The Sun - 14 Mei 2024 - Flip eBook Pages 1-32 (2024)

Malaysian Paper www.thesun.my RM1.00 PER COPY RM1 TUESDAY MAY 14, 2024 SCAN ME No. 8521 PP 2644/12/2012 (031195) One in 11 out of Malaysia’s 2.5 million senior citizens have been abused, with neglect being most prevalent: Survey Report on — page 3 Projects for village in Sarawak include construction of two bridges to connect three longhouses and installing solar energy-powered street lights. Report on — page 4 State agencies, NGOs will continue to collaborate with Home Ministry to ensure implementation of drug-prevention education programmes, particularly in high-risk areas: CM Report on — page 5 Anwar given a red-carpet welcome on arrival at the Doha International Airport on Sunday for a three-day official visit to Qatar. – BERNAMAPIC Report on — page 2 Anwar woos nwar woos W. Asian investors . Asian investors Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim kicks off latest mission with busy schedule in Doha, meeting state leaders and captains of industries to offer insights on Malaysia’s expansive investment landscape and current economic trajectory. More shelter homes needed for abused, neglected elders RM2.5m for Madani adopted village Sabah pledges support to fight drug abuse

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 2 PM to meet state leaders, captains of industries in Doha DOHA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is kicking off his latest mission to woo new investments from West Asia with his first official visit to Qatar’s capital city starting yesterday. His busy schedule includes an official welcoming ceremony by the Qatari government at the Amiri Diwan here. He will be received by Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who will later host a luncheon for the prime minister. This will be followed by a meeting with his counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also Qatar’s foreign affairs minister. Among the issues likely to be discussed is an update on the current situation in Gaza, especially as Israel continues its aggression on the Palestinians with the latest invasion into the southern city of Rafah. oSituation in Gaza, Malaysia’s expansive investment landscape, current trajectory of nation’s economy among issues likely to be discussed Support for Qatari efforts to resolve Gaza violence KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has declared support for the important role played by Qatar to resolve the violence perpetrated by the Zionist Israeli regime against the Palestinian people, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan. In a post on his Facebook page, he said Malaysia expressed support for Qatar in a meeting with its Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Sunday. Mohamad is currently in Qatar to accompany Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on his official visit to the country. “We discussed a framework to further enhance the existing bilateral relations between Malaysia and Qatar, which were established 50 years ago.” Mohamad said trade and investment relations between the two countries are good, and Qatar has expressed desire to further enhance its investments in Malaysia. The Foreign Ministry, through a Facebook post, said Mohamad took the opportunity to thank his counterpart for Qatar’s relentless efforts to broker peace between Hamas and Israel. The ministry added that Sheikh Mohammed had also shared insights on the situation in the Middle East, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which requires continuous efforts based on the dynamics between major powers and Israel. “Both sides stressed the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and stressed the importance of ongoing negotiations.” Both parties discussed Malaysia’s role in chairing the Asean-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Summit during Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship in 2025. Mohamad also extended an invitation to Sheikh Mohammed to visit Malaysia. The ministry also said Anwar’s speech during his official visit to Germany was seen as a turning point in global community perceptions of Israel’s aggressive and genocidal actions against Palestine. – Bernama EAGER CROWD ... Contributors came as early as 7am yesterday to the Jalan Raja Laut EPF office in Kuala Lumpur to register and transfer savings to their Flexible Account after the new facility was launched on Sunday. – ADIB RAWI YAHYA/THESUN Malaysia, South Korea discuss arms industry cooperation SEOUL: The South Korea state arms procurement agency chief has held talks with Malaysia’s defence minister to expand arms industry cooperation, his office said on Monday, amid Seoul’s drive to clinch more defence deals with Southeast Asian countries. Yonhap News Agency reported that the South Korean Minister of the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (Dapa) Seok Jong Gun met Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin at the Defence Service Asia Exhibition and Conference in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday. According to a statement by Dapa, the two sides discussed current progress in South Korea’s exports of FA-50 light attack aircraft to Malaysia after Korea Aerospace Industries signed a deal last May to supply 18 FA-50s to Kuala Lumpur. It said talks were held for more exports of the jet and it was agreed to explore possible exports of South Korea’s K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery systems and the Cheongung-II midrange surface-air-to missile system. Seok also met defence officials from Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand for talks on ways to strengthen defence and arms industry cooperation, said the statement. Dapa said Philippine officials expressed interest in South Korea’s KF-21 fighter jet, which is under development, FA-50 and submarines, while talks with Vietnamese officials focused on the K-9 self-propelled howitzer, which Vietnam has expressed interest in. South Korea aims to secure US$20 billion (RM95 billion) worth of arms exports this year compared with US$14 billion (RM66 billion) of defence export contracts clinched last year. – Bernama Foreign honours without royal consent invalid KUALA LUMPUR: Honours, medals or orders received by Malaysians from foreign countries without the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong are not valid and not recognised for use within the country, said Council of Datuk Datuk Malaysia president Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz. He said it is a provision under the Offences Relating to Awards Act 2017 (Act 787), which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to RM500,000, depending on the seriousness of the offence committed. “Only the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultans and Yang di-Pertua Negeri are authorised to confer legitimate honours upon individuals.” He was commenting on the prevalence of title misuse issues after a charity golf tournament hosted by the council at Bukit Kiara on Sunday. Awalan expressed hope that all states would adopt Act 787 to curb the problem, adding that the Act, gazetted in 2018, is not comprehensively enforced as there are still states that have not adopted or established similar enactments. – Bernama Anwar, who is also finance minister, will engage with around 30 captains of industry in Qatar, offering insights on Malaysia’s expansive investment landscape and the current trajectory of the Malaysian economy. With petroleum and natural gas accounting for over 70% of Qatar’s total government revenue, Malaysia is keen on securing a share of the lucrative sector while simultaneously seeking out new avenues for collaboration. According to a post on X, Anwar will also participate in the Qatar Economic Forum as well as officiate at the opening of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia branch campus in Doha. After a roundtable discussion with industry leaders, Anwar will also deliver a one-hour public lecture at the Qatar National Library for the Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He will then conclude his second day in Qatar by meeting approximately 500 Malaysians residing in the country. There are currently around 5,500 Malaysians actively employed in various sectors across Qatar. The Malaysian delegation to Qatar includes Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. Last year, Malaysia’s total bilateral trade with Qatar amounted to RM4.2 billion, as the Gulf state became Malaysia’s fifth largest trading partner, sixth largest export destination and sixth largest import source from the West Asia region, Bernama reported. From January to March, Malaysia’s total trade with Qatar jumped by 178.4% to RM1.43 billion from RM514.9 million in the corresponding period in 2023. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-Qatar bilateral relations, a significant milestone in enduring ties. Govt mulls QR code system at entry points PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department and Home Ministry are exploring the implementation of a quick response (QR) code system at several main entry points of the country to address congestion issues. Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said studies on the use of QR codes at the country’s entry points have been carried out, with the current phase focusing on testing. “One of our commitments is to address congestion at the country’s main entry points. “This is still in the early stage and has not yet been implemented, but the details will be announced by the home ministry later,” he said yesterday. On Dec 3, the Johor government proposed that the federal government consider adopting a digital QR Code system, similar to Singapore, for movement in and out of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex in the state. – Bernama

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 3 PETALING JAYA: The government needs to open more welfare homes for the elderly who have suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of their families, said lawyer Kokila Vaani Vadiveloo. She said there is an urgent need for robust legal protection and support systems to safeguard vulnerable senior adults from such harm. “Legislating new laws is imperative to providing greater protection and rights for the elderly to curb abuse and neglect. The proposed Senior Citizen’s Bill, which is slated for introduction this year, is intended to address these concerns. “However, the specifics of the Bill have not been disclosed. It is crucial for Parliament to not just focus on preventing abuse and neglect but also include provisions for filial support and maintenance.“ Kokila said the National Health and Morbidity Survey published in 2020 found that 9% of elderly persons in Malaysia, or one in 11 out of 2.5 million senior citizens, have been abused, with neglect being the most prevalent. “The survey also found that there were some 1,400 private retirement homes nationwide but of these, 1,300 are illegal. “Even licensed facilities receive inadequate funding from the Social Welfare Department and are forced to depend on public donations.” She said upon reviewing the department’s official website, there is a relatively limited number of old folk homes listed, with only 401 registered facilities under its jurisdiction. Kokila also said Malaysia is expected to become an ageing nation by 2035, with 15% of the total population aged 60 and above,adding that this demographic shift may lead to an imbalance in the national ecosystem and negatively impact the economy, healthcare and welfare systems. “Consequently, the need for the government to legislate specific laws to protect the elderly has become critical. This legislation should be rigorously supported and implemented to address the abuse and neglect faced by them.” In January, the Health Ministry released a report indicating a 20% rise in cases of abuse and neglect of parents by their family members. Kokila said the statistics indicate a distressing reality faced by senior citizens as it sheds light on the need for greater awareness, support and protection mechanisms to safeguard them. To understand the situation further, theSun approached Rumah Kasih Hospital Kuala Lumpur, a subsidiary service run by the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. Its manager Foong Peng Lam said since its establishment in September 2000, Rumah Kasih has provided shelter to over 700 elderly individuals who are terminally ill. “These people were abandoned by family members or relatives who were unwilling to take them home from the hospital. “Some of the elderly were also abandoned as they were perceived as being ‘worthless’. Tragically, they found themselves on the streets and faced the harsh conditions of malnutrition, sickness and hunger. “When found and hospitalised, they choose to remain in the hospital rather than return to the streets,” he said, adding that that is how most of them ended up at Rumah Kasih. Foong said despite the care that Rumah Kasih provides, it faces numerous challenges as government welfare homes are usually full and have long waiting lists for admission. “This situation leads to congestion in hospital wards, as patients who should be discharged remain due to the lack of alternative care options. “Some individuals even refuse to care for their elderly parents, and prioritise their enjoyment over family obligations.” He said there is also a troubling trend of family members providing fake addresses and contact information to avoid responsibility for their sick relatives. Foong said Rumah Kasih bears the brunt of this problem, with a growing number of abandoned patients needing shelter and care. “It is clear that solutions are needed to address the underlying issues of homelessness, elderly neglect and inadequate social support systems to alleviate the strain on hospitals and provide dignified care to those in need.” Plan to increase water supply capacity to meet demand KUCHING: The projected water demand in Sarawak in 2030 will increase by 2,400 million litres per day (MLD) compared with the current 2,060. State Utilities and Telecommunications Minister Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawai said this was based on the Sarawak Water Supply and Water Grid Master Plan. He said to ensure adequate water margin reserves, Sarawak needs at least 20% of the capacity of existing water treatment plants. “Currently, several major water treatment plants are operating at a low margin reserve rate, such as the Batu Kitang plant in Kuching, which is at a rate of 12% and the Salim plant in Sibu, which is only at a rate of 1%. “Several critical main projects are being and need to be implemented immediately to meet the expected increase in water demand,” he said at the state assembly sitting yesterday. Julaihi added that for the upgrading of the Batu Kitang plant (Plant Two), which is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of this year, its production capacity could be increased to 868 MLD compared with the current 764. “As for the capacity upgrading of the Batu Kitang plant (Plant Four), it will help increase production capacity to 968 MLD by 2026. “The construction of the Phase One new water treatment plant in Landeh, Kuching, which is currently in the planning stage, is estimated to have a capacity of 200 MLD, while the upgrading project of the Salim plant, Sibu, which is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2026, will increase the capacity from 150 MLD to 300,” he said. Julaihi also said the ministry is implementing upgrading projects to replace old and dilapidated pipes in the state, involving an allocation of RM1.085 billion, of which RM247 million has been allocated for this year. “A stretch of 2,742km of old and dilapidated pipelines are still used in the water supply distribution system in Sarawak. This is the main cause of the high rate of non-revenue water, which is an average of 43%,” he said. – Bernama oMore state-run shelter homes, support systems and legislation needed to protect elderly: Lawyer Promise to resolve issues faced by nurses KUALA LUMPUR: Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has expressed commitment to resolving the issues faced by nurses, particularly concerning their salaries and welfare. He said nurses play a vital role in ensuring the healthcare system runs smoothly and expressed understanding of the various problems nurses face. “As the health minister, I understand and empathise with the challenges they face, including issues related to salaries, allowances, welfare and their professional duties, which have yet to be adequately addressed. “I am committed to addressing these issues, but I ask for your patience,” he said in a Facebook post commemorating International Nurses Day and Florence Nightingale’s birthday on Sunday. Dzulkefly also expressed appreciation for all healthcare workers, especially those in the Health Ministry and wished them continued success in their noble responsibilities. In another post, he extended Mother’s Day wishes, especially to mothers who are doctors, nurses and healthcare workers. “You not only nurture your families with love and care but also safeguard the health of all Malaysians with patience. May Allah SWT bless all mothers, granting them health, happiness and unwavering strength,” he said. – Bernama No notification yet on status of Bersatu MPs KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat has yet to receive any notification from Bersatu concerning the status of its six MPs. The six had pledged support to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, following the amendment to their party constitution recently. Speaker Tan Sri Dr Johari Abdul said the status of the six remain unchanged. “As long as it does not involve the Parliament, I shall not be bothered. It’s their political issue and also an administrative issue that they have to settle with the Registrar of Societies (RoS). If they notify me, then I’ll do the necessary. “So far, I have not received any notification, letter or email (from them). So, I take it as nothing happened,” Johari told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from the House Committee of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Parliament building yesterday. On April 2, RoS approved an amendment to the Bersatu constitution, which enabled the party to act against its MPs who declared support for the Anwar-led unity government. Through the amendment, the six Bersatu lawmakers must immediately vacate their seats. They are Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi (Tanjung Karang), Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang), Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan) and Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang). – Bernama █ BY QIRANA NABILLA MOHD RASHIDI [emailprotected] Look into neglect of senior citizens, govt urged Kokila said statistics indicate a distressing reality faced by senior citizens and highlights a need for greater awareness, support and protection mechanisms to safeguard them. – ADIB RAWI YAHYA/THESUN

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 4 Madani govt adopts Sarawak longhouse village KAPIT: The Nanga Engkuah Longhouse Village in Ulu Katibas, Song in Sarawak has been selected for the Madani village adoption programme by the Works Ministry. Its minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the Finance Ministry allocated RM2.5 million for the implementation of various projects in the village, comprising three longhouses, namely Rumah Assan, Rumah Radiah and Rumah Albert Lajong. He said the projects include the construction of two bridges to connect the longhouses, which accommodate 658 residents, and the installation of solar energy based street lights. “Tenders for the projects will be available in two weeks and the work is scheduled for completion next year,” he said during a press conference at the “Menyatuni oRM2.5m allocated for implementation of various projects, including construction of bridges and installation of solar street lights Sabah Tube-X programme achieves RM20m in sales PENAMPANG: The Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera (Tube-X) programme in Sabah has generated RM20.65 million in sales and created 2,039 job opportunities. Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said the programme is popular among Bumiputera youths in Sabah, serving as an initiative to kickstart entrepreneurial careers and to register businesses. “As of December 2023, a total of 7,738 participants took part in Tube-X, with Sabah having the highest number at 1,444,” he said after officiating at the closing ceremony of the programme at Penampang International Technology and Commercial Centre on Sunday. Ewon, who is also Penampang MP, said Tube-X was implemented by SME Corp Malaysia, an agency under the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry, to encourage individuals aged between 18 and 30 to venture into business. He said this year, 214 Bumiputera youth entrepreneurs in Sabah participated in Tube-X, with an allocation of RM3 million, adding that basic entrepreneurship training provided by Tube-X, now in its 10th year, includes a startup grant of up to RM15,000 for every participant upon completion. SME Corp Malaysia CEO Rizal Nainy said the agency is committed to monitoring the progress of participants who have completed training and started their businesses, adding that the effort is key to guiding them towards greater success. He said as an agency responsible for developing micro, small and medium enterprises, SME Corp Malaysia is dedicated to nurturing Bumiputera youth entrepreneurs, in line with the equitable and inclusive Madani Economic Framework. The programme is also executed in the Northern, East Coast, Central and Southern zones. – Bernama ART transit cheaper than LRT: Johor exco ISKANDAR PUTERI: The estimated overall cost for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) infrastructure in Johor is RM16.7 billion compared with RM7 billion for the provision of Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART). Transport, Infrastructure and Communications state executive councillor Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the value was obtained based on a detailed analysis between the LRT and ART systems following a presentation from two consortia, that proposed the two public transport systems. “For the LRT system, it requires a new design for an elevated section, in addition to requiring an approval for the railway scheme. “It also requires the acquisition of land for the LRT depot in Desa Jaya and the acquisition of five acres of land for the track, for switching or shunting,” he said during the 15th Johor Legislative Assembly Meeting at Bangunan Sultan Ismail on Sunday. Mohamad Fazli said a special committee meeting, comprising the Economy Ministry, Transport Ministry, Finance Ministry, Public Private Partnership Unit and the Johor State Economic Planning Division, was held in December to review results of an analysis and recommendations. He said the government said the transport system must be completed by the end of December 2026. He also said it coincided with the start date of the Rapid Transit System operation, that connects Bukit Chagar to Woodlands in Singapore. – Bernama RM141m spent on financial aid: Pahang MB KUANTAN: The Pahang government has disbursed more than RM141 million for the Bantuan Prihatin Pahang financial aid since 2020, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail. He said the state government is aware of the need and benefits of implementing the aid and is committed to improving and expanding the financial aid, so more people can benefit. He also said the efforts include a circumcision programme for Pahang-born children, which was introduced through the initiative, adding that it received an allocation of RM1 million for 3,000 recipients. Wan Rosdy said the MyLesen Prihatin Pahang programme, which provides subsidies for motorcycle licences to those aged between 18 and 21, was also implemented. He said MyLesen received an allocation of RM720,000 while an eye cataract surgery initiative for the elderly was granted an allocation of RM1.5 million. “The state government is also empowering existing programmes under the financial aid to enhance the benefits for recipients, including students,” he said, adding that the aid for students has been increased to RM400 this year. – Bernama EPF contributions proposed for stringers IPOH: The National Journalists Day celebration is a vital platform for media employees to share their opinions and challenges faced and to recognise the contributions of the group to society and the nation. Perak Media Practitioners Association chairman Sayed Mohd Hesham Syed Idris proposed that contributions to the Employees Provident Fund and the Social Security Organisation, especially for stringers, be discussed in the upcoming event. “Special incentives such as medical coverage and school assistance for the children of media (employees) in need should be considered as well. “The welfare-related matters proposed at last year’s National Journalists Day need to be implemented and if any have already been put into effect, they should be refined.” Sayed said despite being part-time journalists, stringers also play an essential role in the journalism industry. – Bernama KEEPING COOL ... An employee at an electrical appliance shop in Marang, Terengganu arranging fans for sale outside the outlet. Fans and air conditioners have been selling well in the state due to the current hot and humid weather. – BERNAMAPIC Kampung Angkat Madani KKR” event on Sunday. The Nanga Engkuah Longhouse, located approximately 50km from Pekan Song, is a modern longhouse made of concrete. Nanta said the adoption programme will be expanded if the project is successful, Bernama reported. He said the ministry will work with Katibas assemblyman Lidam Assan, the Upper Rajang Development Agency and the Sarawak government to ensure smooth implementation of socioeconomic programmes, especially for agricultural activities and freshwater fish farming in the village. “An agricultural station has been built in the village and we will make full use of it,” he said, adding that plastic tanks for commercial fish farming will also be provided. Lidam said he would strengthen vegetable farming activities at the agricultural station and set up a mobile research centre for inland fisheries. “These projects would promote eco-tourism and agro-tourism. Our ultimate aim is to develop the economy of the village by cultivating a fish farm and finding a wholesaler for the empurau fish to promote it in the market.” Rumah Assan Development Bureau head Kulim Madah, 38, thanked the government for choosing the village. “We have a pedestrian bridge connecting the three longhouses but some of them are worn out and the structure is no longer safe.” Community nurse Margaret Kaya, 51, expressed hope the government would consider building a bridge across the Katibas River, connecting the Nanga Engkuah Health Clinic and its government school to the village. “Residents here are mostly old people. They would have to wait for a boat because that is the only transport here.”

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 5 Trio claim trial to cheating charges involving RM24,000 KANGAR: A man and a married couple pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday to two charges of cheating two individuals of RM23,635 four years ago. Suchart Ee @ Quah, 58, his wife Kamontip Chu @ Chim, 50, and Mohd Nuruddin Azhar, 37, made the plea before Magistrates Nurshahida Abdul Rahim and Ana Rozana Mohd Nor. The three were jointly charged before Nurshahida with deceiving a man into depositing RM12,835 into a Giganation Sdn Bhd account between 4.20pm on Dec 2, 2020 and 9.10am on Dec 31, 2020 at a bank in Kangar. They were charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides imprisonment of up to 10 years, caning and a fine. Nurshahida granted bail of RM3,000 each in one surety and set July 1 for mention. The charge read before Ana Rozana accused them of deceiving another man into depositing RM10,800 into the same account at a house in Felcra Lubuk Sireh, Kaki Bukit at 9.51pm on Dec 30, 2020. Ana Rozana granted bail of RM4,000 each in one surety and set July 1 for mention. Prosecuting officer Insp S. Mageswaran and ACP Mohd Musa Ujang prosecuted and Rosman Azwan Osman represented the accused. – Bernama Body of crewman who fell into sea found KUALA LUMPUR: The body of a Malaysian crew member who reportedly fell into the sea while installing a pilot ladder on a vessel in the waters of Chittagong in Bangladesh on May 8 was found on Sunday. National Union of Seafarers of Peninsular Malaysia executive secretary Ikmal Azam Thanaraj Abdullah confirmed the recovery of the 31-year-old’s remains and said further details would be shared after the union had met with the victim’s family. “The body is in Bangladesh for the post-mortem process. I will meet with the victim’s family and inform (them of) the details of the incident.” A post on the X application by @DanialDDD said his colleague is believed to have fallen from the ship while in the waters of Bangladesh last Wednesday and asked the public to pray for the search and rescue operation to find him. The user also shared a video of the sea condition at the location of the incident. – Bernama Wild elephant kills foreign worker GUA MUSANG: A Bangladeshi plantation worker was killed in a wild elephant attack in Kampung Om, Pos Blau on Sunday. Gua Musang district police chief Supt Sik Choon Foo said Md Nawsher Ali, 29, and a colleague were on their way home from the plantation when they crossed paths with the jumbo. “Preliminary investigations found that he had no time to escape before being attacked by the animal and there were elephant footprints near where he was found.” He said the victim suffered serious injuries and died at the scene. “The body was taken to the Gua Musang Hospital for the post-mortem process and the case was classified as sudden death.” Sik reminded the public not to make any speculations regarding the case out of respect for the victim’s family. – Bernama Sabah committed to reducing drug abuse TAWAU: The Sabah government will continue to collaborate with the Home Ministry to address drug abuse and support initiatives aimed at reducing such issues in the state. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the National Anti-Drug Agency, Sabah Youth Council, federal and state agencies, private sector and non-governmental organisations will work together to ensure the implementation of drug prevention education programmes, especially in high-risk areas. “I am deeply concerned about the development plans for at-risk youth, oState government reveals plans to implement education programmes, develop human capital and raise awareness among at-risk youth particularly regarding drug addiction. Strengthening public awareness programmes on drug abuse among young people is crucial. “I believe the Sabah Youth Council and its affiliates could play a protective role for at-risk youth,” he said in his speech, which was read by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya at the agency’s community event at Tawau Municipal Council Square on Sunday. Hajiji emphasised the state government’s commitment to developing human capital in Sabah as outlined in its Development Master Plan, adding that efforts such as the Young Pioneers Programme have been outlined by the council to protect young people from the threats of drugs and social deviance. The programme focuses on developing talent, potential and entrepreneurship among at-risk youth, Bernama reported. He also said the construction of the Narcotics Rehabilitation Centre (Puspen) in Tawau is a government initiative. It is the second centre in Sabah, after the Papar Puspen, and aimed at providing facilities and access to drug-related treatment and rehabilitation programmes. “Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved in the effort. The proposal to build a new Puspen in the state was initiated in 2019 and became a reality when it was successfully announced last year. “The completion of the facility will grant those in the eastern coast of Sabah access to comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation services as offered at the Papar Puspen.” Shahelmey represented Hajiji earlier in officiating the groundbreaking ceremony for the centre at Km57.6 of Jalan Tawau-Kunak. Immigration Dept busts fake passport ring PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department busted the “Ofu Bhai” syndicate that has been falsifying passports for the past two years at a house in Kajang, Selangor on May 10. Its director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the operation was carried out at 4.15pm and 38-year-old Bangladeshi mastermind “Ofu Bhai” and his 40-year-old Filipina partner were arrested. He said the syndicate falsified expired passports for a fee of between RM1,000 and RM1,500 each. “It used a new tactic of amending the expiry date information only and retaining the owner’s information. “The syndicate would then use the false information to obtain approval from the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency, with a fee of between RM600 and RM1,000 for each document.” Ruslin said the inspection of the house led to the discovery of a computer, 199 Bangladeshi passports, four Indian passports, three Philippine passports, three Myanmar passports and two Indonesian passports. The inspection also found 31 passport biodata cover sheets, 144 pieces of agency documents, various equipment to forge documents and RM16,000 cash. “A preliminary check found that (Ofu Bhai) did not have travel documents or a valid passport to be in Malaysia and his partner had overstayed. “We believe the syndicate may have other networks. We know most of their transactions were done online.” He added that the two suspects have been remanded for 14 days at the Putrajaya Immigration depot for further investigation under Section 55D of the Immigration Act 1959/63. – Bernama Ruslin showing one of the passports falsified by the syndicate during a press conference at the Intelligence and Special Operations Division of the Immigration Department yesterday. – BERNAMAPIC

