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Primary school teachers get heartwarming surprise
Drop in number of dengue cases
One million tourists expected at Malacca River Festival

Primary school teachers get heartwarming surprise

Posted: 27 May 2013 11:38 PM PDT

MALACCA: Two female teachers of the eminent SJK Pay Fong Two here were surprised when their pupils threw them separate parties by bringing their homemade cookies and cuisine for the celebration.

Although the celebration was held a few days after the actual Teacher Day's celebration on May 16, teachers Lok Mei Kuen, 40, and Tee Wei Siang, 34, were delighted by the pupils' recognition towards them by arranging surprise classroom parties which was held at the school recently.

Lok is class teacher for Year Four at the school while Tee teaches Year Six pupils.

The pupils sent messages to both their class teachers as a tribute to the valuable contribution made by them to the society by impar-ting knowledge and enlightening them.

Pupil M. Preissha, 10, said that the occasion was organised to pay reverence and gratitude to Lok for her selfless effort in enriching her and her classmates with valuable knowledge.

"Our celebration kicked off with a warm Teacher's Day wish and thanking Teacher Lok for her contribution followed by a range of colourful programmes and feast to turn the event into a memorable one," she said.

The other pupils relied on creative and attractive Teacher's Day greeting cards adorned with captivating and touchy quotes and messages to convey the indebtedness and also to capture the wonderful moments of the event.

Drop in number of dengue cases

Posted: 27 May 2013 11:26 PM PDT

KUANTAN: The number of dengue cases is on a downward trend thanks in part to the effort of Communication for Behavioural Impact (Combi) participants nationwide.

Health Ministry secretary-general Datuk Farida Mohd Ali said there were 9,266 cases with 17 deaths from January until May 18.

"Compared to last year, there were 9,562 cases with 20 deaths reported during the same period. This shows a decrease by 3%. The ministry believes the community at the grassroots level have also contributed to this decrease.

"Without the Combi members, there is no way the dengue cases can be reduced to such a percentage we can be proud of," she said in her speech read by disease control division director Dr Chong Chee Kheong at the closing ceremony of the National Combi Convention here recently.

Farida said the community's voluntary involvement in dengue prevention through gotong-royong activities and destroying Aedes mosquito breeding grounds were effective strategies.

"There is no high or low tide in fighting dengue. To take up the challenge, the Health Ministry has taken an integrated approach in line with the National Dengue Control Strategic Plan.

"Thus, the Combi programme was created as one of the strategies to mobilise the community to combat dengue," she said.

Farida said there were 2,557 Combi teams nationwide with 2,342 mobilised by the community through neighbourhood committees (KRT), village safety and development committees (JKKK) and residents association.

The other 215 were moved by non-governmental organisations, she said.

Farida also said even though the Combi's scope was expanded in 2012 to include healthy lifestyle, the main focus was still dengue prevention particularly in high-risk areas.

"I see Combi as being able to give a breath of fresh air to the promotion of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart problems and others.

"I hope the scope expansion using the Combi approach will be successfully realised," she said.

One million tourists expected at Malacca River Festival

Posted: 27 May 2013 11:27 PM PDT

MALACCA: The state anticipates one million local and foreign tourists to the Malacca River Festival this year.

Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron said the increase in volume of visitors could be gauged from the previous years where it attracted an enormous crowd.

"We have all the reasons to anticipate a huge turnout, further boosted by the rebranding of the event, known previously as Pesta Sungai Melaka.

"The festival itself is a crow-puller as besides the aesthetics of the rehabilitated Malacca River, there will be various activities organised by both government agencies and the private sector throughout the festival period," he said after launching the Intentional Scout Jamboree at Tehel here on Sunday.

Idris said that this year's festival would also showcase a river procession of decorated boats and fireworks.

In an unrelated development, Idris revealed that the Malacca and Sumatra governments had agreed to introduce a new gateway here which would allow easy daily travel between the two territories.

Idris Haron said under the new initiative, Indonesian workers living in Dumai, Bengkalis and Pulau Rupat would be able to travel here by sea to work and return home ater their working hours.

"Indonesians can work in Malacca and return home, just like Malaysians from Johor working in Singapore," he said.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 28 Mei 2013