Planetary dance

The picture on the left was taken of the south-eastern sky at 6.54am on 29 March 2022, while the one on the right was snapped at 6.36am on 30 March 2022. The difference in the lightening dawn sky is remarkable. Timewise, there was only an 18 minutes difference when I took the two photographs.

But what I want to draw attention to is the position of the very bright Venus, the so-called "morning star" which we know is not a star at all but a planet, in the sky over a matter of one day. Within 24 hours, it had travelled some distance in a diagonal line towards the horizon. I dare say by June or July, it would be very difficult to notice this planet as its position moves closer to the rising sun. 

Mars is also moving slowly towards Saturn and on the fourth and fifth of April, both planets will be very close together when best viewed in the hour before sunrise. Weather permitting, I shall be out of my house on those two pre-dawn mornings! Of course, these planets aren't close together. Their proximities are all seen from the Earth's perspective because in actuality, they are separated by millions of kilometers. Venus is about 110 million kilometers from us while Mars is about 270 million kilometers away and Saturn is around 1,560 million kilometers.

As observed from the earth, Venus is a "morning star” for 263 days. It then disappears below the horizon for 50 days. Venue then reappears as an "evening star" for another 263 days. Thereafter, it disappears again but for only eight days this time. The ancient Greeks were so confused by this movement that they thought it as two different "stars". 

At the start of the 263-day morning star phase, Venus appears over the horizon just as the day breaks. Each day, the planet rises a little earlier and climbs a little higher. The pattern then reverses and Venus rises a little later each day until finally it fails to rise. For the next 50 days, Venus disappears behind the sun and cannot be seen at all.

Then, Venus reappears in the evening sky where it remains for another 263-day phase before dipping below the horizon for eight days as it transits in front of the sun. At the end of these eight days, Venus reappears as a morning star again, and the cycle repeats.

The entire cycle — 263 as a morning star, 50 days in superior conjunction, 263 days as an evening star, and finally, eight days in inferior conjunction — takes 584 days, an interval also known as the synodic period of Venus.

The above description of Venus' apparent movement in the sky also applies to Mercury. But this planet is even more difficult to observe in the sky either in the morning or evening because its orbit is so close to the sun. Only once have I managed to see Mercury as a small, faint dot of light in the morning sky and that was only because the condition was perfect enough to see it.

Japan, Day 7: Mizukaze

It was almost the end of our brief holiday in Japan. For our last full day there on 26 October 2017, we took the train up to Kyoto. But it had been a damp and moody day full of the occasional drizzles. We had arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport at the tail end of a typhoon and the weather forecasters were telling us that another rainy spell was expected on the day of our departure from Osaka's international airport on the 29th. But what were we do do? Coop ourselves indoors and avoid the rain?

So there we were at the Imamiya station to catch a connecting train from the Osaka main rail station. Whilst at the main station, we came across the Mizukaze Twilight Express, a super-luxury five-star hotel on wheels which was launched only months earlier. 

When I say it is a five-star train, I really mean it. If one needs to ask the price of a ticket, it probably means that one can't afford it. I did ask around and I must confirm that I couldn't afford it. 😅 The cheapest tickets, I'm told, are only a mere USD2,800 for their Royal Twin room...and there are only three Royal Twin rooms to choose from in one coach. If one feels generous, it is possible to choose their Royal Suite that takes up one whole coach space. However, it comes with a USD5,500 price tag.

We waited long enough for the train to pull out from the station and to see the passengers on the observation deck wave goodbye to us common plebeians who cannot dream of even boarding the train in extraordinary times.

No, we are not getting on board this train. But it doesn't mean that we cannot take a picture with this sign behind us. 

The dining coach as seen through the window. I'm sure dining is only available while on the move as the diners wouldn't want anyone gawking at them eating their expensive sushi or whatever.

This is the lounge car. See the array of liquor behind the lady?

Of course, they have to make a big fuss of it whenever the train stops at a station!

This picture of the observation deck is from The Japan Times

The best days of my life

WHEN I was a young boy, I noticed that every Friday at about 2pm, my grandfather would leave the house, drive somewhere, and come back after three hours. This happened regularly like clockwork for several years.

My curiosity was aroused so much so that I asked my grandmother, "Grandma, where does Grandpa go every Friday afternoon?"

To which my grandmother replied, "He goes to a place called Country Bake Shop in Ermita. He spends time with his friends drinking coffee and having pastries."

