PETALING JAYA: Royston Chua has come a long way since buying his first share at Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway company as a 14-year-old
The US-based Malaysian has turned into a business prodigy, bagging international awards and being featured in famed publications.
He recently bagged Clickfunnel’s Two Comma Club Award for hitting US$1mil (RM4.35mil) in sales on the platform with a marketing agency firm he founded..
Clickfunnel is a website that assists entrepreneurs build sales funnels in order to grow their companies through e-commerce.
“This gives me great confidence to go on and conquer greater heights,” declared the 24-year-old Kuala Lumpur-born entrepreneur.
Chua, who has a penchant for fashion, was also behind a luxury lifestyle brand called Good Purpose Life which highlights sustainability and ethics.
“I love streetwear and luxury, as well as sustainable fashion, but there are few brands that encompass all traits. So I decided to create my own brand that combined all that..
“I started the clothing company as a college student in 2016 when I was intrigued by all things fashion. But I wanted to be an entrepreneur with a mission to do good,” the accounting and finance graduate from University of Melbourne said in an interview..
While studying for the degree, he attended an exchange programme at University of Southern California and summer school at Harvard University in the US where his business know-how flourished.
He spent five years in the US before returning to Malaysia this year for a break and to spend more time with his parents and siblings while preparing for his next business venture.
Chua was listed in American portal New York Weekly 30 under 30 last year, and has featured in US and international news and media such as Forbes, Bloomberg, USA Today and Tatler Asia, among others.He has also been awarded the Marketing Conference 2.0 Outstanding Leadership Award, and Fox News and CBS News affiliated Top 20 Entrepreneurs 2021.
Besides his lifestyle brand company, he also helms an advisory for brands and start-ups to expand their businesses and is also involved in investment management.
Chua, who is known as Royston G. King in the United States, said he owes his success to his parents, particularly businessman dad Datuk Seri Garry Chua for his guidance and support.
“I’m very thankful that my parents did not tie me down to a career of their choice. I was fortunate to have had a good start by pursuing accounting and finance,” he said, adding that this led him to work at some renowned firms which included Bain & Co (top three management consulting firms to McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group).
Chua pledged to always hold firm to the principle of striking a balance between profit, the environmental and the social impact of business./p>
“I would not advise anyone to start a business without first learning about corporate social responsibility
“There are many fashion brands making money but they are a net negative to the world,” added the enterprising entrepreneur, who also runs a charity called the Good Purpose foundation.
As part of his philanthropic effort, he has joined several charitable organisations as either a trustee, board member or committee member and provides strategic advice on digital marketing.
NASA Engineer Florence Tan presented a Maniac Lecture entitled, "From Malaysia to Mars." Florence talked about her journey from Malaysia to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she has been working on planetary mass spectrometers, which is characterized by challenges, frustration, excitement, and rewards
Our food choices may be smarter than previously thought.
Researchers say our food choices may be influenced by nutritional requirements rather than calories.
PIONEERING research has shed new light on what drives people’s basic food preferences.
The international study, led by the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, set out to re-examine and test the widely-held view that humans evolved to favour energy dense foods and our diets are balanced simply by eating a variety of different foods.
Contrary to this belief, its findings revealed people seem to have “nutritional wisdom,” whereby foods are selected in part to meet our need for vitamins and minerals, and avoid nutritional deficiencies.
Lead author Jeff Brunstrom, professor of experimental psychology, said: “The results of our studies are hugely significant and rather surprising. For the first time in almost a century, we’ve shown humans are more sophisticated in their food choices, and appear to select based on specific micronutrients rather than simply eating everything and getting what they need by default.”
The paper, published in the journal Appetite, gives renewed weight to bold research carried out in the 1930s by an American paediatrician, Dr Clara Davis, who put a group of 15 babies on a diet which allowed them to “self-select”, in other words eat whatever they wanted, from 33 different food items.
While no child ate the same combination of foods, they all achieved and maintained a good state of health, which was taken as evidence of “nutritional wisdom”.
Its findings were later scrutinised and criticised, but replicating Dr Davis’ research was not possible because this form of experimentation on babies would today be considered unethical.
Hence, it has been nearly a century since any scientist has attempted to find evidence for nutritional wisdom in humans – a faculty which has also been found in other animals, such as sheep and rodents.
