selangor times jan 14-16, 2011 / issue 8

8/8/2019 Selangor Times Jan 14-16, 2011 / Issue 8

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commnty January 14 16, 2011/issue 8

Yellowpower backin action

CuriousCase ofss

p 9 p 14

sg LimastruggLesto survive

p 1213

Drughavenin newvillage

By Alvin Yap and Chong Loo WahBaNtiNg: Kampung Jenjarom hasturned into a battleground between

an anguished community and drugpushers who are keeping its youthshigh and suicidal.Tere have been three deaths and

our attempted suicides in the past ouryears, said village head an Ching Han.All the cases involved young men in

their prime, between the ages o 23 and30.Te oldest victim was ound hanged

in his room aer his mother had re-turned rom the morning market inOctober last year.an said the mother had reused to

give her son money as she suspected hewas using it to buy drugs. She said hewas moody and angry beore his death,added an.

he other victims had consumedparaquat, a strong herbicide which iseasily purchased in hardware and sun-dry shops, owing to the act that thesurrounding area is agricultural land.Some o the victims who survived

suicide attempts suer severe and per-manent damage to their throats and

vocal cords due to the toxic herbicide.Some o them cant even talk, saidan.Te suicides, an said, are caused by

the drugs side eects.He also claimed that some victims

had suered brain damage.It could be both brain damage and

depression that are driving the victimsto suicide, he said.an said the widespread drug use in

the village frst reared its ugly head in2007 which also saw a rise in pettycrime with snatch thets becomingcommon.Residents are wary o walking

around the village even during day time.Te village committee members are

very worried because the criminals are

youths at the prime o their lives. Manyamilies are going though sleeplessnights because o their childrens ad-diction.

Other village committee memberswho met reporters romSelangor Timessaid most o them either knew a relativeor neighbour whose son or daughter isor was a ormer drug addict.Some amilies are acing the harsh

reality that they may have to send theirsons and daughters to drug rehabilita-tion, maybe or years away rom home.an said that it was the last but

unavoidable recourse let to manyamilies i they wanted to see their childsaved rom addiction.One committee member received

a call rom her neighbour who was tornat having to surrender her son to po-lice. Te mother was crying while thecommittee member was advising her to

give her son up to police, as his addic-tion and criminal acts had got worse,said an.an recalled an incident where a

amily o our vacated their house onthe sons release rom prison. In thiscase, the mother had surrendered the

Turn To page 6

a blk Chis nw Ywits 52-y-ld T SJi ft his lty fm ws

dmlishd Tsdy.

STorY on page 4


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3/23

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4 January 14 16, 2011news

EvEntsDinos Alive 2010 Malaysia

Experience the prehistoric World o Dinosaurs righthere in Kuala Lumpur. Walk among recreations o thesemagnifcent beasts in the Jurassic era. Get up closeand personal with 32 lie-size dinosaurs including a16-eet Tyrannosaurus and a 23-eet Apatosaurus. Thisexhibition is on rom now until 31 May 2011. Visitinghours are rom 9am to 5pm. Venue: Pusat SainsNegara, Pesiaran Bukit Kiara, Bukit Kiara.

Cancer forum

In conjunction with the Cervical Cancer Awarenessmonth, Pantai Hospital Klang will be hosting apublic orum on Cervical Cancer! What is New? atits premises tomorrow rom 2-4pm. The event aimsto raise awareness on the second most commoncancer aecting women globally. The speaker willbe consultant obstetrician & gynaecologist Dr SJeevaretanam. Participants can look orward to on-site pap smear screening at a nominal cost, discountvouchers and special cervical cancer vaccination

packages. Admission is ree. For details, call 03-78433100.

Roman Festivals and Parisian Nights

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is holding thisconcert tomorrow with Giancarlo Guerrero as conductorand Stella Douexis mezzo-soprano. The perormancewill eature two scores celebrating lie in Rome, theancient capital o composer Ottorino Respighis nativeItaly,and a scintillating overture by a Russian composerinspired by a French novel. The concert is at 8.30pm.Dress code is smart casual. Tickets are priced atRM 85, RM 65, RM 40, and RM 20. Venue: DewanFilharmonik PETRONAS, Level 2, Tower 2, PETRONASTwin Towers, KLCC, K. Lumpur.

Wong slams

malicious reportsBy Gan Pei LingSHAH ALAM: Selangor has denied a news report that ithad approved a project to convert the Kuala Langat SouthPeat Swamp Forest into an oil palm estate.

No, we havent made any decision on that, said MenteriBesar an Sri Khalid Ibrahim aer chairing a state executivecouncillor meeting on Wednesday.

A Jan 11 report on Star Metro had claimed that the Selan-gor Government had approved a proposal by Selangor Agri-cultural Development Corporation (PKPS) to develop the6,908ha o orest reserve into a plantation.

In addition, the ront-page report accused the state oorcing the Forestry Department to issue logging licences orcontractors to clear the peat swamp orest.

In another ollow-up report on Jan 12, the state was criti-cised by environmentalists or its non-action on the matter.

Khalid said both reports were inaccurate. He said the statehad imposed a 25-year moratarium on logging when it cameto power in 2008.

State executive councillor Elizabeth Wong, who is in chargeo the environment portolio, described the news articles asalse and malicious in a text message to Selangor Times.

In its rst report on Jan 11, Star Metro also published aphoto o an excavator with a misleading caption claiming thatthe excavator was clearing the orest reserve.

Tat excavator belongs to us to bulldoze illegal oil palm(encroaching on the orest reserve)! said an indignant Wong.

Wong said she had asked the state legal advisor to examinethe news articles.

Meanwhile, Wongs oce is compiling the biodiversityaudit report to be presented to Khalid in end January beorethe state decides to approve or reject PKPSs proposal.

Te biodiversity assessment was jointly conducted last

December by government departments and environmentalnon-governmental organisations.A Wildlie Department ocer revealed to Selangor Times

that they have ound endangered species like tapirs, white-handed gibbons and Malayan sun bears in the orest reserve.

Furthermore, workers rom illegal oil palm estate surround-ing the orest reserve claimed they have spotted a tiger previ-ously but the Forestry Department ailed to nd any sign oit.

A Forestry Department ocer said there were still a ewhundred hectares o virgin peat swamp in the orest reserve.

Malaysian Nature Society honorary secretary Lim eck

Wyn said the area is probably the only virgin peat swamporest le in the west coast o Peninsular Malaysia.

Since PKPSs plan to convert the orest reserve into oilpalm plantation came to light, environmental groups likeMalaysian Nature Society, Eco Warriors Malaysia and theMalaysian Youth Climate Justice Network have spoken againstit.

Tey have launched signature and call-in campaigns to urgethe state government to conserve the orest reserve and rejectPKPSs proposal.

MPSJ instructed to postpone

controversial regulations

Wong visiting the forest reserve with former Forestry

Department director Rahmat Topani recently.

By Rahmah Ghazali

SHAH ALAM: Te Subang Jaya Mu-nicipal Council (MPSJ) has been askedto put on hold its stringent regulationson entertainment outlets, which are seenas impractical and unair.

he guidelines which were an-nounced this month included prohibit-ing outlets serving alcohol rom hiringMuslims.

I they were to ban Muslims romworking in those outlets, it would meana loss o jobs or Malays. Who is goingto be responsible or this? said RonnieLiu yesterday.

He said the new regulations couldalso have serious implications on busi-nesses.

he executive councillor or localgovernment said he has asked MPSJ topostpone the rules until urther consul-tation is held with the state.

Under the new rules, outlets that

ailed to ollow the condition would notget their licences renewed.

Te Pandamaran lawmaker also saidthe guideline was too general and hardto implement.

I they say these outlets cannot hireMuslims, does this include the cleanerstoo? What about those who are hiredto do the dishes? Are they not allowedto work? he asked.

Citing another example, Liu saidthe guideline also barred owners romallowing those intoxicated rom beingon their premises during operatinghours.

How can you dierentiate a drunk

person rom a sober one? You cantsimply go up to them and use a breathanalyzer when they are enjoying theirdrinks. Sometimes drunk people do notadmit they are drunk, he argued.

He added the state is in charge ostandardising all by-laws in the localauthorities and they are subject to con-

sultation with the state government rst.Under the law, the local authorities

cannot impose their own conditions...because the implications are too serious,he said.

Meanwhile, Liu pointed out thatthere are certain by-laws that werepassed during the previous state admin-istration that has caused conusion.

He said Chinese traditional doctorshave been categorised as having the samestatus as refexology and spa operatorsunder the Ampang Jaya MunicipalCouncil or their licencing purposes.

Liu pointed out that traditional doc-tors are proessionals who are required

to have qualications rom universitiesand certicates unlike the other two.Tey are also recognised by the HealthMinistry.

So I have asked MPAJ to withdrawthe condition and will ask the StateEconomic Planning Unit (UPEN) toreview these by-laws, he said.

Hope for farmersBy Chong Loo Wah

BALAKONG: Te state is considering nding alternativesites or the 125 armers whose arms were demolished onuesday.

State executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah said most othe armers were Selangor residents even though their arms,located near the Sungai Besi military camp, were in KualaLumpur territory.

