Khalid: Water rationing may end next week

Khalid: Water rationing may end next week

Khalid: Water rationing may end next week

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:01 AM PDT

26 April 2014| last updated at 12:28AM
By EUNICE AU AND NURADILLA NOORAZAM | news@nst.com.my

KLANG: SELANGOR may discontinue water rationing next week if the  water level at the Sungai Selangor dam improves further, said Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

He said there had been positive development at the dam following the diversion of water from mining pools to it.

"Once when we manage to extract 700 to 800 million litres per day (MLD) (through pumping) and the water level at the dam continues to increase, the water rationing will be stopped.

"We can declare an end to the rationing by end of next week if this condition continues," he said after a meeting with Selangor residents at Dewan Hamzah at Klang Municipal Council here yesterday.

Khalid reassured the public that water from the mining pools was safe for consumption.

"We have professors who had told us that it can be done. We have carried out tests on the water (from the mining pools)," he said in response to a question on the water quality.

He said the raw water from the mining pools would be tested before being treated.

Khalid said after the treatment, the water was tested again before it was channelled to the public.

State Youth, Sports, Infrastructure and Public Amenities Committee chairman Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, while urging Selangor residents not to be over excited with the latest development, said the steady downpour for the past week had also increased the water levels at six of the seven dams in the state.

"As of yesterday, the water level at the Sungai Selangor dam stood at 39.71 per cent, an increase of 1.18 per cent from its reading last Saturday," he said, adding that it was good progress because of the combination of natural rainfall and cloud seeding efforts by the state government and Malaysian Meteorological Department.

He said the water level at the Tasik Subang dam was at 87 per cent, followed by the Semenyih dam (75.18 per cent), Sungai Tinggi dam (62.16 per cent), Klang Gates dam (56.77 per cent) and Langat dam (52.97 per cent) as of yesterday.

Yunus said the pumping works to extract water from an old mining pool to Sungai Selangor had been ongoing for the past month.

"There are nine old mining pools in the state, but the state government is only extracting water from the Hang Tuah pool in Bestari Jaya.

"Four pumps with the capacity of 50 MLD each are used to pump water to the dam.

"The state government will receive another five pumps which will help increase the dam's water level," he said, adding that the state needed 20 pumps to effectively channel water from the remaining pools.

Last Wednesday, the state government had announced a RM10 million allocation to build infrastructure for water extraction works from the mining pools.

In a separate issue, Khalid said DAP Bukit Jelutong member of parliament Jeff Ooi had no authority to ask him to resign.

Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim says tests are conducted on the raw water from the mining pools before and after it has been treated to ensure it is safe for consumption. Pic by Faiz Anuar

PM: MaGIC to help entrepreneurs live their dreams

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

He said it was vital to churn out young entrepreneurs in the country, as it would contribute to the nation's growth.

"It is about supporting dreams by turning them into successful ventures. I believe in our young people. I believe in their passion, energy and creativity.

"Therefore, the government has approved RM50 million to establish the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC)," he said during his visit to the MaGIC building here last night.

Present were Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan and the ministry's secretary-general, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who is also MaGIC chairman.

Describing MaGIC as the beginning of a success story by providing an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs would excel, Najib said he had faith in MaGIC to turn the nation into an entrepreneurial one.

He said Malaysia needed entrepreneurs who were tech-savvy and had ideas that could be turned into successful businesses, adding that he was proud to have Cheryl Yeoh, a Malaysian technopreneur in the Silicon Valley, on board as MaGIC chief executive officer.

"We need more individuals like Yeoh to contribute their expertise to boost Malaysia's position on the global stage."

MaGIC is designed as a one-stop hub for entrepreneurs, providing every facility needed by them: from obtaining funding from banks and providing incubators for venture capitalists developing start-ups to improving products and services.

The centre will help with intellectual property registrations and offer facilities for training, coaching and mentoring.

Later, Najib witnessed the signing of five collaborative agreements to foster and develop the entrepreneur ecosystem in the country.

The signings were between MaGIC and Stanford University, as well as UP Global; Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3); Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP) and Elixir Capital; and, MAVCAP and Venture Partner of 500 Startups. 