To overcome these barriers, Prof Brunstrom’s team developed a novel technique which involved measuring preference by showing people images of different fruit and vegetable pairings so their choices could be analysed without putting their health or well-being at risk.
In total 128 adults participated in two experiments.
The first study showed people prefer certain food combinations more than others.
For example apple and banana might be chosen slightly more often than apple and blackberries.
Remarkably, these preferences appear to be predicted by the amounts of micronutrients in a pair and whether their combination provides a balance of different micronutrients.
To confirm this, they ran a second experiment with different foods and ruled out other explanations.
To complement and cross-check these findings, real-world meal combinations as reported in the UK’S National Diet and Nutrition Survey were studied.
Similarly, these data demonstrated people combine meals in a way that increases exposure to micronutrients in their diet.
Specifically, components of popular UK meals e.g. fish and chips or curry and rice, seem to offer a wider range of micronutrients than meal combinations generated randomly, such as chips and curry.
The study is also notable as it features an unusual collaboration – Prof Brunstrom’s co-author is Mark Schatzker, a journalist and author.
In 2018, the two met when Schatzker delivered a talk about his book, The Dorito Effect, which examines how the flavour of whole foods and processed foods has changed, and the implications for health and wellness.
Prof Brunstrom explained: “Mark challenged the view among behavioural nutrition scientists that humans only seek calories in food. He pointed out, for example, that fine wine, rare spices and wild mushrooms are highly sought after but are a poor source of calories.
“This was all very intriguing, so I went to see him at the end and basically said: ‘Great talk, but I think you’re probably wrong. Do you want to test it?’
“That marked the start of this journey, which ultimately suggests I was wrong. Far from being a somewhat simple-minded generalist, as previously believed, humans seem to possess a discerning intelligence when it comes to selecting a nutritious diet.”
Schatzker added: “The research questions the modern food environment – does our cultural fixation with fad diets, which limit or forbid consumption of certain types of foods, disrupt or disturb this dietary ‘intelligence’ in ways we do not understand?”
“Studies have shown animals use flavour as a guide to the vitamins and minerals they require.
“If flavour serves a similar role for humans, then we may be imbuing junk foods such as potato chips and fizzy drinks with a false ‘sheen’ of nutrition by adding flavourings to them.
“In other words, the food industry may be turning our nutritional wisdom against us, making us eat food we would normally avoid, thus contributing to the obesity epidemic.” - The Star Malaysia
Say goodbye to daily aspirin
Daily aspirin no longer recommended for adults 60 and older
Doctors reverse recommendation on daily aspirin
THIS might be a tough pill to swallow.
People aged 60 and older are no longer recommended to take aspirin medication as a way of avoiding heart disease because of the potential health risks, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) announced last week.
The new stance by the leading task force serves as an update to its 2016 guidance, which said people between 60 and 69 years old with at least a 10% risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years should view taking low-dose aspirin daily as an “individual” decision.
“Based on new evidence since the 2016 Task Force recommendation, it is now recommended that once people turn 60 years old, they should not consider starting to take aspirin because the risk of bleeding cancels out the benefits of preventing heart disease,” reads the announcement by the USPSTF.
Meanwhile, people aged 40 to 59 with at least a 10% risk of 10-year cardiovascular disease should look at taking daily aspirin as an individual choice, the task force said.
“Daily aspirin use may help prevent heart attacks and strokes in some people, but it can also cause potentially serious harms, such as internal bleeding,” John Wong, a member of the task force, said in a statement.
“It’s important that people who are 40 to 59 years old and don’t have a history of heart disease have a conversation with their clinician to decide together if starting to take aspirin is right for them.”
The new guidelines apply to people who don’t have cardiovascular disease but are at high risk to develop it and haven’t begun taking aspirin each day.
The organisation also notes that about 605,000 people in the US suffer their first heart attack each year on average, while about 610,000 have their first stroke.
Heart disease accounts for more than 25% of deaths in the US, making it the leading cause in the country.
Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory drug that has been used for more than a century. It’s often taken to treat symptoms such as headaches, body aches and other cold-like ailments.
The task force is made up of 16 appointed volunteers who are each considered leaders within a field of health or medicine.- TNS
Native Americans, refugees from US-initiated wars, Floyds and children separated from their parents at the border will remember
the US as the greatest “human ...
The masks covering the true face of the US were taken off one after another through the seven stories the Global Times had published over the course of the past few weeks. These masks are engraved with words such as peace, liberty, security, unity, science, humanity, and global order, hiding the country's true visage that has been distorted with lust, greed, and subjugation.