A gloomy Chinese New Year looms as they have lost theirsource o livelihood or the past 40 years.

Ean Yong said the State Government was considering relocat-ing the armers to Selangor so that they can continue arming.

Te armers grew ruits and reared livestock beore over 100oicers rom the Federal Land Oice, Deence Ministry,

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and police demolished theirarms.Te armers tried to orm a human shield to protect their

arms but ailed.Only two armers were given a three-day grace period to

remove their belongings and leave the land aer negotiationswith the ocers.

Te Deence Ministry owns the 40.5ha land and the armershad received eviction notices since last November as the min-istry wanted to reclaim the land.

However, Serdang Member o Parliament eo Nie Chingargued that on humanitarian grounds, the Federal Governmentshould have compensated the armers accordingly.

Te armers had asked to be compensated RM1.6 million.eo said the Selangor Menteri Besar had also written to the

Federal Land Oce and Deence Ministry on behal o thearmers but neither replied.

Meanwhile, Ean Yong and eo lodged a police report on

Wednesday as a DBKL enorcement ocer had allegedly askedthe armers to Balik China during the demolition.Ean Yong said he had heard the racist remark too and had

wanted to nd out the ocers identity on the spot but theocer had disappeared into the crowd aer making the remark.

Besides that, some armers had alleged that some o theenorcement ocers had stolen their chickens and plants aswell.


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5January 14 16, 2011news

Koreaninvestorskeen onSelangor

By Yasleh Hani Mat Yassin

SHAH ALAM:A South Korean busi-ness delegation has expressed interest ininvesting in Selangor.

Menteri Besar an Sri Khalid Ibra-him received the delegation led by SouthKorean ambassador to Malaysia LeeYong-joon at the state secretariat onMonday.

Te Menteri Besar and the SouthKoreans discussed new opportunitiesgiven by the state to investors in the one-hour meeting, said a spokesman romthe state.

Tey were also brieed on SelangorsKlang River rehabilitation project whichis part o the states economic stimuluspackage.

Malaysia Samsung president DatukLee Sang Bai, who was also in the delega-tion, said a ew South Korean companieshad shown interest to cooperate with thestate in the cleaning and conservation othe river.

Tese companies have experienceand expertise because they were involvedin the cleaning project o Cheong-gyecheon River which has now becomea public attraction and the most efective

development model or major citiesaround the world, said Le e.

Lee, who is also president o the Ko-rea-Malaysia Chamber o Commerce,said Selangor was more competitive andinvestor-riendly compared to otherstates because o its inrastructure, trans-portation network and skilled work-orce.

Te delegation also expressed supportor the states eforts to attract more in-vestors rom South Korea.

Khalid said Selangor welcomed ad-ditional investment, especially in greentechnology.

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6/23


son to the police as his threats hadgot worse along with his hardcoreaddiction.Te son was threatening to raze

their house because the mother hadreused him money and also sur-rendered him to the authorities.When he went out to buy a can okerosene, the amily le the houseimmediately, said an.Some amilies have had to bear

with the realisation o having morethan one child who is a drug user.One amily was shocked to nd

out that their younger daughter wasan addict ollowing a positive urinetest. She had been mistakenlyhauled up by police alongside herolder brother, a hardcore addict.Ketamine and heroin are two o

the drugs that are sold by pushers.Ketamine is a recreational drug,which comes in the orm o pills,which can be taken whole or crushedinto ne powder and injected. Hesaid that the heroin is snied orinjected.Some o the villagers eel that

their childrens addiction hasbrought shame to the amily andear that their names would be dis-closed in investigations.an and the village committee

are appealing to police to take ac-tion. Monitor the drug pushers, thesuppliers. Catch them and give themstier penalties. Tat will stop them;that will stop the supply, he said.Tey have also suggested that the

authorities go aer the drug pushersor inormation on supply routesand identities o their criminalbosses.an said the drugs are delivered

to the homes or addicts haunts by

suppliers who can be contacted byhandphone. Men on motorcycleswould then come by, and aer a brieexchange o money or drugs, theaddict would get their x at a pri-vate and secluded place.Imagine a drug user who stays at

the back o his house. A motorcyclecomes down the alley, and he justputs his hand out into the window,passes the money over in exchangeor the drugs. It takes place in undera minute, said an, adding thatmany in the community had seenthese transactions take place daily,oen in alleys behind their houses.Some o the abandoned houses

in the village have been turned intodrug haunts, an said. In the hauntswere water stained mattresses,burned mosquito repellants, ciga-rette butts and discarded alcoholbottles.Te trafckers oer ree samples

to rst time users in order to entice

them, he said.

He added that the new-sty lecaes in Kg Jenjarom that are re-quented by the young are in actualact places where rst-time users cansample drugs. Te rst timer thentries the sample at a quiet corner othe cae, he said.Te village committee has urged

Bukit Aman to transer back a or-mer top police oer in the districtto deal with the drug problem. Ananti-narcotics ofcer in charge o theKlang-Banting district, he was trans-erred upon his promotion.Our working relationship with

the ofcer was very good, we com-plemented each other very well. Wehave asked or him to return to helpus out, said an.an also added that the ofcer

had successully detained one push-er at Simpang Renggam DetentionCentre under the Emergency Ordi-nance Act, while another was ban-ished to Sg Petani in Kedah underthe Restricted Residence Act.When the ofcer was in charge,

there were 200 arrests made rom2007-2008. an stressed that theyincluded repeat oenders.He said this was an important

issue: the village committee wantsthe addicts who are caught to beplaced in rehabilitation, but not tobe released on bail or let o or lacko evidence.Kg Jenjarom is not a drug town

stressed an and the other village

committee members.We dont deserve

this reputation andwere doing what wecan to ght this addic-tion, a committeemember said.With the urgency o

having to deal with thisproblem in the tight-knit community, ansaid that it would bethe end o Kg Jenjar-om i drug addictionproblems are notsolved.he village com-

mitee has set up a vol-unteer support groupto listen to problemsacing amilies. henumber o calls thegroup receives romanguished parentspouring their prob-lems out has over-whelmed them.My husband complains that my

volunteer work is a 24-hour thing.Te calls can come while Im busypreparing dinner, said 27-year-oldLim Gweok Nee, adding that somecalls came in aer midnight.he housewie and mother o

two young children says the calls aremostly rom mothers. She says thatthe mothers usually tell her that they

are under emotional pressure be-

cause o the childrens drug addic-tion.Kg Jenjarom is, however, not tak-

ing the problem lying down. Teyare ghting back by organising ac-tivities like karaoke sessions andcompetitions in order to get theyouth o the streets and away romthe drugs.Kuala Langat police declined to

comment when contacted by Selan-

gor Times.

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Childrens addictionbrings shame to families

From Page one

T with Tlk Dtk ssbly PhilipT t suspctd du hut.

T, chi f th K Jvill citt.

By Rahmah Ghazali

SHAH ALAM: Selangor is urged to chart apath towards becoming a high-income state byocusing on medical tourism and education.Selangor Menteri Besar an Sri Khalid

Ibrahim said the state will also orge partner-ships with countries that are active in trade.Khalid had chaired a meeting o the Se-

langor Business Council at i-City last uesday,during which University o Caliornia eco-nomics proessor Datuk Pro Woo Wing Tyesuggested the state create an East Asian hubor medical tourism and English-languageeducation.Woo added that Selangor could mobilise

its state-unded tertiary institutions to oeroreign languages as part o their courses, andenhance cooperation with oreign universities.Khalid, speaking aer the meeting, agreed

that services could be combined, such as tour-ism with medical treatments.Khalid added that the state would also

continue to pursue investors through high-value industries such as green technologywhich requires skilled and qualied workers.With more skilled and experienced work-

ers in the state, our inrastructure will improveand this in turn will become a reason whyinvestors would choose Selangor, he said.However, Woo pointed out that Selangor

would need to cooperate with other statessuch as Kuala Lumpur and Penang in order topromote its industries.

Foreign investors will not come to Selan-gor alone or investments. Tey also have thechoice o other states such as Kuala Lumpurand Penang, so it is vital or Selangor to getcooperation rom these states, said Woo dur-ing the meeting earlier.Te business council meeting was attended

by about 50 business leaders rom various

industries in Selangor. hey included theMalay Chambers o Commerce, Federationo Malaysian Manuacturers, Chinese Cham-bers o Commerce and Klang Chambers oCommerce.

Lecturers and vice-chancellors rom vari-ous universities in Selangor also participatedin the meeting.

Big ideasat Selangorbusinesscouncil

SERI KEMBANGAN:wo new Peo-ples Volunteer Corps (RELA) platoonswere established on Jan 1 here to helpcommunity security and emergency re-sponses.Tey will assist the police and enorce-

ment ofcers, said RELA Petaling Districtassistant ofcer Mohd Kairol Jamil.Te leaders o the new platoons - 0080

and 0420 - Shan Ngan Fah and Lim CheeKeong, respectively, received the ranks olieutenants and their RELA cards in cer-

emony to launch the platoons.Te simple ceremony at the headquar-ters o the aman Sri Serdang volunteerre brigade was attended by state executivecouncil lor Ean Yong Hian Wah. Also atthe ceremony was RELA Petaling Districtdeputy ofcer Khalid Ibrahim.

