KUALA LUMPUR: Life was turned upside down for Chris Hew when she was fired from her business development manager role in a travel agency earlier this year.

She had been in the travel industry for almost all her working career and worked in various travel agencies.

When the Malaysian government first announced a movement control order (MCO) on Mar 18, no one would have expected that the restriction order and border lockdown would last longer than two weeks.

Hew’s company announced a temporary closure almost immediately. She was prepared for the worst, to be laid off from her job.

The travel industry was among the biggest hit by COVID-19. The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry estimated RM9 billion (US$2.17 billion) of losses faced by industry players, including hotels, transport, shopping, business events, as well as food and beverage.

“I would say, first thing, (I was feeling) scared then confused because somehow or rather we were expecting that we were going to be let go. To really hear the news was tough. I think it took me about a week to dive into the news. Afterwards, then it was time to think what’s next,” she said when interviewed by CNA.

“This is the biggest and toughest challenge we have faced in this travel industry. We’ve been through Bali bombing, SARS, some of the natural disasters but we came back very quickly. It could be like a few months but this MCO is tough. We cannot know when we will come back, when we can come back,” Hew said.

In a written reply to the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim during the parliamentary session in August, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said that as of Jul 31, 49,179 people were retrenched. Out of this, 37,838 people were permanently retrenched while 11,341 people opted for the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS).

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the number of unemployed Malaysians reached 826,100 or 5.3 per cent in May this year. The highest unemployment rate in the country was recorded at 7.4 per cent back in 1986.

However, the number of unemployment cases is showing a downtrend with 10 per cent reduction in Loss of Employment (LOE) claims recorded in July. The figure was 16,660 people, compared to 18,579 people in June, according to the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO).

READ: Commentary – Malaysia a kinder and stronger society six months into COVID-19 fight

CNA spoke to five Malaysians who lost their jobs amid COVID-19. As they struggled with their circumstances, these people who are in the Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) category took a leap of faith to reskill, venturing into uncharted territory.

At the same time, the Malaysian government has rolled out various initiatives under the Prihatin and Penjana stimulus packages such as wage subsidy programme, employment retention programme and hiring initiatives called PenjanaKerjaya to promote job creation among employers.

VENTURING INTO DIGITAL MARKETING

Hew, 42, is currently staying with her mother and younger sister in Kuala Lumpur. She was afraid to speak to her friends about her situation, fearing negative perceptions.

However, she signed up for a digital marketing course a month after being unemployed while browsing for courses on Facebook.

She recounted that the initial part of her reskilling journey was difficult and overwhelming. Moving out of her comfort zone, Hew later continued in the advanced digital marketing course.

She said she was struck by the attitude of an older coursemate.

“The oldest one in the community that I know quite well is about 60 over (years old) and he is a legend. He (will) always tell us that you are never too old to learn.

“For him to learn new things, it’s hard. We are learning how to do websites, how to funnel pages, all these kinds of things… He told us not to give up. He said if he can do it, you can do it,” Hew said.

To assist those who have lost their jobs, SOCSO was allocated RM1.5 billion (US$361 million) in the “Hiring and Training Assistance for Businesses” programme in collaboration with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF). It is expected to benefit 300,000 people.

READ: Artisan cheese – How one lady turned her favourite food into a hobby, and then a business in Malaysia

In a statement to CNA, SOCSO said that the training initiative will also have provisions for reskilling or upskilling training programmes provided for the newly appointed employees – all workers regardless of age including people with disabilities. The training fee of up to RM4,000 for each eligible worker is also covered by the government.

On Sep 2, Malaysian Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz gave an update on the implementation of the Penjana Stimulus Package. He said that 20,574 people have benefitted from the employment incentive and training assistance by the government.

Hew said she tried to apply for government aid under the National Prihatin Aid, but her application was rejected because her previous salary did not qualify her to receive the aid.

She is still searching for a job amid her digital marketing training and hopes to apply her new skills should there be opportunities for her to return to the travel industry.

“Digital marketing applies to all businesses. (Maybe) one day I can return to the travel industry… I can apply the digital marketing part. There are possibilities everywhere,” Hew said.

FROM SELLING REAL ESTATE TO CHAR SIEW

Sharing the same situation as Hew, young Malaysian couple Justin Yong, 30 and Shervin Cheong, 36, have just welcomed their newborn baby last December.

The lockdown in Malaysia during the early phases of MCO gave them an opportunity to recalibrate their lives.

Yong was a real estate negotiator for the past eight years, while doubling up as a contractor to renovate homes for expatriates seeking homes in the luxury properties of Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.

When the MCO was enforced, what was an initial two weeks later became several months. Yong had no income to support his young family and decided to start new.

The family was living in an apartment. They later rented a terrace house near Petaling Jaya in Selangor to start a char siew or Chinese barbecued pork venture.

Yong and Cheong now operate a weekend-based business venture together called “Tiok Tiok” – a made-to-order Chinese charcoal barbecued pork. The name of their venture is the Cantonese word for the chopping motion.

He admitted that opening a new business to sell barbecued pork was out of his comfort zone, because he did not expect that he would be doing this kind of work again.

Yong had helped in his father’s restaurant, preparing barbecued pork during his younger days. The restaurant closed about three to four years ago.

“It’s not a glamorous job with cooking char siew and all that… It gets very hot and tiring,” Yong said.

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“The good thing I see in this is that thankfully, I have my wife to help me. Without her, I wouldn’t be able to start it so soon,” Yong said.

He added: “Things are definitely bad. I know things will probably not improve very much in time. I meet a lot of people who are bankers, big business owners and people from many different industries. They are suffering as well.”

As for Cheong, she opted for a VSS from her company as a marketing manager in a tile manufacturing company in July. She has been in the workforce for about 12 years, spending eight years in advertising and the last four years in her former company in marketing.

She said the MCO came as a shock.

“We totally didn’t expect the MCO. We knew that there was this virus affecting the world but I didn’t see that it was serious at that point in time. During the MCO, I was actually quite worried, not only about my work but also my baby because he’s still very fragile.

“I’m worried about how he can survive this. What if anything happens to us? What if we’re really that unlucky,” Cheong recounted.