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 6 @thesundaily FOLLOW ON Malaysian Paper INSTAGRAM Education remains an important pillar of Malaysian society; it equips students with the skills needed to become productive and useful members of society. We invite you to showcase the best of education and the difference your institution has brought to the education landscape. Education matters so join us in 2024! Contact us now for special deals on digital, video and print advertising. Malaysian Paper 03-7784 6688 [emailprotected] KUALA LUMPUR: Faridah Mohamed has dedicated a substantial portion of her career as an educator to teaching Bahasa Melayu in Japan and raising the profile of Malaysia’s national language in the “Land of the Rising Sun”. She is 65 now but retirement is the last thing on her mind. She is currently a special visiting lecturer at the Centre for Language and Culture Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Just recently, the university renewed her contract for another four years. The former teacher of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sanzac in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, considers Japan a home away from home, having first set foot in Tokyo in 1989. In a telephone interview recently, she said she was among the first batch of government schoolteachers selected under the Look East Policy to attend a one-year course in Japanese language studies. “After completing this course, I accepted an offer to do a four-year degree course in Japanese language and culture studies at Mei Kai oFormer Sabah school teacher breaks glass ceiling working as Bahasa Melayu lecturer at Tokyo university M’sian ‘language ambassador’ in Japan University (in Chiba, about 50km from Tokyo),” she said. Needless to say, Faridah, who is from Batu Pahat in Johor, became fluent in Japanese and can also read and write in the language. “During my early days (in Japan), I received numerous offers for parttime jobs teaching Bahasa Melayu in schools and universities, translating (from Japanese to Malay and vice-versa), proofreading and doing voiceovers for schools and private companies,” she said. She also received offers to translate radio and drama scripts, and documentaries and has even compiled a few Japanese-Malay, Malay-Japanese dictionaries and written basic and intermediate-level Japanese-Malay communication books, Bernama reported. “I did not turn down any offer because I enjoyed teaching the locals our national language, focusing on the use of proper grammar. The pay was good too. I didn’t have much competition because at the time, there were no Malays here taking advantage of all those opportunities,” she said. On why she decided to stay back in Japan after completing the oneyear course in 1989, Faridah said it was driven by her enthusiasm to elevate Bahasa Melayu prominence on the world stage. The mother of two said it was a tough decision to make but she saw the vast job opportunities in Japan as a Bahasa Melayu teacher. Since she was a government teacher then, she had to pay a penalty to the Malaysian government for choosing to remain in Japan. Fortunately, she could settle the payment with the money she earned from her part-time work as a teacher and translator. “I have teaching skills and expertise in both Bahasa Melayu and the Japanese language. My name is well-known and often referenced,” said Faridah, who also has a Master’s degree in Comparative Cultural Studies from the International Christian University in Tokyo. Faridah expressed hope that the Malaysian government or local universities would send experienced educators of high calibre to Japan to further promote the Malay language. “The Japanese people’s acceptance of Malay is growing and gaining more ground compared with 20 or 30 years ago. While people of other races can also teach Bahasa Melayu, their grammar and vocabulary skills may not be precise, and they often mix Malay with foreign languages,” she said. She added that she is worried universities or schools in Japan may be forced to discontinue their Bahasa Melayu courses due to a shortage of teachers. On when she plans to return to Malaysia for good, Faridah said she will remain in Japan as long as her expertise and skills are needed or until a suitable replacement can be found to continue her work. Selangor achieves 99% hike in Middle East tourist arrivals KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor has seen a 99% surge in Middle East tourist arrivals in 2023, with top contributors being Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which collectively contributed 79.13% out of the 176,711 tourist arrivals from there. Tourism Selangor CEO Azrul Shah Mohamad said the growing interest from Middle Eastern tourists is a testament to Selangor’s allure and a sign of the “blooming friendship and mutual appreciation” between Selangor, Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries. “Due to the growing Middle East market, we embarked on a sales mission to Dubai, which coincided with the Arabian Travel Market that was held from May 6 to 9. “Our attendance at the event was spearheaded by Tourism Malaysia Dubai and served to fortify existing bonds and explore new avenues for collaboration.“ Azrul Shah said during the sales mission, Selangor cemented partnerships with key players in the Middle Eastern travel sector, including a groundbreaking collaboration with KPJ Healthcare to promote medical tourism in Selangor. He said a strategic alliance with Middle East airlines has also enhanced connectivity, with 96 direct flights from countries in the region to Selangor. The flights, which had a capacity of 30,461 seats in 2022, involved AirArabia, Salam Air, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and others. “These synergies will continue to pave the way for a series of crosspromotional endeavours that span from familiarisation trips to robust business to business opportunities that are poised to raise Selangor’s tourism profile on the global stage.” Azrul Shah added that the Subang Jaya City Council, Sepang Municipal Council, Ampang Jaya Municipal Council, Petaling Jaya City Council and Shah Alam City Council received the highest number of Middle East tourists. “Our foray into the Middle East aligns with Selangor’s global tourism campaign, ‘Splendid Selangor, Take Me Anywhere!’, and we remain committed to fostering international collaborations.” █ BY JOSHUA PURUSHOTMAN [emailprotected] Farida tutoring one of her students at the Centre for Language and Culture Studies at Tokyo University. – BERNAMAPIC

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 7 Indonesia floods, lava flow claim over 40 lives TANAH DATAR: The number of people killed by flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend has risen to 41, with 17 more missing, a local disaster agency official told AFP yesterday. Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia’s most active volcanos into two districts on Sumatra island on Saturday evening, while flooding inundated roads, homes and mosques. “Data as of last night recorded 37 dead victims. But from this morning, it has grown again, the figure reached 41 (dead),” said West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency official Ilham Wahab. Rescuers were searching for 17 still missing, three in Agam district and 14 in Tanah Datar, both the worst-hit areas of the Houses damaged due to flash floods and volcano cold lava flow in Tanah Datar on Sunday. – AFPPIC oRescuers searching for 17 still missing as roads in districts turn into rivers, with mosques and houses damaged Manila moves to block China reclamation at shoal MANILA: The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is committed to sustaining a presence in a disputed area of the South China Sea to ensure China does not carry out reclamation activities at the Sabina Shoal, its spokesman said yesterday. The coast guard said on Saturday it had deployed a ship to Sabina Shoal, where it accused China of building an artificial island, amid an escalating maritime row, adding two other vessels were in rotational deployment in the area. Since the ship’s deployment in mid April, the coast guard said it had discovered piles of dead and crushed coral that had been dumped on the sandbars of Sabina Shoal, altering their sizes and elevation. PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela told a press conference yesterday the coast guard had to make sure it was able to prevent “China from carrying out a successful reclamation in Sabina Shoal”. He said the coast guard was committed to maintaining a presence at the shoal, which Manila calls Escoda. Located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the shoal is the rendezvous point for vessels carrying out resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed on a grounded warship at the Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila and China have had frequent maritime run-ins. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region. Tarriela believed the coast guard had been effective in deterring China from doing small-scale reclamation. It had not documented any activity from the Chinese vessels present in Sabina Shoal since it deployed its multi-role response vessel there in mid-April. “China does not want to get caught,“ Tarriela said. There was no immediate comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila. “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and the adjacent waters,“ it said in a statement on Sunday. China claims almost all of the vital waterway, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that Beijing’s claims had no basis under international law, a decision that China rejects. – Reuters Aussie faces 20 years over crystal meth sale DENPASAR: An Australian man faces up to 20 years in prison on the resort island of Bali and a fine of more than US$600,000 (RM2.8 million) for allegedly attempting to sell crystal meth, police said yesterday. Indonesian police said the 49-year-old suspect, named by his initials TAS and identified by Australian media as Troy Smith, was arrested on April 30 at his hotel on the popular tourist island. He was allegedly found with 3.19g of crystal methamphetamine and his wife, a foreign national only identified by her initials TIM, was found not to be involved. Smith was charged with a “drug transaction”, which means offering to sell or become a broker of narcotics, said Bali police deputy director of drugs investigation Ponco Indriyo. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of 10 billion rupiah (RM2.9 million). Smith was also charged with drug possession, which carries a lower maximum sentence of 12 years in prison and a maximum fine of eight billion rupiah. Authorities made him take a urine test, which came back positive for meth, the police official said. The suspect had received a package carrying the meth sent by a friend in Australia, Indriyo said. A Bali police press statement said the package contained “one Colgate toothpaste tube containing 3.15g of alleged crystal meth”. Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws including the death penalty for traffickers. – AFP B R I E F SMOUNT IBU ERUPTS, SPEWS HUGE ASH TOWER JAKARTA: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted yesterday, spewing a huge ash tower more than five kilometres into the sky after authorities raised its alert level to the second-highest last week. No damage or casualties were immediately reported but images showed a column of ash soaring into the sky on Halmahera island in North Maluku province. Authorities said it reached more than five kilometres above the volcano’s peak, one of the biggest eruptions in recent months. The grey-black ash column was observed with “thick intensity, leaning towards the west,“ Geology Agency head Muhammad Wafid said in a statement yesterday. He urged nearby residents to wear face masks and glasses when going outdoors to protect against falling. – AFP THREE CHILDREN KILLED IN LANDSLIDE HANOI: Three young children were killed in a landslide in Hanoi, state media and a local resident said yesterday, after soil and rocks fell from a hill onto a play centre after heavy rain. Vietnam’s capital city experienced heavy rain, lightning and thunder for more than an hour on Sunday evening, flooding streets and disrupting traffic. The rain caused a sudden landslide in Bai Trai commune, in the suburbs of Hanoi. “The kids were playing there when the accident happened,“ a local resident said. “The soil from the hill made the wall of the building collapse, burying the children,“ who were aged between three and five, the woman said, declining to be named. – AFP flood and home to hundreds of thousands of people, he added. Ilham could not confirm the number of locals evacuated as officials had encouraged “people to evacuate to relatives’ places, which are safer” than tent shelters in heavy rains. “We are focused on first, searching and rescuing the victims, second, protecting the evacuees, protecting the vulnerable people,” he said. Roads in the districts were turned into rivers, with mosques and houses damaged. Heavy rains inundated neighbourhoods with muddy floodwaters and swept vehicles into a nearby river, while volcanic ash and large rocks rumbled down Mount Marapi. Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano slope by rain. Authorities sent a team of rescuers and rubber boats to look for the missing victims and to transport people to shelters. The local government set up evacuation centres and emergency posts in several areas of Agam and Tanah Datar. The national disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said 84 homes, 16 bridges and two mosques were damaged in Tanah Datar, as were 20ha of rice fields. Survivors recounted their horror when the flooding and rockfall began. “I heard thunder and the sound of big rocks falling,” housewife Rina Devina said, adding that three of her neighbours were killed. “It was pitch black, so I used my cellphone as a flashlight. “The road was muddy, so I chanted ‘God, have mercy’ over and over again,” she said of her evacuation to a local official’s office. Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season. – AFP

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 8 /thesundaily FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK Malaysian Paper Kashmir set to oppose Modi as polls resume SRINAGAR: India’s six-week election resumed yesterday, including in Kashmir, where voters are expected to show their discontent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cancellation of their disputed territory’s semi-autonomy and the security crackdown that followed. Modi remains popular across much of India and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win the polls when it concludes early next month. But his government’s decision in 2019 to bring Kashmir under its direct rule – and the subsequent clampdown – have been deeply resented among the region’s residents, who will be voting for the first time since the move. “What we’re telling voters now is that you have to make your voice heard,“ said former chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference party is campaigning for the restoration of Kashmir’s former semi-autonomy. “The point of view that we want people to send out is that what happened is not acceptable to them,“ he said. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. Both claim it in full and have fought two wars over control of the Himalayan region. Rebel groups opposed to Indian rule have waged an insurgency since 1989 on the side of the frontier controlled by New Delhi, demanding either independence or a merger with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of backing the insurgents, a charge that Islamabad denies. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels and civilians in the decades since, including a spate of firefights between suspected rebels and security forces in the past month. Violence has dwindled since the Indian portion of the territory was brought under direct rule five years ago, a move that saw the mass arrest of local political leaders and a monthslong telecommunications blackout to forestall expected protests. Modi’s government said its cancelling of Kashmir’s special status has brought “peace and development”, and it has consistently claimed the move was supported by Kashmiris. – AFP B R I E F S3 CHARGED FOR ALLEGEDLY AIDING HK INTEL SERVICES LONDON: UK police said yesterday they had charged three men for allegedly assisting Hong Kong intelligence services, with the suspects due to appear in court later in the day. “A number of arrests were made and searches carried out across England as part of this investigation,“ said the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command head Dominic Murphy. The three men were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and also with foreign interference, in violation of the 2023 National Security Act. “The foreign intelligence service to which the above charges relate is that of Hong Kong,“ police said. The three men charged were named as Chi Leung Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, all from south east England. – AFP X WINS REPRIEVE OVER ‘EXTREME CONTENT’ BAN SYDNEY: A bid by Australia’s online watchdog to impose a global ban on dozens of violent X posts stumbled yesterday, when a top judge ruled in favour of the social media firm. Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Kennett refused to extend a temporary order to take down posts showing the stabbing of a Sydney priest in April, pending further legal action. “The orders of the court will be that the application to extend the interlocutory injunction is refused,“ Kennett said, without giving the reasons for his decision. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner wants the Elon Musk-owned company to take down 65 video and audio clips in Australia and worldwide. – AFP China targeting citizens abroad for political activism LONDON:China is targeting citizens studying abroad for their political activism, rights group Amnesty International said yesterday, with some students reporting harassment of family members back home. China does not tolerate political dissent and has used sophisticated tech tools as well as intimidation to crack down on domestic protesters and activists. And Beijing’s curbs on political activism are increasingly expanding abroad in the form of “transnational repression”, Amnesty International said in a report, citing interviews with dozens of students in eight European and North American countries. Overseas students reported that family members in China received threats after they attended events abroad, including commemorations of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to the group. oStudents report harassment of family members who attend events overseas, says Amnesty “Threats made to family members in mainland China included to revoke their passports, get them fired from their jobs, prevent them from receiving promotions and retirement benefits, or even limiting their physical freedom,” it said. Students also said they had been blocked from posting and surveilled on Chinese social apps – often the only way to communicate with family members due to Beijing’s internet firewall. One student told Amnesty International that police showed his parents “transcripts of his online WeChat conversations with family members”. Students said they actively self-censored during classes and social interactions and complained of mental health problems caused by the feeling of pervasive surveillance, “ranging from stress and trauma to paranoia and depression”. “I would really want to publish my thesis, but I’m worried, so I chose not to,” one student told Amnesty. Beijing has yet to respond to yesterday’s report. But it has previously rejected claims that it targets citizens living abroad, insisting that it respects other countries’ sovereignty and that any policing operations are conducted in accordance with the law. A report last year by US research group Freedom House found that China was responsible for hundreds of cases of “transnational repression” since 2014, including attempts to pressure other nations to forcibly return members of the Uyghur minority. Amnesty International yesterday said Beijing’s targeting of students has “engendered a ‘climate of fear’ on university campuses across Western Europe and North America”. “The impact of China’s transnational repression poses a serious threat to the free exchange of ideas that is at the heart of academic freedom,” said Amnesty’s China director Sarah Brooks. – AFP Rivers rise again as rain batters southern Brazil PORTO ALEGRE: River levels rose again on Sunday as strong rains lashed waterlogged southern Brazil, where flooding has killed 145 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul were bracing for more misery from the new rains, after two weeks of downpours saw rivers burst their banks, swallowing up towns and parts of the regional capital. More than two million people have been affected by the deluge, which experts link to climate change exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon. The levels of “practically all the major rivers in the state are tending to rise,“ state authorities said on Sunday. The probability of further flooding is “very high” in most regions of the state, according to the National Centre for Monitoring and Warning for Natural Disasters. A total of 132 people have been reported missing and 619,000 have been forced from their homes, civil defence officials said in an update on Sunday evening. In the flooded historic centre of state capital Porto Alegre, sofas and other belongings could be seen floating in muddy waters. Further north in the town of Sao Leopoldo, a line of cars lay half submerged where they had been parked along the road. Elsewhere, people rowed boats down flooded streets. Electrician Claudio da Silva, 36, went to check on the situation in his neighborhood, describing his house as “broken”. “My brother-in-law’s house next door had water halfway up the second floor. Now, it’s gone down a bit and you can get to the second floor, but it’s a mess. “There are lots of dead animals. It’s very, very, sad.” Metallurgist Antonio Vanzan, 50, described the situation as “critical”. “If the rain doesn’t stop falling, what is going to happen? The level of the river may increase and the water will return inside the neighborhoods.” The Guaiba, an estuary bordering state capital Porto Alegre, had on Saturday reached its lowest level since May 3. However, fresh rains have once again swollen the body of water, and levels are expected to again rise above five meters. Its banks overflow at three metres. The Guaiba had reached historic levels of 5.3m on May 5 and 6. Other already overflowing rivers in the region also saw water levels continue to rise. – AFP Cars half submerged along a road in Sao Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul on Sunday. – AFPPIC

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 9 Israeli forces step up attacks on Jabalia camp Thousands evacuate as Russia advances in Kharkiv UKRAINE: Russia said on Sunday it had captured four more villages in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, as thousands of residents were evacuated from the offensive in an area where Russian troops were repelled in 2022. President Volodymyr Zelensky said “fierce fighting” was under way and governor Oleg Synegubov said “all areas” of the regional border with Russia were now “under enemy fire almost around the clock”. In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to replace defence minister Sergei Shoigu, in what would be a major shake-up of the military leadership. Across the border in the Russian city of Belgorod, emergency services said 15 people were killed when a residential building was hit by a Ukrainian missile after it was intercepted by air defences. In Ukraine, local prosecutors said four civilians had been killed in the Kharkiv region in the Russian ground offensive, which was launched on Friday. The Ukrainian army’s top commander said although the situation was “complicated”, his forces were managing to hold back further Russian advances. But Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had “advanced deeply into enemy defences”, a day after claiming the capture of five villages in Kharkiv region. At an evacuation point near the front line in the Kharkiv region, AFP reporters on Sunday saw groups of people evacuated from around the border town of Vovchansk, most of them elderly and disoriented. “We weren’t going to leave. Home is home,“ said 72-year-old Lyuda Zelenskaya, hugging a trembling cat named Zhora. Liuba Konovalova, 70, said she had endured a “really terrifying” night before her evacuation. – AFP Palestinians fleeing Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ride with their belongings in the back of a truck, as they arrive to take shelter in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the Palestinian territory on Saturday. – AFPPIC B R I E F S31 UKRAINIAN DRONES SHOT DOWN MOSCOW: Russia said yesterday that it had shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions and annexed Crimea. “During the night, new attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with the help of aerial drones, against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were foiled,“ the Defence Ministry said in a statement on the Telegram social media channel. Twelve drones were shot down over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and where a Ukrainian strike had killed 15 people on Sunday, it said. Eight drones were destroyed over the region of Kursk, also bordering Ukraine, and four were intercepted over the neighbouring region of Lipetsk, it said. Seven drones and four Storm Shadow missiles were destroyed over Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. – AFP 500 MEDICAL PERSONNEL KILLED SINCE OCT 7 ISTANBUL: At least 500 medical personnel have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on Oct 7 last year, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday as the world marked International Nurses Day. “Here in Palestine and in Gaza in particular, this day passes as the Israeli occupation has killed 138 nurses. This year’s International Nurses Day is exceptional, and it is our right to name this year the Year of Nursing,” Anadolu Agency reported ministry spokesman Khalil al-Daqran said during a news conference on the sidelines of a sit-in organised by nurses at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. “Nurses, midwives and medical teams are an integral part of the fabric of the Palestinian people. – Bernama-AA CAIRO: Israeli tanks, under cover from heavy fire from the air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, residents and Hamas media said, while air strikes hammered Rafah in the south. oAirstrikes destroy cluster of houses while hundreds of Palestinians in shelters forced to leave In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps. Residents said tank shells were landing at the centre of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses. Israeli troops forced hundreds of Palestinians housed in shelters to leave. In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israel stepped up aerial and ground bombardments on the eastern areas of the city, killing people in an air strike on a house in the Brazil neighbourhood. Residents said Israeli tanks are now stationed east of the Salahuddin Road that bisects the eastern part of the city, with the highway cut off by intense fighting. Residents added the eastern part of Rafah remained a “ghost town”. The Hamas armed wing said their fighters were engaged in gun battles with Israeli forces in one of the streets east of Rafah, and in the east of Jabalia. In Israel, the military sounded sirens several times in areas near Gaza, warning of potential Palestinian cross-border rocket and or mortar launches. Late on Saturday, the Israeli military said forces operating in Jabalia were preventing Hamas, which rules Gaza, from re-establishing its military capabilities there. – Reuters Strike on Rafah will not eliminate Hamas: Blinken WASHINGTON: An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke “anarchy” without eliminating Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, as Washington stepped up a pressure campaign against such an assault. Separately, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasised Washington’s concerns about an offensive in a call with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi. “Mr Sullivan reiterated President Biden’s longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah, where over one million people have taken shelter,“ said a White House readout of the phone call. It said Hanegbi “confirmed that Israel is taking US concerns into account“, but did not elaborate. Israeli bombardment in the eastern parts of Rafah have already sent 300,000 Gazans fleeing. The United States and other countries, as well as top UN officials, have warned that a full-out assault on Rafah could have a disastrous impact on the refugees driven there by fighting elsewhere in Gaza, many of them living in desperate conditions. Israel has said it is attempting to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. But Blinken, when asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” whether the US concurred with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that Israeli forces had killed more civilians than Hamas since the war began, replied simply, “Yes, we do.” Blinken said a full-scale invasion could come “potentially at an incredibly high cost” and that even a massive assault on Rafah was unlikely to end the Hamas threat. “Israel’s on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,“ he said. Blinken also confirmed that the hold President Joe Biden has placed on weapons to Israel – as the US continues pressing it to better protect civilians and avoid an all-out invasion of Rafah – is limited to 3,500 “high-capacity” bombs. He said the United States was continuing to press Israeli leaders to provide a plan for Gaza once the war is finally over, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “we’ve been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result.” The US diplomat said Hamas had already returned to certain areas of northern Gaza that Israel had “liberated.” Blinken also spoke on Sunday with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, insisting again the United States opposed a major Israel ground operation in Rafah, the State Department said. “The Secretary underscored the urgent need to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza and urged the minister to ensure assistance can move into Gaza and help address distribution challenges inside of Gaza as Israel pursues Hamas targets,“ State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops battled militants in several areas of the Hamasrun territory, where the health ministry said the death toll in the war had exceeded 35,000 people. More than seven months into the war, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid.” Asked about a State Department report issued on Friday that said Israel likely has violated norms of international law in its use of US weapons, Blinken said there was still too little evidence to warrant ending all military support. The chaotic and dangerous conditions of an ongoing war made it “very difficult” to determine exactly what was happening, or what weapons were used. Republicans have been sharply critical even of Biden’s limited halt to providing bombs. Senator Tom Cotton, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, told CBS that the State Department report “was very clear: there is no evidence that Israel is violating international law.” He said Israel “is doing more than any military in history to prevent civilian casualties.” – AFP

