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JOHOR BARU, May 23 — The Permaisuri of Johor Raja Zarith Sofiah Idris Shah today penned a touching tribute about the late Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Musta’in Billah, describing the former Pahang Ruler a humble royal who gave more thought to human lives and values than palace protocol.

Raja Zarith said Sultan Ahmad Shah was a Ruler who was very close to his subjects, pointing to his kind and compassionate nature.

“We will remember that it was not uncommon to see images and photos of Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang, casually-clad in a tracksuit, sitting quite at ease on the floor of a simple kampung home, chatting to an elderly man who was ill, and who needed medical help.

“Almarhum, however, was not there to offer medical advice but instead, wanted this man to know that he had his Sultan’s sympathy and attention,” she wrote on the official website of the Royal Johor family.

Raja Zarith said that Sultan Ahmad Shah was also a concerned Ruler to his subjects when it comes to natural disasters in Pahang.

“If there was a natural disaster in Pahang — most often, it was floods — it would be Sultan Ahmad Shah who would be the first to be on the scene.

“For my family in Perak, we had become so used to see photos of him in the newspapers, always with his rakyat, that we did not see his unexpected appearance at a kampung house as anything uncommon,” she said.

In her tribute, Raja Zarith recalled the many times Sultan Ahmad Shah, her cousin, touched her life — from her wedding to the death of her son third child Tunku Abdul Jalil Ibrahim.

With their royal background, she remembered her parents discussing protocol and seniority when it came to her wedding, saying they were unsure who should be first to start the “merenjis” or blessing ceremony, which took place some weeks before the actual marriage solemnisation ceremony to the current Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar when he was the then state crown prince in 1982.

“I was trying hard to understand the complexity and sensitivity of royal protocol, and who was considered more senior: my father as the Sultan of Perak and the father of the bride, or Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Shah, his nephew, but who was also at the time the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the King of Malaysia!

“And, of course, to make matters even more complex was that my husband’s father too was a Sultan.

“In the end, in the same way that Almarhum would sit on the floor with an elderly villager, he let my father — his uncle — begin the merenjis ceremony. He discarded protocol. He had made his own decision: he was the Yang DiPertuan Agong, he was our King, and should rightly supercede all other Sultans, but he chose instead to adhere to his own values of being nobler by being humbler,” said Raja Zarith.

“Protocol can be bended or done away with, but family and rakyat mattered more,” said Raja Zarith of Sultan Ahmad Shah’s unique persona as a royal.

The 59-year-old Permaisuri of Johor also shared the concern Sultan Ahmad Shah had showed her family when her late son Tunku Abdul Jalil was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2014 and was warded at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore.

She said Sultan Ahmad Shah was one of the first and most frequent visitors to see her son and the Johor royal family.

Raja Zarith said her family did not expect Sultan Ahmad Shah to show so much concern or care for Tunku Abdul Jalil as he was someone he hardly saw or knew.

“We cannot deny he made all of us — and Jalil — feel terribly special. When Jalil lost his fight against his cancer a year later, Almarhum came to his funeral.

“The fact that his health had slowed him down, and he was not as strong as he used to be, made his presence there with our family all the more meaningful to us,” she wrote, adding that her husband had also shown gratitude and indebtedness towards Sultan Ahamd Shah for all his other acts of kindness during the critical illness his father, Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail in 2010.

Raja Zarith said what she remembered most about Sultan Ahmad Shah was his acknowledgement of her as his cousin.

“By acknowledging me as his cousin made me feel less insignificant as a much younger and junior royal.

“There will be many other people who will have as many special memories of Almarhum’s words and actions.

“These are, however, our own and the ones which we shall never forget,” said Raja Zarith.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Segamat Municipal Council (MPS) officers are disguising themselves as food stall operators, cooks and waiters in a bid to catch Muslims who do not fast during Ramadan.

MPS president Mohd Masni Wakiman told English daily New Straits Times (NST) that the council in Johor was working with the Segamat Islamic Religious Department to track those Muslims down, especially at stalls under MPS’ supervision.

