Month: September 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 – All parties, including social media influencers, must help ensure delivery of accurate information on the implementation of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) during the country’s transition to the endemic phase of COVID-19, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

He said influential people are responsible for educating the public by presenting information with an accurate narrative on government initiatives in PPN.

“Educating the public on the endemic phase is important because sometimes people still do not understand … we must convey in a simple way in communicating.

“Dissemination of information can also be done by influencers who have many followers, if he (or she) also takes on the role to remind the people about the transition to the endemic phase as community empowerment,” he said.

He said this when appearing as a guest on the “Optical Segment: National Recovery Plan””through the “Selamat Pagi Malaysia” (Good Morning Malaysia) programme broadcast by RTM today.

Apart from the use of conventional media such as television and radio, Annuar said dissemination mediums including social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook could be used to disseminate information effectively, thus educating the public about the transition to the endemic phase.

Therefore, he said the ministries, government agencies and committees involved need to improve the aspect of information delivery to ensure its effectiveness to the public by holding continuous engagement.

On Sept 22, Annuar informed the Dewan Rakyat of a proposal to set up a communications command centre in an effort to convey information on decisions by the government to the public more accurately, quickly and easily understood.

He said the proposal was made following the challenges faced in the implementation of government programmes which were found to be due to misinformation and false information.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA KRAI, Sept 26 — A manager of a telecommunication shop who was laid-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March last year is now a successful farmer with a five-figure monthly income.

Mohd Saifullah Che Mat, 28, a graduate of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), said being unemployed, he decided to carried out farming on a piece of land belonging to his father, Che Mat Hussin, 72,

“With a capital of RM4,000, I planted 800 green chilli plants, but my crop failed because I did not have the knowledge. You don’t grow vegetables just by planting them. You need to have the knowledge, and my first crop failed because I simply turned to farming with no knowledge about it.

“The failure did not demotivate me or made me feel disheartened. That got me to learn the techniques of farming from friends and experts in the field. I also got tips from Youtube,” he said when met at his vegetable farm in Kampung Chuchoh Puteri here.

Mohd Saifullah, who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science (Communication), said his second attempt was planting eggplant.

“I planted 1,200 of the plants and after a week, was able to harvest about 300 kilogrammes eggplants a day, involving sales of RM800.

“With the encouraging yield of the eggplant and the lucrative income from the crop, I then went on to fertigation farming and planted 1,000 ‘cili padi’ plants using a grant of RM10,000 obtained from the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda),” he added.

The youngest of the five siblings said the fertigation farming was a success and he was now able to harvest about 100 kilogrammes of “cili padi” from his farm a week.

The harvest is sold for between RM12 and RM15 per kilogramme.

“I also sell them online to customers outside Kelantan, including Johor, Selangor, Perak and Kuala Lumpur,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KANGAR, Sept 26 — Perlis is still not ready to shift to Phase Four of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), said State Health Committee chairman Teh Chai Aan.

He said Perlis, currently in Phase Three of the NRP, had to meet three indicators set by the federal government, to move to Phase Four, namely on the vaccination rate of its adult population, usage of beds at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and COVID-19 positive cases.

“Currently, the use of beds in the hospital ICU is high, but it is expected to reduce soon,” he told Bernama when met after officiating the state-level World Rivers Day at Taman Sakura, Tebing Tinggi here, today.

At the event, 10,000 lampan fish am fry and more than 4,000 lobster fry, contributed by the Fisheries Department, were released in Sungai Perlis.

Some 50 trees contributed by the Forestry Department were also planted in the area.

Based on statistics at https://covidnow.moh.gov.my/bm/pls/ today, 88.6 per cent of the adult population in Perlis have been fully vaccinated.

A total of 17 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the state yesterday, bringing the cumulative cases in Perlis to 3,566.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — Exercise and jogging are among the usual activities at a recreation park in Kajang, but for a group of men from the Tionghua community, they prefer to spend their leisure time flying wau, a traditional kite widely found in Kelantan.

They can be seen taking part in the traditional Malay pastime almost every afternoon at the Sungai Chua Recreation Park.

A kite-flying enthusiast, Tan Chin Seong, 36, who started flying kites at the age of 10 said he picked up the hobby from his late grandfather, Tan Eng Keat.

“My grandfather used to play ordinary kites, but over time when he became friends with a Malay neighbour who is good at making traditional kites, my grandfather also learned how to make it because he was attracted to the uniqueness and the beautiful patterns.

“After finishing school, I tried to make my own traditional kite based on a little research from books and the internet. I am still polishing my skills,” he told Bernama recently.

Although there are some who consider the traditional pastime as outdated, Tan is of the view that it needs to be preserved for the sake of the coming generations.

“Although not as skilled as the wau makers from the east coast states, I am proud because not many Chinese people have these wau-making skills,” he said.

To date, Tan, who is an automotive trader, has managed to produce more than 50 types of traditional kites, including Wau Barat, Wau Bulan, Wau Burung, Wau Jala Budi and Wau Kucing.

He said that it took him up to two days to complete a kite, starting from the process of finding and thinning out several bamboo sticks to attaching a thin layer of plastic to the frame.

For Sum Chock Ying, 58, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the kites he made soaring in the air.

He also made the hobby as a source of side income by selling it at prices ranging from RM30 to RM100 depending on sizes.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PASIR MAS, Sept 26 — Three One-Stop Social Support Centres (PSSS), set up as an initiative to address issues related to domestic violence as well as social problems, are scheduled to start operating in the first quarter of 2022.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said the establishment of the centres in Kelantan, Selangor and Johor involved an allocation of RM21 million for the maintenance costs of existing buildings owned by government agencies.

She said the allocation would also involve the setting up of PSSS Mobile (mobile support centre) in the North, South, Central, East, Sarawak, Sabah and Putrajaya Zones which would focus on densely populated areas such as the People’s Housing Project (PPR) and expected to start operating next month.

“The PSSS is one of ministry’s initiatives to address domestic violence issues and issues related to social problems.

“The PSSS also provides temporary shelter as well as intervention and protection to domestic violence victims and other forms of welfare assistance for the long term,” she told reporters at Kampung Kastam quarters in Rantau Panjang near here today.

Rina said the Kampung Kastam quarters would be turned into the first PSSS in the country.

“We are still looking for suitable locations in Selangor and Johor,” she said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency