New Straits Times articles from August 2009, page 5

New Straits Times archives from August 2009

Let's be the change we want.
August 28, 2009... Byline: S. Gopi I READ with interest the Malaysians Unite for Road Safety (Mufors) initiative announced recently by PLUS Expressway Bhd. Of particular interest was the announcement by the managing director of PLUS that "Mufors is a community...

How real estate can attract 'sticky money'.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Kenny Loh INVESTORS in Asia Pacific can now access some of the region's real estate market performance indicators for evaluating accurate investment decisions thanks to Investment Property Databank (IPD), a global business information...

MM2H offers few benefits.
August 28, 2009... Byline: J.H. I WAS interested to read Datuk Kee Phaik Cheen's comments regarding the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme and its potential in attracting Europeans and others to settle in Malaysia ("Tourism Malaysia to leverage on World...

Girl, 11, dies in crash.
August 28, 2009... RAWANG: An 11-year-old girl was killed while eight others were injured, one seriously, in a pile-up involving a lorry and five vehicles on the North-South Expressway early yesterday. Chai Lee Mei was killed on the spot in the 1.30am crash...

Unity among members is his primary goal.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Suganthi Suparmaniam HE is known as MIC chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu's blue-eyed boy and is said to be one to watch in years to come. Party information head, Datuk M. Saravanan, who has the party supremo's blessings in the race for...

Make sure we don't lose our Malaysian identity.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Thilaga Suparmaniam THERE was an Indian-based hip hop album launch last Tuesday at the Mid Valley Megamall. It's shocking to see how much of this hip hop culture has seeped into the Malaysian lifestyle. Children from primary schools...

Chua goes on holiday.
August 28, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was sacked as MCA deputy president, has gone on a break, giving no indication whether he will appeal against the decision. "My family and friends will be going away for a short holiday. I need to...

Improved facilities will lure more hill visitors.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Michael Ng OVER the weekend, two of my friends and I went for a mountain-climbing expedition to Gunung Datuk Rembau, which is about 30 minutes' drive from Seremban, using the Seremban-Tampin trunk road. The trek to the summit is well...

Single mums touched by PM's kind gesture.
August 28, 2009... Byline: M. Hamzah Jamaludin PEKAN: Sharifah Rohana Syed Hashim and Rabiah Long live next door to each other in Peramu Jaya 2. And since both their husbands died in the same year, they have given each other moral support. With a pension of...

24-hour RTD ops for Raya.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Hamidah Atan; Alang Bendahara PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department will conduct operations round the clock from Sept 6 to 29 for Hari Raya. About 2,000 RTD officers along with police and Puspakom personnel will be stationed at...

The billion-dollar man.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Aida Ahmad MALAYSIA-BASED Marco Robinson has come a long way since he used to walk home in the rain after yet another unsuccessful day as a salesman in Manchester, England. Aged 20 then, he survived on pea sandwiches for months on...

When the priority is on the eating.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Jeremiah Tan WHEN courses are organised by government agencies, the eating part seems to take priority. First, the morning breakfast, then tea break at 10am, lunch at 12.30pm, afternoon tea at 4pm, dinner at 7pm and finally supper at...

KL office market looking bright.
August 28, 2009... Byline: S.C. Cheah WHY are there so many new Grade A office towers being built in Kuala Lumpur? With world economies still trying to recover from the financial tsunami and multinational companies (MNCs) in many countries still downsizing or...

'Muddy river mouth' has come of age.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Andy Davison THE transformation of Kuala Lumpur has been dramatic over the last 20 to 30 years. When I first visited Malaysia in the early 1970s, I was delighted by the city's almost village-like feel. It moved at a very different...

Black Eyed Peas show limited to non-Muslims.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Dennis Chua KUALA LUMPUR: Three-time Grammy winners the Black Eyed Peas will perform at Sunway Lagoon on Sept 25, at an Arthur's Day party. But in compliance with directives from the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry,...

Optimistic in face of evacuation.
August 28, 2009... GEORGE TOWN: The residents of Kampung Lorong Buah Pala have until Monday to vacate their homes and leave the land they have occupied in Bukit Gelugor for almost two centuries. But having nowhere to go, the residents say they will stay put and...