READ: Commentary – The former Malaysian workers in Singapore caught in limbo in Johor

Yong shared that their char siew has been well received by friends and family. During the first week of operations, they sold up to 34 boxes of char siew. A box of 500g of char siew costs RM45.

Cheong does not plan to return to her previous work in the manufacturing industry. She wants to focus on growing the char siew business with her husband.

Yong, however, is hopeful about the real estate sector. He believes that more expatriates will be coming in as the lockdown eases.

“Hopefully things will ease up a little bit and they will come back again and we can have more business. We have more expats coming in already, but they will have to complete their mandatory quarantine first before we can start searching for houses,” he noted.

“Things have changed a little bit with technology. When they come, they have a better idea and can make a faster decision.”

“I FELT LIKE I WAS BETRAYED”

Ahmad Farid Mat Misiah, 39, was just two months into his new job in a Singapore company working on a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project, when he was let go during the MCO.

His company had asked him to work from his home in Johor Bahru and he did not see the MCO coming.

“My boss in Singapore asked me to return to Malaysia immediately and just work from home… because during that time the oil and gas industry had a double whammy, (which) means we got COVID-19 and we got lower oil prices,” the father of four recounted.

“Basically my project (was) being deferred until an unknown date… In April, they gave me a termination notice and one month’s pay as compensation.”

He remembered being numb as he received the news.

“At first, I didn’t feel anything. It was like I lost my ability to think… I felt like I was betrayed by my boss because he’s supposed to take care of me for six months but unfortunately it was only for two months.”

Ahmad Farid added: “After that, we had a long talk. He was also very sorry about what had happened. He tried as much as he could but it was not under his control. I don’t want to blame him totally.”

His wife was a source of comfort. “She was very supportive, she’s very optimistic. She said she believed in me to get a new job, or to get something to bring money into the home. I was very lucky to have her as my partner,” Ahmad Farid said.

He did not inform his parents about being unemployed, fearing that they will feel the pressure and blame him for leaving a stable job he held in Kuala Lumpur to work in Singapore.

During the lockdown, Ahmad Farid reconnected with his friends via weekly video conferences. He felt that the calls were most helpful to muster his strength going through hard times.

READ: COVID-19 – Switching careers a challenge for some job seekers despite opportunities

“They even asked whether I needed some help, in terms of financial or moral (support),” he recounted.

He began to take up online courses, focusing on digital transformation. He has tried to give consultancy services to friends and some businesses in project management, leveraging his experience as project manager in the oil and gas industry.

He is now working in his friend’s company as a project manager offering services on digital transformation.

He admitted that it was not that easy for him to transition into a new industry.

“It’s not very easy because I came from the oil and gas industry. We don’t normally use these ‘digital’ (tools),” he said.

“So, by adopting this digital transformation, I tried to connect it to the oil and gas industry. I know some processes in the oil and gas industry can be improved by digital transformation.”

In future, should Ahmad Farid return to the oil and gas industry, he hopes to introduce digital improvements. He also believes that he can help various companies in their digital transformation, not just the oil and gas industry.

EVENTS COORDINATOR TURNED BARBER

Another Malaysian who picked up a new skill after the pandemic rendered him jobless was Jude Lorson, 29.

The Klang native owned an events company which he started two years ago, but the COVID-19 lockdown meant multiple projects were cancelled. He incurred around RM30,000 of losses.

“It was really hard, there was anxiety at some points (and) you get depressed.

“You are just at home, thinking about what was going to happen. I was mentally stressed during the entire period but one thing good for me was that I moved back (to Klang) to stay with my family,” Lorson told CNA.

He added: “I thought about picking up a new skill, which is something I wanted to do for a long time … That’s why I thought of learning to cut hair, being a barber. I’m a very hands-on person.”

When Malaysia moved into the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in May, Lorson said he was approached by his friend to try out new skills learning to cut hair at a nearby barber shop in Petaling Jaya.

Before that, his first few haircuts started at home. His first two clients? It was his father and his nephew during the lockdown, requested by his family to cut their hair because barbers had to stay shut during the initial stages of the MCO.

Lorson began cutting his senior colleagues’ hair at the nearby barber shop and at times he felt it was even more stressful because they were constantly judging his skills.

“I think it is something that I can pursue in the long term. It is a good industry to be in. You meet all sorts of people and it’s a good skill to have,” he said.

When asked about his future plans, he replied that he hopes to go “full swing” in the barber industry and eventually start his own business.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

The pandemic and the MCO has affected many small and medium businesses, who face cash flow problems. Their situation was especially dire during the early stages of the MCO when they had to cease operations while the public was ordered to stay at home to break the infection chain.

Responding to CNA’s queries, SOCSO said since applications for the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) under the Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package were open on Apr 9, the programme has benefited 2.59 million employees after two months of its implementation.

The programme has since been extended until December.

Following the announcement of the Penjana Economic Recovery Plan, the WSP is set at a flat rate of RM600 per month per employee, for up to 200 workers per company.

The financial assistance programme helped employers to continue their operations to ease the cash flow problems during COVID-19 and protect job security due to headcount costs.

A total of RM5 billion has been allocated for this purpose and is expected to save the jobs of some 2.7 million workers, according to SOCSO.

The department under the Ministry of Human Resources added that from January until Aug 26, its Employment Insurance System (EIS) has received 75,291 applications for benefits to be paid out to workers who lost their jobs.

READ: Bali’s unemployed turn to odd jobs, hard labour as COVID-19 ravages tourism sector

The manufacturing industry recorded the highest number of EIS claims at 24 per cent, followed by accommodation, food and beverage at 15 per cent.

A job portal by SOCSO, MyFutureJobs was set up in June and saw an overwhelming response of an average of 2,700 job seekers registered and 2,400 vacancies posted on the portal on a daily basis since Penjana was initiated.

A total of 72,893 job seekers have secured employment through the portal, Deputy Human Resources Minister Awang Hashim was quoted as saying by Bernama on Oct 1.

Some of those who lost their jobs had applied for government aid with cash handouts but did not manage to get the assistance because they were disqualified due to eligibility considerations.