The masks covering the true face of the US have been removed one after another through the seven investigative stories the
Global Times published over the course of the past few weeks. These masks are engraved with beautiful words such as peace, liberty,
security, unity, science, humanity, and global order, hiding the country's true visage distorted with lust, greed, and subjugation.
Fanning the flames to create turmoil, using economic and financial hegemony to sanction opponents, and forming cliques to create
political isolation - the US is using its hegemony to undermine the international order.
In fact, the US government's approach is quite similar to Voldemort's - they both believe in power, recruit followers, use violence, and repeatedly want to kill competitors in order to maintain supremacy.
While mask-wearing will be optional in outdoor settings come Sunday, the public are highly encouraged to keep them on for crowded situations and if they are unwell, say public health experts.They said masks could reduce the expulsion and transmission of Covid-19 droplets and should be worn in crowded outdoor areas like bazaars, stadiums and night markets.
Public health expert Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said people should wear masks when joining a large and crowded congregation outdoors where the health and vaccination status of the people are unknown.
“Individuals with symptoms such as fever, cough and runny nose are also encouraged to wear masks.
“People with symptoms should always wear masks as Covid-19 might mimic coughs and colds, so they may unknowingly transmit the virus to others,” she said.
Prof Sharifa said masking outdoors also provides personal protection for high-risk individuals such as the elderly, the unvaccinated, the immunocompromised and those living with comorbidities.
“Senior citizens and those with underlying health conditions such as diabetes or obesity should also wear masks outdoors due to their weakened immune system and the high risk of Covid-19 infections.
“Wearing masks outdoors can protect them should they be in close contact with infected persons with mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic.
“Other individuals can choose not to wear masks outdoors especially in well-ventilated, open air outdoor settings that are less crowded.”
Covid-19 cases were still manageable in countries like Singapore that have removed the mask mandate outdoors.
She said the city-state has a high health literacy and vaccination coverage as well as a lower population density than Malaysia.
She also said the government must pay attention to the children’s vaccination programme as the rate is still quite low.
Prof Dr Moy Foong Ming of Universiti Malaya’s Social and Preventive Medicine Department said while wearing masks outdoors has become a personal choice, the decision depends on the risks.
“Outdoor settings that are not crowded or where physical distancing is possible pose low risks.
“However, if the outdoor area is crowded like markets and bazaars, the risk of infection may be higher.
“Under these circumstances, I would suggest masks be worn.”
Additionally, she said if the individual is from the older age or high-risk group, his risk of getting infected will be even higher, adding that he is encouraged to put on his mask outdoors.
She said Singapore is doing well in terms of Covid-19 with its caseload and hospitalisation rates declining.“They have kept the last measure, that is the mask mandate indoors.”
Prof Moy said it is the people’s choice whether to mask up or not outdoors, as there are no more legal consequences.
However, she said they should be accountable for their actions.
“As reporting positive for Covid-19 is done by the patients themselves, I hope they will report diligently and go into isolation.
“They should not pretend or hide the fact that they are Covid-19 positive as it will cause a surge in new cases and increase the hospitalisation rate,” she said.
Prof Moy added that while the final measure – relaxing the indoor mask mandate – should not be done too soon.
“We need to observe the consequences of the current relaxations, especially on the hospitalisation and death rates.
“We should also monitor the situation in other countries, especially whether new variants are getting milder or more lethal,” she added.
She said with the Hari Raya celebrations, people should weigh the risks and be responsible.
Volunteers For Community Engagement and Empowerment For Covid-19 chairman Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said that people could feel comfortable not masking up outdoors as the airflow does a good job of minimising infection risks compared to shared indoor spaces.
He added that being outdoors provides another layer of protection because of the ventilation.
“It should be okay if people want to walk around with their family members while on holiday without masks on,” he said.
However, he said certain outdoor situations could call for masking up such as when in crowded areas without physical distancing.
“High risk individuals and those who are unwell should consider masking up outdoors.”
Parent groups are not too keen with the revised ruling allowing unvaccinated teachers to return to teaching students face to face in schools.
Saying that these teachers are more susceptible to Covid-19 infections, they suggested that these teachers be given voluntary separation scheme or early retirement.
Previously, unvaccinated teachers could not teach face to face but had to be present in school for other duties.
Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said this would put students and other teachers at risk.
“The ministry could consider giving unvaccinated teachers voluntary separation scheme or alternatively, teachers who cite health reasons for not getting their vaccinations could opt to retire early.
“The profession requires teachers to be fit. There are many steps to climb, books to carry and long teaching hours, for example.
“So if teachers have cited health reasons for not getting their vaccinations, the ministry could consider these options,” she said.
With students spending two years studying online, Noor Azimah said they want to return to schools and parents must ensure their children are fit and are eating healthily.
Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education chairman Mak Chee Kin said unvaccinated teachers should not be allowed to teach face to face and action should be taken against them.
“These are teachers who did not follow the ministry’s directives, so backtracking on this ruling will set a precedent for the future.
“For teachers who were advised against being vaccinated due to health reasons by their doctors, (this is) fair but they should, at the very least, be transferred to remote schools where there aren’t many students around them as a safety precaution,” he said, adding that an alternative would be to transfer them to district education offices for administrative work.
Mak also said students have lost out a lot from online classes such as face-to-face interactions and participating in sports and co-curricular activities.
“It’s high time they went back to school like before while adhering to standard operating procedures,” he added.
Separately, the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Wang Heng Suan said the union welcomes the new ruling.
The NUTP, he said, had received feedback that vaccinated teachers are overburdened with their unvaccinated colleagues’ work as these teachers were not allowed to teach face to face before this.
“There were also cases of unvaccinated teachers being humiliated due to their vaccination status, which is unfair.
“So we welcome the minister’s announcement because we cannot stop teachers from teaching,” he said, adding that there are not many unvaccinated teachers in the country.
Tesla's founder Elon Musk inks a deal to purchase Twitter with $44 billion in cash. Photo: website
News about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover has sparked continuous heated discussions in the US recently. The focus of some, however, has apparently been off the track. A New York Times reporter tweeted to question whether Twitter would become one of the platforms Beijing will gain leverage over in the future. It was re-tweeted and commented on by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. There are also voices saying that Musk will have to seek a balance between his support for free speech and his business activities in China, and that China will exert influence on Twitter through Musk.
Many American media outlets didn't forget to "remind" people of the fact that Musk once "praised" China, and he encouraged people to visit China and see for themselves. At a critical moment when China and the US were locked in trade frictions in 2019, Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory kicked into production. In merely over a year, Shanghai-made Teslas have accounted for more than half of Tesla's global delivery. Musk has dealt a lot with China and spoke out some truths about China's economy, they are regarded as "original sins" of Musk by some Americans. Many link Musk's Twitter deal with China and raise it to the level of "risks" or "threats", which shows how narrow the room for pragmatism and rationality toward China in the US has become. Similar incidents have become common in the US. Making an issue of China in every possible way has already become an "American disease." In the face of China's growing comprehensive national power that is closing the gap with the US', the confidence of many political elites in Washington has been declining. And these people are showing anxiety and over-sensitivity toward China, not letting go of any opportunity to hype the "China threat" theory. After Musk acquired Twitter, some from American media even urged Musk to cut off his business ties with China to "guarantee freedom of speech." Such extreme overbearingness hilariously overlaps their weakness.
An interesting phenomenon is that many China security-related discussions contain various "private interests" if you look at them closely. Some businesspeople, such as George Soros, blamed China for their failure due to their wrong investment decisions in China. Others try to show their allegiance to the US. For example, Bezos often stresses security with a high-profile patriotic posture, but what he actually eyes are Pentagon orders that are highly profitable. More lawmakers and politicians touch on the China topic in an exaggerated and forcible way, through which they attack opponents as "weak." The "China Threat" is becoming a tacit business approach or a code to seek attention.
From the national perspective, Sinophobia which is currently rampant in American society is not fundamentally different from "Japanophobia" that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s. In both cases, the US regards a "chaser" as competitor, on which the US tried to suppress by any means to ensure its own competitive advantage. But the end of the story will be different because there is no way that Washington can overwhelm China in the same way that it coerced Japan to sign a Plaza Accord. Chinese people do not believe in fallacies, nor are we afraid of evil forces. We will never yield to threats or coercion. As to words and deeds of forcefully making an issue of China, they remind people of an ancient poem: Along the Yangzi River, apes moan ceaselessly. My boat has passed ten thousand mounts briskly.