Mohd Masni said there are 185 licensed stalls and food outlets under MPS at 15 locations.

These include Segamat, Bandar Putra IOI, Segamat Baru, Jalan Segamat Muar, Taman Yayasan, Buloh Kasap, Jementah, Batu Anam and Bandar Utama.

He said MPS has 32 enforcement officers, including two officers who are good at making roti canai, tea and mee goreng mamak, who will disguise themselves as cooks and waiters to catch Muslims eating at the 185 food stalls.

“We have specially selected enforcement officers who are dark-skinned for the undercover job.

“They sound convincing when they speak the Indonesian and Pakistani lingo, so the customers will believe they are really hired to cook, serve meals and take orders,” he was reported as saying.

Mohd Masni added that once the order is sent, the enforcement officer will secretly take a photograph of the person enjoying the meal and immediately alert the Segamat Islamic Religious Council for them to take appropriate action.

“The MPS does not want to be seen as not making an effort to handle the issue of Muslims eating in the open during Ramadan.

“It is not only disrespectful for Islam, but also reflects badly on MPS as the act is committed at stalls under its supervision,” he said.

Meanwhile, Segamat kadi Baharin Jalal told NST that he appreciated the efforts shown by other agencies in safeguarding the image of Islam.

“I also advise food traders not to allow Muslims to eat at their stalls during the fasting period.

“The action of this small number of Muslims is shameful and gives the wrong impression of Islam in the eyes of those from other faiths,” he said.

LA PAZ: The death of a Bolivian referee officiating a match at more than 4,000 meters has reopened the debate about the safety of playing football at such altitude.

Victor Hugo Hurtado collapsed while refereeing a Bolivian first division match in El Alto, at 4,090 meters, between the local side Always Ready and visitors Oriente Petrolero.

He had suffered a cardiac arrest and was stretchered from the field before being taken to hospital, where he died following a second heart-attack. He was just 32.

The El Alto municipal stadium is the highest in the world that is home to a professional football team, according to a banner displayed outside the ground.

It is more than 400 meters higher than the El Hernando Siles stadium (3,660 meters) in nearby La Paz that is used by the Bolivian national team.

Always Ready’s club doctor Erick Koziner insisted altitude played no part in Hurtado’s death.

“There was no pulmonary edema, that is the first thing observed in altitude sicknesses before it passes into the cardiac system,” said Koziner after performing the autopsy.

Bolivia’s football federation president Cesar Salinas told Diez.com website that “people inside and outside who don’t like us will try to use this incident” against Bolivian football.

He insisted tests have previously “proved” playing at altitude “has no effect.”

One of Hurtado’s cousins, Orlando Herrera, told local media that the referee was used to altitude as he had previously lived in El Alto, once a sprawling La Paz suburb that has grown into it’s own city.

Pedro Saucedo, head of Bolivia’s refereeing commission, told Los Tiempos newspaper Hurtado had displayed “no signs of tiredness, nothing suspect” at half-time during the match. “He even told a joke.”

‘Inhuman’

Back in 2007, Fifa suspended all matches above 2,500m after some of Bolivia’s rivals in South America complained that the minnows – who have only qualified for the World Cup three times – were gaining an unfair advantage playing in La Paz.

A month later a special exemption was made for the “Condor’s Nest” in La Paz before the ban was overturned entirely a year later.

But that hasn’t changed opinions. Two years ago, Brazil superstar Neymar posted a picture on Instagram of him and his teammates wearing oxygen masks ahead of a match against Bolivia.

“Inhuman to play in these conditions. Pitch, altitude, ball … everything bad,” he wrote.

After the match, a 0-0 draw, Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus said he “felt a little tired … it wasn’t nice.”

Bolivia were briefly banned from playing in La Paz in 1993 after Brazil lost a 40-year unbeaten record in World Cup qualifiers in a 2-0 defeat to the plucky minnows. Brazilian Joao Havelange was the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa at the time.

