THE Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant at all times to safeguard personal information. This includes avoiding downloading files or applications from unverified sources onto mobile devices.
ABM would like to draw the public’s attention to the safety measures recommended by the Malaysia Computer Security Response Team’s (MyCERT) security advisory, published recently.
Here are some of the safeguards recommended by MyCERT:
> Do not install any app or Android package kit (.apk) file from unknown sources. This is because it may be malware designed to steal your personal details and your online banking credentials.
> Do not click on adware or suspicious URLs sent through messaging services.
> Do not root or jailbreak your device.
> Verify an application’s permission settings and the application’s author or publisher before installing it.
> Only download apps from official sources.
> Do install antivirus software on your devices and run it regularly.
> Update your device’s operating system and apps regularly.
With cybercriminals and online fraudsters constantly changing their methods, ABM would also like to urge the public to remember the following:
> Never divulge your personal details and/or banking credentials to unknown or unverified parties.
> Never disclose your transaction authorisation code (TAC) or personal identification number (PIN) or your online login username and password to anyone.
> Never click on any links to banks’ websites that are sent from unknown, suspicious or unverified emails. Always key in your bank’s website address directly into the URL bar in your Internet browser or use your bank’s official mobile app.
> Avoid websites offering products at prices that are too good to be true and are littered with spelling mistakes – these tend to be fraudulent sites.
> Avoid using public or open WiFi networks for online banking.
> Always ensure that the banking website or banking app that you are using is genuine and official.
> Always refer to your bank’s official website or contact your bank’s hotlines (stated on the back of your credit card or on the banks’ websites) directly for information, verification and clarification when in doubt.
Bank account holders are also advised to monitor your statements as well as transaction alerts from the banks closely.
If you notice any unusual or suspicious transactions, contact your bank as soon as possible to report it. Next, lodge a report with the police. Thereafter, notify the bank in writing with a copy of the police report and all relevant records and documentation, such as transaction history, etc. Due investigation processes are in place to determine if the reported transaction is indeed unauthorised.
ABM would like to reiterate that member banks are required to adopt high standards of security, including for Internet and mobile banking services. Routine security reviews and advisories are also issued by Bank Negara Malaysia to financial institutions to ensure adequate protection against the latest threats.
The public are advised to keep informed of emerging threats through the advisories issued by financial institutions, Bank Negara Malaysia and other authorities to protect themselves. Information on the latest threats and measures that you can take to protect yourself against cybercriminals and online fraudsters can be obtained from abm.org.my/consumer-information/fraud-alerts.
Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said on Sunday that it would be a historic and strategic mistake to insist on taking China as a threat and adversary, or even as an enemy.
Chinese Defence Minister on Taiwan, Nuke, Hypersonic, India, South China Sea and Vietnam!
Taiwan Independence Is a Dead-end! The Chinese Army Will Fight to the End!
Shangri-La Dialogue: Chinese military official calls US Defense Secretary's speech a "confrontation"
China will fight to the very end to stop Taiwan independence: Defence minister | Shangri-La Dialogue
China will "fight to the very end" to stop Taiwan from declaring independence, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday (Jun 12).
"We will fight at all cost and we will fight to the very end. This is the only choice for China," General Wei said.
His speech came a day after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said China was becoming "more coercive and aggressive" in its approach to its territorial claims in the region.
On Sunday, General Wei said Beijing firmly rejects the US' "smearing accusations and even threats" against China.
Global affairs should be handled through consultation by all stakeholders instead of being dictated by just one country or a small group of countries, he said, adding: "No one or no group of countries should impose its will on others or bully others under the guise of multilateralism."
General Wei said the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive small group in the name of a free and open Pacific to "hijack countries in the region and target one specific country". It is a strategy to "create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others", he said.
