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Additional public holiday due to overlap of Aidilfitri, National Day

Posted: 23 May 2011 10:18 PM PDT

Date of the additional public holiday would be subject to the setting of the Aidilfitri dates by the Conference of Rulers

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has decided to declare an additional public holiday this year in view of a possible overlap of one of two Aidilfitri public holidays with the National Day public holiday on Aug 31.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said today the date of the additional public holiday would be subject to the setting of the Aidilfitri dates by the Conference of Rulers.

If the first day of Aidilfitri fell on Tuesday Aug 30 and the second day coincided with National Day on Wednesday Aug 31, then Thursday Sept 1 would be declared as the additional public holiday, he said in a statement.

If the first day of Aidilfitri fell on Wednesday Aug 31 and coincided with National Day and the second day fell on Thursday Sept 1, then Friday Sept 2 would be declared as the additional public holiday, he added.

Mohd Sidek said the additional public holiday for peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan was gazetted under section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951.

"The state governments of Sabah and Sarawak are in the process of gazetting the additional public holiday under section 9 of the Holidays Ordinance of Sabah and section 5 of the Public Holidays Ordinance of Sarawak, respectively," he said.

Mohd Sidek said it was hoped that the announcement would avoid confusion among the people over those public holidays and facilitate early preparations to celebrate Aidilfitri and National Day. - Bernama

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PWD: Rain weakened soil, causing landslide

Posted: 23 May 2011 10:46 AM PDT

Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah visiting one of the landslide survivors at the Ampang Hospital yesterday. — NST picture by Zulfadhli Zulkifli

KUALA LUMPUR: Unusually heavy rain over three days had weakened the soil structure resulting in the landslide which hit the Hidayah Madrasah Al-Taqwa orphanage in Hulu Langat, claiming 16 lives on Saturday.

This was the assessment of the Public Works Department's Hillslope Engineering senior director Datuk Ashaari Mohamad.

He said there were 29mm of rainfall in the area on Thursday, 41mm on Friday and 80mm on Saturday.

"The amount of rainfall on Saturday was extraordinary because the normal level in the area is around 20mm. With such a downpour, a lot of water seeped into the soil causing the structure to be weakened."

He said this when briefing the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, on the landslide. The sultan handed over contributions from the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MUIS), Selangor Zakat Board (SZB) and the state government for the victims and their families.

Ashaari said on inspecting the area, they found water channels on the hillslope in the direction of the landslide site. He said the cutting of trees in the area had also contributed to the problem.

"There is still some soil movements here and rainfall can cause another landslide, so we have categorised this area as unsafe."

He said based on information received, the orphanage was only about seven metres away from the hillslope, which was between 25 and 30 metres high.

"About 3,500 cubic metres, or 600 lorry-loads, of soil had hit the orphanage, leaving a mound of loose soil of about four metres high and 54 metres wide."

Ashaari said the hillslope near the orphanage had also been cut, causing further soil instability.

"We want to closely examine the soil condition in the area and see how we can improve the soil structure.

"We have asked the local authority to monitor the housing areas around here as they are exposed to the same risk," he added.

From the RM217,000 contributed by MUIS and SZB, each family, or beneficiary of the victims, received RM5,000, while the survivors received RM1,000 each and the orphanage RM100,000.

The Selangor government also gave RM5,000 to each beneficiary.

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Isnin, 23 Mei 2011

NST Online: Topnews

NST Online: Topnews

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