This type of routine is very common among the elderly. A group of old friends would meet in some cafe, have coffee, and reminisce about the good old days. They would make sure they don't miss any session. After all it is only to these guys they are able to say, "Do you remember?" because these guys were there when they lived those moments. 

And then the number starts to dwindle. From a group of eight, the number goes down to five, then to three. Until finally, one finds himself alone. His friends leave him and he must now travel on alone. Even to the friendliest people he meets on the way, he will never be able to say, "Do you remember?" They were not there. 

To the elderly, this is one of the most crippling experience. Desolation. The feeling of being left behind by old friends who have been with you and shared with you all those crazy and happy moments. He is devastated by the awareness that the few years he has left will no longer allow him to expand that circle of friends once again.

Desolation. One good reason for the young to prepare themselves psychologically for old age. One good reason for them to treat the elderly with respect and compassion. 

One day, all of us will get separated from each other. We will miss our conversations. Days, months, and years will pass until our contacts become rare.

One day, our children will see our photos and ask, 'Who are these people?'

And we will smile with invisible tears and say, 'It was with them that I had the best days of my life.'

                                Anonymous

Boston building, part 3

WHEN I was showing my Boston building stories (click here for Part 1 and Part 2) to some of my mates, one of them commented that he didn't remember ever walking along the pavement in front of the building. "Maybe we didn't have any need to visit any of the shops there, or maybe we associated the Boston Bar with drunk angmor servicemen and avoided the area," he told me.

Well, maybe that was true because to me too, the Boston Bar was notorious as a rowdy place. My parents never had a good word to share about the Boston Café or the Bar, and being a very obedient goody two shoes boy, I never ventured into these two places. But from in my late teens, I certainly did walk by the front of the four shops many times out of sheer necessity...and nothing else! 

So what sort of activities went on beside the rowdiness and boisterousness? A bit of searching on the Internet revealed to me that it was quite a popular place back then. Tea parties to celebrate occasions. They were perhaps the closest deal to a Boston tea party that many people could claim to have attended. Wedding receptions. But definitely meetings. Committee meetings, general meetings. Oh yes, even chess tournaments. In 1948, the Penang Chess Club organised a two-day Penang Chess Congress there and in 1949, the Boston Café was the venue of the annual general meeting of the Malayan Chess Federation. Such an exciting and in-place. By the way, I heard they served very good ice cream sundaes too!

But the rowdiness and notoriety? Blame them on the foreign soldiers and servicemen, of course! To place events in their proper context, in April 1962 as Malaysia was battling Indonesian insurgents during the Confrontation crisis, Britain had deployed their First Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) infantry regiment to bolster the country's defence. They were based in the former Minden Barracks in Glugor from where they were redeployed several times to North Borneo and Sarawak territories for operations against the Indonesian intruders. Away from the jungles of East Malaysia, the Green Jackets probably contributed a lot to the local Penang music scene. Their military band was reported to have given several public performances either at the Esplanade or the Botanical Garden. By the time the last of the regiment departed Penang in June 1967, they had been redesignated as the Second Battalion, Royal Green Jackets. 

At that time too, Penang was often a popular rest-and-recreation destination for visiting soldiers, especially US troops. The American War in Vietnam was raging. And so... British servicemen, Americans, Australians, Kiwis, you name them and they'll be here. And when they get drunk, things can really get interesting in the bars.

For example, there's this old newspaper story that I uncovered yesterday from the Straits Times, dated 29 December 1963. A bit hilarious now, if you ask me, but definitely not so about 60 years ago!

Three police radio cars last night rushed to the Boston Cafe in busy Penang Road and arrested two soldiers. Three others escaped.

Earlier, the soldiers from the Green jackets had gone to the cafe, an "out of bounds" area to servicemen.

After drinking in the bar, they became boisterous.

Grabbing chairs and other articles, the soldiers ran out to the road and began to hurl them at passing motorists and passers-by.

They threatened to assault anyone who attempted to stop them.

Someone telephoned for the police who arrived within minutes.

Seeing the police, the five men tried to escape. Two were detained. They were handed over to the Military Police this morning. 

This was only the tip of the ice-berg. The newspapers of the day often reported on errant servicemen being brought to the Courts for unruly behaviour in unnamed bars and other establishments. There was even one report of two British servicemen arrested in a coffeeshop in Transfer Road while "in the act of negotiating for the sale of an air pistol" with a detective posing as a buyer. This happened on 14 January 1967. While waiting in ambush position, The Straits Times reported, the police saw the two men arrive with a brown paper packet. They sat at a table and negotiated with a detective. As the firearm was being handed over, the police moved in and arrested the duo.

