Restricted blood flow, Is your heart pumping well?

 

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The heart has to work very hard if you have aortic stenosis, a condition where the aortic valve narrows and blood cannot flow normally.

OUR heart’s main job is to supply oxygen-rich blood to the body.

Our life literally hangs on how well blood is pumped through our four heart chambers with the help of four heart valves (aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid), which open and close with each heartbeat.

Imagine the precision and intricacies of a healthy heart – it beats 100,000 times a day during which the mitral and tricuspid valves control blood flow between the heart chambers.

The pulmonary valve controls blood flow to the lungs while the aortic valve controls blood as it flows out from the heart’s lower left chamber to the aorta, the main artery bringing blood to the rest of the body.

A life-threatening condition 

 

When the aortic valve does not function optimally, blood flow is restricted due to the narrowing (stenosis) of the area where blood is moving out of the heart.

Your heart will then need to work harder to pump blood to the rest of your body, affecting your health and limiting your daily activities.

This condition is called aortic stenosis and it’s a progressive disease that ranges from mild to severe.

Often, this condition may go unnoticed as patients go about their daily lives discounting the irregularities in their well-being.

Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease worldwide, with its prevalence increasing with age.

It is estimated that up to 12.4 % of people over age 75 have aortic stenosis, and about 80% of adults with symptomatic aortic stenosis are male.

Symptoms generally occur when narrowing of the aortic valve is severe.

However, some people with aortic stenosis may not even have symptoms for many years.

If you demonstrate symptoms such as chest pains or discomfort during physical activity, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat, don’t dismiss it.

Consult a physician. 

Understanding the disease

If diagnosed with aortic stenosis, it means your aortic valve is not opening or closing properly.

This limits the amount of blood pumped out to your body and strains your heart.

Over time, the left ventricle of your heart can thicken and enlarge.

Heart muscles will weaken and this can lead to heart failure and complications such as stroke, blood clots, bleeding, irregular heart rhythms and infections of the heart.

Left untreated, it can be fatal. It is important to understand the difference between aortic stenosis, atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction.

While all are cardiovascular related, they are different and require different treatment approaches.

Atrial fibrillation is a disorder that originates from the atrium (upper chambers of the heart).

When the atrium does not contract effectively, irregular and rapid heart rhythm occurs.

Blood can pool in the heart, running the risk of blood clots which may lead to stroke.

Myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when there is a rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque in a coronary artery.

This causes a blood clot that obstructs blood flow.

Very simply put, aortic stenosis is a valve disorder, atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm and myocardial infarction is a heart attack caused by a blocked coronary artery.

Root cause 

Aortic stenosis is commonly due to a build-up of calcium compounded by contributing factors such as age and existing congenital heart defect.

Some individuals may be born with aortic valve disorders and are more prone to aortic stenosis later in life.

Other causes include infection of the heart, chronic kidney disease, heart disease risk factors such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, or a result of radiation therapy.

Diagnosis and evaluation

If aortic stenosis is suspected, your cardiologist will recommend diagnostic tests, as outlined below, depending on the assessment of your condition.

> An ultrasound imaging test called an echocardiogram to visualise the aortic valve and assess its structure and condition.

This test identifies weakened muscles and determines the severity of the aortic stenosis.

> An electrocardiogram or ECG measures the electrical activity of the heart and detects any potential issues with the heart’s chambers.

> A chest x-ray determines the condition of the heart and lungs and detects if there is swelling in 
the aorta and/or calcium build-up on the aortic valve.

> If needed, a cardiac computerised tomography (CT) scan or a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be done.

> Only when needed or when other non-invasive test are inconclusive, a cardiac catheterisation or a cardiac angiogram may be recommended.

Treatment modalities

Lifestyle modifications are necessary, regardless of the stage of your aortic stenosis.

Start consuming a hearthealthy diet.

Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, poultry, fish and whole grains.

Avoid saturated and trans-fat and excessive salt and sugar.

If you are overweight, lose weight through regular exercise; brisk walks each day are recommended.

Manage your stress levels. Indulge in wholesome activities.

If you are a smoker, consider quitting.

In cases of mild aortic stenosis, your cardiologist will prescribe medications which are a non-invasive.

It can provide a temporary relief of symptoms and may reduce risk of complications.

