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).

54th Merdeka-Raya twins

By Laura Lee, Photo by Anthony Tan

1 September saw me at Tropicana Medical Centre (TMC) in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya to have a glimpse of the Merdeka babies born to two mothers at TMC Life Sciences Bhd’s flagship hospital.

At the car park on the way to the hospital’s lobby, I saw a Malay girl bringing some fanciful balloons as if she was going to a party or some celebration.

I found out later she is the sister of the happy couple, Faizal Harris Mohamad Kamal and Norzainab Paee, who had given birth to a pair of twin girls, conceived via the In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technique on Merdeka Day.

The proud father informed me that Dato’ Dr Colin Lee had facilitated in the early stages of his wife’s pregnancy.

I had interviewed Dr Lee in the mid-90s, who was gaining fame as gynaecologist and obstretrician in helping childless couples to conceive using IVF when I was a journalist with the New Straits Times (NST).

He founded the Damansara Fertility Centre Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Damansara Women’s Specialist Centre Sdn Bhd, which in turn is 100% owned by TMC Life Sciences.

Despite the disposal of his shares in TMC Life Sciences August last year and subsequent resignation as managing director in this public-listed company on 31 August 2010, I was told Dr Lee only left the outfit two months ago.

He is now with Alpha International Fertility Centre and Women Specialist, which is also in Kota Damansara.

Back to the twins, Kayla Fara and Kaysha Zara, weighing 2.35 kg and 1.59 kg respectively, I was told it is not uncommon for their weights to be different.

They were delivered via Caesaran by Dr Leong Wai Yew.

Faizal said they were two weeks overdue and showed no signs of contraction.

The couple, both 38, had decided on 31 August to bring them into the world taking into cognizance the significance of it being the 54th Merdeka Day and the second day of the Hari Raya celebration.

This is their third attempt to have babies after 11 years of marriage. As I chatted with Faizal, I discovered that he was an ex-NST staff in the information technology department.

The other mother who delivered a Merdeka baby, Nicholas Yeow Tze E weighing 3.87 kg, was Agnes Yap Voon Kean from Perlis (pic). It is the first born son for the couple.

Both mothers and their babies received hampers from TMC.
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80% take-up for Mah Sing’s i-Sovo units

By Laura Lee


After making two wrong turns and no thanks to one misleading signboard, which asked me to turn Ieft just the project site (I was using the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong or LDP and coming from Kepong), I finally made it to Mah Sing Group Bhd’s spanking new Icon City’s show gallery, which was officially launched last Sunday (17 July 2011).

It showcases Mah Sing’s flagship commercial project in Petaling Jaya, Icon City, which will be developed over three to four phases.

Sited at the intersection of the LDP highway and the federal highway, the project enjoys high visibility.

It is located on the former Panasonic land which Mah Sing bought in 2009 for RM89 million or RM102 per sq ft.

Unlike CIMB analyst Terence Wong, I’m not surprised by the turnout and good take-up rate its i-Sovo or small office versatile office units considering Mah Sing’s track record and previous successful launches and previews.

Where I live in Kepong Baru, we had flyers were distributed to our homes regarding its Icon City’s launch of these units on Sunday.

Explaining this new concept at the press conference, Mah Sing managing director and group chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said i-SoVo are commercial suites with modern and yet practical layouts.

Comprising two towers, the units come in built-up of 745 sf ft and 1,094 sq ft with prices ranging from RM599,000 to RM745,676.

Ambitious to change the landscape of Petaling Jaya with its RM3.2 billion Icon City project, Leong announced that the group would have 14 new ramps in place to ease the congestion of this area and improve the connectivity or accessibility.

Owing to the good response towards its first tower's i-SoVo units, in particular the larger size units which were sold out on Saturday (where some 60% of sales were clinched), Mah Sing, which was supposed to offer a total of 283 units from the two 31-storey towers, changed the total number of units to 410.

The two towers will now have 198 (Tower 3) and 212 units (Tower 3A) respectively.

This was made possible by making available more units with smaller built-up which small and medium sized enterprises can afford to own.

Also, they will be able to obtain loans of up to 90% for these units. The residential loan to value restrictions does not apply here.

Andy Chua, chief operating officer of Mah Sing Properties Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mah Sing, said these duplex i-SoVo units are not your typical office.

They are flexible and can be used as a music studio, art gallery and design house.

If you plan to use it as your private hangout, take note that no piping and gas are installed for these units, which sit on a three-storey podium car park with level 4 as the main lift lobby.

Levels 5 and 6 is where the proposed business or secretarial centre will be sited with video conference facilities as well as an executive club with gymnasium, Jacuzzi pool and sauna amenities.

From level 8, the i-SoVo units will enjoy double volume high ceilings while levels 11, 18 and 23A will feature sky gardens.

The i-SoVo units will also be equipped with WiFi/high speed broadband.

Mah Sing had an 80% take-up rate with sales totalling RM426.5 million for its i-SoVo units over the weekend.