There were other moments too, like this one, as reported by The Straits Times on 26 April 1960. One wonders why the fine was so low. I also wonder whether this ex-soldier is still alive in New Zealand. He would be having a good laugh over his antics:

A New Zealand soldier who climbed up a 50ft roof yesterday afternoon and had to be rescued by the fire brigade, was today fined $6 for behaving in a disorderly and abusive manner.

"I was not rescued. I came down on my own," Gunner Malcolm Phillip, 25, said when charged in the Second Magistrate's Court here.

Phillip, attached to the 2nd New Zealand Regiment at Taiping also denied he had abused police when they tried to stop him jumping down from the roof of the Boston Cafe in Penang Road, one of the city's businest thoroughfares.

Woman Inspector M Rukumani, who prosecuted, said a police patrol rushed to the scene at 2.45 yesterday afternoon and found Phillip attempting to jump from the cafe roof.

The fire brigade was summoned and Phillip was brought down.

When the rescue party approached him, Phillip abused them, the inspector said.

 

Boston building, part 2

[Note: This story has been updated several times to include new pictures of the Boston building that came to my attention.]

At the end of last month, I had a story about the landmark Boston building on this blog. Here, in no particular order, are more old pictures of the same building at the intersection of Penang Road and Prangin Road, long before the hideous octopus-like overhead pedestrian bridge was erected to block out the building's façade.

First of all are these two black-and-white pictures shown above and below. What's significant about them was the absence of the Labour Soap neon advertisement on top of the building. In fact, the picture above was also devoid of the Time for a Tiger neon lights. This is definitely the earliest picture of the Boston building that I could find on the Internet. It is also interesting to observe that before Ovaltine, there was a Mayfair advertisement on the wall beside the building. Mayfair was supposed to provide "style and comfort" but beyond that, I have no idea what this brand was about. Further up along Penang Road was the Penang Police Headquarters building which was constructed just before the Second World War. Therefore, I would say that these two pictures could well be in the later 1940s but whether it was before or after the Japanese Occupation, I cannot say.  

In this picture, the Time for a Tiger neon sign could now be seen on the building. By the 1950s, the Labour Soap animated neon sign had been added. It was to become synonymous with the building itself. 

From the Ovaltine advertisement beside the building, I would surmise that this picture was from the first half of the 1950s. Penang Road was already a busy street then. There were lots of people on their bicycles; plus a few classic cars on the road. Unfortunately, I'm unable to decipher the name(s) of the movies on the building's circular front above the shop lots.

The clue here is the film The Tomb of Love which was screening at the Odeon cinema further up the road. as the film was released in its country of origin in 1959, it's quite safe to estimate that this picture was taken in 1960 or 1961. The problem with playing sleuth is that there are different versions of the Ovaltine advertisement on the wall. In what sequence did they appear?

I would be a bit hesitant to claim that this picture was from the 1940s. It could be the early 1950s. There's yet another iteration of the Ovaltine advertisement beside the barely visible Boston building. I see a ZLIN store on the far left. Perhaps this was before the store relocated to the corner of Penang Road and Campbell Street?

This picture was taken by Harrison Forman sometime in 1971 or 1972. More of his colour pictures of George Town can be viewed at this link: click here. Goliath and the Barbarians was being screened at the Cathay cinema while Odeon was showing a Chinese film. There was also an advertisement for the Paramount cinema on the panel which said Doctor Z. As the Paramount cinema, located along Maxwell Road, screened almost exclusively non-English films, this could not have referred to the acclaimed Doctor Zhivago movie. Indeed, Doctor Z here was a relatively old Hindi film by the time it had its run in Penang.

This picture should be taken at about the same time too, that is, 1971 or 1972. but the photographer is unknown. When I looked at it, one thing that fascinated me were the row of buildings on the left, which were all painted brightly in contrastingly striking colours.

This picture was from later, possibly the later 1970s or early 1980s. The Labour Soap advertisement atop the building has been removed and a new Boston Bar signage put up. Instead of the Boston Photo Studio, the space had been filled by a small finance company called Sim Lim Finance. (This picture was cropped from an original photograph taken by Alex Koenig.)

And finally, another picture taken in front of the Boston building presumably on the same day as the previous image. It's no longer the Ovaltine advertisement on the wall but rather, an advertisement for the Pagol brand of watches. It is to the credit of this Modern Fancy Store that it could survive this long at the same location. They sold batek, sarong material, shoes, slippers and what not. It was already there in the 1940s. And take note of the cobbler and his bicycle on the five-footway.