Chinese delegation says Indo-Pacific Strategy ‘fanning confrontation’ as US defense chief made ‘most barefaced’ Shangri-La speech attacking China
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 11, 2022. Photo:AFP
After Ukraine, US-led NATO wants to turn Asia Pacific into a new powder keg. Illustration: Carlos Latuff
US' Indo-Pacific Strategy is aimed at maintaining US hegemony, creating divisions and fanning confrontation, the Chinese delegation said, refuting US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's speech at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday as Austin took advantage of the stage to propagandize US' Indo-Pacific Strategy and to point finger at China.
Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department in the Central Military Commission, told reporters on Saturday at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is designed to trap the Asia-Pacific region into a geopolitical game and confrontation as it tries to form a small circle by roping in some countries to incite against others. It seriously impacts the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture and seriously harms the overall and long-term interests of countries in the region, he added.
"The US has already turned the Middle East and Europe into a mess, does it want to mess up Asia-Pacific next?" Zhang asked, adding that this is absolutely not allowed.
Zhang said the US' strategy is designed to destroy peace. The mainstream voice of Asia-Pacific countries is peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, but the US, in contrast, advocates competition between major powers and creates military confrontation, sending warplanes to showcase its military might in the South China Sea, launching military drills with allies, which all created tensions in the region. In conclusion, Zhang said that strategy served US' own interests against the common will of the regional countries, and stressed that for these reasons it must not succeed.
Austin on Saturday gave an hour-long speech themed "Next Steps for the United States' Indo-Pacific Strategy," in which he called the strategy "our priority theater of operations" and "at the heart of American grand strategy."
He also openly criticized China for being "coersive and aggressive."
Austin specifically raised the Taiwan question. "The stakes are especially stark in the Taiwan Strait," he said, adding that US' policy on Taiwan was to remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo. "Our policy hasn't changed. But unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be true for the PRC," Austin noted.
Austin's rhetoric can be translated as the US opposes China's reunification, Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times.
With this is mind, Song said that Pentagon and the White House are attempting to internationalize and complicate the Taiwan question, which is a matter of China's domestic affairs.
This mentality has been refuted by China in multiple occasions, including during the face-to-face meeting between China's State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and Austin in Singapore on Friday.
There is only one China, and Taiwan is a sacred, inalienable part of China's territory, Wei told Austin, noting that if anyone dares to separate Taiwan island from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate to fight, and will resolutely crush any "Taiwan independence" attempts at all cost to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On Saturday, Zhang also responded to Austin's hype over Taiwan question. Taiwan question is China's domestic affairs, the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US ties, on which successive US governments have made clear commitments. President Joe Biden also stated that he does not support "Taiwan independence," but the US' words are obviously not matched by its deeds, and Washington has kept playing the Taiwan card, severely obscuring and hollowing out the one-China policy, Zhang added.
Zhang said that the Taiwan question can most likely lead China-US ties to conflict and confrontation. If not handled properly, it will have a subversive impact on the relationship between the two countries. There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing the whole China. This is the only correct understanding of "one China." The reunification of China is the aspiration of Chinese people, and the national rejuvenation is unstoppable. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will stand ready to defend the country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity at all costs.
Hyping PLA's intercepts
"We've seen an alarming increase in the number of unsafe aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea by PLA aircraft and vessels," Austin said in his speech.
In response to the remarks, Zhang said at the media briefing that the incident occurred near the maritime and airspace of China's Xisha and Nansha islands, not in the adjacent sea and airspace of US allies. The actions taken by the Chinese military are necessary measures to deal with the provocations, and are reasonable, safe and professional.
Prior to the Shangri-La Dialogue, China has already denounced Australian and Canadian "disinformation" over jet encounters. The two countries, however, turning a blind eye to the warnings from the Chinese side, kept carrying out close-in reconnaissance and provocative activities by surveillance planes in East and South China Seas. "This is a dangerous act against China's national security and the safety of Chinese and Canadian front-line personnel," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a Regular Press Conference on June 6.
These days, there has been analysis that the reason why Canada and Australia have not stopped hyping up the case is to create topics for the ongoing dialogue over Asian security, taking "China threat" theory to a new level.
