YUZAWA, Japan: It's noon on a warm day in the Japanese town where Yoshihide Suga, Japan's next prime minister, grew up, but more than half the stores in a downtown shopping arcade are shuttered and sidewalks stretch empty except for the rare elderly passerby.
A building proclaiming "I Love Yuzawa" stands abandoned. A giant department store nearby hulks over the street, mostly unusable because it doesn't meet earthquake safety standards but too expensive to tear down.
The remote part of Yuzawa where Suga grew up, 480km northeast of Tokyo, captures key challenges his administration will face: Half the residents in the area are over 60. Depopulation and ageing have meant a dramatic fall in tax revenue, pushing the town’s government, reliant on support from Tokyo, to consider merging with other towns in Akita prefecture.
"Japan is the world's fastest-aging nation, Akita the fastest-aging prefecture and Yuzawa one of the worst in Akita," said town employee Toru Abe, noting that close to 40 per cent of all Yuzawa residents are over 65, compared to 28 per cent for the nation.
"If we didn't have fiscal support from the central government, we couldn't make ends meet," said Abe. Of the town’s annual budget of 27 billion yen (US$250 million), he said, only about a fifth comes from taxes.
Suga is on track to be chosen leader of Japan's ruling party on Monday and elected prime minister on Wednesday, succeeding long-serving Shinzo Abe, who is resigning for health reasons.
Yuzawa, which sees 2m snowfalls that locals say make them tough, has marked Suga, 71, as a self-made politician among hereditary lawmakers from wealthy families. It has also influenced his best-known policies.
These include promoting inbound tourism, reforming the country’s vast agricultural cooperative network and introducing a "hometown tax" - a system allowing people to pay local taxes to an area other than where they live and, in return, getting deductions and local delicacies like beef or rice.
"He talked about it long before then, saying he grew up in Akita and benefitted from tax revenues, then moved down here and feels strange not paying anything. He wondered if there was a system to make it possible," said Hiromi Okazaki, a retired bureaucrat who worked for Suga in the Internal Affairs Ministry when Suga ran it and introduced the scheme in the 2000s.
'LET'S BUY CIGARETTES!'
Most residents in Yuzawa blame the economic decline on the devastating population slide, largely due to a low birth rate and lack of jobs in the town reliant primarily on rice farming.
In 1955, Yuzawa had 80,000 residents, some working at a now played-out silver mine. The population has since shrivelled by half. Only 442 high school students graduated last year.
With 16.4 deaths for every 1,000 residents in 2019, Akita has Japan's highest death rate. That compares with 11.2 deaths nationwide. Its birth rate, 4.9 per 1,000, is Japan's lowest.
Town officials project 400 million yen (US$3.8 million) in revenue from Suga's "hometown tax" in the fiscal year through March. It's not enough to turn its fortunes around, they say, but in Yuzawa, every bit helps.
By a row of cigarette vending machines in the city centre hangs a sign: "Tobacco taxes are important for our area. Let's buy cigarettes!" In 2019, the tax brought in 209 million yen, it says.
In 2015, Akita crafted a plan to stem the demographic decline with steps such as expanding medical subsidies for schoolchildren, providing extra daycare support and helping workers repay student loans. But local residents say it's hard to revive an aging economy.
"If only we had places people wanted to come, like shops," said Momoko Takahashi, 33, a Yuzawa native, preparing to open a cafe in October. "Even a big supermarket would help."
STRAWBERRY FIELDS
Suga's family home still stands in a remote part of Yuzawa, empty since his aging mother moved to a nursing home three years ago.
The Akinomiya hamlet was known for its rice fields, and adult male farmers left their families each winter to work in Tokyo to make ends meet - a practice Suga's father, Wasaburo, helped eliminate by venturing into more lucrative strawberry farming and forming a co-op.
"He would have seen his father's thinking, his father's initiatives and that would have grown up in him naturally," said Masashi Yuri, 71, who lived just a few houses away from Suga.
Suga helped out in the strawberry fields and was quiet and stubborn as a classmate, practicing baseball for hours at night to get the third-baseman spot he wanted, Yuri said.