It must be pointed out that making an issue of China can't save the US. Instead, it will continue to intensify all the problems Washington is facing, be they domestic or external, and squeeze the room to solve these issues in the future. Even some people of insight in the US have warned that the excessive attention on undermining Beijing's advantages could make Washington neglect its most important tasks at home and push its foreign policies to deviate from its course even further. "American hubris is always a danger, but so is exaggerated fear, which can lead to overreaction," wrote US scholar Joseph Nye last year. "The US and China must avoid exaggerated fears that could create a new cold or hot war," he added. It seems that those who are sick are unwilling to take medicine.
The US is trying to oppose China in every possible aspect, reflecting the peremptory squeezing of reality by the US' anti-China ideology. But the reality is also resisting the ideological pressure at all times. The twist has distorted some US elites' mindset, making them fall into hesitation and division. However, the "China threat" is not the root cause of Washington's internal and external problems. Reality will make them understand sooner or later that win-win cooperation is the effective cure for their disease.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today announced new Covid-19 SOP relaxations, most of which will take effect from 1 May 2022.
Masks no longer mandatory outdoors
Masks will be made optional outdoors from 1 May 2022
Masks are still required indoors and on public transportation
Those who are at high risk of getting Covid-19 (elderly, with comorbidities, unvaccinated children) may choose to continue wearing masks outdoors
MySejahtera check-in no longer compulsory
People no longer need to scan the QR code using MySejahtera from 1 May 2022
Entry into premises will be allowed for all, regardless of vaccination status, from 1 May 2022.
All economy sectors to open from 15 May
There will be no more “negative list” from 15 May onwards
Nightclubs may also reopen
Test & release for Covid+ patients
From 1 May, Covid-positive individuals may be released from quarantine if they test negative on the 4th day
However, if they test positive or choose not to do a test on the 4th day, they will continue to be isolated until the 7th day
Covid-19 travel updates
Fully-vaccinated travelers and children aged 12 and below are exempted from pre-departure and on-arrival Covid-19 tests
Partially/unvaccinated travelers are still required to take RT-PCR test within 2 days before departure and a supervised RTK-Ag test within 24 hours on arrival. They will also need to self-isolate for 5 days.
Covid-19 insurance is no longer mandatory for all travelers entering Malaysia
What do you think of this announcement? Is this the right step forward towards endemicity? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and be the first to share this news with your friends!
PETALING JAYA: Besides unscrupulous local maid agencies, there are scammers offering part-time maids or “professional cleaning services”.
The Star found a few webpages offering “discounts on cleaning services” and upon contacting the service providers, a link was sent to customers with the request to install an Android package file (APK), a file format used by the Android operating system for the distribution and installation of mobile apps.
Installing the APK allows the syndicate to gain access to certain applications on the customer’s cellphone, including SMS.
This enables the scammers to obtain Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) and other information when users pay for bookings via the app, to siphon money from the victims’ bank accounts.
One victim, Muhammad Nor Izzudin Hamzah, 32, told The Star that he lost nearly RM19,000 on April 23.
“I saw an advertisement on Facebook. My mistake was installing the APK and their app. I didn’t know my username and password were stolen when I made a booking.“The scammer’s site looked exactly like the website of the bank that I used. The APK and app that I installed had malware that enabled them to access my TAC messages.
“I only realised what had happened when I received a notification from my bank,” said the insurance agent.
Meanwhile, Smith Ang, 37, said he almost lost about RM5,000 to a syndicate using a different app late last year.
“This problem is actually quite rampant; some of my colleagues also got scammed through the maid service application as everyone is looking for part-time maids because there is a shortage of full-time helpers.
“When you click on the scammers’ advertisement, you will be directed to the perpetrators who will ask for your place of residence.
“They will send you a price list quoting RM40 for four hours and you are offered a discount. Then you are directed to use an app sent via Whatsapp,” said Ang.
“After choosing the service, you are given a choice of credit card or FPX as payment mode. But you find that the credit card option does not work.
“So you click on the FPX, select your bank and you will be ‘redirected’ to the bank’s ‘website’. It looks like the real thing but when you key in your username and password it will show ‘account information incorrect’ no matter which bank you choose,” he said.
Ang then received a text message saying that he had made a transfer to one “Nooralif Safwa”, but his quick reaction prevented losses.
“When they requested the OTP, I called the bank immediately before they transferred my money,” he said, referring to the one-time password.