For instance, in Hew’s situation, she was turned down but did not know that she could appeal to the Inland Revenue Board to reconsider her application.

In facing difficult challenges ahead, Hew believes that Malaysians can overcome them.

“Whatever challenge we face, if we are on the right mindset, we can overcome it. It has been hard during this MCO.

“It is also a time you reflect on your life, whether you are in the right direction, whether you are at your comfort level, whether you need to improve further on your skills… The important thing is you know that you are looking forward to the future,” she said.

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It’s turned allies against each other, with accusations of misleading and alarmist data. It’s seen doctors who’ve spent 40 years battling smoking suddenly arguing alongside Big Tobacco. Now new research suggests wealthy, white teens who’ve never smoked are increasingly hitting the juice. Nikki Macdonald investigates whether vaping is stopping kids smoking, or just getting them hooked another way.

“I was a teen nicotine addict,” Charlie declares.

He was 11 when he first started vaping. Scootering at the skate park, he saw the older kids sucking on their nifty gadgets, blowing clouds of sweet vapour.

“The main appeal to me was that it smells good, it tastes good,” says Charlie, now 14.

“You think it’s pretty harmless. Like, I would never dare smoking a cigarette. It’s the way that people sell, or tell you about it. They’re so enthused about it: ‘And it’s good for you and it’s completely harmless and so on’. So that’s the thing that hooked me in.”

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The skate-park kids told him how to buy the devices and their sweet hit online. First he used his mum’s credit card. Then he’d buy prezzie cards.

He’d track the courier and pull a sickie from school once it neared his house. They only once asked for ID. He said it was for his mum. They handed over the package.

“They’re so easy to get your hands on.”

Cotton candy, blue raspberry, peach coconut ice tea – any flavour you can think of, Charlie says he’s tried it. He tried out more than 30 different vaping devices in the two years he was addicted. The nicotine made him feel good.

“It was something to do, like it’s another skateboard, scootering, biking activity. It’s something you like to do and that you’re passionate about.”

And when the 24mg/mL nicotine juice stopped giving him a buzz, he stepped up to 60mg. He couldn’t vape around his mum, so he took it to school “so I could get a fix”.

“If I didn’t hit it every 30 minutes, I would get out of control,” Charlie says. “Like start breaking up and crying. I s… you not. That’s what I did and I was so embarrassed by it.

“I lose my appetite. I won’t eat. I won’t do anything.”

Back at home, his mother Linda wondered what had happened to her gentle son. He wasn’t sleeping, showering or doing his schoolwork.

“He was just a little s… and just didn’t care about anything. It really affected our whole family. I didn’t know what was wrong with him, why he was acting so revolting. He’d never been defiant or horrible before.

“I took him to counsellors and then he finally admitted he’d been vaping every single day at school. That horrified me.”

He didn’t understand that the vapes contained nicotine, Linda says. To kick the habit, they progressively dialled back the vape’s nicotine content. He hasn’t vaped now for several months.

“I’m a single mum. It’s been really horrible seeing my baby just going through this terrible cycle in his life that could have been avoided.”

Asked whether he would ever have taken up smoking, Charlie is unequivocal.

“Never, never, never. Because my mum was a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker and that was an absolutely horrible experience for me and my sister. I know what it does – my mum couldn’t even walk to her car … That’s hard for us kids to watch.”

Lies, damn lies and statistics

Kids like Charlie have fuelled fears about the rise in youth vaping. Everyone agrees teens who’ve never smoked a durry should not be inhaling nicotine. But that’s about where the consensus ends.

The new Vaping Amendment Act, which comes into force in November, aims to make e-cigarettes less appealing and available to teens, by banning advertising, toughening up the R18 sales limit and restricting flavours sold outside specialist vape shops – such as at dairies and supermarkets – to tobacco, menthol and mint.

But submissions reveal the chasm between health experts. Some call for tighter restrictions to prevent a new generation of addiction; others argue alongside tobacco companies, that the cure is more harmful than the disease.

Otago University public health researcher Jude Ball falls into the cautious camp.

Her analysis of the Youth19 survey of 7700 13-18-year-olds in Auckland, Northland and Waikato found vaping bucks both the trend of youth smoking – which is concentrated in Māori and Pacific and poorer communities – and of young people doing less drink, drugs and sex.

Almost half of regular vapers – defined as vaping monthly or more – had never smoked. Of those who vaped at least weekly, almost one-third (32 per cent) had never tried a cigarette.

At poorer schools, vaping and smoking rates were similar, with about one in 14 children doing each more than monthly. But in wealthier schools, vaping far outstripped smoking, with only one in 45 teens smoking regularly, but one in 10 vaping more than monthly.

“What’s really clear in the Youth19 findings is that the demographic patterns for vaping are quite different from smoking,” Ball says.

“Vaping is clearly appealing to a wider cross-section of young people, particularly when you look at the high decile schools. Smoking is very rare in those schools now, yet vaping is quite common. So in this group it’s clearly not a matter of vaping displacing smoking. It’s clearly a new and different trend.”

That would explain why principals of wealthier schools have been speaking out about youth vaping. Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O’Connor last year called it an epidemic among his pupils .

Micheal​ Brown, counsellor at St Peter’s private school in Cambridge, said he was dealing with 70 addicted kids.

In July, decile 10 Wellington College held an information evening, warning parents that junior students know how vapes work and where they can buy them. They think “less harmful” means “totally OK for you” and that vapes are just flavoured water vapour.

Presentation slides say numbers of students taking up vaping, having never previously smoked, are “rapidly increasing”, and regular vapers more than quadrupled at the school, from 2.4 per cent in 2018 to 10.6 per cent in 2019. That’s still below the national average of 12 per cent.

Wellington College principal Gregor Fountain refused to discuss the issue. Neither O’Connor nor Brown returned Stuff ’s call.

The mushrooming numbers of young people vaping come as no surprise to Otago University public health professor Janet Hoek​. The void between Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa’s promise to regulate the industry in 2018, and the new law, was filled with “outrageous” marketing targeting young people, Hoek says.