"He doesn't show anything on his face, he doesn't show his emotions, but in the shadows, he makes extreme efforts," Yuri said.
Of the 200 strawberry farmers who made the area famous for tart summer berries, only around 60 remain. More than half are elderly.
TOKYO: Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a longtime loyal aide of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was poised to win a ruling party leadership election on Monday (Sep 14), virtually ensuring that he replaces Abe this week in the nation's top job.
Suga, 71, who has said he would pursue Abe's key economic and foreign policies, is expected to get the bulk of votes from 394 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers and is likely to win a majority of 141 votes from the party's local chapters.
The winner of the LDP race is virtually certain to be elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday because of the LDP's majority in the lower house. He will serve out Abe's term as party leader through September 2021.
Abe, Japan's longest serving premier, said last month he would quit due to ill health, ending a nearly eight-year term.
Suga has said he would continue Abe's signature "Abenomics" strategy of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms while juggling the challenges of COVID-19 and a slumping economy, and confronting longer-term issues such as Japan's ageing population and low birthrate.
Suga, whose resume is thin on diplomatic experience, faces geopolitical challenges such as building ties with the winner of the Nov 3 US presidential election and balancing concern over China's maritime aggressiveness with bilateral economic interdependence.
Speculation is simmering that Suga will call a snap election for parliament's lower house as soon as next month to boost his chances of winning a full three-year term as LDP chief next year. A vote for the lower chamber must be held by late October 2021.
Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer from northern Japan who got his start in politics as a local assemblyman, has since 2012 held the key post of chief cabinet secretary, acting as Abe's top government spokesman, coordinating policies and keeping bureaucrats in line.
He has the image as more of a behind-the-scenes operator than a frontline leader but rose in opinion polls after he announced his candidacy to succeed Abe. He won support from most LDP factions, outpacing his rivals, former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba and ex-foreign minister Fumio Kishida.
JAKARTA: Indonesia on Sunday (Sep 13) reported its sixth consecutive day of over 3,000 new cases of novel coronavirus infection, just as the capital city of Southeast Asia's most populous country prepares to reimpose social distancing restrictions.
New infections on Sunday reached 3,636 with new deaths at 73, showed data from the health ministry's website. That brought the total number of infections to 218,382 and deaths to 8,723.
To try and stem the spread of the virus in Jakarta, employees of businesses considered non-essential will be required to work from home from Monday. Certain government workers will be allowed to work from offices.
Markets and shopping centres will be permitted to stay open with admittance at half capacity, and restaurants within shopping centres will be allowed to operate for take-out only, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan told a news briefing on Sunday.
"Our main focus is to set restrictions in office spaces," Baswedan said. "We hope this will put a stop to the rising number of cases in office clusters."
The curbs will be implemented for two weeks, but can be extended, he said.
Baswedan first announced the plan to reimpose restrictions late on Wednesday. Indonesia's main stock index tumbled 5 per cent the next day.
On Sunday, he reiterated the restrictions were necessary as the number of active cases in the capital increased significantly in the first 12 days of September, putting further stress on the capital's healthcare system.
As of Sunday, Jakarta had logged 54,220 cases of infection and 1,391 deaths.
Baswedan said the city government will also implement a mandatory isolation policy, where anyone confirmed infected will be isolated at designated locations, such as government facilities or hotels, starting Monday.
Currently, people diagnosed as infected but with light symptoms are allowed to self-isolate at home.
"If the confirmed positive person refuses the isolation, they will be picked up by health and law enforcement officers," Baswedan said.
Paradise island no more? Phuket hotels are fighting for survival CNA
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vY25hbHV4dXJ5LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vZXhwZXJpZW5jZXMvcGh1a2V0LWhvdGVscy1maWdodGluZy1mb3Itc3Vydml2YWwtY292aWQtMTktMTMxMDE3MzLSAQA?oc=5
SINGAPORE: While rigorous COVID-19 testing and shortened stay-home notices could help revive mass travel, it is unlikely to be an easy process, say experts.
