Compiled by FAZLEENA AZIZ, C.ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
ACTOR and singer Aliff Aziz has declined to entertain speculation that he is romantically involved with his musical theatre co-star, Melinda Dadew, in the production Mansur & Liu.
Instead, Aliff said he wanted to give his full attention to bringing the character of Sultan Mansur Shah to life in the play.
“The current focus is to ensure that the character entrusted to me is portrayed as best as possible. The play also requires a high level of commitment throughout the rehearsal period,” he said, as reported by Berita Harian.
Aliff added that he had paid little attention to social media in recent weeks.
“People can comment on anything about me; some like it and some don’t.
“I have a big responsibility to shoulder, and my focus is on that,” he said.
Aliff and Melinda play the lead roles of Sultan Mansur Shah and Princess Liu in Mansur & Liu, a production directed by Datuk M. Nasir and inspired by Sulalatus Salatin (Malay Annals).
The performance at Panggung Sari, Istana Budaya, runs until Sept 20.
> A Telekom Malaysia (TM) retiree is preserving a unique collection of 37 old telephones spanning more than four decades, tracing the country’s communications technology from the rotary-dial era to the digital age.
Abdul Majid Hussin, 66, said he began collecting the phones when he started working in Raub in April 1983, continuing until he retired as a technical officer on Sept 1, 2017.
“The telephone began with numbers being dialled using a rotating plate before switching to buttons and eventually entering the digital era,” he told Utusan Malaysia at his home in Kampung Kuala Keloi, Ulu Dong, Raub, Pahang.
“But I keep the old phones as a source of nostalgia for my time working in the technical department and to appreciate TM’s contribution to telecommunications services after Independence.”
Abdul Majid said his interest in keeping old phones began 43 years ago when he started bringing home broken equipment that was no longer in use.
“I brought them home, cleaned them and kept them in a cupboard for display so they could be seen by my children, grandchildren and visiting guests,” he said.
His collection includes phones from the 1970s and 1980s with grey, white or ivory-yellow number plates.
He also has the 1980s-era Trimline telephones, where the number keypad is located directly on the handset.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