“It’s used lifestyle themes. It’s positioned the devices as fashion accessories rather than cessation tools. So I think the companies that have been promoting vaping have not been focusing on people who want to quit smoking. They’ve been focusing on recruiting an entirely new, young cohort of nicotine-dependent users.”

The vape shop next to Linda’s work is lit up “like a toy arcade”, with music pumping. “It’s to attract kids,” she says.

Flavours have youth-friendly names such as just juice, mango smoothie and boosted chocolate shake. The $30 Smok Novo device, which Charlie says is most popular with his friends, comes with different coloured cobra plated panels “for a striking masterpiece”.

And – as Charlie discovered – the R18 restrictions proclaimed by online vape shops are weak at best. Most simply require you to tick a box saying you’re 18 to enter the site. NZVapor requires a date of birth – Stuff entered a date in 2023 and could still progress to payment.

The new law bans all vape advertising and sponsorship, to the delight of Hoek and Ball. But not all health experts agree.

In its submission, Action for Smokefree 2025 (ASH) accused the Youth19 researchers of being “alarmist” and “misleading” for suggesting many high school vapers are non-smokers.

ASH chairman, public health epidemiologist professor Robert Beaglehole, has spent four decades campaigning against Big Tobacco. Now he’s fighting alongside them, advocating for fewer restrictions on vaping. Preventing general retailers such as dairies selling any flavours other than tobacco, menthol and mint is a mistake, he says.

What makes vaping regulation complicated is that it’s part of a bigger picture, in which New Zealand is failing in its goal to slash adult smoking to five per cent by 2025. (About 14 per cent smoke now.) Vaping is the great strawberry-scented hope – a satisfying substitute for cancer-causing tar and smoke.

Beaglehole believes the new law is overly restrictive, exaggerating vaping’s risk to young people and putting that ahead of the much more immediate risk from smoking, which kills 4000 Kiwis every year.

He argues the Youth19 survey just shows young people experimenting as young people do. What matters is daily vaping, as that suggests dependence, and that’s not covered in the Youth19 data.

For 20 years, ASH has surveyed about 27,000 14- and 15-year-olds nationwide about their smoking habits. Vaping was added in 2015. The survey’s daily vaping figures, reported in the Lancet in January , showed a different pattern.

Smokers were massively more likely than non-smokers to vape regularly and daily vaping rates were highest among young Māori and poorer schools – the same communities that still have higher smoking rates.

The authors concluded there was no youth vaping epidemic in New Zealand.

But while daily vaping rates were static between 2017 and 2019 at low-decile schools, they tripled at schools in deciles 8-10.

And the percentage of non-smokers who now vape daily doubled in the past year, though it remains very low at less than 1 in 100 teens. The number of students who had never smoked but now vape weekly increased from 138 in 2018 (0.6 per cent) to 327 in 2019 (1.5 per cent).

Ball doesn’t buy the “nothing to see here” argument.

“Talking about an epidemic of nicotine addiction is probably overstating it. But to say everything is all fine in the youth smoking and vaping space, is also overstating it. We’re somewhere in the middle.”

It’s not just different research groups who disagree. ASH’s former board member, health researcher Allan Wyllie​, wrote that he resigned because “the policy direction being advocated for on behalf of ASH could not be justified and a more cautious approach was required”.

“People have gone to polar extremes almost about this,” notes Otago University associate professor of paediatrics Philip Pattemore. “I feel very sad about this myself, because we did have a united smokefree lobby.”

Is it harmful?

In Taranaki, a “vape rescue vehicle” delivers Naki Nekta in shades of anzac biscuit, peanut butter cup and trippinon mango. Above the picture of the busty nurse offering an emergency vape is a bold statement: “Vaping is 95 per cent safer than smoking”.

The often-repeated claim comes from a Public Health England estimate in 2015. Middlemore Hospital respiratory doctor Stuart Jones says it’s “completely incorrect”.

“Vaping is not a safe consumer product. The only reason it’s got traction with the Ministry of Health is because it’s been brought into the country on the back of ‘This will be useful to help people stop smoking’.”

Pattemore says the number is meaningless, without any information about dose and frequency of use.

“It’s like saying cars are 95 per cent safer than bicycles – for whom, at what speed, what exposure?”

Pattemore points out that, while many flavour chemicals have been cleared for use in foods, that doesn’t mean they’re safe to inhale.

“A peanut in your lung is different from a peanut in your stomach.”

What is beyond dispute is that vaping is safer than smoking. Jones says vape juices have fewer known carcinogenic chemicals than smoke, so should cause fewer cancers.

When his long-term smoking patients with chronic lung problems switch to vaping, their symptoms generally improve. But he advises them to try to quit vaping as well, because inhaling the heated chemicals can inflame the airways, causing coughing and shortness of breath, and – in the long-term – scarring and obstruction.

Jones also worries about the 50 per cent of vapers who carry on smoking. Because vaping damages airways in a different way to smoking, and research found smoking just one cigarette a day can do almost half the damage of a pack a day , doing both could be a double whammy, he says.

He fears teens will see vaping as less harmful, leading to airway damage in a generation who would have been smokefree.

Beaglehole, however, says the immediate risk to smokers far outweighs any future risk to new vapers, and while he doesn’t want to see a new generation of nicotine-addicted teens, that’s “at the lower end of the spectrum” of harms.

“It’s not like alcohol, it’s not like dangerous driving, it’s not like unsafe sex. It’s not going to do people a lot of harm.”

Charlie’s mum Linda disagrees: “That’s bulls…”

The gateway argument

The arguments both for and against vaping rest on a gateway theory. Supporters argue it’s a gateway out of smoking. Critics say that – for non-smokers who become addicted to the nicotine – it could be a gateway into smoking, undoing decades of work reducing youth smoking rates.

The hundreds of reformed smokers who submitted on the law show vaping clearly helps some individuals kick the habit. Jewel Peters had been smoking since she was 14 and no longer gets bronchitis or pneumonia since she switched to vaping.

Former smoker Tom Morawetz now walks 3km a day. Switching was the second best thing the 63-year-old has ever done, after marrying his wife.

Asthmatic Aramoana du Feu, who had been smoking since she was 10, says vaping saved her life.