Last month, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said that Singapore may have to consider replacing the two-week isolation period for the overwhelming majority of travellers with a "rigorous testing regime" as part of efforts to revive the country's air hub.
Mr Ong had said international travel could start with other countries and territories where virus transmission risk profiles are "similar to or better than" Singapore's.
Measures could include "unilaterally opening up" to passengers from countries and regions that have kept the coronavirus "under control", as well as the proliferation of reciprocal green lanes for business travel and expanding them to include general travel as well, he said.
Singapore currently has cross-border travel arrangements with China, Malaysia, Brunei and South Korea. Singapore and Japan on Friday (Sep 11) also announced that they will launch a "reciprocal green lane" to facilitate essential business and official travel between the two countries on Sep 18.
Earlier this week, the Singapore Consulate-General in Hong Kong had also said it welcomes discussions with Hong Kong on the gradual resumption of cross-border travel between both sides, with safeguards in place.
Health experts told CNA that there are several operational considerations that need to be kept in mind when setting up a comprehensive testing regime for incoming travellers.
Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, who is an infectious disease expert from the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, noted the question would have to be asked if travellers were willing to fork out money to pay for tests. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests would cost about S$130 at “cost price”, he pointed out.
"Ultimately it's a matter of costs and logistics,” he said. “Unless they are returning citizens, or those are coming for essential reasons, there's really no reason for Singapore to absorb the costs of all these tests.”
In addition, Dr Hsu noted that the “operational scale” of tests carried would also need to be considered, keeping in mind Singapore's testing capacity and the potential number of incoming travellers. “That capacity is an important factor in determining whether we can test everybody or not,” he added.
Dr Paul Tambyah, who is the president of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, noted that rigorous testing can be done, but this would require better tests than currently available.
He explained how having a test like a pregnancy test which could give results which are 99.9 per cent accurate in minutes could allow testing to be "done routinely without too much cost or inconvenience”. Rather than providing a urine sample, when it comes to COVID-19 tests, a saliva sample could be used instead.
“We are not there yet but are getting nearer every day,” he noted.
A COVID-19 testing facility for passengers and employees is seen during a media tour at Newark Liberty International Airport Terminal B in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., September 8, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
When it comes to pre-departure and post-arrival tests, it is also important to note what kind of tests are being conducted, said Associate Professor Josip Car who is from the Nanyang Technological University.
“One could argue that doing two tests is better than one. As a public health researcher, what I would say matters just as equally is which test is being done, as not all are same and have differing durations and efficacies, and the time difference between the tests,” said Dr Car, who is the director of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Centre of Population Health Sciences.
“Also, this formula is never static when it comes to science: There’s discussion in the scientific community now whether the thresholds for considering a test ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ should be revised in order to reflect the latest scientific understanding about viral loads, transmission potentials, which might potentially see a reduced number of positive test cases as a result.”
Pre-departure and post-arrival tests also do not guarantee a 100 per cent success rate in ensuring those with the virus are detected, added Dr Tambyah.
“It is better than nothing but should not give public health officials on either side a false sense of confidence,” he explained. “They should be accompanied by good contact tracing and surveillance while we wait for better rapid point of care tests which can be deployed at borders or elsewhere.”
And there is a need to remain vigilant, noted Dr Jeremy Lim, co-director of global health at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
"We have to be very vigilant with false declarations, false negatives and so on. And we cannot let our guard down on the other measures like mask-wearing ... The Government has to tread a fine balance in assuring Singaporeans that we can reopen borders but also re-exhorting them - you still have to wear your mask, you still have to safe distance and so on," he explained.
‘RISK VERSUS BENEFIT’ ASSESSMENT
Earlier last month, it was announced that travellers entering from Brunei and New Zealand from Sep 1 would not be required to serve a stay-home notice but will take a COVID-19 test upon arrival.
Travellers coming from some low-risk countries and regions also had their stay-home notices reduced from 14 days to seven days. The isolation period can be served at their place of residence.
These countries and regions are Australia (excluding Victoria state), Macau, mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia. They will be tested before the end of the isolation period.
