PROF. LEE SIOW MING

Congratulations to Prof. Lee Siow Ming for achievement award. 

Prof. is a Malacca High School graduate of 1975.

He resides in London, United Kingdom. 

BTOG Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

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Each year the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) gives a lifetime achievement award to an individual who in the steering committee’s opinion has made a significant contribution to the management of thoracic malignancies in the UK.  The award is presented at the BTOG Annual Conference.

2023: Professor Siow Ming Lee

MHS GRADUATE ENJOYING HIS TIME

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Keeping fit and travelling the world

BY GRACE CHEN

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2017/08/07/20/30/metd_0808_gctams180617_pamellalim_1.ashx/?w=620&h=413&crop=1&hash=A9C7E27B1D72A4EF85F632ADC29B7E4ACE487F53

(From right) Tam with his daughter Joyce on the day she was called to the Bar, his wife Constance, who has her own law firm, and his son Jonathan, who is in the IT line.

 

AT the height of his sporting career, sports writers described Tam Chiew Seng, the hockey star who represented Malaysia in the 1978 and 1982 Asian Games and the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, as a tireless player.

Sporting his signature headband – because he had long hair and the headband was very much in fashion at that time – Tam was a media darling in the hockey arena.

“I played to win. I was like an engine,” recalled Tam, now 61.

He admitted that sports writers had their favourites but said, “they could be a critical lot as well”.

A Melaka native and the son of a bricklayer, Tam started a career in sports as a cricket player.

When he debuted in the Saudara Cup in 1972 at age 16, he was the youngest player in the Malaysian team. His last international cricket outing was in the 1980 Interport match against Hong Kong.

As for his hockey career, he retired upon returning from the 1984 Olympics in the US, much to his fans’ disappointment as the 28-year-old was at his peak.

But the father of two, who is now a compliance manager with Eng Lian Enterprise, decided it was a good time to start a new chapter in his life.

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/focus/2017/08/08/keeping-fit-and-travelling-the-world-former-hockey-olympian-now-enjoys-healthy-lifestyle-holidays-an/~/media/e045a1fe53bb480fbef43220fdbf6825.ashx?h=668&w=500

Tam on holiday in New Zealand. He has travelled to many places around the world with his wife or his golf mates

The writing of this new chapter was mainly inspired during a group outing with friends to a theatre play in Universiti Malaya.

There, he met his wife, Constance Teo. Soon enough, Tam stepped into the role of supporting husband, no-nonsense parent and dedicated family man.

“It has been a long time since I have held a hockey stick,” he said when met at Bukit Kiara Royal Selangor Club.

But it is not that Tam is no longer inclined to sports. He simply switched sticks – from hockey to golf.

“I used to be a single handicapper. Now it is 15,” laughed Tam.

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/focus/2017/08/08/keeping-fit-and-travelling-the-world-former-hockey-olympian-now-enjoys-healthy-lifestyle-holidays-an/~/media/ed9ec95b75cb4f66bab7c9bae3c84d8f.ashx?h=336&w=250

Tam (left) during a match in Stadium Merdeka in 1977.

He blames age and work commitments for the slide. But it does not bother him as he reckons he has overcome bigger challenges such as conquering Mount Kinabalu when he was 55 and travelled around the world with his wife and golf mates.

Tam also boasted about his wife’s photography talents. He said her works were featured in an exhibition, “Nature Thru The Lens”, at the White Box in Publika in June.

Still sporting a svelte frame, Tam’s latest preoccupation is his fitness.

“Health will not come to you. You have to work for it, “ he said.

Having gone through the heartbreak of seeing his late mother struggle after surviving a stroke, Tam is determined to age gracefully.

Tan’s approach to health is simple.

He is up at 6am daily to snap on his Fitbit and track the mileage he has clocked in his morning walks.

He does not believe in following health fads, save for one session of yoga after which he decided it would have been best taken when he was younger and more flexible.

