Isnin, 7 April 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Panic in the kitchen as UK digests new fruit and veg advice

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 06:20 PM PDT

April 08, 2014

Over the past decade, Britain has absorbed, if not adopted, the idea of five a day, the target endorsed by the state-run National Health Service (NHS) for a healthy, balanced diet. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, April 8, 2014.It was with a heavy heart, and some panic, that Britons digested new advice this week that their struggle to eat enough fruit and vegetables had just got harder.

Over the past decade, Britain has absorbed if not adopted the idea of five a day, the target endorsed by the state-run National Health Service (NHS) for a healthy, balanced diet.

But now researchers at University College London (UCL) have advised this should be increased to at least seven to cut the risk of death from cancer or heart disease.

The recommendation is directly aimed at Britain, which has one of the highest rates of heart disease in Europe, a fact blamed in part on a diet high in fat and sugar.

Questions have been raised about the results but they have sparked a flurry of debate in a land which, while no longer fuelled by sausages and chips, still has some way to go.

Only around a quarter of adults currently manage five a day, according to National Health Service (NHS) data, while other research puts the figure at one in 10.

"Are they having a laugh?" wrote one newspaper commentator in response to the UCL results, echoing people around the country as they surveyed the dismal contents of their fridges.

"I can't even do five a day, let alone seven. It's an early grave for me," said one woman on popular parenting website Mumsnet, where the issue was trending this week.

Another added, with an air of fatalism: "I don't much like fruit, my daughter doesn't much like veg. My husband likes doughnuts."

For all Britain's top restaurants, the celebrity chefs and television cooking programmes on virtual loop, Britons have firm tastes – and they are not for fruit and vegetables.

The nation eats 6.4 billion sandwiches and consumes ready meals on 1.6 billion occasions every year, according to a recent survey by research group Kantar Worldpanel.

Add to that more than 1.1 billion pizzas, 1.6 billion pies and pasties, 1.5 billion roast dinners, 578 million bowls of spaghetti bolognese and 308 million plates of lasagne, and the national picture is clear.

Britain introduced the five-a-day campaign in 2002, based on a recommendation from the World Health Organisation of a daily intake of 400 grammes of fruit and veg a day.

The WHO said this amount – equivalent to five 80-gramme portions – would help prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, as well as nutritional deficiencies.

The message caught on and was adapted around the world, from the "More matters" campaign in the United States – where 36% of adults are obese – to the "Go for two (fruit) and five (veg)" in Australia.

But experts warn that eating well is not just a matter of choice, and there are concerns that moving the goalposts may be counter-productive.

"We're managing to eat two, maybe three portions a day. If you start recommending unrealistic targets, my fear is that some people would just give up," said Azmina Govindji of the British Dietetic Association.

She told AFP: "When you start to give blanket advice to a population, where there are cost issues, there are time issues... we've got to be realistic.

"My advice would be – focus on what you're eating today and try to add one more portion."

The cost of fresh fruit and vegetables has gone up by about 30% in the past six years and is 19% more expensive than the EU average, according to the food ministry.

This increase has coincided with a squeeze on incomes during the recession, and it is perhaps no surprise that the poorest households are eating both less fruit and veg than the richest and less than they did before the financial crash.

Jonathan Firth, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel, says the trend is towards healthier food, and diets are likely to improve with the economic situation.

"We have become more self-aware. That's not to say that we've necessarily as a nation got a really healthy diet, we're just trying to take steps towards that," he told AFP. – AFP/Relaxnews, April 8, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Norwich had no choice but to sack Hughton, says club

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 07:34 AM PDT

April 07, 2014

Norwich City had no choice but to dismiss manager Chris Hughton (pic) with just five matches left in the season, with a change needed in a bid to stave off relegation, chief executive David McNally said.

Hughton was sacked on Sunday, a day after his side slumped to a listless 1-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion, a result that left them five points above the drop zone, having lost four of their last six Premier League matches.

He has been replaced by youth team coach Neil Adams, who made more than 200 appearances for the club on the right wing, but has not managed at senior level.