Conceived with sustainability in mind, Icon City, will be certified with Malaysia’s Green Building Index, Singapore's Green Mark and the United States’ Leadership in Energy and Environment Design.

The Icon show gallery, which had violinist Joanne Yeoh performing on Sunday, is open from 10am to 6pm daily.

Face off between Ariff and Zakariah over MIER’s 5.2% growth forecast for 2011

By Laura Lee

With Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) down since April to May, doubts have been raised about Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s (MIER) 5.2% gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2011.

This disturbing negative trend about the IPI was pointed out by its former executive director (ED) Professor Datuk Dr Mohamed Ariff during the question and answer session after the Malaysian economic outlook for the second quarter 2011 (2Q11) presentation by the institute at its 26th National Economic Briefing in Kuala Lumpur on 14 July.

Ariff did not think it was possible for MIER to maintain its 5.2% growth projection unless Malaysia posts improved second half (2H) year performance.

The IPI fell 5.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in May on lower output in mining and electricity.

It fell 1.7% y-o-y in April while on a monthly basis, the IPI dropped by 1.3% (-7.2%: April ’11)

Malaysia’s 1Q11 GDP growth slowed to 4.6% y-o-y with all sectors down except for agriculture.

MIER ED Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid said 2Q11 growth would be lower than 4.6% but at most would be above 4%.

He cited low consumer expenditure and slower export growth versus imports as the contributing factors for the poorer growth performance for the past few quarters.

Given the European sovereign debt problem, poor prospects in the United States and problems in China such as rising inflationary pressures, Zakariah does not expect Malaysia will not able to get much help externally.

Our only hope lies with the domestic elements. As such, he said MIER will maintain its 5.2% growth projection as the country has “powerful domestic driver of growth that will push our economy in the 2H”.

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim Siang Chai announced his ministry would be asking government ministries and departments to step up their public expenditure in the 2H.

Whether this will happen is yet to seen. This includes the government’s initiatives to drive the economy via domestic demand and the implementation of its economic transformation programme (ETP).

At the National Conference on the 10th Malaysia Plan: Transformation Towards A High Income Advanced Economy on 18 July at Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Zakariah will present a paper on The Economic Impact of ETP on the Malaysian Economy by 2020: An Input-Output Analysis.

This paper, done in collaboration with MIER deputy director Ahmad Fauzi Puasa and research officer Raja Zarina, will show among other things the marked structural gap between Malaysia and other countries in terms of input-output.

Currently, we are 38% behind South Korea, 28% behind Poland and 10% behind Japan.

If we are equipped with these countries’ structural outfits, possibilities of us generating bigger output, household income and employment as well as a high income economy appear bright.

Don’t miss this conference which is co-organised by MIER and Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Other speakers include former Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Professor Tan Sri Dr Lin See Yan on Hope, Enterprise and Change.

GBI presentation at CIMA Green Sustainability Conference 2011

By Laura Lee

Green Building Index (GBI) will be one of the many topics that will be discussed at Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Green Sustainability Conference Asia 2011 which begins tomorrow (12 July 2011).

Malaysia Green Building Confederation vice president Looi Hip Peu will deliver the GBI presentation at 11am under Session two entitled Certifiably Green – What and How? at the conference which will be held at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, which is also a venue partner of this event.

First phases of GBI Tools Launched Todate
Following the launch of the GBI Township Tool and Residential New Construction Tool on 29 March, the GBI Industrial New Construction Tool and Industrial Existing Building Tool were subsequently launched on 7 June.

These initiatives are in line with the government’s strong advocacy in promoting green buildings and sustainably built environment and Malaysia’s green agenda.

The Low Energy Office (LEO), which houses the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, was the government’s first energy-efficient building which won the ASEAN Energy Award in 2006.

The Green Energy Office (GEO), which houses the Malaysia Green Technology Corporation, was the first building to receive the GBI certification followed by The Energy Commission’s Diamond Building, which received the platinum certificate under GBI on 31 May.

Several fiscal incentives for green technology development in Malaysia have been introduced by the government.

In the building sector, the 2010 budget had announced incentives for buildings awarded with the GBI.

Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui had said at the recent launch of the GBI Industrial New Construction Tool and Industrial Existing Building Tool that building owners obtaining GBI certificates from 31 October 2009 until 31 December 2014 would be entitled to income tax exemption equivalent to the additional capital expenditure in obtaining such certificates.

“Buyers purchasing buildings with GBI certificates from developers will be given stamp duty exemption on instruments of transfer of ownership.

“The exemption amount is equivalent to the additional cost incurred in obtaining the GBI certificates.”

Apart from this, he said incentives in the form of pioneer status, investment tax allowance, import duty exemption and sales tax exemption are available for initiatives on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Chin had also announced that his ministry was finalising the Low Carbon Cities Framework and Assessment System.

“This assessment tool will enable local councils, developers and other users to assess their carbon footprint levels, suggest strategies to be taken and then helps them to assess their carbon footrprint levels once the strategies have been applied.”

Todate, almost 180 building projects have applied for GBI certification. Of this, 25 projects have received GBI provisional certification while two projects have obtained the GBI certification.