Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

---

Brazilian Mancini jailed over sexual assault Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:38 AM PST MILAN, Nov 28 – Former AS Roma winger Mancini has been jailed for two years and eight months after being found guilty of sexual assault by a Milan judge, Italy's ANSA news agency reported today. The ex-Brazil international, now playing back home with Atletico Mineiro, was accused of assaulting a young Brazilian woman last year while playing for AC Milan on loan from city rivals Inter Milan. Media reports said Mancini, who enjoyed his best spell in Italy with Roma between 2003 and 2008, met the woman at a party. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

QPR eye new recruits and stadium, says Fernandes Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:03 AM PST SAO PAULO, Nov 28 – Queens Park Rangers could be after three or more players in the January transfer window but are unlikely to revamp the squad at the end of the season if they stay in the Premier League, according to owner Tony Fernandes. The Malaysian aviation entrepreneur (picture), who runs Team Lotus in Formula One, also said at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix that QPR were looking at sites in West London for a new stadium and training ground. "We have to strengthen our squad. (On Saturday) we had so many injuries, we just don't have a deep enough squad," he declared. "I was given 10 days to buy players (at the end of August) and we picked up six or seven in that period and did pretty well. We need to keep building the squad, and we also need to keep building the youth squads, which is important as well." Fernandes, previously a committed West Ham United fan who failed to buy that club, bought the West Londoners in August from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore. He immediately brought in highly-rated men like Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Armand Traore, Luke Young and Anton Ferdinand. Asked what he would be looking for, Fernandes replied: "That's really (manager) Neil (Warnock)'s call, but we need to keep strengthening the back, we are short of keepers for a start, and up front we could do with a bit more firepower. "We're having a meeting in the first week of December to discuss that with the shareholders," he added when asked about the budget available. "It could be maybe three, four (players), I don't know. You could end up with none if you don't find anyone. We had six or seven in the last transfer window, which is way above what I thought we'd get. "It depends. At the last minute some things come up. It's very hard to tell." NEW STADIUM A keen user of social network Twitter, Fernandes recently asked QPR fans to recommend potential transfer targets and he hailed his 'mad Tony Fernandes moment' as an inspired one. "You effectively have 100,000 scouts out there for you, and there is no way QPR could ever know every single player," he said. "Suddenly we have players we've never heard of and Neil is looking at videos and saying 'not bad'." Come the end of the season, the club should be more settled. "I think you can see from my life in Formula One that I'm not a revamper," smiled Fernandes, wearing his familiar red AirAsia cap. "I like stability. I don't make decisions and chop and change. That's bad. "We've a great manager, we've the nucleus of a great team, so I don't see a wholesale change." Loftus Road, hemmed in by residential streets in West London and with a capacity of around 18,500, is another matter. "The key this year is to survive, but we would like a bigger ground and we are looking," said Fernandes. "It has to be in the area. It makes no sense to move out of where you have spent most of your life, and where the fan base is. So West London is where we are and where we'd like to be. "Building a stadium is not the easiest thing in the world but there are opportunities in West London. "The first building that we are going to do is a new training ground, and there are two sites we are looking at, also in West London, so hopefully that will be announced soon." How big a stadium is needed remains open to debate. "Some fans are saying 'We don't have a fan base bigger than 20,000'... My gut feel is 40-45,000. That's double where we are right now, but we're in London and there's a strong catchment area," said Fernandes. "We'll do some studies on that. The beauty of Loftus Road is that it's so intimidating." The Malaysian also joined in criticism of FIFA president Sepp Blatter for recent comments on racism in soccer. "His comments were said without a lot of thought, and with a little bit of nonchalance that shouldn't be there for someone who is FIFA president," said Fernandes, whose defender Ferdinand is at the centre of a police investigation after Chelsea's John Terry was accused of racially abusing him. "He (Blatter) probably didn't mean it the way it came out, but he's the president of FIFA so he's got to be gooder than good. "Football administration has to sort itself out. It's too big a sport, there is too much money around," added Fernandes. "When countries are changing and asking for freedom and democracy, and you have organisations such as FIFA, there just needs to be more transparency. The world demands it, and the world should get it." – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