10 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 Or download app on the AppStore or Google Play ENJOY A SEAMLESS READING EXPERIENCE. Read our iPaper at https://www.thesun.my/ Irresponsible property developers dash dreams of homebuyers FOR the average Malaysian, owning a property is a dream come true but for many, it remains a pipe dream, no thanks to spiralling housing prices that are beyond their reach. It is therefore apt to say Malaysians, especially those from the middle and lower-income groups, literally put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears into ultimately buying and owning a property. But the dream of owning a property can quickly turn into a nightmarish situation. For some, it happens immediately after receiving the notice of vacant possession while for others, a few months down the road. A sizeable number of properties sold in Malaysia come with bare basic fittings, and the purchasers have to do their own renovations such as building a kitchen before being able to occupy and call it a home. This entails additional costs. For instance, in the Klang Valley area, an affordable apartment unit comes with a minimum price tag of RM300,000 while basic renovation works could cost about RM20,000 or more. On top of that, there are also hidden costs such as utility deposits and charges, home insurance, property tax, maintenance fees and sinking funds for a strata or gated community property. This is when the nightmare begins. Despite paying a hefty amount, many end up with defective units due to poor workmanship and suffer the consequences of such slipshod work by developers. There is no denying that some developers take responsibility and rectify the problems during the defect liability period, but there are those who do not and turn a blind eye to complaints by owners. At most, the maintenance office of the developer might undertake to carry out one-off repairs, but the main problems, especially those pertaining to structural issues, are never fully resolved. Such problems affect all types of properties, from high-end dwellings by well-known companies to low-cost housing projects undertaken via government-sponsored programmes. The grouses are aplenty – from suband media coverage, there are similar or even worse cases of shoddilyconstructed properties and horror stories told by homeowners. Their predicament is made worse by apathy shown by property developers. It is easy to suggest that homeowners seek recourse by filing a lawsuit against such property developers, but lawyers do not come cheap. As it is, homeowners have to grapple with the rising cost of living to make ends meet. Therefore, taking the developer to task through the courts is the last thing house owners want to do as it would require much time and energy, not to mention the costs. The government, especially the consumer affairs and housing ministries, valuation department, as well as agencies involved in construction, must step in to help such helpless homeowners. Perhaps by-laws need to be changed to ensure that property developers are held responsible for slipshod work regardless of how long the property has been purchased. If developers are not held accountable and do not undertake the necessary repairs on the properties they sold, one shudders to think of the consequences. As events have shown, it could be a disaster or accident waiting to happen, such as housing and building structures collapsing, if such defects are not rectified quickly. The government must do more to protect housebuyers. Comments: [emailprotected] “There is no denying that some developers take responsibility and rectify the problems during the defect liability period but there are those who do not and turn a blind eye to complaints by owners. If developers are not held accountable and do not undertake the necessary repairs on the properties they sold, one shudders to think of the consequences. – BERNAMAPIC COMMENT by M. Saraswathi standard wiring, poor workmanship, multiple cracks and water leakage – common problems faced by desperate homeowners. Some developers take the easy route out by blaming extreme weather conditions. This is perhaps applicable for houses built a few decades ago, but not the ones built in the last 10 to 15 years, given that there is now greater awareness of the adverse effects of extreme weather and global warming. The irony is that decades-old buildings at times seem steadier and stand solid as a rock. “We got our keys and moved into our unit in February 2021. Since then, there have been multiple cracks and leakage. Some units (in the apartment building) have water seepping out from the floors,” said a low-cost apartment owner in the Klang Valley, who requested anonymity. “I am afraid that someday the apartment would just crumble and collapse,” she said. This writer knows all too well the dilemma of homeowners as she herself has been struggling to get things fixed with the property purchased from a well-known developer. Defective air-conditioning systems, low quality wiring and extremely poor workmanship are among the multiple problems she has been facing ever since her family moved into the unit in 2020. A highly placed official of the developer for the housing project openly acknowledged that this particular project was a problematic one. But that was it. There was no recourse and no further action taken by the developer to put things right to repair the apartment units, while the purchasers continue to suffer. Undoubtedly, from news reports

11 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 The meetings in Honiara I had met Anthony Hughes before. I was based in Banika Island, a part of the Russell Group in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. In the first few days of taking over, I had flown with Jim Broom to Guadalcanal to meet with the top government officials. First, we met governorgeneral Sir Baddeley Devesi in suits and ties, and Jim explained my background. Then prime minister Solomon Mamaloni was not in the country, so we saw his finance minister Bartholomew Ulufaalu, a young, feisty man who was frank about what he wanted for the country. It was in the first few years of independence. In the long corridors of the wooden buildings, I observed that many secretaries were British women, but it was plain that change was taking place. Eventually, we crossed the road and walked to the office of the Central Bank. Governor Hughes was waiting for us. He was wearing shorts, sandals and a Tshirt, but I understood that it was usual for people to dress simple there. He was a tall and ascetic figure, and when he sat at the low glass table his knees touched the glass top. As Jim spoke, I noted the display of custom money of seashells, which I was told were still in use in ceremonies and marriages. I knew Hughes had read my background because he was also on the board of the company representing the government, which had bought a big share on his recommendation. From my information, I knew that after his graduation from Oxford University, he had joined the civil service. With his sharp mind, it was not long before he clashed with officers more senior to him at Whitehall, and there was no place in the empire further than the Solomon Islands, where they sent him. But he took to the place and helped pave the way to independence, married the tall daughter of a chief from the Western Province and after some years became a citizen of Solomon Islands. We did not go through the cashflow problems, but he said before we left that the matter should be solved. It struck me that he was a thoughtful person, who I could get along with. But this was not the case. It was at the second meeting when we sat at the same glass table, that he went straight to the point. “Your parent company should put up a loan. You must have sent a lot of money back over the years. And you took the land virtually for nothing in the first place.” Clearly, he had turned hostile. Perhaps he had many things on his mind. It so happened that my next meeting for the day was with the director of lands, and I found myself facing another odd situation. Instead of seeing an islander, I found myself facing a Scotsman donning a dark beard and he was even more direct than Hughes. “From your proposal, I see you have a wish to delay giving us back the unused islands. Our people want them now. After all, you had acquired them with some shells and dogs’ teeth as custom money. You have exploited us.” He glared at me. As I walked away, I felt sore that the two officials had chastised me, a Malay, like I was a colonialist and they were the injured party. The stories were not true. Those islands and the trading posts across the Pacific had been bought from another foreign owner nearly a hundred years before and with Western currency. When I got back to the Mendana hotel, I was ready for a strong cup of coffee when I saw a figure and I thought I could guess who he was. He was wearing long stockings, white shorts and shirt, and a silver chain went from his belt to his pocket. He was sitting alone under a false almond tree and reading a piece of paper closely with his eye-glass. This was Commander Ninian Scott-Elliot, who had land in Rendova bought after the war and planted coconut and cocoa. He was balding and he looked tired. “Very glad to meet you at last,” I said. “And thank you for your letter welcoming me to the islands.” He had written on my first days with a warm word of welcome and hoped to see me anytime at his plantations, by a bay further to the west. His letter was written with a broad nib on expensive stationery, in the old way I was taught in school. It was later that I read that he had been a war hero, seeing action in Malta, and Tobruk. After his boat was sunk, he was held prisoner on the way to Germany and had escaped. He rejoined the navy and was in the South Pacific at the end of the war when he saw the Solomon Islands. I was told he had planted his place at Rendova with cocoa and coconut, leading a team of loyal workers. At dinner, he would have a bag-piper who would pace outside the house. He had set his own time. He was tolerated, as he was said to be related to the Queen. He threatened to mint his own currency, but changes had caught up with him. “I came to see the authorities in the land office when they said they want to buy my land,” he said. “Are you selling? “They gave me the price. I told them to add a few more zeroes.” He paused. “I know I can’t stay on. I will have to look at Sri Lanka or Tanzania, where I might start over again,” he added. I took a photograph with the sea behind him, and I did not see him again. It was later that I read that he went back to Devon to live there to the end of his days. He had left a will and some money to a young Englishman to start a chicken farm in Rendova, so his former workers could once again have an income and perhaps start a school. With Tony Hughes, I got to know him a bit better when I held a board meeting in Banika. He stayed at my house and he was in the mood to talk. “Did you expect anything different before you bought the shares?” I asked. “I did, in a way. Now I can see under the cover what a multinational does. But I am glad there was nothing that I found that could not bear scrutiny. “Having said that, the income had not been as expected and the ministers were asking questions directed at me. It happens every time I try to stop spending, such as building new government offices.” A few days later I heard on the radio that Hughes had been sacked. Later, I heard he still had his job. I made a mental note to ask him about that when I was next in Honiara. It could be the time when the Queen arrived on her yacht, the Royal Britannia. The writer has extensive experience in the management of oil palm plantations. Comments: [emailprotected] Poverty still a social problem in Malaysia THOUGH the government is bent on eradicating poverty in the country there are people still living in deplorable conditions. Last year, the prime minister vowed to eradicate abject poverty in our nation and last week, the Regent of Johor called for the eradication of extreme poverty in the state by 2025. The Regent has said everyone in Johor should have food on their tables, shelter, access to quality education and access to basic facilities and good health. A time frame has been set and all state assemblymen have been directed to identify the respective groups in their constituency. The royal decree is an affirmative, action-based timely call to wipe out abject poverty in Johor. The whole nation needs to emulate the stance that the Regent of Johor has taken. It is sad and depressing that there are families who are still living in deplorable conditions in our country. There are families, single mothers and elderly couples still living in shacks, abandoned and dilapidated buildings, with no proper water supplies, electricity and sanitation. Two years ago the media highlighted the plight of a 60-year-old military veteran who was living in a car parked at the back of a convenience store in Taman Sungai Besi. He had been living in the car for the past 20 years. The plight of the army veteran caught the eye of a former prime minister who immediately dispatched his political secretary to look into his case. It is shocking that people still live in such squalid conditions in a country that boast of progress and development. The media should be commended for highlighting and exposing families and children living in such conditions. Abject poverty is a reality and many are still living below the poverty line. A more concerted effort needs to be taken to eradicate poverty. The respective village heads and community representatives should be aware of squatters and families living in poverty in their constituency. Social welfare workers and volunteers should visit every area to identify the hardcore poor. Eradicating poverty is one of the key performance indicators that the government has embarked on. The onus is on us to help our country achieve zero poverty. Let us eradicate it within our neighbourhoods by reporting deserving cases to the relevant authorities. It should be the top priority of any state government. Zero poverty should be the ultimate goal in our quest a better life. In a land where foreigners come in large droves to work and earn a living, it is discouranging to see our people living in such pathetic conditions, jobless and homeless. Apart from these homeless vagrants, there are families in the country who have to make do with bare necessities while living in abject poverty. There are homes with no proper electricity or water supply. Single mothers whose husbands have deserted them, leaving them in the lurch have been forced to stay in sheds and abandoned buildings with their children. Elderly men and women who have been abandoned by their children, and left to fend for themselves stay in dilapidated dwellings. I am appalled by organisations helping foreign missions and causes when our people are living in abject poverty without basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing. Let charity begin at home. Let us completely wipe out this malaise before helping foreign missions. It is heart-warming that kind and concerned individuals have come forward to help those in need and the media should be commended for highlighting the plights of the needy so that their lives could be made a little better and brighter. Hardcore poverty should be eradicated and it should be the top priority of our government. Zero poverty should be the ultimate goal in our quest for quality living. Comments: [emailprotected] COMMENT by Samuel Yesuiah E STATE MANAGERWRITE S BY MAHBOB ABDULLAH “Hardcore poverty should be eradicated and it should be the top priority of our government. Many poor families also have to live in dilapidated dwellings. – ADIB RAHWI YAHYA/THESUN

HEALTH HEALTH 12 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 More than just headaches MIGRAINE headaches, often misunderstood and underestimated, are typically perceived as simple headaches. However, those who suffer from this condition know it to be much more than that – involving excruciating pain, hypersensitivity to their environment, bothersome accompanying symptoms and, in severe cases, affecting work productivity and quality of life. Prince Court Medical Centre consultant neurologist and migraine expert Dr Julia Shahnaz Merican said migraine is a complex disorder causing recurring throbbing headaches usually of moderate severity, accompanied by many accompanying symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light (photophobia), and/or sensitivity to loud noise (phonophobia). These headaches are typically aggravated by movement or activity and cause avoidance of routine physical activity. “One of the most substantial risk factors for migraines is a family history of the condition, with women being more susceptible than men. The most common age range for migraines is from the teenage years until the 50s. Teenagers, particularly after puberty, may experience more severe headaches, including menstrual migraines. In some cases, children as young as five or older may begin having recurrent abdominal pain of unknown cause called abdominal migraine, only to start to experience typical migraine headaches at puberty or early adulthood. “Migraines manifest as moderate to severe throbbing headaches lasting at least four to 72 hours. Contrary to common belief, these headaches may not always be unilateral and can affect the back of the head and neck or around the eyes.” Accurately diagnosing migraine A quick screening tool such as “ID Migraine”, which comprises three simple questions, can be close to 80% accurate in diagnosing migraine with certainty. If an individual answers “yes” to two out of three of the following questions, they have a higher tendency to a migraine diagnosis: 1. Has a headache limited your activities for a day or more in the last three months? 2. Are you nauseated or sick to your stomach when you have a headache? 3. Does light bother you when you have a headache? Julia said recording or tracking migraine occurrence using a headache diary has given many people living with migraine a greater understanding of the patterns and frequency of headache days per month. This enables recognition of triggers of which they were previously unaware. Each individual will recognise different triggers, commonly known as a change in routine, inadequate sleep, hot weather, travel, menstruation, and stress. “Avoidance of certain triggers, whenever possible, can reduce headache frequency. The diary can be a physical journal, a monthly calendar, or one of many smartphone apps available. The number of monthly migraine days recorded is most important to the person with migraines and the doctor to advise on treatment strategies. In addition, keeping track of days when headache medications are taken is key to avoiding ‘medication overuse headaches’, which can actually cause more frequent headaches.” Role of general practitioners and neurologists General practitioners play a crucial role in addressing their patient’s specific needs, such as acute relief, and referring them to neurologists in case of treatment failures. Urgent consultation and investigation are recommended when headaches are occurring too frequently without an obvious cause or there is any change in the character of headaches. The neurologist can accurately diagnose the cause of headaches by a thorough history of symptoms and physical examination. Migraine is by far the most common headache type in people seeking help from physicians. Migraine does not shorten lives but can impact quality of life. In addition, neurologists provide relevant information and resources for migraine, keeping in mind that there are many types or variants of migraine which need to be explained. Investigations such as CT (computerised tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), brain scans and blood Migraine is one of the most common neurologic disorders, with a high prevalence and morbidity, especially among young adults and females. – 123RFPIC oViable options for effective migraine management Advancing early actions in chronic kidney disease ASTRAZENECA, together with three medical organisations and four diagnostic laboratory operators, has entered into a partnership for chronic kidney disease (CKD) care through use of advanced digital solutions, mainly the MyCKD CPG app and the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE). In Malaysia, more than five million people have CKD, yet only 5% are aware of it. Over 51,000 Malaysians currently live with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and require kidney replacement therapy. Public sector expenses for ESRD in Malaysia reached RM1.2 billion in 2016, marking a 94% increase over seven years. Even more alarming, a significant portion of healthcare spending goes into dialysis, sidelining crucial preventive measures and early treatments. The most common risk factors for CKD are type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Both new and existing cases of CKD are rising, and these numbers are increasing in parallel to the growing prevalence of diabetes and other risk factors in both developed and developing countries. This has resulted in a significant burden of CKD-related illness and death, even in the early stages, a risk that is compounded by the presence of diabetes. Since early detection and intervention in CKD are crucial for delaying the progression of CKD-related complications and reducing B R I E F SHOTTER, DRIER, SICKER? HOW A CHANGING PLANET DRIVES DISEASE HUMANS have made our planet warmer, more polluted and ever less hospitable to many species, and these changes are driving the spread of infectious disease. Warmer, wetter climates can expand the range of vector species like mosquitos, while habitat loss can push diseasecarrying animals into closer contact with humans. New research reveals how complex the effects are, with our impact on the climate and planet turbocharging some diseases and changing transmission patterns for others. Biodiversity loss appears to play an outsize role in increasing infectious disease, according to work published in the journal Nature. It analysed nearly 3,000 datasets from existing studies to see how biodiversity loss, climate change, chemical pollution, habitat loss or change, and species introduction affect infectious disease in humans, animals and plants. It found biodiversity loss was by far the biggest driver, followed by climate change and the introduction of novel species. Parasites target species that are more abundant and offer more potential hosts, explained senior author Jason Rohr, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. – AFP CAMPAIGN TO PRIORITISE GUM HEALTH SYSTEMA has launched the #GumHealthFirst campaign to help tackle Malaysia’s prevalent gum disease issue. Continuing its collaboration with the Malaysia Society of Periodontology (MSP) and the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH), this initiative aims to raise awareness about the critical role healthy gums play in overall oral wellness. MOH principal director of oral health Dr Noormi Othman emphasised the seriousness of gum disease prevalence in Malaysia, as 94.5% of Malaysian adults suffer from unhealthy gums. This issue is even more prevalent among adults aged 35 to 44 years old, with 96% facing gum health challenges. Periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease, affects 38.2% of Malaysian adults. MSP president Dr Mohd Faizal Hafez Hidayat highlighted the risks associated with gum disease, including tooth loss and serious health conditions. “Unhealthy gums can lead to serious issues like tooth loss and difficulties in everyday activities such as chewing and speaking. Untreated gum disease can spiral into serious health conditions like osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, respiratory issues, stroke, and diabetes.” Faizal stressed the importance of adopting preventive measures as part of daily oral care routines. ONLINE TALK ON PERSONALISED CARE IN CANCER TREATMENT CanSurvive Centre Malaysia is organising a talk entitled “The Role of Personalised Care in Cancer Treatment” this Saturday at 3pm on Zoom. Genomics testing provide precision personalised care in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. By pinpointing distinct genetic variations in cancer cells, it directs tailored treatment plans that ensure effectiveness, minimise side effects and can potentially reduce costs. This personalised strategy transforms patient care, focusing on the unique genetic makeup of each cancer for optimised treatment outcomes. The speaker is Prof Dr Chee-Onn Leong, who is experienced in the field of genomics. Leong is currently a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He served as a professor of genomics and deputy director of research at the International Medical University, Malaysia. tests are only necessary if a more serious secondary cause is suspected. Such investigations are required when headaches are a new complaint in any individual when headaches have changed in character or become more frequent, particularly in children or persons over 50. Newly available innovative treatment Migraine is one of the most common neurological diseases worldwide. Researchers have found that during a migraine, the brain is flooded by chemicals released by nerves and blood vessels, including calcitonin gene-related peptide antibodies (CGRP). New treatments can target CGRP to reduce both the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks significantly. These new treatments, also available in oral form, bring a brighter future for millions wrestling with migraine’s grip. Managing migraines effectively involves acknowledging their complexity, dispelling common misconceptions and recognising the vital role of healthcare professionals in accurate diagnosis and comprehensive treatment. As research continues to increase the understanding of migraine, knowledge empowers individuals to make informed choices, leading to better management of this prevalent yet often underestimated condition. Healthcare industry leaders collaborate for better management of chronic kidney disease through early screening and detection. mortality, the smart partnership seeks to encourage healthcare professionals and policymakers to take proactive steps to promote early detection and intervention in CKD. The MyCKD CPG app is a comprehensive one-stop digital solution developed by Malaysian Society of Nephrology (MSN) to aid approaches for CKD management for primary care physicians; ranging from tools to facilitate early diagnosis and intervention to providing access to determine risk of CKD progression using KFRE. This serves as a cornerstone to improve CKD management in Malaysia, aimed at enhancing the knowledge level, awareness and practice in the early detection and timely intervention of CKD. The KFRE provides a clear forecast of kidney health, empowering both patients and doctors to make informed decisions that could potentially delay the need for dialysis. The KFRE has been validated in over 30 countries, establishing it as a reliable tool for assessing a patient’s risk of kidney failure. The inclusion of KFRE in lab reports will be rolled out across diagnostic laboratory operators Premier Integrated Labs, Innoquest Pathology, Lablink Medical Laboratory, and Sunway Medical Centre Laboratory. MSN, the Malaysian Association of Clinical Biochemists, Chapter of Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine, College of Pathologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia are also part of the partnership.

TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 Editorial T: 03-7784 6688 F: 03-7785 2625 E: [emailprotected] Advertising T: 03-7784 8888 E: [emailprotected] SCAN ME Bursa to hold nature-based carbon credit auction on July 25 PETALING JAYA: Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia Bhd, will host the highly anticipated auction of its first Malaysian carbon credits on July 25. The auction of carbon credits from the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project marks a significant milestone for BCX on several fronts – the offering of its first Malaysia Nature-based Carbon Credits Plus generated via a domestic forestry project and the expansion of BCX’s product offering to include local carbon credits in addition to global carbon credits. Located in Tongod and Kinabatangan districts in Sabah, the Kuamut Project protects and restores 83,381 hectares of tropical forest. The project is a publicprivate partnership between Sabah Forestry Department, Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd, Yayasan Sabah and Permian Malaysia, which is the project proponent. The project also receives operational support from Pacos oFirst such offering in Malaysia features Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project in Sabah FWD Insurance, BSN aim to have over 200,000 Qaseh Bakti Plus customers in 2025 KUALA LUMPUR: FWD Insurance Bhd and Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) aim to have at least 200,000 customers for Qaseh Bakti Plus – their microinsurance product aimed at households in the B40 income category – in the next 12 months. FWD Insurance CEO Aman Chowla said Qaseh Bakti Plus has received encouraging response with close to 15,000 customers signing up during its 30-day soft launch period. “The BSN and FWD partnership is hand in glove, primarily because BSN has the reach, it has the network, and we have the solutions. The network and the solutions coming together can make a real difference,” he told reporters at the launch of Qaseh Bakti Plus and signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement financial literacy programmes for selected urban and rural schools nationwide between FWD and BSN yesterday. Qaseh Bakti Plus is an offering under Bank Negara Malaysia’s Perlindungan Tenang programme. Catering to the needs of over three million B40 households in Malaysia, Qaseh Bakti Plus is aimed at providing solutions to underserved communities. Official launch of Qaseh Bakti Plus by Aman (second from left) andJay Khairil (second from right). █ BY HAYATUN RAZAK [emailprotected] ZTE and partners actively building robust 5G network in M’sia KUALA LUMPUR: ZTE Malaysia, which entered The Malaysia Book of Records for fastest 5G-A Live Trial at 28 Gbps, is setting a new benchmark for connectivity, empowering network operators to deliver unmatched speeds and superior service quality. This groundbreaking advancement is the result of strategic collaboration among Digital Nasional Bhd, Telekom Malaysia and ZTE. Through the collaboration, ZTE is actively building a robust 5G network in Malaysia, addressing specific national needs and driving strategic rollout. ZTE Malaysia managing director Steven Ge said the goal is to build the best-wired and wireless networks in the region, enabling seamless connectivity and driving innovation across various sectors. “We are committed to playing a significant role in its digital transformation journey. This commitment is demonstrated by our recent showcase of the 5G mmWave with the world’s fastest download speed, which earned ZTE Malaysia the fastest 5G-A live trial by the Malaysia Book of Records,” he said at the “Unfolding the Intelligent Future 2024” event organised by ZTE Malaysia yesterday. He added that the dedication to innovation is reflected in substantial investment in research and development (R&D), with 20.4% of the total revenue allocated to R&D in 2023. ZTE showcased its advancements in 5G infrastructure development and deployment on a global scale, demonstrating the company’s readiness to tailor its solutions to meet the unique demands of Malaysia’s 5G strategy and reaffirming its proactive engagement in the country’s strategic 5G display. █ BY AIMIE SHAZRIE [emailprotected] China-Asean R&D centre proposed KUALA LUMPUR: The establishment of a China-Asean research and development (R&D) centre to discuss issues related to climate change, food security, innovation, renewable energy and artificial intelligence is being proposed. Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Dr Johari Abdul said a special team could be established to identify any potential institution, especially in Malaysia, to be turned into an R&D centre. He said this was among matters discussed when he received a courtesy visit from the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, led by its president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, at Parliament Building here yesterday. “If it can be established (China-Asean R&D centre), this will help not only Asean but also Asian countries,” he said when met by reporters. “China has the finance but also wants to see how it can involve Asean countries when we become the Asean chairman next year.”– Bernama Trust and the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership. At the end of March, the project saw its maiden issuance of Verified Carbon Units under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, resulting in an estimated annual emission reduction of 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The project also simultaneously delivers tangible climate, community and biodiversity co-benefits, earning itself a Gold Level for Climate status under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards. According to Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, this is a historic moment as they welcome the first Malaysian nature-based carbon project into BCX. “Given the importance of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in the nation’s climate agenda, the offering of the Kuamut Project carbon credits is a significant milestone, indicating the country’s environmental leadership. It signals to the world that Malaysia is serious about climate action and its climate ambition. “We are committed to advancing the transition towards a lower carbon economy by developing a supportive VCM ecosystem through BCX,” he said. Elaborating on the significance of the auction, Muhamad Umar said, “It is hoped that this auction will generate greater interest among domestic and international business communities to invest in more carbon projects in Malaysia, given the rich potential for both nature and technology-based carbon project development in this country.” Permian Global founder and chairman Stephen Rumsey said: “We are incredibly grateful to Bursa Malaysia for their vision and leadership in developing the carbon exchange and especially for their support of the Kuamut Project. Climate action requires system-wide transformation. This means the rapid development of high-integrity, high-impact actions on the ground, like the Kuamut Project, but it also means building the financial infrastructure that drives investment in these vital activities. BCX is an enormously important piece in the climate puzzle.” The Kuamut Project currently contributes towards 12 of the 17 goals and targets under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in addition to verifiable emissions reduction. A briefing on the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project auction will be held on Thursday. BSN chief executive Jay Khairil said BSN is leveraging its extensive nationwide network to provide a solution specifically designed to address the protection needs of the rakyat while also advancing financial literacy among future generations. “Our collaboration with FWD Insurance is poised to strengthen our commitment to fostering relationships with our customers while ensuring that our vision of ‘No Malaysian Left Behind’ remains steadfast,” he said. Aman said its vision to change the way people feel about insurance is not limited to financial inclusion, but also to drive financial literacy in the nation. “We recognise that financial literacy and inclusion are not just economic imperatives; they are pillars of empowerment and equality. By equipping individuals with the knowledge and tools to navigate the financial landscape, we’re also breaking down barriers and building a more inclusive society,” he said. Qaseh Bakti Plus provides a choice of three plans for those between 18 and 55 years old, offering income replacement in the event of hospitalisation as well as death benefits. Customers will receive double the benefits if these causes are accidental. Premiums start from RM0.17 per day.

