mamakk!!!

via WorldBusiness:

Who are the modernisers and reformers steering the region towards good business practice, transparency and management excellence?

Other publications list Asia’s most influential, or its most powerful or richest, but World Business is more forward-looking than that. We have spotlighted the individuals driving Asia forward - those that are helping to bring about rules-based civil societies, or who are advancing the cause of better governance, be it in business or government. One of the greatest guarantees of freedom is the free-flow of information, debate and commentary, and so our list includes several who are integral to promoting debate where governments of the region seek to restrict it:

2. RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN, MALAYSIA
7. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, MALAYSIA
10. SYED MOKHTAR AL-BUKHARY, MALAYSIA
17. ZETI AKHTAR AZIZ, MALAYSIA

From Michael Backman’s Malaysia Bodoh to Malaysia Boleh!!! 4 out of 20 are Malaysians!

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via AP:

The number of cancer cases in Asia is set to rise dramatically by 2020 due largely to longer life spans and changing lifestyles, threatening a health crisis as poorer countries in the region struggle to afford care.

A fast-growing population coupled with people living longer and undergoing extreme changes to diet and lifestyle will place a major burden on developing countries that cannot afford screening, vaccines and expensive treatment, experts said at the start of a two-day conference in Singapore.

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via IPS:

BANGKOK, Dec 26 (IPS) - While South-east Asian countries appear to have made impressive economic strides since the 1997 crisis, the region’s youth may not be able to look forward to a harvest of opportunities in 2007, the 10th anniversary of the Asian financial meltdown that began in Thailand.

This sober assessment by economists from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) stems from studies showing that new jobs for young women and men have not kept pace with speed of the recovery.

‘’Since the crisis, unemployment has declined in South-east Asia, but the only exception has been in youth unemployment,” Gyorgy Sziraczki, senior economist at the ILO’s Asia-Pacific regional office in Bangkok, told IPS. ‘’The growth is not enough to create jobs for youth entering the labour force.”

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Carlsberg (Malaysia) - I truly believe that the Carlsberg brewed in Malaysia is superior to the European version. I always relish going to Malaysia just because I know I can drink as much draft Carlsberg as possible. It just tastes so crisp. Thailand really lost a great beer when Chang fell out with Carlsberg and pushed them out of the market through legal action but thankfully it is still available in Malaysia and from what I understand they are starting to increase their activities all over Asia once again.

Could it be the water? The Carlsberg Export version in Europe tastes pretty much like the ones in Malaysia though, if I remember correctly.

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via Asia Sentinel:

The Middle East’s iconic broadcaster begins airing news in a country that has tamed its own news media.

Given the docile nature of the local press, Malaysia seems a curious base for one of the world’s most aggressive and controversial news organizations. But now at least a handful of the country’s 23 million citizens can wake up to 24-hour-a-day English-language broadcasts from Kuala Lumpur by Al-Jazeera, the television channel whose facilities US President George W Bush once joked idly about bombing because of its supposedly anti-US bias in reporting on the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Although the Malaysian government says it is fully behind the network, authorities are cautiously limiting Al-Jazeera’s transmission to ASTRO All Asia Networks’ direct-to-home satellite television service, which covers just a sliver of the population. It is all well and good to praise the Muslim cause from afar but given Malaysia’s racial makeup and authoritarian government, Al-Jazeera’s penchant for hard reporting may not be to the liking of officials who could find the new channel an uncomfortable new resident in a media neighborhood that is virtually locked down by the ruling party. It seems doubtful that authoritarian rulers in Singapore, China and Brunei will allow in the channel.

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