Menara TA One to get RM20m makeover.
August 28, 2009... PROPERTY and financial services group TA Enterprise Bhd (TAE) will give its 34-storey Menara TA One headquarters in Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur, a RM20 million facelift in a move to increase rental and yield. Managing director and chief...

Dull days at National Museum.
August 28, 2009... Byline: S. Sundareson THESE days, we do not hear much about the activities of our National Museum. During the stewardship of Datuk Shahrum Yub (1970s-1990s), the museum placed emphasis on ancient artefacts and contemporary art. The...

No doubting BM's relevance.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Dr A.E.A. I FEEL sad reading the letter from TJN of Kuala Lumpur ("It's the teachers who are failing us" - NST, Aug 18) about poor English language proficiency among teachers in Malaysia. The writer presumably had the privilege of...

New clusters to spur ECER and ECER SEZ.
August 28, 2009... PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said five growth components - petroleum, gas and petrochemicals; agriculture; education; manufacturing; and tourism - will be established in the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) to spur growth. ...

No hasty changes in dispensing role.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Eisah A. Rahman I REFER to the letters "Additional cost for patient" and "Get public opinion first" (NST, June 23). The separation of prescribing and dispensing functions between doctors and pharmacists is not something new but has...

Klang wholesale city to have RM1.5b GDV.
August 28, 2009... TSI Holdings Sdn Bhd is developing a wholesale city covering 14.5 acres in Klang, Selangor - the largest in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. It will have a gross development value (GDV) of at least RM1.5 billion when more than 2,000 shops are...

Rules confusing foreign buyers.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Ivy Chang FOREIGNERS wanting to own homes in the country may find the acquisition process confusing. Not only are the criteria different for different applicants, they also differ from state to state. What makes it more...

Keeping our cities spick and span.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Salleh Buang A STUDY by Forbes magazine in 2007 showed 23 of the 25 world's cleanest cities were located north of the Equator while two cities to its south, Auckland and Wellington, were both in New Zealand. Top honour went to...

Gulf Arab investors buy Western real estate.
August 28, 2009... ISLAMIC lender Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is teaming up with Denver-based apartment building owner UDR Inc to buy high income properties in the United States to tap their lower asset prices. KFH said in a statement the joint venture (JV)...

Home grants to be reduced from Oct 1.
August 28, 2009... AUSTRALIA'S generous grant for first-home buyers, as an incentive to boost the economy, will be reduced from A$21,000 (RM61,950) to the normal A$7,000 (RM20,650) come Oct 1, Sydney Morning Herald reported. To get in before the deadline, the...

No short cuts to good hygiene.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Mariam Mokhtar MALAYSIAN schools and National Service camps seem to have an inordinately high number of food poisoning outbreaks ("96 down with food poisoning" - NST, Aug 22). Over the years, I have read of the prevalence of food...

Malton's latest lifestyle offerings.
August 28, 2009... DESPITE the soft market conditions, sales have been stable for Malton Bhd, said executive director for sales and marketing Fong Kin. Among its latest lifestyle offerings is the freehold high-end gated development called The Grove located in...

Luring expats with World Heritage.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Kenny Loh TO lure more foreign retirees to participate in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) Programme, Tourism Malaysia plans to leverage on the heritage listing status of Penang and Malacca city, which has been accorded by United...

MPI has its work cut out.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Zoe Phoon THE level of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the local real estate sector stood, at best, at a miniscule 2.5 per cent of the value of total properties transacted last year. That pales in comparison with a neighbouring...

Paying for the good life.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Lim Lay Ying TO most of us Asians, caring for our parents is a duty as important as caring for our children. This arrangement or understanding is one born out of custom, religion and often, financial necessity. Yet, all too...

iProperty portal revamped.
August 28, 2009... REGULAR iProperty.com surfers will love the property portal's new makeover - contemporary look, wider interface and user-friendlier navigation. One new feature is the Condo Directory, a first-of- its-kind collaborative wiki-style library...

Napic to launch Prism next year.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Chris Prasad DEVELOPERS will be able to electronically submit their data to the Finance Ministry's National Property Information Centre (Napic) when the latter gets its online Property Information System Management (Prism) tool up and...

Nowhere near disabled-friendly.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Sam Wong I AM a disabled person and was attending a meeting at a government department in Putrajaya last week. I drove into a big car park and found there was no vacant slot. Every lot was occupied and there was no bay for orang...

