selangor times feb 11, 2011 / issue 11

8/7/2019 Selangor Times Feb 11, 2011 / Issue 11

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2 February 11 13, 2011news

phone(603) 5523 2288fax(603) 5523 1188

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EDITORIALCHIEF EDITORKL Chan

COMMUNITY EDITORNeville Spykerman

WRITERSTang Hui Koon, Chong Loo Wah, Rahmah Ghazali,

Gan Pei Ling, Basil Foo, Yasleh Hani Mat YassinCOPY EDITORS James Ang, Deborah Loh

DESIGNER Jimmy C. S. Lim

PHOTOGRAPHERVictor Chong

ADVERTISINGTimothy Loh, Ivan Looi

ADVISORS Faekah Husin, Arfaeza Abdul Aziz

Mog

Friday Saturday Sunday

afeoo

ngh

Selangor WeaTHer

Source: Malaysian meteorological department

By Chong Loo Wah

SHAH ALAM: Parents in Cheras have another cause orcelebration this Chinese New Year as the state has approvedland or a third Chinese vernacular school in Bandar DamaiPerdana.

Te approval or SJK (C) Connaught 3 was given as theother schools SJK (C) Connaught and Connaught 2 arealready overcrowded.

he decision was made at Wednesdays state executivecouncil meeting and the Menteri Besar is expected to announcethe decision at the states Chinese New Year carnival in Kajangtomorrow night.

Te 2.27ha plot which was earmarked as a school reservecomes ready with our buildings including a canteen.

Te developer surrendered the land back to the state in 2009and the buildings are currently in good condition.

Te SJK (C) Connaught school board had applied to thestate or the land through eratai assemblyperson Jenice Leea year ago.

Te schools director, Ng Choon Hua, said the two existingschools had a student population o 2,500 and was bursting atthe seams.

However, parents continued to ask or Ngs help to enrolltheir children in the schools every year.

Now that they have secured the land rom the state

government, the school will be applying or a permit rom theEducation Ministry.Ng added that they would appeal or donations rom the

Chinese community i the Education Ministry could not supplysucient unds to operate the new school.

New primaryschool for Cheras

One-stop centrefor Indonesian labourBy Gan Pei Ling

SHAH ALAM: Selangor hopes toresolve its labour shortage in theindustrial sector through an agreements igne d toda y with Indone sia nauthorities.

he agreement is between theSelangor State Investment Centre(SSIC) and Indonesias KonsortiumBahtera Malindo to source orIndonesian labour through a one-stopcentre.

Factory owners who need Indone-sian workers can go straight to SSICsone stop centre, said Selangor MenteriBesar an Sri Khalid Ibrahim in a pressstatement released in conjunction withthe signing. Khalid is on a three-dayvisit to Jakarta to witness the signing.

Khalid said that Konsortium Bahtera

Malindo, which consists o three com-panies, is approved by the Indonesiangovernment and is experienced insourcing Indonesian workers orMalaysia.

Apart rom resolving labour issues,Khalid also hopes to attract moreinvestors to Selangor by stabilising thesupply o labour.

he state has been losing oreigninvestments due to the shortage, saideresa Kok, who is the executivecouncillor in charge o trade aairs.

here are 60,000 actory workerpositions waiting to be lled, said Kokto Selangor Times.

Te proposal to set up a one-stopcentre or investors to secure Indonesianlabour was put orth by SSIC last year.

Besides being a acilitator betweeninvestors and the workers, SSIC is also

going to set up a database o the workersin order to take better care o theirwelare.

Tis collaboration with the Indone-sian consortium aims to raise the wagesand quality o lie o Indonesian actoryworkers in Selangor, apart rom reduc-ing the inow o illegal workers.

It would also help to train more In-donesians to become skilled workers, awin-win solution or both Selangorand Indonesia.

SSIC chie executive ocer DatukJabar Ahmad Kembali will sign thememorandum with KonsortiumBahtera Malindo today.

Khalid and several state executivecouncillors are also in Jakarta to meetwith investors and explore business op-portunities between the state and Indo-nesia.

Amenities missing from public hallsSHAH ALAM: Amenities worth RM384,776 have beenreported missing rom public halls in Selangor due to lack oaccountability by village committees appointed by the

previous administration.hese Village Development And Saety committees(JKKK) ailed to protect public property in the halls, saidstate executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar in a pressstatement.

Te thefs happened afer the March 2008 general election,and Jayakumar claimed that JKKK paid no heed when itemswent missing because they became indierent due to the

change in government.he items stolen included computers, public address

systems and urniture.

Xavier added that event wall mounted speakers, ans andair conditioners had gone missing.He said the losses were reported to the state executive

council by the State Economic Planning Unit (Upen) whichobtained input rom seven district and land oicesthroughout Selangor (excluding Petaling, Sepang and SabakBernam).

He said the state would lodge police reports.

To place your Advert in

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By Alvin Yap

SHAH ALAM: Parliamentarianswant the Subang Jaya MunicipalCouncil (MPSJ) to ensure its opentender system or waste management isree rom possible abuse.

his comes as allegations havesuraced that certain council memberswith links to the bidders may attemptto abuse the system when MPSJstarts awarding tenders directly.

Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood yesterdaysaid she was among Members oParliament who have received textmessages containing allegations.

I stress that its an allegation, but wemust have the assurance by the MPSJpresident that the open tender systemis vetted and approved by both a ull-board meeting and the state exco.

Te mechanism and procedure toshortlist the bidders must also beapproved by the State Executive

Council, said the Kota Raja MP at apress conerence.Dr Siti also suggested a lottery

system be employed to ensure contractswere awarded airly.

Conduct a draw by lottery torandomly choose the shortl ist-ed bidders, she said.

She, however, declined to disclosethe identities o the people who had

sent the messages or those who arealleged to have colluded with thecontract bidders.

MPSJ will replace Alam Flora in

choosing and awarding contracts orsol id waste management in itsmunicipality next month, when thecurrent contract ends.

Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad saidthat observers are asking how MPSJ willaward a contract i ve or ten companieshave the same pricing

Tey are saying that in such a case,council ocials will be approached by

companies to approve their bids, or theormer could ask or bribes to do so,said Khalid.

Tere were about 7,000 bids rom

1,120 companies, with 170 companiesshortlisted, in this unprecedented moveby MPSJ to open the lucrative solidwaste management service.

Te industry is worth some RM50-RM60 million, in both the Petaling JayaCity Council and MPSJ respectively.

Te MPs said they will meet MenteriBesar an Sri Khalid Ibrahim to discussways to strengthen the vetting process.

Ensure transparency for opentender system, say MPs

From left: Dr Siti, Khalid and Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne at thepress conference yesterday.


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SELANGOR TIMES February 11 13, 2011 3


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EvEntsSelangor Chinese New Year Carnival

Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will ociate at theSelangor Chinese New Year Carnival tomorrow. Thecarnival will be held at Jalan Sulaiman, Kajang, rom3pm-11pm. There will be cultural and dance shows,cultural booths, a Chinese cultural exhibition andtraditional children games.

Free Eye Check

National Institute o Ophthalmic Sciences is oeringree comprehensive vision screening at their NIOSOptometry Clinic. It is part o their service to serve thecommunity in Working Towards Eradicating VisualImpairment. For an appointment, the public can callNIOS Optometry Clinic at 03-7718 1550. They will beoperating rom Mondays to Fridays rom 9am-5pmand 9am-1pm on Saturdays. Venue: National Instituteo Ophthalmic Sciences, 1st foor NIOS Oce, NIOBuilding, Lorong Utara B, Petaling Jaya.

Blood Donation Campaign

YMCA Kuala Lumpur Youth will hold a blood donationcampaign at National Blood Bank on Feb 25. Venue:YMCA KL, Lee Kong Chian Hall, 95, Jalan PadangBelia, O Jln Sambanthan, Brickelds.

Scottish Dance

Join YMCA KL now and take up Scottish dancing!Classes every Tuesday. For more inormation, pleasecontact the Sports Coordinator, Sharon at 603-22741439, or visit the website at www.ymcakl.com.

Raleigh KLs February Monthly Meet!

Raleigh KL is having its monthly meet at Sg Pisangtomorrow. The meet is aimed at helping the environmentby collecting trash. Ater the hard work, participantswill get to relax at the waterall and do some trekking.Participants are to pay RM5 or members and RM 8 ornon-members. For more details, contact Shu Woan at

[email protected].

Shadow Kill screening

A screening o Adoor Gopalakrishnans Shadow Killwill be held tomorrow at 3pm. Shadow Kill presents thestory in 1940s southern India, where a hangman namedKaliyapan struggles with the guilt and implicationso the executions he obediently carries out. StarringNizhalkuttu, the lm is in Malayalam. An Indo-FrenchCo-Production. Admission is by donation. Venue:Indicine, The Kuala Lumpur Perorming Arts Centre.

Al-Andalus Ensemble

Much o the musical roots orgotten by Europe is beingbrought back in the sensitive and evocative music oAl-Andalus Ensemble who bring to the stage a estivalsetting o famenco guitar and oud, and a line-up omodern Andalusian dance as well as trumpet, vocals,piano, bass and drums. This concert is being held on

Feb 14 at 8.30 pm. Admission is priced at RM138,RM98, RM68, RM38. Dress code is smart casual.Venue: Dewan Filharmonik Petronas.

Deftones Live In KL

Get ready to rock your Valentines Day with the quintetrom Sacremento, US. Detones will be perorming livesongs rom their earlier albums such as Adrenaline toAround The Fur, White Pony and the latest DiamondEyes. The concert will begin at 8.30pm. Tickets arepriced at RM98, RM188, RM 258 and are availableonline rom AirAsiaRedTix at www.airasiaredtix.comand TicketPro at www.ticketpro.com.my Venue: KLLive Centre, Jalan Sultan Ismail.

Torch Song Massacre ~ Battle of the Sexes

Are all women moody? Are all men jerks? In thebattle or gender supremacy, many weapons o crassdestruction have been employed by both men and

women - and everyone in between - to get a leg up onthe other. Get over your post-Valentine blues with TheAnnexe Gallerys mad and heartbreakingly hilariousTorch Song Massacre, where everyone will die listeningto those oh so tragic love songs rom Feb 17-22 rom8pm to 10pm. Entry is by donation. Venue: The AnnexeGallery, Central Market Annexe.

Selangor pushes for

auxiliary policeBy Basil FooSHAH ALAM: Selangor is stillwaiting or the Home Ministry torespond to its proposal on setting upauxiliary police units in the state to curbrising crime.

Our oer is to contribute resourcesin a joint venture to protect the securityo the people as that is a priority o thestate government, said an Sri KhalidIbrahim.

Te Menteri Besar said he had writtento h om e m iniste r D a tuk S e r iHishammuddin Hussein on Mondayto express concern over rising crime, andto reiterate the states intention to

address the problem.Khalid said this was the second time

Selangor had written to the ederalgovernment with the states proposal.he irst letter was sent to both thedeputy prime minister and the homeminister in July 2010, but there has beenno response.

Under the proposal, the enorcementoicers rom the Petaling Jaya CityCouncil (MBPJ) would orm thepilot batch o auxiliary police approvedby the Home Ministry to act withlimited police powers to preventcrimes.

MBPJ had already budgeted RM4.2million or the programme but had to

shelve it when the home ministryreused to give the green light.

Khalid said recent cases such as wheretwo security guards were slashed inDamansara Perdana and a pregnantwoman who was allegedly slap androbbed by policemen, were alarming.

He added the situation demonstrateda clear need or additional se curity.

Te Selangor governments intentionis to provide security orces to assist thedaily routine o police, not take over theenorcement duties o the police orce,he said.

He said an increase in manpower orpatrol and crime prevention will helpsae guard security or communities.

Decisionon wateragreement

put off

By Gan Pei Ling

PUTRAJAYA: In what water activists described as an anti-climax yesterday, the Court o Appeal postponed its decisionon the declassication o a water concession agreement to Feb25.

Te Court o Appeal was supposed to decide yesterdaywhether to uphold a landmark High Court judgment to makepublic the concession agreement o Syarikat Bekalan Air Sel-angor (Syabas) and its audit.

We didnt really had time to deliberate on the case due to

our workload this week we would like more time to delivera more mature decision, said judge Datin Paduka ZalehaZahari.

Te two other judges on the panel are Datuk Seri AbuSamah Nordin and Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus.

Tis is anti-climatic, but its a good sign that they want tospend more time to deliberate on the matter, said CharlesSantiago, coordinator o the Coalition Against Water Priva-tisation (CAWP).

Concerned with rising water taris, the coalition had leda suit in 2007 to request the declassication o the concessionagreement signed between Syabas, the Federal and Selangorgovernment as well as Syabass audit report.

CAWP, which includes the Malaysian rades Union Con-gress, won the case when the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruledin their avour in a landmark judgment on June 28 last year.

he Energy, Water and Communication Ministry hadconsistently reused to declassiy the agreement and Syabas

audit report because they were condential and consideredocial secret.However, in a 19-page judgment, judicial commissioner

Hadhariah Syed Ismail said the documents contain no inor-mation detrimental to the national security or public interest.

In addition, as the concession agreement and Syabas auditare o public interest, Hadhariah had ruled that the documentsshould be made public in the spirit o transparency and ac-

countability.Te Federal government had appealed against the High

Courts judgment and requested a stay o execution to declas-siy the documents.

Santiago, who is among the 14 plaintis, remains condentthat the Appeals Court will uphold the High Courts judgment.

He said Hadhariahs judgment was well-reasoned and up-held the publics right to inormation.

Among the 14 plaintis were two children Darryl Chong,now 13, and Dhiwan Sathiveloo. Chongs ather, Peter Chong,was also at the Appeals Court yesterday.

He said the children were included as plaintis as the caseaected their right to clean and aordable water in uture.

Syabas supplies water to Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala

Lumpur. Te company is allowed to raise water taris peri-odically based on the concession agreement.Te company had requested a raise in taris by 15% in 2006

as it claimed in its audit report it had managed to reduce non-revenue water by ve percent. Non-revenue water is water lostthrough leakages, aulty meters and thef.

CAWP was represented by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and theFederal government by Datin Azizah Nawawi.

Santiago(centre)speaking toreporters.


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Sri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (right) and Purushothaman.

Residents appeal for new Tamil schoolBy Alvin Yap

PETALING JAYA: Parents andteachers o SJK amil Seaportwhich is marked or relocation toK a m p u n g L i n d u n g a n w a n tauthorities to expedite the movewithout urther delay.

Te school, which is to be relo-cated to PJS6 rom its current sitein Kelana Jaya, was to have beenbuilt in 2008.

Te 0.44 hectare site has beenallocated by the Selangor Develop-ment Corporation (PKNS) and issupposed to be built by the ederalPublic Works Department (PWD).

We need the school to be builtast to cater to students who arewaiting to enroll, said R Purush-othaman.

Te schools Parent eacher As-sociation chairperson is also appeal-ing to the PWD and EducationMinistry to increase the number oclassrooms or the new school rom18 to 24 to cater to greater demandin enrollment.

He pointed out that there was alarge Indian community in the sur-rounding areas o Kampung Lind-ungan, Desa Mentari and amanDato Hormat.

About 600 students are expectedto enroll in the new school com-pared to the 112 at its present loca-tion.

Purushothaman added that thecurrent school was also no longerconducive because it buildings were

run down and it did not have a eld.

Bordering a monsoon drain,monitor lizards and snakes are oenseen in the compound.

Parents eel the schools new loca-tion in PJS6 was would better servethe Indian community in PetalingJaya.

here arent many amil lan-guage secondary schools nearby,said housewie and mother o two,Rajeswari Maruthamuthu, 46.

Some students now travel to theSekolah Wawasan amil primaryschool in USJ 15, or to the Vive-

kananda secondary school in Jalanempler.Sri Setia assemblyperson Nik

Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the newschool will also help reduce trans-portation costs that some parentshave to pay.

A amily o three school-goingchildren would have to spendRM300 a month or transport, hesaid.

SJK amil Seaport, as a amilvernacular school, is not ully-unded by the ederal government,and relies on donations and undingrom community members.

Te state government recentlydonated RM39,000 or the pur-

chase o desktop computers.

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A family ofthree school-goingchildren would have

to spend RM300 amonth for transport.

Higher allowance for religious teachersSHAH ALAM:Te state government has approveda increase allowance o RM300 monthly or Quranand Fardhu Ain teachers (KAFA) serving in ReligiousPrimary schools (SRA) and Religious Primary Inte-grated Schools (SRAI).

With the increment, KAFA teachers in SRA andSRAI will receive a total o RM1,300 in allowances.Te increment came into efect on Jan 1.

Te monthly allowances will cost the state govern-ment more than RM14 million a year, said Menteri

Besar an Sri Khalid Ibrahim aer the state executivecouncil made approved the increase at its weeklymeeting on Wednesday.

Te state government hopes that the incrementwill be an incentive to the teachers, said Khalid.

Te increment afects some 3,935 KAFA teachersin 208 SRA and 11 SRAI institutes o learning inSelangor.

Currently, KAFA teacher in SRA and SRAI re-ceive a monthly allowance o RM1,000.


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7February 11 13, 2011news

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Ah Longbanners putto good useBy Basil Foo

KLANG: Banners advertising loan sharkervices are made into umbrellas, just one ohe many novel things the Klang Municipal

Council (MPK) is doing to promote recyclingsing conscated items.

Plastic is not biodegradable, and whenumped into landills they tend to causenderground ires, said MPK secretary

Mohd Ikhsan Mukri.Recycling the plastic ban-

ers has proven an ecientnd environmentally-riendly

way to dispose o the cons-ated items.

Mohd Ikhsan said theouncils enorcement de-artment, which seizes theanners, has also createdems like letter holders and

hopping bags rom the ma-erial.

Te recycled items can beound in the council building s lobby wherehey were put on display and pitched or use

nternally among sta.Aer a trial run and taking into accountheir durability and eectiveness, we areonsidering mass production and to markethe products to the public, he said.

Te council has also come up with othernnovations using conscated material. One a device to trap crows, produced by theouncils Wild Animal Control Division and

Department o Health.Tese have been created using scraps o

wood and metal rom illegal roadside stallshat have been demolished.

Using recycled materials in theroduction o these traps helped us reduceosts, said MPK health director Zulkili

Abbas.Te traps have proven more eective at

ontrolling the crow population in Klang,ompared to the previous method o hiringrivate companies to do the culling.

Previously the council spent RM45,000early on crow shooting programs whichesulted in 7,000 crows killed last year, said

Zulkifi.Te trap costs only RM600 to produce

and when used at Port Klang and anjungHarapan last December, it managed to catch

100 crows per trap daily, he added.he council plans to use the traps atseaside locations where there are a lot o treesand seaood restaurants.

Scraps o metal have also been used tocreate rubbish bins to replace the largegarbage containers and plastic bins currentlyin use.

Tese metal bins were welded by oursta and cost RM15 each; cheaper thanplastic bins which cost RM250 each and arevulnerable to vandalism, said MPKEnvironmental Department head WanMohd. Soan.

So ar 250 units o the metal bins havebeen produced and stationed at various spotslike Plaza MPK and anjung Harapan sinceOctober last year.

Tese creations using recyclable itemshave been innovations by our own starequiring no cost o engaging outsideconsultation, sa id Mohd Ikhsan.

Hopeully our implementation o theseitems could be used to improve the cleanlinessand livability or the residents o Klang, headded.

A crow trapmade fromrecyled items.

A publicdustbin made

from scrapmetal.

Express your municipality or utilities complaints...let our reporters get a response.

email to [email protected]

The trap costsonly RM600 to produceand when used at PortKlang and TanjungHarapan last December,it managed to catch 100

crows per trap daily.


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8 february 11 13, 2011NEWS

Hostel raising a stinkBy Alvin Yap

SUNGAI BULOH: A massivestink rom raw sewage is making lieunbearable or residents in Kam-pung Matang Pagar.

Te owner o an illegal hostel hasresorted to digging up excrementrom the clogged and overowingseptic tank on his premises anddumping it into the drains in thesurrounding area in a village nearSungai Buloh.

I was washing my clothesaround 11am when I saw men pour-ing buckets o brown sludge downthe drain that lows outside myrestaurant, said restaurant ownerCheah Yoon Mei, 45.

When I got a whi o the strongsmell, I knew they were dumpingexcrement into the drains. I toldthem to stop, said a visibly upsetCheah.

A strong unpleasant smell wasinto the open-air restaurant whenthe wind blows across rom the sur-rounding drains.

Cheah, who is rom Kepong, saidshe was lucky to have stopped theworkers rom dumping the bucketsthey had used to dump the excre-ment.

Tey were about to dump thebuckets in an abandoned lot next tomy kitchen, said Cheah.

Te smell also aects anotherrestaurant owned by Wong Tiam

Yow.I called the owner o the illegalhostel and he said his workers weredumping the excrement in the jun-gle, said Wong, who saw themdumping the excrement about 50metres away rom the illegal hostel.

Wong, whose restaurant is nextdoor to the illegal hostel, led Selan-gor Timesreporters to an abandonedlot urther up the road.

Heaps o excrement were piledup, causing passers-by to pinch theirnoses when they walked past thedumping ground.

A van converted into a schoolbuspassed by, and schoolchildren insidethe vehicle were seen pinching their

noses in disgust.Residents said they have put upwith the stink or a year now, as theillegal hostels septic tanks otenoverowed.

he hostel, originally a two-storey building, has an illegal exten-sion, making it a three-storey struc-ture.

Wong said the septic tanks orthe two-storey illegal hostel couldnthandle raw sewerage rom 60 peo-ple.

K K Tam, assistant to state ex-

Top: The dumping groundfor excrement which hasangered residents.Right: Restaurant ownerCheah Yoon Mei.Far right: The septic tankat the illegal hostel.

ecutive councillor eresa Kok, saidhe complained to Selayang Munici-pal Council (MPS) on the same day.

Tam said he called the councilsHealth Department but was toldthat they did not have an enorce-ment unit to address the complaints.

Tis is bad service rom MPS.Tey should stop making excusesand serve the people, said Tam.

Selangor Timescontacted MPSocials who said the council wasnot responsible in this instance asthe illegal hostel was dischargingwaste matter into the drains.

he oicials said Indah WaterKonsortium (IWK) should actagainst the illegal hostel.

At press time, IWK could notreturn Selangor Timescalls or com-ments.

Egypt unrest: Selangor offers courses to studentsSHAH ALAm: Selangor students who werewithdrawn rom Egypt can sign up orcourses provided by the state while waiting toreturn to the country which is in turmoil.

Six to 12-month courses on English, Ara-bic, computer and business will be oered tothe students, Menteri Besar an Sri Khalid

Ibrahim announced on Wednesday.Te courses are ree, the students will only

need to pay the registration ee, said Khalidaer chairing the state executive council meet-ing this week.

Tis is to ensure that the students can spendtheir waiting time here more benefcially, he

added.Te state estimated that 1,200 students

rom Selangor were studying in universitiesand tertiary institutions in Egypt.

Priority will be given to the 600 statescholars sponsored by Lembaga Zakat Selan-gor, Khalid said.

Dr Halimah Ali, who is the executivecouncillor in charge o education, will ensurethe courses are ready or enrollment soonestpossible.

he courses are expected to be held atUniversiti Industri Selangor campuses in ShahAlam and Bestari Jaya.


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9february 11 13, 2011NEWS

By Basil Foo

klang: en amilies whoseomes o Jalan Shapadu were de-

troyed by re received nancial aidnd temporary housing on Monday.

Each household was given as-stance o RM500 rom my ownllocations, said State Legislative

Assembly Speaker and Sungaiinang assemblyman Datuk eng

Chang Khim.Additional unds will be pro-

ided by the district oice aterertications, said eng, who pre-ented the nancial aid to residentst Dewan Sungai Pinang public hall.

Te hall was turned into a relieentre or residents to stay in aerhe blaze destroyed their homes onunday night.

eng and Kapar Member o Par-ament S. Manikavasagam had goneo the scene aer the re to surveyhe damage and provide assistanceo the victims.

For the residents who are unableo ind housing, temporary resi-ence will be arranged in Pandama-an at homes provided by the Klang

Municipal Council (MPK).I was told MPK charges

RM500 in rental We will check ihere are any vacancies, he added.

Police were also present at theublic hall to help residents lodge

reports and to re-apply or theirpersonal documents lost in the re.

he source o the ire has notbeen oicially determined but issuspected to have started rom ahouse which experienced a shortcircuit in the electrical wiring.

At the public hall, victims o there told Selangor Timeso their expe-rience.

We didnt manage to save muchexcept our lives and the clothes onour, said Kamalarani Letchumanan,35.

Te re started two houses awayrom her home and spread quickly,leaving her little time to grab only aew valuables like her handphoneand identity card.

I didnt manage to save my6-year old daughters birth certi-cate. We also lost all our our otherpossessions like the V set andjewellery, she said, estimating herlosses to be around RM18,000.

Having moved rom Seremban amonth ago due to her husbandswork as a lorry driver, she has noamily or riends nearby and is de-pendent on the state government orhelp.

Jumali Kasman, 60, who also re-ceived the RM500 assistance, esti-mates his losses to be around

RM30,000.I suered a loss o RM10,000

By Yasleh Hani Mat Yassin

subang jaya: Getting arematorium approved and built

here is a top priority o three-termSubang Jaya councillor K. Aru-mugam (pix).

Currently there is no cremato-ium here and some people haveesorted to using makeshi open

wooden pyres to cremate bodies. Ieel it is high time the municipality

provided a proper place or crema-ions, said Arumugam.

An engineer turned lawyer, Aru-mugam, 52, was appointed as coun-

illor in 2008.He is in charge o the Zone 9 area

o Puchong, which is under the

Subang Jaya municipality. He saidatepayers in this municipality areurbanised and educated people withhigh awareness o their rights, andlso high expectations o their coun-illor.

He said residents here are nothesitant to come orward and ex-

press their grievances. I have to be

pro-active in dealing with them, hesaid.Arrumugam said the main prob-

lem in Subang Jaya is balancingdevelopment in the area with tracfow. Rapid high-rise developmentin certain parts o the municipalityhave caused trac congestion. Tediiculty is in ensuring that theroads available can accommodateincreased trac rom these develop-ments so as not to cause bottleneckson the roads.

He also notes that many roads inSubang Jaya are in bad conditionand need to be resuraced. Aru-mugam said the municipality needsto apportion its RM200 million

allocation more eectively to beable to include road resuracing inthe budget.

Arumugam sits in a committeewith other Subang Jaya councillorswhose task is to increase revenue orthe municipality by getting adver-tisements or billboards around

shah alam:CitizenWatches o Japan recently re-

leased its latest range o eco-riendly watches targeted at theemale market.

Te beautiully craed time-pieces, which are very stylish andashionable, t nicely into thewatchmakers DNA o produc-ing watches that are a usion otechnology and beauty.

Te Citizen Eco-Drive La-dies watches reinorce thebrands reputation as a pioneerin innovation and unctionality.

adahiro Suzuki, director oCitizen Watches (Malaysia),said: Citizen developed ECO

DRIVE as a technology thatutilizes any source o light as thepower source or a watch. It hasmade precise timekeeping cleanand environment-riendly; be-cause it is constantly storingelectrical energy rom any source

o light (articial or natural).Tere is hence no need todispose o or replace used watchbatteries as the energy stored isenough to power the watch evenin total darkness or approxi-mately six months or longer.Tis means battery disposals arenever needed and no harmulsubstances would be producedunlike conventional batteryoperated watches.

As an added benet to theenvironment, the power storagesystem contains no mercury thatcan cause harm to the environ-ment, said Suzuki in a state-ment.

Te two new models are tar-geted at women aged 20 yearsand above and have some uniqueeatures, including stainless steelmetal casing and scratch-re-sistant sapphire glass and highgrade Ox-hide leather.

Fire victims

receive aid

Know YourCouncillor:K. Arumugam

Citizenunveilsecomodelfor ladies

due to the destruction o my belong-ings but i I take into account myhome which is made o wood andmetal, that would be an additionalRM20,000, he sa id.

University student ee Chin Yee,

21, was on his way back rom visitinghis relatives during the Lunar NewYear estivities when he received acall that his house was on re.

Aer my riend called, I rushedback home to see remen surround-

ing the area and many onlookersaround, he said.

Te damage to ees house in-cluded his water tank and roowhich was estimated to costRM2,500.

Subang Jaya.While being a councillor is a

satisying challenge, theres only oneaspect about the job that Arumuganwishes could change.

I eel disappointed that as acouncillor I dont get to play a bigrole where the municipal budget isconcerned. I would like to havemore say in how the budget is used,but I guess that will come withtime, said Arumugam.

Apart rom that, he views councilwork as a service to the state andnation.

When not busy with his legal orcouncil work, Arumugam likes tospend time with his wie and twochildren, and by reading and writ-ing.

Young victims making themselves athome at the relief centre. Inset: Tengpresenting aid to a victim


10/24

10 february 11 13, 2011news

klang: Indian youths ataman Sentosa and its sur-rounding neighbourhoodwill have a new haunt aer anew club was launched hereon Sunday.

Te new branch o amil

Bell Club, which will alsohave a youth wing, will ocuson organising charity andcommunity events, said new-ly-elected secretary PunithaTevi.

We will be visiting oldolks homes and orphanages

and carrying out medicalcampaigns like blood dona-tion and health checks orthe community, said the30-year-old ormer news-caster.

At its launch at Sri Raja

Rajeswary temple, the clubgave out ive hampers toKlang juvenile home DestinyStarting Point.

A noth e r c om m itte emember, Syamala Devi Sad-ayappan, said the club wouldalso organise tuition, Indian

dance and amil languageclasses or the community.

We need to keep theamil culture alive. Every-one, including non-Hindus,is welcome to learn about theculture at the club, said the

25-year-old.Syamala is also a membero the temple committee.Te St John Ambulance so-cial worker has been givingree tuition at the temple.

You need to pay RM10 toregister as a member.

Stinking problem in Connaught

House buyers mull

legal action

New club for Indian youths

By Alvin Yap

ampang jaya: Frustrated house buyerswho are unable to move into their new homesat Pandan Bistari have asked developer IntelBest Sdn Bhd or the keys, only to have theirpleas allen on dea ears.

Liew Chee Kong, chairman o a group obuyers, said the committee had sent a regis-tered letter to the developer, asking or thehandover o the houses immediately andwithout delay.

We told the developer that we wanted tomove into our houses without delay as thehouses are ready, said Liew on uesday, adding

that the letter was sent three weeks ago.Liew said they told Intel Best to hand overthe keys during the Chinese New Year holi-days. However, there has been no responseyet.

he group is considering legal actionagainst the developer.

Liew said they will also ask Housing andLocal Government Minister Datuk WiraChor Chee Heung to set up a meeting betweenthe buyers and Intel Best.

Te group was ormed by a ew buyers whohave been le in the lurch or some ve to sixyears due to the late delivery. Some o ussigned the sales and purchase agreement in2003 or 2004, which means that the deliverywas to have been in 2005 or 2006.

While Intel Best said the current round o

delay was due to rock blasting operations inthe vicinity o the housing scheme, Liew saidthe excuse was unacceptable as the rock blast-ing work is not near the houses.

Te Pandan Bistari housing scheme is situ-ated on top o Bukit Permai which locals inthe area call Little Genting. It was initiallydeveloped by alam Corporation Bhd beore

it was transerred to Intel Best.According to Liew, Phase 2B o Pandan

Bistari is ready or delivery, as it it is 90 percent ready, i not ully completed.

Liew added that he had met the HouseBuyers Association in January to orward thegroups complaints.

Liew and other buyers are sore that thedevelopers have not compensated them or thedelay in handing over the houses.

We are eeling the pinch o having toservice our loans and yet not being able tomove into our new homes, said Liew, addingthat he had taken a bank loan o RM240,000to pay or his unit which cost RM270,000.

Similarly, Loh Yun Chuan, who signed thesales and purchase agreement in 2004, alsotook a RM240,000 loan to buy a unit in Phase2B.

Another buyer, Mohd Hazol Omar, saidthe developers gave him the option o transer-ring his purchase rom the abandoned Phase2A project to a unit in Phase 2B.

eratai assemblywoman Jenice Lee, whomet the buyers at the housing project on Jan16, brought up the matter at the Ampang JayaMunicipal Council last month.

MPAJ, she said, had inormed her that thedeveloper could not get a Certicate o Fitnessor the housing project due to a dispute withSyarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Sya-bas).

Lee explained that Syabas was waiting or

an undisclosed sum o payment rom thedeveloper in the orm o a bank guaranteeto provide water services to Pandan Bistari.

Lee also said that the developer was late insubmitting its documents to MPAJ or theCerticate o Fitness.

Attempts to reach the developer have beenunsuccessul.

By Lee Choon Fai and BasilFoo

kuala lumpur: Residentso aman Connaught have beenputting up with the unbearablestench and sight o trash that hasbeen piling up in their streets sincemid January.

It has been there or weeks, thesmell is getting bad. I have heardrom other people about it and Idont dare to go to the back alley,said hawker Chong Yook Ha.Chong sells mixed rice at a nearbyrestaurant.

Te trash dump, located in theback alley between the Shell petrolstation and the row o shop houseson Jalan Menara Gading 1, is nowabout a metre high and 15 metreswide.

Te pile o trash is also beginningto block the two-lane wide backalley rom vehicle access, with regu-lar sedans barely passing through.Crows now linger at the place insearch or ood, fies inest the place,and rats are now commonly ound,dead or alive, near the dump.

Te stench got worse during thecontinuous drizzle rom Jan 30-31.

We dutiully pay our taxes and

the Government does not even cleanup well! Chong protested.

Chong revealed that garbag ecollectors rarely come to clean upthe trash. Residents sometimes haveto hire private truck drivers to getrid o the trash that is piling up.

She said aman Connaught hasalways had a garbage problem withthe streets requently littered withtrash.

Volunteers rom nearby churchescollect garbage in the area and dis-pose o them once in a while.

It stinks o decomposition; Iwould hold my breath every time Ipass through the back alley.

hat sourish stench makes mewant to vomit, said Michael AkiraSapoetra.

Sapoetra, an Indonesian student

at the UCSI University, lives in anearby condominium but has topass by the alley way on the way toclass.

When contacted, Alam Floraand Kuala Lumpur City Hall(DBKL) declined to comment.

Sri Andalas assemblyman Dr Xavier Jayakumar presenting a hamper to a DestinyStarting Point representative.

The trash that is causing a stink in Taman Connaught.


11/24

11February 11 13, 2011Views

Teohlogy

patrick teoh

MAN IN BlACK

wong chin huat

It is never too late to wish all oyou Gong Xi Fa Cai. Whichmeans wishing you prosperity

n case youve been wondering whathose our words actually mean.

I daresay that millions o Malay-ans mouth those words annually

without actually knowing what theymean. Right or not? Admit it lah.

HahahahaOkay i youre likeme then you must have had a won-

erul holiday and enjoyed yourme o rom work.

Spent quality time with the am-y and riends. Invited other Malay-ians to your open house. Eatenntil you were ready to burst. Andworn that next year you would ap-ly or leave earlier and not join therid-locked traic on the North-outh Hig hway.

And now that the estivities arever and youre back to the grind doou eel a little tired? ired rom allhe easting, drinking and red-col-ured attire that make you look likewalking ang pow which is actually

he Hokkien name or those littleed packets with money inside thatou hand out to your children and

with gritted teeth to your visitorswho bring large broods.

I never understood why or howhe Hokkien version became thetandard in Malaysia do you? In

Cantonese it is Lai See (whichmeans Good Luck). In Mandarin it

The rise o Islamism in the Arab worldwas to a large extent a response to theailure o the secular nationalist regimesin the Arab-Israel conficts. Like socialismor many colonised people in the 1940s to1980s, Islamism is an attractive alternativevehicle or national/civilisational revival ormany Arabs and Muslims since, more soater Sept 11.

Short memory,

elephants memoryis Hoong Bao (which means RedPacket).Anyway, back to the subject o

tiredness and atigue. I dont knowabout you lah but I am very tired lah.I am so tired o the elections over-load, rog estivals and political-speak statements rom both sides othe divide. You know what I mean?So tiring lah. Tis er died, that erwent over to the other side (sorry, Ithought it was unny).

By-elections!!! I dont like thisparty already so now I go join theother one and see how. By-elections!!! You help me, I help you!By-elections!!! Aiyoh!!! I like thishow to carry on man? Want toexercise citizens right to vote alsonowadays beginning to seem quiteutile and pointless lah.

Well, actually not quite true also.I we really want to be totally positiveabout things in Bolehland we canlook at it this way.

Trough by-elections we can getback some o what rightully belongsto us as tax-paying loyal Malaysians.

Like proper schools, gooddrainage systems in the kampongs,politicians who dont live in

mansions or lead lavish liestyles waybeyond what they say we pay them.(Remember those great excuses like,My wie is a very successulentrepreneur in her own right sowere rich.; My son earned all hisbillions because he is so smart ma.You dinch know meh? )

Ya man. During by-elections youcan ask or almost anything or yourkampong and be quite sure ogetting a promise o getting it. Getit? 5 million there so your housewont be looded next time itdrizzles. 3 million over here so yourlittle girl doesnt have to sit on theoor while memorising Ini Ali. Diaduduk di kampong. Ini Ah Chong.Dia duduk di Bandar. Ini Nathan.Dia duduk di ladang stereo-typicalstu masquerading as educationallessons.

But do we really get back what isrightully ours? Or do we just getwhat we deserve? Politicians make alot o big promises. Te bigger theconstituency, the bigger thepromises. But once the voting isdone do they keep their promises?A ew do. Most dont. And I thinkthey do this because they know our

weaknesses. Our weakness or bigpromises accompanied by blaringtrumpets and kompang drums.

Our weakness or handouts owhat is rightully ours anyway. Andour biggest weakness o all, our shortcollective memory. We tend toorget rather easily about things thatpissed us o, aected our amiliesand our lives once the bunting goesup and the big shots hit town.

With their big toothy grins andtheir entourage o wives, photo-graphers and goodie-bags. We allorget even aster when and i theychoose to sit down and have a cupo kopi-o with us (which we pro-bably pay or!). We orget even asterwhen we are chosen by the YB or aphoto opportunity and the pictureappears in the newspapers the nextday. We orget about the leaky rooin the community hall which hasbeen pissing on us or years.

We orget about the broken ur-niture our kids sit on in their run-down school classroom. We orgetabout the dirty water rom ourpipes. We orget about the electric-ity promised us during the last visit3/4/5/6 years ago. We just orget

lah. See or not? I got take photowith the YB leh! Good lah, the er.He even shook my hand you know.And he even told me himsel, Youhelp me, I will help you.

Help you? Help you with what?o do what? Is he doing you a a-vour? Doesnt he work or YOU?Errrrdont know lah. Forget al-ready.

Hey! Tis theory about the Ma-laysian citizen having short memorymight just be soooo true. I mean thepoliticians have memories like ele-phants. hey orget nothing. 28digit Swiss bank account numbers,an opponents past indiscretion, thatthe other YB drives a b igger car. Butonce they are back to being ordinary(well as ordinary as possible aerone has been in the game lah that is)Malaysians they orget too.

While writing this I was in-ormed that Dr M in the book,Doctor M: Operation Malaysia Conversations with Mahathir Mo-hamad claimed that Ops Lalang wasnot his doing at all! It was all theault o the Malaysian Police.

Well, there you go. Gong Xi FaCai.

History taking a turn in North AfricaS

omeone once said history isa bad driver that does notsignal when it takes a turn.

Nothing can be truer than whatappened in unisia, the best per-

orming northern Arican economy.unisias 23-year reigning dicta-

or was orced into exile by a popu-ar uprising days ater a youngraduate burned himsel to protestgainst unemployment. Peoplesower is now sweeping across Egypt,ordan, Yemen and Algeria .

Te late political scientist, Sam-

el Huntington, characterised theise o democracies in waves. Teirst Wave democratised Westernurope and Northern America in

he 19th century. Te second waveecolonised many countries in Asiand Arica aer the World War IIut many o the new states turnedo authoritarianism soon.

Te third wave started in 1973when Portugal ended its militaryunta and had its peak in 1989-1992

when the communist states in East-rn Europe and Eurasia collapsed.

Its an open verdict as to whetherhe third wave has ended beore aourth wave can be considered toave started.

In the past decade, a ew otherountries have arguably been de-mocratised or redemocratised, rom

erbia (2000), Georgia (2003),Ukraine (2004), Lebanon (2005)

nd Kirgizstan (2005), to a ewailed attempts o democratizationn Moldova (2005), Burma (2007)

and Iran (2009).Whats so specia l about the Ara-

bian wave o democratisation? Itsmost signifcant meaning is that thetargets o regime change are notanti-America/anti-Western regimesas in Eastern Europe or Eurasia, butquite the opposite, the so-calledmoderate Muslim despots backed byWashington and the West, giving asense o deja vu rom Iran in 1979.

I democracy has been labelledconveniently as Western by both theWest and their rivals be it the

Chinese, the Russians, the Islamistsor the South American leists, de-mocracy and Western interests maynow be in obvious contradiction inthe Arab world. A genuinely demo-cratic regime may now be vigor-ously disagreeing with the West onvarious issues.

Many in the West are worriedabout Egypt alling into the hand othe Islamists, much like Iran to theMullahs and Gaza to Hamas. I tendto think that there may possibly bea blow to the Islamists as anotherunexpected turn by history.

Contrary to what meets the eyes,ideologies are oten attractive totheir ollowers not because o their

intrinsic values, but because o theirinstrumental use in particular his-torical context, especially nationalor partisan interests.

Why were there so many leistregimes in the decolonised TirdWorld ater the World War II?Wasnt it because communism and

socialism were avowedly most anti-imperialistic?

Compared to the leist thoughts,had the capitalist and liberal ideolo-gies been much use to the hirdWorld nations especially theirmasses in advancing their na-tional interests?

ake specifc examples, how didKM lose mainland China and theSaigon elites lose South Vietnam totheir less-well-equipped communistenemies? Wasnt it because theKM and South Vietnamese eliteswere perceived as corrupt andsu bservient to th e Westernimperialists?

At the end o the day, the legiti-macy o a regime lies on its ability toadvance its national and popularinterests. Many authoritarian re-gimes including Malaysias - aregenuinely popular because they areseen as nationalistic.

In contrast, democracy has a badname amongst many in China, Rus-

sia, the Muslim world and manyother countries which have suerednational or imperial decline unda-mentally because they believe lib-eral democracy is either a Westernrojan horse to continue its controlor too undisciplined or interna-tional rivalry.

Te success o democratisationthus requires indigenous eort and

control, which pit unisia andEgypt as strong contrasts to Iraq andAghanistan with Western-backedgovernments. No one can accuse thedemonstrators in unis and Cairoo being western puppets, a labelstamped on the democratic dissi-dents in China, Russia, Vietnam,Burma, Pakistan and o course Ma-laysia.

I democracy can be proven asmore eective in advancing the na-tional interests o Arab countries,then Islam undamentalism may losesome o its momentum.

Aer all, the rise o Islamism inthe Arab world was to a large extenta response to the ailure o the secu-

lar nationalist regimes in the Arab-Israel conicts. Like socialism ormany colonised people in the 1940sto 1980s, Islamism is an attractivealternative vehicle or national/civi-lisational revival or many Arabs andMuslims since, more so aer Sept11.

A democratised Egypt will, how-ever, orce both the Arabs and the

West to re-examine their values andinterests.Forty our years aer the Six-Day

War, the Eg yptian national interestis now heavily tied to peaceul co-existence with Israel and an alliancewith the West. Such an alignment isunlikely to be reversed without acivil war as the pro-Western militaryestablishment is widely respected asa national institution, separatedrom the hated Mubarak regime.

Washington will also have to ac-cept that a democratic Egypt will beeventually more cohesive and lesstolerant o Israels continued assaulton the Arabs pride and solidarity.And i Israel can come to terms with

the new reality, the peace or MiddleEast may be closer in sight.Wont these developments be

good or the wider world? I wish theEgyptians a smooth and speedy sur-ing on the wave o democratisationand hope to soon eel its ripples herein Malaysia.


12/24

12 February 11 13, 2011InsIght

By Gan Pei Ling adYasleh Hani Mat Yassin

Bein poor, jobless and homeless may beanomalous in a relatively wealthy societylike ours. Hardly surprisin since people

treat them with nonchalance. But there is a hu-man side to their pliht.

Charlene On is one o the many aceless un-ortunate souls. She lost her job several years aowhen the hotel she worked or went bankrupt.Tousands o us became jobless, the 66-year-old recalled.

As she could not nd a new stable job, Onstarted collectin recyclable items o the streets.However, the income was insucient and shewould later become homeless.

I had to collect tin cans under the hot sun,said On, who used to receive ood rom Ke-chara Soup Kitchen.

Te Buddhist charity oranisation hired heras a ull-time cleaner last September, providinher with ood and allowance.

On was then able to rent a room with theallowance and RM300 aid she received monthlyrom the social welare department. Althouhthe room is small, she now has a roo over herhead.

Born in Malacca, Ons am-

ily sent her to an orphanae inSeamat, Johor, when she was ayear old. She only manaed totrace her bioloical siblins 10years ao.

I lived with my elder sistersamily or nine months in Sea-mat but I couldnt et used tokampun lie so I came back tothe city, she said.

On irst came to KualaLumpur when she was 16.

Some o my nieces andnephews are livin in KL butIm not sure exactly where, saidOn, who speaks uent Enlishdespite havin only completedprimary education.

On has worked as a cleaner at many hoteand also as a domestic helper but enjoys her curent job the best.

My superior Justin is very entle and treame well, she said, describin him as the beboss she had come across so ar.

Compared to On, 58-year-old Patrick is leortunate. Te ormer security uard lost his jove years ao and was later thrown out by hamily due to his amblin habit.

He ailed to secure a new permanent job ahas been survivin on odd jobs since then.

Durin ood days he would have enoumoney to buy ood but when jobs are scarcespecially durin holidays, he has to be money on the streets.

Soup kitchens become a vital source Patrick to et ood at such times.

In act, Selangor Timesmet Patrick at KoRaya when he was ettin ood rom the PertiSoup Kitchen a ew days beore Chinese NeYear.

He immediately asked our reporters icould help him et a job.

Can you help me? Im willin to do any jopleaded the man.

Patrick has been cauht a ew times duriraids conducted jointly by tlocal council, social weladepartment and narcotics dpartment.

Im not 60 yet so Im nqualied to enter an old olhome. Tey release people lime back onto the streets awarn us not to sleep on tstreets anymore but where cwe o? he lamented.

Soup kitchens also playcrucial role in alleviatin tnancial burden o the urbpoor.

Yusnidah Mohd Jawah, 3has been strulin to eed heiht children since comito Kuala Lumpur aroundyear ao.

Soup kitchenS g r am 18 ry w s adbrad, amg as y rsg ad fllg ds, wrrvdd d r ad gry er.Fas rward 21s ry, s s ard wrld lgr srv ly s ad brad ad av adad lal ds.ty rma a mra rl r rba r wrldwd.

ty srv dvrs mms, ldg mlyd,wrg r, mlss, ldrly, as wll as l w alrblms r dsably.

hwvr, s s ad r d asssa rgrams avad s rg sry.

crs ar msly rd a s s wld rag

arsm by dsryg rs sl-rla.i add, rs av d a wl s s drvd sr-rm rl r ad gry, y d addrss r ass gr s as vry ad lw wags.

Ds a, s s wll rma a ral d sr r r lss gvrms ad ss a ssslly lmavry, rd was ad sr arr dsrb wal arsssy.

The start ofsoup kitchens

Kazimir (left) and Thilaga Sulathireh preparing the food at FNB KLs house inPetaling Jaya.

Charlene Ong: Lost her jobseveral years ago.

Kecharavolunteers(from left)

Tam, Yu Lingand Sharul

Nizam helpingto packagethe food at

Kechara soupkitchen.

Kecharasoup kitchenentry atJalan Barat

The Pertiwi soup kitchen next to Tune Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.


13/24


14/24

14 february 11 13, 2011VIEWS

Handcuffed

Ikhsan holds up the book during the book launch recently.

Under what circumstances can PolisDiraja Malaysia use handcufs oncivilians?@sooncm, via Twitter

Chapter IV o the Criminal Procedure Codecovers arrest, escape and re-taking. An arresttakes place when the police ocer actuallytouches or connes the body o the person tobe arrested [Section 15(1)]. I a person resistsarrest, the police ocer may use all meansnecessary to eect the arrest [Section 15(2)].

An arrest is completed when there is asubmission to the custody o the police byword or action. In cases where a suspectedperson is not arrested immediately, care mustbe taken that the suspected p erson remains atliberty. No restraint o any kind may lawullybe exercised over him as long as he is notplaced under arrest.

Handcus are necessarily used to preventthe suspect rom escaping. Examples o thesecan be seen when you watch crime-bustingAmerican V shows like CSI, CriminalMinds or Law & Order. Whenever there is achase scene and when the cops nally appre-hend the suspect, the rst thing they do is tosmack handcus on the suspect.

I there is no resistance, or danger o ee-ing, the police ocer may not use the hand-

cus on civilians.Whilst all the above is true in cold hardtheory, reality is dierent. What is deemed asresistance or danger o eeing can be verysubjective. Perhaps the suspects ankletwitched? Or he scratched his thigh? Ordidnt respond ast enough to a question?Resistance! Potential to run! Handcus!

Tis o course is not to paint a bad pictureo our hardworking police ocers. Tis is trueo police ocers all over the world. But hey,put yourselves in their shoes. I youre a lawyer,when you stand up in court, dont you imagineyoursel as someone rom Boston Legal, LALaw or Te Practice?

I youre a doctor doing your rounds,surely you occasionally pretend youre one othose cool doctors rom Chicago Hope, ER,Scrubs, or Greys Anatomy?

So, i you were a police ocer apprehend-ing a suspect, youd sometimes want to indulgein a bit o Miami Vice or NYPD Blue-styleget-down- stay-down, eat-the-road-punk,

hands-where-I-c a n - s e e - e m ,which would in-evitably lead toslappin on thoseshiny metal cusand hearing theoh-so-satisyingclick. Or, er, may-be thats just us.

D ea r Lord Bobo, why is Ja-lan Tun Razaka l w a y s s oj a m m e d ? @fahmi_fadzil, via

Twitter

h ejams o Jalanun Razak areone o the many greatmysteries o Malaysia.

It ranks alongside the hal-built Johor-Singapore bridge and the Crystal Mosque inerengganu.

Occult researchers who have spent manyyears studying the phenomenon attribute itto the coming o Balroghaugh, Lord Bobosarch-enemy, rom Planet Zaboo.

Cutting edge astrologers are unanimousthat the jams are due to Uranus (no, notyours) wanting to steal one o Jupiters ringsin the house o the Bronzed Illama.

Despite either o the above explanationsbeing equally plausible, LoyarBurok tracanalysts strongly believe the maniestationso jams on Jalan un Razak are due to moremundane actors such as

impatientdriverscuttinglanesandjam-ming themselves into the smallest o crevices(no, not those ones);

moronicdriversinthewronglanewhowait until the last 3cm beore they deem it themost opportune time to switch lanes;

thepoorqualityofroadsandsenselessroad management;

policewhothinktheirjobisstandingaround hand on hips with the occasional waveand blow (no, not that type); and,

toomanypersonalvehiclesontheroadand too much development in Kuala Lumpurwithout proper urban planning.

LoyarBurok would advise you to avoidJalan un Razak whenever able, or better yet,avoid Kuala Lumpur altogether. But thenagain, that would just move the jams else-

where, wouldnt it?Heck, whats the big problem anyway?rac jams are a part o Malaysian lie. LordBobo knows that many productive things (no,not those sorta things) get done in trac jams.Just talking about the LoyarBurok blawg,many comments come via mobile devicesduring trac jams.Jalan Tun Razak jams caused by impatient Malaysian drivers.

Ask Lord Bobo is a weekly column byLoyarBurok (www.loyarburok.com)

where all your profound,abstruse, erudite, hermetic, recondite,

sagacious, and other thesaurus-described queries are answered!

in a jam

KLANG: Klang Municipal Council: Innovation,Creativity and alent, a book which compiles the workso its members, was launched recently at Hamzah Hall.

he book is a team eort which is relected asa documented idea o innovation, creativity and talent

o the council members, said Mohd Ikhsan Mukri, thesecretary o Klang Municipal Council (MPK).Te book was published by MPK to encourage the

innovative and creative eorts o its members whilehighlighting their hidden talents.

Tis book was arranged in such a way as to inspireand encourage MPK sta who since the 90s has shownpromissing talent not only in district level or state level

but also at national level, added Ikhsan.According to Ikhsan, the innovation gallery located

at the lobby o the MPK headquarters was created as ateam eort between the revenue department and theentire MPK amily.

We are developing the small Innovation and Crea-tive Group to be something bigger and this allows orus to solve any problems that crops up,he elaborated.

Afer the launch, a ceremony to hand out certicatesto participants o the mentor and mentee programmewas held. Also held was presentation o trophies andcash incentives to sports persons who brought glory toMPK.

MPK launches innovation book

Heck, entire articles get thought-up, writ-ten, submitted, and published during tracjams! Also, just like the stereotypical Brit wholoves talking about the weather, Malaysianslove talking about jams.

Wah, trac today damn bad ah. / Okay-lah, not too bad what. / Eh, which road youtook lah, how come can get here so ast?

Imagine i trac jams suddenly cleared up.What would Malaysians use as a conversationice-breaker?

Worse everyone would get to their des-tinations early! What would happen to Ma-laysian timing? It would be chaos. Te space-time continuum would be jeopardised! So, getto you know your trac jams. Embrace them.Love them. Tey are an essential part o theabric o Malaysian society.

Although Lord Bobo already knows yourquestion beore you even knew you had aquestion, as a practical display o your truedesire to have your query answered, His Su-preme Eminenceness has graciously allowedyou to communicate your questions by [email protected],

stating your ull name, and a pseudonymi you wish the question to be publishedanonymously (and a good reason or ano-nymity).

tweetingyourquestionsby mentioning@LoyarBurokandusingthehashtag#asklordbobo. Te rst 100 questions pub-lished will receive LoyarBuroks ONLY

merchandise you ever need (worth a lot orhumankind) courtesy oSelangor Times.Now, what the hell are you waiting or?Hear his and remblingly Obey (al-

though trembling is optional i you are some-where very warm)!

Liberavi Animam Meam! I Have FreedMy Spirit!


15/24

15February 11 13, 2011Fiction

PEMBEKALAN DAN PENGHANTARAN BAJAKE LADANG SAWIT PKPS

Tawaran adalah dipelawa kepada syarikat-syarikat tempatan yang berdaftar dengan PerbadananKemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS) DAN Kementerian Kewangan di dalam kod bidang berkaitan,serta berminat untuk menyertai tawaran tender seperti tajuk kerja yang berikut :

Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian SelangorSelangor agricultural Development corporation

KENYATAAN TENDER TERBUKA

BIL.` NO. SIRI TENDER TAJUK KERJA TARIKH, MASA &TEMPAT TAKLIMAT

1 PKPS/UP/TDR-1/11

NOTA & PERINGATAN :

i. Borang Tender dijual pada harga RM 100.00 setiap satu.

ii. Setiap syarikat hanya layak membeli SATU (1) dokumen tender sahaja.

iii. Borang Tender akan dijual mulai 16 FEBRUARI 2011 (RABU) pada waktu pejabat di Unit PerolehanPKPS, Tingkat 10, Wisma PKPS, Persiaran Perbandaran, Seksyen 14, 40675 Shah Alam, Selangor.

iv. Penender diwajibkan menghadiri sesi taklimat seperti yang telah dijadualkan.

v. Borang Tender yang lengkap hendaklahDIMETERI dan dimasukkan ke dalam Peti Tender di Tingkat10, Wisma PKPS, Persiaran Perbandaran, Seksyen 14, 40675 Shah Alam, Selangor menggunakansampul surat yang disediakan.

vi. TARIKH TUTUP PERMOHONAN : 8 MAC 2011 (SELASA), JAM 12 TENGAHARI

vii. Untuk maklumat lanjut, sila hubungi Unit Perolehan PKPS di talian : 03-55192621 / 2 / 3

16 FEBRUARI 2011(RABU) jam 9 pagibertempat di BilikMesyuarat Mawar,Tingkat 11, WismaPKPS, Shah Alam,Selangor

TAWARAN TENDER BAGI KERJA-KERJAMEMBEKAL DAN MENGHANTAR BAJAUNTUK KEPERLUAN LADANG KELAPASAWIT MILIK PKPS :

1. LDG.PKPS JELUTONG JATI, SABAKBERNAM, SELANGOR

2. LDG.PKPS SG. PANJANG, SABAKBERNAM, SELANGOR

3. LDG.PKPS KERLING, HULU SELAN-GOR, SELANGOR

4. LDG.PKPS TG. DUABELAS, KUALALANGAT, SELANGOR

5. LDG.PKPS EDITAS, GUA MUSANG,KELANTAN

6. LDG.PKPS IRAT, LAHAD DATU,SABAH

7 LDG.PKPS JAGOHARMONI, LAHADDATU, SABAH

Eric and Julianiction by Hadi Mohd Nor

Close yur y. h aid.I did what I wa td and cd my

y. T brz wa bwing thrugh myair and th und th wav wa axing. I war, I wantd t dz righthn and thr. sh draggd m impa-nty thrugh th bach. I hd hr backbit that I wudnt trip. But I ik

waking n th and.Nw pn thm! h aid. I did.In rnt m wa hr bautiu ac,

miing t m ik an ang wcming m havn. Wr in Prhntian Iand ar, and it d ik havn.

And h wa an ang.lk! h aid, pinting nthuiati-

ay at a wdn hu. It kd mpty.Ww I that what yu wantd t

hw m? I aid, unimprd.Y! Yu knw what that i? h

kd, again, nthuiaticay.It a hu mad ut wd. Prb-

by bng t n th ca. I rpid.It mpty! lt g chck it ut!

Mayb thr burid traur inid. haid, waking tward it.

I didnt agr t anything and ud-ny I wa hr idkick in thi uncia

raur-hunting tam. A I wantd t dwa t had back t th ht, drink c

nd rad a bk. I jut bught a vampirk that pp away ta kd abut. Itvry ppuar bk.

