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Malaysians urged to move forward at faster pace: DPM Posted: 09 Sep 2011 07:47 PM PDT Malaysians urged to move forward at faster pace: DPM LONDON -- After 54 years of independence and reaping the benefits of racial harmony, political stability and rapid economic growth, Malaysians on Friday were urged to move forward at a faster pace to make the country more competitive globally. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said if Malaysian can leverage on their past successes, overcome all present challenges and thrive in the new global world, they will build a better future for the nation. Muhyiddin said what needed to be done is to get every Malaysian, in the country or abroad, on board the national journey to a better future where every Malaysian has a important role to play. "Whether you are Malaysian students studying abroad or Malaysian citizens working abroad, everyone can contribute to the transformation that is progressing in our country at the moment. "We need your ideas, your creativity and your talents to move the country forward. At the same time, we need to continue with our efforts to strengthen national unity," he said in a speech prior to a dialogue with the Malaysian community, including students, here. -- Bernama Air your comment on this issue: Malaysians urged to move forward at faster pace: DPM Log in with your Facebook account or use the form below to comment. New Straits Times reserves the right not to publish offensive or abusive comments and those of hate speech, harassment, commercial promos and invasion of privacy. Your IP will be logged and may be used to prevent further submission.The views expressed here are that of the members of the public and unless specifically stated are not those of NST.

PM: Rethink passing tax to prepaid mobile users Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:15 AM PDT 2011/09/10 By Hamisah Hamid hamisahhamid@nst.com.my KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday asked telecommunication (telco) providers to reconsider their decision to pass the six per cent service tax to prepaid customers in view of the rising cost of living. Najib said he had received feedback from the public which showed that the move was not popular and consumers found it hard to accept. "I hope the telcos can review their decision because in view of the current situation, we want to reduce the burden of the rakyat as they have to bear high costs, including food. So we want to alleviate the financial burden of the rakyat," he said when asked by reporters. Telcos plan to start charging prepaid customers from Sept 15. Since the launch of mobile prepaid services in 1998, mobile operators have been absorbing the service tax. Posttpaid mobile phone users, meanwhile, have been paying the service tax. Earlier in his speech when launching Maybank's refreshed logo, Najib called on banks and financial institutions not to shy away from business ventures they were not familiar with. He said financial institutions, which were the bedrock of the economy, should support government initiatives to transform the economy, such as the MyFirst Home Scheme, 1Malaysia Housing Project, green technology, research and development, and innovation. "Banks need to have courage to venture and support new enterprises... you need to promote innovation as it is one of the ways to transform Malaysia." He said Malaysia needed to create new sources of wealth and financial institutions should support the new growth areas.

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Security guard poser for mamak restaurant Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:11 PM PDT SEREMBAN - President of Indian Muslim Congress Malaysia (KIMMA) Senator Datuk Syed Ibrahim Kader proposed that mamak restaurants employ armed security guards to deter robberies. He said police and the restaurant operators would meet soon to find the best approach to check robberies involving mamak restaurants which became rampant of late. "Among the proposals include shorter operating hours for mamak restaurants especially those in risky areas or by employing armed security guards," he told reporters at his Aidilfitri open house here last night. He said the proposal was suitable and the right thing to do and that he would bring it up at the meeting with the police. "Employment of security guards is better as the fees are not much compared to the high risk faced by restaurant operators if robbed," he added. - Bernama

Japan’s new PM faces early trouble after minister gaffes Posted: 09 Sep 2011 09:14 PM PDT TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's new government ran into trouble after just a week in office with calls for one of his ministers to quit over gaffes on the sensitive topic of radiation from the tsunami-hit Fukushima plant. Trade Minister Yoshio Hachiro faced pressure to resign on Saturday after reports that he joked with a reporter about radiation from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Hachiro was quoted in Japanese media as attempting to rub up against a reporter saying "I'll give you radiation" after visiting the Fukushima plant on Thursday. Ruling Democratic Party policy committee chief Seiji Maehara said it is "very serious" if the report was true. "It is important for him to explain clearly his true intentions by today," Maehara said. Main opposition Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief Shigeru Ishiba demanded the minister's resignation. "He should resign ... If he does not, PM Noda should dismiss him." Hachiro has already been rebuked by Noda and apologised on Friday for calling the deserted area near the plant a "town of death", a comment seen as offensive to victims of the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. - Reuters

