Malaysia leads in Philips Health and Well Being Index

By Laura Lee

Malaysia has the highest rating in terms of health and well being, Philips Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director Naeem Shahab Khan (pic) told the media at its “Live Well With Philips” event on 9 April 2012.


According to Philips Health and Well Being Index, which selected 28 countries for the survey, 71% of Malaysians are generally happy with their state of health and well being.

The survey also came up with some interesting revelations. They include:

• Those above 65 years are more inclined to believe they have no control over their state of health.

• 52% of them hardly or never visit the dentist.

• 31% hardly go for a general check up, especially those above 30 years of age.

• 43% of Malaysians feel either overweight or obese.

• Three-quarter of those 55 years of age and above are not trying to lose weight.

If this is not bad enough, some 38% of the children in Malaysia are obese based on data from the World Health Organisation.

Naeem, who is also Philips Consumer Lifestyle Malaysia general manager, said obesity, if unchecked, can contribute to serious health problems such as hypertension and heart diseases.

The Philips Health and Well Being Index also showed that while 80% of the respondents felt that new technology could improve their lifestyle and medical technology will help them live longer but they do not realise that if they do not use these technologies, it will not improve their health.

Naeem said this is exactly what Philips is trying to bridge: the gap between what is perceived and the reality of it.

“At Philips, we strive to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation. Besides, living well through meaningful innovation can help to start your day with confidence.”

The “Live Well With Philips” event also offered a sneak preview of the upcoming trends and its consumer lifestyle product line-up for the next six months.

If I thought Philips’ AirFryer, with its patented rapid air technology that fries food without using oil, was revolutionary when it was introduced to the Malaysian market last year, its new PerfectCare steam iron, will be the product that I would want to have when it is launched later this year.

Thanks to its revolutionary OptimalTEMP technology, I won’t have to worry about burning my clothes anymore because of wrong settings or overheating.



In fact, you do not need to adjust any settings at all, whether you are ironing silk, cotton or linen garments.

For those who have maids to do your ironing, you don’t have to despair having to teach them how to use this wonder babe since it has no dials or settings.

As Philips Malaysia Consumer Lifestyle senior marketing manager Usman Qureshi put it, “We are the leader where PerfectCare is concerned. We do not use the word “revolutionary” unless it helps the consumer, answer a better need and change habits.”

This new steam iron not only automatically sets the temperature but also helps to preserve your favourite clothes.

It is time saving as well as you do not have to wait for the temperature to cool down before you iron a different type of garment.
“Thus, it is not just easy ironing but perfect ironing,” he quipped, adding that it is safe to iron your hair with PerfectCare! Do we have any volunteers for this demonstration?

I saw with my own eyes how he ironed a piece of plastic with PerfectCare. The plastic became wrinkled but did not stick to the iron. Amazing!

I have had so many of favourite clothes getting dirty black stains from the iron plate of my old iron because of overheating. I certainly cannot wait for PerfectCare's debut.

Penang World Music Festival 2012: Sponsorship and Branding


By Laura Lee

The sponsorship of the Penang World Music Festival (PWMF) 2012 comes to the tune of more than RM1 million, Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng told the media and crowd at the preview held at Straits Quay, a day ahead of the festival which begins today at the Botanic Gardens in the island state.

He also mentioned that Plenitude Bhd sponsored RM300,000 for the event. I noticed The Star has referred to this event as the Plenitude World Music Festival in its two reports today.



Plenitude executive chairman Chua Elsie (second from right) 

presenting the mock cheque to Law 



Can a title sponsor do that? A check with Gracie Geikie, managing director of UCSI Communications Sdn Bhd, which has been appointed as the event management consultant for the PWMF, suggests otherwise.

“We can say that Plentitude presents the Penang World Music Festival as the branding of this event is Penang World Music Festival,” replied Gracie, who is the advisor for the event.

Citing the case of the recently ended Penang Malaysian Grand Prix 2012, one event organiser said it would be appropriate if the event is called Plenitude Penang World Music Festival.

To call it by the name used by our national English daily suggests to me the event has sold its soul just because a corporation pumped in a large amount of money.

Initially I thought it could be a mistake made by The Star reporter. When I was at the event site this evening, I spotted buntings at the VIP area which referred to the PWMF as the "Plenitude World Music Festival".

I cannot blame The Star reporter now for making such a mistake, can I when you have buntings like this?