When it comes to food, he confessed to be yet convinced by organic vegetables and wheat germ.

“I eat everything. But I believe in moderation and not to overeat. I stop the moment I am full,” said Tam.

He also makes sure to cut away the lard when he is enjoying roast pork. He drinks red wine when the occasion is fit but his limit is three glasses.

He does not smoke and does not mince his words on those who do.

As a former police officer, Tam is totally against drugs. The very first thing he told his son when the boy attended university was not to study hard but to stay away from drugs.

On his life philosophy, Tam said he is entirely against public demonstrations, insisting there is no issue that cannot be settled by discourse.

“You must know who to talk to,” said Tam.

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/focus/2017/08/08/keeping-fit-and-travelling-the-world-former-hockey-olympian-now-enjoys-healthy-lifestyle-holidays-an/~/media/5e24bc18ec524ba482ed08d7904ef2f7.ashx?h=857&w=500

Tam has traded his hockey stick for golf clubs to maintain his fitness level.

He also believes everyone must learn the valuable lesson of standing on their own feet, for that is how one builds character.

But he also stressed on the importance of lifelong friendships because no man is an island.

Coming from a traditional Chinese family, he places importance on filial piety.

He is especially sentimental of a shirt his daughter bought him for his birthday.

On his current interests, Tam said he and his wife have caught the traveling bug. Both are looking forward to touring Eastern Europe.

Otherwise, he can be found on the golf course most Saturdays.

Tam Chiew Seng studied in Malacca High until 1973.

Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/focus/2017/08/08/keeping-fit-and-travelling-the-world-former-hockey-olympian-now-enjoys-healthy-lifestyle-holidays-an/#MvCk2Fhh5qBMTRJB.99

FORMER MHS STUDENT DR. CHUA KAW BENG DISCOVERED NIPAH VIRUS

Dr Chua Kaw Beng had discovered the Nipah virus whilst it was still in the midst of the outbreak here that eventually killed 105 people and led to the culling of over a million pigs. — AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — Dr Chua Kaw Beng is one of the most unassuming people you will ever see, but he is the man that possibly rescued Malaysia from one of the most virulent viruses known to man: the Nipah virus.

Today, the Nipah virus is well known, having been the inspiration for the 2011 movie Contagion, but in 1999, when it had been confused for Japanese encephalitis (JE), Dr Chua broke all manner of rules in order to prove his discovery.

In an interview with US media outlet NPR, Dr Chua recounted how, when he was still a virologist in training, he had discovered the Nipah virus whilst it was still in the midst of the outbreak here that eventually killed 105 people and led to the culling of over a million pigs.

He made the chilling discovery in the lab of Universiti Malaya (UM) where he was still studying, but was ignored by his professors when he brought his findings to them.

Local authorities had also not given the outbreak their full attention, then believing it was another JE incident with mosquitoes as the vector.

Dr Chua and Dr Tan Chong Tin, a neurologist also based at UM, noticed then that the disease was entirely absent from the Muslim population, but was ravaging Nipah, the home of many of the country's pig farms and where one in three families eventually lost someone to the virus,

“No, no I knew it was something else, and people were dying!” Dr Chua told NPR in the interview published on Saturday. “But no one would believe me.”

Dr Chua then decided to sneak samples of the virus into the Centers for Disease Control in the US, under the pretext of studying mosquito-borne diseases. He sealed the virus in his suitcase and carried it by hand on the flight to and into the CDC.

There, he would have access to the CDC's powerful microscopes that would allow him to clearly study the virus, but how he brought the samples into the centre broke many of its safety and quarantine procedures.

“It was an emergency… I had to get the samples there very quickly,” he explained.

As risky as the move was, it allowed Dr Chua to identify the virus as paramyxol, the virus family that contains both the Hendra virus and what would later be called Nipah, after the area that it most ravaged.

The discovery and later corroboration by other scientists at the CDC were crucial in convincing the Malaysian government then that the outbreak was not JE, prompting it to deploy the military in a massive culling operation that killed over a million swines.