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US stocks plunge on eurozone turmoil Posted: 09 Sep 2011 06:34 PM PDT NEW YORK: US stocks plunged on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding more than 300 points, as global stock markets were stung by fresh anxiety in the eurozone over Greece's bailout. The Dow fell 303.68 points (2.69 percent) to close at 10,992.13. The broader S&P 500 fell 31.67 points (2.67 percent) to 1,154.23, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 61.15 points (2.42 percent) to 2,467.99. Early losses on Wall Street accelerated after the unexpected news that the European Central Bank's chief economist, Juergen Stark, was resigning "for personal reasons". Hours after his resignation was announced, Stark called for drastic reforms to the eurozone, as ECB watchers suggested that the bank was deeply split over its handling of Europe's sovereign debt crisis. Stark, a German, had been a sharp critic of the ECB's controversial programme of buying government bonds of deeply indebted eurozone countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. "The markets are falling sharply because there is a lot of fear that there might be a European sovereign debt situation, and in particular in Greece," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist of Rockwell Global Capital. Shell-shocked investors scurried for the safety of US Treasuries, sending the yield on the 10-year note to its lowest level in history. The 10-year yield dropped as low as 1.896 percent, falling below 1.9 percent for the first time ever, before making a partial rebound. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. Financial stocks were down sharply, although US banks fared better than some of their counterparts in Europe: Citigroup sank 4.4 percent and JPMorgan Chase dropped 4.3 percent. McDonald's gave the Dow a case of heartburn; shares of the globe-spanning restaurant chain plunged 4.0 percent after it reported that its August sales were worse than expected. Hewlett-Packard dived 5.1 percent. Investors have dumped shares of the tech firm since it unveiled a controversial restructuring plan last month that includes the spin-off of its personal computer business. -- AFP

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Rugby / World Cup: Tonga no match for All Blacks Posted: 09 Sep 2011 05:22 PM PDT AUCKLAND: The All Blacks backs, working off the magic passing of Sonny Bill Williams in the first half, ignited the Rugby World Cup as they set up a 41-10 victory over Tonga in the opening match here yesterday. On a calm night in a packed stadium of 60,000, the All Blacks scored six tries to one with Williams figuring in three of them. But it was not the complete package the tournament top seeds were after to send an emphatic message to the rest of the field and it was their worst performance in four outings against the Pacific islanders. After a commanding first half when they turned 29-3 ahead, their momentum evaporated in a disjointed second half where they allowed Tonga to take control and score towards the end which disappointed All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. "Perhaps in the second half we spent some time in their 22 and we didn't manage to get much, so that's something that we're going to work on," he said. "We talked about it at half-time: if you give an opportunity once, it's easy to concede a try and get a bit loose. I suppose that's a little disappointing but again we created opportunities and for the most part it's a good start." In a game they were never going to lose, the All Blacks were anxious to remedy the flaws of recent defeats to Australia and South Africa and show they are capable of erasing 24 years of World Cup heartache. They were on track in the first half but their cohesion deserted them after the break when Tonga brought on four fresh forwards and put noticeable steel into their backline defence. There was a period of humiliation for the All Blacks when they were forced to concede a series of defensive penalties and the Tongans showed their disdain for the power of the All Blacks pack by opting for scrums. Their patience was rewarded when replacement prop Alisona Taumalolo barged over late in the game. Following a grand opening extravaganza which featured All Blacks icon Jonah Lomu who is of Tongan descent, the tournament favourites soaked up the best Tonga had to offer for the first 12 minutes before unleashing their fire power. The four first half tries, two each to Israel Dagg and Richard Kahui, were all long-range affairs as the All Blacks carved up the loose Tongan defence. The islanders much vaunted forward power was then not enough to hold off the black attack with McCaw, at his third Cup, controlling the breakdown and Williams' passing setting up the All Blacks flyers. Dagg had the honour of scoring the first try of the World Cup, the result of deft work by Kahui who opened the Tongan defence to send Sonny Bill Williams inside the Tongan 22. When Williams was tackled Kahui popped up to keep the momentum going and Dagg was up from fullback to receive the final pass. Kahui benefitted from a Williams' magic pass to score next when the inside centre produced a deft unload to Toeava cutting infield and Kahui raced across from the opposite wing to finish the move. A Williams pass in the tackle to Toava produced Dagg's second try before the fullback fed Kahui for try number four and the All Blacks had 29 points before a Kurt Morath penalty put Tonga on the board. But it was a different Tonga after the break and in the first 15 minutes after the resumption Williams, Ma'a Nonu, Toeava (twice) and Brad Thorn were all dropped in crunching tackles in reach of the try line. Kahui snapped the spell, re-gathering his own chip kick and passed to the ever-present Dagg for his third try. Taumalolo scored Tonga's try in the 73rd minute before the All Blacks closed out the game with Ma'a Nonu scoring in the dying stages. -- AFP

