Koh Kok Wee

Koh Kok Wee

Koh Kok Wee is an experienced current affairs commentator. A graduate of the National Taiwan University’s Department of History, Koh possesses profound knowledge in history and journalism, and was once the deputy news editor of Nanyang Siang Pau. Koh is adept and making connections between history and current affairs, as he provides in-depth analysis on trending world issues in major newspapers and social media using a neutral perspective. Having written for editorial columns in Nanyang Siang Pau, China Daily and Sin Chew Jit Poh, Koh depicts the contemporary via his vivid writings of historical stories, scenes and characters.
Stanley Tien

Stanley Tien

Stanley Tien is a Neuro-Developmental and Behavioural Optometrist. He graduated from the University of Wales, UK, majoring in Optometry, before specialising in vision and neurological behaviour development. He is Malaysia’s only receipient of the Fellowship of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (FCOVD), a national organization dedicated to vision development and vision therapy. As opposed to a typical optometrist, Tien’s role as a visual development therapist involves analysing and evaluating how vision impacts the daily activity of patients, while providing the necessary treatment to improve their quality of life by raising their functional vision. Tien has helped children with Autism, Down syndrome and dyslexia overcome their visual impairement by using innovative games to improve their vision and mental acuity.

James Seet

James Seet

Sculptor and creative director James Seet has worked in Malaysia’s ceramics industry for over 20 years. With his diverse and varied creative styles, Seet has also held numerous exhibitions at home and abroad, hoping to connect and influence societies and communities through his artistic practice. To him, clay represents mother earth and it carries the meaning of regeneration and healing – hence one can feel the humanistic care and love in his work. In 2021, using the grant he successfully applied from the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA), Seet combined pottery and music by creating 20 pieces of percussion music instruments out of ceramics, which produced an earthy, ethereal sound. He hopes that his creation is able to comfort and provide a renewed sense of optimisim to people during this pandemic.

Ang Soon Chong

Ang Soon Chong

Ang Soon Chong is a baking entrepreneur who grew up amidst the wafting fragrance of his family’s bakery in Jenjarom, where they make kuih bahulu. While many may consider kuih bahulu as an ordinary product, Ang knew, deep down, that what makes his family’s version special is the heart-warming stories behind it. As a brand marketing graduate from Taiwan, Ang hoped to leverage on his story telling ability to explain how the unpretentious kuih bahulu supported a family. Together with his sister, Ang also wishes to carry forward their mother’s artisanal legacy in baking and continue to contribute towards the economic transformation of their new village.

Jeslyn Ooi

Jeslyn Ooi

Jeslyn Ooi is the founder and designer of Happy Dumpy, a local brand of souvenirs inspired by Malaysian culture. As a child, Ooi has displayed a wealth of talent and creativity, having been involved in painting, music and dance. She described herself as a “creative soul who loves churning out fresh ideas”, and believes that a good design should also be able to solve problems for the users. Through her motto “Creativity has the power to change the world”, Ooi incorporates design thinking into everyday life to create beautifully designed gift ideas. Happy Dumpy’s Malaysian food souvenir series is one of her signature creations, in which she hoped to convey the cultural stories behind Malaysian food while also emphasizing the importance of sustainable social and cultural development.

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng is an internationally renowned economist. He served at Bank Negara Malaysia from 1976 to 1989, at the World Bank from 1989 to 1993 as Senior Manager of Development, at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority as vice president from 1993 to 1998, and as Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission from 1998 to 2005. He serves as Chief adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission Since 2006.

He is the author of “From Asia to the Global Financial Crisis: An Asian Regulator’s View of Unfettered Finance in the 1990s and 2000s” in 2009 and co-editor of “Bringing Shadow Banking into the Light: Opportunities for Financial Reform in China” in 2015.

He appeared in the 2011 Oscar-winning documentary film “Inside Job” and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine in March 2013.

