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PM celebrates Deepavali with Makkal Osai staff

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 08:43 PM PDT

PM celebrates Deepavali with Makkal Osai staff

KUALA LUMPUR -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, for the first time, celebrated Deepavali with the staff of Tamil daily, Makkal Osai today.

The event was also held to celebrate the 67th birthday of the daily's owner, Datuk S. Subramaniam, who is also former MIC deputy president.

Najib spent 30 minutes mingling with about 1,000 people who thronged the open house.

The prime minister went straight to the open house, which was held at the National Land Finance Cooperative Society Building in Jalan Templer, upon his arrival from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang.

He then proceeded to attend Deepavali celebration hosted by MIC at Batu Caves Temple, before heading to Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium in Cheras for another open house hosted by Hindu Sangam. -- BERNAMA

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PM celebrates Deepavali with Makkal Osai staff

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Najib in Australia for CHOGM

Posted: 25 Oct 2011 08:31 PM PDT

2011/10/26
By Nuraina Samad

PERTH: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who arrives here this evening for the four-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, has a tight schedule ahead of him tomorrow, ahead of the meeting.

He has scheduled bilateral meetings with several leaders, beginning in the morning.

Malaysian High Commission to Australia Datuk Salman Ahmad told a media briefing that first on his programme is a scheduled bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the morning.

This is the third time Australia is hosting CHOGM.

Gillard, quoted by the Australian Press, has indicated that she expected to raise the issue of the failed refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia, with Najib.

She said this was to keep him 'updated on the government's position.

She had told local reporters that Australia's policy was that her government would be able to implement the arrangement with Malaysia.

The Gillard government's plan to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 processed refugees was scuttled by the High Court in August.

The opposition blocked the government's plans to change migration laws for off-shore processing.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott opposes the programme because Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Treatment of Refugees and instead proposes offshore processing on the Pacific Island of Nauru.

The Greens oppose offshore processing in any form.

Najib, later, will hold bilateral talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka will host the next CHOGM in 2013.

In the afternoon, he will meet with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and later in the evening, with Commonwealth secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma.

On Friday, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron, South African President Jacob Zuma and Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of CHOGM.

Tomorrow, he will attend the Commonwealth Business Forum where he will deliver a keynote address, "Building Infrastructure for the 21st Century" at the Burswood Entertainment Complex here.

He will also chair a roundtable meeting with selected business leaders to discuss opportunities and prospects of trade and investment in Malaysia on the same day.

While at the complex, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to witness the signing of an MoU In Standardisation between Malaysia and Uganda.

Salman also said the Prime Minister, who is accompanied here by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, will join some 300 Malaysians in an evening of Aussie-style barbecue in Burswood park here before leaving Perth.

Najib joins 52 world leaders at this biennial meeting which begins Friday at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in the city's central business district.

With the Prime Minister in Perth are Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

The theme this year is "Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience".

This year, 53 countries are represented. Fiji, will not be attending as it was suspended from membership in September 2009 pending restoration of a democratically elected government.

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Selasa, 25 Oktober 2011