But smoking rates have not suddenly fallen off a cliff, as Ball points out.

“It’s clearly working for some individuals, which is awesome. But we’re not really seeing big population-level effects. Certainly, it’s not proving to be the silver bullet it was thought it would be.”

Beaglehole argues that’s because, in the absence of clear legislation, vaping hasn’t been effectively promoted as a quit tool.

The Lancet study reporting the ASH survey results hypothesised that vaping was displacing smoking in young people. The accompanying ASH press release went as far as to present that as fact. But the data does not seem to support the claim.

While daily smoking among year 10 pupils fell from 2.4% to 2.1% from 2015 to 2019, that was far outweighed by the increase in daily vaping, from 1.1% in 2015 to 3.1% in 2019.

Even among young Māori, who are the biggest smokers, daily smoking continued its slow decline, reducing by just 0.2 percentage points between 2015 and 2019. Vaping, however, increased by 3.7 percentage points.

In 2019 alone, the ASH survey showed daily smoking increased in almost every category of teens – reversing a 20-year decline.

That adds fuel to the alternative theory – that young vapers could graduate to smoking. American research found teens who had vaped were four times more likely to start smoking . What’s not clear is whether those kids would have smoked anyway.

Switching from vaping to smoking seems illogical. Teens ditched ciggies because they stopped being cool. Vaping, on the other hand, has ever-changing technology, slick graphics and evocative names, and doesn’t make you reek.

Ball concedes kids like Charlie are unlikely to move from vaping to smoking. But for a teen who borrows a friend’s vape and gets a taste for nicotine, then goes home to a family or whanau of smokers, that’s not such a leap.

“When you come home and you’ve got that craving feeling, what are you going to do? … You might ask your cousin or aunty for a cigarette.

“So I think the risk of taking up smoking is probably not that great among middle class white folk who do not move in smoking circles. But for young people that do, I think that transition is possible.”

But Stephanie Erick worries tighter restrictions on vaping could push Māori teens the other way. The Hāpai Te Hauora tobacco control advocacy manager says rangatahi growing up in multi-generational smoking families will almost inevitably take up cigarettes.

“They’ve been smoking at intermediate or primary, they’ve come to college and decided ‘Oh, I’ll vape instead’. But then of course their vape is confiscated because schools are freaking out about vapes. And because the schools don’t understand the student or their background, or the susceptibility of these children to cigarettes, they’ve confiscated the vape, so the students have just gone back to cigarettes.

“That’s sad. I know this is going to be hard for a lot of people to hear, but sometimes it could be best to have a young person supported to stop smoking by using vapes.”

One of Erick’s concerns about the new law is that preventing dairies selling the fruit and dessert flavours favoured by ex-smokers “safeguards the monopoly of the most dangerous product”.

“If you were hanging out for a smoke and feeling the nicotine withdrawals, what would you do? You need a smoke, so you go and get one. It’s easier, you just need to pop down to your local store.”

One thing everyone agrees is that cigarette sales should also be more tightly restricted.

“I think there’s been far too much focus on vaping,” Erick says. “It’s distracted everyone and you can see it in the smoking rates. We haven’t seen a significant drop in the last four years and I believe it’s because everyone’s been focused on vaping instead of sticking to our core business.”

The fingers of Big Tobacco

Vaping in New Zealand started as a homegrown affair, with small manufacturers. Then Big Tobacco moved in. British American Tobacco owns Vuse and Philip Morris makes Veev vapes and heated tobacco products.

In its 2019 annual report, BAT reported “new categories” revenue grew by 37%, with vaping bringing in 226m pounds.

And while the company has a youth access prevention strategy, the report promises long-term growth through “a range of innovative and less harmful products that stimulate the senses of new adult generations”.

ASH said the entry of tobacco companies was accompanied by “irresponsible campaigns and marketing stunts”. Pattemore questioned their harm reduction spin.

“If a tobacco company is interested in harm reduction, why are they still producing, marketing and selling cigarettes? They are producing the harm and they are producing the harm reduction. That does not make sense.

“I find it very disturbing that most of the vaping products in NZ are now produced by cigarette companies. We have learned not to trust them before and I don’t trust them an inch now.”

Beaglehole admits it’s odd to find himself arguing alongside the companies he has fought for 40 years. He’s sympathetic to his colleagues’ distrust, but won’t let it get in the way of helping smokers quit.

“If we could encourage the industry to transition themselves away from the most harmful products, to the less harmful products, would I be concerned? No, I’d say great.”

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SINGAPORE: It is typically sad when we hear of someone passing away but when the deceased was a genuine household name the loss reverberates on many levels. Unfortunate occurrences such as these really gives time to pause and reflect.

Even those of us not from Singapore or who don’t follow football have cause to know Salim Moin and lament his death, announced by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on Saturday (Nov 7). At 59, his end came too soon.

Here was a national sportsman who played close to 200 times for Singapore in the Malaysia Cup, South East Asian (SEA) Games, the Merlion Cup and also World Cup qualifiers from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

For a generation of fans in the country, when they switched on the television or went to the stadium to support the Lions, the midfielder was there.

AN ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER

The late Salim was a classy midfielder – a playmaker with an ability to score from anywhere on the pitch and famed for the accuracy and venom of his long shots. Of the 63 goals he scored for Singapore, there are many that stand out.

Making his Malaysia Cup debut in 1980 as he helped the Lions lift the prized trophy for just the second time in 15 years was an early highlight.

The four he scored against the Philippines in the group stage of the 1983 SEA Games showed his prowess in front of goal with striker Fandi Ahmad getting the other – the pair had a great understanding on the pitch.

READ: Commentary: For Singapore’s next national football coach, look to leadership skills, not nationality

He was modest too. “I’ve no magic in my feet or boots,” he said. “My teammates made the perfect passes and all I had to do was take my chances well.”

He was deemed too young to take part in Singapore’s campaign to qualify for the 1982 World Cup and did not make the final squad that went to Hong Kong to draw with the hosts and lose 1-0 to North Korea.

He was banned from action – more of that later – for the 1986 attempt to qualify for the World Cup, which was thwarted by Japan and the North Koreans once more.