All other incoming travellers will continue to serve their 14-day stay-home notices at dedicated isolation facilities, and will be subject to a COVID-19 test before the end of the notices.
Public healthcare experts noted that the duration of the 14-day stay-home notice is to account for the length of the virus’ incubation period.
Given that this is so, the decision to cut short home notices will have to be made on “risk versus benefit” calculations, said Dr Tambyah.
“The incubation period for the virus cannot be shortened as this is a biological phenomenon. However, public health decisions are not based on science alone,” he said.
“Policy makers have to make a call based on risk versus benefit calculations and put in place risk mitigation strategies. For example, in Singapore, we are heavily connected to Malaysia and the control there seems to be very good for now. As such, the stay-home notice period for Malaysians with Singapore work passes has been reduced to seven days. The risk to public health of not having Malaysian workers has been viewed as greater than the risk of a small number of them incubating the virus and transmitting it.
“When the data are analysed after the policy has been in place for a while, we will know whether this risk-benefit calculation was justified.”
Infectious diseases expert Professor Dale Fisher suggested that more countries could be added to the same category as New Zealand and Brunei.
“It (the public health risk) is country-specific - the public health risk for someone coming from a country that's really got no cases is absolutely negligible," noted Dr Fisher, who is the chair of Infection Prevention and Control at the National University Health System (NUHS).
"There's never no risk, but you have to have a sensible approach to risk.”
Dr Fisher noted that there may not even be a need for swab tests for travellers entering Singapore from such countries. These tests and their administration could be a waste of manpower and resources, he pointed out and Singapore has good systems in place to ensure that even in the off chance that they are COVID-19 positive, the spread will be limited.
“(It is) just like (how) a case in the community isn't spreading to 30 others like the outbreaks we had before the circuit breaker. We're not having those now because of masks and social distancing and stopping large gatherings. This is a big reason why you can open borders. Even if someone comes in, (it) probably won’t turn into much,” he said.
Dr Hsu agreed, and also noted that the risk of an imported case causing a cluster in Singapore is “very low” due to the compulsory mask-wearing policy as well as safe distancing measures.
“The risk of an imported case causing a cluster is actually very low, especially with all the safe distancing measures in place. But if we drop the mask rule, and if we allow bigger-sized gatherings then obviously the risk will start to go up,” he noted.
"WAITING FOR THE GREEN LIGHT"
Even as countries gradually open their borders, experts CNA spoke to acknowledged that there is a demand for travel but said there remain numerous obstacles for those hoping to go abroad.
Mr Christopher Khoo, the managing director for international tourism consultancy Masterconsult Services, noted that Singaporeans have become “COVID fatigued”.
“Honestly, I think we all COVID fatigued already - I wouldn’t say not scared of COVID anymore but we are learning to live with it,” he noted.
"Internationally, I'm sure that there is demand. Everybody is experiencing some form of cabin fever in one way, shape or form. But I think everybody's also very cautious, whether they are from a country that is doing well ... or whether they're the country that's like India and then looking at other countries which are less prevalent, they all face different kinds of considerations."
Dynasty Travel’s director of public relations and communications Alicia Seah noted how her company had received a number of enquiries on travel packages to New Zealand when Singapore's plans to ease travel restrictions were announced.
New Zealand's border remains closed to all but citizens and residents, a spokesperson for Immigration New Zealand told CNA following the announcement.
“Our customers had expressed to travel to places such as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Thailand and Maldives and Malaysia once travel restrictions are lifted and a no quarantine policy (is) in place,” said Ms Seah.
People, some of them wearing protective face masks, at Singapore's Changi Airport on Mar 30, 2020, following the COVID-19 outbreak. (File photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)
“Around us, if you ask 10 people, they are just all waiting for the green light. Of course, they will also book cautiously. Depending on which country they feel the healthcare systems are robust. That's one. Second is that the health and hygiene protocols are all in place. And also, travel insurance. I think these are things that they will look at before they book a tour,” Ms Seah explained.
