For a good cause: (Eighth from left) Chong, Liow, Chan and Liew cutting a cake together alongside event committee members during the fundraising dinner and 10th anniversary celebration of SJK(C) Bukit Serdang at Wisma Huazong in Seri Kembangan. — CHAN TAK KONG/The Star
SERI KEMBANGAN: Mastering Mandarin is important as China is already leading the world in various sectors while leveraging the language’s global influence, says Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology board of governors chairman Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy.
The former transport minister urged Malaysian leaders to have the foresight to continue supporting Chinese education in the country.
“There are already about 80 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and South Korea, that have incorporated Mandarin into their education systems.
“Researchers have also predicted that Mandarin may one day replace English as the world’s most important language.
“Hence, I hope Malaysian leaders will have the vision and be open-minded in upholding Chinese education.
“It should no longer be viewed as a racial issue, but a national issue,” Chan said during the fundraising dinner and 10th anniversary celebration of SJK(C) Bukit Serdang at Wisma Huazong on Saturday.
The dinner, attended by about 1,500 guests, raised RM3,066,888 for the construction of a new four-storey block that will house 12 additional classrooms.
Also present was the school’s board of governors chairman Datuk Liew Yuen Keong, who said the new school block was needed to accommodate the more than 3,500 students expected to enrol in the school next year.
“SJK(C) Bukit Serdang has come a long way since its establishment in 2015. We started with 197 students and now have 1,265, making us one of the fastest-growing schools in Selangor,” he said.
Liew added that the Subang Jaya City Council approved the building plans for the new block on July 16.
“I hope construction can begin by the end of this year or early next year so that the new block will be ready for use in 2028,” he said.
Also present were MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon and former MCA president Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai.
Bitcoins live on the public blockchain that is operated by nearly 20,000 computer nodes scattered worldwide. Unlike cloud storage where one can pinpoint specific physical server locations where data is kept, each node has a duplicate copy of the bitcoin ledger.
A GUY placed an order for supplies on a foreign website and paid for them in bitcoins.
The shipment never came, he got locked out from his account, and the admin is uncontactable. He wants to sue but worries it’s a lot more hassle than it’s worth.
Disclaimer: What you’re about to read is not legal opinion. If you’re facing a similar transaction, get advice beforehand not after. Had he done this, he wouldn’t be here.
First, he was asked by a lawyer to choose the jurisdiction for his case to be heard, each with its own private laws and civil procedure, as he needs to establish geographic connections like where the goods are based, where the loss occurred, and where the parties are located.
Bitcoins live on the public blockchain that is operated by nearly 20,000 computer nodes scattered worldwide.
Unlike cloud storage where one can pinpoint specific physical server locations where data is kept, each node has a duplicate copy of the bitcoin ledger.
All of this is virtual, hence the paradox: ‘nowhere and everywhere’. Lawyers have a word for it: “omni-territorial”.
The bitcoin wallet he used to make the payment is a browser extension, which could be accessed wherever he’s at with an internet connection.
Same goes for the website domain, hosting service, and InterPlanetary File System gateway, which are foreign. How then is his location of loss determined?
He’s also unsure whether the interface is actually a decentralised application (dApp) that runs by itself. He could have been interacting with a bot all along i.e. there’s no one for him to sue.
Some dApps are set up as decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO); but most jurisdictions don’t recognise DAO as a legal person, which means it cannot enter contracts, own property, and sue or be sued.
So, he’s back to square one: ‘Random Victim vs Persons Unknown’.
Naturally he’d filed a police report. He heard about the recent Cybercrimes Bill which addresses extra-territorial concerns, but for now, time is his biggest enemy.
At this junction, he’d hired an expert to trace the movement of bitcoins in the recipient’s wallet address with a ‘blockchain explorer’ (search engine for crypto activity).
He was told they are parked at a digital asset exchange (DAX) registered to an island somewhere on the Indian Ocean.
He wants to seek urgent interim relief from the court to freeze the funds before they’re dissipated, like how it’s done for bank accounts.
But he only has a lead. He can’t even bring a fully pleaded claim since there’s no information about the name or address of the other party!
He has no choice but to compel the DAX to disclose the name of its customers, even though the DAX is probably just a transit point and an innocent third party who got mixed up in this.