Salim was in the team on the road to 1990 and scored against Malaysia and Nepal when finishing in third in a group that was topped by South Korea.

But there was also controversy. In September 1983, the midfielder and five other players, assaulted referee M Kunalan – who was also a police officer – in a President’s Cup match that had to be abandoned. The star was soon banned from football for an incredible six years.

The nation was split. In June 1985, one fan wrote to The Singapore Monitor demanding that he be brought back to the fold. “I am sure he has been punished enough. I can’t imagine having a stronger team than having Fandi Ahmad and Sundramoorthy up front and Salim, Pathmanathan and Ahmed Paijan at midfield.”

The writer was told by the editor that the ban was not imposed without reason and that it was too soon to end it. “Bringing Salim back at this point will blunt the edge of the campaign against soccer violence.” Similar arguments were played out in other publications.

The decision to suspend the last four years of his ban came in August 1985, after  his third appeal. “It’s just like being released from prison,” said the player. “Of course, the two-year absence has been a good lesson for me. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

READ: Commentary: Odd new sports at SEA Games aren’t a bad thing for Singapore

Salim was quickly back in the team and continued to run games, pull strings and set tempos until 1993. So intelligent had he been as a player that it was no surprise when he soon moved into coaching.

The list of S-League clubs that had been managed by the former midfielder is impressive: Gombak United, Balestier Khalsa, Woodlands Wellington, Tampines Rovers and Hougang United. He was a major figure in Singaporean football.

A FORGOTTEN ERA

Looking back now at old newspapers and footage, it is hard even for a non-Singaporean such as myself not to feel a certain nostalgia. Salim was a star; and it was not just him. Other icons such as Fandi Ahmed, David Lee, Malek Awab and V Sundramoorthy appeared alongside him many times.

These were names that meant something to everyone in Singapore – the days when local footballers counted as much as anyone else famous in the country – in a way that does not seem to be the case these days.

READ: Commentary: Are EPL broadcasting rights just too expensive for television now?

As mentioned above, his two-year ban was a major and long-running issue in the media. It was a cause of much debate and controversy.

Looking back now, two things stand out: How harsh the ban was is the first. There is no excuse for assaulting the referee but a six-year punishment does seem a bit much. The second thing was how much people seemed to care about it.

While that issue divided the public, Salim was one of a cohort of players who weren’t just footballers. They brought the nation together.

Whether it was winning the Malaysia Cup or competing in the SEA Games and Merlion Cups, Singapore games were nation-stopping events and full of star players. The Lions seemed more central to everyday life than is the case in modern times.

That is perhaps why a bigger deal should be made of these legends when they are still with us. Football is such a fast-moving industry that the greats of the past can be almost forgotten until they pass away.

READ: Commentary: Why sports still has a place in Singapore

READ: Commentary: Love for the game? Is owning a football club worth the trouble?

The famous example in England is of Bobby Moore. The captain of the 1966 World Cup winning team struggled for work in the game and by the time he died in 1993 was working as a match-day pundit on regional radio.

Yet the news of his death was huge with the silence at stadiums in his honour and the length of tributes he received on television, radio and in print in contrast to the recognition or appreciation he received in his later years.

Now there is a charity in his name that raises millions for cancer research, a stand named after him at his former club West Ham United and the famous road to Wembley Stadium, where Moore lifted that golden trophy 54 years ago, is called Bobby Moore Way.

It would be great if these accolades and recognition could be bestowed during the lifetime of such legends but that is often just the way it is.

While posthumous recognition is common for artists, writers and thinkers, whose contributions may take longer to be impactful, the influence and results that sportsmen and footballers produce tend to be more immediate.

So why wait until the person is no longer with us before we recognise and celebrate his achievements collectively? It doesn’t make sense.

We have seen reports before of how Singapore’s former footballing heroes slip into oblivion, sometimes in need of employment and financial help, while others labour away at non-football related lower-skilled jobs.

Unlike footballers in many other parts of the world, it is not as if Singapore’s footballing heroes were able to earn a fortune during their short playing careers – enough to sustain them well after they hung up their boots.

I wonder if more can be done for this group of players to at least recognise their achievements so that they can be brought back to the fore of our memories.

READ: Football: ‘A bankrupt club is not a better club,’ says Valencia owner Peter Lim

READ: Commentary: Peter Lim’s romance with owning a football club appears in trouble

After all, they played a useful, but understated, role in nation-building as tens of thousands of Singapore thronged weekly at the National Stadium sharing – regardless of ethnic, religious, economic and educational differences – to share in their nation’s rejoices and despair.

As for Salim, unfortunately Singapore has a missed opportunity to celebrate his contributions. Still, Singapore should posthumously recognise him and set a template to follow for our other sporting heroes.

There are things that could bear his name such as sporting scholarships, charities and awards which could all make a difference and have a lasting legacy.

They not only pay tribute to the player and the man but they bring fans together and remind us that the legends of the beautiful game were once household names in Singapore too.

John Duerden has lived in Asia for 20 years and covers the region’s sporting scene. He is the author of three books including Lions & Tigers – The History of Football in Singapore and Malaysia (2017).

SINGAPORE: During a regular medical check-up late last year, Ming (not his real name) received the first hint that his body was not as healthy as he thought it was.

A blood test had showed his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was higher than normal, a symptom of prostate cancer.

PSA is a substance produced by the prostate, a walnut-sized gland in the male reproductive system that also produces fluid which nourishes and transports sperm.

Ming, 48, went for a series of scans and eventually a biopsy that confirmed the dreaded news. In February, he was diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer.

“I still can recall the day when I actually received the news,” Ming told CNA in a video call on Monday (Nov 23), in conjunction with Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

“I was actually a bit upset. Even though I knew that my PSA was higher, I looked at my age, there’s no history of prostate cancer in my family, and I do always exercise. So it was a bit hard to stomach when he broke the news to me.”

Prostate cancer is the third-most common cancer in Singaporean men, with the risk of getting it increasing beyond the age of 50. Those with a family history of prostate cancer are at a higher risk.

In 2019, the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) saw 531 new prostate cancer patients, almost a quarter of which were aged below 65.