It was discovered a decade later that the pigs had been infected by bats, and the clustered nature of farms then had made them what Dr Tan described as a “virus factory”.

The outbreak led to a complete overhaul of Malaysia's pig farming industry.

Dr Chua has since left the country for the Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory in Singapore, where he is senior principal investigator.

Dr Tan remains attached to UM as a neurologist.

Both men were part of the UM investigative team that was conferred such prizes as the Merdeka Award and the Mahathir Science Award for their efforts in discovering the Nipah virus.

- See more at: http://m.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/how-a-student-broke-the-rules-to-save-malaysia-from-the-nipah-virus#sthash.oMuribNB.dpuf

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR HO

Thursday, 27 October 2016 | MYT 12:44 PM

Dr Ho becomes first Malaysian to receive award from American College of Surgeons

Ho (left) receiving the International Guest Scholarship Award. certificate from Nigri

 

WASHINGTON DC: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Urologists and Sexual Medicine Professor Dr Christopher Ho Chee Kong became the first Malaysian to receive the International Guest Scholarship Award from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

The award was presented by Giuseppe Nigri, who is also Chair of the International Relations Committee (IRC) Scholar Selection Subcommittee of the ACS at a ceremony during its annual congress recently, in the United States capital.

American College of Surgeons Vice-President Prof Hilary Sanfey said: We are particularly, pleased that one of the 2016 recipients is Dr Christopher Ho Chee Kong, the first surgeon from Malaysia to receive this honour.

Dr Kong (Ho) is one of 12 recipients selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, all of whom had demonstrated a commitment to teaching and/or research in accordance with the standards of the applicants country,” she told Bernama when contacted.

On being the first Malaysian to be recognised by American Surgeons, Dr Ho, 41, of Malacca said: I am very happy and proud as a Malaysian... to be accepted in America, traditionally all doctors in Malaysia look up to the United Kingdom or Australia.

Dr Ho was given the opportunity to carry out clinical, teaching and research activities in North America, besides attending and participating fully in educational opportunities and activities of the ACS Clinical Congress.

The son of parents who taught deaf students at a school in Malacca, did not expect his application to be part of the ACS programme would be accepted with US$10,000 (RM41,820) in scholarship.

“I sent the application early last year to be in the programme, and only received an email answer at the end of the year,” he told Bernama while thanking College of Surgeons of Malaysia president Prof Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid, who he said had put in a good word to ACS on his application.

During the five-day congress beginning Oct 16, Dr Ho also presented a paper on ‘Surgical Training in Malaysia: Challenges and Roadmap’ which was also attended by Dr Hanafiah.

While in the US, he also had the opportunity to visit the world-renowned University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, where he observed robotic surgery on prostate cancer and kidney cancer performed by the distinguished Professor of Urology, Dr Claus Roehrborn.

He also took a tour of the facilities and the set-up of this spanking new state-of-the-art university hospital and was mentored by the illustrious Professor Dr Arthur Sagalowsky, another prominent urologist in America.

Meanwhile, Dr Hanifah said the Malaysia College of Surgeons and indeed, the nation was very proud to see the young surgeon receiving the award from the largest surgical institution in the world at a meeting attended by 30,000 surgeons from all over the world.

I hope this will be an inspiration to our young trainees in Malaysia and Dr Christopher (Ho) will use this opportunity to learn some of the finer aspects of modern surgery from the institutions that has produced many Nobel laureates and transfer the knowledge for the benefit of our patients, said Dr Hanifah when met in Washington recently.

Dr Hanifah, who has also won the International Medal for Distinguished Award from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, is the first Malaysian to have received the award. - Bernama

Webmaster : Dr Ho is a MHS graduate from 1988 TO 1994

MHS former student strives for better things

Monday, 10 October 2016

Where there’s a will...