At the crossroads again.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Eileen Ng THE MCA is being buffeted by strong waves. And like the 2004 Boxing Day tidal wave that hit the region and was felt as far away as Sri Lanka, this political tsunami - triggered by the sacking of deputy president Datuk...

'It will strengthen MCA'.
August 28, 2009... PUTRAJAYA: The unanimous decision of the MCA presidential council to sack deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was made in the interests of the party. MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who sits on the council, said the move...

Suspend Ong, say 6 Johor divisions.
August 28, 2009... JOHOR BARU: Six MCA divisions in the state have called for party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to be suspended temporarily and for a review of the presidential council's decision on Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. The six divisions are...

MB: End this infighting.
August 28, 2009... IPOH: Barisan Nasional component parties should reduce internal politicking and instead focus on serving the people. Perak Menteri Besar and state Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the coalition must be united and...

It's to shame offender.
August 28, 2009... Byline: R. Sittamparam KUALA LUMPUR: A religious scholar feels the debate over the order to cane Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno for drinking beer had been overblown considering that the punishment is less severe than a school caning. The...

Senator Ismail dies.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Koi Kye Lee KUALA LUMPUR: Economist Senator Prof Datuk Dr Ismail Md Salleh died yesterday while on a flight from China to Singapore. Ismail, 61, suffered a cardiac arrest on the plane an hour before it was due to arrive at Changi...

Chocolate of a different kind.
August 28, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: They smuggled designer drugs into Malaysia by hiding them in plastic containers which were passed off as powdered chocolate and strawberry flavouring at the Customs checkpoints. However, Bukit Aman was not fooled and a team was...

There was no quarrel, says witness.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Rita Jong; Jennifer Gomez SHAH ALAM: A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officer told the coroner's court that he did not hear or see anyone quarrelling in the toilet the night political aide Teoh Beng Hock was brought in for...

Malaysian elected to UN agency.
August 28, 2009... KOTA KINABALU: A Kadazan from Sabah is the first Malaysian to be elected to a United Nations organisation for indigenous people. Social activist Jannie Lasimbang was chosen to be the chairman-rapporteur of the second session of the United...

Ganesan dismisses Pakatan complaint.
August 28, 2009... IPOH: Perak Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan has brushed aside claims by Pakatan Rakyat that he had infringed Article 36A of the Perak Constitution by failing to give up his job as a lawyer within three months of his appointment. He said he had...

Cockle shells 'help bones heal faster'.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Ili Liyana Mokhtar KUALA LUMPUR: The hardy armour of the kerang (cockle) may help mend the bones of cancer patients and victims of road accidents. Universiti Putra Malaysia head of the Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences,...

M-cycles stripped, dumped into lake.
August 28, 2009... PETALING JAYA: They stole motorcycles and rode them to remote locations before cannibalising them. The remains were then consigned to a watery grave at Tasik Biru in Kundang, Rawang. Yesterday, district police chief Assistant Commissioner...

Kalash should make it four-in-a-row tonight.
August 28, 2009... KALASH can take his winning sequence to four-in-a-row when he takes on five rivals in the S$95,000 (RM230,000) Shin Min Cup for Class 2 sprinters over 1400m (Race 7, 9.35pm) at Kranji tonight. The four-year-old Australian gelding by Exceed...

Cheyenne Dancer in fantastic shape.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Go-Ram DEFENDING champion Cheyenne Dancer and Fantastic Owners, both handicapped in the RM1 million Astro Wah Lai Toi Sprint Trophy for Malaysian Group 1 horses over 1400m in Race 7 on Sunday, were the only two of the five Singapore...

Rajagobal faces acid test in Middle East.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Ajitpal Singh K. RAJAGOBAL will face his sternest test as a coach when he leads the national Under-23 squad against Middle Eastern opponents Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Under-23 team, who are preparing for December's Laos Sea...

Mohd Junid to resign from Penang FA.
August 28, 2009... Byline: K. Kandiah FOOTBALL Association of Penang (FAP) executive director and secretary Datuk Mohd Junid Mohd Noor will resign from both his positions with effect from Monday. Junid, who was appointed secretary by former chief minister and...

