday Anson Lo” on its side.

“I believe China would feel afraid, as a group of people gathered, and they were not scared (of the police). We were worried (about Mirror),” she told VOA Cantonese.

She is relieved the semiofficial Hong Kong Tourism Board recently invited Lo and fellow Mirror member Ian Chan to appear in a promotional advertisement.

The U.K. Chans attend fan-hosted events in the London area, the most recent on Oct. 3. Howard Chan told VOA Cantonese that the events help maintain a Hong Kong identity.

“We live in London and often see many Hong Kongers. But for some who live quite far away, there is barely any chance to speak Cantonese. These events are something where we can get together,” he said.

Howard Chan recalled attending London marches supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement with his sister before the pandemic. Those felt similar to Mirror fan events, he said, in that both attracted Cantonese-speaking people to a common activity.

“When I see someone with an Asian face, I don’t even have to think or ask in English whether they are Hong Kongers. I can just speak Cantonese,” he said of the marches and Mirror events.

Jenny Chan, who said she could tell her son felt heavy-hearted at the protests, likes seeing him relaxed at Mirror events. “It was like going to therapists, helping him to release his emotions and get happier.”

 

Source: Voice of America