However, medications alone do not address the underlying valve issues.

Patients may risk a decline in their condition over time.

Thus, it is essential to diligently keep your regular heart checkups to monitor the progression of your condition.

In more severe cases, aortic stenosis patients may have to undergo procedures to repair or replace their defective valves such as :

> Balloon valvuloplasty (BAV) 

This is a non-surgical option which involves a balloon being inflated in the aortic valve to improve blood flow. This treatment typically provides only temporary relief of symptoms and patients risk restenosis of the valve over time.

> Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR)

This offers a longer lifespan for the replaced valve and is often the conventional treatment for aortic stenosis.

However, being an open-heart surgery, it carries inherent risks especially for elderly patients and those with underlying health conditions.

These surgical valve replacements may also wear out over time and can start to fail and causes stenosis and regurgitation (valve does not fully close and blood flows backward through the valve).

Patients are advised to stay in the hospital for seven days.

> Transcatheter Aortic Replacement (TAVR)

This is a minimally invasive procedure performed between one to two hours as compared to an invasive open-heart surgery.

A small cut is made in the groin, neck or between your ribs so that a thin, flexible tube with the TAVR can be guided and placed in your diseased valve.

The new valve will then work immediately, and the tube is removed.

TAVR is designed to work like your own heart valve as the materials used allow the frame to mold itself to your anatomy.

It’s worth noting that the artificial TAVR valve can be made of porcine or bovine materials.

This procedure is suitable for patients who are considered highrisk or unsuited for open-heart surgery.

Patients can consult their cardiologist for other suitability criteria.

This involves shorter hospital stays of about three days as patients recover faster.

Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) was the first hospital in Malaysia to do a TAVR procedure in 2009.

At that time, some in the medical fraternity shared their uncertainty about the durability or longevity of a TAVR and thought it may only last for five years or less.

They preferred conventional surgery which was known to last for about 10 years.

The TAVR has since grown in acceptance and has been proven to stand the test of time.

For 83-year-old aortic stenosis patient, Siti Rahmah, who was implanted with a TAVR in 2011, it has still been functioning effectively.

She recently shared, “I am very pleased with the progress I have made. It has been 12 years since I did the procedure. I am thankful that I can go about my daily activities quite comfortably. My condition has been well managed.”

Take action

Those at-risk patients and 65 years and above should never undermine the importance of regular heart check-ups to detect irregularities of the heart.

Aortic stenosis is a serious cardiovascular condition.

Left untreated, it can lead to significant health problem while early diagnosis and a personalised treatment can prolong life.

By Datuk Dr Shaiful Azmi Yahaya is a senior consultant cardiologist at Institut Jantung Negara. 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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HGH function

Any exercise, resistance or aerobic, brings about a significant increase in human growth hormone (HGH). Insulin-like growth factor and growth hormone are responsible for increased collagen synthesis after exercise and aids muscle recovery. Growth hormone itself does not directly cause muscle hypertrophy but it aids muscle recovery and thereby potentially facilitates the muscle strengthening process.[15] The accumulation of lactate and hydrogen ions (eg in hypoxic training) further increases the release of growth hormone. [13]

High intensity training has been shown to down regulate myostatin and thereby provide an environment for muscle hypertrophy to occur.[12] Myostatin controls and inhibits cell growth in muscle tissue. It needs to be essentially shut down for muscle hypertrophy to occur. 

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How to win in the workplace

 

EMPLOYEES today are more aware of their options and are in a better position to decide on roles that align with their interests, values, and priorities.

Our 2022/23 Malaysia Salary & Employment Outlook notes that younger employees tend to prioritise career progression opportunities and a healthy work-life balance compared to employees from other age groups.

Therefore, in the post-pandemic world of work, it is important for employers to engage with employees to address challenges and shape solutions together. It is a process that needs to be carried out effectively and continuously.

With the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), among other technological developments, new opportunities and challenges have arisen. One primary example is the high demand across key economic sectors for talents skilled in digital fields.

With the prevalence of all things digital, accelerated further during the movement control order, contactless payments such as e-wallets and mobile banking have seen a spike in consumer adoption. In tandem with this demand, the Malaysian government has introduced multiple initiatives to drive the fintech boom and encourage more Malaysians to hop onto the growing digital economy.