Patrick proves he still has bite in snooker.
August 28, 2009... Byline: Ajitpal Singh NATIONAL discard Patrick Ooi turned in a commendable performance to qualify for the main draw of the 23rd National Snooker Championships at the A-Que Centre in Bandar Sunway on Wednesday. Patrick, a former Sea Games...

K.J. Choi, Goosen coming for Iskandar Johor Open.
August 28, 2009... ASIAN Tour honorary member K.J. Choi of South Korea and title holder Retief Goosen of South Africa will headline the third edition of the Iskandar Johor Open on Oct 22-25 at the Royal Johor Country Club. The Asian Tour, which was instrumental...

Jubilee surprise.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Ridzwan Fernandez; Zarina Abdullah YESTERDAY was the 50th anniversary of the state legislative assembly, but many assemblymen were caught by surprise when Speaker Datuk Tengku Putera Tengku Awang announced it. Just before the...

Loans provided to 27 students in Middle East.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Ridzwan Fernandez; Zarina Abdullah THE Terengganu Foundation provided loans to 27 local students pursuing tertiary education in the Middle East this year, the house was told yesterday. The foundation has also funded nine other...

Assemblyman denies defection.
August 27, 2009... KUALA TERENGGANU: A key Umno assemblyman here yesterday denied that he and 11 other fellow assemblymen were planning to take over the state administration by crossing over to the opposition. Datuk Rosol Wahid said contrary to what had been...

Firebomb attack 'not linked to aide's case'.
August 27, 2009... SHAH ALAM: The Molotov cocktail attack on a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission vehicle in Klang last week is not related to the death of Teoh Beng Hock. State police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said investigations showed that it was not...

Witness: Teoh was arguing with councillor.
August 27, 2009... SHAH ALAM: Teoh Beng Hock was involved in a heated argument with Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah hours before the political aide was found dead. Teoh and Tan were seen arguing in a toilet at the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption...

MB reaches out to rebels.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Ridzwan Fernandez KUALA TERENGGANU: Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said yesterday that he was inching closer to winning over the support of a group of rebellious but equally influential assemblymen within Terengganu Umno. He further...

Closing the gap.
August 27, 2009... UNTIL recently, they did not exist. At least not in the official records. The Saban ethnic group - immersed in its simple, earthy ways - has lived in rural northern Sumatra for ages. But they do not have citizenship papers on them, as...

MACC officer's testimony on projects expunged.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Rita Jong; Jennifer Gomez SHAH ALAM: The Teoh Beng Hock inquest went off at a tangent yesterday when allegations of corruption took over the proceedings which was supposed to determine how the political aide died. All hell broke...

State Syariah Legal Dept clarifies.
August 27, 2009... KUANTAN: The state Syariah Legal Department yesterday clarified that the State Syariah Chief Judge was Datuk Abdul Hamid Abdul Rahman and not Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunus as reported by the media in the past few days. Its spokesperson said Abdul...

24-year-old woman latest fatality, 217 more infected.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: Local transmission of the influenza A (H1N1) virus in the country is still very active with 324 people with influenza-like illness (ILI) warded in hospitals nationwide yesterday. Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail...

3 die in early morning crash.
August 27, 2009... BENTONG: Three members of a family were killed while two others suffered serious injuries in an accident involving a car and a lorry at Km15 of Jalan Bentong-Raub near Lurah Bilut here yesterday. Driver Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, 27, his sister,...

RON95 now available at nearly all stations.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: Almost all petrol stations have rolled out RON95 petrol at their pumps way before next Tuesday's deadline. Oil companies have been gradually phasing out the low octane RON92 in the last two weeks to adhere to government's...

Malays now second largest group of organ donors.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: Malays are putting their hearts and other parts of their bodies into organ donation programmes. The number of Malays pledging their organs vaulted from 1,658 in 2005 to 3,354 in just the first seven months of this year. The...

Cornered robbers get a beating.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Lee Shi-Ian AMPANG JAYA: A suspected robber is fighting for his life in a hospital after he was attacked by an angry crowd in Pandan Indah here, yesterday morning. The man and his accomplice were earlier spotted by a victim who...

Drug ring busted, 3 held.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: Police busted a drug syndicate which was operating at an apartment at the highland town of Gohtong Jaya last week. The syndicate was believed to have supplied drugs to party goers at nightspots in the Klang Valley. Following...