New RELA squads


7/23


Loh and Yeoh to spearheadSubang Ria taskforce

By Gan Pei Ling

SUBANG JAYA: Kelana JayaMember o Parliament Loh Gwo-

urne and Subang Jaya assembly-woman Hannah Yeoh will head theaskorce to negotiate with Sime

Darby on acquiring Subang Riaark.

Tey will work with representa-ives rom resident associations,

Menteri Besar an Sri Khalid Ibra-im announced aer chairing a statexecutive council meeting on

Wednesday.Yeoh said she had suggested a list

representatives to the Menteriesar, who expects the taskorce toave their frst meeting by next week.

Khalid had given the taskorceight months to negotiate with parkwner Sime Darby and settle on arice as well as raise unds to buyack the recreational park.

Te state had promised to pay oral o the total purchase price whileesidents would pay the other hal.

However, the plan will only gohead i residents can raise one third their share within the next eight

months.Sime Darby had declared the

arks book value at RM3.6 millionn its 2010 fnancial report.

However, when taking into ac-ount the potential value o the9.4ha park, valuation fgures romtate and private sector have rangedrom RM15 million to RM165 mil-on.

Sime Darby aced strong publicpposition when it frst submitted

a proposal in 2007 to develop thepark into a commercial area.

In 2009, it amended its plan todevelop 7.7ha o the park into alow-density residential area andupgrade the remaining 21.7ha be-ore handing the park back to theSubang Jaya Municipal Council(MPSJ).

MPSJ had rejected Sime Darbysproposal in May 2010 but the devel-oper appealed and the case is nowpending at the Appeals Board.

Te residents had applied to in-tervene in Sime Darbys appealhearing but lost.

During the second dialogue withthe residents last Saturday, Khalidreiterated that the state had rozenall development at the park or thenext eight months

Meanwhile, it was revealed duringthe Appeals Boards hearing onuesday that the state executivecouncil had approved the SubangJaya dra local plan in March 2010beore the public hearing in April2010.

Khalid explained on Wednesdaythat the approval was conditional asthe details in the dra local planwere not fnalised yet.

However, he did not urther ex-

plain the reason the dra local planwas approved by the state executivecouncil even beore the public hear-ing was held to seek public eedbackon the plan.

He merely said the state hadconditionally approved the plan asthe developer only wanted to de-velop 7.7ha o the park and spend

RM20 million to upgrade the re-maining 21.7ha beore returning itto the local council or ree.

Ater the residents made cleartheir objection to any sort o devel-opment in Subang Ria Park, Khalidsaid the state had listened to themand thus set up a taskorce to try topurchase the park rom Sime Darby.

Khalid (centre) ata dialogue withresidents over therecreational parkproposed by SimeDarby. With him isHannah Yeoh left)and Teresa Kok(second from right).


8/23


An Alam Flora worker cleaning up the garbage dump beside the feld

By Yasleh Hani Mat Yassin

ampang jaya:Wong Kai Pun(pix), better known as Keppy Wong,

is a three-term Ampang Jaya Mu-nicipal (MPAJ) Councillor whoseimmediate goal is to make AmpangJaya a more accommodating anduser-riendly municipality.A resident o Pandan Indah,

Wong is aware o the concerns oMPAJ ratepayers.Tere must be more non-Malay

language signs and inormation orthe public because we must admitthat a large section o the public arestill unable to read or understand thelanguage, but they are tax payerstoo, he said.He added that more non-Malay

sta should be hired in the licensingand enorcement department to

accommodate and communicatewith all races. I am also ensuringthat MPAJ expands its on-line a-cilities to minimise the need or thepublic to physically visit MPAJ tocarry out transactions, he said.Wong pointed out that many

disliked going to the municipality

as they perceived MPAJ as being toobureaucratic.Such a perception is particularly

strong or those who are illiterate

or unable to converse well in Malay.Some in the community preer tobring their problems to the servicecentres o local councillors instead,said Wong.In this respect, the 33-year-old

practising lawyer said he tries asmuch as possible to accommodatethose seeking his assistance at histwo service centres in Pandan Indahand aman Muda.He is at his Pandan Indah oce

rom Monday to Friday while hisassistant mans his aman Muda o-ce every Friday and Saturday.Our address and even hand-

phone numbers are on the MPAJwebsite and also displayed at public

places, he said.Wong is in charge o MPAJsdisciplinary committee. He is also amember o the licensing and entre-preneurs development committee,the inrastructure and public acili-ties committee, and the inancialand assessment committee.

Know Your Councillor:Wong Kai Pun

By Alvin Yap

petaling jaya: How andwhere Leslie Francis Raj contract-ed Leptospirosis beore he suc-cumbed to the disease on Aug 16are answers his amily is strugglingto nd.But his younger sister, Romina

Sundran, said eorts to obtain helprom authorities had hit obstacles atevery turn.We aced red tape whenever we

tried to nd out how my brothercontracted the disease in the rstplace, said the housewie.Romina said while her 54-year-

old engineer brother died at the SriManjung hospital in Perak, wherehe was warded or three days whileon a amily vacation, they suspect hecontracted the disease here.he amily lives in one o the

most urbanised areas in Section 11Petaling Jaya.We are not important people,

but i you can tell our story that isenough. We want people to knowthat anyone can get Leptospirosis.We also want people to know

how dicult it is to deal with unre-sponsive government agencies.On the morning o their depar-

ture or Pangkor island, she said, hewas having severe coughs and run-ning a high ever. We told him wewould get him some antibiotics orPanadol at the hotel were staying.She said that on the second day

at Pangkor island, he developedbreathing diculties. Suspected ohaving pneumonia, the in-housedoctor reerred him to Manjunghospital on the mainland.Her brother died rom cardiac

arrest while his kidneys had shutdown. Back in Petaling Jaya, theysured the Internet and ound outthat dogs were rumoured tospread Leptospirosis.I told the Veterinary Depart-

ment in Shah Alam that my brother

had died rom Leptospirosis andasked i they could take my dog orblood tests, said Romina.She claimed that the veterinarian

had reused to do so, and as a com-promise, she had her dogs blooddrawn by a private animal clinic.Still, she said, they had reused to

come down to Petaling Jaya to re-ceive the blood sample.I told the Veterinarian Depart-

ment that my brother had died romLeptospirosis and wanted to makesure my dog was not a host or a car-rier o the disease, said Romina,adding that her amily was worriedor their own saety.Only later did the department

send an orderly to get the bloodsamples rom her. Te sample, shesaid, had tested negative.With our dog testing negative

as a host and carrier o Leptospiro-sis, we want to know which animalinected my brother, asked Romina.She had also approached the

Leptospirosis is a disease thatspreads rom animals to humans,and is caused by the germ Lepto-spira.It spreads among domestic and

wild animals. Leptospirosis cannotspread rom human to human.However, humans are inected

when a persons open wounds orsores come into contact withcontaminated water. Tis can alsohappen i the water enters theirmucus membrane (eyes, nose andmouth). Drinking contaminated

water can also lead to inections.Te symptoms o Leptospirosis

are u-like in the rst phase. Tisincludes coughing , ever, sorethroat, muscle aches and head-aches. Patients will also developrashes, and experience vomitingand diarrhea.In the second, and critical,

phase, patients suer rom internalbleeding, meningitis, liver ailure,kidney and organ ailure.Te disease claimed 95 Malay-

sian lives rom Jan to Aug last year.

Family wants answersWhat is Leptospirosis?

CHeRaS: A gotong-royong at aman Muda, Am-pang, last Sunday drew a disappointing turnout. Onlyour children and two adults showed up in what wasthe worst turnout o all gotong-royong organised in thearea previously.Ampang Jaya Councillor Jennier new was disap-

pointed afer eorts to distribute over 1,000 yers toresidents a week beore. A large banner had also beendisplayed to inorm residents o the date and time othe neighbourhood cleanup.Weve organised a ew gotong-royong at other

neighbouring housing areas previously, this is the worstturnout so ar, said new.

Te gotong-royong was jointly organised by Am-pang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), MPAJ ResidentsCommittee and Alam Flora to clean up the area.As the small crew worked, a ew residents came to

complain to new about the garbage thrown at two sitesnear a eld but did not stay on to help out.wo sites near the eld one right beside the eld

and another one across the road rom the eld have

been treated as garbage dumps by residents.A woman said she had witnessed people throwing

rubbish there, but did not dare reprimand them or earo retaliation.Litterbugs can be ned up to RM1,000 i caught

red-handed but new said it was usually very dicultor enorcement ocers to catch them in the act.new advised witnesses to take a photo o the cul-

prits so that MPAJ could take action against the lit-terbugs.Te two sites were cleared during the gotong-royong

but the culprits are likely to repeat their actions unlessthey are caught and reprimanded or their selsh act.

Tese people never consider the eelings o theresidents who stay near the garbage.I dont understand why they cant place their gar-

bage in the bin in ront o their own homes and waitor Alam Flora to collect them, new said.Residents can also reduce their trash by practising

the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) and compostingorganic waste.