“I used to think that prostate cancer is only for the older people, until it happened to me,” said Ming, who works in the education sector.

“If it can happen to me, I believe it can happen to someone who’s in his 40s. It has changed my mindset that it’s possible.”

READ: Consumption of sugary drinks linked with cancer risk: Study

Dr Jeffrey Tuan, a senior consultant at NCCS’ division of radiation oncology, said more awareness is needed to recognise possible symptoms of prostate cancer in light of Singapore’s rapidly ageing population.

“This will allow early detection and timely intervention or treatment of the disease. Early diagnosis reduces the chance of cancer spreading to other parts of the body,” he said.

Dr Tuan said prostate cancer could be a slow progressing disease that causes no symptoms in its early stages, and might develop over months to years.

The most common symptoms include an elevated PSA, frequent urination or difficulty passing urine. But these are also symptoms of an enlarged prostate that is not cancerous, meaning additional testing could be required.

READ: Under the age of 45? What younger women need to know about breast cancer

Like Ming, former civil servant Henry Chia, 87, did not have any major health issues when a general check-up four years ago showed he had an elevated PSA.

Over the next one-and-a-half years, Mr Chia took several tests that showed his PSA continued to rise, but he decided against going for a definitive biopsy as he felt physically fine and the procedure was known to cause complications.

But in December last year, Mr Chia had stomach pains for about five days. On the last day, the pain was so intense that he got dizzy. Mr Chia was warded at the Singapore General Hospital, where he was again advised to go for a biopsy.

Mr Chia eventually agreed to go for a newer and safer type of biopsy on Jan 15, and two weeks later he was diagnosed with stage 2 of a rare and aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Mr Chia, who lives a healthy life by going swimming, golfing and taking daily walks, said he was mentally prepared by that point.

“I wasn’t anxious because I had almost three years of preparation; it didn’t come suddenly,” he said.

“And during that time, there was always a possibility that it could be cancer. So when it was confirmed, I said: ‘Okay, what’s the best thing to do?'”

Mr Chia said he did not question why something like this had happened to him as nobody could know the answer for sure.

“It can happen to anybody, whether you’re living a healthy life or bad life or whatever. You read it all over,” he said. “Sometimes it could be the environment or whatever. I think certain questions should not be asked.”

While Mr Chia said he was “not afraid of death” due to his faith, he recalled the doctor scheduling a follow-up six months later.

“In my head, I said: ‘It can’t be that serious if (he will see me) six months later,'” he added, laughing.

Ming, who has a son and daughter aged 15 and 12 respectively, said his children reacted differently when they first heard his diagnosis.

“My son is a very logical person and he told me that it’s curable,” he said. “He had read up about it, so he told me all the good things about it. My girl was a bit emotional, but after hearing what her brother had said, she calmed down.”

TREATMENT FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Dr Tuan said there are effective methods of treating prostate cancer that can achieve cure rates of 90 to 95 per cent at five years if the cancer is detected earlier.

“Radiotherapy and surgery are the most established treatment for prostate cancer with equivalent cure rates,” he said.

The side effects of either option are different. Surgery could lead to sexual dysfunction or an inability to control urine, while radiotherapy could cause bleeding in stools and urine years after its completion.

“Another difference is that surgery involves one treatment in the operating room with a short hospital stay, while radiotherapy involves regular attendances at the cancer centre over two to eight weeks,” Dr Tuan said.

READ: Why that heartburn might be stomach cancer – and how salty food increases the risk

The most common barriers for patients seeking radiotherapy, Dr Tuan said, are related to the fear of late effects of radiation exposure, associated with radio nuclear accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

“It should be stated that radiation, if delivered in an accurate and precise manner, will be able to eradicate cancer cells but preserve function of normal tissues and organs,” he added.

Mr Chia was advised to go for radiotherapy, with a course of hormone injections every three months. Surgery to remove the prostate was not recommended due to his age and the fact that his heart had stopped twice during the biopsy.

Doctors decided that Mr Chia should go for 39 sessions of radiotherapy over three months starting April. This would take place at NCCS, every day except on weekends and public holidays.

EXTERNAL BEAM RADIOTHERAPY

Mr Chia went for a type of treatment called external beam radiotherapy, where he would lie perfectly still on a treatment table before a machine rotated around him and delivered the radiation over a few minutes.

While Mr Chia said the procedure was painless, the preparation required a lot of self-discipline. Before every session, he had to clear his bowels and drink two cups of water to ensure his bladder was full.

“This required a strict diet regime and time planning,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Chia found it tough getting used to exposing his nether regions during the procedure.

“That’s the hardest part as a male; you are completely exposed,” he said. “I don’t want to use the word demeaning because it is not. It is demeaning only in your own self.”

Mr Chia also counted the number of times the machine spun around him, anticipating the end of the procedure.

“Every day, I looked hard at the dates of my radiotherapy appointments, wishing for the last date on my attendance card to arrive quickly,” he added. “Thirty-nine days seems so unbearably long.”

Then about nine days after the first session, the side effects started to kick in.

TOILET RUNS

Mr Chia would get loose or painful bowels, and then a month after, sudden or uncontrollable urges to urinate or defecate. This was especially troublesome when he was out, so he adapted by bringing napkins or a change of clothes.

The urges happened a few times, and once when he was out shopping. He ran to a toilet but it was too late, so he had to discard his underwear. Mr Chia’s wife, a doctor, suggested wearing diapers, but he felt it was inconvenient.

“You’re always just 10 seconds too late,” he said. “You got to take everything out, and in that instance you’re less quick than usual. I wasted three pieces of underwear.”

These episodes lasted for three months, but have gone away now.

“The cancer treatment was a long, lonely, difficult and heavy-burdened journey, complicated by COVID-19 restrictions,” Mr Chia added.

“But it was mitigated by reliable information and advice from our hospital staff, who fully understand the physical and psychological stress of patients. They all go out of their way to be helpful, and worked with patience, kindness and concern.”

READ: ‘Our little miracle’: British boy who came to Singapore for treatment for aggressive cancer heads home

Ming also chose radiotherapy after studying the available options and speaking to a support group called the Walnut Warriors. He decided that the treatment was the best for his age in terms of its side effects and possible outcomes.