Najib said the agreements were a precursor to the launch of MaGIC by United States President Barack Obama tomorrow.

Earlier in Serdang, Najib said the country was well on its way to becoming the world's Malay language hub, given the overwhelming response from participants from other countries in the 8th Pidato Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu Piala Perdana Menteri 2014 (PABM).

The competition, held at Universiti Putra Malaysia, saw participation from 72 countries, compared with only 24 when it was first introduced in 2007.

"PABM has attracted the interest of many participants from around the world, particularly from international students studying in Malaysia.

"It is hoped with this category, it can enliven the contest and indirectly (make) Malaysia (recognised) as the world's hub for the Malay language," said Najib.

Present were Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, and Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

Eight finalists from Malaysia, United States, Yamen, Thailand, China, Australia, Iraq and Indonesia competed against each other in the 'Alam Melayu' and International categories for the Prime Minister's trophy.

 Themed "The Internationalization of the Malay language" and the only Malay debate competition to be held at the international level, the event had attracted many Malay speakers from abroad.

 "The competition is not merely to find out who is the most eloquent speaker, but is more as platform for us to pick up the essence of language and the Malay race itself to remain relevant in the current trend of globalisation.

 "Participants also have the opportunity to explore the customs of the Malay traditions, which is adopted as the fifth largest in the world, with over 300 million speakers.

 "Therefore, the government, through the Ministry of Education, will be offering International Scholarships to all three winners from the international category after they meet academic requirements in public higher education institutions," said Najib.

 Najib also stressed on the importance of the Malay language as the medium of unity among Malaysians, adding that the government would continue to ensure Malay language as the country's primary language.

 "Although there is space for English and other languages in our linguistic landscape, the Malay language will always remain as the official medium of education in this country.

 "That is why in 2011, the Cabinet approved the action plan for upholding Bahasa Melayu as the language of science in institutions of higher learning, where the primary focus to put Malay language at par with other languages globally.

 "Although at present the Malay language has not reached the level of top international languages as English, it has its own its uniqueness in the development of the world's major languages," said Najib.

 Sally Jane Hill from Australia emerged as the winner for the International category while Selamat Nur Anom from Indonesia was the winner for the 'Alam Melayu' category. Both received USD7,000 (RM23,000), a trophy and a certificate each.

 Malaysian Aiman Ariff Abdul Azij and Chen Nan from China were runner-ups for the 'Alam Melayu' and international categories while Aiman Saleh Hasn Alammari from Yamen and Mahamat Yusoh from Thailand secured the third place for the international and 'Alam Melayu' categories, respectively.

'Good ties made search possible'

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

26 April 2014| last updated at 12:43AM
By MUSTAPHA KAMIL AND AZURA ABAS | news@nst.com.my

 PUTRAJAYA: IT is Malaysia's good rapport with many nations that  triggered the multinational cooperation  seen in the  search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said it was out of respect for Malaysia that the 26 nations involved in the search came forward to offer help.

"Despite differences in political ideologies and systems of governance, it is unprecedented for 26 nations to come to the fore, trying to locate the plane. Before, one cannot imagine a surveillance aircraft from China landing at an Australian airbase.

"But, because of (Malaysia's) good bilateral relations with these countries... they came forward," he said at a press briefing ahead of United States President Barack Obama's three-day visit to Malaysia, which starts today.

The Beijing-bound jetliner, with 239 passengers and crew on board, fell off the radar on March 8. The search for the aircraft is ongoing off the coast of Perth, Australia.

Anifah, in response to reports, especially from the foreign media, that criticised Malaysia's handling of the incident, said: "If anybody is to criticise, why is it that even until now, nobody can find the plane?

"It is an unprecedented incident. Malaysia has never experienced this before, neither has the global aviation industry. Finding the plane is a concerted effort. Malaysia should not be blamed. All the negative reports, as far as I am concerned, are baseless."

The cabinet had, on Wednesday, given its nod to set up a high-profile International Investigation Team to probe into MH370's disappearance and determine the cause behind it.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said the team would look into several aspects, mainly the aircraft's airworthiness, operational aspects, and medical and human factors.