As the industry continues to transform, the roles and requisite skills will evolve in tandem. Taking this into consideration, employers must look beyond hiring simply to fill roles. Instead, they must invest in upskilling programmes to ensure talents are available to take on the evolving responsibilities at every level of the organisation. Individuals with cross-functional skillsets across finance and tech will be in especially high demand.

Specialised roles, such as product development, product management life cycle, and data analysts, are some of the hot jobs to look out for. In the post-pandemic business world, many organisations have since undertaken their own digital transformation, leading to rising demand for skilled IT talents.

On the flip side, this creates a highly competitive job market as organisations are expected to adopt a more aggressive approach in hiring the best talents. This means employers who have an existing IT talent pool would also need to step up their retention strategies to avoid losing their talents.

Fierce competition within the industry also serves as a reminder for the workforce to regularly reskill and upskill themselves to stay relevant. In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, e-commerce experienced a boom when Malaysians, young and old, became regular online shoppers due to the movement restriction orders.

Today, prospects remain strong for careers in the supply chain field as online shopping habits have become part of the new normal.

As the economy strengthens, businesses will need to re-evaluate their strategy and remain on top of supply chain trends to fulfil customer satisfaction while staying profitable. Therefore, there is a growing demand for both white and blue collar workers who have the skills to meet the physical and technological demands of today’s supply chain and logistics careers.

In the post-pandemic world of work, industries have transformed, roles have evolved, and expectations have changed. With this, organisations that engage employees in shaping solutions and addressing challenges will continue to thrive.

The employment market has shown a strong rebound since the country began its transition into the endemic phase of Covid-19. As our economy recovers against new global challenges, ensuring the resilience of the workforce is the way to go if businesses are to thrive.

To win in the marketplace, employers must first ensure they win in the workplace.

BRIAN SIM Country head and managing director PERSOLKELLY Malaysia 

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More opportunities for job seekers

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KUALA LUMPUR: The JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative will support the government’s goal of reducing the unemployment rate by providing 600,000 job opportunities this year, says the Prime Minister.
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Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said these would be provided via an allocation of RM4.8bil, which is a key thrust under Budget 2022 on job creation.
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“The JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative is the manifestation of the government’s commitment to providing more employment opportunities and more sustainable economic development to drive the country’s recovery efforts in a structured manner and to contribute towards strengthening the national labour market.
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“Malaysia is on the right track in its economic recovery efforts through the creation of more employment opportunities to fulfil the needs of the labour market,” he said at the launch of the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative themed “Keluarga Malaysia, Makmur Sejahtera” and JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia Career Carnival 2022 at the KL Convention Centre here yesterday.

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CLICK TO ENLARGECLICK TO ENLARGE

The JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family Job Guarantee) initiative is a collaboration between the Finance Ministry, Economic Implementation and National Strategic Coordination Agency, Human Resources Ministry, Social Security Organisation (Socso) and Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp).
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Also present at the launch were Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
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The initiative consists of three main programmes, the first of which is the JaminKerja Employment Initiative that will be implemented by Socso with a target of providing about 300,000 job opportunities.
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The second is the Malaysia Short-Term Employment Programme (MySTEP) that will offer 80,000 job opportunities in the public sector, government-linked companies and strategic partners.
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The third is the Upskill Malaysia programme implemented by HRD Corp to provide practical skills training for job seekers to improve their marketability and provide guaranteed job placements.
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About 220,000 trainees will be targeted.
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Ismail Sabri said the JaminKerja Employment Initiative will also focus on efforts to encourage employers to hire especially individuals who were not actively working such as the unemployed, and vulnerable groups consisting of the disabled, former prisoners, the elderly and women who were unemployed for a long time.
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“This is to ensure that no group is left out,” he added.
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Ismail Sabri said once employers are given the incentive to hire, job seekers could use the MyFutureJobs platform to get job matches and fill the vacancies that are offered, adding that incentives will be given to employers who employ locals to fill jobs that used to be filled by foreign workers or expatriates.
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The government, he said, is committed to helping the entrepreneurial community, which hires and creates job opportunities, so that they could continue to grow and rebuild their business through the Semarak Niaga initiative worth RM40bil.
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The Prime Minister added that the Human Resources Ministry, too, has planned 312 open interview programmes and employment carnivals throughout the year.
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“The JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia Career Carnival is the curtain-raiser for 2022 and is the first to be organised in the country, offering more than 12,000 job opportunities from 50 employers from various industries,” he said.
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To reduce the skills mismatch gap, Ismail Sabri urged the industry to implement better recruitment strategies by taking into account social changes including a more flexible work environment.
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“As the National Employment Council (NEC) chairman, I am confident that the efforts of the NEC in enhancing the momentum of job creation as well as boosting the job market will be able to continue through the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative, which in turn will also strengthen the Malaysian Family household income, especially underprivileged groups, and the B40 and M40,” he said. 