BY LIM WING HOOI

Bottling in process. — LIM WING HOOI/TheStar

So what if you don’t have the knowledge or expertise? Ho Yew Pun, the founder of Bodibasixs Manufacturing, knew nothing about making personal care products, and yet he managed to build a company that exports to over 20 countries and makes over RM50mil in revenue every year. LIM WING HOOI reports

JUST because you don’t have the expertise in a particular field doesn’t mean you have no chance of making a successful go of it. They say where there’s a will there’s a way, and sometimes it really is true.

Take Ho Yew Pun, for example.

The founder and managing director of Bodibasixs, which makes 12 types of personal care products and exports to over 20 countries, had no background in personal care products at all.

Before he started the company in 1995, Ho spent umpteen years as the branch manager of a finance company. Then, one day, he decided he wanted a career change, to move away from being a salaryman.

The question is: What business to get into?

This was a question that he was to dwell on for five long years. When Ho threw in his letter, he joined the family business and spent a few years helping his father to expand the hardware shop in Malacca into a wholesale business.

His familiarity with the hardware business naturally prompted him to consider going into the manufacture of hardware goods like nuts and bolts. But after spending five years doing research into the manufacturing processes as he worked for his father, Ho decided that it would be much better to make personal care products instead.

The manufacturing process for such products would be more systematic and cleaner, not to mention quieter.

“In early 90s, there weren’t many such players, while brand owners of personal care products were more keen to focus on marketing,” Ho recalls.

The next big question he had to grapple with was how to go about it since he had zero expertise in this segment.

Products that have been bottled are inspected before being sent for labeling.

Ho had a big hurdle to surmount, “but I had the people to help me make it happen,” he says. A key person who helped him was Goh Ser Heng, 62, who is today the company’s non-executive director.

It was Goh, then a factory manager at a pharmaceutical company in Malacca, who suggested that Ho go into contract manufacturing for personal care products. He was also the person who helped Ho set up his manufacturing line.

Being pretty much a finance guy, Ho knew he didn’t have the expertise to manage the new business. But, well, if you can’t do it yourself, you could always hire somebody who can do it, right?

And that’s exactly what he did.

Ho’s first hire was Lee Pang, then a logistics manager at one of the largest food and personal care contract manufacturing companies based in Shah Alam, Selangor. Ho came to know of her through his brother-in-law and decided she would be the best person to run his new factory.

He offered Lee the position of general manager, throwing in some shares as sweetener, to encourage her to join him as “Employee No 1”.

Lee, 60, remembers that the conditions then were good. The economy was booming and she had climbed a long way up the corporate ladder at her company, where she joined as a clerk and, over 16 years, rose to become the manager overseeing purchasing, planning and warehousing.

A worker ensuring that the labels for the products are correct.

But she also wondered how much further she could climb.

Lee says she was impressed with Ho’s sincerity in wanting to get her on his team and decided to embark on a new chapter as part-manager and part-entrepreneur.

“I wanted to do something different, and Ho offered me that avenue.

“I was also aware that both Ho and Goh had invested over RM1mil in the company. I felt the pressure to deliver results,” says Lee.

Bodibasixs was formed in 1995 and operated out of a one-acre factory in Shah Alam with a staff of eight. Having to sign cheques on behalf of the company for payments to staff and contractors in her new job was something that Lee was not used to.

After all, she had been an employee with a stable salary all her life.

It was stressful, she admits.

“I saw the funds rapidly decreasing,” says Lee. But the pressure she felt also motivated her to work hard.

Lee (left) and Ho at the company HQ in Klang.

The company began with just one manufacturing line for talcum powder. To try and secure their first orders, they brought over 10 potential clients, multinational companies (MNCs) included, to tour the factory.

“MNCs require references. But being a new company, we had none, so we switched to looking at local brand owners,” Lee relates.

While it was generally easier to get orders from local brand owners. this type of clients didn’t have their own formulas for their products — unlike MNCS.

