PRASTARS – A Special Children’s Badminton Championship

PRASTARS Special children with YB Howard Lee

Thirty two special needs children participated in a badminton tournament organized by Prastars Recreation and Welfare Club with cooperation of the Special Education Unit, Perak Education Department. 

Champs Luay Wing Yan and Muhamad Alif Shahir with
YB Howard

 State Youth and Sport Exco Howard Lee who handed out prizes at the event said that this is the first time a tournament was organized at club level in Perak saying that he was very encouraged that Prastars club had taken the initiative to organize the event.

The tournament was held at the YMCA badminton hall and was open to anyone who could hold a racquet.

Luay Wing Yan, 9 years old from SJKC Pasir Pinji won in the female category of the badminton tournament yesterday beating other players older and bigger that her.

Luay did not talk much unless spoken to but she was different person when playing the final against Nuraslina Mohd Safri her opponent. Luay’s serves and power smashes belie her age, size and agility.

At the final Luay Wing Yan defeated Nuraslina Mohd Safri.  

Luay - power smashes and confidence

Later when asked if she loved beating her opponents she flashed a big smile again belying what it was she was thinking of but her wide grin said it all.

Club President, Silvanathan K. Arunasalam said the club was the brainchild of the late Dr Prasad of KPJ Healthcare an orthopaedic surgeon who did a lot of charity.

“It was formed just six months ago by members of the public and professionals like doctors, lawyer and engineers with the objective of organizing sports events for intellectually disabled children, a first by a private sector.

We approached YB Howard. He was enthusiastic and happy that someone from the private sector gave this suggestion and provided a donation to kick start our initiative”.

Organizing committee member Dr Winson, said by having sports like badminton for intellectually disabled we are bringing them into society otherwise called social inclusion.

The Teachers

The Organizing Committee. President Silvanathan is seated 4th from left and Dr Winson is standing 3rd form right

It is during these events where their parents, volunteers and other groups follow and recognize them and help them to feel comfortable.

JAG

18 Managers + 22 Councilors - 4 Priorities –What’s The Problem

Equipped for the job ....learn from Penang

Mayor’s Priorities....Rubbish, Drains, Roads and Grass

Yes it has been 1 month (16 August) since the Ipoh councilors have renewed their oaths of office and 2 months (9 July) since we got a new Mayor.

This month (3 September) Mayor Datuk Ahmad Suaidi said ‘his priority for the remaining part of the year is Rubbish, Drains, Roads and Grass”.

Ahmad Suaidi has committed to a tall order because those objectives have been neglected for years.

Will we see the objectives all throughout…

1.     The whole of Ipoh meaning Klebang to Simpang Pulai and Tanjung Rambutan till Menglembu.

2.     Will it include all the housing estates and industrial estates

3.     Rubbish. Does he plan on tackling the illegal rubbish dumps and garden waste

4.     Does he have a plan to enforce littering in the city.

5.     Drains. Will he bring back regular clearance of drains like elsewhere.

6.     Roads….will he bring back regular sweepers

7.     Grass … will he ensure road shoulders and parks are always neat.

8

Ipoh was once the cleanest town in the country and Singapore learnt from us in Ipoh.

Ipoh City Council has 18 Managers with most having been in the post for more than 5 years or more. With the 22 Councilor’s in place can we start seeing improvements immediately.

18 Managers + 22 Councilors to solve 4 Priorities –What’s The Problem.

A Kinta Valley Story – 1920’s The Boom Years For Malaya’s Tin Producers

      The revolution in mining methods saw the introduction of Dredges and Gravel Pumps

The rapid rise in the world demand for tin rose during the 1920’s. It rose from 110,000 tonnes in 1919 to 184,000 tonnes in 1929.

The increased demand made the 1920’s the boom years for Malaya’s tin producers including Osborne & Chappel.

In 1915 there had been only 1 dredge. By 1930 the number rose to 105 all owned by the European sector most built by start-up companies.

Similarly for Gravel Pump's there was only a handful in existence during 1915. The figure jumped to 430 by the year 1930.  

The Chinese miners decided that the gravel pump and monitors offered the best way to ‘make a fortune’.

........excerpt from the book ..’The Osborne & Chappel Story’

‘Save Perak’s Forests” – Signature Campaign

10 HECTARES of Forest shaved off KLEDANG HILL …. 400 HECTARES of KINTA VALLEY FOREST RESERVES will be destroyed.

Sign the ...... Online petition here 

Who will protect and preserve our forests for our children? …It is clear that we cannot leave it to the government to preserve our forests….We, the PUBLIC have an important role.

We need to urge the government to STOP THIS! WE HAVE A ROLE!

Till this morning 21 September 2019 the number of signatures collected is 2,000.

JAG

Bukit Jana Golf Club – CLOSED – Say What!

The remains of the club house

I was SHOCKED to find the Bukit Jana Golf Club had closed as in lock, stock and barrel when I visited Taiping recently.

Recent forlorn photos of the once 'lovely Bukit Jana Golf Club'

It’s a pity because the course was beautiful with long fairways and that crazy 5^th hole (I think so) bunker. It was a delight to play there as it is only an hour away from Ipoh.

The greens were in need of a trim meaning that it hadn’t been long since it had closed. 

The club house had been torn down leaving only the pillars as a reminder of what it was.

This is what i remember of Bukit Jana on my first visit in 2008.

I was told later by members at the New Club that it had closed abruptly on 3^rd July this year even though members were told could to use the course till end of the year.

Members wanting a game now have to travel to Harvard Club, Sungai Petani.

JAG

Chinese Apostolates Of Perak Celebrate Family Day At OMPH Church

The Chinese Apostolates from Perak held their Family Day at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church on September 16, Malaysia Day. 