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JaminKerja initiatives eases recruitment process | The Star

‘Revised minimum wage ensures better take-up rate of jobs’

 

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Govt pledges to provide 600,000 job opportunities this year...

JaminKerja initiatives eases recruitment process

 

The StarMinimum wage, just do it!

 https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/02/19/minimum-wage-just-do-it

 

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Learn to invest in stocks properly

 

Self-made millionaire Ng will teach you how to  generate safe returns

PETALING JAYA: Money games, GameStop frenzy, the constant rise and fall of crypto, to the untrained eye, these seem like the way to “invest”.

Adrenaline-pumping with a false promise of insane returns by the very next day as well as the constant monitoring of charts and graphs, it’s not for the faint-hearted and certainly not for everyone.

Amid all these fleeting trends, investment scams and market noise, millennial investor, Alex Ng, goes about his daily life calmly, collecting passive income and watching his investment double or triple in value.

But he wasn’t always like this.

He started dabbling in the stock market at 19. He got sucked into trends, chased short-term profits and bought whatever stocks his broker recommended.

And by 21, he had lost two-thirds of his parents’ retirement fund from investing haphazardly.

“It was a huge wake up call for me. It made me realise that what I was doing wasn’t investing. I was gambling in the stock market. Higher stakes and worse damages than if I would have gambled in the casino,” he said.

However, his saving grace was his fortitude.

He knew the importance of investing, if done properly. Growing up in a middle-class household, that was his ticket to afford himself and his family a good life.

“With just RM3,000 of my own savings, I found some mentors and learned the proper way to invest,” said Ng, who was a self-made millionaire by the age of 29.

Having been through that harrowing experience and turning his life around, he wants to make sure that no one makes the same mistakes he did.

He’s now a master trainer and speaker at VI College, the region’s leading financial education provider, helping aspiring and uninformed investors to develop the proper skills, knowledge and strategy.

The safe and consistent way of investing gets easily drowned out and might seem boring in contrast to the stock bros’ mantra of “high risk, high return” or the excitement and overinflated egos in the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street.

“Investing safely and consistently doesn’t mean you can’t get handsome returns. It just means that even if you start small, with consistent effort, your returns will multiply and compound,” he said.

In VI College, Ng and his peers have designed the programmes with beginners in mind. After VI College’s five-day bootcamp, even those who come in with zero knowledge can venture into their investment journey with confidence.

“In fact, many of my students with prior investing experience also saw the programme as a total eye-opening experience,” said Ng.

Students are added into the VI Community after the programme with support and guidance from trainers, coaches and peers.

VI College has also developed its own stock analysis tool, VI App, to make investing smarter, faster and easier.

“With VI App, you can easily check the risk rating, the overall health and performance of the company in just a few seconds,” he explained.

8BIT, the FinTech entity behind VI App, is licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore’s central bank.

Check out VI App at www.vi.app.

“At the end of the day, we want to empower as many people as possible with financial literacy.

“That’s why our programme and tools like VI App are all designed to make it simple for everyone to start investing,” he said.

Join Ng to discover the right and safe way to invest in the “Discover Secret Stock Investing Techniques Webinar” on June 19.

Organised by Star Media Group together with VI College as the Education Partner, this free two-hour masterclass is designed to teach individuals across all age groups to generate safe and consistent returns from local and the US stock market.

To register, please click into http://bit.ly/stockinvestment2021

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Many investors suffered huge losses when they sold off their stock holdings at low prices at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. Alex Ng, master trainer and speaker at VI College, shares how he weathered the market turmoil.

