KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) has clarified that the temporary closure of the track between the Kempas Baru Station and JB Sentral Station does not involve a full shutdown of JB Sentral’s operations.

In a statement today, KTMB said the closure will take place from 10pm tonight until 6am tomorrow to allow for the safe launching of a Pedestrian Over Bridge at JB Sentral Station.

The statement clarified that the temporary closure lasts only a few hours from late night to early morning and affects only two Electric Train Service (ETS) services, trains 9449 and 9535.

“Both trains will terminate at Kempas Baru Station, and passengers will be transported to JB Sentral Station using replacement bus services provided by KTMB.

“To ensure smooth travel, prior notice regarding these operational changes has been communicated to affected passengers via SMS as well as announcements through KTMB’s official channels,” the statement read.

KTMB also confirmed that train services at JB Sentral will resume as usual immediately after the work is completed at 6am tomorrow. — Bernama

TAWAU, June 8 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has directed telecommunications service providers to take immediate measures to improve the quality of communications coverage in Kampung Tinagat here.

In a statement today, MCMC said the directive followed a working visit and assessment of communications coverage and service performance conducted at three identified locations in the village.

The visit, attended by the Kampung Tinagat Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK), follows complaints from Apas assemblyman Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan and residents over poor cellular service quality.

MCMC said Wireless Broadband Access Service (WBAS) tests found that two of the three locations assessed failed to meet the commission’s mandatory standards.

The findings were conveyed to the relevant service providers on May 29, with the companies given seven working days to submit their feedback and action plans.

The commission said notices under Section 51(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 would be issued to any service provider that fails to respond within the stipulated period.

To ensure immediate improvements, CelcomDigi has been instructed to enhance network coverage and submit short- and long-term action plans.

“Maxis has also been directed to carry out maintenance works at the Kampung Tinagat telecommunications tower site,” the statement said.

MCMC said it would continue to monitor the implementation of the improvement measures to ensure network quality issues are effectively addressed for the benefit of residents. — Bernama 

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Vintage slide purchased from charity shop

In 1985, Eiko Kadono released a novel called Kiki's Delivery Service, and it wasn't until 1989 that Studio Ghibli adapted it into a feature-length film. Nearly 40 years later, this fantasy story about a young witch and her black cat will continue, bringing new challenges for Kiki as she embarks on her journey away from home. Kiki's Delivery Service follows Kiki (Kirsten Dunst), a 13-year-old witch-in-training who lives in a world where witches and humans coexist. After leaving home with her cat, Jiji (Phil Hartman), she starts her own delivery service in a new town and faces challenges that come with her newfound independence. The film made over $41.8 million worldwide and had a limited IMAX release early this year.

SINGAPORE: In a recent interview, the longtime opposition politician Chee Soon Juan spoke about the high salaries of ministers in Singapore, saying that this should not be a motivation for those who want to serve the public.

The Singapore Democratic Party secretary-general was a guest on an episode of PPE Unfiltered, a podcast from the University of Warwick’s Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society, which aired on March 16. 

Dr Chee, however, posted a short clip from the episode on his Facebook page on Wednesday (June 3). 

“Ministers saying they should be paid astronomical salaries so that they will not be tempted by corruption is like the employee demanding high wages so that they will not steal office supplies,” he wrote in the caption. 

Singapore’s ministers and government leaders are the best-paid in the world, as their salaries are higher than those of leaders of other major nations. The Prime Minister of the city-state is paid around S$2.2 million each year.

The interviewer pointed out to Dr Chee the arguments that it would be difficult to attract high-quality candidates without high salaries and that high salaries serve as a curb for corruption, and then went on to ask for the SDP chief’s opinion on how good candidates could be encouraged to step up.

Dr Chee said that, as he mentioned in a rally during last year’s General Election, corruption is a crime. 

“Do you tell your people, ‘I have to pay you so well so that you don’t commit a crime?’” he asked, adding that employees don’t tell their bosses that they should double their salaries, otherwise they’ll steal office supplies.

“What do you think that boss would say to you? Look, corruption is about character, public character. You don’t tell people, “Hey, give me so much money so that I won’t commit a crime, so I won’t get corrupt. You don’t become corrupt, and that is the right thing to do in and of itself,” he added.

As to getting people to join the political arena, Dr Chee said that many are afraid to do so.

“There are very many people who just don’t want to step forward because of the political system here in Singapore. I know of good people who are very afraid, but they don’t keep thinking, ‘Pay me this much, otherwise I don’t want to serve.”