Public Complaints Bureau in Putra-jaya to lodge a complaint over SriManjung hospitals negligence intreating her brother while he wasunder their care.She has also lodged complaints

against them or their lack o con-

cern over her request or her latebrothers medical records.I know that the government is

running a campaign on the dengueoutbreak, but I eel people shouldknow that Leptospirosis is on therise, said Romina.

Poor response to cleanup


9/23


By Gan Pei Ling

pulau ketam: For Sungai Lima, ashing village next to Pulau Ketam, goingreen is a matter o survival. No longer canillagers here depend on ishing or theirvelihood. Tis year, they are on a quest toecome an eco-riendly village to attract tour-ts.Te 150-year-old village is turning to tour-m in an attempt to reduce its reliance on theshing industry.Village chie an Chuee Cheng said theyad started engaging primary schoolchildrenn a recycling programme as their rst step toarrying out environmentally-riendly prac-ces in the village.Te schoolchildren will collect recyclableems rom their homes. Ten volunteers romur committee will help to sort them out, anaid last Saturday.He added that they would modiy 20

garbage bins donated by the Klang MunicipalCouncil (MPK) and turn them into recyclebins.Non-proit organisation Pertubuhan

Amar Seri Sinar (PASS) will help to transportthe recyclable items to the mainland. Teorganisation will bear the transportation cost.an said that other recycling organisations

have shied away due to the transportationcosts. In addition, PASS will channel theproceeds rom selling the recycled items tohelp poor students.

Apart rom recycling, the students romSJK(C) Sin Bin will also be involved in a clean-up on Jan 22.A student rom each year will also be

chosen as the environmental ambassador tohelp promote eco-riendly practices amongtheir peers throughout the year.Indeed, litter can be seen scattered across

the sea oor below village houses during low-tide.

Our villagers are used to treating the seaas their garbage dump, it will be dicult tochange their habit but we hope the childrenwill be able to inuence their parents.We need to clean up the village i we are

to attract tourists, said an.an added that the village committee had

stopped using polystyrene during their eventsand are trying to encourage other villagers todo the same.Klang councillor Lim Lip Suan said i

Sungai Lima could successully clean up its

village, it could ofer eco-tourism packages orhomestay programmes to attract tourists toexperience lie in a shing village.With around 200 amilies or 1,000 villag-

ers, the village depends on shing and relatedindustries or its income.However, during the past two decades,

youths rom Sungai Lima have been movingout and remaining villagers have no choice butto turn to migrant workers to help out in their

work. an said his own children had movedto the Klang Valley.Nevertheless, recent crackdowns by the

authorities on illegal migrant workers havetaken a toll on the villagers and many o themcan no longer rely on illegal migrant labour.Hence, the village is now trying to trans-

orm itsel into a tourist destination by brand-ing itsel as the rst eco-riendly village inSelangor.Lim also revealed that the state govern-

ment, not MPK, currently bears the garbage

collection cost or Pulau Ketam and SungaiLima. He explained that the islands only cameunder MPKs authority in 2006. Hence, vil-lagers have not been paying assessment tax toMPK and the local council was unwilling tobear its garbage collection cost.Beore 2006, villagers had to take care o

their trash themselves, and hence became usedto throwing their garbage into the sea or burn-ing it.

By Alvin Yap

sri gombak: Business owners at a newly-opened com-

mercial lot are caught between the Selayang City CouncilMPS) and the developer over an illegal rubbish dump.Irresponsible citizens have turned the back alley of

alan Prima SG 1 into a dumpsite and business ownersave been contacting MPS to have the rubbish cleared nly to be told that it was the developers responsibility.

It has caused business owners sleepless nights as wewait for the authorities to solve the problem, said AlvinCheong, manager of a hair and beauty saloon.

The alley and the ever growing pile of rubbish are athe back of his saloon. He has put notices outside, at theear of his shop, warning people not to dump their rubbishhere.

Weve used up cans of insecticide spray to kill thewarm of mosquitoes that come from the dump, the 24

year-old hair stylist said.He said that the developers had handed over the keys

to the premises in August last year. The local councilstopped clearing the dump since other businesses beganmoving in some four months ago, around October, he said.

Weve made many complaints to the local council, butthey say its the developers responsibility within the oneyear after they hand over the keys to us, he added.

Cheong said that the saloon owner had contacted thedeveloper and even offered to provide lorries for the rub-bish to be transported away

My boss told the developer to bring their workers,he said. But no one from the developers ofce, nor theirworkers, showed up on the scheduled day.

MPS councillor Lim Ching How acknowledged thecomplaints from businesses in the area. But he reiteratedthat rubbish collection was the responsibility of the prop-erty developer within a year of handing over the keys.

He said that only after the one year, would MPS assumeresponsibility for collecting the rubbish.

Restaurant supervisor Zarifah Arinah Zakaria said shehad brought the matter up to MPS but had been turnedaway for the same reason.

Unscrupulous people have tried to take advantage ofthe situation, she added. Zarifah said a man who claimedto represent Alam Flora had approached her boss in Oc-tober, offering to collect the cafes garbage for a paymentof RM180.

He told him to pay him that amount and he would giveus Alam Flora containers so that he or his team could col-lect our rubbish, she said. When her boss paid and wasabout to request for a receipt, the man had left the cafwith the money.

Councillor Lim said that MPS was talking to the devel-oper and would keep the SelangorTimes notied of theoutcome.

By Rahmah Ghazali

shah alam: Open discussion, insteadf book-banning, is the way to resolve is-ues, the Selangor Menteri Besar said abouthe debate over a secondary school litera-

ture novel Interlokwhich has been criticisedfor the way it depicts Indians.

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said a dialoguewas better rather than banning the book, asmaking the book illegal would not help tocalm down the situation because informa-

tion nowadays is more transparent andaccessible.

We have to accept the fact that informa-tion and knowledge is open and [cant becompletely hidden], he said after chairinga meeting of the Selangor State Investment

Centre and Business Council in I-City lastTuesday.

The book, which was made the literaturetextbook for Form Five beginning this year,is alleged to have parts which the Indiancommunity have found derogatory.

Village struggles to survive

Discuss, dont ban Interlok, says Selangor MB

Ugly sight: The sea is being treated as a garbage dump by villagers.

Tan

Lim

Business owners demand actionover illegaldumps


10/23

10 January 14 16, 2011News

State moves to ghthuman trafcking

By Gan Pei Ling

SUBANG JAYA: Subang Jaya assemblyper-son Hannah Yeoh encouraged residents to joina voluntary patrol unit to help reduce streetcrimes in their area.Te unit patrol together with the police

and MPSJ (Subang Jaya Municipal Council)during the day, so its sae or everyone to join,said Yeoh when attending a new-year celebra-tion at Indera Subang Condominium, USJ 6last Saturday.She was responding to concerns raised by

the condominium residents, who were worriedabout saety outside their condominium.One o the condominiums management

council member told SelangorTimeshe hadwitnessed a snatch the right beore his eyes.Yeoh said the voluntary patrol unit had

helped to stop break-ins by patrolling SubangJaya and USJ areas in two-hour shis duringweekdays.In act, the police awarded one o its vol-

unteers a certicate last month in recognition

o having helped caught a snatch thie lastSeptember.Tose interested to volunteer with the unit

can contact Subang Jaya councillor RanjivRishyakaran at 012-3111585 or Mak MengChin at [email protected] Subang Condominium manage-

ment council chair Edwin Nicholas estimatedthat at least 30 percent o their tenants are

oreigners. From Australia, Jamaica to Iran, thecondominiums community is almost like amini United Nations.Te condominiums new year gathering also

celebrated Yeohs 31st birthday, which ell onthe same day. She attended the gathering withher husband, and coucnillor Ranjiv.Te condominium management also or-

ganised a telematch or the children during thegathering. Yeoh pledged RM2,000 to the or-ganisers. Te trained lawyer also invited otherSubang Jaya residents to write in to her to applyor unds or community events.Yeoh also highlighted other ree commu-

nity programmes unded by her state alloca-tion, such as an exercise session at the Millin-nium Park, SS13, twice a week at 7.30pm on

Wednesdays and 7.30am on Saturdays.She also reminded residents o the Selangorgovernments scheme or senior citizens age 60and above.Under the Mesra Usia Emas programme,

registered appointed beneciaries will receiveRM2,500 upon the senior citizens death oruneral and related expenses.

Volunteer patrols to keepneighbourhood safe

What is

human

trafcking?

By Alvin Yap

SHAH ALAM: Selangor is set tocombat human tracking with ataskorce that will look at tighteninglocal by-laws, while providing rescueand shelter to tracked persons.Te state has established the Se-

langor Anti-racking in PersonsCouncil (Mapmas) which will workwith ederal government law andenorcement agencies and also non-government organisations (NGOs),an Sri Khalid Ibrahim said.Human traicking is second

only to drug tracking in revenue,but both make use o people in avery ugly and undignied manner,the Menteri Besar said in his speechwhen launching Mapmas at theShah Alam State Secretariat onMonday.We are sensitive to the dignity

o every man, woman and child. Wewant to ensure that the sanctity olie is protected, he added.Te Menteri Besar said human

tracking was a lucrative trade ow-ing to the act that Malaysia andSelangor in particular was a desti-nation or migrants and reugeesalike.

Khalid said Selangor, as the mostindustrialised state in the country,had among the highest numbers inhuman tracking cases. Victims ohuman tracking in Selangor oenended up working in sweatshopconditions or long hours in returnor low wages, among other scenar-ios.Khalid, who is the patron o

Mapmas, estimated that Selangorwas home to some two million mi-grant workers.Te council will comprise state

executive councillors and NGOs.On the issue o legislation, we

want to give more power to our localgovernments to monitor, and shutdown premises that deal in humantracking, said Selangor executivecouncillor Rodziah Ismail.She said Mapmas will look into

existing municipal by-laws and seei they need to be amended or i newones should be tabled to deal withhuman tracking hotspots in thestate.She said the council, most impor-

tantly, would ensure that more o-enders were brought to court ortrial.Te state is partnering migrant

rights NGO enaganita to monitorhuman tracking cases. enaganitaalso provided Mapmas the locationo tracking hotspots in the staterom its case les.According to Daniel Lo, who

heads the Mapmas prosecution unit,there were 237 cases o human tra-cking in Malaysia rom 2008 tillJune 2010.In those cases, there were 1,551

victims, 330 arrests and only nine

convictions, the human rights law-yer said.Lo, who is also the country man-

ager o Coalition to Abolish Mod-ern-day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA)said his unit will also look into giv-ing Selangor the legislative provi-sions to run shelters or humantracking victims.Tis is important, he added, as he

sees the need or more shelters tohouse traicked survivors, onceMapmas starts work ull swing.In a separate interview on Map-

mas anti-tracking initiative, Ma-laysian Bar Council representativeAndrew Khoo said that shelters ortracked survivors are establishedunder the provisions o the Anti-racking Act o 2007, which is aederal Act.He cautioned that parts o the

The United Nations Ofce onDrugs and Crime, as guardianof the United Nations Conven-tion against Transnational Or-ganized Crime (UNTOC) de-nes this crime as the recruit-ment, transportation, transfer,harbouring or receipt of per-sons, by means of the threat oruse of force or other forms ofcoercion, of abduction, of fraud,of deception, of the abuse ofpower or of a position of vulner-ability or of the giving or receiv-ing of payments or benets toachieve the consent of a personhaving control over anotherperson, for the purpose of ex-ploitation.

There three elements thatdene human trafcking, andthese are:

The Act (What is done) - Re-cruitment, transportation, trans-fer, harbouring or receipt ofpersons;

The Means (How it is done)- Threat or use of force, coer-cion, abduction, fraud, decep-tion, abuse of power or vulner-ability, or giving payments orbenets to a person in control ofthe victim;

The Purpose (Why it is done)

- For the purpose of exploitation,which includes exploiting theprostitution of others, sexualexploitation, forced labour, slav-ery or similar practices and theremoval of organs.

(Source:United Nations Ofce

on Drugs and Crime)

ederal legislation could run intoconfict with the states initiative insetting up the shelters.What would be the status o the

state-run shelters [in the ederalgovernments view]? Will they beonly hal-way houses or the survi-vors to stay temporarily? he asked.Khoo, who chairs the Bar Coun-

cils human rights committee,stressed the importance o the stateand ederal governments workingtogether on human tracking is-sues.I they work together, itll be o

great benet to everyone. I theydont work together, or are at log-gerheads with each other, then thetraicking victims will suer, heconcluded.Te United Nations Oce on

Drugs and Crime estimates humantraicking to generate approxi-mately USD45 billion in ill-gottenprots.Human tracking, also known

as tracking in people, is or thepurposes o orced labour, child la-bour, orced prostitution, illegaladoptions, and the illegal harvestingo human organs or sale.enagan ita directo r Dr Irene

Fernandez, said she was happy thatSelangor was taking steps to curbhuman tracking. Tis is Selangorsaying no to commodiying people,she said.

Menteri Besar TanSri Khalid pushinga button to openthe Majlis AntiPemerdaganganManusia NegeriSelangor (MAPMAS)on Monday as Excomembers RonnieLiu, Rodziah Ismail,Teresa Kok and DrHalimah Ali look on.


11/23

views11JANUARY 14 16, 2011

Penang Economic Monthly is a monthly magazine dedicated to socio-economic issues inPenang, offering reliable socio-economic data as well as informative articles on the arts,theindustry, culture and social issues that are relevant to todays generation of Malaysians.

Available nationwide at bookshops and newsstands.www.penangeconomicmonthly.com

Tracking the ulse of Penang

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Community Support

Over a year and a hal ago, asmall community o about400 houses around Jalan

Rahim Kajai and Jalan Aminuddinaki in aman un Dr Ismail elt

hat they had enough o crime. Atne point, on one street alone,parang and motorcycle-styledobberies were nearly a monthlyccurrence. You could never guess

who was going to be hit next.And so, one ery aernoon aer

residents meeting at the DIolice station to get updates onrime statistics, these residentsecided that they were going to doomething about this perennialroblem, i only because the policeidn't have enough personnel toelp them out.

Tus, on street corners and junc-ons all throughout aman un

mushroomed barriers and privateuards, but not without internalrotests o course. Yet many resi-ents were in avour (in the Rahim

Kajai- Aminuddin Baki area some00 households signed up to thecheme).

You see, I am part o this com-munity, and helped the commu-

nity to set up this security schemeeven i my voice belonged to thecacophony o naysayers who be-lieved this system was still too po-rous (in act it is, because our cityby-laws disable private guards romputting up permanent roadblocksand stopping cars without 100% oall households participating sopeople could still move in and outeven with the guards there). Yetwhat alternative was there?

But does it make sense or anentire community to privatise theirsecurity? Or was the gated andguarded phenomenon even envis-aged by the township developers oback then (the aman un Dr Is-mail area was completed in theearly 80s)? Or, more importantly,could the gated and guardedmodel or communities be not onlythe option, but also the inevitableuture or Malaysian urban andsuburban communities?

Te DI community I men-tioned above ork out RM15,000a month or the privatised securityapparatus, and I know o some oth-ers that have to pay upwards oRM20,000. It then goes withoutsaying that the economy can bequite ertile or private securityrms, i they're smart.

But are Malaysians smart orsigning up to this model? I thePDRM is under-resourced, could

these monies not in act go out tothem to bee themselves up a littlebit more?

But then... why should Malay-sians be paying more to their localpolice orces, when the entire po-lice structure is centralised andreceives its primary unding romthe Federal Govern-ment? Ok, so that's an-other conversation alto-gether.

Return to the com-munity. When I wasyounger, my amily andI were living in Daman-sara Utama and I recallhow my ather used tobe part o the Rukun e t a n g g a e v e n i n g watch.

He had a big stick (athick bamboo staf, inact) which he carried,along with a torchlight.

Him and some o the otherneighbours used to patrol our shortstreet o 40 houses in the evenings,although I can't remember i theyever caught anyone. But it was goodor neighbourly rapport.

Maybe that's part o my hesi-tance, my trepidation or theseprivate security schemes. Tat wewere actually outsourcing not onlyour security details but also somemeasure o taking ownership o our

neighbourhood.I recall that a remark rom one

o the neighbours when we weresetting up the scheme. It wentsomething like, You know, i itwasn't or these crime incidents, Iprobably wouldn't really know wholived down my street.

Does it make sensefor an entire communityto privatise their security?Or was the gated andguarded phenomenoneven envisaged by thetownship developers ofback then (the Taman

Tun Dr Ismail area wascompleted in theearly 80s)?

o some extent, it is a shame.But that's the reality lie in thisGreater Klang Valley is so ast-paced and all-consuming that werarely put in time to mingle andreally nurture a relationship withour immediate community.

Instead we arm out one aspecto it security which also hap-pens to be the oundation o anysustainable community.

Caveat: even with the securitycompany running, there was still

about a handul o residents whotook charge and met regularly tocomplain about late payments andthe inefectiveness o the securityscheme... hehe.

Going back to the analogy o themushrooms blooming aer the rain yes, aer the spate o robberies ayear and a bit ago, the number osecurity checkpoints throughoutDI exponentially appeared.And I think this is pretty much trueor much o PJ and some areas oSelangor as well.

But, like any ield o mush-rooms, they wither away ater awhile: true to the analogy, our veryown security scheme ell apart sud-denly last November. We couldbarely put together the RM15,000to pay the guards (not that theywere well-paid themselves, andagain that's another conversation).

A riend, who also happened tobe a landscape architect, said to me:Actually, why are we paying somuch each month to have theseguys just stand there? We could beputting all that money into a park!

I agree with him. I don't want tolive my lie in a gated community,cordoned of rom the realities ourban and suburban Malaysia. I'drather have a parked community.

Yet one question looms large,ominously in the background:Where is the PDRM in all this?


12/23

2insightJANUARY 14 16, 2011

Theyellow

wave:

Pushingforcleanand fair

elecTions

Gan Pei Ling

With expectations that the 13thgeneral election is around thecorner, political parties rom

h sides o the divide are gearing up orl-out war.

