Event organiser of Seafood Expo Asia warns of scammers pretending to be associated with its shows

Source: Seafood Expo Asia website.

Organisers of Seafood Expo Asia are warning potential exhibitors of scammers approaching them for various exhibition-related projects such as paid directory listings. Victims may be locked into an automatically-renewed three-year contract for US$1,700 or more annually, they said.

Diversified Business Communications said that companies may claim to be associated with its events, which include Seafood Expo Asia and SPAR Japan, and offer to list an exhibitor in an exhibitor directory or a business guide, for example FAIRGuide, Expo-Guide, Construct Data Verlag, World Business Directory or World Business Guide. Other services may include travel arrangements and hotel rooms. 

The companies behind such projects are not associated in any fashion with Diversified Business Communications or any of our trade show events, the event organiser said online, providing an example of what the fraudulent solicitation can look like. "If you have participated in any of our exhibitions in previous years, or are due to participate in any of our events this year you are likely to be targeted," Diversified Business Communications stated on a web page warning of the scams. "Most of these companies are not official vendors for the expo and some are from non-existent companies."

The company went on to recommend contacts for unsolicited communications from possible scammers for US and EU businesses, but did not list any organisations for the Asia Pacific region. In cases such as these making a police report or going to a cyber security government agency within the country would be likely avenues to pursue.

Seafood Expo Asia, formerly the Asian Seafood Exposition, will return to Hong Kong from 6 to 8 September 2016. Over three days, seafood buyers can connect with exhibitors offering a variety of live, fresh, frozen and value-added seafood products and seafood-related services and equipment.

Interested?

Register

Refer to the official list of vendors for Seafood Expo Asia 

Check with Diversified Business Communications' customer service department about unofficial vendors at: +1 207 842 5504 or email customerservice at divcom.com.

Read the Suroor Asia blog post about a possible scam event site

Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces adds more masterpieces, highlights Silk Road

The Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (VCM) has grown by five members in the past year, it was revealed at the annual meeting of the Trustees of the VCM at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore on 19 and 20 November, 2015.

Jointly led by Jos Takema, Project Manager of the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands and Yun Hye Chung of the National Museum of Korea, the VCM now boasts 135 member museums from 35 countries and 183 new masterpieces for a total of 2,514 available online.

In December, the VCM introduced a new highlight on the Silk Road. A dedicated Silk Road button on the VCM Search for Masterpiec es page provides instant access to relevant masterpieces. Pictured is a folio from an 8th century large Quran from the collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum (copyright Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore), which turned up during the search. 

According to the VCM, the museum acquired this folio in 1999. It is likely from a monumental Quran in Tashkent, Uzbekistan attributed to the Caliph Uthman (reign 644 to 656) and might have been carried along the Silk Route. The item has been carbon-dated, and there is a 68% probability of a date between 640 and 705 and 95% probability of a date between 595 and 855. 

The VCM website development is sponsored by NAVER, Korea's top search portal. The VCM also began new social media initiatives on Facebook and Instagram this year.

The VCM was originally a project of ASEMUS - the Asia Europe Museum Network. It features online versions of masterpieces of Asian origin from the collections of contributing museums to promote mutual understanding and appreciation between peoples of various and different cultures. Each museum contributes a selection of 25 masterpieces from their own collections.

Philippines AirAsia offers delectable new deal with Santan inflight menu concept

Source: AirAsia. Santan is Philippines AirAsia's new
inflight menu concept.

Philippines AirAsia has begun serving hot meals from its newest inflight menu concept, themed Santan. Halal-certified Santan replaces AirAsia Café as part of the airline’s latest offerings to enhance customer experience while flying. The name refers to an essential ingredient in Malay cooking, the liquid obtained from pressing shredded coconut meat. Santan is thick, creamy and often use as a substitute for butter, cream or soup stock in ASEAN cooking.

New items include bangus sisig, a Filipino dish made of chunks of boneless milkfish sautéed in onions seasoned with salt, pepper and spices; buffalo chicken strips and barbeque cola beef, grilled meat with smoky sauce paired with tomato rice or roasted potatoes; and the low-calorie vegetarian chickpea curry and classic Maan’s pasta arabiata. The dishes are available for onboard and prebooked purchases on all Philippines AirAsia flights to/from Manila, Kalibo/Boracay, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Davao, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea.