Oh yes, one more picture that I found today.  The five-footway outside the Boston building. And that's the same cobbler and his bicycle which were seen in the previous picture. With a stool for his customer to sit while their shoes were repaired. One of these women here were selling something to eat outside a shop in the 1970s. Dumplings? The shop here was most likely, a Chinese provisions store that also sold liquor. But who could these ladies be? What could they be selling? 

Grandmaster of property

Four years have passed by since Tan Chin Nam died. If he had lived, he would have been 96-years-old today, having been born on this date in 1926. However, he had died in 2018. 

Normally on the 21st of October every year, I would be spending the day celebrating the anniversary of my alma mater's founding in Penang but by a quirk of fate, I found myself in Kuala Lumpur in 2018 to attend the convocation of one of my nephews. And it was on that day in  Kuala Lumpur that word arrived in the late afternoon of the passing of the Malaysian Chess Federation's honorary life president. As I mentioned, it was a strange quirk of fate for me to be in KL which enabled me to pay my last respects to this grand old man of Malaysian chess.

Over the last one year of so, I have been digging through my collection of old newspaper cuttings to reproduce stories on Tan Chin Nam in this blog. A few months ago courtesy of Edwin Lam, I came across another feature story, this time bearing a deadline of 10 June 2006 in the Business Times newspaper in Singapore. Chess and horse-racing were only mentioned in passing as the main attention was on his business empire. Nevertheless, the feature was an interesting read and it complemented his memoirs, Never Say I Assume!, that came out in the same year.

Grandmaster of Property

TAN Chin Nam, whose name translates literally from the Chinese as Tan Develop South, may not be a household name in Singapore. But the seasoned Malaysian property developer was instrumental in two landmarks in Singapore - the Shangri-La Hotel on leafy Orange Grove Road and Parkway Parade in the east.

This was revealed in the 80-year=old businessman's recently published memoirs, entitled Never Say I Assume, which were written jointly with Mr Tan's friend Larry Parr.

The 293-page book provided a colourful sketch of Mr Tan's early years in pre-independence Malaysia, his stint as a rice trader and supplier to the British army, his 10-year tenure as a compradore for Bangkok Bank, his groundbreaking property projects in Malaysia and Singapore, his association with the first prime minister of Malaysia, and his passion for thoroughbreds and chess.

He has been widely credited as the man who built the first condominium in the Malaysian capital, through his former listed company Tan & Tan. The project is aptly called Desa Kudalari (which means running horse in Malay) as it is sited near the former turf club, which has since been transformed into the home of the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers.

The tycoon, who was last year ranked by Malaysian Business magazine as 28th richest man in Malaysia with known assets in excess of RM500 million (S$216.41 million), has earned many other accolades along the way. They include "Grandmaster of Property", "Mr Low Cost" after he was the first developer of houses in Malaysia for a mere RM5,000 apiece; the maiden Property Man of the Year award for Malaysian developers in 1992; the only horse owner to have won the prestigious Melbourne Cup three times with two horses; and honorary life president of the Malaysian Chess Federation.

Despite his many achievements, the octogenarian appeared friendly and sincere during a recent interview at his suite at the Shangri-La in Singapore. He wore a short-sleeved shirt and declined to don a jacket for the photographer. He disclosed that he had turned down offers of free accommodation at the hotel that he helped develop in the 1970s. He had ready and easy answers to many questions during the interview.

Mr Tan has continued to keep a finger on the pulse of major corporate and political events on both sides of the Causeway. When asked about the state of bilateral ties between Malaysia and Singapore, Mr Tan readily gave his views. "From day one I find the chemistry of the two countries not workable," he lamented. He said the Singapore approach was too "black and white" while Malaysia adopted a "grey" stance. "You cannot say who is right and who is wrong," the diplomatic businessman said.

Mr Tan proposed the formation of a private company to help resolve all the problems on both sides of the narrow Johor strait - the sale of Malaysian water to Singapore, the stalled bridge project to replace the Causeway linking the two countries, the redevelopment of the Malaysian railway land in Singapore and other issues.

All the items in the list of outstanding bilateral problems could be injected into the private company. The items can then be classified as "assets" and "liabilities" to both countries.

The company can then be floated as a sizeable public company, he said. But there must be an element of goodwill. "I appeal to Singaporeans to follow Tunku's style. Instead of meetings, go to the golf club, socialise a little bit," he said, referring to his good friend - the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was the first premier of Malaysia.