To assist him with such discovery, the court may grant free-standing information orders but they are highly discretionary and rarely used in foreign proceedings; and this is assuming there’s a strong cause of action for the court to assert jurisdiction on his claim.
Then there are service issues, i.e. proper delivery of court documents to the unknown defendant. Some judges allow serving directly to the wallet address with a non-fungible token ( T) that contains hyperlinks to the lawsuit.
But this isn’t always reliable, as the address is anonymous and can only be accurately linked to a human owner if the DAX has verified updated records.
To paraphrase an analogy from Lord Sumption (former Justice of UK Supreme Court): a hit-and-run driver who cannot be identified does not subsequently become identified simply because an T has been nailed to a tree near the scene of crime!
Let’s say he finally gets his way in court, he could still face obstacles with the judgment – will the foreign court recognise it, how to enforce it, are the funds already gone?
Truth be told, there’s a ‘silent majority’ crisis: studies show that 78% of crypto crimes are never escalated to the authorities. Of those that do, just US$1 is recovered for every US$65 lost, though it depends on fraud type and response time (93% don’t even report within 24 hours!).
Less than 6% consult a lawyer, and even far less would end up with civil litigation.
Most victims don’t seek recourse unless the amount of loss is huge because they feel that the legal process is expensive, slow and complex; and is largely designed for prosecution rather than compensation or refund.
But this perpetuates a vicious cycle: there’d be insufficient data points for investigators to develop typologies and for public interest groups to push reform, and courts won’t have the right cases to rule on for precedent – while fraudsters out there continue to get bolder without reprisal.
In the end he decides not to sue. Sorry, there are no heroes in this story.
By Edmund Yong is a director of the Generative AI Association of Malaysia and ambassador of the Global Blockchain Business Council founded in Davos.
Right dose: A pharmacist preparing Chinese herbal medicine for a patient in Qianmen, Beijing. — Xinhua
In the heart of Germany, a traditional Chinese herbal product has secured a lasting place on the shelves of the renowned Bahnhof-Apotheke pharmacy chain for over six years, with nearly 200,000 bottles of Shufeng Jiedu granules sold to date.
Priced at €39.90 (RM186) per bottle, this respiratory relief formula is among more than a dozen products from Anhui Jiren Pharmaceutical Co Ltd in eastern China, exemplifying the global journey of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
This journey is no longer limited to classic remedies stored behind pharmacy counters.
Since last year, a “Four Seasons Tea” based on TCM principles has been offered not only in German pharmacies but also on the menu of a tea house in Hamburg, serving as a daily wellness supplement.
Behind the scenes: A staff member working at a plant of the Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group Co Ltd in Tianjin. — Xinhua
“From treatment to wellness, we seek to integrate TCM’s health-preserving culture into the daily lives of Europeans,” said Zhu Qiang, deputy general manager of Anhui Jiren Pharmaceutical.
Once regarded as an exotic alternative, TCM is now expanding its global presence and joining the worldwide conversation on health and lifestyle.
To progress from cultural curiosity to global acceptance, TCM first had to tackle a fundamental challenge: making the “inexplicable” explicable.
The empirical nature of TCM, coupled with the complexity of herbal formulas, has long puzzled international regulators and scientists.
For instance, the same herb may either promote or stanch blood flow, depending on its combination with other ingredients.
The response has been a systematic drive towards standardisation.
China has facilitated the establishment of a technical committee under the International Organization for Standardization, which has so far issued over 100 international standards for TCM.
Pioneering institutions have also played a key role.
For example, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has led the creation of the world’s first international educational standard for TCM undergraduate programmes.
On the corporate front, major Chinese pharmaceutical companies have diligently pursued international certifications.
Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group Co Ltd has obtained certifications recognised in Australia and Japan.
As early as 1997, its product Suxiao Jiuxin Pills, a compound emergency medicine for heart attacks, was successfully registered as a prescription drug in Russia.
Anhui Jiren Pharmaceutical entered the European market in 2018, and 193 of its TCM granule varieties have passed official German quality inspections and are available in the EU market.
“We are exploring new approaches to bring more products to the global market, including strengthening ties with overseas research institutions to prove TCM’s efficacy with scientific evidence,” Zhu Qiang said.
Data from China’s National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine showed that TCM is now practised in 196 countries and regions.