Over 170 participants attended from five parishes in Perak namely Sitiawan, Taiping, Batu Gajah, St Michaels Church and Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church.

Five Parishes and 170 participants attended

This was the eight year of their Family Day. Batu Gajah parish will be the host for the next celebration.

After registration and breakfast the morning began with Parish Priest Fr Patrick Massang giving the opening address and prayer.

Parish Priest Fr Patrick Massang

Before the start - registration and breakfast

Before the program proper got on the way the congregation sang the Negara Ku and after it was the ice breaker with a praise and worship where MC’s Lucy, Bernard and especially Victor showed how it was done.

MC Victor breaks the ice and all followed

A Family Day with full participation

(from left)MC's  Lucy, Bernard and Victor.

Then it was GAMES. They called it Station games and involved the whole family. It was spontaneous, fun and involved both young and the old.

The Games. 'Digital Monitoring' to measure ones active movements

'Ball transfer' over cups filled with water

After lunch each parish performed a sketch with a script from the Bible.

OMPH's performance donned graphic costumes ... 

..and enhanced the performance. 

Some of the OMPH volunteers on Family Day 

The teachers, students and parents of OMPH Church did an excellent sketch. They performed the 'Three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1 - 11)  donning graphic costumes, though not elaborate that showed creativity of thought and brought out the full meaning of the verse. 

The closing Mass was con-celebrated by Fr Anthony Liew of St. Michaels Church and Fr Phillip Lai of OMPH Church after which the Family Day icon was passed to the representative from Batu Gajah parish.

A representative from Batu Gajah parish receiving the Family Day icon. Looking on is Fr Phillip Lai (l) and Fr Anthony Liew (back)  

JAG

Friday The 13th - The Day All Flights Were Cancelled At Ipoh Airport

One passenger relates how not being able to land at Ipoh took up the rest of her day.

On Friday 13^th September all flights to Ipoh Airport were canceled due to the HAZE.

Over a thousand passengers, inbound and outbound were inconvenienced that day.

Was it because of the HAZE or was it due to Friday 13 or maybe both. Whatever the reason, it made for a very long day for Ipoh resident Foong Poh Yan, 27. 

Foong works in Singapore and took off this weekend to be with the family. The day was Friday the 13^th and it was the Mid-Autumn festival day. 

She had taken the morning flight Scoot TR484 to Ipoh which departed at 7.45am from Singapore and arrived at Ipoh before 9.45am. 

In another hour, she thought, she would be with her family, have breakfast and enjoy her weekend leave. And then the announcement came through that the flight would be unable to land because of the heavy haze. 

And that was the start of her long day that would end only at night. 

“We circled Ipoh for about an hour when the pilot informed that we were flying to Kuala Lumpur. That took another hour.  

At KL we were not allowed to disembark. We were kept in the aircraft for 4 HOURS before Scoot announced that the aircraft would be returning to Singapore.

Tired and HUNGRY she decided to cancel the flight and took the bus to Ipoh.

She arrived at 10pm and had a late night supper with the family before retiring for the long day.

So much for that Festival but she was home for the weekend ... at last.

Fr Patrick Massang Celebrates BEC 25 Area Mass

The residents of St Joseph, BEC Area 25 held their area mass recently at the home of Elizabeth and Dr Martin Joseph.

Parish Priest Fr Patrick Massang celebrated with the residents.

He said that celebrating mass at the BEC areas gave him a chance to get to know the parishoners beyond the church. Fr Massang assumed the role of Parish Priest early this year.

The names of recently deceased members was mentioned during the mass.

Dinner was served after the celebration. Fr Massang blessed the bounty wherein all the members tucked in for a hearty meal.

JAG

Does MBI Contribute To The Problem .....

13 Sept photo

Our Mayor said that this year his priorities will be rubbish, roads, drains and grass. Well at the rate MBI is working any result will end up dismal this year. Saw 3 jobs in Bercham this week but it seems incomplete.

1

On Monday 9, I wrote of contractors cleaning the drains in front of AEON Kinta City. Well they did a good job and left the bags of waste for their contractor or MBI to collect.

taken on 9th Sept

taken 13th Sept

Today 13^th the bags of waste are still there. Shouldn’t it be collected by now instead of contributing a negative image of the area.

2

Similarly at Haluan Bercham Selatan 2 on 10 Sept, I saw the gutter was cleaned and the sand was piled on the sidewalk. Great job as clean gutters keeps the road from being water logged during rainstorms.

take on 10th Sept

It rained last night 12 Sept and some of the sand had gone back into the gutter because the sand was not cleared in a timely manner. Back to square one.

13th Sept 

3

Saw the 2 grass cutters cutting the field at Tmn Desa Kencana on 12 Sept. Checked this morning they hadn’t finished the whole field nor were they around this morning.

12 Sept

13 Sept

Is this the way MBI operates. Don’t they have Mandor’s or supervisors to check on their workers or contractors.

The Mayor was appointed in July and Councilors reappointed last month. Can MBI  get down to doing a better job.

JAG

Mayor's Priorities - Rubbish, Roads, Drains and Grass”

Saw this gang of  '4 contractors’ cleaning the drain at Ipoh Gdn East in front of AEON Kinta City. 9.30 am / 10 Sept.

Their job 

1. Clean the drains around Medan Ipoh (indicated) and

Nb the tree that had grown in the drain ...an indication of the months of neglect by authorities  

...today cleared and packed 

2. Pack the cleared drain rubbish and place in plastic bags awaiting pick up by separate party

3. Clearance of bags will be picked up by MBI or contractor (didn’t know who)

Before: note behind the worker After: cleaned drain

Workers said the contract started this month and duration of contract was 1 month.

JAG