Ominously, after next weekend's match with 18th-placed Fulham their final four games are against leaders Liverpool, last season's champions Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

McNally said Hughton, 55, "is one of the good guys in an industry where you swim with sharks," but it was the unanimous decision of the board to let him go.

"It's a results business and four points from the last six games, particularly against peer-group clubs, hasn't been good enough," McNally told a news conference on Monday.

"Seven away defeats consecutively, four defeats in six games, four points in six games is relegation form."

The 48-year-old Adams said it took him about "two seconds" to accept the job, despite the magnitude of the task awaiting him.

"I've got to put my stamp on it. I need to organise the way I want the players to play," he said.

"More than anything, we need a bunch of players prepared to do everything.

"People outside Norfolk will not realise how big a club this is. We need to send a team out to win a game.

"Am I confident we can get enough wins to stay up? Absolutely.

"I was approached on Sunday and it took two seconds to make the decision. Everyone knows what this club means to me. I'm looking forward to doing the job with relish."

Despite their precarious position and the tough fixtures to follow, Adams said extending Norwich's stay in the top-flight to a fourth consecutive season did not hinge on getting three points against Fulham.

"I don't think it is a must win," he added.

"But if we win on Saturday it helps our cause. But there are four other games and we can win against the bigger teams. But we're going to Saturday's game to win it and we will deal with the consequences afterwards."

McNally said results would dictate whether Adams would remain in the role after this season. – Reuters, April 7, 2014.

Formula One still has a licence to thrill

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 07:17 AM PDT

April 07, 2014

Mercedes Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain driving in the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. – Reuters pic, April 7, 2014.EUTERSThose who feared the wheels were about to fall off Formula One had better think again.

The sport has come in for a fuel tank full of criticism lately, much of it self-inflicted, but Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix broke the negative spiral with a race that lit up the track in more ways than one.

The cars were too quiet and not quick enough, likened ludicrously to golf buggies with cautious 'taxi drivers' more preoccupied with saving fuel and sparing the tyres than overtaking.

Listening to some people, racing had become boring and the glamour sport had lost its mojo. Or maybe not.

"Unless I am very much mistaken," as retired British television commentator Murray 'pants on fire' Walker would no doubt have opined had he been at the microphone on Sunday night at the floodlit Sakhir circuit:

"And I am very much mistaken."

After a dull race in Malaysia the previous weekend, Sunday was suddenly showtime again.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg seized the sport by the scruff of the neck and, in a superbly illuminated night race, gave it full throttle. And some.

They, and other team mates duelling down the field, demonstrated that the sport is still in full possession of its licence to thrill and eager to use it.

Hamilton's win, after being chased by his team mate all evening in a wheel-to-wheel battle that left them separated by barely a second at the finish, provided the perfect riposte to the critics.

"That made me happier than anything," commented Mercedes technical head Paddy Lowe as he celebrated his team's third win in three races this season and second successive one-two finish.

"It's a great result for Mercedes and the team, but more than that, it's a great result for Formula One because there has been so much negative stuff going on around, generated perhaps by some of our competitors putting in doubt the nature of this new formula."

Only hours before the race, Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo, whose cars have plenty of catching up to do and slunk home ninth and 10th, had sauntered into the Sakhir circuit to hold forth in front of the television cameras.

He referred again to the 'taxi drivers' and spoke of the need to bring back the lost 'music' of the engines and allow flat-out racing from lights to chequered flag.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt, attending his first race of the season, met the major players while commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone told reporters the public wanted change and it had to happen.

The sound will be altered, with a general agreement to come up with a way of raising the decibels after the first European race in Spain next month, but Sunday evening gave Formula One something else to shout about.

For that, Mercedes must take much of the credit by allowing their drivers to race each other all the way rather than forcing them to back off with the dreaded 'team orders' that kill the contest.

Lowe said there had never been a moment's thought about it.

"Mercedes-Benz has a long history in motorsport and this is part of the philosophy that we want to follow," he said.

"It's the spirit of Formula One and motor racing generally. Team orders, putting in artificial constraints, is a terrible thing for the entertainment, the spectacle.

"We believe that we should let the guys race, particularly in a situation where we have a dominant car, it's all the more important to keep providing that entertainment and excitement. That's what it's all about," he said.