Murder victim identified.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: A murder victim, whose body was found in a flood retention pond in Setapak on Monday, was identified as Kanan Muthiah @ Suppiah. The 42-year-old was initially thought to be a woman as the body was clad in a skirt and blouse and the...

Disaster wreaks changes to China, Taiwan, US ties.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Frank Ching "MAN's calculations cannot compare with heaven's calculations," goes an old Chinese saying. Or, to quote a somewhat similar English aphorism: "Man proposes, God disposes." Certainly, no one predicted the destruction...

It is time to enforce ban on firecrackers.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Chok Suat Ling EVERY time any major festive occasion draws near, some will take pause to quietly reflect on the year that has passed. Others join the throngs at shopping centres and malls, or the feeding frenzy at lavish hotel...

Show mercy.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Gan Pei Ling KARTIKA Sari Dewi Shukarno was initially ordered by the Pahang Syariah High Court to be detained at the Kajang Prison so that her caning sentence could be carried out. One can't help but wonder why a first-time offender...

A dent to country's image.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Mariam Mokhtar I FEAR that Malaysia has been put on the map for the wrong reasons ("Kartika, dad lodge reports" - NST, Aug 25). When Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno had her pint of beer, little did she realise that she would bring the...

A deterrent.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Adri Hemy Abdul Ghani I REFER to the various reports concerning the planned caning of a part-time model found guilty of consuming alcohol. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced for a crime under Islamic laws; in this case it is the...

Pool champion Ibrahim off target in snooker.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Ajitpal Singh POOL champion Ibrahim Amir tried his luck at the snooker table in the National Snooker Championships but the 44-year-old veteran fared badly. Ibrahim, one of Asia's top pool players, went down 3-2 to club player Alvin...

Get right people for task.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Teoh Pei Sze I AM a therapist to children with learning disabilities. I refer to your article, "They overcame dyslexia: Can our children?" (Aug 9, 2009). The claims in the article are inaccurate. The celebrities mentioned did not...

A wife's role to keep men straight.
August 27, 2009... Byline: M.D. I REFER to the report, "Women less corrupt" (NST, Aug 16) Women being less corrupt has, I believe, to do with their being mostly housewives and therefore largely shielded from the rough and tumble of the outside world that men...

14,000 meters recalibrated.
August 27, 2009... KUALA LUMPUR: About 14,000 of the country's 38,000 taxis have had their meters recalibrated to reflect the new fare structure. An officer with the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board said the board had appointed eight suppliers in the Klang...

The system works well.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Yeoh Seng Hong IN the post-war era, we had no television. We had to go to the cinema to catch a glimpse of our leaders over Pathe News or Movietone. Part of the news featured the first great Malayan patriot, Datuk Onn Jaafar. He...

Outlet draws crowd with nasyid songs.
August 27, 2009... Byline: M. Hamzah Jamaludin KUANTAN: For many people, a karaoke centre does not come to mind as the ideal place to break fast as it has always been associated with entertainment, and sometimes unhealthy activities. However, a karaoke outlet...

Help these children get their surgery.
August 27, 2009... GEORGE TOWN: Three families are appealing for help to pay for the cost of surgery on their children at the Gleneagles Medical Centre here. Five-month-old infant Thamarai Chelvi Thiagu needs urgent surgery to correct a defective kidney. Her...

100,000 Pakistani workers by next year?
August 27, 2009... Byline: Balan Moses KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistan is set to join Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar as a primary source of foreign labour for Malaysia, with a three-fold increase in workers, taking their numbers to 100,000 by December next year. ...

Promote greater awareness.
August 27, 2009... Byline: S. Leong WHILE eating out, I have been choosing more coffee shops with an open setting. It bothers me to see some people still coughing without covering their mouths. I hope the Health Ministry will issue directives to eateries to put...

Looking to RTM for a good mix.
August 27, 2009... Byline: Joe Chelliah POP music is actually a cult culture universally. Some view it wrongly as music appreciation. Pop music fans literally appreciate the artistes and their looks more than the actual music that they do deliver. This might...

The nation's destiny is in our hands.
August 27, 2009... Byline: James Gonzales ON Aug 31, we will once again be having our Merdeka celebrations. We have come a long way since our humble beginnings in 1957. We are now leaps and bounds ahead of many countries that attained independence about the...