Since the Penang state exco for tourism development and culture Danny Law was present at the VIP area where Plenitude was hosting a small dinner for its guests, I checked with him regarding this confusion over the event's name. 

He put the blame on the printer. This is not the first time I have heard of printers being blamed for errors being made to promotional materials and souvenir programmes. I thought printers only print what is given to them and onus should be one the person providing the materials.

Unlike in the past, where the federal government of Malaysia was behind the promotion of this event, this time round the Penang state government has taken over its organising and sponsorship.

In his speech last night, Lim viewed the PWMF as its very own brand.

To Lim, who considers music to possess the power to soothe the heart of the savage beast, he expects the PWMF to inspire the state, which has earned a number of firsts in the field of economy, to greater heights.

For Penang to be Malaysia's music capital, many ingredients come into play. As highlighted by Lim, they include a fantastic venue, good facilities as well as local and international performers.

The first band to perform at the preview last night was Vietnam's Phong Nguyen Ensemble, which had the opportunity to take a picture together with Lim.

Having attended innumerable events hosted by Tourism Malaysia and the Ministry of Tourism under the federal government, the welcome dinner organised last night fell short of the expectations among some of the participants, including myself.

Except for the char keow taui, which Penang is famous for, the rest such as the fried spring rolls and apple strudel were more like light finger food and dessert.

A random check with other Malaysian media have us concurring that the char keow teow served at Aseana Cafe in Straits Quay did not match our expectations.

To make matters worse, returning from the event back to Hard Rock Hotel, where most of the media and bands are staying, the television programme Makan Unlimited was featuring char keow teow and highlighted all the best char keow teow, including the duck egg's version, found in Malaysia.

I was certainly longing to eat the two sisters’ char keow teow @ 185 MacAlister Road in Penang after that. I was first introduced to this stall’s char keow teow with prawns and crab meat in 1981 by my varsity mate, See Siew Hwa, a Penangnite herself.

See related article on PWMF in: http://micemalaysiabeyond.blogspot.com/2012/03/penang-world-music-festival-to-serve-as

Penang World Music Festival 2012 sets to rock the Pearl of the Orient

By Laura Lee

The Penang World Music Festival (PWMF) returns this year and promises to be “bigger and better” with a line up of 18 international and local bands offering music genre ranging from blues to salsa and reggae.

They include Maite Hontele from Colombia, Kalja Riddim Klan (Vanuatu), Gus Teja World Music (Bali), Tori Ensemble (South Korea) Wild Marmalade (Australia)and Beoga (Ireland, see pix below).

They will be joined by other international musicians from Africa, Australia, Russia, Mongolia and the Philippines.

Among the local bands are Didit Dinai, Penang Dhol Blasters, Kumpulan Minang Moh Geng Wak Long and my favourite, Aseana Percussion Unit.

PWMF will be staged open air at the Quarry Recreational Park, Botanic Gardens from 30 March to 1 April with the concert starting from 7pm.

The musical workshop will start from 2pm while the Kidzworld workshop will be from 5pm to 6pm. There will also be festival bazaar offering a wide selection of food and beverages, souvenir items, handicrafts and the performers’ CDs for sale.

I’m glad to know the organiser, Penang State Tourism Development and Culture Office has appointed UCSI Communications Sdn Bhd (UComms) as the event management consultant to ensure the smooth running of the festival.

Thanks to UComms communications manager Letitia Samuel, I have received the releases, pictures and media invitation to this year’s event already.

Letitia was formerly from the Sarawak Tourism Board, which started and successfully built up the Rainforest World Music Festival and Miri International Jazz Festival (now rebranded as Borneo Jazz) to be recognised music events globally.

When PWMF was last held three years ago, I could still remember how difficult it was for us media in Kuala Lumpur (KL) to get information on the event or even a response from the tourism officer in charge.

Hard Rock Hotel Penang is the official hotel for the PWMF and will not only be housing all the musicians but the invited media as well during the festival.

A preview show will be held at the hotel on 28 March while on 29 March, the preview will be held at Straits Quay, one of the supporters of PWMF 2012.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there will be preview held earlier in KL as part of the build-up for the PWMF.

Tickets to the festival can be bought online at www.ticketxpress.com.my for RM90 a day for adult and RM45 a day for children between five and 12 years old.

Three-day tickets are priced at RM220 each for adults and RM120 each for children.

PWMF tickets are also sold at all Discovery Overland Holidays offices (tel: +6 013 3398113) and Penang Tourism Development and Culture Office (tel: +6 016 4110000).