And the subject came up again in 2009 after an Argentina side coached by Diego Maradona and starring Lionel Messi was humiliated 6-1 in a qualifier for the 2010 World Cup.

Maradona was one of those to have criticised the Fifa ban two years earlier.

Whether playing at such an altitude is dangerous or not, there is no doubt that it provides Bolivia with an advantage.

Their record at home is leaps and bounds better than their efforts on their travels.

In World Cup 2018 qualifying, Bolivia lost every single away match, but at home they managed four wins and two draws from their nine games, even beating the mighty Argentina 2-0.

High-altitude pitches are not uncommon in the Andean country where Potosi’s two teams Nacional and Real play at 3,990m in the Victor Agustin Ugarte stadium, while San Jose play at the Jesus Bermudez stadium in Oruro at 3,731m.

While this tragedy will undoubtedly heighten concerns about the safety of playing at such altitude, Bolivia’s football federation has decided to act quickly to clear up any doubts.

“We have already taken the initiative to invite four specialists in the field to issue a very clinical and very medical report,” said Salinas.

LONDON: England captain Eoin Morgan believes the tournament hosts have done everything they possibly could to get themselves ready for a tilt at the World Cup.

One-day cricket has long been the poor relation of the international game in England in terms of status.

But a humiliating first round exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand – with Morgan made captain only shortly before the tournament in place of axed Test skipper Alastair Cook – prompted a major rethink.

Now England, bidding to lift the men’s trophy for the first time, head into a tournament starting on May 30 as the world’s No 1 ranked side in ODI cricket.

“Absolutely no regrets, we’re positioned in the best possible place at the moment,” Morgan told reporters at the launch of England’s World Cup kit in London on Tuesday – just hours after they unveiled their 15-man squad for the 50-over showpiece event.

Since the 2015 World Cup England have twice set a new record for the highest total in an ODI innings – 444 for three against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2016 and 481 for six against reigning world champions Australia, at the same venue, last year.

“Our exceptional days are better than we could have imagined – the world records etc – I could never have seen those at the start of 2015,” said middle-order batsman Morgan.

“That expectation has shifted with level of performance.”

And the former Ireland international believes England can cope with the increased pressure to deliver a title-winning run.

‘Inspire next generation’

“It’s a huge opportunity, we’re looking to express ourselves and continue to play as we have in the last four years.

“The other one is to inspire the next generation of cricketers to come into the game and pick up a ball and a bat, hopefully come out of the tournament worshipping one of the guys in our team.”

England wrapped a 4-0 home ODI series win against Pakistan on Sunday and Morgan would rather they were next playing their World Cup opener against South Africa – at The Oval on May 30 – than a warm-up match against reigning world champions Australia in Southampton on Saturday.

“We’d like to start playing tomorrow,” said Morgan.

“We’ve had some really good preparation against Pakistan, I don’t think could have gone better, chopping and changing. Everyone just wants to get on with the tournament.”

As widely forecast, Sussex fast bowler Jofra Archer – who only qualified for England in March and has played just three ODIs – edged out left-arm quick David Willey, a mainstay of the team, for a place in the World Cup squad.

Explaining Willey’s omission, Morgan said: “It’s simply because over the course of the tournament we need to cover all possible cases with the squad and the fact we have three frontline bowlers (Archer, Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett) who all take the new ball affected that decision.”

Back-up spinner Joe Denly also missed out, with Morgan saying: “I spoke to Dave and Joe last night and obviously said longer term, with the length of the tournament we are likely to get injuries – they are next in line, no doubt about that.

“I still see them playing a part in our World Cup campaign.

“It is but a tough decision had to be made and hopefully the right one for the squad.”

As for Archer, Morgan said: “Jofra has come in and done exactly what he’s been doing for Sussex and other franchise teams around the world.

“I think he’s come on in the games he’s played. If he continues to improve throughout his career, he’s a very exciting prospect.”