He Lei, lieutenant general and former vice president of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, who is attending the Shangri-La Dialogue, told Global Times that Austin's accusations against PLA's aircraft interception obviously aimed at endorsing Canada and Australia, reinforcing US-led small circles. Austin talks about "common vision" in Indo-Pacific region, but what Washington has shown is its clear-targeted and exclusive behaviors, He added.
Most barefaced accusations
Austin also hyped up territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region, naming East and South China Sea issues, and border disputes with India. "Indo-Pacific countries shouldn't face political intimidation, economic coercion, or harassment," Austin said. "We'll do our part to manage these tensions responsibly," he added.
Lieutenant General He said Austin's speech is the most blatant and most comprehensive slander against China compared to previous US defense chiefs' remarks at the summit, as this is the first time that a Pentagon chief raised Taiwan question, the South China Sea, the East China Sea issue, and China-India border dispute all at the same time.
Zhao Xiaozhuo, a research fellow at the Academy of Military Sciences of the PLA, told the Global Times that US real intention is to boost its alliance system, mobilizing its allies to maintain the US' versions of rules-based international order, shaping China's peripheral environment, piling enough pressure on China and eventually realize the containment of China's emergence.
Observers say Austin's speech mirrors that the US opposes everything China does to safeguard its own national security and interests. And it is largely due to incitement of outside forces, especially the US and its allies, contradictions and disputes in Indo-Pacific region come to where it is today.
By hyping up tensions and so-called China threat, the US is trying to drive a wedge between China and regional countries, while kidnapping more countries to its side to coordinate with its Indo-Pacific Strategy. And the US could paint itself as "entitled" to play the role as an arbitrator of the region, far away from its own soil, and take Asian affairs under its control, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times.
However, most Asian countries do not want to take a side in major power games. During the 2019 Shangri-La Dialogue, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong raised concerns, "Unfortunately, when the lines start to get drawn, everybody asks: Are you my friend or not my friend? And that makes it difficult for the small countries."
On the Taiwan question, the majority of regional countries refuse to dance to the US tune, as they are well aware that the US is an outsider, and has no right to intervene in China's domestic affairs, Wei said.
Hegemonic mentality
During the speech Austin brought up the so-called rules-based international order to cover US intentions. He took the Russia-Ukraine conflict as an example. "The Ukraine crisis poses some urgent questions for us all... And I am here because the rules-based international order matters just as much in the Indo-Pacific as it does in Europe," he said.
This is an arrogant, hegemonic mentality, Wei told Global Times. Wei said the so-called rules are not at all fair and square rules which are accepted by the international community, but a US-dominated one, in which the US is the one and only boss and other has to listen to it.
The Ukraine crisis is a proof that US-led rules have caused great harm to US allies and Europe as a whole. Not to mention the emerging energy and food crisis, increasing European countries are losing their diplomatic independence and autonomy, experts said.
During the ongoing Summit of the Americas, questions toward US-led rules-based orders are surfacing. It signals that be it Indo-Pacific regions or wider range of the international community, hypes of the US over so-called tensions will find fewer countries to join in the chorus, Wei said.
Although the US has this intention to shape events, and it has some followers like Japan, Australia and those who are far from the region like the UK and Canada, it's plan won't be realized, said Lü Xiang, an expert on international relations and US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"Only the countries with enough power and strength, as well as the support from the most regional countries, are able to shape the strategic environment in a specific region. In the Asia-Pacific region, the US is not such a country, but China is," he said.
Although Austin outlined some ambitious plans in his speech, but it's questionable to all regional countries that to what extent the US can make its plan come true, experts said.
The countries named by Austin, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam all have stable and friendly ties with China. Even if there are some differences or disputes, they prefer to solve the problems with China rather than be blindly used by the US to pay for its costly confrontation with China, said analysts.
On Sunday, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivered a keynote speech at
the Shangri-La Dialogue, elaborating "China's vision of regional order." He once again stated China's solemn position on the Taiwan question:
China will definitely realize its reunification, that peaceful reunification is the greatest wish of the Chinese people and that if anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, it will not hesitate to fight and will fight at all costs.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday. Before
the curtain goes up, Japanese media reports have already sent a signal –
Kishida has come with ill intentions. .