---

Hong Kong’s ‘A Simple Life’ sweeps ‘Chinese Oscars’ Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:22 AM PST Actress Deanie Ip (R) and actor Andy Lau display their trophies after winning the Best Leading Actress and the Best Leading Actor awards for the film 'A Simple Life' during the 48th Golden Horse Film Awards in northern Hsinchu on November 26, 2011. – AFP pic HSINCHU, Nov 28 – Hong Kong drama "A Simple Life" swept the board Saturday at the Golden Horse Film Awards – known as the Chinese-language Oscars – with gongs for best picture, director, actor and actress. "I want to thank director Ann Hui and Andy Lau for giving me this opportunity to play so I can be so lucky in my old days," Hong Kong actress Deanie Ip, who took the Best Actress award, told the crowd at a gala ceremony in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan. Ip, 64, played a servant who wants to move into a nursing home after suffering a stroke in "A Simple Life", a role that also won her the best actress award at September's Venice film festival. Hui was crowned best director and Lau best actor for the film, based on the true story of veteran Hong Kong film producer Roger Lee. "I am very happy to win – I hope I won't have a stroke," joked Hui, who saw off popular Taiwanese director Wei Te-sheng and Chinese veteran Jiang Wen. However, as Lau collected his award he said Hong Kong's film industry was at a low point and he hoped it would pick up to emulate Taiwan. Wei, whose aboriginal war epic "Seediq Bale" led the race with 11 nominations, walked away with the best picture and two technical awards as well as best supporting actor for Bokeh Kosang. "I am really grateful to my co-workers and I am sorry to have kept you in the mountains for so long. I also want to thank all the 'angels' who financed the film," Wei said. "Seediq Bale" was based on the true story of a mountain headhunting tribe fighting against Japanese colonial forces in the 1930s, and became Taiwan's most expensive production with a cost of US$23 million. Wei said in an earlier interview that shooting the film in the mountains was challenging, while securing enough funding to keep the production rolling was a constant struggle. The best new performer prize went to 20-year-old Ko Chen-tung for playing writer Giddens Ko in the teen romance "You are the Apple of My Eye," which has topped box offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese films notably missed out in the major categories this year, although acclaimed director Jiang Wen's black comedy "Let the Bullets Fly" took best adapted screenplay and best cinematography. Nearly 30 films from Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong were nominated in the 48th edition of the Golden Horse Awards, styled after the US Academy Awards but decided by a jury along the lines of the Cannes film festival. – AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

‘Women in Love’ director Ken Russell dies: BBC Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:13 AM PST LONDON, Nov 28 – Ken Russell, the British director of "Women in Love" and "The Devils", has died at the age of 84, the BBC said today. Media reports said he died in his sleep yesterday night. Russell began his career with the BBC and went on to direct some of the most controversial and violent films of the 1960s and 70s. Women in Love, a 1969 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel, became infamous for its nude wrestling scene between actors Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. Russell was criticised for the level of violence in the 1971 religious drama "The Devils". – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Features