While most people would be preoc-ed with coee shop chatter over theion results, a group o citizens aree concerned about ensuring that theion process is air and clean.Few bothered about the electioness previously because or the past 50s, the same coalition (Barisan Na-al) has been voted in again and again.But aer the 2008 p olitical tsunami,ieve many voters have come to realisetheir votes do make a dierence, says

uk Ambiga Screenevasan, chairpersone Coalition or Clean and Fair Elec-s (Bersih 2.0).aunched in November 2010, Bersihs a non-partisan alliance made up out 60 non-governmental organisa-s.

he earlier Bersih, which includedtical parties, had organised a00-strong rally in November 2007 toand or air and ree elections prior to

2008 general election.Unortunately, three years ater the

rshed election, the Election Commis-(EC) still does not enjoy much

ic condence as many continue toeive the supposedly independent

y as an extension o the government.

eneral election is rumoured to be around the corner, while most are busy speculatinGs outcome, a Group of dedicated activists are workinG hard to ensure the electionsre fair and free.

21 days. Tis would allow voters more time togather inormation about the candidates.

Besides that, Ambiga believes the EC shouldtake a stronger stand on electoral oences.

Vote-buying is openly done but the authori-ties are reluctant to investigate and press charges,she alleged, citing the election goodies oered inrecent by-elections as examples.

Te most inamous incident was Prime Min-ister Datuk Seri Najib Razaks You help me, Ihelp you line in the Sibu by-election in May2010.

Te BN chie had not so subtly asked Sibu

voters to vote or BN aer presenting a RM10million cheque to 60 Chinese primary schoolsand a RM5 million cheque to ve private Chineseschools.

Ambiga noted that the EC does not possessprosecuting powers, but the Federal Constitutiongrants it authority to request assistance romother public authorities.

Tey can ask the police [or the MalaysianAnti-Corruption Commission] to investigate theelection oences, she said.

Indelible ink, a longer campaign period andinvestigating electoral oence are the three press-

ing issues that Bersih 2.0 wants the EC to addressahead o the impending general elections. Bersih2.0 also has other long-term goals.

One is to educate the public about the upcom-ing delimitation exercise, where the EC redrawsconstituency boundaries every eight to 10 years.

Te last exercise was done in 2003 so wesuspect theyre going to do it this year, Ambigaspeculates.

Tere are certain principles the EC must ol-low when redrawing constituency boundary,Ambiga notes, which are important or voters toknow.

Weve suggested theEC bring back indeliblenk, a simple method toeduce election fraud.n fact, indelible ink wasupposed to be used inhe 2008 general electiono prevent multipleoting but the ECcrapped the plan at the

eleventh hour.

Hence, Bersih 2.0 is continuing to

h or electoral reorms to restore pub-ondence in the electoral process.Tey submitted a memorandum, out-

g their immediate concerns and 15ands, to the EC and also met themission in December 2010.Weve suggested the EC bring backlible ink, a simple method to reduceion raud, said Ambiga, a ormer Barncil president. In act, indelible inksupposed to be used in the 2008ral election to prevent multiple vot-

but the EC scrapped the plan at theenth hour.

Ambiga revealed that the EC is con-ring the use o a biometric systemrking o the MyKad) to prevent elec-raud.

But even i they were to implement it will take time, so i the electionsery close, the EC should look at indel-nk, she reasoned.

Another immediate concern o Bersihs the short campaign period prior tong day. Ambiga said a meaningulpaign period should not be less than

Aliran AnwarIbrahimClub(AIC) AmnestyInternational (Malaysia)AWAM CouncilofChurchesMalaysia (CCM)Youth CentreforIndependent Journalism(CIJ) ChildDevelopmentInitiat iveDEMA DewanPerhimpunanCinaKL- Selangor(JawatankuasaHak S iv il ) Educational,Welfarea nd ResearchFoundationMalaysiaEmpower FriendsinConversation(FIC) FederationofIndianNon- GovernmentalOrganisations GoodGovernancePenang GroupofConcernedCitizens (GCC) IndianMalaysianActive Generation(IMAGE) IndependencePeopleAction Committee(IPAC) IslamicRenaissanceFront(I RF) JaringanRakyatTertindas (JERIT ) JemaahIslahMalaysia(JIM) KlangConsumerAssociation KomunitiMasyarakat(KOMAS)

KumpulanAkhbarIndependen (KAMI) LaborResourceCentre(LRC) LLGCulturalDevelopment Cen tre MajlisKelabBell BeliaTamil Malaysia MalaysianAssociationofI ndian UniversityGraduates MalaysianDravidian Association MalaysianHinduYouthCouncil MalaysianIndianDevelopment &UnityAssociation MalaysianIndianHistorica l Association MalaysianTamilForumMicahMandate(The) MovementForChange, Sarawak(MoCS) OrientalHeartsandMinds Institute(OHMSI) PenangIndependentSchools EducataionSociety.Permas PersahabatanSemparuthi PersatuanAlumniHanChiang, Malaysia. PersatuanAlumniHanChiang, PulauPinang. PersatuanHakAsasiManusia (HAKAM) PersatuanPengguna&Sosial

DaerahPetalingJaya PertubuhanIKRAMMalaysia (IKRAM) ResearchforSocial Advancement(REFSA) RumahAnakTeater(RAT)SahabatWanita SayaAnakBangsa Malaysia(SABM) Sembang-sembangForum SistersinIslam(SIS) SolidaritiMahasiswaMala ysia (SMM) SoutheastAsianCentrefor e-Media StudentsReserveUnit(SERU) SuaraRakyatMalaysia(Suaram) TamilFoundationMalaysiaTenaganita UniversityMalayaAssociatio n ofNewYouth(UMANY) WomensAidOrganisation (WAO) WomeninDisabilityAssociati on WomenInstituteforResearch DevelopmentandAdvancement (WIRDA) WritersAlliancefo rMedia Independence(WAMI) YouthforChange(Y4C)

Two large street demonstrations were held priorto the 2008 general elections: the Bersih rally onNov 10, 2007 and Hindu Rights Action Force, orHindra, rally on Nov 25, 2007.

In act, less than two weeks beore the Bersihrally, 2,000 lawyers and members o the publichad marched to Putrajaya due to the releaseo the VK Lingam videos that demonstratedmeddling in a supposedly independent judiciary.

To some degree, the rallies demonstrated thepeoples rustration against the government and,in hindsight, oretold the political tsunami in thegeneral election on March 3, 2008.

Bersih 2.0 steering committee member MariaChin Abdullah attended the Bersih rally with aew riends.

Im proud to be part o the rally as it reallyshowed the will o the people, she said in anemail interview.

The organisers had targeted 10,000 peoplebut Malaysiakini estimated around 40,000 peopleturned up to march with each other to demandor clean and air elections.

However, the peaceul demonstrators weregreeted with tear gas and water-cannon rom thepolice orce.

Then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah AhmadBadawis warning to citizens against taking partin the illegal gathering and police roadblocksailed to prevent determined citizens rom joiningthe march.

Mohammad Khairie wrote in We walkedunited in hope that he did not believe the rallywould change anything but he attended the rallybecause he believed it was the right thing to do.

The streets were ooded with what has beentermed the yellow wave as people poured inrom all over the country to join a protest againstwhat they believe was an insult to democracy.We demand a ree and air election, heartschanted and banners read, he described in hisarticle published in March 8: The day Malaysiawoke up.

He thinks the demonstrators had turned upto show solidarity and to assure each other thatthey were not alone in thinking that the electoralprocess was awed and needed reorm.

Bersihs predecessor, the Joint ActionCommittee or Electoral Reorm, was ormed inJuly 2005. Then, it comprised opposition politicalparties who have said they suered injustice dueto a awed electoral process.

In November 2006, Bersih was born whencivil societies joined the political parties in theirfght or air elections. The coalition was ofciallylaunched in Parliament, and the frst Bersih rallywas successully organised one year later.

More than two years ater the March 2008political tsunami, Bersih was re-launched asBersih 2.0 and this time the coalition is made up

entirely o non-political, civil society groups.Bersih 2.0 will continue the quest or airand clean elections and it has been organisingactivities around the country, including in Penang,Terengganu and Sarawak.

Its steering committee member Maria saidthey are in the midst o setting up a complaintsection at their website (www.bersih.org) so thatthe public can alert them o any discrepancies ordiscriminatory practices during elections.

They have also linked up with Sarawak non-governmental organisations recently to documentelectoral violations that have happened in thestate, she said.

In addition, voters education programmesto make them aware about gerrymandering indelimitation exercises will run rom February tillJuly this year.

We need help to organise our voter educationprogrammes on delineation, on how to do visualand written documentation o electoral violations,to write short papers on electoral issues, and tofnd creative ways o presenting the demands oBersih 2.0 online and oine, she said.

Those interested to volunteer with Bersih 2.0are urged to join a group called Friends o Bersih2.0 at a meeting on Jan 23 rom 3pm to 6pm atMBPJ Building, Jalan Yong Shook Lin, PetalingJaya.

Theyoung muststart takingownership ofour politicalprocess. Iftheyre notinterestedto votebecause theydont thinktheir votescan make adifference,then wevefailed.

list of orGanisations in bersih 2.0

Bersih 2.0to EmpowerVoters

We believe the principles have beenbreached in the past. For example, there arecases where a constituency crosses theboundaries o two local authorities, makingit difcult or the assemblyperson to servicethe constituency, she said. In addition, eachconstituency should have an equal numbero voters, notwithstanding geographicalreasons.