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 14 READ OUR HERE /thesun Malaysian Paper Foreign investors remain net buyers on Bursa with RM961m KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign investors continued to favour Malaysian equities for the third consecutive week, with a net inflow of RM961.1 million, although the trend was reversed regionally as they sold US$549.8 million (RM2.6 billion) Asian equities across the eight markets. According to the latest weekly Fund Flow Report by MIDF Research, net buying activity in the local market moderated slightly from the previous week’s RM1.06 billion. “Buying activities were observed on every trading day last week, except on Thursday. Foreign investors reverted to net buying again on Friday, likely influenced by Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate at 3.00%,” MIDF Research said. Sectors that recorded the highest net foreign inflows were financial services (RM268.2 million), utilities (RM242.9 million), and transportation and logistics (RM114 million), while the only sectors with net foreign outflows were industrial products and services (RM8.9 million) and REITs (RM3.8 million). Local institutions continued their trend of net selling for the second consecutive week, amounting to RM724.9 million. At the same time, local retailers continued to dispose of domestic equities for the ninth consecutive week, at RM236.2 million. In terms of participation, the average daily trading volume increased for local retailers (17.4%) and local institutions (1.3%), whereas those by foreign investors fell to 9.9%. – Bernama Malaysia’s natural rubber production dips in March PETALING JAYA: Natural Rubber (NR) production decreased by 9.2% in March 2024 (26,966 tonnes) compared with February 2024 (29,691 tonnes), said Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin. He added that a year-on-year comparison showed that the production of NR decreased by 0.8% (March 2023: 27,188 tonnes). Malaysian production of NR in March of 26,966 tonnes was mainly contributed by the smallholder sector (88.5%) compared with the estate sector (11.5%). Total stocks of NR in March decreased by 3.3% to 222,455 tonnes compared with 229,940 tonnes in February. Rubber processors factories contributed 92.4% of the stocks followed by rubber consumers factories (7.5%) and rubber estates (0.1%). Exports of Malaysia’s NR amounted to 58,965 tonnes in March, an increase of 7% as against February (55,083 tonnes). Malaysian NR production decreased by 7.5% to 86,944 tonnes in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24) compared with 93,956 tonnes in Q4’23. On an annual basis, NR production in Q1’24 increased 3.7% compared with Q1’23 (83,848 tonnes). – Bernama Analysts expect CPO stockpile to rise, pressure prices KUALA LUMPUR: Analysts expect Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) stockpile to increase in the coming months, potentially exerting downward pressure on prices. In their research notes yesterday, analysts from Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB), Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd (HLIB) and Public Investment Bank Bhd forecast CPO inventories to continue rising, thus they maintained their “neutral” call on the plantation sector. Maybank IB said the market anticipates the CPO stockpile to exceed two million tonnes. It said the preliminary Malaysian export estimates for shipments from May 1 to 10 revealed weaker demand, as independent cargo surveyors such as Amspec and Intertek reported month-on-month (m-o-m) declines of 14.8% and 14.2%, respectively, to 362,790 tonnes and 369,920 tonnes, respectively. “The retracement in exports post-Ramadan is within expectation based on past trends. From here on, we expect the stockpile to be rebuilt more meaningfully, especially during the peak production months of August to October,” it added. Meanwhile, HLIB believes the stockpile will remain on an uptrend this month, as exports will likely remain subdued due to the absence of festive-driven demand and palm oil’s weak price competitiveness over competing oils. “We maintain 2024-25 CPO price assumptions of RM4,000 per tonne and RM3,800 per tonne, respectively,” it said. Although Public Investment shares the same expectation with regard to the stockpiles, it expects palm oil players to see stronger earnings in the first quarter of 2024. “With the exception of Ta Ann Holdings Bhd and TSH Resources Bhd, the majority of the plantation companies under our coverage delivered better fresh fruit bunches production in 1Q 2024, driven by higher productivity and improved fertiliser application in the past. “On the CPO price performance, the CPO price average rose to RM4,006 per metric ton in 1Q 2024 versus 4Q 2023’s RM3,678 per metric ton,” it said. – Bernama B R I E F SBE DYNAMIC AND KEEP UP WITH GLOBAL PRIORITIES, MSPO TOLD KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) – the new name for the Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council – has been urged to focus on three matters to ensure that the council will be able to continue to provide added value to the nation’s palm oil industry. Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said MSPO, among others, should be dynamic and keep abreast of the rapidly evolving global priorities. “The ministry will ensure the MSPO certification scheme is being continuously improved so that it remains relevant in meeting international sustainability standards,” he said in his speech for the MSPO 10th anniversary celebration here yesterday, which was read out by ministry deputy secretary-general (strategic planning and management) Datuk Abdul Hadi Omar. – Bernama BANK NEGARA, BANK OF KOREA RENEW SWAP ARRANGEMENT KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Korea yesterday entered into an agreement to renew the bilateral swap arrangement (BSA). The size of this arrangement is maintained at RM15 billion/5 trillion won, which follows the BSA signed in 2020. The swap arrangement is for a period of three years and can be extended by mutual agreement between the two central banks. The BSA is aimed at promoting trade between the two countries and strengthening financial cooperation. Q1 construction work done value surges to RM36.8b PETALING JAYA: The construction sector’s work done value recorded a year-on-year surge of 14.2% to RM36.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024, said Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin. “The value of work done in the construction sector continued its upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2024 by recording a notable surge of 14.2% (Q4 2023: 6.8%). The vibrant performance was attributable to the stronger expansion in the civil engineering sub-sector, which was at 24.7% following an 18% increase in the preceding quarter,” he added. Additionally, the special trades activities and residential building sub-sectors experienced double-digit increases of 11.8% and 11.5% respectively. In the meantime, the non-residential buildings sub-sector also expanded at a faster pace of 3.8% (Q4 2023: -1.9%). “In the first quarter of 2024, the total work done value reached RM36.8 billion. Out of this total, civil engineering amounted to RM15.1 billion or 41.1%, driven primarily by the construction of roads and railways activity which accounted for RM7.6 billion,” said Mohd Uzir. The value of work done for nonresidential buildings and residential buildings was RM10.2 billion (27.7%) and RM7.8 billion (21.1%), respectively. Special trade activities made up RM3.7 billion (10%), largely in electrical installation (RM1.1 billion); plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation (RM0.9 billion); and site preparation (RM0.7 billion). Mohd Uzir said the private sector remained the main impetus to the growth in the quarter, with an increase of 10.1% (Q4 2023: 1.4%) propelled by civil oRobust performance attributable to stronger expansion in civil engineering sub-sector engineering (13.5%) and residential buildings (12.9%). The value of work done by the private sector amounted to RM21.8 billion or 59.2% of the total construction work done value. The value of work done by the public sector reached RM15 billion or 40.8%, which maintained its double-digit growth for three consecutive quarters by registering 20.6% in this quarter.

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 15 MAC boosts Supreme Global’s bid to buy Sri Lankan Airlines KUALA LUMPUR: MMAG Aviation Consortium Sdn Bhd (MAC), the aviation arm of MMAG Holdings Bhd, will enhance the efforts of Supreme Global Holdings Private Ltd and its consortium partners to further strengthen their bid to acquire Sri Lankan Airlines. This consortium includes MBS Global Investments, the investment arm of the Private Office of Sheikh Nayef Bin Eid Al Thani of Qatar, and Sherisha Technologies Private Ltd, previously known as SunEdison Energy India Private Ltd. Leveraging its advanced aviation solutions and operational support, MAC is committed to harnessing its expertise in regional feeder cargo solutions and automated cargo handling, with full implementation of these strategies contingent upon the successful acquisition of Sri Lankan Airlines by Supreme Global. Supreme Global, a leading Sri Lankan conglomerate with diverse interests in space, mining, energy trading, fintech, media and investments, is actively pursuing the acquisition of Sri Lankan Airlines, in collaboration with its consortium partners. This strategic initiative aims to elevate Sri Lanka’s aviation sector, enhancing its role as a major aviation hub in South Asia. By connecting key markets such as China, India, the Middle East, and Japan with significant Western markets like the US, Europe, and the UK, this initiative is expected to streamline trade flows, strengthen economic connections, and expedite cargo transit across these vital regions. MAC intends to extend the capabilities of XCT Aviation Sdn Bhd’s Xpress Cargo Terminal (XCT), known for its advanced technology and efficient cargo handling that shortens cargo acceptance times to just 90 minutes before flight departure. This development is set to be a game changer, establishing new operational benchmarks in the region upon the successful bid for Sri Lankan Airlines by Supreme Global and its consortium. Additionally, MJets Air Sdn Bhd, a key component of MAC will operate as a cargo freighter feeder, significantly expanding Sri Lanka’s air cargo network and tapping into the vast, untapped South Asian market of 2 billion people. This partnership is set to elevate Sri Lanka’s air cargo sector by adopting Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM)’s recognised best practices, enhancing safety, operational excellence, and bolstering the airline’s international reputation. MAC chairman Woo Kam Weng said, “This strategic collaboration with Supreme Global underscores our commitment to enhancing aviation connectivity and operational excellence across the region. MAC’s strategic initiative oStrategic initiative replicates parent company MMAG’s successful air cargo model as seen in Malaysia Economist deems call to accelerate AI ecosystem timely KUALA LUMPUR: The call by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to hasten the pace in building an artificial intelligence (AI) nexus is timely as currently, any work towards this in Malaysia is minimal or nonexistent, says economist Geoffrey Williams. He said such an ecosystem is vital to ensure that Malaysia cultivates an ample AI workforce and effectively stimulates economic growth in the future. Williams reckons that any research from Malaysia on developing AI applications is likely to be very small. He said while there was an announcement that the government would look into establishing the first AI polytechnic in the country, most universities here are yet to have AI as part of their programmes and research, except perhaps in specific modules in their information technology (IT) departments. “There are only ad hoc activities in AI at a relatively low level or early stage being carried out in Malaysia’s universities. There is very little research, very little teaching and no significant attempt to look at the potential economic impact,” he told Bernama. Thus, he proposed local universities start adopting AI by prioritising training among academicians, while at the same time taking time to integrate AI into universities’ curricula, which would help build the much-needed ecosystem for AI to succeed. “To integrate AI into curricula, academics themselves must be proficient in AI and they are not. There are many opportunities to use AI for course development and content creation as well as for research but academics have simply not begun this process,” he added. The factors behind this are many, but some of the most important include regulations that slow down the creation of new programmes, and a lack of awareness and training in AI among academics, he noted. Williams also stressed that the government must conduct thorough research to create policies to deal with the impact of AI so that people thoroughly benefit from it. Besides making the call to hasten the pace for an AI nexus in the country, Anwar, who is also the finance minister launched the AI Talent Roadmap 2024-2030 and the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence and the Malaysian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (MAIC) on Friday. He said the governance of the AI ecosystem must be systematic and have professional and skilled talents with AI working with multinational corporations and the MAIC pursuing the growth of AI. KUALA LUMPUR: SME Ordnance (SMEO), a subsidiary unit of National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd reported two more strategic partnerships that were forged during DSA Malaysia 2024 aimed at advancing small arms ammunition production and distribution in both local and international markets. Firstly, SMEO signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SAC Arms Sdn Bhd, a distributor of small calibre ammunition to combine their expertise and resources to optimise production processes, ensure product quality, and explore opportunities for research and development. SMEO CEO Datuk Shah Eikhmarizan Mohd Shahrom said their partnership with SAC Arms Sdn Bhd is to enhance their capabilities in small arms ammunition production. “Given the decades of know-how and experience that SMEO has to offer, we are truly excited to join forces with SMEO to strengthen our position in the defence market,“ said SAC Arms Sdn Bhd managing director Tan San Kwang. SMEO’s partnership with PT Dwimitra Pasifik Internasional, a licensed distributor of firearms and related products based in Jakarta, Indonesia is to meet the escalating demand for premium sports shooting ammunition across Indonesia. Under the MoU, SMEO will supply a range of superior ammunition products tailored to enhance the sports shooting experience in Indonesia. Under the terms of the MoU, SME Ordnance will supply and deliver a range of superior ammunition products totalling 15 million rounds throughout the three-year period. SMEO executive chairman Tan Sri Mohd Shahrom Nordin said the signing of these MoUs marks pivotal moments for SME Ordnance as they continue to advance their mission of providing top-tier ammunition to the global market. “Our proven track record for quality and reliability, combined with our partners’ strong distribution networks, will ensure that customers have access to the best products to fuel their passion,” he added. AME Elite to sell Johor industrial plots for RM209.8m KUALA LUMPUR: AME Elite Consortium Bhd via its wholly owned subsidiaries proposes selling 11 industrial land plots in i-TechValley, Iskandar Puteri, Johor to Digital Hyperspace Malaysia Sdn Bhd (DHM) for a combined RM209.84 million in cash. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the real estate services group stated that its subsidiary Pentagon Land Sdn Bhd plans to dispose of seven freehold plots totalling 9.07ha to DHM for RM134.79 million. Another subsidiary Greenhill SILC Sdn Bhd intends to sell four similar plots measuring 5.05ha to DHM for RM75.05 million. The proposed sales aim to unlock the full value of the lands, resulting in an estimated net pro forma gain of RM85.13 million and generating gross cash proceeds of RM209.84 million. “This will allow the group to partially fund its ongoing industrial property development project, iTechValley, and strengthen the group’s financial position for future endeavours,” it said. – Bernama Citadel champions gender diversity in CEO appointments KUALA LUMPUR: In a bold move that breaks from its traditionally maledominated leadership, Citadel Group has appointed three women to CEO positions within its subsidiaries. Citadel Group chairman and CEO Datuk Jeff Medina said, “As we embark on global expansion, it’s imperative to foster a leadership team as diverse as our market. We’re dedicated to an equitable and inclusive culture, serving a broad spectrum of clients from corporate behemoths to nimble SMEs.” The three CEOs are Datin Emily Chow as CEO of Citadel Technologies, Zawayiah @ Norazlina Mohd Ashari (CEO of Citadel Wealth Partners) and Dr Rajna R.Anthony (CEO of Citadel Elite Academy). “In an evolving fintech landscape, Datin Emily’s tech-savvy approach, Zac’s wealth management acumen and Dr Rajna’s commitment to financial education and social impact will drive our vision forward,” said Medina. involves replicating its highly successful air cargo business model, which has been effectively implemented in Malaysia, over to Sri Lanka. By mirroring the success achieved in Malaysia, MAC seeks to drive substantial economic growth and improve connectivity within Sri Lanka, positioning it as a key hub in the regional and global air cargo networks.” Additionally, he added that this partnership will bolster Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) position as a leading international air cargo hub, leveraging increased network connections and operational efficiencies that benefit both locations. This strategic enhancement aligns with broader goals to strengthen regional logistics capabilities, making KLIA a central anchor in Asia’s aviation landscape. Meanwhile, Supreme Global chairman R.M. Manivannan remarked, “The esteemed reputation and stringent standards of the Malaysian aviation sector, paired with MAC’s advanced air cargo solutions, as demonstrated by their recent contracts with Malaysia’s largest airlines and the potential local venture with the highly acclaimed Menzies Aviation Group, position MAC as the perfect partner for Supreme Global. This partnership promises to not only leverage the existing strengths of Sri Lankan Airlines but also integrate innovative strategies that echo Supreme Global’s trailblazing approach in various interests, particularly our ventures into space exploration through our subsidiary, SupremeSAT.” The partnership was formalised by Manivannan and Woo on May 11 in Sri Lanka. Mohd Shahrom (second from left) and Guntur Muchtar (second from right) after the MoU ceremony. Dwimitra Pasifik Internasional managing director Guntur Muchtar said their reputation for superior ammunition quality is wellrecognized, and they are confident that this partnership will greatly benefit the sports shooting community in Indonesia. SMEO signs MoU to expand small arms ammo production

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 16 @thesundaily FOLLOW ON TWITTER Malaysian Paper BEIJING: China’s Finance Ministry said yesterday it will start the long-awaited sales of long-term special treasury bonds that Beijing hopes will help stimulate key sectors of a flagging economy. The Finance Ministry confirmed what four sources had told Reuters earlier yesterday the one trillion yuan (RM653 billion) of special government bonds will have tenors of 20 to 50 years and issuance will begin on Friday. The sources, who have direct knowledge of the plans, said 300 billion yuan worth of 20-year bonds, 600 billion yuan worth of 30-year bonds and 100 billion yuan worth of 50-year bonds would be issued. Market participants have been waiting for weeks for details of the issuance pipeline of these special treasury bonds, which were first announced during China’s parliamentary conference in March. Given the issuance was foreseen, news of the details caused bond yields to slip slightly. The yield on 30-year bonds fell two basis points to 2.55%. It is down 30 bps this year. Zou Wang, an investment director at Shanghai Anfang Private Fund Management, said that while such a supply of bonds is negative for prices, it had been priced in. “In addition, the market now expects the central bank to provide liquidity support through cuts in interest rates and reserve requirements.” The Finance Ministry said 30-year special bonds will be sold in 12 tranches, from May 17 to Nov 15. It said 20-year bonds will be sold in seven batches beginning May 24, while 50-year bonds will be issued in three tranches from May 17. Details of the timeline come just after data showed new bank lending in China fell more than market participants expected in April from the previous month while broad credit growth hit a record low. The expansion of outstanding total social financing, a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, slowed to 8.3% last month, a record low, from 8.7% in March. The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.3% pace in the first quarter, offering some relief to officials as they try to work through a property downturn and curtail local government debt. However, indicators show that demand at home remains frail, weighing on overall momentum. Cash raised through the special bonds will support the rebuilding of disaster-hit areas in the country and improve urban drainage prevention infrastructure to boost China’s ability to withstand natural disasters, state media have said. The Financial Times reported earlier in the day that Chinese authorities had kicked off plans to sell the long-dated bonds and the People’s Bank of China had asked brokers for advice on pricing. – Reuters Indonesia considers extending rice handout programme JAKARTA: Indonesia may further extend its rice handout programme by six months until December despite easing prices, outgoing President Joko Widodo said yesterday. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been giving 10kg of rice monthly to more than 20 million low-income families since March last year to help them cope with high prices of the staple as the El Nino weather pattern-fuelled drought hit output. The programme, which started in March-June last year, was due to end in June after multiple extensions. The outgoing president, popularly known as Jokowi, said the programme has been successful at curbing local prices of rice, a staple for most of Indonesia’s 270 million population. “All global food prices are rising. “Some are rising very high, and ours are still low. We should be grateful that our increases are not drastic,” he said in a statement. The extension is subject to budget availability, he said, without explaining the source of rice for the additional programme. Bulog, Indonesia’s food procurement firm, had bought 472,279 metric tons of rice from domestic harvests as of May 8, while stocks stood at 1.8 million tons, a company official told a weekly inflation meeting that was live streamed. Indonesia has imported 1.2 million tons of rice so far this year of the allotted 3.6 million tons, the company said late last month. Bulog has issued another international tender to buy about 300,000 metric tons of rice, European traders said yesterday. Rice prices have eased as stocks improve in the harvest season, a statistics bureau official told the inflation meeting. – Reuters China to start 1 trillion yuan bond sale on Friday oBeijing hopes to stimulate key sectors of flagging economy SoftBank returns to ‘growth trajectory’ TOKYO: Technology investor SoftBank Group reported a second successive quarterly net profit yesterday, with performance at portfolio crown jewel Arm Holdings boding well for what the Japanese firm has said is a nascent return to growth. SoftBank booked January-March profit of ¥328.9 billion (RM10 billion), though full-year earnings remained in the red. In February, chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto had declared SoftBank – known for volatile earnings and outsized bets on startups – to be returning to a “growth trajectory”. Tech stocks including British chip design firm Arm performed well in the quarter on unabated enthusiasm for the likely beneficiaries of the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has championed AI but SoftBank has not been a major investor in firms developing generative AI models like ChatGPT that have caught the popular imagination. Instead, it owns 90% of Arm whose value has surged on AI hype. Still, that surge did not contribute to SoftBank profit as Arm is a subsidiary. Whereas Arm reported record January-March sales on licence and royalty revenue, SoftBank booked a ¥33 billion loss from its Arm investment in the last fiscal year on increased expenses related to stock compensation and hiring. Arm’s headcount grew by more than 1,100 in the year ended March, with more than 80% of net new hires being in engineering. SoftBank has said group assets are AI-focused and that Arm will power companies across the Japanese firm’s portfolio. However, most of SoftBank’s investments through its Vision Fund unit suffered valuation loss in the fourth quarter, leaving it with a ¥57.5 billion loss. A bright spot came in the form of South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang which generated around US$600 million in unrealised investment gain. Overall, SoftBank’s fourth-quarter net profit compared with a ¥32 billion loss in the same period a year earlier, when capital raised using its Alibaba Group stake cushioned writedowns in the value of Vision Fund private portfolio firms. – Reuters Seoul signs product safety agreement with AliExpress, Temu SEOUL: South Korea’s government signed an agreement yesterday with the local units of Alibaba’s AliExpress and PDD Holdings’ Temu to promote product safety, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said. The agreement comes after heightened regulatory scrutiny of AliExpress, Temu and other China e-commerce platforms as they significantly expand their user base in South Korea. “Recently conducted safety inspections on products such as those for children sold on the AliExpress and Temu platforms detected a large amount of substances harmful to the human body, seriously threatening consumer safety” making the agreement necessary, KFTC said. Ray Zhang, CEO of AliExpress Korea, and Qin Sun, co-founder of Temu, were present at the signing ceremony yesterday. Under the agreement, KFTC will collect data on harmful products and provide them to AliExpress and Temu, which will inform sellers and consumers. The government will also check whether harmful products have been blocked from sale by the platforms. It is the first time Temu has signed such a voluntary agreement anywhere in the world, the KFTC said, although other areas such as the European Union and Australia have histories of regulating dangerous products sold on online platforms through such agreements. South Korea’s e-commerce market punches far above its weight as the fourth-largest in the world, only behind China, the US and the UK and bigger than Japan’s, despite having only the 29th largest population in the world. The number of AliExpress and Temu users in South Korea has ballooned to 8.87 million and 8.29 million, respectively, as of March. – Reuters People attending a job fair in the central China city of Zhengzhou. – AFPPIC