---

Saunas may give your heart a healthy boost Posted: 28 Nov 2011 01:37 AM PST New research finds that regular sauna treatments can increase heart health in patients with chronic heart conditions. ― AFP pic TOYAMA, Nov 28 ― New research reveals a surprising new therapeutic benefit to relaxing in a sauna: getting hot and sweaty can not only release "happiness molecules" but also help your heart. This week British science magazine New Scientist reported on the research, which found that people with chronic heart failure who took fives saunas a week for three weeks enjoyed improved heart function and a boost in their exercise endurance. In the study, researcher Takashi Ohori and colleagues at the University of Toyama in Japan asked 41 volunteers with heart failure to take a 15-minute sauna fives time a week. After the sauna treatment, participants were asked to wrap themselves in a blanket for 30 minutes to keep their body temperatures about 1°C higher than normal. "Sauna treatment increased the heart's ability to pump blood, and boosted the distance participants could walk in 6 minutes from 337-379m," wrote New Scientist. The researchers also found improved function in the membrane lining the inside of the heart, which plays a role in controlling the diameter of blood vessels. The findings were published in The American Journal of Cardiology. Thanks to the increase in body temperature, separate research has found that a sauna treatment can trigger neurons in your body to release serotonin, resulting in a feel-good sensation. ― AFP-Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Mediterranean-ish diet tied to better heart health Posted: 27 Nov 2011 07:56 PM PST NEW YORK, Nov 28 — Once again, eating a diet based on fish, legumes, vegetables and moderate amounts of alcohol is linked to lower chances of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other vascular "events", according to a study of New York City residents. Mediterranean-ish diet rich in fibre and omega-three fatty acids could influence heart health, study shows. — Reuters pic The mostly Hispanic and black participants in the study did not necessarily eat traditional foods from Mediterranean countries, but the closer their diets were to the spirit of Mediterranean eating — with plenty of fish, healthy fats such as olive oil, whole grains and vegetables — the lower their risk of death from vascular problems including heart attacks. "While it's not the Mediterranean diet, it is comparing a healthier diet to a less healthy diet, and there was some improvement," said Teresa Fung, a professor at Simmons College in Boston who was not involved in the study. For nine years, Dr Clinton Wright at the University of Miami and his colleagues followed more than 2,500 residents of northern Manhattan, a neighbourhood with about 63 per cent Hispanic residents, 20 per cent African Americans and 15 per cent whites. Information about the health benefits of a so-called Mediterranean diet in the black and Hispanic populations in the US is lacking, Wright's group notes in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Because both groups are burdened by high rates of heart disease, the team set out to study how much of a difference diet might make. A little more than half of the study participants were Hispanic, while the other half was split roughly between non-Hispanic blacks and whites. All were over 40 years old when the study began. At the outset, researchers asked participants about their health history, and ranked their eating habits along a nine-point scale: the higher the number, the closer the person's diet was to the Mediterranean ideal; with lots of fish, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and vegetable oils and very little meat or animal fats. The group then tracked how many people later suffered a stroke, heart attack or death related to a vascular problem such as pulmonary embolism and aneurysm. More than 300 people in the study died from a vascular issue. Each point higher that a person scored on the nine-point Mediterranean diet scale reduced the risk of vascular death by 9 per cent. The study did not find that the diet had any effect on the risk of having a stroke, however. Among the 171 people who suffered a stroke, those at the high end of the diet scale were just as likely to have had one as those at the low end of the scale. The researchers did detect slight protection from heart attack among those whose diets ranked in the top four on the Mediterranean scale, but the finding could have been due to chance. The results back up previous research that also reported benefits to heart health from eating a Mediterranean diet. The study does not prove that diet is responsible for the benefits the researchers saw. But the Mediterranean diet is rich in elements such as fibre and omega-three fatty acids, which could influence heart health, Wright said. The evidence was not conclusive, he said, but overall, the Mediterranean diet appeared to be good for people's heart health. "There's very little evidence to suggest that it's harmful compared to some other diets that we consider harmful, such as diets rich in red meat," Wright said. "So it seems like there isn't much harm in it and there's increasing evidence that it's beneficial." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Features To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