Archery: Possible double looms large Posted: 09 Sep 2011 05:20 PM PDT 2011/09/10 Devinder Singh devinder@nst.com.my Khairul Anuar Mohamad (left) and Cheng Chu Sian together with Wan Khalmizan (inset) are in the recurve team final. MALAYSIAN archers could be in for an unprecedented double at the World Cup's fourth leg in Shanghai today after blazing into the men's recurve team final yesterday. A day after Khairul Anuar Mohamad created history by becoming the first Malaysian to reach a World Cup final in an individual event, he was back at it again, combining with Cheng Chu Sian and Wan Khalmizan Wan Abd Aziz into a final showdown with top seeds United States. Khairul Anuar will also be facing an American in the individual final when he goes up against Jake Kaminski, hoping to write another chapter into the history books. In yesterday's team event, the Malaysians hit the ground running when they eliminated Britain 221-218 in the first round before ousting a strong China team 221-219 in the quarter-finals. The 10th-seeded Malaysians maintained their consistent showing by beating fellow surprise packages Finland 221-215 in the semi-finals as the Americans eliminated France 226-215 in the last four. Malaysia have lost their two previous meetings with the US in the World Cup series, both times in Porec, Croatia in 2009 and 2011 with the sole win coming at the Beijing Good Luck tournament in 2007. The Americans start the final as the favourites having already won two legs of the World Cup this year and three of the last five dating back to 2010. Malaysia in contrast are preparing to play in the final for the first time. The performance in Shanghai will give the archers a huge boost ahead of the London Olympics after having secured three quota spots by finishing ninth in the team event at the World Championships in Italy this year.

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BIDDING ON A WHISPER Posted: 08 Sep 2011 10:44 AM PDT 2011/09/08 By Looi Sue-Chern No shouting is required when buying fish at the Kuala Muda Whispering Fish Auction KEPALA BATAS: Buying fish at the famous Kuala Muda Whispering Fish Auction at the Penang-Kedah border is an "intimate" affair. No elbowing, pushing or shouting is required. Just by whispering is enough. Fishermen returning from the sea carry their catches in baskets, trays or crates, and place them on the ground at the loading area for potential buyers to inspect. Then, the bidding war begins in a very gentleman-like manner. The interested buyers take their turns to whisper their offers to the respective fishermen. When the fishermen have decided on their preferred bidders, the catches are taken aside and the money is paid. There are no disputes. The money is good, with the auction seeing thousands of ringgit change hands everyday from 10am until the last fishing boat empties its catches at about 2pm. The whispering auction, according to the local community, has existed since the day of their forefathers and many claim that it is the only place in the country that featured such a unique practice. Fishmonger Koay Beng Hock, 34, from Penang Island said he visits the auction every in the morning to get fresh supply of seafood for his stall in the Batu Lanchang afternoon market. His family has been regulars at the auction for 30 years since the days of his father, he said. "People come here from all over the state for the catches. You can get good bargains," he said. The "whispering", he revealed, allowed each potential buyer to remain discreet about his offer and stand a better chance to get the catch but because most of the buyers there were regulars in the same business, they could each guess how much the other person was offering. Most of the buyers are wholesalers and fishmongers. But the fishermen also sell their fish to restaurateurs and households in smaller numbers. "That is why the fishermen never haul up all their catch at once, but break them up into smaller numbers to accommodate smaller groups of clients. "This whispering arrangement benefits the fishermen as they can sell directly to their customers," said Kuala Muda Seberang Prai fishermen unit head Jasmin Saad. He said there were some 250 fishermen operating on the Seberang Prai side of Kuala Muda while another 250 operated on the other side of the river in Kedah.