Hoping for presidential reply

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

26 April 2014| last updated at 12:36AM

Ng, 33, who is Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) senior vice-president and senior director of Asli's Centre for Public Policy Studies, hoped that one of her five questions for the American president would be selected at a townhall sesion at Universiti Malaya.

Saying that Obama had become an inspiration to the world after becoming the first African-American US president, she had asked whether women and minorities in this part of the world could aspire to higher office, become leaders or bring changes to political systems.

She also asked on Obama's thoughts on Asia if tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine flared up. Bernama


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Gripped by 'Obama fever'

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

26 April 2014| last updated at 12:36AM

Red Carpet@i-City, the country's homegrown interactive wax museum in Shah Alam, had just reopened with a life-sized exhibit of Barack Obama.

For Nason Ponniah, a nickel pin art artist, he had completed a picture of Obama with his wife, Michele, and two children, Malia and Sasha, made of 90,000 pins.

Nason, who used 300,000 pins for an artwork picturing a scene of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak meeting Obama in Washington DC several years ago, said he hoped to present the portrait to the US president during his visit.

When Obama won the presidential election in 2008, he made a portrait of the president using 35,000 pins and sent it to the White House. But Nason, 60, was unsure whether Obama actually received it. Bernama

MCA: Pas hudud plan will cause confusion, disunity

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

26 April 2014| last updated at 12:30AM
By SULAIMAN JAAFAR AND MUHAMAD SYAKIR ABDUL WAHAB | news@nst.com.my

KOTA BARU: MCA opposes Pas' plan to impose hudud in Kelantan as it might cause more confusion and disunity among the people in the country.

Its president, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, said there were already many problems caused by two different marriage and divorce laws in the country which have not been resolved yet.

"We are not against Islam and respect it as the official religion. However, implementation of hudud must also take into account sensitivities of the various races."

Liow was speaking to reporters after opening the new RM2 million Kelantan MCA building in Lembah Sireh here yesterday.

He said the country already had a good legal system which was fair to all citizens and there was no need for a new one which would only cause conflicts and create issues.

"We want Pas to retract its decision to table a private bill in Parliament, and if it declines to do so, DAP (as a member of the Pakatan pact) must advise them to do so as the action is contrary to the spirit of the country's Constitution."

Liow said the question of MCA and non-Muslim non-governmental organisations not understanding the matter did not arise as they were very clear about it.

"It is the responsibility of DAP to tell Pas to withdraw its decision to table the bill as it had prior to the general election gone to non-Muslim areas and confided that there was no need to worry about Pas as it had no intention of creating an Islamic country."

In George Town, Gerakan also called on DAP to stop Pas from tabling the private member's bill on the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

Gerakan legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh said, by tabling the bill, Pas could also be seen as pitting Muslims against non-Muslims.

"The Kelantan Pas government's move is politically-motivated. The DAP should also take the blame for the Kelantan Pas' move."

Baljit said DAP managed to convince many non-Muslims in the last general election and Pas won 21 parliamentary seats.

"DAP got non-Muslims to vote for Pas but now we want to know what is it going to do to stop Kelantan Pas on hudud."

Baljit said there were many issues that must be considered and that the people, including Muslims, needed to understand what hudud was all about.

He feared that a vote in favour of hudud could result in the amendment of several acts, including the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

"For the Syariah Criminal Code Enactment (II) 1993 for hudud law to take effect in Kelantan, the existing criminal laws in the country must be amended to enable the Muslim law to be used on Muslim criminals.

"As such, the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code would be set aside to allow hudud law to take effect on a Muslim."

He urged all Barisan Nasional members of parliament to uphold the Federal Constitution and oppose the Kelantan government's move.

"A stand against hudud should not be construed as non-Islamic. We want to place national interest above party interest when the private members bill is tabled in Parliament.

"We hope that the rest of the opposition parliamentarians, including Muslim parliamentarians, from PKR and DAP will vote against it."

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai at the opening of the new RM2 million Kelantan MCA building in Lembah Sireh, Kota Baru, yesterday. Pic by Fathil Asri