Mercedes had won comfortably in Australia and Malaysia, but Bahrain showed how much of a performance advantage the team have.

Hamilton and Rosberg were in a race of their own, almost a minute clear of the rest before the safety car was deployed and pulling away again rapidly once it came in.

Such domination might be a recipe for boredom, but with two evenly-matched drivers going wheel-to-wheel, this year could be back to the future and a classic in the making.

In 1988, during the last turbo era, McLaren team mates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna won all but one race between them in an epic title battle.

Boring? Predictable? Not a bit of it.

"It was a massive fight out there and that's what I'm here for. For racing like that," said Rosberg on Sunday night.

"It was a good day for the sport, which is important, because of recent bits of criticism. I think they (the critics) are all going to be quiet tomorrow, which is a good thing." – Reuters, April 7, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

Book tells how CIA turned ‘Doctor Zhivago’ into propaganda tool

Posted: 06 Apr 2014 09:21 PM PDT

April 07, 2014

CIA officials had rave reviews for Boris Pasternak's classic Russian novel "Doctor Zhivago" – not for its literary merit but as a propaganda weapon in the Cold War, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

The US intelligence agency saw the book as a challenge to Communism and a way to make Soviet citizens question why their government was suppressing one of their greatest writers, according to newly declassified CIA documents that detail the agency's involvement in the book's printing, the Post said.

The Soviet government had banned the novel and British intelligence first recognized its propaganda value in 1958, sending the CIA two rolls of film of its pages and suggesting it be spread through the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Moscow was both angered and embarrassed by the eventual success of the novel and of David Lean's lavish 1965 movie version, which won five Academy Awards and was nominated for best picture.

Pasternak's romantic epic chronicles the life of Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet, and his love for two women through decades of revolutions, wars, civil war and Communist oppression. "Doctor Zhivago" had a religious, mystical tone and its main character did not hew to official Marxist ideology.

Russian critics denounced Pasternak as a traitor and the Soviet publishing industry would not touch it, but an Italian literary scout took a copy of the manuscript out of the Soviet Union and an Italian company published it in 1957.

Shortly afterwards, the CIA became involved, according to recently declassified memos obtained by authors Peter Finn and Petra Couvee in their research for the book "The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book," which will be released in June.

The Post's story was an adaptation of the Finn-Couvee book.

Challenge to Soviet ethic

One of the CIA memos said "Dr. Zhivago" had high propaganda value "not only for its intrinsic message and thought-provoking nature, but also for the circumstances of its publication.

"We have the opportunity to make Soviet citizens wonder what is wrong with their government, when a fine literary work by the man acknowledged to be the greatest living Russian writer is not even available in his own country in his own language for his own people to read," the memo said.

The CIA decided to have it published in foreign languages for free distribution as a way to undermine the Soviet Union.

"Pasternak's humanistic message – that every person is entitled to a private life and deserves respect as a human being, irrespective of the extent of his political loyalty or contribution to the state – poses a fundamental challenge to the Soviet ethic of sacrifice of the individual to the Communist system," John Maury, chief of the agency's Soviet Russia Division, said in a memo, according to the Post.

The CIA wanted to conceal the US role in disseminating "Doctor Zhivago" so it brought in a Dutch publishing house to print Russian-language versions - even though the Italian publisher still held the rights to the book.

The books were distributed across Europe with the primary target being the 1958 Brussels Universal and International Exposition because Moscow had issued visas for 16,000 Soviet citizens to attend.

The CIA did not want the US pavilion at the exposition to distribute the 365 copies of the book so they were discreetly handed to Soviet citizens visiting the Vatican's pavilion.

The books circulated widely among Soviet visitors to the exposition and a CIA memo proclaimed the move a success.

Later the CIA engineered the publication of a miniature edition of the novel – small enough to fit into a pocket and sometimes split into two volumes to make it easier to conceal. Many of those mini-books were distributed to young Soviets and Eastern Europeans at a youth conference in Vienna in 1959.

With the CIA's help, "Doctor Zhivago" eventually reached Moscow and Soviet satellite countries, passed from hand to hand.