However, a number of considerations remain - for one, the stay-home notices that Singaporeans face when they return home, noted Mr Khoo.
“The main sticking point … is even if a country like Japan ... or whoever wants to accept us, coming back we would still be subjected to stay-home notices. And until that is relaxed, or until that has changed in a significant way, I think that it would impact a lot of outbound demand,” he pointed out.
Relaxing the 14-day stay-home notice can have a “mitigating effect”, but might be outweighed by the hassle and high cost incurred to travel during this period, said Mr Kevin Wee, a senior lecturer at the School of Business Management at Nanyang Polytechnic.
“The hassle of travelling during this time includes serving stay-home or quarantine notice at the destination country and home country upon return, higher costs for flights and various COVID-19 tests, and high costs for COVID-19 related medical treatment should the traveller fall ill,” he said.
“In addition, leisure travellers might not be able to visit attractions given the tighter entry requirements to guard against visitors who have been to another country within the past two weeks.”
Mr Wee also pointed out how the re-emergence of new “waves” of the virus could also occur anytime as evidenced in Europe.
“Travellers themselves must first be assured that it is safe to travel, and that the benefits of travelling outweigh the cost and hassle incurred when travelling during this period. The increase in travellers would most probably only start after the COVID-19 vaccine is ready,” he said.
While Singapore is now regarded as one of the safer destinations during the worldwide pandemic, the pandemic will continue to dampen demand.
“For a Japanese tourist, a Chinese tourist, a New Zealander - even for them, it’s not a matter of how attractive Singapore is right now, it's not a matter of how much cabin fever they (tourists) have got. It’s just the fact that COVID-19 is around and it will dampen outbound travel (from those countries),” added Mr Khoo.
“Travel will rebound and I am certain it will rebound and rebound strongly. But it will not be the same as it was pre-COVID.”
Walter Oh loves just how nuanced the Chinese phrase for business is.
Sheng yi, after all, has intimations of "birth", "growth", "life", "idea" and "meaning".
In his case, giving up a promising banking career to co-found food start-up BoxGreen has been meaningful and fulfilling in more ways than he had expected.
What he and co-founder Andrew Lim, 35, conceived as a snack subscription service in 2014 is now a thriving B-corp certified business which uses sustainable packaging, spends 60 per cent of its expenses with local suppliers, gets its snacks packed by ex-offenders and has an open hiring policy, employing former drug addicts, single mothers and people with special needs.
A B-corp business is one which uses business as a force for good.
The duo came up with the idea when they were management associates at DBS Bank. Often pulling long hours, they bemoaned the fact that healthy snacks were either "insanely expensive" or not easily available and vending machines dispensed only "crappy stuff".
Mr Oh says: "My idea was, if we could get 1,000 subscribers to pay us $20 a month for a box of healthy snacks, we would have it made."
The high four-figure salary he was earning then and the certainty of a much bigger pay cheque in the future were not easy to give up, but he did not want them to become golden handcuffs.
Much to the ire and despair of his property-agent parents, he took the plunge. Mr Oh, 33, who has an elder sister, despaired on many occasions too - it was a lot of sweat and tears for little or no salary for the first couple of years. But he also learnt a lot, including how to pitch, raise funds, manage people and run a business.
"It's been like a six-year MBA," quips the economics and business graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
On several occasions, he thought of throwing in the towel. And once, he nearly did, but three aunties, whom he had hired as packers, stepped in to save the day. More about that later.
This is the first in an eight-part interview series on social entrepreneurs making a difference.
He says: "Everything we tried to do for profit, the money never comes. But when we do something good, something better always comes along."
A meaningful business, he says, is one which cares not just about the customers but also its staff and the world. Hence their motto: Snack Good, Do Good.
The outfit - supported by the DBS Foundation, which helps social enterprises scale up - has expanded into Malaysia and raised more than $1 million in two rounds of funding.
Turnover has doubled year on year for the last four years and crossed $1 million last year.
Today, BoxGreen supplies nearly 50 varieties of snacks - packed at a facility in Changi - as well as cold-pressed juices to more than 500 companies and 2,000 homes. It also operates vending machines. It has a motley crew of more than 20 employees from various backgrounds.