Now we have cases where parliamen-tary constituency like Kapar has more than112,000 voters, but [a small seat like] Pu-trajaya only has slightly over 6,600.

As a result, your vote weighs a lot less iyoure voting in Kapar. Ambiga explained,adding that ideally each vote should havethe same weight. For certain, it is not easyto draw constituency boundaries so thateach has an equal number o voters, but thedierence should not be so wide.

Such situations must been minimisedas ar as possible. Tats why we want tohighlight these problems to the public sothey can eedback to the EC during there-delineation exercise, said Ambiga.

Te EC must publish a notice when theywant to redraw the boundaries and allowor public objections within a month o thenotices publication. Ambiga said the EC isduty-bound under the Federal Constitutionto hold an enquiry i a state government,local authority, or a group o 100 people ormore object to the redrawn boundaries.

Ultimately the EC will decide whetherto take into account the publics eedback,but the public can make a uss i they do notlisten to reasonable views. Its importantor the public to act as watchdog so that theEC cannot make changes to boundaries thatwill benet certain political parties, Am-biga adds.

Bersih 2.0 is expected to publish a de-limitation report in February and later kickstart the voter education programme inSelangor beore extending it to other states.

Te coalition is also highlighting otherelectoral issues including lowering the vot-ing age rom 21 to 18, and automatic voterregistration at age 18. Ambiga said neigh-bouring countries like Tailand, Indonesiaand even Myanmar have implemented bothmeasures.Currently, there are more than

Thecoalition is alsohighlighting otherother electoralissues includinglowering thevoting age from21 to 18, andautomatic voterregistration atage 18.

our million unregistered eligible voters inMalaysia.

We cant orce people to vote, but weshould at least make the registration processeasy or them. Weve received complaints

about delays in getting onto the electoralroll aer registration, automatic voter reg-istration will eliminate these problems,Ambiga argues.

Bersih 2.0 is also willing to work withpolitical parties rom both side o the divideon electoral reorms. Weve invited BNpoliticians to our events but they didntcome. But we still hope to work togetherwith them, she said. Tere are plans or ameeting with Members o Parliament at thenext parliamentary sitting.

Bersih 2.0 is also using social media tospread their message and reach out to youngpeople.

Te young must start taking ownershipo our political process. I theyre not inter-ested to vote because they dont think theirvotes can make a dierence, then weveailed, she said.

Ambiga


13/23

views14 JANUARY 14 16, 2011

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!

The Curious Case

of the State SecretaryW

hat are the issues andunderlying problems with thisappointment o Khusrin as

Selangor state secretary? Merah Kuning,via email.

I you have been ollowing the ONLYblawg you would know the answer by now.LoyarBurok.com was the rst to bring you theaccurate legal analysis o this crazy civil serviceappointment. No political rhetoric, no mess,no uss. Tats why you should become a Lo-yarBurokker and help Lord Bobo dominatethe world.

Basically, there are three views:1. Te Federal Government, the Public

Services Commission (PSC) and the Sultano Selangor think that the PSC (i.e. ederallevel) is empowered to appoint the StateSecretary (SS) and impose him on the Stateo Selangor. Tey say that in 1993 the powerto appoint was taken away rom the Sultan onthe advice o the Menteri Besar and given toan appropriate Service Commission. Teytake this Service Commission to mean thePSC.

2. Te Selangor Menteri Besar (MB) andhis Executive Council disagree. Tey thinkthat while PSC may appoint (or or a moretechnical term although PSC does not say it,second), the appointment is only valid i itis approved by the MB, or at least aer con-sultation with him.

Te MB now wants to amend the SelangorState Constitution to restore the power oappointment to the Sultan on the advice othe MB.

3. On LoyarBurok, you will notice posts(i you have not read them, shame on you stop here, read these posts beore continuing)that have excavated the state constitution andthe ederal constitution to say that or Selan-gor, the PSC has no power to appoint the SS.

Both the Constitutions read together saythat it is the Selangor State Service Commis-sion (State Commission) which is to appointthe SS. Since the State Commission has notappointed the SS, an appointment ought tobe made.

Khusrin is thereore a trespasser or pre-tender SS as termed by the Peoples Judge,

NH Chan.I the third view is correct, then Khusrinhas no right to enter the oce o the StateSecretariat. He should be stopped, like howthe Pakatan Rakyat Perak ADUNs werestopped rom entering the Perak State As-sembly at the height o the Perak Crisis. Orhave you orgotten? Its alright i you have goand get Perak: A State O Crisis at Gerak-Budaya, MPH, imes, Popular and Borders.

As or the underlying problems? Well.You wake up everyday and read biased, inac-curate and sensational news about the issue.You see, politicians and the palace becomeexcitable because the media shines on them.

But lie in your kampung, school, pasarmalam and restaurant goes on as i nothinghas happened. Are you aected? Do you ask

why eoh Beng Hock died?hats probably more important. hechances o you being arrested by law enorce-ment ocials are higher than bumping intoany work o any State Governments SS.

Dear Lord Bobo, is there a diferencebetween living and being? What do

you live or, immortal one? @plgan, viaTwitter.

Living and being are two dierent sides othe coin.

Being is mere existence, brought upon usunwillingly and by sheer chance that our twoparents had met and copulated, giving rise toa creation o a new entity which is our veryunique DNA, and eventual psychologicalidentity.

One eats, one desires, one licks popsicles,one poops, one sleeps. One exists not o ourchoosing, but rom random chance. We exist,breathing, aware, and with the ability to react

to the stimulus rom our surroundings, be itsight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.Living, on the other hand is the pleasure

in existing awareness. It is a higher level oexploration o the existence we were bornwith. With the urther application o what isin our brains, we choose how we live.

We choose what to think. We choose how

to behave. We choose to pursue activitieswhich bring us much pleasure. Tose who lovewhat they do work not a day in their lie, andsuch is the pleasure in living!

Lord Bobo likes to scratch its head, bafedby the stimulus generated by the political,judicial and administrative authorities in thenation. Unlike other simians, His SupremeEminenceness chooses to spread theluuuuuuuuurve movement ar and wide toshare our joy and delight in things we areorbidden to discuss and engage.

You want to learn how to live to trulylive? Become a LoyarBurokker. Your lie will

never be the same again.I am a Malaysian studying overseas. CanI vote in the next General Elections? Iso, how? Make It Count, via email.

Any Malaysian student overseas who is over21 is entitled to register as an absent voter,which means that he or she will automati-

cally be sent a postal ballot at the next Gen-eral Election. Te same also applies to Sabah/Sarawak students in the Peninsula, and viceversa, as well as the spouse o any eligiblestudent.

Be aware that because o the registrationtimetable, any students registered now mayonly be able to vote provided that the Gen-eral Election is aer the rst quarter o 2011.

According to the Election Commission,Malaysians students overseas should contactthe local Malaysian embassy or high commis-sion to register. However, when you contactthe embassy, be prepared to be told to go awayand contact the Election Commission becausethe embassy is unable to register you.

In particular, the High Commissions inLondon and Canberra have claimed that theyhave been asking the Election Commissionor registration orms (in the case o Can-berra, since beore the 2008 elections), buthave received nothing. Some students havereported that they have been able to registeri they brought their own orms, which cancurrently only be obtained rom Malaysia.

I you ace this problem, please contact theRegistration section o the Election Commis-sion at [email protected] to complain.

We would also appreciate it i you coulddescribe your experiences to MyOverseasVote([email protected]) or the beneto other Malaysian students.

In addition to encouraging Malaysiansstudents overseas to register to vote, MyOver-seasVote (www.myoverseasvote.org) is alsoplanning to take the Election Commission tocourt to ght or the right o Malaysians work-ing overseas to vote rom abroad. Contact

them or more inormation, or i you wish tosupport the campaign.

Although Lord Bobo already knows yourquestion beore you even knew you had aquestion, as a practical display o your true de-sire to have your query answered, His SupremeEminenceness has graciously allowed you tocommunicate your questions by emailing [email protected],

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

tweeting your questions by mentioning@LoyarBurok and using the hashtag#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!

Khusrin: Controversy surrounds his appointment.


14/23


A hawker complaining to Ean Yong during his visit on Monday.