I didnt vn agr t cm hr. I hadrpd ging t Pari. I avd up th

mny and bught a th cth rari but, n, h wantd t cm hr.

rngganu. sh aid h mid thiac. Ar a, thi i whr w mt.What d yu think i inid? I akd,

crty unintrtd.I think thi i whr thy kp a th

wry that yu rud t buy r m,h aid, arcaticay.

Vry unny, I rpid hr arcam.

h wdn hu wa mr acabin (r mayb it wa a cabin, I dntknw. What th dirnc, anyway?).T cabin wa abandnd and vry ma,mayb thr t quar. T inid itwa d with dut and dbri. It wa jutik an mpty rm with n urniturwhatvr. It windw ar mry car-uy cut h n th wa. It wa nthingintrting.

Ti i intrting! h aid.What? I akd.Ti cabin i prbaby ik 50 yar

d and mayb a amiy ivd hr attim. h aid. sh wakd t th windw(th caruy cut h n th wa) andpppd hr had ut and brathd in.

T hu wa vry c a bhind it ith Prhntian jung. By c, I mantmpratur-wi. hr nthing hipabut itray having mnky a nigh-bur.

I it a cigartt.Hy! h xcaimd.Rax, baby, wr n vacatin. Cut

m m ack. I aid.T dctr aid yu hud quit.T dctr, th V, my brthr, v-

ryn aid I hud quit. I m n vacatin!Cut m m ack.

Fin. Can I hav n? h akd. Igav hr n.

sh put it btwn hr ip and I it itup r hr. It rmindd m rmanticcn rm 1950 Hywd m.

suddny, I hard m ruting in thbuh bhind th cabin.

What wa that? h aid.I wnt ut thrugh th hu ny

dr and wakd t th back. Tr, I awa mnitr izard crawing, amt ithr-ing, wy. It wa grgu and maj-tic. I hav had thi thing r rpti vrinc I wa a kid. I crpt wy bhind it.

I put ut my cigartt and crpt wytward th anima with arm wid pn.My hart wa thrbbing. I t th adrn-

ain ruh. Tn, I accidntay crackd atwig. T izard hard m and it ran a ata ightning int th jung. I chad itwith a my trngth.

I wa ik a in chaing a gaz. Myy wr cud n th izard. I didntwant t ight it. o cur, ar aw cnd running, I grw tird andwary and t ight it. I wa pantingand bamd th cigartt r thi . Ibamd a t thing in my i r thidat.

I rgt which dirctin I cam rm I wakd randmy. I wd thund th can. It d m t th bach, cur. I wa t tird I at undr accnut tr. I curd th cigartt rmy tamina. Damn cigartt.

What wr yu panning t d withit i yu caught it? a vic akd rmbhind. I turnd arund and aw hrwaking camy tward m. sh td inrnt m ding hr arm.

I dnt knw ray.D yu knw what tr yur itting

undr? h akd.Ccnut?Ti i ur tr. h aid, miing.I turnd arund and aw ur nam

carvd n th trunk. eric and Juian. Itwa a bit add but I wa urprid iturvivd. I td up. suddny, th patcam ruhing int my had and I rmm-brd vrything w did n thi iand.

I mid at hr.Yu und it. h aid. I wrappd my

arm arund hr.Yah. I did, didnt I?W tard at th tr and rminicd

n th pat. Im vry ucky t hav mthr. Ar 42 yar marriag, tw daugh-tr and a n, w ti ik w wrapair yung vbird. I gu w wirvr b a pair yung vbird.

W wakd n th bach hding handjut ik w did ytrday. Jut ik w didyar ag.

By Alvin Yap

SELAYANG: Pic hr hav rd t cnductjint nrcmnt pratin againt iga tradrwith th sayang Municipa Cunci (MPs) and thImmigratin Dpartmnt.

Gmbak pic cr aid thy and Immigratincr wud prat a 24-hur mbi ba narth sayang Utama wt markt t act againt thtradr, many whm wr iga immigrant.

T Gmbak ditrict pic prpd a n-mnth tria r jint pratin with th Immigra-tin dpartmnt, MPs cuncir lim Ching Hwtd Selangor Timesin a phn intrviw n uday.

lim aid Gmbak pic ditrict cr mtMPs cuncir, rprntativ rm th sayangHawkr and radr Aciatin, and sayangpariamntarian Wiiam lng in a mting n Jan28 t dicu prbm iga rign tradr un-drcutting ca tradr at th wt markt.

lim aid during th mting, Gmbak pic -cia aid thy wantd t wrk with th Immigratindpartmnt bcau thy had n juridictin t d-tain th iga tradr r immigratin-ratd -nc. Pic hav had t ra iga immigrantar dtaining thm bcau thi.

T dat th prpd jint pratin wi bannuncd atr.

lim ha a prpd that MPs cu it mni-tring and nrcmnt wrk at night inc thywud hav th advantag pic prnc.

on Jan 19, SelangorTimes rprtd that immi-grant tradr wr prating igay at sayangUtama markt. lca tradr cmpaind that th

iga tradr wr taking buin away rm thmby ing prduc at a chapr pric.lim, at that tim, uggtd jint pratin with

DBKl, th pic and Immigratin Dpartmnt ttp th iga tradr rm tting up ta in thmarkt.

Joint taskforce onillegal traders

By Basil Foo

SHAH ALAM: rmain r-ant in currnt tim, Univritindutri sangr (Uni) wi drph wrd Indutri rm it namn a rbranding xrci nxt Mn-ay.

Ti univrity wa prviuytabihd during th tim whnndutry wa dvping rapidy inangr, th nam thn wa ap-rpriat, aid pridnt and vic-chancr

Datuk Dr Rti saruwn (right).T ida r a rbranding wa mtd with

mmbr th bard and univrity ta atar at a mting intndd t b a rfctin h univrity vr th pat dcad.

H aid thir imag nw ha t b mr in-

uiv thr cur ik cia cinc andrch ducatin which ar incraing inmand.

Athugh nrmnt r th pat 10 yara bn incraing, ha ur cmptitin. Ti ur imag wnt b imitd t indutri ik

manuacturing and ctrnic, h aid.A nw cur in nuring ha bn intrducd

but Rti maintain that whi

thr ar nt many nw cur, thxiting n wi b rcud.hrugh a chang in viin,

which i t nurtur high mra andthica vau, h hp graduatwi arn indutry quaiti that arnt uuay taught in univriti,uch a timin and c thic.

A uch, ach dgr cur wihav an acadmic advir and anindutry advir, in rdr t bttr

quip graduat, h aid.Curruricuum wi a b updatd with

cita vau and cmmunicatin mdu, haddd.

H gav an xamp th nw viin by a-wing vnt managmnt tudnt t run vnt thir wn rm tart t nih r a bttr

arning xprinc.Manwhi, th appintmnt univritychancr wud b annuncd by th tatgvrnmnt n a utur dat.

Tr ar arady candidat r th pitinand th annuncmnt hud b by thi mnth,but it might nt b n th day th rbrandingaunch, h aid.

Unisel rebrandsto stay relevant


16/24

16 February 11 13, 2011Features

Bangi girlmakes itbig inBig Apple

Nadirah with her workon projection photosby Vignes Balasingam(Republik Studio)

A photo from Nadirahs liminar series.

By Rahmah Ghazali

Alocal studio called the Republik in Wangsa Walk,Kuala Lumpur, had never seen an overwhelmingturnout eager to see a Malaysian who has brought

the country to the world stage o photography. Tat wasuntil Nadirah Zakariya appeared.

In a small, dark room o the studio sat a young andemerging artist rom a small town called Bangi who wasanxious to present her artwork to the Malaysian publicin person or the frst time since she moved to New Yorkour years ago.

Nadirah, a 26-year-old who specialises in sel-por-traits, has gained a reputation by working with award-winning musician Bjork and prominent photographerssuch as Bruce Stevenson and Yelena Yemchuck.

One would never have thought that Bangi could

produce one shining star who has started to carve out

her name in the history o Lomography an analoguetype o photography at a very young age.

I used to do my own experiment without having tobother anyoneit is also a orm o sel-expression,Nadirah, who was on a short trip to Malaysia recently,told a packed studio.

But what started out as a hobby has brought herphotography skills to greater heights where most oher artwork has been eatured in art galleries in NewYork, Caliornia and London.

Te New Yorks Fashion Institute echnology (FI)photography graduate slowly began to work behind thecamera by eaturing other people but still consideredher work as sel-portraits.

Elaborating, she said there were two types o pho-tographers mirror and window and she categorisedhersel as the ormer.

Mirror photographers photograph subjects thatrelect who they are, while window photographerscapture what they see, like documentary photographers.As or me, I cannot deny that I am a mirror photogra-pher, she said, adding this was despite someone else isin the photograph.

When it comes to editing and selection process, Iwould usually choose images that I can relate toeventhough theres a shot o someone else, I still think thereis a part o me in the photographs, she said

Reusing to put hersel in a box, Nadirah tends toexplore a variety o photography styles, which fnallybrings her to the concept o liminality a perect termto defne her.

Liminality means the state o transition betweentwo worlds. So my work is between reality and a dreamstate.

And the people or things that linger in between the

state are called liminars, which brings to my currentbody o work, she said.According to her, the concept is really compelling

as it portrays her journey o upbringing that detachedhersel rom the outside world.

I tend to eel that I am neither here nor there, as itis hard or me to eel completely at home when I amsomewhere, she said, adding that this was due to her

The crowd in the studioduring the presentation.


17/24

17February 11 13, 2011Features

pbringing abroad.When I was younger, we lived in exas or a while.

When we moved back to Malaysia I was considered tooAmericanised and I wasnt able to t in, she said.

Now that she has moved to New York, things haveot quite changed either.

When I am over there, I am obviously a Malaysian,ut a oreigner. So it is not home either. Teres alwayseeling that you belong , but you dont.

It is a big part o me and I try to convey that throughmy work, said Nadirah.