The reference to the late premier didn't come as a surprise. His friendship with the late prime minister is well known and is chronicled in Mr Tan's memoirs.

In the autobiography, Mr Tan fondly called his friend "the George Washington of Malaysia" as the Tunku had helped Malaysia secure its independence from the British in 1957.

Mr Tan disclosed that he was invited to a black tie dinner with the late premier in 1959 after the Tunku saw Mr Tan "hacking away" at the Royal Selangor Golf Club - a rather posh establishment for the 33-year-old Mr Tan then. "The dinner went well. The Tunku and I shared a common interest in horses and the destiny of Malaysia," Mr Tan wrote.

Mr Tan said he never benefited financially from his long friendship with the Tunku, who died a relatively poor man although he was a prince. In fact, Mr Tan disclosed that he helped pay the Tunku's income tax of about $40,000. "The truth is that I owed the Tunku a favour that had nothing to do with his loyalty during the racial riots of 1969," Mr Tan said, without elaborating.

Friendship, sincerity and loyalty appears to be a consistent theme in Mr Tan's life and business dealings. This is reflected by his long association with businessmen such as "sugar king" Robert Kuok, who is still the richest Malaysian, the late property developer Ang Toon Chew of Petaling Garden, and Chin Sophonpanich, who founded Bangkok Bank.

Although Mr Kuok is well-known for his current control of the chain of Shangri-La hotels worldwide. Mr Tan's early involvement in the project in Singapore in 1969 is less well know.

Mr Tan fell in love with the 12-acre plot of land at Orange Grove almost instantaneously. "Robert Kuok wasn't involved (initially). We (Mr Tan and Mr Ang of Petaling Garden) came, we saw, we bought. It took about one minute to make our decision," Mr Tan said.

Mr Kuok entered the picture subsequently and they jointly developed the landmark hotel. "Robert Kuok is Robert Kuok. After some time, he became senior partner," Mr Tan laughed. He then explained: "Robert Kuok was better capitalised than us at that time as we were basically condominium builders."

Mr Tan was sketchy about details, merely saying his stake was diluted while Mr Kuok raised his stake in the hotel. Apart from cashing out to raise money for his other housing projects, Mr Tan realised that it was not possible for the two men to run the hotel. "There can only be one tiger on the hill," he quipped.

But success such as the development of the famed Shangri-La Hotel didn't come easy for Mr Tan, whose rubber-trader father lost his fortune following the crash of rubber price in the 1920s, turning to opium for solace.

Mr Tan and his late brother, Kim Yeow, founded Wah Seong - which is Chinese for "Chinese merchant" - in 1946 to trade in commodities including Burmese rice. The business sank when its shipments were grabbed by pirates. They revived Wah Seong to handle food shipments to the British prisons and hospitals in colonial Malaya. Work was hard and the profit margin slim, but Mr Tan relished the memory of delivering potatoes and taking breaks after work at Penang's esplanade.

Like many Chinese traders then, Mr Tan and his brother ventured into property development. Their first project was a row of five shophouses in Penang in 1948. They sold each one for 5,000 Straits dollars per shop.

Mr Tan undertook a grander project in 1959 together with the late Mr Ang. The project was Petaling Garden, which today forms part of Petaling Jaya - the first satellite town to support the development of the bustling Malaysian capital. But success got into his head. "In 1959 I figured there was nothing I could not do well," he wrote.

He became a compradore - a middleman between an enterprise and the Chinese community - for Bangkok Bank in 1959. Like many compradores, Mr Tan took a commission on loans and foreign exchange deals in return for guaranteeing all the transactions.

He recalled Bangkok Bank's late founder Chin Sophonpanich as telling him that he would be very good in the job within five years - although Mr Tan reckoned he needed only one year to be a successful compradore.

Mr Tan revealed that he made about one million Malaysian dollars as a compradore in the ensuing decade - but lost it overnight in 1969 when a loan for the same amount soured. "I was injured in terms of my personal wealth, reaching deeply into my pockets to repay the bank," he wrote.

Despite being crushed by the banking experience, Mr Tan is believed to have maintained close contact with the banking family until today, although Mr Chin died in 1988.

Fortunately for Mr Tan, he has had more hits than misses in life. One hit was the development of Parkway Parade in the 1970s in Singapore by Parkway Holdings, the listed vehicle of the Tan family on both sides of the Causeway.