Mixed reaction to relocationBy Basil Foo

seri kembangan: helanned relocation o the biggestnd oldest night market here, atalan Pasar, drew mixed reactionrom the over 200 hawkers who aremostly unlicensed.While some o the hawkers wel-omed the Subang Jaya MunicipalCouncils (MPSJ) move to relocatehem to a more conducive site to-ether with an oer o a licence,thers are apprehensive.I dont want to move. No one

wants to move, said Alice eh, whoas been selling prawn noodles athe night market or the past veears. She and many other hawkers were hesitant because they eared arop in business at the new location.However, Wong Poi Sei, whouns an accessories stall, thinks themove would not have much o anmpact as the new location at theeri Kembangan commercial area isust over 700 metres rom the cur-ent site.It is not so troublesome or meo move my stall because my homenearby, said Wong, who has beenworking at the night market ormore than two years.Serdang MP eo Nie Ching said

By Alvin YapsHaH aLam: Te inaugural StudentsParliament which met on uesday passed amotion to set up a cooperative to help poorundergraduates in the country.You could say that the proposal was unani-

mously accepted, said Dineshweri Pushpanad-an, the assemblys media ocer.A total o 194 out o 200 undergraduates who

attended the National Students Assembly saidaye to the proposal.Te Students Parliament, which was held at

the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in KualaLumpur, brought together undergraduates rom

both public and private higher institutions todebate as well as to vote on campus issues.Te oor was open to anyone to bring up

any issue, and one student said we had to takethe initiative to run our own cooperative in orderto provide services to ellow students, saidDineshweri.Dineshweri, who is pursuing her degree in

Education at Universiti Malaya, said studentsalso spoke on the need to gain nancial inde-pendence. A majority, by a show o hands, votedthat the issue o being nancially independentwas important i we wanted to run our ownventures.She said the undergraduates saw the advan-

tages o setting up a students cooperative, sayingthat one pressing issue was the lack o bursariesor nancial assistance to poorer students.

Te students said that they knew o riendswho would benet rom micro-loans to purchasebooks, or even to sustain themselves when theydont have enough money, said Dineshweri.She said the next Students Parliament

which has not been decided yet will see par-ticipants debating the mechanics o setting upthe cooperative.

By Rahmah Ghazali

subang jaya: Te contro-ersy takeover o Subang Ria parkominated the Wangsa Baiduriown hall dialogue with Subang as-emblywperson Hannah Yeoh onWednesday, but already, some resi-ents eel they are ghting a losingattle.

A resident rom Summer Villa,eoh Weng heong, said some-hing has truly gone wrong, sayinghat raising unds to match thetates oer to acquire the 72.63 acreand rom Sime Darby Property Bhdwas tantamount to nothingness.Something is very shy here...omething has gone wrong some-where. Our park may be lost andaising money to get back the landould be a waste o time, said the7-year-old who has been livinghere or the past 10 years.However, Yeoh said residentshould use up all avenues throughhe action committee to derive anquitable value or acquisition over

he next eight months, as given byMenteri Besar an Sri Khalid Ibra-im.However, i you suspect any cor-upt practice, lodge a complaintwith the Malaysian Anti-Corrup-ion Commission (MACC), sheold the 150 residents who attended

Undergrads

Parliament

says aye to co-op

Subang

Ria dispute

dominatesdialogue

Yeoh speaking to residents at the dialogue

on Monday the new site had roomor 300 stalls and the owners areexpected to move afer Chinese NewYear. eo also handed out relocationorms to the hawkers.Tere are currently 200 hawkers

in the current night market so thereshould be sucient place at the newlocation, said eo.

She said over 90% o the hawkerswere illegal but licences would beissued to them afer they move.he relocation o the night

market, which has been operating atthe site or over 30 years, was due tomassive trac jams every Mondaynight, made worse by haphazardparking.

As you can see there are insu-cient parking lots here and becauseo the double parking, the main roadis congested, eo explained.When asked to respond to the

hawkers worries o a drop in cus-tomers, eo said, For the Serdangolk, i they want to go to pasarmalam, the other location will be the

nearest one as well.Selangor ewxecutive councillor

Ean Yong Hian Wah, who visitedthe market on Monday night, said the date or the relocation will beannounced afer Chinese New Yearbut the morning market here will beallowed to remain at the same loca-tion.

the dialogue.Another resident, Neoh Ken

Chai, argued that the residents

should give Sime Darby achance to see what they had tooer.Tat is Sime Darbys land.

Unlike the majority o peoplehere who are adamant in pre-serving the park, to be air toSime Darby, we should see whatthey can do or us here, he said.he 60-year-old college

teacher also said that the resi-dents would benet rom thedevelopment project, as SimeDarby might build another ac-cess road to their township.Besides, they could also

clean up the Subang lake thathas been dirty and smelly or the

past 30 to 40 years, a job whichMajlis Perbandaran Subang Jayahas ailed to do. We should allagree to this (development pro-ject), said Neoh, much to dis-approval rom residents.he debate became more

intense, prompting Yeoh to end

the topic as this was a sensitiveissue.Residents have been against

any development in the parkwhich they said was sold tothem as part o their townshipand neighbourhood while SimeDarby applied to develop hous-ing units in the site.Earlier, resident Richard

Chang complained about clean-liness o eateries in Subang Jaya,where cockroaches and rats havebecome unwanted requentvisitors.Tere is a coeeshop which

does not even have a place towash your hands and the toiletsare horrible. A mamak restau-rant provides a better place towash your hands, and their

toilets are always clean, saidChang.He also complained about

potholes and damaged roadsleading to the Summit complex.However, according to MPSJ

councillor Dr Loi Kheng Min,who was present at the dia-

logue, the Health Departmenthad done regular spot-checks onthe eateries.

He also told the residentsthat the council had declaredwar on rats and cockroaches inSS15, where they have revokedsome eateries licences andclosed them down or morethan a week.Among other issues that were

addressed were building an-other access road to the town-ship as the current one couldnot cope with the increasingtrac, and how to tackle tracjams in the area.Wangsa Baiduri comprises

485 town houses, 10 bungalows,96 units o condominiums inSpring Villa, 122 units o con-

dominiums in Summer Villa,and 396 units o condominiumsin the Boulevard.Also present at the dialogue

were Kelana Jaya Member oParliament Loh Gwo Burne andSubang police station chie Su-laiman Baputty.


15/23


MPKJ to

solve SaujanaImpianfat woesBy Rahmah Ghazali

KAJANG: Saujana Impian at residentscan nally breathe a sigh o relie aer theKajang Municipal Council (MPKJ) vowed

to resolve problems which have been plagu-ing them or months.Secretary to the ats Joint Management

Body (JMB), Rozman Mat Hazin, said thathe had been seeking answers rom MPKJregarding their woes rom non-workingstreet lights to a damaged access road dueto a nearby construction since last August.But their problems should come to an

end soon as MPKJ, together with Kajangassemblyman Lee Kim Sin met the resi-dents body to discuss the problems lastFriday.Aer more than one hour o discussion,

all the parties reached a consensus to holda meeting with JMB and the residents toaddress the issues.On behal o JMB, I would l ike to

thank MPKJ and Lee or their cooperationto help solve the residents problems, hesaid.However, there was a slight disagree-

ment between Rozman and MPKJ duringthe discussion, as the ormer argued thatthe non-working street lights should allunder the responsibility o MPKJ.

aking a dierent stand, Lee said all themaintenance involving the at, which in-cludes street lights within its compoundshould instead all under JMBs purview.But there was an obstacle or JMB to

carry out their duties as they only managedto collect less than 20 per cent o mainte-nance ees per month rom each at ownersince it took over the ofce in 2009, arguedRozman.In view o this, Lim said he would pro-

pose to the state government to reduce themaintenance ees that have become a con-stant burden to the low-cost at owners.It is understood that the residents have

to pay RM40 a month in maintenance eesand RM120 in assessment tax per year.With this amount, the residents pay

more compared to landed property ownerswhich average around RM200 per year inassessment tax without having to pay anymaintenance ees, said Lim.Lim also said that Commission o Build-

ing (COB) under MPKJ and himsel wouldurge the constructors at the nearby con-struction site to repair the access road andensure that it is in good condition.He also said he would monitor the situ-

ation to ensure that the constructors do notdump their waste in the residential com-pound.

By Choong Loo Wah

KLANG: Aer waiting or almost threedecades, hawkers at aman Eng Annsmorning market nally got their businesslicences.Sungai Pinang assemblyperson Datuk

eng Chang Kim said previously only 24out o the 174 vendors were licensed totrade at the morning market.MPK (Klang Municipal Council) had

awarded licences to all 174 hawkers on Jan1, said eng, dispell ing rumours that thelocal council was planning to close downthe morning market.He said the vendors were issued an

identication card with their names andstall numbers printed on it, so they neednot worry that their space will be occupiedby others.In addition, vendors only have to pay

RM4 or daily rental and only or the daysthey are operating instead o the latRM1,000 every three months previously.he move is expected to reduce the

nancial burden o the hawkers.He added that MPK would crack down

hard on oreign hawkers at the morningmarket and advised hawkers against rentingtheir stalls to outsiders.eng, who is also the State Assembly

Speaker, visited the morning market lastSaturday with MPK enorcement directorAndry Arman Masrom and licensing

director Azhar Samsudin.Meanwhile, Azhar said MPK will issuetemporary licences or vendors to sellChinese New Year goods two weeks beorethe estival. He reminded hawkers that theapplication deadline is today and thelicensing ee is RM5 per day.As or shops wishing to sell Chinese

New Year goods on the ve-oot way, theee is RM10 per day.

Joy forEng Annhawkers

MASUM invitesMuslim travellersBy Yasleh Hani Mat Yassin

SHAH ALAM:MASUM (MAA In-ternational Fair Selangor Umrah & Muslimravel) is back or the ourth time. Te airwill eature great bargains, exciting Umrahand Muslim ravel Packages and out o thisworld destinations.MASUM is one o the travel airs con-

selangor times jan 14-16, 2011 / issue 8

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