Explaining urther on her work, she said small chil-ren have been her avourite subjects to capture or hern-going project, as they are not conscious o them-

elves.I am not interested in shooting models in bland

white backgroundbut kids, they are most un to workwith because they are not conscious o how they look.Tey are also disciplined when I tell them what to do

nd each shot takes me about two to three minutes eachecause they have short attention span.

But I enjoy shooting them because I would get theurest expression and I guess it is the same when youapture older people. Tey are pure and innocent.

As technology grows rapidly, many proessionalhotographers are amiliar with the use o digital single-nse reex camera or DSLR compared to analogue

ameras that use lms.While many would argue about the dierence o

uality o the end products, Nadirah disagrees with theotion that a medium plays a major role in appreciating

he value o the artwork.I personally eel the value o the artwork is in the

rt itsel and not necessarily the medium.For me, I choose my medium based on the project

ut I must admit I shoot more with lms than digital,he said. However, she stressed that she has nothing

gainst digital.Sometimes, my choice o camera depends on mynowledge o the camera and my comort level o usinghemdigital and analogue oer dierent qualities, not

more or less than the other, she explained.Many would perceive that New York , the city where

reams are made o, opens up opportunities and ap-reciation or artwork due to its wide exposure.

aking a dierent stand, Nadirah says Malaysia too,ers art and inspiration to anyone as long as they haveassion to seek it.

Tere is art everywherein New York, it doesntave the jungle, it doesnt have the islands and the peo-le would think that the grass is greener on the otherde.

But rest assured, people would kill to be here (inMalaysia). Tey would say, I wish I was there, it is soold and uninspiring here, said the ourth child in the

amily.She says that it is the surroundings that contribute aot to inspiration o an artist, no matter where they maye.

It is you, yoursel and your interest as long as youave the passion. You can do whatever you, whereverou want, she said, adding that art doesnt necessarilyeed to be created in some popular places.

Citing an example, she pointed out one o her photoswas shot in Malaysia beore she moved to New York and is still her avourite.

I you have seen a photo o me in a pool, I shot thathere, beore I went to New York. Until today, that is stillone o my avourite images.

You dont need to go all the way over there to beable to create images or to be inspired be inspired bypeople around you, by music, by politics or everydaylie, she said with a smile.

Even though Nadirah has graduated aer our yearso study, she still would like to pursue her dream tobecome a proessional photographer in the Big Apple.

Even since I was in university, I was still interningand working as a personal photographer. But now thatI have graduated, I would have more time to do reelancework and I try to do a show at an art gallery in New Yorknext month, she said.

However, she did not rule out the possibility o mov-

ing back to Malaysia i there is a market or her artwork.I havent really worked in Malaysia yet, but maybei they are interested in my work, I wouldnt want to sayno to it. But now I am going to do as much as I can inNew York while I am there and see where that leads,said Nadirah.

She expresses hope she will come back to Malaysiaon a longer trip in the near uture.

I love it here. Lets pray that I have enough moneyso I can come back more oen, said Nadirah.

Nadirahs artwork can be seen a www.nadirah.net

EXHIBITIONS

2010 Featured Artist December, SALT Gallery, NewYork2010 Emerging Market, CultureFix, New York2010 BFA Thesis Show, SALT Gallery, New York2009 Roots and Vines Art Beneft, 409 Grand St.,New York

2009 Forest/Forrest, Bushwick Open StudiosWeek, Petri Space, Brooklyn, NY2008 Digital Malaya Collective, KLue UrbanScapes2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2008 Lomo LC-A+ Amiga Sel Portrait Artist, www.lomography.com2008 Unveiled Allure, Museum at Fashion Instituteo Technology, NYC2007 Alterations Done: 8 Female Artists, Gallery220, Chelsea, NYC2007 JPG Magazine: Fashion Photography Exhibi-tion, Space Gallery, SF, CA2005 INTIMACY, Campbell Works, London

PUBLICATIONS

2010 Nylon Guys June/July2010 Nylon Guys April/May2009 Absolute Return + Alpha2009 HUE Magazine2008 JPG Magazine, Issue 142008 Lomography Online Magazine Interview : SelPortrait Artist Extraordinaire2007 JPG Magazine, Issue 12, Theme: Fashion2007 JPG Magazine, Issue 11, Theme: Dreams-capes2006 Photoshop User Magazine, Project Photo-shop Lightroom2006 Soura Magazine, Soura o the Month (DubaiPublication)2006 Soura Magazine, Women in LomographyInterview (Dubai Publication)

Questionablespending for

new warshipsHE government recently re-iterated that it has allocatedRM6 billion to buildsix new patrol vesselsunder the enth Malay-sia Plan.

When the plan wasdeerred two years ago theMalay Mailquoted PrimeMinister Najib as saying that thenew orders were required be-cause 2,000 companies depend-ed on the additional work underthe vendor development pro-gramme.

However, only 632 vendorcompanies have been identiedby Deence Minister Datuk SeriDr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi tobenet rom the current plan.He added that at least RM2 bil-lion o the allocation will bechannelled to them.

It has not been disclosed whothese companies are and, again,there has not been any indica-tion that an open tender processwas utilised or this project.

Te addition o six new war-ships also raises questions as towhy the government is allocatingbillions o taxpayers money tostockpile new weapons o war. It

has already acquired two newsubmarines and the six new o-shore patrol vessels (OPVs) are

part o a 1995 ar-r a n g e m e n t t oh a v e 2 7 n e wOPVs built by2015.

Te govern-ment needs to

explain why it isacquiring these new OPVs

which will cost taxpayers RM1billion each. his is relativelymore expensive than SouthKoreas much larger and newerrigates which were recentlycontracted to Hyundai HeavyIndustries at US$300 millioneach.

In their context it would beeasier to understand such ex-penditure considering thatSouth Korea, an advanced coun-try, aims to be a blue water navyby 2020 and is conronted withNorth Korean aggression in-volving one o the largest armiesin the world.

In light o the recent increasein ood and commodity pricelevels in the country as a resulto subsidy rationalisation, thequestion that needs to be askedis i this counts as prudentspending.

Charles SantiagoMember of Parliament, Klang

SHAH ALAM: Iranian ambassador to Malaysia Dr Mohamad MehdiZahedi paid a courtesy visit to an Sri Khalid Ibrahim on Jan 28.

Te visit saw the Menteri Besar and Dr Mohamad Mehdi participatingin a meeting at the ormers ofce which lasted or about an hour.Te meeting involved exchanging their views on current issues in the

local and international stages, particularly involving the latest developmentsin Selangor and Iran.

During the meeting, Dr Mohamad Mehdi also expressed admiration orthe rapid development in Selangor and hoped to establish closer workingties with the state government.

Courtesy visit fromIran ambassador

Khalid and ofcials rom the Iran embassy last month.


18/24

18 february 11 13, 2011REVIEW

Cosy and quaint Teapot Deli in the heart of Shah Alam.

By Yasleh Hani Mat Yassin

Teapot Deli on the secondloor o SACC Mall, ShahAlam, is a cosy, quaint little

delicatessen serving mainly westerncuisine with a bit o Malaysian arethrown in.

First timers might be appalled atthe limited menu and might com-pare the Deli to other places whichcarry a wider variety o ood. How-ever, one shouldnt write o the Delibased on this shortcoming.

What the Deli does oer in termso epicurean delight more thanmakes up or its brevity o choices.

Teres a soup o the day to kicko the meal, served with garlicbread (RM5). he soup changesdaily, and on the day that we wentthere they were serving broccolisoup. Not eeling up to this, wepassed on the soup and instead or-dered cheese on toast (RM6 or sixpieces) or our starter.

For our main meal, we orderedChicken Kiev (RM15), Roast Chic-ken (RM15) and Bee Lasag-na(RM15).

Te Roast Chicken arrived rst.Presentation-wise a whole chickenleg covered in brown gravy, with aside o cubed potatoes and boiledcaulifower the dish didnt lookvery appetising.

But as it turns out, you reallycant judge a book by its cover. Te

Roast Chicken was tender and per-

ectly moist, not dry as how youmight ind this common dish inother restaurants. Te side servingo the potatoes and caulifower wasdone perectly.

In the midst o my sister enjoyingher Roast Chicken, my brothersbee lasagna arrived and it, too, wasdeemed heavenly. Te cheese on itwas perectly gooey, the pasta sheetswas al dente and the bee sauce wasfavourul. Like all main dishes atthe Deli, it too came with side ser v-ings o vegetables boiled carrotsand caulifower.

My Chicken Kiev came last, butthat was expected or I was ore-warned that my order would take 20minutes to prepare. Stued withcheese and herbs, breaded thenried, the chicken breast was cookedjust right. As one who normallyavoids chicken breast or I nd themeat too dry, I actually enjoyed eat-ing it in this dish. Te side o riesand vegetables make or a completemeal.

Te most interesting dish on thelimited menu would have been theroast bee with Yorkshire pudding(RM27), but we didnt get to orderit that day as the cae only serves thisEnglish specialty on Fridays, Satur-days and Sundays.

Other items on the menu includea variety o pies (sh, chicken, bee,country), ried rice with chicken,roti jala, Penang mee rebus, and nasi

tomato (available on Friday andSaturday).A wonderul

meal wouldntb e c o m p l e t ewithout dessert,and the Deli hasa nice selectiono sweet treats toend your meal.

We orderedb u t t e r c a k e(RM4.50), ba-ked cheese cake( R M 6 ) a n dcrme caramel(RM3.50).

he deserts

were also delec-table. You cantell that the Delididnt scrimp on

the ingredients

Surprise at the Teapot Deli

or you can taste the creaminess othe butter in the butter cake and thecheesecake was made o two dier-ent cheeses a denser cheese mix-ture or the body o the cake and alighter, creamier mix or the top-ping. As or the crme caramel, itsimply melted in the mouth and thetaste o caramel was strong and rich.

A ull-course meal rom appetiz-ers to desert including beverages orthree persons came to RM83, anaordable indulgence.

selangor times feb 11, 2011 / issue 11

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