China has also signed TCM cooperation agreements with over 40 foreign governments and international organisations.
Beyond documentation, transformation is underway on factory floors and in research labs, where intelligent technology is decoding herbal wisdom and demonstrating its mechanisms through data.
At the digitalised workshop in a Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang plant, Suxiao Jiuxin Pills roll off automated production lines. Each bottle carries a QR code that allows consumers to trace the medicine’s journey – from the specific herb plantation to every step of processing, storage and quality control.
“We use digital control to tackle the pain point of batch-to-batch variation in herbal products, ensuring both efficacy and stability,” explained Li Hongjiang, the plant’s production deputy general manager.
The upcoming new generation intelligent workshop, with an investment exceeding 300 million yuan (RM181mil), will use near-infrared spectroscopy and visual inspection systems to further enhance precision, Li added.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also scaling up TCM production.
Remedy for all: People visiting a museum on traditional Chinese medicine in Tianjin. — Xinhua
In 2024, Tianjin-headquartered Tasly Pharma, in collaboration with Huawei Cloud, launched a TCM large language model.
Trained on a massive corpus of classical texts and clinical data, it assists in formula optimisation, mechanism explanation and the discovery of new clinical applications.
Similarly, a large model was jointly developed last year by organisations including the National SuperComputer Center in Tianjin and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, encompassing knowledge from over 20 TCM clinical disciplines.
“AI can synthesise the vast empirical knowledge recorded in ancient TCM texts, thereby supporting the standardisation of TCM practice,” said Guo Yi, vice-president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The ultimate test of TCM’s global integration lies not only in clinics but also in its seamless adoption into daily life.
This is evident in the growing trend among young Chinese who are embracing TCM-inspired beverages, foods and physical exercises.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies are also actively introducing TCM as a modern lifestyle choice worldwide.
Anhui Jiren Pharmaceutical’s Four Seasons Tea in Germany is a prime example. Each product in the series adapts its herbal composition to a specific season. Marketed as a food supplement, it lets consumers embrace TCM’s concept of seasonal wellness through a simple and enjoyable daily ritual.
Educational and experiential platforms amplify this soft power.
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has been promoting TCM culture overseas through platforms such as Confucius Institutes.
Meanwhile, Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Co Ltd operates museums both in China and abroad to showcase the history, culture, products and services of TCM.
TCM is also merging with tourism to boost its global appeal.
In the southern island province of Hainan, the Sanya Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has designed customised treatment plans for foreign clients, offering services such as acupuncture, massage, herbal baths, medicinal cuisine and weight management services.
Konstantin, a Russian engineer, brought his parents to the hospital for therapies such as acupuncture.
“The techniques combined with Sanya’s warm climate greatly alleviate neck and lumbar pain,” he said.
Some community-based institutions in Hainan have also created one-stop “wellness communities” for international tourists by integrating residential environments, health services and healing therapies.
“With a history spanning thousands of years, TCM embodies profound wisdom and unique insights,” said Zhang Boli, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in TCM.
“As TCM continues to evolve and innovate while actively engaging with the global community, its value will be recognised by more people worldwide, contributing Chinese wisdom to the advancement of human health.” — Xinhua
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is set to produce its first locally made human vaccine as early as 2028, marking a major step towards reducing reliance on imported vaccines and strengthening the country’s health security.
The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV13, is an injection that protects against 13 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria which cause serious illnesses like pneumonia and meningitis.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Chang Lih Kang told The Star that the vaccine is being produced through technology transfer, marking a step towards reducing Malaysia’s dependence on imported vaccines.
The local company involved in the manufacturing of the vaccine is Pharmaniaga Bhd, with technology transfer from a company in China.
At present, Malaysia imports all its vaccines which are sourced from countries such as the United States, France, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand and Indonesia.
In the interview with The Star, Chang said local production of PCV13 would help strengthen Malaysia’s preparedness for future health crises and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers in the long run.
Chang: The vaccine is being produced through technology transfer from a company in China.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had shown the risks of not having domestic capability in critical technologies such as vaccines.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccine was something very important. But we didn’t have the capability to develop human vaccine, so we had to rely on other countries,” he said.
“When you rely on other countries, they will decide when to deliver the vaccine to us and they will decide what price they want to sell to us. So it becomes an issue, especially when a crisis happens,” he added.