The key to surviving and even thriving during an unprecedented crisis is simple, he says:

"Stay invested, but do not be fully invested at all times."

Thank you The Edge Malaysia for the news feature!  

 

theedgemarkets.com

Investing: Keeping 40% cash at all times

Many investors suffered huge losses when they sold off their stock hol

Information is power, overloaded, who and where can we trust?

A global survey gauging trust in society finds that people of a feather really do flock together.

THE person you see in the mirror is the most trusted.”

No, that is not a self-help mantra or nostalgia for Michael Jackson’s old hit Man in the Mirror.

Rather, as the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals, that is a common belief in the world when it comes to trust.

People now are increasingly reliant on a “person like yourself” (rising 6% in trust) more than the “leaders” of society like CEOs, government officials, technical experts or even academic experts, according to global communications firm Edelman’s annual survey that measures trust levels in the world.

Says Edelman Malaysia managing director Robert Kay, it reflects the way people in Malaysia are increasingly sharing and weighing information and opinions online.

“When it comes to information on social networking sites, content sharing sites and online-only information, Malaysians trust friends and families more at 74% compared to a company CEO at 57% or elected officials at 53%,” shares Kay at the launch of the Barometer in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.

For its fifth survey in Malaysia, Edelman polled 1,350 Malaysians online from October to November last year.

What some might find surprising is that in today’s celebrity-obsessed world, online personalities rake in only 45% “believers”, while celebrities rank last in their trustworthiness at 30%.

Interestingly, Malaysians’ overall trust in online content, specifically that shared on social media has dipped seven points to 42%.

Kay points to the rampant sharing of misinformation online in the past year as the main reason.

Consequently, search engines hold their lead as the most trusted source for information at 66%, he adds, as people feel they have more control over what they read and see.

The rise in peer-to-peer trust inevitably coincides with the decline in public faith in public institutions and the business world.

Faith in the press among the “informed public”, however, has jumped 13% – from 46% last year to 59% this year.

Asked how much they trust the media – on a scale of zero to nine – to do the right thing, Malaysian citizens say they have a lot more faith in the press than before.

This, says Edelman, puts Malaysia’s more informed citizens’ trust in media at the same level as the elite of the United States.

“Malaysia has one of the biggest rises in media trust among the informed public globally, possibly due to the constant coverage of alleged corruption at 1MDB,” Kay notes, stressing that it is crucial for the media to continue pursuing rigorous, balanced and transparent reporting to maintain credibility.

While the survey did not distinguish between trust in local and international media, the trust in the media in Asia highlights the perceived role of the media in this region, Edelman Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa CEO David Brain reportedly said in Mumbrella Asia, a discussion site on the region’s media.

“The media – through Western eyes – is expected to keep politicians to account, but in Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, there is ‘a social contract that the role of the media is about nation building’, and less about revealing the truth,” Brain had explained.

In a panel discussion on the Barometer results, The Malaysian Insider CEO Jahabar Sadiq points out that even as trust in business captains and political leaders fell, those who are perceived to be critical and caring of society and are vocal on social media, such as CIMB group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak and former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, are deemed as “trustworthy”.

Comparing Malaysia to Britain and the United States, Umno Youth exco member Shahril Hamdan suggests the dip in public trust towards the government is a natural development as the nation matures.

“As democracy matures, the cynicism level of people toward the government increases.

“Regardless of how the government communicates or performs, people will put less trust in the government and its leaders.”

Maxis Malaysia Head of Consumer Business Dushyanthan Vathiyanathan believes that it is time for public institutions and the business sector to transform and engage more with people.

“People now are interested in knowing what is happening and not in what you tell them.

By Hariati Azizan The Star/Asia News Network

“You have to be transparent with them and inform them of anything and everything. That’s because now they have information and do their checks.”

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It's is our battle: Obama in Malaysia

The biggest takeaway from Barack Obama’s speech was that he really isn’t that interested in solving our domestic issues.

I WAS one of the lucky young leaders who attended the town hall meeting with United States President Barack Obama. It was an incredible experience and I was impressed by his energy, oratory and diplomacy.

However, that town hall meeting left our social and mainstream media buzzing with two issues – the questions raised by the participants and Obama’s quotes on affirmative action in Malaysia.