But Parkway, which was run by his nephew Tony Tan Choon Keat, came under fire from minority shareholders in 1995 for its ill-timed Harbourview project in the US. The showdown at the annual general meeting lasted more than four hours, deemed by this newspaper as a record in local corporate history.

Mr Tan's team won the day. He cashed out of Parkway two years later after the share price appreciated by over 60 per cent. His memoirs said success in developing Parkway Parade gave him the confidence to undertake his biggest-ever project, known as Mid Valley City in Kuala Lumpur.

The plan to build the biggest mall in South-east Asia was daring on all counts, due to the retail glut in the late 1990s and the onset of the regional financial crisis.

Fortunately for Mr Tan and family, the bet turned out to be a winning one. Big turnouts can now be seen almost daily at the well-designed mall along the busy Federal Highway, which has more than 1.7 million square feet of net retail space - a lot bigger than Singapore's Suntec City which has a retail area of over one million sq ft.

Another success was the Tans' Australian vehicle Ipoh Ltd, named after the tin mining capital of Perak, whose portfolio included the grand Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.

The Tan family sold its controlling stake in Ipoh to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation four years ago in a deal valuing the entire company at A$260 million (S$304.8 million).

"I trade and build things. Which are what I do best," Mr Tan declared.

Despite his tendency to trade assets like commodities, Mr Tan and family have kept Mid Valley in Kuala Lumpur for investment income. The asset generated RM171 million in revenue last year. Pre-tax profit from the property alone stood at RM92 million, according to the latest annual report of parent company IGB Corporation.

IGB is in the midst of adding a high-end appendage known as The Gardens which, when fully completed by 2008, will have a shopping centre with a net floor area of 800,000 sq ft, two office towers, and two five-star hotels in a garden environment. The Tan empire is now run mainly by Mr Tan's son Robert Tan Chung Meng and daughter Lei Cheng. [Editorial note: Robert Tan was the son of Tan Kim Yeow, not Tan Chin Nam, and was thus the latter's nephew.]

He has full faith in them. "The second generation can turn out to be an improvement of the old man," he quipped.

A rather modest statement for a man who has not only made it big in Malaysia but also in his southern ventures in Singapore and Australia. And he did it in style, guided by his strong principles, lessons from his early business failures and his many friends in the business and political arena.

The case against ivermectin

This is the transcript of the reply by Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, Director-General of Health, Malaysia, to a burning question why ivermectin has not been approved for use in the country to treat people affected by Covid-19. This question came at the end of Noor Hisham's public lecture which was organised by The Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society in Penang last Saturday. 

When we look into the data, there is conflicting evidence and there is no consistency among the available data to suggest ivermectin. And remember when this started, we also used hydroxychloroquine, a malarial drug, and we had a clinical trial by WHO, they call it a Solidarity trial, and it was proven that hydroxychloroquine had no effect at all and likewise we used [Note: several names were mentioned very quickly which I was unable to catch] HIV drugs, and they also had no impact to manage Covid-19. Last year even in Parliament this ivermectin issue also was raised. The public raised ivermectin and I actually was also a board member of the DNDi. In fact, two or three years ago when we explored a new compound in the DNDi to treat dengue, ivermectin was raised again in terms of using it to manage and treat dengue. 

Ivermectin is an old drug used for parasitic infection but there is actually an antiviral effect. We know that. The question is the consistency. To use the antiviral effect, you need to have a very high dose of ivermectin and we did a clinical trial for dengue… ivermectin for dengue in Thailand. They did a study. But you need a very high dose and you need close monitoring of ivermectin dosage because otherwise complication of diarrhea, renal toxicity, etc, will be there. They did the trial but halfway through the trial they had to abandon because of the high side effect. This is from Thailand. 

Dr PP Shah asking the "tough" question on ivermectin

What we did last year, and then when the pressure for the Ministry of Health to use ivermectin, we approved ivermectin for clinical trial, exactly what WHO had highlighted. You can use ivermectin but on a clinical trial basis. We started to do the ITEC trial, recruiting patients from both sides on a randomised control study of Covid-19. We had about 500 patients recruited, and then we monitored their progress. They were given ivermectin and whether they deteriorated to Category 4 or 5, more severe forms of Covid-19 and initially there was a lot of pressure on us. We said that we give (approval) in terms of clinical trial. Those enrolled in the clinical trial can use ivermectin. 