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 17 Glencore seeks carbon capture approval Australia to boast budget surplus and income tax cuts SYDNEY: Australia’s government is expected to boast another surplus in its annual Budget today, courtesy of strong employment and high commodity prices, giving it cash to afford more cost of living relief and industry incentives. Ahead of his third Budget since the centre-left Labor government won power in 2022, Treasurer Jim Chalmers predicted inflation could ease to the central bank’s 2%-3% target band by the end of this year, helped by measures Canberra plans to introduce to cool prices. That would be a welcome surprise for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which does not expect inflation to return to target until late next year. “I think it is cost of living relief that they’re assuming kicks in to lower inflation,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP. “They’re not making any allowance for people possibly spending more on the back of that relief. “Technically it might be alright, but it does run the risk of ignoring the spending effect.” The centrepiece of the Budget would be an already legislated income tax cut for every Australian taxpayer worth A$395 billion (RM1.2 trillion) over 10 years. Chalmers is also likely to renew energy rebates that were set to expire this year. The Budget will feature tax incentives for Labor’s Future Made in Australia subsidy programme to help domestic industries compete globally, as well as more defence funding and measures to cut costs for higher education. Chalmers is under pressure to curb spending to avoid stirring up inflation, but he has defended the measures as “unavoidable” and “warranted”. Australians are due to head to polls again by early next year. Three of the big four Australian banks expect the government to record a back-to-back surplus in the fiscal year ended June 30, a feat not achieved since the early 2000s. ANZ predicted a small surplus of A$4.5 billion for the 12-months ending June this year, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia tipped a surplus of a A$15 billion. Westpac expects a A$9.4 billion surplus this year, though that will likely swing to a deficit in 2024/2025 in part as the cost of past borrowing mounts. – Reuters CANBERRA: Australia’s Queensland state will decide this month whether to give Glencore a key approval to bury liquefied carbon dioxide in the country’s largest aquifer, a plan farm groups say must be blocked because it risks poisoning water supplies. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is needed to achieve the world’s net-zero goals and contain global warming, governments say. Its rollout has been slow but is gathering pace. Swiss commodities giant Glencore plans a three-year, A$210 million (RM638 million) pilot project that would pump 330,000 metric tonnes of CO2 from a coalfired power plant in the northeastern state into an aquifer 2.3km underground. “This is an important test case for onshore CCS in Australia,” said Glencore spokesman Francis De Rosa. Glencore says there is no demand for the low-quality, expensive-to-reach water in its pumping site and the CO2 is extremely unlikely to spread significantly from where it is put. “Our project is based on very robust data, fieldwork and analysis,” De Rosa said, adding that several government agencies had reviewed the plan. But farm groups say it risks poisoning part of the Great Artesian Basin, a network of groundwater deposits spanning much of eastern Australia that supports agriculture and communities. They say the acidic CO2 in the rock could release and spread toxic substances like lead and arsenic. The project is “unthinkable”, said Michael Guerin, whose AgForce farm association launched a court case in March to force the federal government to review Glencore’s plans. Speaking at a beef industry conference this month, Queensland Premier Steven Miles said the project “doesn’t sound like a good idea to me” and was unlikely to satisfy the state’s environmental rules – prompting a complaint by Glencore that he was interfering in the regulatory process. “Our project should be judged on the science, not misinformation or political opportunism,” the firm said. Miles’s office declined to comment further. The federal Environment Ministry declined to comment. Queensland’s environment department said the state’s independent environmental regulator had considered the potential impacts to groundwater and the Great Artesian Basin and was preparing its final assessment report. The Queensland government will decide by the end of May whether to approve Glencore’s environmental impact assessment. oAussie farmers say plan must be blocked because it risks poisoning water supplies If approved, further permissions would be needed but the main hurdle would be cleared. Glencore’s plan would capture 2% of the emissions of the Millmerran power plant but could eventually store 90%, the company said. The site for the project was originally identified as suitable for carbon storage by a government body. Australia has only one active CCS project, the world’s largest, at Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas project, on an island off the northwest coast. Two more are under construction, including the first onshore operation from Santos to inject CO2 into a depleted gas field in South Australia state, and 14 are in development, according to the Global CCS Institute. Most target offshore storage and about half plan to store in depleted oil or gas reservoirs. The use of aquifers to store carbon is becoming more common, said Alex Zapantis at the CCS Institute. The porous rock of many aquifers can host huge amounts of liquefied CO2. But only those where water is so deep and low quality that it is unsuitable for other use would be chosen or approved by regulators, he said. The project is being managed by a Glencore subsidiary, Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation. Japan’s Marubeni Corp and J-Power each committed A$10 million to it in 2022. – Reuters Varun Beverages posts profit beat on strong demand NEW DELHI: Varun Beverages reported its first-quarter earnings above market expectations yesterday, as the Pepsi India bottler benefited from an uptick in demand for soft drinks due to an early onset of summer. Gurugram-based Varun Beverages’ consolidated net profit rose to 5.37 billion rupees (RM304 million) for the quarter ended March 31, from 4.29 billion rupees in the year-ago period. It trounced analysts’ estimates of 5.02 billion rupees, according to LSEG data. Consumers opted more for cold beverages amid the sweltering summer heat, helping boost the firm’s bottom-line numbers. Last month, the Meteorological Department forecast that the country was likely to experience more heat-wave days than normal between April and June. The franchisee has been manufacturing and bottling PepsiCo-branded drinks for more than three decades and operates across 10 countries. The company said in an exchange filing that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 23.9% year-on-year. – Reuters Indian banks’ underwriting standards at risk: Fitch MUMBAI: Asset quality of Indian banks’ consumer loans has held up well so far, but an accumulation of “untested risks” due to rapid growth may challenge lenders’ underwriting standards and risk controls, Fitch Ratings said yesterday. “Fitch’s assessment of Indian banks’ risk profiles also factors in lower transparency in terms of data disclosures on retail underwriting, such as loan-to-value ratio, borrower debt serviceability, credit bureau scores, and recovery rates, than most Asian banking systems,” the rating agency said in a statement. Indian banks have reported strong loan growth over the last few quarters, boosted by consumer spending amid firm economic growth. Banks’ loans rose 19% in the two weeks to April 19 from a year earlier, data from the central bank showed. Retail loans, which constitute about 10% of all bank loans, have grown at 20% annually since 2020/2021, Fitch estimates. Most lenders have reported an improvement in their asset quality, but have banked on unsecured credit to expand margins. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in November, increased risk-weights on certain loan categories to improve buffers against the potential for build-up of risks. It has also applied business restrictions on certain entities in case of supervisory concerns, and is proposing to increase provisioning on project finance. While RBI’s measures can foster greater caution towards risk-taking, their effectiveness “through the cycle” is not yet proven, Fitch said. Asset quality pressures from the previous credit cycle are subsiding, creating a favourable business environment, the agency said. It said banks’ risk appetite through higher loan growth will remain a key consideration for their intrinsic creditworthiness despite improved financial performance. – Reuters An ANZ Bank branch at Lambton Quay in New Zealand capital Wellington. – REUTERSPIC

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 18 British employers plan 4% pay rises: Survey LONDON: British employers expect to raise wages by 4% over the coming 12 months, a similar rate to three months ago, according to an industry survey yesterday that suggested businesses were less willing to take on higher labour costs. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said expected median pay settlements in the private sector for the coming 12 months was unchanged at 4%, while expectations in the public sector remained at 3%. British consumer price inflation slowed to 3.2% in March and the Bank of England (BoE) expects it to have eased further to around 2% in April after a reduction in regulated energy prices. “While employers’ pay rise expectations remain above pre-pandemic levels, we would expect them to adjust their plans for pay rises in the coming months, as inflation falls and the labour market continues to slow,” said CIPD labour market economist James Cockett. The Resolution Foundation think tank, in a separate report, also said the current growth in inflation-adjusted wages looked unsustainable. “Unless productivity picks up, wage growth will peter out, or pay rises will simply be passed on through higher prices and prolong our inflation problems,” Resolution Foundation research director Greg Thwaites said. A BoE survey of employers, published last Thursday, showed they expected to raise wages by 4.6% over the coming year, the smallest amount since the series started in May 2022. Official labour market figures out today are expected to show a small slowdown in wage growth. Economists polled by Reuters forecast regular pay to have increased by 5.9% in March, slightly below the 6% rise in the month before. Wage growth tends to be faster than growth in pay settlements in Britain, as the latter does not include gains made by workers who move to better paid jobs. The BoE is closely monitoring wage growth which threatens to push up inflation. The central bank is now forecasting wage growth of 5.25% this year. – Reuters UK newspaper groups warn Apple over ad-blocking plans LONDON: British newspaper groups have warned Apple that any move to impose a so-called “web eraser” tool to block advertisements would put the financial sustainability of journalism at risk, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Apple is preparing to include an AI-based privacy feature in the Safari browser in the next iOS 18 software update that will remove ads or other unwanted website content, the report said. News Media Association (NMA), an industry body, raised concerns about how the planned tool would affect digital revenues in the industry, the newspaper said, citing a letter sent to Apple’s UK government affairs chief last Friday. The letter, according to the report, added that professional journalism required funding and “advertising is a key revenue stream for many publishers”. In the letter, the NMA expressed concerns over editorial accountability if artificial intelligence tools were used to selectively remove or change the content of articles. NMA has called for a meeting between publishers and Apple to discuss the potential implications of the web eraser, the report said. Apple and NMA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. NMA is an association of UK-based national, regional and local news media organisations, according to its website. – Reuters Emirates Group books record US$5 billion profit DUBAI: The Emirates Group announced annual profits of US$5.1 billion (RM24 billion) yesterday, a rise of 71%, as the Dubai-based airline company set a new record for the second year in a row. Citing strong customer demand, it said group profits for the past two years hit US$8.1 billion, surpassing the losses seen during pandemic-hit 2020-2022. “The Emirates Group has once again raised the bar to deliver a new record performance,” chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said in a statement. State-owned Emirates Group, operator of the world’s largest long-haul carrier, announced a record US$3 billion in profits last year as it returned to the black after the Covid pandemic. oOperator of world’s largest long-haul carrier cites strong customer demand Emirates has now erased the US$1.1 billion loss in 2021-2022 and the heavy US$5.5 billion deficit a year earlier, when it was forced to ground its fleet and lay off staff. “The Group’s excellent financial standing today places us in a strong position for future growth and success. It enables us to invest to deliver even better products, services, and more value to our customers and stakeholders,” Sheikh Ahmed said. The airline business alone returned record profits of US$4.7 billion, up 63%. Emirates Group also encompasses airport services company Dnata, whose profits more than quadrupled to US$400 million. The Emirates Group workforce grew 10% to a record 112,406 employees. The airline will receive 10 new Airbus A350s from August but remains plagued by delays to Boeing’s 777X, with 205 on order. The positive financial results come despite a period of turmoil in the region since the Israel-Hamas war started in October, setting off a wave of political tensions. “The business outlook is positive, and we expect customer demand for air transport and travel to remain strong in the coming months,” said Sheikh Ahmed, adding that possible hazards included “volatile environments caused by socio-political changes”. The air travel upswing has prompted Dubai to expand the Al Maktoum International Airport, which has received a relatively small share of the Gulf financial hub’s air traffic since 2010. Last month, the wealthy emirate announced that work had begun on a new terminal at Al Maktoum on Dubai’s outskirts, which the Gulf emirate’s ruler said will become “the world’s largest” at a cost of almost US$35 billion. Once fully operational, the airport will “handle a passenger capacity of 260 million annually”, the government said in a statement. The first phase of the project is expected to be ready within 10 years, with a capacity to accommodate 150 million passengers annually. Authorities want it to replace Dubai International Airport, which can handle up to 120 million passengers annually and whose city-centre location prevents expansion. – AFP Microsoft and Amazon to invest billions in France PARIS: Microsoft on Sunday announced €4 billion (RM20.4 billion) in investment for developing data centres in France, joining fellow US giant Amazon in committing to the country’s tech infrastructure. The announcements came on the eve of the seventh Choose France Summit, the aim of which is to attract foreign investors to the country. France President Emmanuel Macron will host it at the Chateau of Versailles near Paris. Microsoft president Brad Smith told AFP the move to strengthen its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure was the tech giant’s biggestever investment in France since its arrival 41 years ago. France’s “longstanding commitment to carbon-free energy markets” and its status as a “critical leader” in Europe explained the decision, Smith said. A new data centre will be created in eastern France, while existing sites in the Paris region and the southern city of Marseille will be expanded. E-commerce behemoth Amazon will invest more than €1.2 billion in France, creating more than 3,000 jobs, Macron’s office said earlier on Sunday. The money will help develop Amazon Web Services’ cloud infrastructure, mainly generative artificial intelligence, and the logistical infrastructure of its parcel delivery service, a statement added. Amazon has already announced the creation of 2,000 new jobs in France in 2024, which would bring its staff workforce in the country up to 24,000 by the end of the year, mainly in its logistics centres. Amazon Web Services is a key subsidiary of the group, having made US$25 billion worldwide in the first quarter, capitalising on the growing appetite among businesses for remote computer and artificial intelligence services. – AFP The Amazon logo is seen at the company’s logistics centre in Boves, France. – REUTERSPIC

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 19 STOCKS CLOSING (RM) +/- (RM) VOLUME (’00) AJI 18.9 -0.2 6573 PARAGON 3.4 -0.12 1941 PETDAG 21.34 -0.12 3968 BKAWAN 20.28 -0.1 154 KLK 22.56 -0.1 6,741 PBA 2.02 -0.09 13,161 DAYANG 2.58 -0.08 43,755 REXIT 1.13 -0.07 49,638 EUPE 1.47 -0.06 14,242 HUMEIND 3.12 -0.06 4,883 RCECAP 3.12 -0.06 4412 TIMECOM 5.24 -0.06 15,508 UMCCA 5 -0.06 148 CPETECH 1.3 -0.05 14,628 D&O 3.48 -0.05 11915 MSC 3 -0.05 11,148 PENERGY 1.52 -0.05 4,377 SEB 0.64 -0.05 118 SYNERGY 1.53 -0.05 21,113 UOADEV 1.94 -0.05 8,653 STOCKS CLOSING (RM) +/-(RM) +/-(%) VOLUME MMAG 0.375 0.175 87.5 1,630,783 MYEG 0.995 0.01 1.02 1,113,188 TWL 0.025 - - 799,466 TOPGLOV 0.965 0.015 1.58 738,100 SENDAI 0.715 0.1 16.26 678,533 AHB 0.155 -0.01 -6.06 646,989 VELESTO 0.285 - - 609,080 AWANTEC 0.395 0.14 54.9 369,402 MI 2.3 0.35 17.95 363,082 PWRWELL 0.435 -0.01 -2.25 360,967 SCIB 0.28 0.01 3.7 345,694 REVENUE 0.24 0.025 11.63 325,624 JIANKUN 0.17 0.01 6.25 308,301 EWINT 0.385 0.025 6.94 302,285 KNM 0.08 0.01 14.29 295,718 GENM 2.72 0.09 3.42 290,808 CAREPLS 0.315 -0.005 -1.56 273,141 IOIPG 2.5 0.15 6.38 266,028 RGB 0.385 - - 233,438 TANCO 0.855 -0.005 -0.58 229,071 SUNBIZ presents a summary of the day’s trading activity on Bursa Malaysia and other markets in an easy to digest format. MARKET ROUND-UP: MAY 13 [ Sources: Bursa Malaysia, Bernama, shareinvestor.com and websites DISCLAIMER: The data and reports are provided as a service to investors. Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd shall not be liable or responsible for any consequences resulting from usage of the information. INDEX CHANGE FBMEMAS 12,118.30 +31.62 FBMKLCI 1,602.91 +2.24 CONSUMER PRODUCTS & SERVIC 602.65 +3.53 INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS & SERV 192.66 +0.39 CONSTRUCTION 228.63 +1.69 FINANCIAL SERVICES 17,555.64 +32.87 ENERGY 977.85 -7.31 TELECOMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA 603.29 -1.64 HEALTH CARE 2,153.50 +11.01 TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS 1,098.21 +20.33 PROPERTY 1,066.67 +15.78 PLANTATION 7,424.17 -0.26 FBMSHA 12,308.96 +24.41 FBMACE 5,267.49 +100.74 TECHNOLOGY 68.01 +1.10 TURNOVER: 4.528 bil VALUE: RM3.008 bil Top 20 Actives Top 20 Losers (By RM) Bursa Indices INDEX CLOSING DAILY DAILY CHANGE CHANGE (%) DJIA (US) 39,512.84 +125.08 +0.32 S&P 500 (US) 5,222.68 +8.60 +0.16 NASDAQ (US) 16,340.87 -5.39 -0.03 NYSE (US) 18,162.05 +34.84 +0.19 EURO STOXX 50 (EUR) 5,076.30 -8.78 -0.17 FTSE 100 (UK) 8,431.15 -2.61 -0.03 DAX (GER) 18,738.62 -34.23 -0.18 NIKKEI 225 (JPN) 38,179.46 -49.65 -0.13 TOPIX (JPN) 2,724.08 -4.13 -0.15 HANG SENG INDEX (HK) 19,115.06 +151.38 +0.80 CSI 300 (CHN) 3,664.69 -1.59 -0.04 SH SE COM (CHN) 3,148.02 -6.53 -0.21 KOSPI INDEX (SK) 2,727.21 -0.42 -0.02 MSCI ASIA PACIFIC 177.55 +1.25 +0.71 ASX 200 (AUS) 7,750.03 +1.06 +0.01 ALL ORDINARIES INDX (AUS) 8,019.38 -3.28 -0.04 SENSEX INDEX (IND) 72,797.44 +132.97 +0.18 FBM KLCI 1,602.91 +2.24 +0.14 STRAITS TIMES INDEX (S’PORE) 3,300.29 +9.59 +0.29 WTI (US$/BBL.) 78.63 +0.37 +0.47 BRENT (US$/BBL.) 83.14 +0.35 +0.42 GOLD (COMEX) (US$/T OZ) 2,349.70 -25.30 -1.07 SILVER (COMEX) (US$/T OZ) 28.39 -0.12 -0.41 PLATINUM (US$/T OZ) 1,000.79 +3.16 +0.32 COPPER (COMEX) (US CENTS/LB.) 472.05 +5.80 +1.24 COPPER 3MO (LME) (US$/MT) 10,004.00 99.50 1.00 CORN (US CENTS/BU.) 468.50 -1.25 -0.27 WHEAT (US CENTS/BU.) 669.00 +5.50 +0.83 SOYBEAN OIL (CBOT) (US CENTS/LB.) 44.95 +0.51 +1.15 COCOA (ICE) (US$/MT) 8,498.00 -393.00 -4.42 RUBBER (S’PORE) (US CENTS/KG) 165.40 +2.80 +1.72 World Stocks/Commodities as at 5pm, May 13 STOCKS CLOSING (RM) +/- (%) VOLUME (’00) PERMAJU-PA 0.005 -50 408 HONGSENG 0.01 -33.33 42,182 MQTECH 0.01 -33.33 62,078 SCBUILD 0.01 -33.33 5,300 ALAM 0.02 -20 958 REACH 0.025 -16.67 1,050 XDL 0.025 -16.67 3,560 TAWIN 0.03 -14.29 34,844 CNOUHUA 0.035 -12.5 4,680 PDZ 0.035 -12.5 2,831 EVD-PA 0.04 -11.11 5,200 SMTRACK 0.04 -11.11 13331 FITTERS 0.05 -9.09 1,614 PRKCORP 0.405 -8.99 222 DIGISTA 0.055 -8.33 43,402 NETX 0.11 -8.33 1328 ZELAN 0.055 -8.33 2300 ASDION 0.06 -7.69 15270 GCE 0.37 -7.5 540 SEB 0.64 -7.25 118 Top 20 Losers (By %) STOCKS CLOSING (RM) +/- (RM) VOLUME (’00) MPI 32.08 1.08 2,195 SBAGAN 6.66 1.06 10,705 KLUANG 5.95 0.64 3,990 ALLIANZ-PA 23 0.6 1 MI 2.3 0.35 363,082 PTT 1.57 0.34 33,310 CHGP 3.06 0.29 23,673 GENTING 4.76 0.21 179,043 IDEAL 3.6 0.2 1 MANULFE 2.54 0.19 7,929 DLADY 32.6 0.18 325 HLFG 17.72 0.18 3,488 MMAG 0.375 0.175 1630783 KUCHAI 2.31 0.17 19,709 PGF-PA 1.12 0.17 45 AIRPORT 10.44 0.16 34,518 IOIPG 2.5 0.15 266,028 UNISEM 3.85 0.15 6,932 AMWAY 7.34 0.14 188 AWANTEC 0.395 0.14 369,402 Top 20 Gainers (By RM) STOCKS CLOSING (RM) +/- (%) VOLUME (’00) MMAG 0.375 87.5 1,630,783 AWANTEC 0.395 54.9 369,402 AGES-PA 0.015 50 20 AT 0.21 35.48 94,321 MTRONIC 0.02 33.33 2120 TWL-LA 0.02 33.33 750 PTT 1.57 27.64 33,310 HBGLOB 0.14 27.27 88285 CME 0.025 25 10,252 BSLCORP 0.03 20 3306 XOXNET 0.03 20 6039 SBAGAN 6.66 18.93 10,705 BERTAM 0.13 18.18 850 PNEPCB 0.065 18.18 59105 MI 2.3 17.95 363,082 PGF-PA 1.12 17.89 45 SENDAI 0.715 16.26 678,533 DGB 0.115 15 44,040 KNM 0.08 14.29 295,718 TURIYA 0.45 13.92 70,047 Top 20 Gainers (By %) 1,602.91pts May 13, 2024 Continuous support lifts FBM KLCI to end above 1,602 CONTINUOUS support on the local front helped Bursa Malaysia to end higher yesterday despite a not-so-rosy regional performance following profit-taking observed in certain markets. At 5pm, the FBM KLCI gained 2.24 points to 1,602.91 compared to Friday’s close of 1,600.67. The barometer index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,602.30 and moved between 1,600.43 and 1,604.80 throughout the session. Gainers led decliners 642 to 494, while 505 counters were unchanged, 709 untraded, and 27 others suspended. Turnover narrowed to 4.53 billion units worth RM3.01 billion compared to 4.62 billion units worth RM3.27 billion on Friday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI retained its uptrend performance due to buying in consumer products and services, plantation and banking stocks. “We remain positive on local equities, supported by strong fundamentals, attractive valuations, growing potential and the inflow of foreign funds. “As such, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,600- 1,620 range this week, with immediate support at 1,600 followed by 1,585, and resistance at 1,615,” he told Bernama. Among heavyweights, Genting rallied higher, rising by 21 sen to RM4.76 at the close after Genting Singapore Plc reported earnings hit a 10-year high in the first quarter of 2024. Genting Malaysia, meanwhile, was nine sen higher at RM2.72. As for the actives, MMAG was 17.5 sen stronger at 37.5 sen, MY E.G. added one sen to 99.5 sen, TWL was unchanged at 2.5 sen, Top Glove rose 1.5 sen to 96.5 sen and Eversendai rose 10 sen to 71.5 sen. Participation 25.97 48.86 25.17 100.00 Retail Institutions Foreign Bought RM m 779.84 1458.01 770.98 3008.82 Sold RM m 783.10 1482.22 743.51 3008.82 Net RM m -3.26 -24.21 27.47 0.00 % Preliminary stats (excluding trade amendments). For final data, please refer to www.bursamalaysia.com Source: Bursa Malaysia A Participating Organisation of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad A Trading Participant of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad S E C U R I T I E S S D N. B H D. 197201001092 (12738-U) 13/5/2024

BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 20 MARKETS/FROM THE BROKERS SUNBIZ presents extracts of a selection of commentaries and research reports received from stockbrokers on counters that could be of interest to investors. [Compiled by SunBiz Team DISCLAIMER: The information is extracted from stockbrokers’ commentaries and research reports and do not represent the views or opinions of Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd. It is not a solicitation, recommendation or an offer to buy or sell the equities featured. Sun Media Corporation shall not be liable or responsible for any consequences resulting from usage of the information. QOQ FFB output continued to trend down post-peak season but should be offset by higher CPO prices during the quarter. In Malaysia, FFB output of the companies under our coverage dipped by an average of 21.6% QoQ, while spot CPO prices rose 9% QoQ to RM4,006/tonne. In Indonesia, we estimate that Q1’24 FFB output for stocks under our coverage fell by a smaller 16.5% QoQ (based on seasonal trends) while CPO prices – net of taxes – rose 9% QoQ. We believe the smaller decline in output in Indonesia was due to low base effect given the weak output in Q4’23. YoY, Indonesian planters should see higher earnings, while Malaysian planters could see flattish numbers. In Malaysia, YoY FFB output trends were mixed, although average output for companies under our coverage ticked up 1.5% YoY in Q1’24, while CPO prices were flattish at -0.3% YoY. In Indonesia, FFB output is estimated to have fallen by a slight 0.7% YoY in Q1’24, but CPO prices net of taxes, rose 5.5% YoY. Q1’24 is likely to bring largely in-line earnings, based on our estimates of production levels alone (Figure 1). Two companies may underperform forecasts based on FFB output (FGV Holdings and Golden Agri), while two may chalk results that are stronger than projected – First Resources and Bumitama Agri. We expect seven planters to book numbers that are largely in line. Maintain NEUTRAL with a tactically positive trading strategy, as we continue to advocate for purer planters. Our regional Top Picks remain Sarawak Oil Palms, PP London Sumatra Indonesia, and Bumitama Agri. INNATURE has entered three related party transactions to acquire a 100% equity stake in Blu Restaurant S/B (BRSB) from Aquablu Technologies S/B, Adventuria S/B, and Aquawalk S/B, for RM21 million cash. BRSB has exclusive rights to open and operate Burger & Lobster (B&L) stores in Malaysia (excluding Genting Highlands), Indonesia and Vietnam. INNATURE is seeking shareholders’ approval for its proposed diversification to F&B services, and to use its earlier IPO proceeds to acquire B&L. INNATURE plans to fund this acquisition via IPO proceeds and internal funds. Target completion is Q3’24. The acquisition multiple equates to 8x FY23 PER, below INNATURE’s 24.5x FY23 PER. Based on our estimates, the group’s net profit will be lifted by RM1.7 million p.a., based on an interest cost of 4% and BRSB’s FY23 profit after tax of RM2.6 million. Assuming BRSB’s FY23 profit is sustained, this will translate to a 4- 11% uplift in INNATURE’s FY24-FY26 net profit. INNATURE will turn net debt (net cash as at end-FY23) with a proforma net gearing ratio of 7% assuming that the acquisition is fully funded by debt. INNATURE’s foray into F&B retail allows the group to diversify its earnings away from its dependence on The Body Shop in the event of further challenges to the brand globally. With international brand recognition and limited outlets worldwide (19 outlets), we believe B&L possesses a unique scarcity appeal to its food products, creating demand from domestic consumers and tourists. INNATURE plans to open another outlet in Malaysia (presently just one at Suria KLCC Mall), and 2 outlets each in Indonesia and Vietnam once the acquisition is completed. BUY with a RM0.34 TP. GAMUDA received ISO 14064-1 verification for quantifying and reporting on GHG emissions for its assets and infra in Malaysia, Australia and Vietnam, thus giving assurance that its environmental disclosures are in line with global practices (Gamuda was among the 1st in the construction sector to receive this verification). RE usage was higher in FY23, at 22% of total energy use (vs. 4% in FY22) via green power subscription, in addition to a 40% higher number of solar panels installed at 10 sites (vs. 5 sites in FY22). Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions intensity was down 23% (vs. FY22 baseline). Scope 3 reporting was expanded to include 8 categories (vs. one in FY22) and Gamuda has begun collecting Scope 3 emission data from suppliers. Gamuda’s Next-Gen digital IBS (started in 2016) is the country’s first digital IBS facility and it runs on BIM-integrated IoT-enabled robotics for better precision and product quality. Waste produced is almost none vs. 8-10% from conventional construction. Gamuda Land has committed to build 90% of its units in M’sia using digital IBS which translates to >2,000 homes p.a. Next-Gen digital IBS has also delivered a purposebuilt data centre for AIMS Group in Cyberjaya recently, and Gamuda targets more data centre jobs using digital IBS which enables fast-tracked and precision deliveries. Maintain BUY; RM5.80 TP We value Gamuda on RNAV, with the E&C ops on forward PER, and property on NPV. We continue to rate Gamuda a BUY, supported by a strong balance sheet (0.29x net gearing end-Jan 2024). FOREIGN CURRENCY SELLING TT/OD BUYING TT BUYING OD 1 US Dollar 4.8060 4.6730 4.6630 1 Australian Dollar 3.1850 3.0610 3.0450 1 Brunei Dollar 3.5480 3.4480 3.4400 1 Canadian Dollar 3.5100 3.4170 3.4050 1 Euro 5.1870 5.0210 5.0010 1 New Zealand Dollar 2.9020 2.7960 2.7800 1 Singapore Dollar 3.5480 3.4480 3.4400 1 Sterling Pound 6.0300 5.8410 5.8210 1 Swiss Franc 5.2880 5.1680 5.1530 100 UAE Dirham 132.4800 125.6900 125.4900 100 Bangladesh Taka 4.1970 3.9090 3.7090 100 Chinese Renminbi 66.9400 64.1500 N/A 100 Danish Krone 71.2700 65.6200 65.4200 100 Hongkong Dollar 62.2000 59.1400 58.9400 100 Indian Rupee 5.8500 5.5000 5.3000 100 Indonesian Rupiah 0.0310 0.0281 0.0231 100 Japanese Yen 3.0910 2.9940 2.9840 100 New Taiwan Dollar 15.9000 N/A N/A 100 Norwegian Krone 45.4600 41.8400 41.6400 100 Pakistan Rupee 1.7600 1.6500 1.4500 100 Philippine Peso 8.4600 7.9800 7.7800 100 Qatar Riyal 133.4100 126.6500 126.4500 100 Saudi Riyal 129.7000 123.1200 122.9200 100 South Africa Rand 27.0200 24.4100 24.2100 100 Sri Lanka Rupee 1.6500 1.5200 1.3200 100 Swedish Krona 45.7300 41.6700 41.4700 100 Thai Baht 13.6500 12.1100 11.7100 Exchange Rates Source: Malayan Banking Bhd/Bernama Ringgit ends higher against US dollar THE ringgit ended higher against the US dollar yesterday following a decline in the US Dollar Index (DXY), said an analyst. At 6pm, the ringgit gained some ground versus the greenback to 4.7270/7320 from last Friday’s close of 4.7385/7410. Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the DXY fell to 105.221 points, which led to the weaker greenback. He also said the market players would focus on the US inflation data with the Producer Price Index and the Consumer Price Index reports coming out on Tuesday and Wednesday. At the current juncture, it is still a mixed feeling as the data points to a weaker prospect with consumer sentiments falling in May. “The University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment index dropped for the second consecutive month to 67.4 points from 77.2 points in the prior month. “However, the inflation expectation for next year has risen to 3.5% in May from 3.2% previously. As such, the inflation data in the US will be closely scrutinised this week,” he told Bernama. At the close, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies. It appreciated versus the Japanese yen to 3.0325/0359 from last Friday’s close of 3.0428/0446, improved vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9215/9278 from 5.9364/9395 yesterday, and gained against the euro to 5.0967/1020 from 5.1072/1098 previously. The local note also rose against Asean currencies. The ringgit appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.4919/4959 from 3.5017/5038 at last Friday’s close and gained against the Thai baht to 12.8388/8583 from 12.9009/9137 previously. MIDF Amanah maintains ‘positive’ stance on construction KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd has maintained a “positive” call on the construction sector in view of an expected strong pipeline of civil and private jobs in the second half of 2024 (2H24). In a research note yesterday, the investment bank said the industry would see the expected implementation of government projects in 2H24 in tandem with the allocation under Budget 2024, which had set aside RM90 billion for development expenditure (DE). “From Jan 24 to April 24, RM54.22 billion worth of projects have been awarded, a 33.1% increase over the same period last year,” it said. MIDF Amanah said Deputy Works Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan’s expectations of more civil job flows starting the middle of this year further reinforced its conviction that contractors would be kept busy over the next few years, with rising demand for industrial buildings such as data centres, warehouses and semiconductor foundries, further boosting sentiments. “The deputy minister estimated that about 40% or RM36 billion of the DE is expected to be rolled out by mid-2024. “He also said there were an estimated RM180 billion worth of jobs in the pipeline, comprising RM90 billion from the government’s DE and RM90 billion from the private sector,” it stated. MIDF Amanah posited that its top picks are Gamuda, with a “buy” recommendation and a target price (TP) of RM5.98, IJM Corp (Buy, TP: RM2.57) and Malayan Cement (Buy, TP: RM5.33). “The construction sector has been among the best performing year-to-date, which has seen the Bursa’s construction index rising 18.2%,” it added. – Bernama Gamuda Bhd Buy. Target price: RM5.80 InNature Bhd Buy. Target price: RM0.34 Plantation Neutral Source: RHB Research Source: Maybank Investment Bank Source: Maybank Investment Bank May 13, 2024: RM0.305 May 13, 2024: RM5.48

WEEKLY FOCUS MONDAY Discover cuttingedge world of Gaming and Tech TUESDAY Ultimate guide to Travel and Leisure WEDNESDAY Latest in Fashion and Beauty sense THURSDAY Inside the world of Social Media Influencers FRIDAY Culinary delights and Beverage trends TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 Editorial T: 03-7784 6688 F: 03-7785 2625 E: [emailprotected] Advertising T: 03-7784 8888 E: [emailprotected] SCAN ME EINSIDE p 23 Mazu cultural fest Pangkor Pangkor paradise aradise Discover the best island has to offer – P22 – 123RFPIC

LYFE LYFE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 22 /theSunMedia FOLLOW ON YOUTUBE Malaysian Paper Soak in Pangkor’s peaceful vibes THEanti-thesis to the revelry and crowded environment of Langkawi, Pangkor Island offers a more sedate and laid-back experience for those who are looking for the ultimate chiill out holiday. It is much more serene with its kampung vibe that seems to make life move in slo-mo. Weary travellers looking for some thing different should check out Pangkor as it offers authentic and simple attractions that are designed to lift spirits without being over-the-top, over-hyped tourist traps. Here are some of the best attractions to check out in Pangkor: Beach life Pristine sandy white beaches and calm waters is the perfect balm for the harried city dweller. Pangkor has some of the finest beaches in Malaysia and those that visit during off-seasons can have entire stretches of the island’s various beaches to themselves. Choose any one of the beaches to soak up the rays or dive into the ocean to cool off. Popular destinations include the more accessible Teluk Nipah or the slightly more secluded Coral Bay. Whichever the beach, travellers can be almost assured of a picture perfect stretch of beach to evoke the senses. Though the waters of Pangkor Island may not be as crystalline nor sapphirelike blue compared to the islands on the east coast or Borneo, the water is relatively tranquil and clean. It is why there are so many water-related activities around the main island and even the smaller islands. Due to the peaceful waves and shallow waters, there are numerous activities for kids and even nonswimmers. Those looking for more than Pangkor Island has plenty of pristine beaches to entice visitors. oIsland is perfect destination for those who want an escape from the hustle and bustle █ BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR Pangkor Island’s China Town is pretty laid back compared with other enclaves elsewhere in Malaysia. – PICS BY FREEPIK generic water splashing and wading, there are spots where water beach activity operators offer different services, such as jet skiing, kayaking, parasailing and more. Along the Pasir Bogak road on the main Pangkor Island’s western side, and to the north of Teluk Nipah, is Coral Beach. Known for its emerald-coloured water, the beach also has water sports for visitors to try such as canoeing, snorkelling, kayaking, jet skiing and even the “banana boat” experience. Visitors can also rent a boat and cruise the waters around Pangkor Island. Bukit Pangkor Anyone looking for a moderately challenging trek through Pangkor Island jungle with the crosswinds from the sea cooling them, head to Bukit Pangkor. It is a forested hill climb that takes visitors to the island’s highest point at 350 metres. Enjoy the spectacular vista affording a 360 degree view of the island and its surroundings. Those looking for that Insta-worthy photograph will have to make the effort to scale the hill. As the saying goes, “no pain, no gain”. Chinatown One of the island’s most vibrant and colourful locations, the buildings in Chinatown are surrounded by redbricked streets and is one of the few locations with a concentration of restaurants. Visitors can also visit the unique Masjid Sungai Pinang Kecil mosque, which is decorated with a mixture of Chinese oriental and Islamic designs. Take note: non-Muslim visitors should visit outside scheduled prayer times. Dutch Fort Like many parts of Malaysia, Pangkor Island also has a colonial past, even if it is out at sea. The Dutch Fort or Kota Belanda is the bygone remnants of Dutch colonists that sought to control trade in the country back in the late 17th century. The fort also houses a museum that is a treasure trove of historical and cultural information. It showcases artefacts that provide insight into the island’s past and its people, from traditional fishing methods to ancient pottery Be warned though. As a gazetted historical site, tourists are prohibited from vandalising anything on the grounds, as it will open them up to legal recourse. Pangkor Town The main settlement of the island, Pangkor Town is a window into the laidback, rustic lifestyle of the islanders. The streets are lined with shops that sell souvenirs, essential items and snacks. Slightly north of the twon, are the island’s fishing villages where the boats leave to sea and return with the freshest of marine produce daily. Island hopping Though Pangkor Island is the main location, there are smaller satellite islands that orbit it. For those who want to island hop, boats can be taken to any of these islands. The smaller islands are Pangkor Laut Island, Giam Island, Mentagor Island, Simpan Island and Tukun Terindak Island. These islands are known for having different activities, such as diving, fishing and snorkelling among the rich marine life in the waters. Fresh seafood galore Like any other location by the sea, Pangkor Island is full of restaurants that offer fresh seafood for those looking to feast after exploring the island’s many attractions, whether in between or to cap the day’s activities with a feast fit for royalty. Highly rated restaurants include Nipah Deli Steamboat, Uncle Lim’s Kitchen, Daddy’s Cafe and more which serve items such as steam fish, fried calamari, fresh prawns and more. The big difference between these and restaurants in big cities is that the produce was quite likely swimming n the ocean just hours before reaching the dining table. Enjoy fresh seafood feasts while in Pangkor. A paddle boat ride around the island is a great way to experience Pangkor. With a cooling sea breeze, a hike up Bukit Pangkor is not as strenous a climb compared with hikes elsewhere. The Dutch Fort is a reminder of Pangkor’s colonial past. Pangkor Island’s relatively calm waters allows for a host of activities. There are a number of Chinese tokongs for visitors to visit in Pangkor. – PICS BY HOLIDIFY Many beaches will have operators offering boat rides. – TRIP.COMPIC

LYFE LYFE TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 23 joined locals in partaking in the grandest edition of this festival in Pangkor yet, with accommodation fully booked giving the local tourism industry a welcome boost. The highlight of the festival was when 80 large vessels and a further 60 passenger boats took to the waters in the traditional “Mazu maritime patrol”. A large golden statue of the deity was brought to the cargo pier below the Pangkor Exhibition Hall where it set off on a three-mile journey across the waters of Pangkor. The trip was soundtracked by thunderous firecrackers as well as gongs and drums banged on enthusiastically by devotees on the accompanying vessels. The ship carrying the deity of Mazu left the pier shortly after 2pm and headed towards the Tianding Strait, also known as the North Gate among locals. The spectacular sight of the large convoy of boats setting off to the beat of drums and the nonstop cacophony also brought many A celestial serenade FOLLOWING its presentation of Teresa Teng Tribute Concert last year, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) continues to manifest its versatility in an upcoming concert themed Celestial Serenade on June 1, 2024 at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, KLCC. The concert pays homage to the rich sounds and harmonious tunes of Chinese classical music, shining a light on the importance of suona, the woodwind classical instrument in Chinese culture. The MPO, under the baton of Jebat Arjuna Kee, will collaborate with Liu Wenwen, one of the most outstanding suona performers. Based at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she has demonstrated her suona artistry at the Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre and John F Kennedy Centre, Washington DC. Together with the MPO, Liu will present Gong Guotai’s Hundred Birds Worshipping the Phoenix and Ode to Kylin composed by Kong Zhixuan. The former is one of the staples featuring the suona imitating the chirping of birds whereas the latter is a tribute song to the auspicious hoofed chimerical creature whose appearance marks either the imminent arrival or the passing of an illustrious ruler. Also included in the programme is Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto taken from Ang Lee’s award-winning movie in 2000. Written and inspired by the distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma and premiered at the Barbican Centre Festival in London that same year, the MPO’s performance of this work will feature its very own cellist Dylan Lee who has won many accolades at international competitions. Audience will also be treated to Li Minxiong’s visually powerful Flying Dragon Leaping Tiger and Zhu Jianer’s Sketches in the Mountains of Guizhou. Ticket prices range from RM238 to RM458. Liu had previously performed at the Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre and John F Kennedy Centre, US. Cellist Dylan Lee will perform Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto. Pangkor pilgrimage S OME travel for leisure. Others for adventure while many travel for the sole purpose of performing pilgrimage. This was very much the scene in Pangkor Island recently when large crowds converged to observe the annual Mazu cultural festival in honour of the sea goddess that is also known as “Our Lady of Tin Hau”. This celebration in honour of Mazu is considered to be the most important to Pangkor’s Hainan community. According to legend, Mazu’s actual name was Lin Moniang. She was born in the year 960 in Meizhou in Putian county, Fujian province, China. She was said to be an excellent swimmer and believed to possess supernatural powers to protect seafarers and fishermen. Mazu died in the year 987, and has since been remembered as “the lady in a red dress, who roams the seas”. Beyond its religious significance, the Mazu Festival serves as a cherished cultural heritage, fostering community cohesion and preserving age-old traditions passed down through generations. As one of the most revered religious festivals on Pangkor, it not only showcases the island’s rich cultural tapestry but also highlights the enduring reverence for Mazu and the enduring spirit of faith and devotion among the Hainanese community. Organised by the Pangkor Hainan Association, this year’s festivities drew thousands to the picturesque island for the five-day event. Taking advantage of the weekend, thousands of outstation devotees A golden statue of Mazu was brought on a procession through town. – ALL PICS COURTESY OF PANGKOR HAINAN ASSOCIATION oSea comes alive as devotees take to the waters for Mazu cultural festival █ BY R BALA 80 large vessels and a further 60 passenger boats took part in the sea patrol. This year’s Mazu cultural festival brought thousands of visitors to Pangkor Island. to the shoreline bringing normal activity to a temporary halt. The boat carrying the golden statue of Mazu then headed towards Pangkor Beach and brought ashore to be placed on a float in preparation for the evening parade. The Mazu Cultural Festival is a boisterous, colourful celebration that combines spirituality with an opportunity for a short family getaway. Those looking to partake in next year’s celebrations should plan ahead to ensure availability of lodging. Similar celebrations have been carried out in other seaside locations in previous years such as Kuala Terengganu while Kuching also had a grand event this year, each bringing significant tourist revenue to each locale. Given the scale of the celebrations, those who make the trek will feel it is very much worth the effort, not to mention getting to enjoy the splendour of Pangkor Island w h i l e rejuvenating the soul. Many visitors got on the boat rides to experience the maritime patrol. The maritime patrol of Mazu celebrations in Pangkor was a sight to behold.

EDUCATION EDUCATION 24 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 Strong foundation is key to success KUALA LUMPUR: When students who have completed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) are faced with difficult choices on which programme to pursue post SPM, one of the best options would be to consider Foundation studies, simply because it allows them to explore various subjects at Foundation level, and finally choose the particular subjects they are most comfortable with for their degree. The Foundation programme at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) is categorised into four areas – arts, science, business and computing – catering to a wide range of disciplines for undergraduate level at TAR UMT in KL. Although it is a one-year programme, the Foundation studies at TAR UMT are designed to prepare students comprehensively, so they can seamlessly advance into TAR UMT’s bachelor degree programme in the fields of accounting, finance, business, computing, information technology, built environment, engineering and technology, social science and humanities, applied sciences, communication and creative industries. The Foundation programme also focuses on strengthening the academic skills of students, such as critical thinking, research and problem-solving abilities. As students delve deeper into the programme, they develop a better understanding of their chosen subject area, enabling them to excel in their future studies. The Foundation programme at TAR UMT not only focuses on academic development but also nurtures personal growth, so students develop essential skills such as time management, teamwork and independent learning. These skills are invaluable for success in higher education and also in career growth. Students will also be actively involved in various co-curricular, sports and recreational activities, to develop essential life and social skills, in addition to improving their interaction with one another. Wong Jin Xuan, who has completed her Foundation in Computing and is currently pursuing the Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) in Data Science at TAR UMT, said: “Before entering Foundation, I was not well-informed on the theoretical aspects on the fundamentals of computing, like hardware, coding, networking and data management, since the subjects TAR UMT provides a conducive campus environment for students to have healthy interactions. oTAR UMT option allows students to explore various subject combinations and find best fit were not taught in secondary school. “Pursuing the Foundation programme strengthened my understanding in the field of computing and I mastered a lot of practical techniques, which increased my interest in computing,” said Wong. “While completing assignments during my Foundation year, I gained experience and developed important skills such as critical thinking, creativity, research, communication, presentation as well as reference and citation techniques.” Another student, Lim Zi Li, shared how the Foundation year proved to be important when she decided to pursue the Bachelor of Banking and Finance (Hons) at TAR UMT. “I decided to pursue Foundation in Business and Finance because I was still uncertain about my career path after SPM. At the time, I had no prior knowledge of finance, as I came from a science background in secondary school. I then opted to study Foundation to give myself the flexibility to switch courses if necessary,” said Lim. “Additionally, the Foundation programme provided me with an introduction to finance, as well as subjects from other fields of study such as accounting, economics and marketing. “It enabled me to transition smoothly to my degree programme, which specialised in Business and Finance subjects.” For more information about TAR UMT Foundation programmes, visit the TAR UMT Open Day on May 18 and 19 and May 25 and 26 between 10am and 5pm. Alternatively, please call 011-1075 8537 or visit www.tarc.edu.my for information about TAR UMT and details on how to apply online for the various financial aid and merit scholarships available for qualified students.

EDUCATION EDUCATION 25 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 S HAH ALAM: Talentbank National Graduate Employability Index 2024 has identified Management and Science University (MSU) as one of the Malaysian universities that consistently produces highly employable and well-prepared graduates for the workforce, making MSU an university preferred by top graduate employers. Among the specific fields of study at the University that have gained support from employers are baking/pastry, beauty and makeup, event management, fashion, hospitality management, and tourism at the School of Hospitality and Creative Arts, counselling, early childhood, and public relations at the School of Education and Social Sciences, finance and Islamic finance, logistics at the Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, games design and development at the Faculty of Information Sciences and Engineering, nursing and physiotherapy at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences as well as pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy. As an enterprise university focused to enhance graduate employability, the MSU graduate employability currently ranks at 99% of its graduates successfully securing employment, within six months of their graduation, based on the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE) tracer study. Their global programmes such as the Global Mobility Program (GMP) allow students one semester and up to one year of studies at any of MSU’s partner universities worldwide. There is also the Global Leadership Programme (GLP), which provides an immersive learning experience overseas for MSU students. In a recent QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, MSU is ranked in the top 30 universities worldwide for hospitality and leisure management, in the top 100 for art and design, and in the top 300 for business and management studies. MSU has also made it to the top 550 for social sciences and management as well as in top 650 for computer science and information systems. The university’s awardwinning academic programmes have also met the stringent standards of local and international bodies. Among MSU’s accreditors are the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), the United Kingdom’s Accreditation Services for International Schools, Colleges & Universities (ASIC), the Japan’s Alliance on Business Education and Scholarship for Tomorrow (ABEST21), the Netherland’s Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial & Engaged Universities (ACEEU), the United Kingdom’s Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) as well as the Sri Lanka’s University Grant Commission (UGC). Among the many benchmarks for the MSU mission for excellence include internationalization, industry marketability, job creator mindset, community sustainability, research, lifelong learning, and flexible education. MSU’s highly qualified academics and international visiting professors support an integrated curricular framework that delivers a comprehensive learning experience. The curriculum blends technical vocational education and training (TVET) with traditional academic curricula, giving students an edge in employability. There are various skills enhancement programmes aimed at improving students’ competitiveness offered to students such as The Graduate Employability Skills (GEmS), and Personal Enrichment Competencies (PEC) programme at MSU, which serve to improve he students’ soft skills. Extensive partnerships and collaborations with more than 350 institutions in over 40 countries worldwide provide comprehensive mobility opportunities for all MSU students, enhancing their graduate employability through global exposure by studies and internships abroad. MSU houses the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, the Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, the Faculty of Information Sciences and Engineering, the International Medical School, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Education and Social Sciences, the School of Hospitality and Creative Arts, the School of Graduate Studies, the Graduate School of Management, and the Centre for Fundamental Studies. For a full range and information on flexible programme offered at MSU, please call 03-5521 6868, or email: [emailprotected] or visit www.msu.edu.my MSU, strategically located provides a haven for students with its facilities. The Employers’ Choice University oMSU delivers highly employable graduates

EDUCATION EDUCATION 26 TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 Leading the way on transnational education BANDAR SUNWAY: Sunway University took the lead for transnational education as it hosted the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia Universities Summit 2024, for the first time in Malaysia, themed, “Bridging Frontiers: Changing the Landscape of Education in Asia.” The event, with over 600 participants from 40 countries, and 160 universities and colleges from all over Asia, including Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, and also the US, Europe and Netherlands, was according to President of Sunway University, Professor Sibrandes Poppema, the most successful, based on the number of delegates and the various countries that participated. Professor Chai Lay Ching, the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education), who is also the organizing Chairperson of THE Asia Universities Summit said, “It took months to organize, and we started in November last year but the initial number of delegates started to snowball and we had to open more places for delegates as demand grew.” “As the Ministry of Higher Education wants to transform Malaysia into an education hub, this From left, Prof Sibrandes and Prof Chai said it was the most successful Summit based on number of delegates and outcomes. Summit is one opportunity to do that. Sunway University also wants to make a name for itself, and the theme centres around crossing borders, focusing on transnational education and its importance today,” said Prof Sibrandes. Malaysian students do travel overseas for study in foreign universities but today for example, they have choices. They can choose to study for a foreign degree locally, at one quarter the price. Sunway University currently has a partnership with Lancaster University in the UK. Since 2006, with over 6,000 students, it provides a wonderful transnational experience and when students graduate, they receive two degrees, one from Sunway University and another one from Lancaster University.” Students gain tremendously from the lower cost of living, which is cheaper in Malaysia and the cost of travelling as they remain in their home countries,” added Prof Sibrandes. According to him, the model for transnational education varies from one university to another, for example, there are universities with Group picture of the delegates attending the Summit, bottom row, centre left Sunway Education Group CEO, Prof Dato’ Elizabeth Lee,Sunway Group Founder and Chairman Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah, and Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. branch campuses here in Malaysia, and that comes under transnational education, but upon graduation, the students graduate with a single degree from the branch university. “Sunway University has a new partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) whereby students who enroll for the programme, study three years at Sunway University and for their fourth year, they transfer to ASU and complete their final year at Phoenix, Arizona, where ASU is located. Again, students graduate with two degrees, one from ASU and the other from Sunway. The other advantage, upon graduation, the student can apply through the optical practical experience (OPE) to work in the US for a period of three years and secure a permanent job.” The whole idea of organizing this Summit was to provide a platform for universities across Asia, to discuss the various models of transnational education and thus come up with best practices that they could take home with them. “Thus, transnational education is to enable people to secure a quality education for an affordable price, thus reshaping the boundaries of academic excellence, allowing students in Asia to experience education at its best,” added Prof Sibrandes. The keynote address at the Summit, “The trends and drivers of transnational education in Asia”, was delivered by Jazreel Goh, the Country Director (Malaysia) at the British Council and moderated by Professor Dato’ Elizabeth Lee, the Group CEO for Sunway Education.