Other dishes on the menu also pay tribute to ASEAN flavours. These include nasi lemak, chicken rice, beef caldereta and adobo. Guests can also choose from sweets such as lemon torte, banoffee cake, sinful chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies from as low as P80 for onboard purchase.

Philippines AirAsia Commercial Head, Gerard Peñaflor said, “We value customer experience at all points of the journey – from the purchase of the ticket to leaving the airport, on board, and onto the destination. This latest enhancement in our inflight menu makes flying with us also a delightful dining experience.”

Interested?

AirAsia guests are encouraged to prebook their meals to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing their meals on board, with a guarantee that their preferred meals are available during their flights. Guests who have booked their flights without meals, meanwhile, can easily add them in via the ‘Manage My Booking’ option after logging in to www.airasia.com.

Kitaab starts crowdfunding campaign

Source: Kitaab website.

Kitaab, which means “book” in many Asian languages, is moving to the next phase of its evolution with crowdfunding on Indiegogo. The literary project was founded in 2005 to empower and connect Asian writers with readers globally. Since then, it "has filled a major void in the online literary scene in Asia by creating a link-based information storehouse where the most important stories on Asian writers and writing were curated", says Zafar Anjum, its founder and a well-known author.

"Over the years, Kitaab has evolved into a much larger project that encompasses publishing and e-commerce to serve the same community of writers, readers, publishers and agents worldwide. Run by 15 voluntary editors who sit in different parts of the world, Kitaab provides a global writing and publishing platform to emerging and seasoned writers in Asia and abroad," he said. 

Kitaab began publishing in 2013, presenting original/translated contemporary literature in English and Asian languages. It is also getting recognised in the region, most recently as the media partner of the Hyderabad Literary Festival in India. 

"Two of Kitaab's titles were launched at this year's Singapore Literary Festival. Kitaab will publish three books by (Singapore) Cultural Medallion winner Isa Kamari in 2016, including the Malay writer's first novel written in English. Kitaab has also bought the Hindi/Urdu translation rights of Isa Kamari's pathbreaking Malay novel, Intercession," Anjum said. "We will be acquiring more Asian titles for translation." 

Intercession, published as Tawassul in Malay, explores the implications of cloning the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).

Anjum hopes that the crowdfunding campaign will raise up to US$10,000 to help Kitaab to curate better content and provide an improved user experience. "Those who will support Kitaab in this first-ever fundraising campaign will be rewarded with various perks, ranging from thank you notes from editors to signed copies of books to specially designed tote bags and even mentions on the Kitaab website as a patron," he said. 

So far, nearly more than 1,300 people have supported Kitaab’s appeal on Facebook, Anjum said. "We seek your help and cooperation to make our maiden fundraising - our first in ten years - a success," he said. 

Interested?

Contribute to or share the details of the crowdfunding campaign

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post on Anjum's book Startup Capitals
Read the Suroor Asia blog post on Anjum's book Iqbal

Asian Civilisations Museum holds exhibition on South Asia and the Islamic world

Source: Asian Civilisations Museum. Hammam shoes from Turkey.

South Asia and the Islamic World: Highlights from the Collection is a temporary exhibition on till 31 May 2016 at the newly renovated Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore.

The museum notes that the region covered by Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh has seen several religions co-exist over centuries, and explores the arts of this geographical area and beyond.

Interested?

Plan your visit

Free Islamic civilisation and Asian civilisation MOOC to be offered by Universiti Putra Malaysia

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) said its new online learning environment, available for free to the local community and globally as well, will include a course on Islamic civilisation.

The new method of learning, incorporating video lectures, interactive forums, chats, quizzes, and e-assessments, is in line with the current National Higher Education Strategic Plan which emphasises life-long learning, e-learning, internationalisation and knowledge transfer, the university said. 

UPM is currently converting the “Islamic Civilization and Asian Civilization” (Tamadun Islam, Tamadun Asia) course that is compulsory for all public universities as a MOOC course to benefit in-campus students as well as interested public communities. To be conducted in English, the course will focus on the role of civilisation in building Malaysian society based on principles such as mutual respect and social interaction within a multiracial society.  

Students can register online for the Putra Massive Open Online Course (PutraMOOC), and complete a course in roughly seven to eight weeks. 

*Images from UPM website