We have now completed our clinical trial. In fact, that paper has been published in the Journal of American Medical Association. JAMA journal, one of the peer review journals, a global peer review journal, accepted and it was actually one of the top references for ivermectin study, and that study showed that there was no improvement, no whatsoever benefit in terms of to stop the progression to a severe form. That was the conclusion of the paper. We have another clinical trial ongoing under the Institute of Clinical Research looking into ivermectin as prophylaxis, whether we can use it as a prophylaxis. Again, this trial has not been concluded yet so we cannot comment on that. 

Likewise last year when in Parliament they were asking us to register ivermectin but we needed evidence. Like I said, we follow science, facts and data. This evidence today, when we published the paper in JAMA in America, not only the issues of ivermectin but it shows that our clinical trial in Malaysia is able to penetrate (an) international journal which means the quality and standard of our trial is very high. The data has shown clearly that there is no benefit whatsoever. If you recover with ivermectin, if you don’t take ivermectin you also will recover. This is the thing that we have shown and proved in our clinical trial. We go on that and today this paper, we call it the ITEC paper, is the centre of referral for the global community using ivermectin in Covid-19. 

Public health award

It was a good outing this afternoon. Went to Penang Institute for the sixth Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society annual public lecture. Several weeks ago when the invited speaker was revealed as the Director-General of Health Malaysia, Dr Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, the news had caused quite a stir in Penang. Imagine, the DG himself would be turning up in Penang to honour a true Malaysian hero! 

As expected, the Press turned up in full force at the venue to listen to Noor Hisham's updates on the coronavirus situation in the country. Although the Society might have felt a little sidelined by the presence of the DG, my impression was that the occasion had also brought Dr Wu Lien-Teh back into the limelight. Not too late nor too much!

Together with the public lecture, we also held a little ceremony to receive two paintings of Wu Lien-Teh from a lady artist, Lim Guat Eng. She told me later that prior to several months ago, she had never heard of the doctor but after she did, she was inspired enough to interpret Wu Lien-Teh in two paintings. The first one was completed in two weeks but the second one was more complimented and took her about a month to paint. In any case, she decided to give both paintings to the Society. 

In the last few weeks, the paintings had been sent for framing. I had visited the frame maker about a fortnight ago to take pictures of the paintings before they were mounted as I knew that once framed, reflection would be unavoidable if anyone tried to photograph them. But I was only half successful as one of them was already framed. Ah, well....

Anyway, back to the public lecture, we had the Chief Executive of Penang Institute, Ooi Kee Beng, give his welcome address before Anwar Fazal, the President of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society, took to the floor to enthrall everyone with his customary informative address. Noor Hisham then spent about an hour on the lecturn to give everyone in the room, as well as those who had tuned in on YouTube and facebook, on a journey of the last 27 or 28 months from the time that the Covid-19 virus had surfaced in Wuhan in November 2019 till the present moment. There was also a more interesting Question And Answer session with the inevitable question of Ivermectin cropping up. More of that in a later posting!

Noor Hisham bin Abdullah receiving The Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society Leadership in Public Health Award from Anwar Fazal

The committee members of The Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society with the Director-General of Health and CEO of Penang Institute: (left to right) Cheah Cheng Chua, Ronald Quay, Ooi Geok Ling, myself, Hor Chee Peng, Anwar Fazal, Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, Ooi Kee Beng, Clement Liang, Alison Chong and Chin Poh Chin

The unveiling of the two paintings by Anwar Fazal and Noor Hisham with the artist, Lim Guat Eng (far left) and Ooi Kee Beng (far right) looking on. The two paintings will be on display at the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Room in the Penang Institute building.

Ooi Kee Beng (CEO, Penang Institute), Anwar Fazal (President, The Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society) and Noor Hisham bin Abdullah (Director-General of Health, Malaysia)

Scam emails

Over the past few days, I've received a number of emails from financial institutions informing me to be aware of scam emails purportedly issued by banks. So here you are: emails received from CIMB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Public Bank.

One of the first messages came from CIMB Bank. It started off by saying: CIMB will never call you to request for your banking or personal details. If in doubt, call the number at the back of your CIMB card or refer to CIMB website "Contact Us" page. 

There is a link to more security tips:

Do NOT respond to any SMS/phone calls

1. Do not respond to SMS or call from unknown person asking for your credit/debit card or online banking details.
2. Do not respond to any SMS or call that claiming it's coming from Bank Negara. Their officer will never call you to ask for your credit/debit card or banking particulars.
3. If someone claiming to be from your card service provider calls you and asks you to confirm the security numbers on the back of the card (the last three digits on the back of the card), you should end the call immediately.