Pasternak, who was also a leading poet, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 and the English-language version of "Doctor Zhivago" spent six months atop the New York Times best-seller list in 1958 and 1959.

Pasternak stayed in Russia up to his death in 1960 at the age of 70 after suffering from heart problems and lung cancer. – Reuters, April 7, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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Kereta api berkelajuan tinggi hubungkan Malaysia-Singapura siap 2020, kata Najib

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 02:57 AM PDT

April 07, 2014

Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan Singapura hari ini menegaskan bahawa kereta api berkelajuan tinggi yang dicadang menghubungkan republik itu dan Kuala Lumpur, akan siap mengikut jadual pada 2020.

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak (gambar) berkata kedua-dua kerajaan menyedari hakikat bahawa projek berkenaan merupakan rancangan yang besar dan kedua-dua kerajaan bekerja keras ke arah menepati tarikh akhir itu.

Beliau berkata projek yang dicadangkan itu akan meningkatkan sambungan merentas sempadan antara kedua-dua negara.

"Saya rasa terlalu awal untuk kita menyemak semula garis masa pada peringkat ini. Kita mahu ia menjadi sasaran, supaya kita akan menjadi sangat fokus dan kedua-dua kerajaan akan tertumpu ke arah tarikh sasaran 2020, " katanya.

Najib berkata fasa pertama kajian kejuruteraan bersama bagi membangunkan penjajaran yang mungkin bagi projek itu dan cadangan bagi Sistem Transit Rel (RTS) yang menghubungkan Singapura dan Johor Baru telah siap.

"Nanti akan tiba masa untuk kita membuat keputusan mengenai pilihan terbaik. Kita mempunyai 27 pilihan kemungkinan untuk menjadikan RTS sebagai sistem pengangkutan yang paling cekap dan berkesan yang akan memberi manfaat kedua-dua negara," katanya.

Beliau berkata Malaysia akan membuat keputusan tidak lama lagi mengenai lokasi RTS di Johor Baru.

Najib dan rakan sejawatannya, Lee Hsien Loong, menghadiri mesyuarat delegasi tertutup sebelum sidang akhbar berkenaan.

Lee berkata para pegawai kedua-dua negara terpaksa bekerja keras dan sangat fokus untuk memastikan projek kereta api berkelajuan tinggi ini dilaksanakan.

"2020 adalah sasaran yang baik. Adalah suatu yang mencabar untuk mencapainya tetapi saya tidak fikir kita perlu melonggarkannya lagi," kata beliau.

Lee berada di Malaysia sempena Pemukiman Pemimpin Malaysia-Singapura kelima. Beliau tiba semalam, diiringi isterinya Ho Ching, dan pegawai-pegawai kanan Singapura.

Najib berkata destinasi akhir kereta api berkelajuan tinggi di Malaysia ialah di Bandar Malaysia, di mana terletaknya pangkalan Tentera Udara sekarang ini.

Bagi Singapura, Lee berkata terdapat tiga kemungkinan bagi destinasi akhir sambungan rel di Singapura iaitu di Tuas West, Jurong East dan bandar raya.

"Saya memaklumkan beberapa pertimbangan dan kemungkinan kepada Perdana Menteri Malaysia. Ini yang kami sedang usahakan dan kami akan membuat keputusan tahun ini atau berikutnya," katanya.

Sementara itu, dalam satu kenyataan bersama yang dikeluarkan selepas Pemukiman Pemimpin Malaysia-Singapura, kedua-dua perdana menteri menggesa kumpulan kerja kereta api berkelajuan tinggi itu supaya bekerja bersungguh-sungguh ke arah memenuhi mandatnya pada 2020.

Pemukiman kelima itu, yang diadakan di sini, adalah platform untuk kedua-dua pemimpin berbincang kerjasama dua hala antara kedua-dua negara.

Mesyuarat terakhir berlangsung di Singapura pada Februari tahun lepas, yang menyaksikan mereka bersetuju pada sambungan kereta api berkelajuan tinggi di antara republik dan Kuala Lumpur, yang akan mengurangkan masa perjalanan antara kedua-dua negara dengan ketara kepada hanya 90 minit. – Bernama, 7 April, 2014.

