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Street rallies off<br>PM: Govt ready to meet Bersih on using stadium instead

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 05:26 PM PDT

2011/07/06
By Sean Augustin
sean@nst.com.my

After an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin yesterday afternoon, Bersih leaders emerged from Istana Negara and declared they would hold the rally in a stadium.

PUTRAJAYA: The street rallies are off with the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) backing down, much to the relief of business operators and the public.

After an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin yesterday afternoon, Bersih leaders emerged from Istana Negara and declared they would hold the rally in a stadium.

This effectively put a stop to the counter rallies threatened by Umno Youth and Malay rights group Perkasa.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak later told reporters that the government was prepared to meet Bersih organisers to discuss the possibility of holding the rally at a stadium.

He said they had not given any indication to which stadium they would prefer, but the government "would respond accordingly".

Najib, however, stressed that certain conditions must be attached before a permit was given for the rally to be held in a stadium.

"They must come in peace, hold it peacefully and go back peacefully," the prime minister said. He also said the organisers would be held responsible if the demonstrators caused chaos, damaged property or caused harm to others.

"We hope the organisers will keep their promise so that all will go well and peacefully and no untoward incidents will take place," he said.

Najib added that the government was against street rallies as it was concerned about public safety and was determined to protect Malaysians from any untoward incidents.

The government had on a number of occasions proposed that such a rally be held in a stadium instead of taking it to the streets to safeguard public order.

Bersih was earlier adamant in going to the streets to push for their so-called electoral reforms, but softened their stand after Tuanku Mizan on Sunday urged certain segments of the people not to be overzealous in their attempts to "enrich democracy lest this brings about destruction".

Najib yesterday also thanked the king for his concern in ensuring the country's peace and security. "It is due to this concern that the king instructed all quarters to cancel all planned street demonstrations or gatherings on July 9," the prime minister said after chairing the first Malaysian Innovation Agency governance council meeting, here.

"I would also like to thank all quarters for respecting the Agong's wishes. " On whether it would be an offence for supporters to turn up at the stadium wearing a Bersih T-shirt, Najib said it was up to the police to decide.

"We consider them (the organisers of the gathering and the gathering itself) illegal... (but) they don't consider themselves illegal.

"What is important is to protect the interests of the public. I want to protect Malaysians from any untoward incidents. " Asked if Umno would also hold a gathering on Saturday, Najib said the party would not do so.

"If Umnowants to respond, we can have a much bigger gathering... a much bigger demonstration. I can assure you that the crowd will be very big ," The Bersih rally is being organised by a coalition of non-governmental organisations headed by former Bar Council president Datuk S. Ambiga.

The coalition was outlawed by the Home Ministry last week and to date, more than 100 Bersih supporters have been arrested for links to the illegal rally.

Police have also detained six Parti Sosialis Malaysia members, including Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, for 60 days under the Emergency Ordinance.

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6 moves to make nation more competitive

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 11:32 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has put in place the last building block of its plan to transform into a high-income nation with the launch of six strategic reform initiatives (SRIs), a group of policy measures designed to improve the country's competitiveness.

Previously, the government had identified the industries Malaysia needed to focus on for further economic growth. Now, the SRIs will help to develop the National Key Economic Areas like plantation and tourism.

"The pursuit of economic growth complemented by policy reforms will enable us to compete robustly in the global arena," said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his speech, which was read by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.

The Economic Transformation Plan involves doubling the per capita income to RM48,000 and creating more than 3.3 million new jobs by 2020.

The SRI launch drew a big crowd at the KL Convention Centre where senior civil servants made up the bulk of them, alongside senior corporate executives and industry captains.

The measures were arranged in six clusters, namely Public Finance, Gover nment's Role in Business, Human Capital Development, Public Service Delivery, International Standards & Liberalisation and Narrowing Disparities.

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), the agency in charge of driving the transformation plan, carried out six labs over six weeks involving some 500 members of the public and private sectors.

"We now have 13 reports that amounted to 3,000 pages, containing detailed recommendations and policy changes," said Pemandu chief executive officer Datuk Seri Idris Jala.

In Public Finance for instance, the government plans to improve tax collection, cut costs and create new revenue with the launch of a Government Service Tax.

Another plan under the Narrowing Disparities SRI is to create worldclass Bumiputera entrepreneurs. To do this, help will only be given to deserving small and medium enterprises under a transparent mechanism.

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Selasa, 5 Julai 2011

NST Online: Topnews

NST Online: Topnews

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