---

Shahrizat: ‘Saya tiada kena-mengena dengan NFC’ Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:40 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 28 Nov ― Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil hari ini menegaskan beliau tidak ada kena-mengena dengan isu berkaitan Perbadanan Fidlot Nasional (NFC). Justeru kata Ketua Wanita Umno itu, beliau tidak akan menggunakan perhimpunan agung Umno minggu ini untuk menjawab sebarang isu yang dibangkitkan pembangkang berkaitan NFC. "Saya tidak akan jelaskan (isu NFC) tetapi ada satu, dua mesej yang nak saya jelas kepada pihak di luar sana semasa persidangan Wanita Umno nanti. Tunggulah. Sebagai pemimpin, kita kena banyak bersabar, tenang dan jangan cepat melatah. "Saya tidak akan jawab. Kalau nak bertanya mengenai NFC, tanyalah kepada orang NFC. Saya hanya akan tumpukan pada Pergerakan Wanita Umno," katanya pada sidang media sempena Perhimpunan Agung Umno 2011, di sini. Bagaimanapun Shahrizat berkata beliau tidak akan menghalang mana-mana perwakilan untuk berbahas isu berkenaan NFC pada perhimpunan agung sayap itu Rabu ini. Laporan Ketua Audit Negara baru-baru ini menyatakan NFC gagal memenuhi matlamat penubuhannya diikuti dakwaan pembangkang wujud penyelewengan peruntukan kerajaan berjumlah RM250 juta kepada NFC, yang mana suami Shahrizat, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail menjadi Pengerusi Eksekutifnya. "Dalam politik (parti) mana tidak ada masalah, tambahan pula pembangkang, dia takut kerana Wanita Umno kukuh bersatu padu dan dia cuba untuk menggoyahkan Wanita Umno tetapi Alhamdulillah, Umno dan Wanita Umno tetap kental. "Keimanan kita, keikhlasan kami tidak akan berganjak dan kita tak akan mudah melatah walau apa pun pembangkang nak buat sebabnya kita ikhlas dalam perjuangan untuk agama, bangsa dan negara," kata Shahrizat dipetik Bernama Online. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Perkasa: Umno perlu kekal relevan untuk kaum Melayu Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:37 AM PST PASIR MAS, 28 Nov ― Perkasa mahu Umno terus memberi tumpuan dalam perkara yang menyentuh soal kepentingan kaum Melayu dan agama Islam pada perhimpunan parti itu, yang berlangsung esok, selaras dengan dasar awal penubuhannya. Presidennya, Datuk Ibram Ali (gambar) berkata Umno perlu kekal relevan kepada bangsa Melayu sebagai tonggak kerajaan dan dapat menyatupadukan semua kaum yang ada demi pembangunan negara pada masa depan. "...terutamanya golongan cerdik pandai, mereka ingin melihat Umno benar-benar memperjuangkan agenda Melayu, bukan retorik. Jika Umno mahu kekal relevan sepanjang masa, selain mendapat keyakinan orang Melayu maka sudah tentu mereka perlu terus memperkasakan agenda tersebut dalam perjuangannya. "Rakyat hari ini, khususnya orang Melayu, sudah pandai menilai antara retorik dan realiti," katanya selepas menghadiri sambutan Maal Hijrah 1433 peringkat Dewan Undangan Negeri Tendong hari ini. Dipetik Bernama Online, Ibrahim, yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pasir Mas, mendakwa masih ada yang berpendapat kononnya senario hari ini membayangkan Umno kurang memberi fokus kepada agenda Melayu, meskipun banyak penekanan berhubung perkara itu telah dimanifestasikan kepimpinan parti tersebut. Katanya, persepsi itu wajar diperbetulkan sebelum ia memberi impak negatif kepada parti, rakyat dan negara. Beliau percaya berdasarkan pengalaman serta kekuatan yang ada, Umno mampu melakukan perubahan bagi mencorak masa depan negara dalam aspek ekonomi, politik, sosial dan sebagainya dengan lebih berinovasi serta dinamik. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