SPORTS SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 27 SCAN ME T: 03-7784 6688 F: 03-7785 2625 E: [emailprotected] TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 FOCAL PARK SDN BHD (358698-H) NOTIS LELONG AWAM KENDERAAN UNTUK DILELONG SEPERTI SEDIA ADA TEMPAT & TARIKH LELONG : LELONG :Northern Region (Alor Setar, Butterworth & Ipoh) 16-05-2024 (Khamis) Pukul 11:00pagi TARIKH MELIHAT : SEBELUM TIGA HARI LELONG (Pukul 9:00pagi - 4:00petang) PERTANYAAN (Tel) : Butterworth 04-3567972, Alor Seter 04-787 7972, Ipoh 05-5293971 FPAC - PELELONG BERLESEN Mr. Chew Wooi Kok , b) Mr. Steven Lim Peng Seng (01795), c) Pn Hasniza Binti Abu Samah (00919) Alamat : 352, Permatang Tok Jaya Maklom Sg Dua 13800 Butterworth. : Lot 138-A, Batu 5 Jalan Langgar 05460 Alor Setar : PT51683, Jalan Jelapang, Kws Perindustrian Tmn Meru 30020 Ipoh SILA LAYARI LAMAN WEB KAMI : http://www.focalpark.com.my Lot Reg No. Jenis & Model Tahun AM1 SK9527C NISSAN NAVARA 2.5 PRO-4X 2021 AM2 ALM2951 PERODUA BEZZA 1.0 G (A) 2019 AM3 PPG2677 PROTON SAGA 1.3 (A) 2020 AM4 JRR7558 PROTON SAGA 1.3 (A) 2016 AM5 AKS5026 SUBARU FORESTER 2.0 2016 AM6 WA3719F PERODUA VIVA 1.0 2014 (Perhatian: Kenderaan-kenderaan diatas yang tidak dibida dalam perlelongan akan dilelong semula pada 23-05-2024) 322 Notices IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPANIES ACT 2016 AND IN THE MATTER OF FLEXWELL SDN. BHD. (Company No. 199001002247 (193810-K)) (In Members’ Voluntary Winding-Up) NOTICE OF FINAL MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to Section 459 of the Companies Act 2016 that a Final General Meeting of the Members of the Company will be held at 2nd Floor, Acctax Corporate Centre, No. 2, Jalan Bawasah, 10050 Georgetown, Penang on 14th day of June, 2024 at 2.00 p.m. AGENDA 1. To consider and, if thought fit, adopt the final account of the Liquidator showing the manner in which the winding-up has been conducted and the property of the Company has been disposed of; and 2. To resolve under Section 518(3)(b) of the Companies Act 2016 that after the expiration of three (3) months from the date of Final General Meeting, the books, accounts and documents of the Company and of the Liquidator be destroyed. Dated this 14th day of May, 2024 Neoh Chin Wah Liquidator Notes: 1. A member entitled to attend and vote at the General Meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy and vote in his stead. The proxy may but need not be a member of the Company. 2. The instrument appointing a proxy must be deposited at the Liquidator’s Office at 3rd Floor, Acctax Corporate Centre, No. 2, Jalan Bawasah, 10050 Georgetown, Penang, not less than 48 hours before the time for holding the meeting or any adjournment thereof. 322 Notices LOST SHARE CERTIFICATES The following Share Certificates have been reported lost or destroyed: Name of Co: MANGO LAB PROTOTYPING & DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES SDN. BHD. (CO. NO.: 201501031934 (1157258-A)) Certificate No. No. of Shares 007 25,000 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT if within fourteen (14) days from date hereof, no claims or representation in respect of such certificates is/are made to the Company, MANGO LAB PROTOTYPING & DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES SDN. BHD., the Company will proceed to issue replacement certificates and the original certificates will be deemed cancelled and void. MANGO LAB PROTOTYPING & DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES SDN. BHD. Co. No.: 201501031934 (1157258-A) No. 19 (1st Floor) Lintang Selat, Taman Selat, 12000 Butterworth, Pulau Pinang. Date: 14th May 2024 DALAM MAHKAMAH SESYEN DI MELAKA DALAM NEGERI MELAKA, MALAYSIA SAMAN PEMULA PENGANGKATAN NO. MA-58-7-03/2024 Dalam perkara mengenai Akta Pengangkatan, 1952 DAN Dalam perkara mengenai VUNG SIAN NUAM (Sijil Pendaftaran 187772XA) yang akan dikenali sebagai YUNA CHUA 1.JON CHUA YUL CHUN (No. K/P: 790908-10-5603) ...PEMOHON-PEMOHON 2.WONG KANG LI (No. K/P: 780518-05-5226) DAN 1.VUNG SIAN NUAM (No. Sijil Daftar 187772XA) 2.CING NGAIH SEN (No. ZRC 22-24338) 3.PEGAWAI KEBAJIKAN MASYARAKAT, JABATAN KEBAJIKAN MASYARAKAT, MELAKA. ...RESPONDEN-RESPONDEN PENYAMPAIAN GANTI SAMAN PEMULA DALAM BENTUK IKLAN Dalam perkara Saman Pemula yang dikeluarkan pada 1.3.2024 dan Perintah Mahkamah bertarikh 2.5.2024 Kepada:- CING NGAIH SEN No. 32, Jalan Equin 9C, Taman Equin 43300 Seri Kembangan Selangor. 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Penolong Kanan Pendaftar Mahkamah Sesyen Melaka Penyampaian Ganti Saman Pemula Dalam Bentuk Iklan ini dikeluarkan oleh Tetuan KP Quek & Partners yang beralamat di No. 30-2, Jalan KSB 15, Taman Kota Syahbandar, 75200 Melaka (Tel: 0162190726) (Ruj: QKP/ADOPT/994/DrJon) 322 Notices 322 Notices If you feel you have what it takes, to join us in the interesting media industry, send your resume (together with a photo of you) via email to [emailprotected] You can call us at +603 7784 6688 theSun is published by Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd Lot 6, Level 4, Jalan 51/217, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. MARKETING EXECUTIVE Responsibilities 1. Handle both local & outstation Agents and Vendors. 2. Handle sales of newspaper-corporate sales e.g.: Hospital, Hotels, etc. 3. Actively engage in outbound sales activities to acquire new newspaper subscribers. Requirements 1. Minimum Diploma in Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field with at least 2 years of experience. 2. 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TAKE NOTICE that an action has been commenced against you the abovenamed Defendant in the Sessions Court at Seremban Suit No: BB-A52NCvC-50-03/2024 by YEAP KOK SEAH of 20, Jln Tasik Prima 2/2, Tmn Tasik Prima, 47150 Puchong, Selangor and that it has been ordered that service of the said Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim in the above action be effected upon you by this advertisement and by pasting copies thereof together with sealed copy of the Order for substituted service on the last known address for Defendant at No. 16, Jalan Tasik Prima 2/2, Taman Tasik Prima, 47150 Puchong, Selangor, on the Notice Board of the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court and the pasting and advertisement shall be deemed good and sufficient service of the said Writ of Summons upon the expiry of fourteen (14) days after the last date of such pasting and advertisement. If you desire to defend the said action you must within fourteen (14) days from the publication of this advertisement, inclusive of the day of such publication, enter an appearance at the Registry of the Court. In default of such appearance judgment may be entered against you. Dated 9th May 2024 ..........t.t.......... Solicitors for the Plaintiff Messrs Low & Partners This Notice of Advertisement is filed by Messrs Low & Partners of No. 233-1, Jalan S2 B10, Uptown Avenue Seremban 2, 70300 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus. Tel: +606 – 6012293 Fax: +606 – 6013298 Emel: [emailprotected] [RUJ: LPS/GL/13607/01/2024/YKS] 302 Jobs 322 Notices CALL TO PLACE CLASSIFIED ADS MS. SHOBA / MS. BALQISH 03 7784 8888 018 261 6626 [emailprotected] Five in a row Bengaluru win keeps IPL playoff hopes alive RAJAT PATIDAR’S attacking fifty and inspired bowling set up Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s fifth straight win to improve their IPL playoff hopes with a 47-run thrashing of Delhi Capitals on Sunday. Bengaluru posted 187-9 after Cameron Green hit an unbeaten 24- ball 32 and bowlers then combined to bowl out Delhi for 140 in 19.1 overs at their home M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bengaluru, who moved to fifth, have mounted a late charge to make the playoffs but will need to win their last league match and other results to go in their favour to be in the top four. Delhi slipped to sixth and go into their final match with 12 points. Bengaluru have also 12 points from 13 matches, but boast a better runrate. “Brilliant, we put in some good performances and I’m really pleased. It’s just confidence,” Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis said. “First half of the season, things didn’t quite come together and from that batting perspective and bowling perspective we have been able to put it together now.” In the first match of the day, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad led holders Chennai Super Kings to a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals and boost their playoff hopes. Chennai moved to 14 points and third place with seven wins in 13 matches. R a j a s t h a n remain second in the 10- team table led by K o l k a t a K n i g h t Riders, who are the only team to have a l r e a d y q u a l i f i e d for the next stage. In match two, star batsman Virat Kohli took charge after he smashed 27 off 13 balls to lay the foundation of Bengaluru’s total in a match where Delhi missed skipper Rishabh Pant, who was suspended after a slow over-rate offence. Kohli remains the leading batsman this season with 661 runs including one century and five half-tons. “When your main players are run out and you lose four in powerplay, you’re chasing the game,” said stand-in-skipper Axar Patel. “Anything can happen (in the race to the play-offs), but we haven’t thought that far ahead.” In the earlier match, f i v e - t i m e c h a m p i o n s C h e n n a i r e s t r i c t e d Rajasthan to 141- 5, a total they overhauled with 10 balls to spare in their last home game at M A Chidambaram Stadium. – AFP PAKISTAN beat Ireland by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Dublin on Sunday to set up a deciding showdown in the three-match series. Ireland made a dynamic start after being put into bat as the hosts blasted 29 runs in the first three overs. But Shaheen Shah Afridi put the brakes on Ireland’s assault, dismissing opening pair Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie in the fourth over. Lorcan Tucker and Harry Tector (32) put on 62 for the third wicket, with the former scoring 51 in 34 deliveries. Curtis Campher (22) and George Dockrell (15) boosted the score before Gareth Delany’s 28 off 10 balls helped the hosts post 193 for seven. Pakistan spluttered at the start of their chase as Saim Ayub was caught in the first over and skipper Babar Azam nicked Graham Hume behind to depart for a duck in the second. But Ireland’s hopes of sealing a famous series win with a game to spare were dashed as Mohammad Rizwan (75 not out) and Fakhar Zaman (78) put on a stunning 140-run partnership. Azam Khan added 30 from 10 balls to take Pakistan home with 3.1 overs unused. “I’m relieved, credit to all batters,” said Azam. “We lost a few wickets early on but we kept the momentum going. It was a good decision to bowl first because it was overcast and there was a bit of rain.” Ireland had claimed their first ever T20 victory against Pakistan in the series opener on Friday, winning by five wickets with one ball to spare. Pakistan will also face Ireland in the group stage of next month’s T20 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies. – AFP Pakistan defeat Ireland to level T20 series Patidar. – AFPPIX

SPORTS SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 28 NOVAK DJOKOVIC described his shock third-round elimination from the Rome Open by Alejandro Tabilo on Sunday as “concerning”, two days after he was hit on the head by a bottle which he said has caused nausea and dizzy spells. Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 title was ended in just over an hour by Chilean Tabilo, who is ranked 32nd in the world and claimed his first win over a top10 opponent, 6-2, 6-3. The 24-time Grand Slam winner said that his subdued performance on a court where he has won six titles might have been due to the blow suffered while greeting fans on Friday night. He had initially laughed off being accidentally struck on the head by a hard water bottle following his straightforward second-round win over Corentin Moutet, by wearing a cycling crash helmet to training on Saturday morning. “I don’t know, to be honest. I have to check that. Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same,” Djokovic told reporters. “Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago.” Djokovic also said that he would have scans to “see what’s going on” before the French Open in Paris, where he will head not just worried by the after-effects of the bottle incident but also his form. The last time Djokovic got to Roland Garros without a title to his name that season was in 2018, when his first honour of the campaign came at Wimbledon. With the French Open getting underway in two weeks and where he is the defending champion, Djokovic admitted that “everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win” a 25th Grand Slam. “The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes,” added Djokovic. “It’s a bit concerning.” Djokovic’s early elimination means that the last major men’s tournament before Roland Garros is now wide open with third seed Alexander Zverev beating home hope Luciano Darderi, ranked 54th in the world, 7- 6 (7-3), 6-2. Tabilo was a worthy winner against Djokovic after tearing into his superstar opponent, claiming the biggest win of his career in remarkable style by hitting 22 winners, making just four unforced errors and not facing a single break point. “Honestly in no moment was I like, Okay, I can win this,” said a delighted Tabilo. “I was playing incredible tennis. Just wanted to keep that level… The whole match I was just trying to take it point by point, not think about the score. Every point was like the start of the match.” – AFP Nole to undergo scans Tabilo beats Djokovic in huge upset at Italian Open, two days after bottle accident Zhang stuns Sagstrom to win Founders Cup ROSE ZHANG birdied four of her last five holes to overtake Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and win her second LPGA title at the Cognizant Founders Cup on Sunday in Clifton, New Jersey. Zhang, 20, posted a 6-under 66 in her final round to reach 24- under 264 at Upper Montclair Country Club, two better than Sagstrom, who carded a 69 Sunday. The pair ran away from the pack on the weekend, as Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels (71) was a distant third at 9 under. Zhang’s triumph ended Nelly Korda’s personal fivetournament winning streak. Korda was trying to become the first player in LPGA history to win six consecutive starts, but she posted 73 for the second straight day and tied for seventh at 7 under. “I’m still shaking right now,” Zhang said. “I think I never gave up. I always knew I had something in me to just grind it out, enjoy the time.” After Sagstrom bogeyed the 16th to create a tie for the lead, Zhang took advantage and finished birdie-birdie. “It almost felt like match play,” said Zhang, who won her professional debut 11 months ago in nearby Jersey City. “I was telling my dad in the car (Saturday) that I played her at Solheim Cup last year and I knew she was a solid player. No matter what anyone else says, I know she can rise to the occasion no problem. So I had to really stay patient and find it in me to get it done.” Sagstrom, ranked No. 62 in the world, was also looking for her second career LPGA victory yesterday. “Just being in this position, this is what we all trying to do. We’re trying to feel these nerves,” the 31-year-old said. “I was nervous today. I chunked a chip on 1. Just pure nerves. “I think you’re not going to learn by not being here. And I mean, I played unbelievable golf this week. We’re the only two that’s been really low. I have to look at the positive. ... My time will come.” K o r d a ’ s f i v e - to u r n a m e n t w i n n i n g streak tied Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the longest in LPGA history. “ H a s n ’ t even sunk in. P r o b a b l y maybe now or maybe in like 10, 15 years it’ll sink in. Hopefully someone beats (the record) one day,” Korda said. – Field Level Media RORY MCILROY delivered a blistering backnine performance as he powered to victory at the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow yesterday with a final round 6- under 65. McIlroy had begun the day a shot behind Xander Schauffele and trailed him by two strokes after the American made an eagle on the seventh. But from then on the world number two was sensational as he left Schauffele in his trail, playing the next eight holes at eight-under, including a pair of eagles. “I just went on a run that, for whatever reason, I’m able to go on with this golf course,” said McIlroy after his fourth win at Quail Hollow, where he enjoyed the first of his 26 PGA Tour victories as a 20-year-old back in 2010. After his win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event last month, with Shane Lowry, McIlroy now heads into the second major of the season, the PGA Championship at Valhalla with back-to-back wins. McIlroy has not won a major since capturing his fourth at Valhalla 10 years ago but he is now in buoyant mood. “My golf swing feels a lot more comfortable than it has done, so going to the venue next week where I’ve won, it feels like the stars are aligning a little bit,” said the 35-year-old. “But I’ve got a lot of golf to play and a lot of great players to try to beat next week but I’m going into the next major of the year feeling really good about myself,” he added. He had begun his round with a birdie on the opening hole and followed it up with another on the fourth but there was little sign of what was to come. Schauffele must have felt that was a potential momentum shift in their tight battle and it proved to be – but not in the way the American hoped. “I mean, he played unbelievable. Looked up at the board and I’m like dang, he’s 6 under through 6 on the back nine, it’s something else,” he said. “When you take a step back, yeah. He’s Rory McIlroy, you know? He hits it 350 yards in the air downwind and he has shorter clubs into firm greens than anyone else. When he’s on, he’s on. Hats off to him,” he added. – AFP McIlroy races away to victory at Quail Hollow SHORTS Sabalenka reaches Rome last 16 AUSTRALIAN OPEN champion Aryna Sabalenka will face Elina Svitolina for the first time since their handshake row at last year’s French Open after both cruised into the last women’s last 16. Second seed Sabalenka beat Dayana Yastremska, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a clash in the next round with Svitolina, a two-time winner at the Foro Italico, who comfortably beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3. Svitolina accused Belarusian Sabalenka of inflaming tensions surrounding the RussiaUkraine war for waiting at the net for a handshake after beating Ukrainian Svitolina in the Roland Garros quarter-finals in 2023. Svitolina had already insisted she was not going to offer one, as all Ukraine players refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals in protest at the ongoing war. Sabalenka, who has never won in Rome but is a two-time champion on the Madrid clay, looks in good shape to at least match her 2022 run to the semifinals. Earlier fifth seed Maria Sakkari lined up a probable last-16 clash with Victoria Azarenka who beat 80th-ranked Egyptian Mayar Sherif 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3. Gotterup wins maiden PGA Tour title CHRIS GOTTERUP clinched the first US PGA Tour win of his career at the Myrtle Beach Classic yesterday, shooting a 4-under-par 67 to seal victory by six shots. The 24-year-old American overcame a rocky start which saw back-to-back bogeys on his first two holes to finish on 22 under, six ahead of Alistair Docherty, who carded a 7- under-par 64, and Davis Thompson. Gotterup led by four shots after Saturday’s third round but saw that advantage wobble with his bogey-bogey start at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in South Carolina. He bounced back with a birdie on the third, followed by an eagle three on the parfive fourth, and added another birdie on the fifth. Four more birdies on the back nine helped the world number 284 complete a deserved win in the tournament, which was held opposite the PGA Tour’s signature-level elite event at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. Gotterup said he had never been flustered despite his bumpy opening two holes. “To bounce back the way I did, it’s just kind of how I roll,” Gotterup said. “If I’m going to make a bogey, I’m going to get my head screwed back on straight, at least attempt to, and then bounce back.” Gotterup’s maiden victory was made all the more special by the presence of his mother, Kate, in the gallery as the US marked Mother’s Day. Rose Zhang holds the trophy after winning the Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club. – AFPPIX

SPORTS SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 29 Mbappe bids bappe bids farewell arewell Frenchman scores in final home appearance for PSG in 3-1 loss to Toulouse KYLIAN MBAPPE scored on his final home appearance as a Paris SaintGermain player yesterday but the French champions suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat against Toulouse on the night they picked up the Ligue 1 championship trophy. Mbappe confirmed in a video posted on social media on Friday that he would be leaving PSG when his contract expires at the end of the season, ending a seven-year association with the club. Real Madrid is expected to be the next destination for a player whose departure from Paris had been an open secret since February, when he privately informed the club of his intention to move on. Mbappe wore the captain’s armband and opened the scoring early on against Toulouse to take his tally for the season to 44 goals goals in all competitions. However, Thijs Dallinga quickly equalised for the visitors against a PSG side which showed 10 changes to the team knocked out of the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals in midweek, with Mbappe the only player to keep his place. Yann Gboho put Toulouse ahead with a brilliant strike in the second half, and Frank Magri wrapped up the win in stoppage time as PSG suffered just their second Ligue 1 loss this season, and their first in 27 games since September. Mbappe has now scored 256 times for PSG, a club-record tally, since signing from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth €180 million (RM918m). His tally of 191 goals in France’s top flight – including 16 with Monaco at the beginning of his career – puts him in seventh place in the alltime list. Coach Luis Enrique described the 25- year-old as “a club legend” when he spoke to media on the eve of the game. PSG had indicated that celebrations after yesterday’s match would be dedicated to their title triumph, rather than any specific tribute to Mbappe himself. There were even some jeers from the crowd for the striker when the teams were read out before the game, although a huge display was unfurled before kickoff at one end of the stadium depicting Mbappe in a trademark pose with his arms folded. “I heard applause, the supporters paid him a deserved tribute, he is a club legend despite his youth,” said Luis Enrique who described the banner as “beautiful”. The Qatar-owned club had already wrapped up a record-extending 12th French title, and 10th in 12 years, before hosting a Toulouse side who were themselves safe from any lingering threat of relegation. PSG’s Champions League disappointment means Mbappe will leave the club without ever having got his hands on European football’s greatest prize. PSG can still finish the season by completing a clean sweep of domestic honours, as they face Lyon in the French Cup final in Lyon on May 25. As well as Ligue 1, they have also already won the Champions Trophy, France’s equivalent of a Super Cup. Luis Enrique’s team will complete their league campaign with a visit to Nice on Thursday (3am Malaysian time) before going to Metz in their final game next Sunday. Elsewhere, Monaco clinched second place and automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League with a 2-0 win away at Montpellier. Lille moved up into third place above Brest on goal difference with a 2-1 win at Nantes. Nice are fifth and trail both Lille and Brest by four points but still have a chance of a top-four place before hosting PSG in midweek. Lens drew 1-1 at Rennes to hold onto sixth, Lyon won 1-0 at Clermont to their European hopes alive. Marseille beat Lorient 3-1 to also remain in the European picture. – AFP De Paul stunner fires Atletico towards top four finish RODRIGO DE PAUL’S superb volley earned Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo yesterday to virtually guarantee Champions League football next season. Diego Simeone’s side, fourth, move eight points clear of fifth-place Athletic Bilbao with just three games remaining. “When I’m on the edge of the box I’ve got confidence and I know I have to finish the move so there’s no counter-attack, I knew I’d hit it if it fell to me,” De Paul told DAZN. Atletico have won 16 of 18 home matches in La Liga this season, while Simeone recorded his 400th win as coach, across all competitions. “I’m not analysing it, I’m looking forward as I have always sought to do,” said Simeone. “I know what I want, what I’m looking for and I am convinced of where the path is and I will continue pushing until the last day I am here.” Atletico’s season is tainted by disappointment. They reached the Copa del Rey semifinals, where they were ousted by Athletic Bilbao, and came up short against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League quarterfinals. “We have generated those expectations and they are welcome,” said Simeone. Defeat leaves Celta 17th, five points above the drop zone after Cadiz, 18th, scraped a narrow 1-0 win over Getafe on Sunday. “We had so little to go to get a point… each point is important because we’re in a situation where the sooner we can be mathematically safe, the better,” said Guaita. Rayo Vallecano climbed a point above Celta with a 0-0 draw at Valencia. Granada, 19th, were relegated to join Almeria in the second tier next season on Saturday before kicking a ball in their 4-0 home defeat by champions Real Madrid. Betis, inspired by playmaker Isco, rose a point above La Real into sixth with a 3-2 win over Almeria. – AFP ATALANTA took a big step towards Champions League football yesterday by beating Serie A top-five rivals Roma 2-1, a win which also guaranteed spots for Bologna and Juventus in Europe’s elite club event. A brilliant brace from Charles De Ketelaere in the first 20 minutes gave Atalanta, still on a high from reaching the Europa League final, a fully deserved win in Bergamo. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side sit in Italy’s fifth and final Champions League spot, three points ahead of Roma with a game in hand against Fiorentina which they will play the weekend after the scheduled end of the season. Atalanta, who also face Juventus in the Italian Cup final Thursday (3am Malaysian time), looked set to sweep Roma aside in the same manner in which they dealt with Marseille to reach their first ever European final. But they had to overcome a tense finale after Lorenzo Pellegrini’s 66th-minute penalty gave the away side hope, despite a dominating display from the hosts who also hit the post twice. “We weren’t clinical enough in front of goal, otherwise we would have won it sooner without having to suffer so much at the end,” said Gasperini to DAZN. Defeat for Roma followed up their heartbreaking last-four elimination from the Europa League at Bayer Leverkusen. Daniele De Rossi’s team have little chance of finishing fifth but can still reach the continent’s top club competition even if they finish sixth, if Atalanta win the Europa League. Thanks to Atalanta’s win Bologna will make their first appearance in the modern Champions League as they and Juve, who could only draw with relegated Salernitana, are seven points ahead of Roma with two rounds of fixtures remaining. A point behind Roma are local rivals Lazio following their 2-0 win over Empoli in the day’s early match, when the capital city club celebrated the 50th anniversary of their first league title. Lazio have won the Scudetto twice, in 1974 and 2000, and the first title winners are both beloved by fans and notorious in Italy for their outlaw behaviour. Empoli are two points above the relegation zone and will drop into the bottom three if 18th-placed Udinese win at Lecce. – AFP Atalanta close in on CL, Bologna and Juve qualify Brilliant Leverkusen stretch unbeaten run to 50 BAYER LEVERKUSEN stretched their season-long unbeaten run to 50 games with a 5-0 win at 10-man Bochum yesterday. Bochum defeated a 10-man Leverkusen in May 2023, the last side to beat Xabi Alonso’s side in any competition, but the tables turned yesterday with Leverkusen’s goals coming from five different scorers. Alonso’s league champions are just one game away from the first unbeaten Bundesliga season and three games from a remarkable treble. Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich told DAZN he had his sights set on a “unique” triple. “We couldn’t have imagined how much the Bundesliga title meant to the club and the fans. “Next week we’ll hold the trophy high in our own stadium, which will be emotional and beautiful. After that we’re off to Dublin and Berlin and we want to grab both titles and go on holiday with the triple in our backpacks.” Within three days in late May, Leverkusen face Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin before taking on second-division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final. Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel’s heavily changed Bayern Munich line-up made short work of Wolfsburg at home, winning 2-0 to leapfrog Stuttgart into second spot. Tuchel made eight changes to the side eliminated from the Champions League with a 2-1 loss at Real Madrid, with England captain Harry Kane, out with back issues, missing his first league match of the season. Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was proud with his side for bouncing back after the disappointing and controversial loss to Real. “We were in control for over 90 minutes and got into the game well, that was crucial,” Neuer told DAZN. “Real was difficult to deal with, today we had to ignore it – we did a good job of that.” The win sends Bayern two points clear of Stuttgart in second with one game remaining. Earlier, Hoffenheim boosted their chances of qualifying for Europe with a 6-0 demolition of already relegated Darmstadt. – AFP Saudi football league a work in progress ANYONE expecting immediate results from Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented splurge on football stars was probably disappointed as the billion-dollar spending created a lopsided season with no international silverware so far. Despite last year’s pyrotechnical unveilings for superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar, the new-look Saudi Pro League has provided few fireworks since. On Saturday, Al Hilal cantered to their fourth title in five years with three games to spare, even without the services of Neymar who was injured on Brazil international duty in October. None of the Saudi teams reached the Asian Champions League final, hosts Al Ittihad exited in the second round of the Club World Cup in Jeddah, and Roberto Mancini’s Saudi national side lost in the Asian Cup’s last 16. Al Hilal were so dominant that they won 34 consecutive games in all competitions – a record for a top-flight team – and remain unbeaten in the Pro League. Al Hilal, Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, Riyad Mahrez’s Al Ahli and Al Ittihad, Benzema’s new employers, occupy four of the top five positions in the league table. “The lack of a proper distribution of players among all the teams created a clear gap between the big and small teams and killed the competition in favour of Al Hilal,” Mohamed Mandour, a Paris-based journalist from the Sportsdata website, told AFP. Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at France’s SKEMA Business School, said it takes years to build the kind of profile enjoyed by the English Premier League or Spain’s La Liga. “Saudi Arabian football must get used to the fact that money and players alone are insufficient to guarantee perpetual success,” he told AFP. “This season Saudi Arabian football has rather drifted on and off the radars of football fans. Saudi football still has a lot of work to do,” Chadwick added. – AFP Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (centre) and teammates celebrate with the trophy after winning the Ligue 1. – REUTERSPIX