"We're not out to save the world. But as long as we make some lives better, we're happy," says Mr Oh, who is married to a bank executive and has a three-year-old daughter.
"Some people interpret sheng yi as finding meaning in life. It's what I'm experiencing right now. I'm learning about life, both good and bad, and it's a lifelong education."
Food service BoxGreen, which Mr Walter Oh co-founded, is a B-corp certified business, which means it uses business as a force for good. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
To earn money as an undergraduate, you literally wiped someone's butt every day. Tell us why and if butt-wiping is character-forming?
I chanced upon a job at the university as a personal care assistant (PCA) to a fellow student with cerebral palsy and was intrigued by the role. It paid relatively well and I ended up helping with his basic daily routines and personal hygiene.
Some of the tasks PCAs may perform for a person with disabilities include helping them change their clothes, brush their teeth and hair, exercise and shop. It's not just butt wiping, but a whole lot of other interactions.
To be honest, I never thought about it much except that I got to help someone and earn something on the side. In hindsight, having different experiences and perspectives helped me frame my mindset about life.
Some may think wiping butts is disgusting, but to me, I would never have met a person who is as smart and genuine as Patrick. We bonded and I learnt a lot, thanks to him. We went to football games together, made cocktails in his room and hung out with his friends.
You and your co-founder had it made working in DBS. So why give it all up to peddle nuts?
A favourite lunchtime discussion among my friends was thinking about what we were going to do in our post-banking careers. Some wanted to go the traditional route - get an MBA and join a private equity firm. Others spoke of starting a company or taking time off to travel.
Whatever it was, the consensus was to continue to grind away until you accumulated enough money. And that was true - every year, I got paid a little more and worked a little less. The comfort it provided was addictive. I realised the golden handcuffs are real. I ended up spending more every year as a way of validating the time spent in a job I felt I was not cut out for. Ultimately, I felt bad complaining about my job but not having the guts to leave it.
Over lunch with Andrew one day, we decided to act on the idea of delivering healthy snacks. The original domain name was andrews nuts.com.
Did your parents threaten to disown you?
They flipped initially, but I believe they always have my best interests at heart. Being business owners themselves, they felt the difficulty and risk of starting a business and had their reasons to doubt me when we started.
Snack Good, Do Good. From day one, you wanted to do good?
I guess so - that's why we started the "one box, one meal" initiative with (charity and soup kitchen) Willing Hearts, where we donate a meal to the needy for every box of snacks we sell. We don't just donate meals. We also help to cook, pack and deliver meals at Willing Hearts. It's great for team-building.
Mr Walter Oh's parents were in despair when he gave up a lucrative banking career to start BoxGreen, a healthy snack delivery startup. But the startup - with the motto Snack Good, Do Good - is now a successful and b-corp certified, meaning it uses business as a force for good to create a positive impact on society. PHOTO: AILEEN TEO
Tell us about the three aunties you hired as packers but who eventually played an instrumental role in where you are today.
A few years into the business, we started to wonder if what we were doing was sustainable. We were acquiring customers in a very aggressive way - like offering a free box for every two boxes ordered - but it was negative economics.
There were other problems and we were tired. The three aunties have been with us from the beginning, so I found alternative employment for them at a place which actually paid more. I even took them there. They thought about it, but told me they didn't want the job.
The next day, one of them offered us some funds to help us set up a proper facility. That was a turning point and although our business always had the "doing good" element, we decided it had to focus on a social mission.
Today, the three aunties are shareholders and also supervisors in our packing facility.
Who or what else has inspired you to stay the course?
The people who have joined the business as employees or partners one way or another. They have chosen to trust us and give us their nine-to-five every day for the past five years to work on this dream.
BoxGreen - supported by the DBS Foundation, which helps social enterprises scale up - has expanded into Malaysia and raised more than $1 million in two rounds of funding. PHOTO: WALTER OH
Stubbornness, strategy, stupidity or serendipity? Which is responsible for BoxGreen's success?