He added that he has never said that government leaders should not be well-paid.

“The question is, how much is well before it becomes a problem in and of itself,” said Dr Chee, adding that people who want to make a lot of money should “knock themselves out” in the business world and become billionaires.

“But therein lies the difference. It’s public service, and that’s why we call it service. It’s not a public reward that you’re coming into. It takes a very different mindset for a public servant to come in wanting to serve this country, competent people, talented folks, who have that whole spirit of public service, and not have to keep thinking that I must be paid so much money before I’ll serve the nation. 

That is the tragedy here in Singapore,” he added.

He also opined that if the country continues in this way, the people who run it will all be technocrats or administrators, who are looking out for themselves rather than somebody looking out for society. That is the danger as we go forward.” /TISG

Read also: Salary review for political office holders deferred amid global uncertainty

This article (Chee Soon Juan: Serving Singapore should not depend on how much you’re paid) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

Kiki’s next adaptation will draw from her original, pre-anime roots, but will audiences give it a chance?

Earlier this year, Kiki’s Delivery Service had its first-ever IMAX screenings in North America, and this month the large-scale remaster of the Studio Ghibli anime classic will be arriving in Japanese theaters too. That’s not the only reunion in the works for fans of the young witch, though, as a live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service adaptation has been announced.

This isn’t going to be a one-shot theatrical feature, either. Instead, the live-action Kiki’s is going to be a TV/streaming series, and it’s going to be produced in partnership with the U.K.’s BBC.

In recent years, we’ve seen quite a few Studio Ghibli anime films make the leap into one form or another of live-action. My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away became stage plays and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was turned into a kabuki performance, with Princess Mononoke soon to follow suit. And while it was a sequel instead of a direct adaptation, there was a live-action movie follow-up to Whisper of the Heart.

However, BBC Studios Kids and Family won’t be coordinating with Studio Ghibli for the project, nor will they be working with Ghibli’s parent company Nippon Television Holdings. Instead, the live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service series is being made in partnership with Kadokawa, the Japanese publisher of the original Kiki’s Delivery Service novel from author and creator Eiko Kadano.

Also part of the team is U.K.-based production company Wheel in Motion, and scriptwriting is being handled by Irena Brignull, whose most prominent credits include 2015’s The Little Prince and 2014’s The Boxtrolls. The series is planned for 10 30-minute episodes. Casting and a release window have yet to be announced.

After decades of live-action productions of Japanese franchises made in foreign countries being a recipe for disaster, there have been a number of high-profile crowd-pleasers in recent years, including the Super Mario Bros. movies, Netflix’s One Piece, and even the Totoro stage musical, which was produced and performed in the U.K. The BBC’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, though, likely has a uniquely steep uphill fight for acceptance from fans, since it’s pulling from source material that itself is largely overshadowed by another preexisting adaptation.

Kadano’s original Kiki’s Delivery Service was released in Japan in 1985, four years before the Hayao Miyazaki-directed Ghibli anime adaptation premiered in Japanese theaters. Kadano then went on to write five Kiki sequel novels between 1993 and 2009, plus three more side-story books between 2016 and 2022. But despite the first novel wining multiple awards for children’s literature, the Ghibli anime film is far, far more famous internationally, and even within Japan, if you mention “Majotaku” (the abbreviated version of Majo no Takyubun, Kiki’s Japanese title), people are much more likely to think of the anime. Without additional prompting, many people won’t even think of the book at all.

The result is that, in many people’s minds, the Ghibli version of Kiki’s Delivery Service is what the story, setting, and characters are supposed to look, sound, and feel like. And while the novel and anime versions aren’t wildly different, an adaptation of the novel specifically is less likely to heavily borrow from the aesthetics, music, and pacing that viewers of the Ghibli version are used to and expecting. That disconnect has made it hard for previous attempts at adapting Kiki to live-action, such as the 2014 Japanese movie or 2017 stage musicals in Japan and the U.K., from gaining significant traction among audiences.

With the BBC series planning to focus primarily on the first book, the same portion of the series as the anime did, it’s probably going to be even harder for the new live-action version to avoid being compared to the Ghibli classic. Still, Kadano herself is excited about the adaptation, saying “I’m certain that it’s going to be a wonderful program. I can’t wait to see the series take shape,” and if the new live-action series can manage to establish and communicate its own unique appeal, the upside is that there’s a lot of story after that first book to pull from should the series get renewed.

Source: Cinema Today
Images: Studio Ghibli
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