What you have to do

1. If you're unsure, ask for a reference number and call back on a trusted number (i.e phone book) to confirm if the call was genuine.
2. Watch out for poor grammar in the SMS.
3. Check your transactions regularly.
4. Change your password periodically.
5. Safeguard your personal information.

Standard Chartered Bank took a different approach. Here is their email message:

Dear Valued Client,

Everyone loves a bargain, but the internet is an easy place for scammers to hide.

They may pretend to be 'sellers' and persuade you to make a purchase. Or pressurise you into paying them via bank transfer to their account. Once they get the money they disappear.

Here are some signs that a 'deal' could be too good to be true:

• Rock-bottom prices with a small window of opportunity
• Scammers hook you in with low prices and a short time frame, to make you take action quickly, for fear of missing out.
• No reviews or consistently negative feedback
• See what other purchasers think, and make sure to read the reviews, including negative ones.
• Requests to transfer money directly into the seller's bank account
• Always use secure modes of payment to protect yourself (and your money).

Here are some ways to help you stay safe when purchasing online:

• Shop on websites or online stores with enough information about refund policies, terms and conditions or contact details. 
• Look for sellers with high ratings and good reviews. 
• Only make payment through a secure payment service (look for the padlock icon displayed in the url). 
• Never provide your payment card details to the seller directly. 
• Avoid engaging with sellers in messaging apps where they may provide 'evidence' of identity to lure you into the deal. 
• Don't share more information than needed, always limit to your billing and shipping information.

If you suspect you've been a victim of an online purchase scam, report it to the authorities right away. For more fraud prevention tips, visit sc.com/fightingfraud/myaccount.

And then there was this email from Public Bank. Here is their message:

Spotted an amazing offer online that seems too good to be true? Be careful to not act on it too hastily as there may be a scam waiting for unsuspecting victims like you.

Warning Signs

• The offer or product is advertised at an unbelievably low price, or to have amazing benefits or features that sounds too good to be true.
• The seller requires immediate payment or forces you to pay via an unknown third party platform or website.
• The seller profile is brand new and has no product reviews.

Additional Warning!

Some sellers will require you download their app in order to claim a special discount or an exclusive product. Be wary! These apps are not downloaded via official app stores such as Google Play/Apple App Store and are most likely malware designed to steal your online banking and credit card information.

How to Avoid

1. Only purchase products from reputable shopping platforms.
2. Ensure that the online shopping platform has a refund or returns policy.Always do your research on the seller before committing to the purchase.
3. Check for seller or product reviews, make sure the reviews are relevant to the product they are selling.
4. Never make any payments via unverified third party apps or websites.

For more information on how to protect yourself online, visit our online security microsite.

The 𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙠-𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙠

In the last few days, my wife and I had been talking about cooking otak-otak again. you know, that one quintessential dish that defines Nyonya cuisine in Penang. We don't cook it often but it's one that my family always enjoy. The fragrance and taste of the rempah is second to none, in my opinion. Out of this world. 

Except, it takes a lot of effort to prepare the rempah. I was roughly timing myself as I prepared it this morning and it took me close to two hours! I can just imagine how much time it had taken my aunt to grind the spices with the batu geling in the past. Me, I just use the blender. It's so much easier and faster but people tells me that it doesn't give the same oomph as rempah that had undergone the batu geling treatment.

You'd need banana leaf to line the base of your plate but unfortunately this morning, I had been unable to find anyone selling the leaves at the wet market. So I had to make do without the banana leaf. Luckily, there were lots of daun kadok in the house and we used these leaves to line our steaming plates. We only lined the bottom but we could have lined the top too. This, I told my wife not to do as I really liked to see the glorious yellow-orange of the otak-otak when steamed. 

So what went into the rempah? It's not a trade secret as anyone can always find various otak-otak recipes on the Internet. We still improvised with the portions according to our mood but basically, the ingredients were beaten raw eggs, dried red chilies, serai (lemongrass), shallots, garlic, lengkuas (galangal), kunyit (turmeric), toasted belacan (shrimp paste), buah keras (candlenuts), ginger and grounded peppercorn. For the proportions, just check with the Internet recipes. It is important that the lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, candlenuts and ginger, being fibrous and harder, should be sliced thinly before they go into the blender or you'd be stressing the blades. 

One other thing that I should say. Before the otak-otak is placed in the steamer, it is imperative that the water should be boiling. We found that the steaming itself should be timed at 11 or 12 minutes. Once, we accidentally over-steamed at more than 15 minutes - don't ask why - and the end result was an almost unpalatable otak-otak. The beaten eggs in the mixture had caused it to harden. So now, we know better!