Having developed its capabilities for over five decades, China's nuclear force has seen impressive progress, with new weapons and
the equipment displayed at the National Day military parade in 2019 all commissioned to the Chinese armed forces, said State Councilor and
Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe on Sunday.
Policemen carry out their duties for the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 10, 2022. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)\
Important topics on the agenda of the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue include China's vision on regional order, geopolitical competition control, and climate and maritime security.
SINGAPORE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The 19th Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), opened here Friday evening after a two-year COVID-19 pandemic hiatus.
Leading the Chinese delegation to the dialogue, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe will address a plenary session on Sunday.
He is expected to introduce China's policy, principles and actions on safeguarding true multilateralism, regional peace and stability, and building a shared future for humanity.
Wei, on the sidelines of the dialogue, are to meet heads of other delegations on international and regional situation, as well as bilateral cooperation on defense and security.
Important topics on the agenda of the dialogue include China's vision on regional order, geopolitical competition control, and climate and maritime security.
Since its launch in 2002 by the British think tank IISS with the support of the Singaporean government, the Shangri-La Dialogue, officially known as the Asia Security Summit, has been held annually except for 2020 and 2021.
■
Asean, global leaders discuss regional security after two years suspension - Delayed dialogue finally underway
Security check: A vehicle being screened before it enters Shangri-La Hotel while the dialogue gets underway in
Singapore. — Reuters
THE 19th Shangri-La Dialogue began here after a two-year suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing mainly on
security in the Asia-Pacific region and viable solutions, including the China-proposed Global Security Initiative (GSI).
The three-day summit will hold seven plenary sessions, two ministerial roundtable meetings and three simultaneous special sessions for delegates from more than 40 countries to exchange views on regional and global security issues.
Senior defence ministers from South-East Asia and the wider Asia region, Europe, North America and the Middle East are also expected to attend and speak at the Dialogue.
According to the agenda, Chinese State Councillor and Minister of National Defence Wei Fenghe will address a plenary session and is expected to introduce China’s policy, principles and actions on safeguarding true multilateralism, regional peace and stability, and building a shared future for humanity.
A highlight of the summit is China’s GSI, seen as another global public good that contributes Chinese solutions and wisdom to address global security challenges.
Analysts said the initiative’s implementation will attract enormous attention at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
“We look forward to welcoming Wei Fenghe to the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue and to hearing his views at this critical time for the regional and global security order,” said James Crabtree, executive director of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies-Asia.
Mahmud Ali, associate fellow of the Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, said China’s GSI can be interpreted as a step toward developing “a community with a shared future”.
The GSI views humanity as an indivisible, singular and united body sharing a single home planet, whose security affects every individual and society and therefore must be defended and advanced collectively, he said.
The expert believed that the vision has expanded the dimension of security from its “narrowly-defined political-military parameters” to “focus on the shared nature of planetary existence, dilute the emphases on divergences, and enable collaborative approaches to tackling trans-border challenges”.
Other topics for discussion include managing geopolitical competition in a multipolar region, the Myanmar situation, climate security and maritime security.
Meanwhile, analysts also cautioned that the United States may use Asia’s top security meeting this week to further pitch its Indo-Pacific Strategy, during which US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will make a speech titled “Next Steps for the United States’ Indo-Pacific Strategy.”
Senior Colonel Zhang Chi, an associate professor at the National Defence University of China, told Xinhua that the United States has spared no effort in implementing its Indo-Pacific Strategy to isolate China, divide Asian countries and undermine the central role of Asean in the region.
Additionally, Washington is trying to stoke tensions in the region by stirring up sensitive security issues involving Taiwan and the South China Sea to establish a “Nato for the Asia-Pacific” to encircle China, he added.