Ming went for five sessions over two weeks, and the side effects were not as severe. During the first week, he found it difficult to hold his bladder, and woke up about five times every night to urinate.

“By the fifth time you wake up, you had no mood to go back to sleep,” he said. “So it actually affected me during the day. But I’m very thankful that I was working from home. So if I was tired, I could rest.”

These side effects lasted for a few weeks before things went back to normal.

PERSEVERANCE

Despite the challenges, Mr Chia, who lived through the Japanese occupation and described himself as fiercely independent, remained resolute to do what it takes.

He refused to bother his wife, even when he said the treatment seemed to worsen his eczema and he could not reach the parts that itched. He insisted that she need not send him to his radiotherapy sessions unless he needed help finding the place.

She only stepped in by ensuring he ate food that was good for digestion, making it easier to clear his bowels before going for treatment.

“And particularly in my case, my faith in God has given me the necessary strength and hope for a full recovery,” Mr Chia added.

READ: A Bangladeshi worker is dying from cancer. Singaporeans made sure he got his last wish to go home

When Ming was asked whether his diagnosis brought any stigma, especially because some treatments could cause sexual dysfunction, he said there would always be medical solutions if that happened.

“I think what you can control is to be healthy,” he said, adding that he has not seen such side effects from radiotherapy. “If it happens, then we’ll take it one step at a time.”

Ming also said some who found out about his condition immediately thought it had something to do with his diet. Instead, he felt it was “more comforting” to hear how others advised him to focus on the positives.

THE GOOD NEWS

After completing his radiotherapy, Ming’s PSA level returned to normal, and doctors said he did not have to go for further treatment. He would only have to take a PSA test every three months.

Ming said the recovery has made him exercise more often and empathise better with other cancer patients. He also advised others to go for regular check-ups.

“I totally agree that if you feel all right, it doesn’t mean that you have no problems,” he said. “I felt all right, but I had a problem.”

WATCH: Parents collect son’s PSLE results after he died from cancer

Mr Chia’s PSA level is also back in an acceptable range, although he has to continue with his hormone injections every three months for two years. Nevertheless, his doctor said things were “looking good”.

Mr Chia advised others fighting cancer to lead a healthier lifestyle and to listen to expert advice. He is a huge advocate of stretching exercises and debunking “nonsensical advice from friends”.

WATCH: Singaporean mother fights breast cancer, far from home during COVID-19 ​​​​​​​

Dr Tuan said men aged over 50 with a normal risk of prostate cancer should discuss with their doctors the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening.

Younger men who have a strong family history, for example, a brother or father with prostate cancer, or family history of breast cancer, should be aware of the symptoms and discuss management options with their doctor, he added.

READ: Uncomfortable but painless – Rectal screening for prostate cancer is nothing to fear

“A healthy and balanced diet and regular exercise may reduce the likelihood of developing prostate cancer,” he stated. “Development of suspicious symptoms should prompt a visit to the doctor to discuss if further testing is required.”

Mr Chia, who together with his wife has conducted several medical camps in remote parts of Nepal, said he wants to live the rest of his life purposefully.

“If I still have the time, I will devote it to doing what I can for people,” he added.

LONDON: The world plans to produce more than double the amount of coal, oil and gas in 2030 than would be consistent with curbing global warming, the United Nations and research groups said on Wednesday (Dec 2) in the latest warning over climate change.

Some of the largest fossil fuel producers in the world, including Australia, China, Canada and the United States, are among those pursuing major expansions in fossil fuel supply.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations have committed to a long-term goal of limiting average temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The 1.5 degrees Celsius target requires fossil fuel production to decrease by around 6 per cent per year between 2020 and 2030.

Instead, countries are planning an average annual increase of 2 per cent, which by 2030 would result in more than double the production consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, the report said.

Between 2020 and 2030, global coal, oil, and gas production would have to fall annually by 11 per cent, 4 per cent, and 3 per cent respectively to be consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway. But government plans indicate an average 2 per cent annual increase for each fuel.

“This gap is large, with countries aiming to produce 120 per cent more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” the report said.

The report was produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as experts from the Stockholm Environment Institute, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Overseas Development Institute, thinktank E3G and universities.

TOUGHER TARGETS

Carbon-generating forms of energy face increasing regulation which can make them less attractive to corporations and their investors.

“Listed companies have started to acknowledge the risk of sanctioning stranded assets; the risks for governments are similar, but with outcomes that will impact hundreds of millions of people,” said Mike Coffin, analyst at thinktank Carbon Tracker.

“Whether or not individual petrostates care about the physical effects of climate change, they must recognise the impact falling fossil fuel income will have on their economies and take action to diversify,” he added.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures to halt its spread have led to short-term drops in coal, oil, and gas production, but pre-COVID-19 plans and stimulus measures point to a continuation of growing global fossil fuel production, the UNEP report said.

G20 governments have committed US$233 billion in COVID-19 measures so far to sectors responsible for fossil fuel production and consumption, far more than to clean energy (US$146 billion).

US President-elect Joe Biden has promised to end US fossil fuel subsidies worth billions of dollars a year but is likely to meet resistance from lawmakers in a narrowly divided Congress, including from within his own party.

“Governments must work on diversifying their economies and supporting workers, including through COVID-19 recovery plans that do not lock in unsustainable fossil fuel pathways but instead share the benefits of green and sustainable recoveries,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We can and must recover better together,” he added.

The United Nations is holding an online event next week to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the pressure is on governments to come forward with tougher climate targets before the end of the year.

According to Climate Action Tracker, which measures government climate action against what is needed to limit global temperature rise, current policies put the world on track to a 2.9 degrees Celsius temperature rise this century.

However, if all governments meet their 2050 net zero emissions targets, warming could be as low as 2.1 degrees Celsius.

This year is set to be the second hottest on record after 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization and other data sources.

“This year’s devastating forest fires, floods, and droughts and other unfolding extreme weather events serve as powerful reminders for why we must succeed in tackling the climate crisis,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.