Azmin cakap Inggeris di Parlimen bantah GST depan delegasi Australia

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 02:43 AM PDT

OLEH HASBULLAH AWANG CHIK
April 07, 2014

Dewan Rakyat hari ini gamat apabila ahli Parlimen Barisan Nasional (BN) dan Pakatan Rakyat berhujah dalam bahasa Inggeris membincangkan Rang Undang-Undang Cukai Barangan dan Perkhidmatan (GST).

Situasi itu bermula apabila Timbalan Yang DiPertua, Datuk Ronald Kiandee mengalu-alukan kehadiran ahli Parlimen Australia di Dewan Rakyat hari ini yang kemudiannya menyaksikan Ahli Parlimen Gombak Mohamed Azmin Ali (gambar) berhujah menggunakan bahasa Inggeris.

"Saya mengalu-alukan kehadiran delegasi Australia hari ini menyaksikan debat GST yang diperkenalkan kerajaaan BN yang hanya mendapat undi popular 47%," kata Azmin dalam bahasa Inggeris yang mengundang kekecohan Parlimen hari ini.

Keadaan itu kemudiannya digamatkan lagi dengan Ahli Parlimen Rompin Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis yang mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Australia kerana membantu dalam kerja mencari dan menyelamat pesawat Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370.

Beliau kemudiannya menggesa Azmin untuk tidak mengamalkan politik murahan dengan cuba menarik perhatian ahli Parlimen Australia tersebut.

"Jangan mainkan politik murahan," katanya kepada Azmin.

Menyaksikan keadaan itu, Yang DiPertua menggesa agar situasi tegang itu dihentikan: "Tak perlu cakap orang putih.

Keadaan demikian menyebabkan beberapa ahli Parlimen BN bangun menjerit-jerit sehingga dewan menjadi gamat menyebabkan delegasi Australia itu segera meninggalkan Dewan Rakyat. – 7 April, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

A ‘rewarding’ career in the non-profit sector

Posted: 06 Apr 2014 05:29 PM PDT

April 07, 2014

Ying Hooi is attached with a local university. Her research interests cover the fields of civil society, social movements, protests, political participation, human rights and democratization.

Tom Brokaw once said, "It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference."

Last week, we lost a prominent Malaysian human rights activist who devoted her life championing the rights of migrant workers.

Irene Fernandez abandoned her career as a teacher in her early 20s to become a human rights activist.

The organisation that she formed in 1991, Tenaganita, is actively involved in fighting for the rights of migrants.

Seen as a "threat" in the country, the government repeatedly harassed her for her activism.

Ironically, she has won many international recognitions and awards for her dedication, including the Amnesty International Award and Right Livelihood Award. The United States also acknowledged Irene as one of the ten leading activists around the world in the fight to abolish any form of modern-day slavery.

Social and political activism is not new in Malaysia, but it is not a field that most Malaysians would perceive as a career, like what Irene did.

An activist is often depicted as a potential danger to political stability and a "threat" to state authority.

Edward Abbey said, "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

However, the situation is different here.

Human rights NGOs, for example, are often portrayed as anti-government and anti-national. They are sometimes even called "traitors" who do not appreciate the government of the day.

This perception hinders the younger generation from getting involved full time in non-profit activities or social activism.

It seems quite natural to assume that most college or university graduates favour a job at a big firm or corporation, rather than to work for an advocacy organization.

Ask a college or university student, it is rare to hear them wanting a full-time career in the NGOs.

Mention the NGO, and their eyes glaze over. Not knowing what to say next, they cautiously smile and nod, and that's it.

A main concern is the salary range, generally perceived to be much lower compared with other industries.

With rapid change of the political and social landscapes in the country, there is a grong demand for talents in the NGO sector. The non-profit sector is set to become more rigorous and professional.

Although a career in activism receives little recognition, many do not realise that it could be a more rewarding job in many ways than a regular job in the corporate sector.

The salary range might not be comparable if we look at the workload, as it is a 24/7 job. However, the intangible returns are priceless.

One of the best things about working with a non-profit organisation is that you are contributing towards making a change in society and in the lives of the ordinary people.

So, if you want to be a professional activist, I say go for it! – April 7, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.