Chang said this was why Malaysia must strengthen its technology sovereignty, particularly in areas that are critical during emergencies.
“Our target is to possess the capability to develop human vaccine by 2030. But we might achieve it earlier, in 2028,” he said.
He added that Malaysia is currently working on two vaccine-related developments, including a hexavalent vaccine for children.
I recently heard about this term “Life’s Essential Eight”. What is it and how does it matter in our lives?
Life’s Essential Eight was coined by the American Heart Association (AHA).
They comprise eight key measures to improve and maintain your heart and general cardiovascular health.
This means these eight practices will help lower your risk for heart disease, stroke and other major health issues.
Really? Then what are these eight factors? I would like to see if it is possible for me to do all of them.
Spoken like most of us!
You don’t need to eat “special” foods like what so many companies and labels are trying to sell you.
The first essential factor is eating better.
The key to eating is the balance of ordinary foods you consume.
You don’t need to eat “special” foods like what so many companies and labels are trying to sell you.
Vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grains should be at the top of your list to eat every day.
You should also eat plenty of lean animal proteins like chicken (without the skin), fish and seafood, and plant-based proteins like beans, lentils and tofu.
You should drink plenty of water throughout the day, and not only when you are thirsty.
If you like coffee or tea, try to drink it without sugar.
For cardiovascular health, you should avoid anything processed, fatty foods and salty food.
Fat because it can lead to atherosclerosis, i.e. plaques in your blood vessels that can grow large enough to block the blood vessel.
Salt because it can worsen your high blood pressure.
The AHA also suggests that we cook more at home rather than eating out, so that we can control what we eat.
We should also watch our portion size so that we don’t overeat.
I knew my eating was going to be a major factor. Sigh. OK, let me guess, exercise is the second?
Yes.
The AHA recommends either 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week.
Moderate activity includes brisk walking, dancing, breast stroke in swimming and Zumba.
Vigorous activity includes running, hiking, swimming styles other than breast stroke, and vigorous dancing.
Strength training is not aerobic activity and should be done twice a week for at least 1.5 hours separately.
The idea is movement more than exercise.
Modern people spend too much time sitting still at the work desk or at home watching TV.
If we aim to get up and move every 20 minutes, even if it is a walk to the kitchen to drink water, it is far better than being still for hours straight.
Note that you don’t feel very energised if you don’t move anyway.
I get that diet and exercise are going to be part of any heart health advice. What are the other six?
You definitely have to quit smoking or any other form of tobacco.
Another big lifestyle factor is to get adequate sleep.
Sleep is an essential component of cardiovascular health because sleep gives you better brain function (alertness, focus, decision-making, memory, problem-solving), and improved mood and energy.
Sleep also boosts your immune system and allows your body to heal and repair its damaged cells and tissues.
You, as an adult, need about seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
If you don’t get enough sleep, after a while, you will be more at risk for all kinds of diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.
To get good sleep, it is important to go to bed at the same time every night so that you can wake up the same time every morning.
This regulates your body’s circadian rhythm.
In this modern age, avoid all sorts of stimulating activity (like video games) and blue light from your phone and computer before you sleep.
Use a filter if you have to.
What are the last four essential things?
So far, we have talked about lifestyle factors, meaning things completely – more or less – within your control.
Another lifestyle factor is not getting obese.
This is also mostly within your control, especially if you control what you eat and exercise regularly.
You can calculate your body mass index (BMI) with this formula: BMI = Your weight (in kilogrammes)/Your height x your height (in metres)
Your BMI should not be over 25 or less than 18.5.
So the eight essential factors are all within my control?
Not all.
The sixth, seventh and eighth factors are controlling your blood cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
High blood cholesterol is only partially within your control as genetic factors play a lot into whether or not you develop this condition.
So are diabetes and high blood pressure.
You can eat smart and exercise right all your life and still develop these diseases simply because of the combination of your genes and body type.
However, if you do essential items number one to five, you would be able to lower the risk of number six to eight to some degree at least.
For the rest of it, you will have to see a doctor and be prescribed pills to manage them.
by Dr YLM graduated as a medical doctor, and has been writing for many years on various subjects such as medicine, health, computers and entertainment. For further information, email starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
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