Many Malaysians viewed the less-than hard-questions asked Obama (such as the meaning of happiness) as a waste of an opportunity. They felt the most powerful man in the world needed to be asked some powerful questions.

I, too, had some serious questions for him. However, I am not, as some critics put it, “disappointed in the future leaders of Asean” for asking theirs.

Four hundred young people attended the town hall meeting but only eight questions were taken. Two were from the social media (curated by moderators and, therefore, bound to be “safe”). The social media questions and three others from the audience came from non-Malaysians, leaving the remaining questions for only three Malaysians.

Might it simply then had been an unfortunate coincidence that Obama happened to pick the three Malaysians, in a sea of raised hands, who chose not to ask about the TPPA (Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement) or human rights?

Obama is a role model to many. Not all young people are political journalists, critics of his foreign policy or otherwise determined to tembak him.

The Asean participants are my friends and fellow alumni of the US State Departmentsponsored exchange programmes. I know them well enough to know they have a different take to politics than we do.

Malaysians thrive on discussing issues of the day in a kopitiam, at a forum or via Twitter. We’re practically hardwired to talk politics. Contrastingly, my Asean friends are here on a leadership initiative. They’ve attended numerous programmes, conferences and workshops all geared towards helping them become leaders of civil society.

Their focus is to find solutions to poverty, climate change and human trafficking – not to zoom in on policy and trade agreements.

Their questions simply illustrate that they’re more concerned with bettering themselves and their world than turning everything into a debate. This was a town hall for young leaders on leadership. Expect some young (read: naïve) questions on leadership.

At one point during his address, Obama said “Malaysia will not progress if non-Muslims are not given equal opportunities.” I, like many others, took his sound bite to social media.

Many people went further, calling on Obama to pressure our government into reform, to “save us”! And of course we had people labelling Obama a hypocrite, his comment either ridiculous or irrelevant, and condemning those who looked to him as a saviour.

These reactions reminded me that we are once again stuck in our dichotomy of “accept wholesale or reject wholesale”.

I personally think the biggest takeaway from his speech was that he really isn’t that interested in solving our domestic issues.

Many times, he urged us to fight a good fight, but he made it a point to remind us that he has his own problems in America to solve. I couldn’t agree more.

Realistically, the US president has bigger problems to deal with than us.

Idealistically, we shouldn’t need him to help in any major way. My Sejarah textbook taught me that time and again when our rulers were faced with domestic problems, they opened themselves up to colonisation by seeking help from foreigners instead of facing up to their countrymen.

However, I disagree with those who dismiss Obama. Yes, this is an issue we’ve been dealing with for so long that the US president isn’t adding anything substantive to the debate, but that doesn’t make him irrelevant!

It’s like any other old debate such as abortion or creationism. You’re perfectly entitled to roll your eyes and say “Yeah, I’ve heard this one before,” but to some people it’s a big deal to have the leader of the free world publicly say, “I’m on your side.”

Others cite his domestic and foreign policy to label him a hypocrite, but you can agree with what he said yesterday without having to agree to what he said last year or did in Syria.

I highly appreciate the public relations value of the leader of the free world demonstrating an awareness of my cause, but it doesn’t have to follow that I adore him, agree with all his policies or think he’s Superman.

In a week’s time, people will forget what he said. But the fight goes on, right?

So, instead of obsessing over whether he had the right to say what he said, whether it matters that he said what he said, or making idle wishes that someone else had said what he said, let us focus on the more important part of his speech – that it’s our battle.

Open Season by Marina Tan

> Marina Tan won the 2012 English Speaking Union International Public Speaking competition. She is presently studying at Kolej Yayasan UEM and will be going to Yale University in the United States in August to pursue a double major in engineering and economics.

Marina Tan The Star-ESUM Public Speaking Competition 2011



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Upgrade the standard of education to defrag high cost!

A LARGE section of teenagers will now decide what to do with their lives after receiving their SPM and STPM results.

Decision-time beckons for them as they will ponder whether to pursue a tertiary education, enrol in a skills programme or enter the workforce.

The higher number of those scoring straight As will please them and their parents to no end but the results also show that overall, students did perform poorer than last year.

It's interesting to note that nearly 20% of candidates who sat for the history paper failed and I wonder what will happen to the overall passing rate for SPM students once that subject becomes a compulsory paper for future students. They will need to pass the subject if they were to get their SPM certificate.