“Its purpose is to contain China’s
development, coerce or induce countries in the region to take sides with either China or the United States,” Zhang noted, adding that it will
“destroy regional solidarity and harmony and cause split, or even conflicts”. — Xinhua
China draws security red line to US at defense ministers’ longer-than-expected first meeting
Chinese and US defense chiefs hold their first face-to-face meeting in Singapore on June 10, 2022. Photo: Li Xiaowei
The Chinese military won't hesitate to fight anyone who dares to separate the island of Taiwan from China, China's State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during their first meeting in Singapore at the International Institute for Strategic Studies' (IISS) 19th Shangri-La Dialogue on Friday.
With the purpose to use Taiwan island and topics on the South China Sea to hype "China threat," the US seeks to build an iron curtain between China and other Asian countries and to implement its "Indo-Pacific Strategy" by rallying allies, analysts said, noting that China is drawing a bottom line by reiterating its firm stance on the Taiwan question.
After being canceled for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IISS 19th Shangri-La Dialogue is taking place in Singapore from Friday to Sunday. The talks between Wei and Austin on Friday were the first meeting between Chinese and US defense ministers since Austin took office in January 2021.
Topics on the island of Taiwan, South China Sea, and the Ukraine crisis had been discussed at the defense ministers' meeting.
Two Su-35 fighter jets and a H-6K bomber fly in formation on May 11, 2018. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force conducted patrol training over China's island of Taiwan on Friday. Su-35 fighter jets flew over the Bashi Channel in formation with the H-6Ks for the first time, which marks a new breakthrough in island patrol patterns, said Shen Jinke, spokesperson for the PLA air force.Photo:China Military
Analysts noted the US should also immediately stop arms sales to and military cooperation with the island of Taiwan, stop the highly frequent close-in reconnaissance on China as well as stop stirring up regional confrontation and security tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.
US' Indo-Pacific Strategy is aimed at maintaining US hegemony,
creating divisions and fanning confrontation, the Chinese delegation
said, refuting US ...
The Chinese military delegation engaged in a series of
dialogue and meetings with the US and other Asian countries including
South Korea and Singapore, as well as the leader of Singapore, during
the ongoing Shangri-La Dialogue, which successfully made clear China's
stance on safeguarding regional peace and its determination to defend
itself against all offensive attempts that could harm China's
sovereignty and national interests.
The Shangri-La Dialogue focuses on military security agenda, the
most sensitive area in relations between countries. This
US-Western-dominated forum has left a deep impression on people that it
has been targeting China. China sent its defense minister to ...
Lax enforcement, resistance to change, and an unwillingness to adopt new ideas are the root causes of the continuous data leaks plaguing the country for several years now, says a highly-placed source.
The source told The Star that the Personal Data Protection Department (PDPD), an agency under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry created to uphold data protection, is not living up to its charter because of the above factors.
It has also failed to exercise its powers to curb data leaks “time and time again”.
The source said data leaks do not solely hinge on the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA), as popularly believed.
“The primary responsibility of this department is to oversee the processing of personal data of individuals involved in commercial transactions by data users (to ensure) that it is not misused by the parties concerned.
“A data user is like a telco with which we register. It might appoint a data processor, a third party, which is presently not covered by the Act.
“However, with the new amendment soon, this third party will be covered.
“When there is a data leak, everyone immediately points to Cybersecurity Malaysia (CSM), but most don’t realise that they don’t have the legislative authority compared to the PDPD,” the source added.
The department was set up in 2011 immediately after Parliament passed the PDPA 2010 or Act 709.
CSM, which has the infrastructure and technical expertise to handle such matters, has no enforcement powers.“The director-general of PDPD is also the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, which based on the law, can delegate power to CSM officers to execute the PDPA on its behalf.
“PDPD also has an adequate budget to appoint experts or officers to enforce the PDPA on a contract basis, but that was also not done.“To top it off, the current enforcement officers inside the department are mostly seconded from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, so how do you expect these officers to carry out enforcement when they don’t have the necessary skills set?” the source added.
Compared with Singapore, Malaysia may have passed a data protection act first, but the difference in execution and enforcement has caused the country to lag behind.
The PDPD has also seemingly failed to collect the expected revenue based on audits conducted by the National Audit Department (NAD) in the past few years.