Spices Tan

Spices Tan

Born in Penang, Spices Tan is the spices expert and narrator. She married and settled down in Taiwan. She was invited to Kaohsiung Community College by chance to conduct a course named “Southeast Asian Food Culture: Gastronomy”. Her longing for the taste of home has triggered her to embark on the journey to trace the roots of the culture of spicy food. From Malaysia to India, China, Tanzania and other places, she explores and understands the characteristics of various spices, which also enable her to retrieve and interpret the native culture of peoples who cherish spices. In addition, Eileen Chen’s exclusive research include dividing spices compound and creating unique yet diversified flavour in cooking. Furthermore, by using spices as medium, she elevates spices to a higher level of cultural communication.

Jon Lee

Jon Lee

Jon Lee is a passionate about sustainable practices. During a participation in a beach cleanup activity with his previous company Rip Curl, he encountered appaling sights of beaches with unimaginable amount of rubbish. Overcoming his shock and disbelief, Jon went on a soul searching journey which ended up with the co-founding of Re{me}dy, a natural health and skincare store, with his friends. Besides encouraging more people to use natural products, Re{me}dy aims to cultivate Conscious Consumers via three actions: Consider, Upcycle, and Learn. Jon hopes that the store will plant a seed of environmental protection in the hearts of consumers, which would then lead to them discovering their own ways of contributing, and practicing, towards a sustainable, environmental-friendly lifestyle.

Coach Stanley

Coach Stanley

Coach Stanley is the esports coach of Malaysia National team. He first worked in the field of education for several years after graduated. He was deeply moved by the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) by chance and decided to pursue esports professionally. His outstanding performance was recognized by the national team and world-renowned coaches Kitamura and Lu Yao. Less than a year after completing his training, he joined the national Sports Council (MSN) esports coaching team officially. Under his coaching, his team won various local and international championships consecutively, and he represented the national team at the 2022 SEA Games. With his strength, confidence, grapple skills, strategies and tactics, he has broken the stereotypes of esports as a “pseudo profession” or “harmful towards young people.”

Ong Ning Geng

Ong Ning Geng

Ong Ning Geng, the founder of Chocolate Concierge, the advocate and pioneer of the “tree-to-bar” chocolate. In 2009, Ong gave up his career as an app developer in the US and moved back to hometown Kepong in order to take care of his grandmother. Although a long-time IT professional, he is passionate with food, with a fascination in fermentation—in particular the flavour transformation achieved by the process. Driven by an innate curiosity for flavours and origins, he eventually chose to focus on chocolate for its universal appeal, as well as the fact that it can be grown successfully in Malaysia. That’s how he started his journey as a chocolatier. Committed to elevating and advancing Malaysian single-origin chocolate, Ong established himself as a high-quality chocolate-bar maker by venture into remote areas in cultivating cacao plants of various origins, before fermenting and processing the beans into chocolate.

Chiron Yeng

Chiron Yeng

Chiron Yeng is a spiritual healer who has been providing physio-psycho-spiritual therapies to the wounded. Diagnosed with autoimmune disease at 8 which led to frequently relapsing atopic dermatitis, it has a drastic effect on Chiron’s daily life. At 16, he woke up to the truth that his health is his responsibility and set forth on a journey of self-healing. He sought out master healers and mentors of personal and planetary healing from diverse traditions globally. It was a journey of profound introspection in confronting and subjugating the stubborn disease. Finally, he began to gain control through a series of psychology, nature and subconscious therapies, which gradually led to his miraculous recovery at last. Chiron has found the remedy for the psychological dilemma, and he is hoping to accompany more wounded souls in the journey in understanding the message behind their painstaking suffering.

UiTM Chamber Choir

UiTM Chamber Choir

UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) Chamber Choir was formed in 2015 by one of the senior lecturers from the UiTM faculty of Music department, Dr. Masashi Kishimoto. The choir is made up of 500 members consisting of music majors from the faculty of music itself. The winner of three gold medals of Copernicus International Choir Competition and Festival in Poland, the Choir has proudly brought the South East Asian folk songs into the limelight of the international arena. UiTM chamber choir will be performing exciting folk songs to audiences in the upcoming conference. The power of music will surely bring people closer together.