It meant Lee’s team would have to develop the formulations for their potential clients.

The problem with this was that they didn’t have a R&D team.

“We didn’t even have a chemist. We needed a laboratory, and we had to justify to the owners as to why this investment was vital,” Lee recalls.

Understanding the need, Ho got the funds required and made it happen.

“We then continued to invest in the necessary equipment. We understood that we had to get over this barrier,” says Ho.

The laboratory where they test and formulate products for clients.

Four months later, with everything in place, they did a trial run and managed to secure their very first local client.

That maiden contract was only for RM7,000, but as Lee humbly says: “We have to start somewhere.”

Bodibasixc has since grown from strength to strength. In the financial year ending June 30, 2016, the company achieved a revenue of RM58mil, compared to RM50mil previously.

Today, Bodibasixs has over 60 brand owners as clients, including hypermarkets, pharmacy chain stores, MNCs and local brand owners. They manufacture over 12 types of products and export over 40% of their products to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, the Middle East and South-East Asia.

In 2007, the company moved to a new six-acre factory in Klang. These days, they don’t just help brand owners with formulations but also offer one-stop solution — labeling and packaging included.

“We also share with brand owners information about product viability and market trends. Our philosophy is that we hope to grow with these brand owners,” says Ho.

Out into the wide world you go.

He reveals that many of their early clients had grown sizeable enough to begin manufacturing on their own. Meanwhile, Bodibasixs continues to stick to their humble roots of accepting orders as small as RM3,000 even as they handle RM1mil orders.

Moving forward, Lee says they are looking at automating more of the processes at the factory, while maintaining the room for customisation for their diverse clientele.

“We are also going into manufacturing higher value products such as skincare and perfumes,” she confides.

Webmaster: Mr. Ho Yew Pun graduated from Malacca High in 1973 after Form 5.

TUN TAN SIEW SIN CENTENNIAL

MCA commemorates Tan Siew Sin's centennial

BY FOONG PEK YEE

 (From left) Liow, Tan Siok Choo and Dr Hou tour the exhibition on Tun Tan's centennial.

KUALA LUMPUR: He is known for being thrifty, to the point of not carrying any cash with him when he goes around.

However, Tun Tan Siew Sin, the country's longest serving finance minister, is best remembered for great things, including laying a strong foundation for Malaysia's economy.

Tan, who was MCA president from 1961 to 1974 and finance minister from 1959 to 1974, passed away on Mar 17, 1988.

Born on May 21, 1916, the MCA held a ceremony to commemorate Tan's centennial at the party headquarters here Saturday afternoon.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Liow Tiong Lai paid tribute to Tan, saying the strong financial foundation he laid helped Malaysia weather financial challenges thereafter.

On education, he said Tan set up the Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TAR College) in 1969, and the college had produced 170,000 graduates to date, who in turn contributed to nation-building.

TAR College's status was upgraded to Tunku Abdul Rahman University College in 2013.

Liow, who is also the university college's chairman, pledged to continue Tan's good work.

Besides TAR College, he said, Tan also helped to develop Chinese education in the country.

Liow said TAR College's good track record had enabled the MCA to set up Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) in 2002, and it has subsequently risen to be among the biggest private universities in the country now.

Liow also launched a book titled Ancestral Home of Tun Tan Siew Sin.

Also present were Tan's children, Tan Siok Eng, Datin Paduka Tan Siok Choo and Tan Siok Lee and other family members.

Those present observed a minute of silence to pay respects to Tan's wife, Toh Puan Catherine Lim Cheng Neo who passed away on May 10.

The event's organising chairman Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung advised the younger generation to visit the exhibition on Tan at Wisma MCA here from Saturday and May 29 to get to know more about the outstanding man.

Webmaster: Tun Tan Siew Sin studied in Malacca High School during his formative years. Datuk Seri Dr. Liow Tiong Lai studied 2 years in MHS for his 6th. Form. He came in from Merlimau/Jasin.