Durians — love them or loathe them Posted: 08 Sep 2011 09:07 AM PDT AT a recent fruit fest, the organisers generously provided some 800kg of durian for guests to enjoy. The durian-tasting session was to start in half an hour but I saw a few die-hard durian lovers already at the fruit table and a line quickly formed behind them, snaking long and winding around the event area. Once the D2, D13 and D24 durians were opened, these fans did not hesitate to pick up their share and even went back again and again to help themselves to more of the plump yellow-fleshed pieces of durian. I was appalled at such selfish behaviour and much relieved when a staff stopped them from jumping queue and advised them to take their rightful turns for future helpings. After all, there was a queue of people who had yet to savour their first morsels. It was disturbing that these seemingly educated, civilised and matured-looking people were driven to behave in such an uncouth manner because of their desire for more durians. At every season, it's common for unscrupulous durian sellers to take advantage of durian lovers, and I have heard tales of their greed to earn extra money through cheating by manipulating the weighing scales. Or, by sleight of hand, they can switch a bag of carefully-chosen durians for rotten ones, so that by the time the unsuspecting customer discovers it at home, it would be too late or inconvenient to return the fruits. This often happens at makeshift stalls because they know that customers cannot find them again at that same spot. One devious durian dealer may never forget that day when he used this trick on my Uncle Roland, who did not take such dishonesty lightly. My uncle was going from Johor Baru to visit relatives in Malacca and stopped along the way to buy some buah tangan (gifts that you take when visiting friends or relatives). How embarrassed he was when the durians he bought turned out to be rotten. Now, every season when we come across any dodgy-looking durians, this incident is retold because we can never forget how my uncle went looking for that dishonest dealer. Another favourite family durian anecdote involves Uncle Arthur who, as a boy, had the misfortune of being hit on his head by a falling durian. At that time, the family lived in an area around a pond in Johor Baru, close to what is now known as Jalan Quek Keng Kang, where there were many durian, ciku, rambutan and starfruit trees. When it happened, my uncle was momentarily stunned but thankfully had no lasting injury. He's a father of two and recently celebrated his 69th birthday. With the durian season in full swing, I'm receiving invitations to durian plantations for durian feasts, but my first question is, "Do you provide helmets?" They think I'm joking and just paranoid, but I don't fancy getting a thorny fruit falling from a height onto my head as that can cause serious damage. And I don't have a head as resilient as my uncle's! Last week, when the topic of durians came up in conversation, my friend Linda confessed that she and her husband can skip a meal and substitute it with just durians. If there was any excess, it would be packed and refrigerated, ready to be eaten for breakfast. Unlike them, who have each other to share their durian craze, my Uncle Victor, the family's durian king, ironically married a woman who doesn't like fruits. Maybe that's a good thing, since whenever his children were away, he would then bring his durians over to enjoy with us instead. The other night, Uncle Victor brought a stash of the choicest kampung durian to share with us, and I observed how skillfully he opened the fruits and neatly split open every uneven wedge. When a wedge that had worms was opened, he proved to be a fearless connoisseur who helped himself to whatever was in it. A lesser enthusiast might just discard whatever was worm-infested, but Uncle Victor made sure nothing was wasted. Durian fans are aware of the fruit's "warming properties", so they counteract it by consuming various remedies believed to help cool the body system. One way is to eat durian along with mangosteens. I was also taught the traditional method of mixing salt water in an empty pod to drink and wash my hand. Amazingly this will not only remove the pungent smell from my hand and mouth but will also discourage any throat infection. During the season, some fans will buy fresh durian and pack them in deep freeze so that it can be taken out, thawed and slowly savoured whenever they had a craving for its delectable custard-like taste. It's interesting that once you get past the smell, there's so much to enjoy and I take my hat off to foreigners with an adventurous palate who have acquired a taste for this fruit which is banned in many places because of its smell. It's been described to smell like garbage, dead meat and dirty socks but love it or loathe it, durian is clearly here to stay.

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