HaBa

HaBa

Handpan and bass duet, HaBa, is formed in 2018 by musicians Kent Lee and Thong Yoong How with the purpose of exploring the possibilities of sound and ideas. In each of their musical endeavor, HaBa experiments and blends various digital materials with organic sound source, hoping to achieve a “self-balance” between music and the universe, thus bestowing a multi-dimensional meaning to sound. HaBa has represented Malaysia in Dance in Asia 2019 (Indonesia) and Dance in Asia 2020 (online performance); they also toured multiple universities in China with percussion band, FrhythmS. In 2022, HaBa collaborated with local sculptor, James Seet, for a cross-discipline live performance titled “re:sonance” which uses wind and percussion instruments made from ceramic.

Fong Choong Fook

Fong Choong Fook

Fong Choong Fook is a veteran Cyber Security expert. As the founder and CEO of cyber security services firm LGMS, Fong’s specialties are in information security, where he provides training and consultation using his vast theoretical and practical experience. He has consulted and trained multiple government and multinational clients in the Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, and African regions on information system security, including enterprise risk matrix design, policy review, policy implementation assurance, penetration testing, and so on. Fong is generous in sharing his knowledge and experience with others on the subject of cyber security, and has contributed towards raising the public’s awareness by teaching simple and effective preventative measures. Fong was awarded the 2013 ASEAN Chief Information Security Officer (CSO) of the Year by the International Data Group (IDG), and the 2017 Cyber Security Professional of the Year by CyberSecurity Malaysia.

Clement Wong

Clement Wong

Clement Wong is the local senior architect who is also the founder of the first school with classrooms in the forest in Kuala Lumpur. Just like any other ordinary parents, he was concerned with the education of his own kids, which led him to contemplate on what would be the most friendly and suitable education system for children. Inspired by his wife later (a researcher in anthroposophy) coupled with his own rich experience in the construction industry, he realized the importance of “dialogue” between children and the natural ecosystem. Therefore, by referring to and adopting “Waldorf Education / Steiner Education”, the education system that has been popular abroad for many years, he started the first school with classrooms in the forest in Kuala Lumpur, emphasizing whole-person education as its core approach. Through imagination, creation and experience, the school aimed at stimulating children’s learning in three aspects: willing, feeling and thinking, besides providing children with opportunities to associate with the natural environment while learning from nature.

Carrie Chan

Carrie Chan

Carrie Chan is the co-founder and CEO of Avant, a cultivated meat company based in Hong Kong. A Master’s graduate in architecture from the the University of Hong Kong and a MBA holder from INSEAD, Carrie is passionate about the environment – particularly on the impact of food supply on our planet. Together with bioentrepreneur Dr. Mario Chin, they founded Avant in 2018, focusing on researching and producing cell-based functional protein which can be incorporated in food, cosmetics and other applications. Small samples of cells were first extracted from actual fish, before feeding them nutrients and allowing them to grow into nutrient-rich, high quality fish meat and functional marine protein. The resulting product is hence entirely free from radiation, microplastics, heavy metals and other pollutants, while also reducing carbon emission and issues caused by overfishing. Avant was listed as one of the Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum in 2021, while Carrie was also featured on the 2022 Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst List.

Aki

Aki

A prolific singer-songwriter, Aki Huang began her career as the resident singer for Halo café in high school. At 19, she formed the female musical duo SukiMina with her friend Liu Mei Na, and released their first album: The Two People. After disbandment, Aki released her first solo album: Hui Sheng Hui Se in 2005, a tailor-made album by famed musicians Phil Chang, Tanya Chua and Chris Yu. In 2007, though she retired from the pop music stage, she remains active as a songwriter behind-the-scenes, with notable works such as Hebe Tien’s “Love!” and Rainie Yang’s “Sensitive”. In 2017, Aki made a comeback with her solo album “Hey”, she later formed the music band ARVAN with guitarist Gideon Alu8khan Chen and other musicians. After that, with social turmoil and insecurity as the theme, ARVAN released their first album named “Awakening”. Aki’s musical styles are described to be without boundaries, mixing and crossing musical genres, but most importantly, all of them are the genuine depiction of her life and feeling.

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