---

The remedy against the muddy world of spin doctoring Posted: 27 Nov 2011 03:41 PM PST NOV 28 — The line between public relations spin doctoring and independent objective opinion can often be easily blurred and naive experts who are not careful can be caught in between. Just ask Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, and he can probably tell you. Last week, The Independent broke the news that FBC Media was being investigated by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom in a global news fixing row. The newspaper noted that FBC was said to have tried to "cultivate" the world-famous environmental economist and other leading opinion formers in the green movement for the documentaries it made for the BBC and other news broadcasters, including CNBC. "FBC Media claims in its promotional literature that it targeted Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, to be an 'ambassador' for its corporate client on programmes it made about the controversial palm oil industry in Malaysia," read the report dated November 17. The Independent's story also noted that FBC worked for Sime Darby, the world's biggest palm oil producer. In an immediate reaction, Sachs issued a statement saying that he was "surprised and dismayed to see this completely inaccurate and utterly absurd portrayal of him." "He is not an ambassador or anything else for this company (Sime Darby). He has absolutely no personal relationship with the company and has never, indeed would never, serve as an 'ambassador' or 'champion' to any corporation," the statement noted. In my years as a journalist, I've been privy to plenty of PR spin doctoring. Some of the things I've seen and experienced were innocent and perhaps downright silly or hilarious when I recall them. Other spin doctoring wasn't so funny and left me utterly flummoxed.  While I would note that paying money to specialised PR firms to enhance the publicity and image of a country isn't new, the heights to which countries would go today to get ahead have reached an alarming proportion, exemplified by what has happened over this fiasco. Given that palm oil is one of Malaysia's most lucrative commodities, Malaysia needs to boost its image especially when dealing with the thorny issue of deforestation in the palm oil industry. But the way FBC went about conducting its PR spin has not only seemingly blown up in its face but has also brought about international condemnation and vilification of its practices in other media. PR scandals involving large corporations are not new. So what makes this fiasco any different?  To begin with, I think it has to do with the fact that it involves not a private company but instead a sovereign nation and very likely public expenditure. These factors make the issue that much more open to public scrutiny. But perhaps the more telling thing is that it involves an alleged collusion between the media, a government-linked company and a government.  As someone who's an active practitioner in the media industry, I'm reminded that there must be clear lines drawn between the work we undertake for clients and the work we do as a journalist or in a news organisation. This is why many publications draw the line between an advertorial and an editorial.  Thus, it's not uncommon practice to find a publication having separate and clearly demarcated personnel to handle advertorials and editorials. And when the article appears in a reputable publication, clear lines are also drawn between what is deemed to be an independent piece of fact-based journalistic article and what is paid for — or should I say, "a sponsored" article, a term that has been widely popularised by Google.  But the thing is, as old-school news organisations stare down the barrel of dwindling advertising, news organisations and indeed the personnel that run them may be tempted to blur the lines between these age-old, prudent and accepted practices. The fact is truth can be conveniently stretched — even outright distorted — and often the power to do that comes in the form of dollars and cents. Although the BBC or CNBC may not have been complicit in FBC's plan to try and pass off its programme as factual news stories, the FBC/Sachs case only demonstrates the fact that even the most reputable of journalistic organisations could have taken for granted the programming they aired, passing them off as independent stories produced by reputable news organisations. The media has often been dubbed as the Fourth Estate, and for good reason too. In a functioning democracy, the media plays its part by watching over the other three pillars of government.  But in this increasingly highly competitive, profit-driven world, who will act as the watchdog of the media?  At the end of the day, I am of the opinion that only pressure internally and externally can bring check and balances to the media. From within, news organisations must value integrity and truth before revenue and profits. There is nothing wrong with being paid by clients for articles that carry targeted messaging — so long as it is clearly labelled as such — in order that readers or viewers know this fact. Stories that are paid for simply have no place in the sections that pass off as factual news reports. And the external factor that can keep the media in check is globalisation. Because of the interconnectivity brought about by the Internet, other news organisations, media watchdogs, non-governmental organisations and even individuals could potentially keep watch over the kind of news that is being reported by questioning the source of the news reports. In the final analysis, these pressure points working in synergy with each other could possibly be the last bastion of check and balance in today's increasingly competitive world of spin doctoring, ensuring that democracy will remain the order of the day. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Playing Mummy Posted: 27 Nov 2011 03:28 PM PST NOV 28 — This year, I was elected class teacher for the second last Year Six class. I must be honest and say that dealing with 12-year-olds wasn't always easy. I am just thankful I made it to the end of the year with my sanity intact. I had six girls in my class. They were a lovely, quiet bunch. I also had 28 boys in my class, each with his own unique personality. Some were rowdy, always getting into fights with one another. Some were quiet, always tending to their own thoughts and rarely giving me trouble. Azam* was one of the quieter ones. All the teachers liked him. A soft-spoken and polite boy, he rarely gave us any trouble in or out of class. Then one day, he started missing school. At first it was just once a week. Then it became worse. Sometimes he didn't turn up for a whole week. I knew something was wrong. Each time he was absent, I made sure I followed procedure. I called his father. I left voice messages on his voicemail service. I sent text messages, asking about his son. Never once has his father responded to any of my attempts to make contact with him. Even the official letter from the school didn't work. We never got a response from him. Azam continued to miss school. All his subject teachers were concerned, myself included. The UPSR was fast approaching. We knew he could do better than just achieving a pass in all his papers. For that to happen, we would need to make sure he came to school more often. Whenever I saw him at school, I would try to talk to him. Maybe if he felt comfortable he would open up a little. He would rarely give me a straight answer, choosing instead to shrug or keep quiet. I tried not to nag but I knew he had to be constantly reminded of the fact that only education could help him create a better life for himself. I knew he understood that I was asking because I was concerned, not because I was trying to make him feel bad. Sometimes he would start tearing up, at which point I would often let him be. It wouldn't do to have him bawling in the staff room. I might start doing the same too! As their class teacher, it was my job to try and understand what was going on so I can help my kids. Azam wasn't one to talk. I couldn't get much information out of him. His father wasn't much of a help too. Luckily, some of the teachers and my pupils lived near his house so they shared with me whatever they knew about his home life. They told me that his parents got divorced a couple of years ago. During their happier days, his Indonesian mother was the one supporting the family. Despite living in Malaysia for many years, she couldn't get her permanent resident status because her husband refused to go through the hassle of applying for it. They weren't rich but at least, somebody was taking care of Azam. When the parents got divorced, his father got a job working at a factory in a nearby district. He moved there to be nearer to his workplace but left Azam to live with his aunt. His father would come and see him once a week. Sometimes he never came. That was when Azam started to pretty much take care of himself. He got into a car accident last year and received quite a large amount of money from the insurance company. Instead of using that money for Azam's education, his father decided to use it to fund his second marriage. Meanwhile, the poor boy was missing school because the father had neglected to pay his school bus fees. I felt very angry when I found out about his father's lack of care for him. How can he expect his 12-year-old son to be responsible for himself when he as a grown man was not responsible towards his own son? Trying to talk to the father was futile. He never responded to any of my attempts to establish some sort of communication with him. Even when we went to his house, we could never meet him as he was living in a different place. As his class teacher, I knew I had to help Azam somehow. His Malay language teacher and I decided to visit him at home so we could see for ourselves what his problems were. That day, we found him at home alone. He hadn't eaten since morning because there was no food in the house. The night before, he only had a simple meal of fried eggs and rice with sweet soy sauce. His aunt was away at work. He told us she would come home late every night due to her work which only finished at 10 each night. We decided to talk to his aunt. The heavily made-up woman certainly didn't look very happy to see us when we sought her out at her workplace. She told us about what happened between her brother and his wife, confirming the stories I had heard. She expressed her frustration over her brother's lack of attention to his own son. She also admitted to not being able to do much for her nephew because she had her own problems to worry about. We talked about him missing school and told her of our hope that he wouldn't keep doing that. His aunt then suggested that one of us pick him up every day so he wouldn't miss school. Bless my kindhearted colleague who quickly agreed to give him a ride to and from school every day because his house was on her way to work. So for the next few weeks, we made sure that he didn't miss any more school. He sat for the UPSR, all three days of it, and managed to pass at least two out of five papers. It wasn't what we had hoped for but at least we had tried. Azam came to see me on the last day of school to thank me for teaching and for helping him. I made him promise to call me if he needed any help with school next year. He promised to, although I doubt he would. He has always been a very proud kid. I always tell my kids to try and not miss school because while they are at school, the teachers can help them. I can help them. Once they are at home, they are lost to me. I cannot help them because some parents don't take too kindly to such help. I have had parents accusing me of being a busybody and trying to stick my nose into their home affairs when in actual truth, it was done with their child's best interest at heart. I don't know where Azam will end up in the future. I can only hope that he will remain the good kid he is and not get mixed up with the wrong crowd. As teachers, there is only so much that we can do to help our students. Parents too must do their part because at the end of the day, they are the ones who brought these children into this world. *Child's name has been changed to protect privacy. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com