A better word for stupidity might be naivete and with that, a mix of serendipity. We continue to learn new things (and make mistakes) every day and have great people who believe selling nuts can change the world.
Do you think you have a messiah complex? Do you think you're saving the world?
Not at all. I don't claim to know it all... but I do believe I am in control of my actions and they can be used in a force for good.
Knowing what you do now, what would you tell Walter Oh in 2014, as he was about to quit his job?
It is not going to be as smooth-sailing as you imagined. You can probably achieve what you have set out to do in half the time if you learn to let go earlier and move on when you realise you made a bad decision.
Entrepreneur, husband, son: which role is the most difficult?
You missed out father. I would say father and son.
Being a father helps to put things into perspective - that you live life only once and time doesn't turn back. Seeing my daughter grow up is the best thing that has happened in my life. It is also hardest being a father because there is guilt that you will never be able to spend enough time with her because of all your other commitments.
I realise now how much my parents have sacrificed for me to make me who I am, so yes, I am still learning to be a better father and son.
KOTA KINABALU - Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's 11th hour intervention has failed to untangle overlapping claims for seats among his allies in the Sabah state polls, raising questions about the unity within his Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Yet, after nominations closed, they clashed in 17, or nearly a quarter of the 73 seats up for grabs, hurting their chances of toppling the Parti Warisan Sabah-led administration.
This could portend future disagreements between the parties formally signed up in Tan Sri Muhyiddin's PN, the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN), and smaller parties which support the premier when a general election - expected within months - is held.
"This is a sneak peek to what will happen at the general election. Previous PMs were leaders of a single ruling pact, BN, an established coalition. But now previous arrangements or seat allocations have collapsed," risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia's director Adib Zalkapli told The Straits Times.
After the shock end of Umno's six-decade rule in 2018, most BN parties left the coalition, but later regrouped under Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Muhyiddin's leadership when defections toppled the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in Kuala Lumpur in February.
The parties that form the federal government are now grouped under at least four separate umbrellas.
Accommodating Bersatu - which wants to be a major national party given that its leader, whether the ousted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or Mr Muhyiddin, had been prime minister for the past two years - means other parties will have to accept fewer seats which they seem reticent to do.
Former BN component Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) - which once led the state government in the 1980s - has decided to contest now under its own banner despite BN as well as PN coaxing it to use their logos.
"There is a strong anti-Malaya sentiment as Sabahans want more autonomy," a top PBS official told ST. "So strategically we are using our own flag and if we win most of the 22 seats we contest, why shouldn't we stake a claim to the chief ministership instead of Umno or Bersatu?"
One top Sabah PN leader told ST that "the problem now is we have three separate bodies unilaterally issuing credentials for candidates instead of before when there was only one candidate flying the BN flag in any constituency".
The premier flew into Sabah early on Friday and a planned quick breakfast with party leaders, which turned into a nearly two-hour showdown that failed to find a solution to the 11 overlapping contests at the time.
Umno president Zahid Hamidi said after the meeting that all parties had reached a consensus to avoid clashes which would split support.
But even after a late night meeting, most stuck to their guns on Nomination Day, leading to a rare occurrence in Malaysia where members of the federal government find themselves battling their own allies at an election.
"What is important is that we will work as a team to form a government that will develop Sabah. Members at all levels must put aside all disagreements and old grudges to embrace a new spirit of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah. No single party can form government," Mr Muhyiddin said after nominations closed.
But the suggestion in his speech that state Bersatu chief Hajiji Noor be made chief minister was immediately rebuffed by Umno which insisted a decision would be made only after results were known.
Given Umno's reticence to join PN, all indications are that the Sabah impasse among parties in the pact will be repeated at the next general election.
Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia, another key member of PN, have been agitating for fresh elections to end the instability stemming from the government's slim 113 to 109 majority in Parliament. Mr Muhyiddin has also declared he wants a stronger personal mandate.
But with 222 parliamentary and nearly 500 state assembly seats up for grabs, it will be far more difficult to resolve than the intractable quibbling over the 73-strong Sabah legislative chamber.