According to the NAD, RM468.88mil could have been collected and channelled to the government’s coffers had enforcement been conducted strictly.
Today, 13 sectors must register as “data users” with the department.
“We are heading towards a digital society, and I foresee more data leaks occurring, but the responsible party has not given its utmost priority to handling these issues.
“Supposedly, these data breaches are under the purview of this department but were handed over to the police due to the lack of expertise by the said department’s officers.
“The police are supposed to be solving crime and they have a lot on their plate right now.
“This department can help the police in an integrated manner, it even has the power to arrest individuals, but no one is doing it,” the source said.
He also said that Malaysia meets all the requirements of a world-class entity but lacks implementation of systems and laws.
He added that this happens when you have “territorial, old-school people who are afraid of change and resist anything good” in the civil service.
“Looking at Singapore, which also has similar laws, we need to ask why we are in this situation,” the source said.
Malaysia has been subjected to several data leaks over the past years, with the most recent one related to the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s Public-Private Covid-19 Industrial Immunisation Programme (Pikas).
In mid-May, a data leak was reported by local tech portal Amanz, where a 160GB-sized database with personal details of 22 million Malaysians belonging to the National Registration Department (NRD) was being sold for US$10,000 (RM43,950) on the dark web.
Human's gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint: Study
What is the gut microbiome?
How the food you eat affects your gut - Shilpa Ravella
How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli
Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports.
“The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own.”
VIRUSES have been in our lives and newsfeeds almost incessantly in the last two years. We have been double-jabbed and masked for much of this time in an effort to avoid the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As we have learnt, these steps can help limit the spread of Covid-19 and help us avoid infection.
But can we avoid viruses entirely? The simple answer is no.
The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own.
Instead, viruses must rely on the cellular machinery from more advanced forms of life – bacteria, plants or animals.
How many viruses in total are there in the world at any time? An estimated ten nonillion (1031) is the figure that has been bandied about – a number so enormous that we cannot truly appreciate what it means.
There are so many types of viruses occupying so many different hosts and ecosystems that we have no idea of how many categories of viruses there are.
Humans carry an astronomical number of viruses all the time. These viruses do not kill us because their targets are the billions of bacteria that reside in our bodies, principally in the gut.
A recent paper from Chuen Zhang Lee, an Honours student at Monash University Malaysia, reports progress in identifying bacterial viruses in our guts by using human faeces as the starting material. Lee used faecal matter from two Malaysian Orang Asli groups, the Jehai and the Jakun, to show that the viruses they contain are different from viruses in more frequently studied groups, such as Europeans or Chinese.
Lee enriched the viruses in the faeces (as an indicator, of what is actually in the gut) away from all the yucky material, bacterial cells and human cells and extracted the genetic material from this virus enriched material.
The viral DNA was then sequenced at the Monash University Malaysia Genomics Facility using a technique that allows one to read long stretches of DNA.
Muhammad Zarul Hanifah, who works at the Genomics Facility, assisted Lee in analysing his data.
Using this method, Lee recognised approximately half the DNA as coming from known viruses. Based on the viruses he found, he could identify what some of the sample-givers had consumed and their lifestyle and environment.He also identified some of the bacteria in our guts these viruses could attack and therefore, get a partial picture of what types of bacteria could be in our guts.
These results start to build up a picture of how our gut health is determined, which can significantly determine our overall health. It is clear that viruses may also have a role in determining gut health – a complex topic.
Lee was supervised by a group of researchers including Prof Maude Phipps from the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr Jeremy Barr from Monash University School of Biological Sciences and Prof Qasim Ayub, Prof Sunil Lal and Prof Sadequr Rahman from the School of Science.
Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports.
Viruses are clearly ‘cool’ and ‘hot’ right now, and are likely to remain that way for a long time. We look forward to furthering discoveries on viruses and insights into how they can be used to our benefit.
To know more about the programmes offered by the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, visit www.monash.edu. my/science. Alternatively, visit www.monash.edu.my for more information.