SPORTS SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 30 /thesuntelegram FOLLOW ON TELEGRAM Malaysian Paper ‘Biggest Spurs fan’ Arsenal’s Havertz hopes for twist in Premier League title race ARSENAL forward Kai Havertz said he will become the “biggest fan” of north London rivals Tottenham when they host Manchester City on Tuesday as the Gunners hope for a twist in the Premier League title race. Havertz set up Leandro Trossard for the only goal in a 1-0 win at Manchester United yesterday to take Mikel Arteta’s men top of the table by one point. However, City still have the destiny of the title in their own hands as they have two games remaining to Arsenal’s one. The first of those comes in midweek when Pep Guardiola’s men travel to a stadium where they have lost without scoring in each of the past four Premier League seasons. “I am going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever,” said Havertz. “Let’s hope for the best!” City have been relentless in recent weeks, winning their last seven league games to close in on an unprecedented fourth consecutive English top-flight title. Arsenal have had to be nearly flawless themselves just to remain in the race. They have taken 46 from the last 51 available points to register a club record 27 wins in a Premier League season. “It is a phenomenal thing they are doing,” said Arteta. “Winning I think e n c o u ra g e s you to win more, to be better equipped and prepared to win in different contexts. “Twenty-seven wins in the Premier League is the most in the history of this club. That is not progress, that is history. Big compliments to the players.” By contrast, United are at risk of failing to qualify for European competition for just the second time since 1989/90. Erik ten Hag’s men sit eighth in the table, 32 points behind Arsenal, after a 19th defeat in all competitions this season. Captain Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire were among those missing from the United squad. “If you want to progress a team, you need fit players. You see that in the team we played today,” said Ten Hag. United, who have never finished lower than seventh in the Premier League era, trail Newcastle and Chelsea by three points with two games remaining. Failure to finish in the top seven or win the FA Cup final against Manchester City will see United miss out on Europe completely. “(It is) very damaging (to not qualify for Europe) but that is the situation we are in,” added Ten Hag. “When you analyse the performance you have to see that we were competitive. “Not the way we want, United have to win, always! But at this moment as a club and this team, with all the injuries we have, we are not in this position.” – AFP Southgate only thinking about England ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate insists his focus remains on this summer’s European Championships amid links to Manchester United. The 53-year-old will lead England at Euro 2024 in Germany in what could be his fourth and final tournament in charge of the national team. Southgate’s Football Association contract expires in December and he is reportedly a candidate for Manchester United should they decide to part company with under-fire manager Erik ten Hag. However, when asked how he felt about being a favourite for the United job in an interview with ITV News, the England boss insisted he is not thinking beyond this summer. “I’m not a big gambling man and bookies, they can make their odds but it’s not conversations that’s been had with me,” Southgate told ITV News. “I’ve got one thing to focus on. That’s having as successful a tournament with England as possible. Everything else outside of that is a complete irrelevance to me.” Southgate has been in charge of the England senior team since 2016 having previously managed the under-21 side. He has club football experience under his belt after spending three years in charge of Middlesbrough from 2006 but is not prepared to think about returning to day-today coaching at this stage. Southgate added: “If I start talking about that, then I’m already distracted from what I’m doing. “So, I think the country would expect that my focus is on England, and rightly so it is. “We’ve had three tournaments where we’ve taken the public on a brilliant ride. I think we know that and I know that you’ve got that desire to go that one step further and this is a brilliant opportunity for us to do that.” England begin their campaign against Serbia at the Arena AufSchalke on June 16 before facing Denmark and Slovenia in their remaining Group C fixtures. – The Independent MANCHESTER CITY defender Josko Gvardiol struggled to find his feet at the Premier League club but is now growing in confidence after his goal-scoring exploits in the title run-in, manager Pep Guardiola said. The 22-year-old left back joined the treble winners from German club RB Leipzig in August, signing a five-year deal for a reported fee of €90 million (RM460m). The Croatian international, who had not scored in his previous 32 appearances for City, has now netted five times in his last seven matches to help his side’s push towards a record fourth successive title. “There is an aspect in football and in life and that is confidence, confidence when you do things and it’s game time, a lot of games and talking about the not proper things that you do and the good things,” Guardiola told reporters after Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of Fulham. “And you cannot forget it is his first Premier League season… so it is not easy to handle it and he struggled in the beginning a little bit, because he came into a team who had just won the treble and he was a little bit shy. “He signed for many, many years and he has proved to himself that he can do it and play with us.” Guardiola gave his players three days off after their 5-1 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers this month. “On the first day, he (Gvardiol) went into the training centre to make a recovery, so his focus is football and he wants to be better and better and when this happens, you have something special on your hands,” the Spaniard said. City, second in the table with 85 points and one behind Arsenal who have played a game more, travel to fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow (3am Malaysian time). – Reuters SHORTS Gvardiol proving his worth, says Guardiola Rooney discontent with United WAYNE ROONEY has accused some of Manchester United’s supposedly injured players of ducking out of games for the struggling side to save themselves for the FA Cup final or Euro 2024. United lost 1-0 to Arsenal, their second successive defeat and 19th loss of a sorry season, and their record goalscorer and former captain Rooney believes some of their injured contingent are actually fit to feature but are saving themselves. And he accused them of letting the club down by opting out of games, saying: “There are some very good players in that squad and the performances are way below par. You look at the injuries and some of those players could play; 100 percent. “You have a European Championships coming up and an FA Cup final coming up. It is easy for players to stay out for a little bit and then come back towards the European Championships. “I have seen it myself over the years. I just think the players who have been injured are not filling themselves with any credit at the minute.” Old Trafford issues exposed by storm MANCHESTER UNITED co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was given a stark reminder of the issues facing a deteriorating Old Trafford as a storm wreaked havoc around the ground yesterday. The Red Devils are looking at options to redevelop the current site or build a new one on adjacent club-owned land, with the first option expected to cost in the region of £1 billion (RM6b) and a new stadium requiring a £2b (RM12b) outlay. Ratcliffe favours a new ground and got a first hand glimpse of the issues at United’s current home after a storm broke out towards the end of yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal. Water poured from the corner of the roof between the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and East Stand, funnelling down like a waterfall onto the seats beneath. In the opposite corner, water raced down the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand steps and flooded the moat around the pitch. A social media video appeared to show pipes had broken above that area and other footage highlighted other problems around the ground, including in the tunnel area. United have not commented on the problems but said 41mm of rain fell in the two hours after the final whistle. By contrast, 29mm fell on Old Trafford in the whole of last May. Farke fumes at officials after Leeds held by Norwich DANIEL FARKE claimed Leeds were wrongly denied a crucial goal in their 0-0 draw against Norwich in the Championship playoff semifinals, while West Bromwich Albion and Southampton also shared a goalless stalemate on Sunday. Farke was left fuming when Leeds had the ball in the net on the half-hour through Junior Firpo, only for an offside flag to deny them the opening goal at Carrow Road. TV replays suggested it had been a close but correct call against Georginio Rutter in the build-up to Firpo’s finish. But Leeds manager Farke insisted it was the wrong decision. “I’m still pretty annoyed with the offside situation,” he said. “Someone told me that Sky showed a picture they said was proof it was offside. I recommend everyone have a look on the scouting feed, where you have a proper line. It was not offside. “Because we are playing at the top level, small details make a difference. It changes the whole picture here. “Everyone speaks about Wembley, the £100 million (RM594m) game, and at this level all the decisions have to be spot on.” VAR will be in place for the Wembley playoff final, but is not used in any other Championship fixtures. “I have 12 apologising letters at home already during the season with offside goals and penalties not given,” Farke said. “If we would have used VAR during this season we wouldn’t be in the playoffs, we would have been promoted automatically.” Farke’s side will be favoured in the second leg in front of their vociferous fans at Elland Road on Friday (3am Malaysian time). But Norwich manager David Wagner remains confident his side can reach the final. “I’m absolutely fine with the performance and the shift the players put in,” he said. “I have a positive mindset following the draw. All cards are still on the table and on Thursday we will go again.” In Sunday’s other first leg, Southampton earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns, giving them the opportunity to finish the job in the return leg at St Mary’s on Saturday. – AFP Havertz

SPORTS SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 31 ‘Added value in Japan towards Paris’ NATIONAL track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang has described his participation in the recent Japan Track Cup II as having given added value to his preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics in July. The Pocket Rocketman said he and his team are satisfied with his performance at the Japan meet, which was held at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka. He also feels he can still take his performance level up another notch in the next 86 days before the world’s biggest multi-sport Games take off. “(The) Main objective (of) going to the (Japan) meet was to get high-level competition to gauge my performance level. “Overall, my coach and I are happy with my current performance level as well as the time I clocked in Japan,” he said in his Facebook post today. Yesterday, Azizulhasni bagged a bronze in the men’s keirin final, with Japan’s Kaiya Ota and Kento Yamasaki taking gold and silver respectively. On Saturday (May 11), Azizulhasni also had to settle for bronze in the men’s sprint final, with Ota again emerging triumphant while his teammate Yuta Obara took silver. Faisal Halim’s allograft procedure shows positive reaction THE allograft procedure with skin grafts to repair the fourth-degree burns the Harimau Malaya and Selangor FC (SFC) winger Mohamad Faisal Halim suffered when he was splashed with acid recently has shown a positive reaction. SFC Board of Directors member Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar described the skin grafts, imported from overseas to be used for the procedure on Thursday, as being compatible. “So far, I see that Faisal’s condition is improving, and the skin allograft procedure can also be said to be a success, with no issues,” he said when contacted yesterday. Video clip of fight during Youth Cup match goes viral MALAYSIAN football, still reeling from the violent attacks on national players, suffered another blow after a video clip of players fighting during a 2024 Youth Cup match went viral. The incident occurred during a Group A match between Melaka FA and Sri Pahang FC at the Hang Tuah Stadium in Melaka on Sunday. The 44-second clip of the match showed players from both teams pushing and shoving one another as team officials tried to defuse the tense situation. “The incident saw Sri Pahang’s reserve player Adam Syaqir Barzu being shown the red card in the 41st minute for kicking a Melaka player,” according to a post on the Melaka United Media Facebook. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had previously warned that stern action would be taken against any party involved in fighting in the President’s Cup U-20 and Youth Cup U-18 this season. FAM Security Committee deputy chairman ACP (R) Md Dali Wahid, when contacted yesterday, confirmed that a fight occurred during the game on Sunday but said he has yet to receive a full report of the incident. No. 1s through to next round Tough tasks await Sivasangari, Eain Yow in quest for quarterfinal spots NATIONAL squash aces S. Sivasangari and Ng Eain Yow stormed into the third round of the 2024 PSA World Championships in Cairo, Egypt with straight-set wins over their respective women’s and men’s opponents yesterday. In the second-round matches held at the Palm Hills Club, women’s world No. 13 Sivasangari cruised past American Caroline Fouts dari Amerika Syarikat 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 in just 24 minutes while national men’s No. 1 Eain Yow breezed past Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue 11-1, 11-5, 11-9. “Obviously, there were nerves and stuff, but I started well. I was confident of my game and happy to win in three (sets)… I’m happy with how I moved (compared to) my first match, which was a bit sluggish,” said Sivasangari, based on the tournament website. Meanwhile, Eain Yow said: “Just happy to go through, it’s my first time in the third round. People might say ‘Oh, it’s a good second round’, but I know him (Tsukue), he had beaten me in the juniors before, it doesn’t matter what the actual ranking is, he knows in his head he can beat me.” In today’s third round, Sivasangari will square off against Egypt’s world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Cairo. This will be a repeat of their London Classic final last month, which saw the Malaysian clinch the title with an 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 12-14, 11-8 win. Eain Yow, however, faces a tougher test as he is set to face world No. 2 Paul Coll of New Zealand for a place in the quarterfinals. For the record, eight-time world champion Datuk Nicol Ann David was the last Malaysian to make the quarterfinals of the world championships in the 2017 edition in Manchester, United Kingdom. Meanwhile, two other Malaysian representatives, Aira Azman and Muhammad Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar crashed out after losing their women’s and men’s second-round matches respectively. – Bernama Kim Swee rues Sabah’s poor finishing against Penang SABAH FC head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee is left ruing his team’s poor finishing en route to a 0-0 Super League draw with Penang FC at the Likas Stadium yesterday. Saying his team played well by controlling the game, he was at pains trying to explain how his men failed to finish off the many chances they created. It’s no surprise then that Kim Swee intends to work on finishing and fitness ahead of their second Super League match against Kelantan Darul Naim FC in Kota Bharu on May 17. “We did not get the result we deserved but, overall, we controlled the game well and we must now improve on our finishing. We were let down by our profligacy against Penang. “It’s a little disappointing to have started the season at home without a win but it’s still early days… but we must get a good result after this,” he told a post-match press conference last night. Asked about the absence of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system due to technical problems, he said although it would have helped the referee make better decisions, he and his team are ready to move on and do better in the next game. Penang head coach Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli admitted that they opted to play a defensive game and rely on counterattacks as they knew it would be easy to tame Sabah at their home ground, the Likas Stadium. “The positive thing about tonight (last night) is that we drew. We will work on improving our weaknesses, including our fitness, ahead of our next game,” he said as the Panthers gear up for their home game against Terengganu FC on May 19. – Bernama KUALA LUMPUR (KL) City FC had to settle for a point after going down to 10 men during their 1-1 draw against Kuching City FC in the Super League match at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras on Sunday. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was in the spotlight during two crucial incidents, one involving Kuching City’s equaliser in the 14th minute and a red card for KL City’s new defender Adrijan Rudovic in the 39th minute. KL City coach Miroslav Kuljanac also received an early blow after senior defender Mohamad Kamal Azizi Mohamad Zabri had to be stretchered off and replaced by J. Partiban in the fourth minute due to an injury sustained in a clash with an opponent. “I think he (Kamal Azizi) broke his hand, I’m not sure (waiting for further check-up),” Kuljanac said. However, The City Boys squad managed to open the scoring through captain Paulo Josue who scored a beautiful goal with a shot from outside the penalty box in the 12th minute, before Kuching City’s equaliser through Yuki Tanigawa’s finish two minutes later was cancelled. Referee S.Logeswaran made the decision after doing a review on the fieldside monitor. The decision did not dampen the spirit of the visiting team coached by Aidil Sharin Sahak, as Pedro Henrique’s goal in the 19th minute got them back to level terms. VAR was once again involved as Logeswaran overturned the yellow card given to Rudovic and issued a red card to him following a dangerous challenge on Kuching City’s forward Jordan Minta in the 34th minute after a review on the monitor. KL City coach was happy with the determination and resilience shown by his players to at least get a point from that game. “It was a very difficult game… in the end, I’m happy we got a point. I say this game was hard because I had to change Kamal Azizi because of an injury. We then scored a goal and were leading… but the red card changed everything,” said the 53- year-old coach. – Bernama KCFC, KL City held to a 1-1 draw CFC, KL City held to a 1-1 draw CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF (Semifinal, first leg):Norwich 0 Leeds 0, West Brom 0 Southampton 0. LA LIGA: Cadiz 1 (Alcaraz 35-pen) Getafe 0, Atletico Madrid 1 (De Paul 84) Celta Vigo 0, Valencia 0 Rayo Vallecano 0, Real Betis 3 (Fornals 8, Isco 28, Perez 64) Almeria 2 (Baptistao 45+1, Romero 66). TOP 10 P W D L F A Pts Real Madrid 35 28 6 1 78 22 90 Girona 35 23 6 6 75 44 75 Barcelona 34 22 7 5 70 43 73 Atletico 35 22 4 9 64 39 70 Bilbao 35 17 11 7 57 35 62 Real Betis 35 14 13 8 46 41 55 Sociedad 34 14 12 8 48 35 54 Valencia 35 13 9 13 37 39 48 Villarreal 35 13 9 13 59 60 48 Getafe 35 10 13 12 41 48 43 SERIE A: Genoa 2 (Badelj 56, Kumbulla 63-og) Sassuolo 1 (Pinamonti 31-pen), Juventus 1 (Rabiot 90+1) Salernitana 1 (Pierozzi 27), Lazio 2 (Patric 45+2, Vecino 89) Empoli 0, Verona 1 (Swiderski 67) Torino 2 (Savva 77, Pellegri 83), Atalanta 2 (De Ketelaere 18, 20) Roma 1 (Pellegrini 66-pen). TOP 10 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 36 29 5 2 86 19 92 AC Milan 36 22 8 6 72 43 74 Bologna 36 18 13 5 51 27 67 Juventus 36 18 13 5 49 28 67 Atalanta 35 19 6 10 65 39 63 Roma 36 17 9 10 63 44 60 Lazio 36 18 5 13 47 37 59 Napoli 36 13 12 11 53 46 51 Fiorentina 34 14 8 12 51 39 50 Torino 36 12 14 10 33 32 50 BUNDESLIGA: Bochum 0 Bayer Leverkusen 5, Bayern Munich 2 Wolfsburg 0, SV Darmstadt 0 Hoffenheim 6. TOP 10 P W D L F A Pts Leverkusen 33 27 6 0 85 23 87 B. Munich 33 23 3 7 92 41 72 Stuttgart 33 22 4 7 74 39 70 RB Leipzig 33 19 7 7 75 37 64 Dortmund 33 17 9 7 64 43 60 E. Frankfurt 33 11 13 9 49 48 46 Freiburg 33 11 9 13 44 56 42 Hoffenheim 33 12 7 14 62 64 43 Heidenheim 33 9 12 12 46 54 39 Augsburg 33 10 9 14 49 58 39 FRENCH LIGUE 1: Clermont 0 Lyon 1, Marseille 3 Lorient 1, Montpellier 0 Monaco 2, Nantes 1 Lille 2, Paris SaintGermain 1 Toulouse 3, Rennes 1 Lens 1, Strasbourg 2 Metz 1. TOP 10 P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 32 20 10 2 77 32 70 Monaco 33 19 7 7 64 42 64 Lille 33 16 10 7 50 32 58 Brest 33 16 10 7 50 34 58 Nice 32 15 9 8 37 25 54 Lens 33 14 8 11 43 35 50 Lyon 33 15 5 13 47 54 50 Marseille 32 12 11 9 50 39 47 Rennes 33 12 10 11 52 44 46 Toulouse 33 11 10 12 42 43 43 CHAMPIONS RESULTS & STANDINGS SHORTS Kuala Lumpur City FC’s Giancarlo Gallifuoco (right) in action during his team’s match against Kuching City FC. – BERNAMAPIX

theSun is published and printed by Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd (221220-K) of Lot 6, Jalan 51/217, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-7784 6688 • Tel (Editorial): 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7785 2625 Email: [emailprotected] • Tel (Advertising): 03-7784 8888 Email: [emailprotected] TUESDAY | MAY 14, 2024 SCAN ME or download app from the App Store or Google PlayTM . www.thesun.my Free access to iPaper PDF Download SCAN ME Malaysian Paper Read iPaper at Malaysian Paper Malaysian Paper Five in a row -Story - on page 28 Story on page 27 Nole to undergo scans ARSENAL kept their Premier League title dreams alive by ending an Old Trafford hoodoo to grind out a 1-0 win at Manchester United yesterday, moving back top of the table and taking the championship battle down to the last weekend. Leandro Trossard scored the only goal on 20 minutes as Arsenal won for just the second time in 17 games away at United to go a point clear at the summit. Manchester City still have the destiny of the title in their own hands as the defending champions have two matches left to Arsenal’s one. “Our history wasn’t very optimistic (here) but we found a way to win it and that says a lot about how much the team wants it,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. “We want to knock that door and open that box of dreams to have in front of our people the opportunity to win the Premier League.” Arsenal host Everton on the final day next Sunday, while City entertain West Ham. Defeat further dented United’s chances of competing in Europe next season. Erik ten Hag’s men showed more spirit than in a dismal 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday, but have now won just one of their last eight Premier League games. United remain eighth in the table, three points adrift of both Newcastle (3am Malaysian time), who they face on Thursday, and Chelsea. Arsenal have been in scintillating form in 2024 to remain in the race for their first league title in 20 years. Arteta’s men have won 15 and drawn one of their 17 league games since the turn of the year. But Arsenal were far from their flowing best as the expected onslaught of an injury-ravaged United never materialised under unusually stifling heat in England’s north-west. The manner of defeat at Palace had increased the scrutiny on United boss Ten Hag. The Dutchman’s options were again hamstrung by a lengthy list of absentees with captain Bruno Fernandes among those sidelined and a bench littered with youngsters. “It’s like trying to swim with your hands tied behind your back,” said Ten Hag of United’s injury crisis. “You see the fans are behind us. They fought with us. Today we gave them (something) back but that should be the standard in every game. “You see even when we miss seven starting players we are competitive with one of the best teams in the league.” However, Ten Hag’s decision to retain Casemiro as a makeshift centreback after his woeful showing against Palace will become another stick with which to beat the beleaguered coach. After United had managed to keep the freescoring visitors at bay for the opening 20 minutes, Casemiro was culpable for the goal. The 32-year-old was laboured in pushing up from a United goal-kick to play Kai Havertz onside and Trossard then stole in on the blind side of Casemiro to tap in the German’s cross. United’s new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe was in attendance at Old Trafford rather than at Wembley to see the club’s women pick up their first ever major trophy in the FA Cup final. The work that lies ahead of Ratcliffe has been laid bare in recent weeks and he saw first hand the improvements that are also required at Old Trafford as rain poured through a leaking roof once the sun turned to a thunderstorm late on. Alejandro Garnacho was United’s one live wire but Arsenal were rarely seriously troubled as they held out for a sixth clean sheet in their last seven away league games. The Gunners victory also set a club record of 27 wins in a Premier League season. Yet, even that may not be enough should City maintain their ruthless run. – AFP Arsenal down United to take Premier League title race to the wire -Story on page 30 Gvardiol proving his worth: Pep Gunners Gunners go top Man United’s Scott McTominay (centre) vies for the ball with Arsenal’s Kai Havertz (right) and Takehiro Tomiyasu during their English Premier League match at Old Trafford. – AFPPIX


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