While receiving education through government schools is still the most popular route for students in Malaysia, there is a growing number of parents who have chosen that their children study in international schools.

Such schools teach and prepare their students based on the curriculum of other countries, namely the UK, America, Australia and even Singapore.

The rationale for sending their children to those schools would certainly be to enable their children to receive what they perceive is better education.

Sure. Children who make their journey through such schools will be exposed to a different learning system, a different curriculum and the broad-based approach to learning employed by those schools certainly will equip their students to think critically and maybe be more engaging during the learning process.

But the thing is that the allure of giving such an education certainly masks the cost of providing such learning to their children and many who enrolled their children in international or private schools will feel the pinch as they progress through the years.

One friend says that the school where he is sending his two kids to will raise its fees by 40% for the intake of students from September this year.

He is lucky because he doesn't have to feel the brunt of such a steep increase in fees but the annual cost of sending his kids to that school certainly keeps rising faster than the rate of inflation in Malaysia. Plus when they cross a certain year, there is a big bump in the fees he pays.

The thing is that when he first took the plunge to send his kids through the school, it was estimated it will cost him the price of a Mercedes E class. Today, he thinks it's close to RM1mil.

That's basically the cost of sending a student to study medicine overseas, and it's no secret that the cost of education from international schools is far more than what it will be to receive a university degree from a local institution of higher learning.

But that's a business and parents have to fork out huge sums of money if they want their children to go through such an education system. Some may feel it's worth it but parents should really examine what will be the hidden costs of sending their children to international schools.

The top international schools do have a long waiting list and with restrictions to open up such schools lifted, more of such schools will be built and hopefully competitive pressure will mean that fees will be a little more reasonable.

The one drawback of receiving an education from international schools, even though there is a growing number of Malaysians enrolled, is that pupils do not really receive the education that integrates them into the fabric of Malaysian culture.

There are no students from impoverished backgrounds and I don't think you will find them from the broad layers of society. One CEO I met refused to send his two children to a private school. It's not that he cannot afford the fees but it's because he didn't want them to miss out on society's education.

But the higher fees and the clamour for more middle and upper class Malaysians to choose international and private schools should translate to an urgency to raise the quality of education in government schools.

There is a national education blueprint and hopefully the final report on what needs to be done gets implemented fast. Otherwise, there will be a lot of middle class Malaysians who will feel the pinch as they choose to give what they think is a better education for their children.

MAKING A POINTBy JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU
jagdev@thestar.com.my

Acting business features editor Jagdev Singh Sidhu wishes the quality of education in government schools was better than what it was like when he was a student.

MERITOCRACY is about more than just academic grades

MERITOCRACY in Singapore is about more than just academic grades, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as he stressed that everyone here has a shot at success.

“When we say ‘merit’, we are not just talking about grades or scores, but also character, leadership and a broad range of talents,” said Lee said in a speech to more than 1,500 students and their parents at a bursary and Edusave award ceremony in his Teck Ghee ward.

He said: “We make sure that whatever your family background, whatever your circumstances, you may be poor, you may be from a single-parent family, you may be having some learning disabilities, but if you work hard, you can succeed.

“It does not matter what your background is. We make sure we identify you, we give you the opportunities and also the resources and the support so that if you succeed, you can do well for Singapore.”

Yesterday was the second time in just over a month that PM Lee stressed that meritocracy cannot be narrowly defined as being just about grades. He also spoke on the topic at a PAP conference on Dec 2 last year.

In that speech, the Prime Minister said he was worried when Singaporeans reject meritocracy and asked what could replace merit as the basis for decisions on jobs or school places.

The principle has come under considerable scrutiny in recent months, especially in the field of education.

While the Prime Minister repeated the same call on broadening the definition of meritocracy, yesterday he focused on what roles parents and students can play in it.

He urged parents to set an example: “Guide your children, set good examples and instil good moral values in them.”

Turning to students, Lee urged them not to neglect their studies even though there would be more focus on character, leadership and service.

“Results and grades are not the only measure of success or the only things that matter in life,” Lee said, adding: “It is important that you learn and study to give you a good foundation for what you can do in life.”

He pledged that the Governm­ent will continue to help all students achieve their potential. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network