“Toybox Malaysia” Press Coverage (Funding: MRC, Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, Akademi Sains Malaysia; Ref
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“ToyBox Malaysia” Press Coverage (Funding: MRC, Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, Akademi Sains Malaysia; ref. MR/P013805/1: “Improving health energy balance- and obesity-related behaviours among pre-schoolers in Malaysia: feasibility of adapting the ToyBox-Study”) Summary of press coverage of initial meetings of collaborators in Malaysia, January 2017 Assoc. Prof. Dr Leigh Gibson (UK PI, University of Roehampton) and Professor Cecilia Essau (Co- I; University of Roehampton) visited the Malaysian collaborators in January 2017, in both Kuala Lumpur and Kuching (Sarawak) for the project ‘kick-off’ meetings. The initial team meeting (18.01.17), hosted by Prof. Dr Poh Bee Koon (Malaysia PI), took place in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), which included the majority of the teams from both UKM and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) (Figure 1). A press conference was called, and this meeting resulted in national press coverage (Figure 2). Figure 1: Kick-off meeting at UKM, Kuala Lumpur. Seated from left: Emeritus Prof Dr Mohd Ismail Noor, Prof Dr Edward Leigh Gibson, Prof Cecilia Essau, Prof Dr Kartini Ahmad; Standing from left: Prof Dr Ruzita Abd Talib, Assoc Prof Dr Nik Shanita Safii, Dr Denise Koh Choon Lian, Prof Dr Poh Bee Koon, Assoc Prof Dr Cheah Whye Lian, Dr Julia Lee Ai Cheng, Prof Dr Norimah A Karim, Noor Hafizah Yatiman. 1 Figure 2: Utusan Malaysia, 20 January 2017 2 Following this meeting, the team visited the Department of Community Development (KEMAS) in Putrajaya and met with the Deputy Director of Early Childhood Education Division, Mrs Aainaa Mastura Abu Bakar. Prof. Poh gave a presentation on the project and some discussion on how best to carry out the ToyBox Study in KEMAS kindergartens ensued. While in Putrajaya, the team had a delightful visit to a local KEMAS kindergarten, and had fruitful discussions with both the staff and children there (Figure 3). Figure 3: Prof. Essau and Prof. Poh and the children of a Putrajaya KEMAS kindergarten. Following the visit to Kuala Lumpur, Dr Gibson, Prof. Essau and Prof. Poh flew to Kuching, Sarawak (the second area involved in the feasibility study) to meet the Sarawak team (Assoc. Prof. Dr Cheah Whye Lian and Dr Julia Lee Ai Cheng). An initial meeting was held on the UNIMAS campus in Kuching (Figure 4), where the team had the pleasure of being welcomed by both the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Dr Dato’ Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Dr Kopli Bujang, of UNIMAS. Dr Cheah gave a presentation outlining the project. In Sarawak, the team also met with the Minister of Welfare, Family and Community Wellbeing, Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, and Assistant Minister for Early Childhood Education and Family Development, Hajah Sharifah Hasidah Syeed Aman Ghazali. The minister expressed her interest in and support for the ToyBox Malaysia project. These meetings were covered by national and local press (Figures 5-10). Figure 4: Announcement of the team meeting at UNIMAS, Kuching, Sarawak. 3 Figure 5: The Borneo Post, 26th Jan. 2017. Front page: Page 4: 4 Figure 6: left: Utusan Sarawak, 26.01.17 (p.7); right: New Sarawak Tribune, 26.01.17 (Front page): Figure 7: Sin Chew Daily News, 26.01.17, p. 17: the meeting at UNIMAS. 5 Figure 8: The Borneo Post, 27.01.17, p. 27: Figure 9: New Sarawak Tribune, 27.01.17, p. 5: 6 Figure 10: Utusan Sarawak (local), 26.01.17, p. 4: Following the visit to UNIMAS, the research team had useful and delightful visits to KEMAS kindergartens in the Sarawak study regions of Lundu and Bau, where they were able to have discussions with children, parents, kindergarten staff and local representatives of KEMAS. In the Bau kindergarten, Prof. Essau, a native of Sarawak, was able to engage the children in their native language, Iban, which delighted them (Figure 11). Figure 11: Prof. Essau with Iban kindergarten children, Sarawak. Overall, these initial meetings and visits were considered to be a great success, and very informative. Dr Gibson and Professor Essau very much enjoyed their time in Malaysia and were delighted with the promise shown by the start of the ToyBox Malaysia project. 7 .