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Najib attends Malaysia Aidilfitri-Merdeka 2011 Open House at Permatang Pauh

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 10:13 PM PDT

Najib attends Malaysia Aidilfitri-Merdeka 2011 Open House at Permatang Pauh

BUKIT MERTAJAM -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today arrived at the Malaysia Aidilfitri-Merdeka 2011 Open House at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu, here in a taxi.

He was greeted on arrival at noon by thousands of local residents, who had come as early as 8am, to the beat of drums by the various communities as well as student and military drummers.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim was among the cabinet ministers and Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders who accompanied Najib to the open house.

The Malaysia Aidilfitri-Merdeka 2011 Open House, which was organised by the Ministry of Information Cummunication and Culture Ministry, started with the Prime Minister and BN leaders calling on Norasmah Othman, 41, a housewife who had to work to support her six children and husband who is suffering from "chronic plaque psoriasis", a skin disorder.

Norasmah received aid from the Ministry of Information Communication and ulture through the Special Affairs Department (JASA) and contributons from the various groups.

The approximately 20,000 people who attended the open house were treated to various dishes such as beef 'beriyani', 'lemang, 'ketupat palas' and various traditional cakes.

The Prime Minister and other dignitaries were also entertained to songs by popular local singers such as Datuk David Arumugam, Datuk Ahmad Jais, Uji Rashid and Hail Amir, cultural perfrmances by the children's boria group.

Najib later presented cash of RM10,000 and a certificate of appreciation each to four independence personalities from Penang, namely Datuk Seri Mohd Yusoff Latif, Datuk Md Noor Ahmad, Datuk A. Subramaniam and Datuk Oon Choo Eng @ Choo Khye.

In addition, he gave away packages to 10 poor people and the 1Malaysia 'notebook' to 10 outstanding students. -- BERNAMA

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Govt strengthens interaction with Malaysians abroad

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 09:15 PM PDT

LONDON -- Interaction between the government and Malaysians abroad will continue to be enhanced, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

He said the existing ties would be strengthened so that Malaysians who were studying or working abroad would continue to obtain information on the latest development and issues at home.

Programmes, like the Merdeka Forum 2011, Merdeka Carnival and dialogues held at several locations in London in conjunction with his official visit to the United kingdom, he said, were suitable to be made annual events.

"The Merdeka Forum, which involved the participation of two renowned personalities as panel members, provides an opportunity for Malaysians in the United Kingdom to understand better on the happenings in the country, including on economy and politics," he said.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, was speaking to media members before ending his four-day visit to the country. He was accompanied by wife, Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman.

The forum, with the title "54 Years of Independence, Building A Nation, Sharing a Destiny" had Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies director, Professor Ulung Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, and Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia chief executive, Datuk Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin, as the panelists.

Malaysian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Datuk Zakaria Sulong, was the moderator at the forum held last Friday.

Muhyiddin said he was also satisfied with the dialogue with the Malaysian community here.

"At the dialogue with the Malaysian community, including students, here, many matters pertaining to the government administration and education were raised.

"I also had the opportunity to clarify on several matters, including the teaching in English," he added.

Muhyiddin said there were several suggestions made by those present at the dialogue which could be adopted to improve the quality of education in the country.

Besides the forum and dialogue, the Merdeka Carnival, which was organised by the Malaysian Embassy in the United Kingdom, also drew Malaysians from all races to the venue.

"This provides an opportunity for us to interact with the people. A gathering like this helps us to reminisce and understand the meaning of independence, despite being away from home," he added.

He said such an event would be held in other countries, as well as in the country, to provide better understanding to the people on the country's history.

In a related development, Muhyiddin said historical facts could not be erased or manipulated to deny what had taken place.

The deputy prime minister is scheduled to return home today. -- BERNAMA

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38 areas record good air quality

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 09:20 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Air Pollution Index (API) reading showed 38 areas in the country have good air quality, while 11 more areas recorded moderate quality as at 7am today.

The Department of Environment (DOE) reported that no areas had recorded unhealthy API.

According to the DOE website, five areas with the lowest API are Miri, Sarawak (21), Alor Setar, Kedah (22), Sarikei, Sarawak (26), Paka, Terengganu (28) and the Federal Territory of Labuan (32).

The API reading of between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy) and a reading exceeding 301 is dangerous.

According to the DOE, the hazy condition is expected to continue for a few more days and advised members of the public not to carry out open burning and also cooperate in putting out small fires. - Bernama

United deserve to be top, says happy Fergie

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 07:26 PM PDT

BOLTON - Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United have earned the right to lead the Premier League table because they have had a tougher start to the season.

The champions had already beaten Tottenham and Arsenal before the 5-0 win at Bolton kept them ahead of rivals Manchester City, who have faced Swansea, Bolton, Tottenham and Wigan so far.

United have now scored 18 goals in their four opening league games and Wayne Rooney's second consecutive hat-trick, and a brace by Javier Hernandez, sees them lead the table on goal difference.

It means Ferguson's side will approach next Sunday's visit of Chelsea in an excellent frame of mind, and the Old Trafford boss knows a win against Andre Villas-Boas' team will leave United in good shape as they enter another autumn of domestic and European action.

"You just have to concentrate on yourselves," said Ferguson.

"It's a difficult start to the season, we've got all the bigger names.

We've got Chelsea next Sunday. It's a hectic start and if we come through it, we'll have done well." It was an afternoon where the old guard shone alongside a new generation of stars as Rooney combined brilliantly with Hernandez and summer signing Phil Jones.

Ferguson fielded an arguably stronger line-up than the one that hammered Arsenal at Old Trafford in their last match before the international break.

Mexican Hernandez returned to partner Rooney in place of Danny Welbeck, while Rio Ferdinand replaced Chris Smalling in the centre of defence.

The architect of this latest victory, perhaps even more so than Rooney, was Nani. His hat-trick of assists, and two more from the impressive Jones, was as much a part of this triumph as the fine finishing of Rooney and Hernandez.

The England striker claimed United should have scored even more at the Reebok Stadium.

"We got an early goal and kicked on from there and it could have been more.
It's my first start with Javier this season and with both of us scoring, that's great," said Rooney.

"I had a long time to rest and get a good pre-season under my belt. I've stayed free of injuries and it's helped me for the start of the campaign."

For the first goal, Rooney found Nani on the right and the Portuguese crossed into the six-yard box where Hernandez arrived and beat Jussi Jaaskelainen at the near post.

United were immediately forced into a change when Tom Cleverley limped off with a suspected broken left foot, and was replaced by Michael Carrick.

United edged further ahead when Phil Jones exchanged passes with Nani after a throw-in and Rooney finished the cross after reaching the ball ahead of Gary Cahill and Dedryck Boyata.

Then in the 25th minute, United made it three. Former Blackburn midfielder Jones was involved again as he raced through home defence unchallenged.

He evaded Zat Knight's attempted block before seeing his shot saved by Jaaskelainen's legs. But Rooney was on hand to tap in the rebound. Hernandez thought he had added a fourth, only to see it ruled out by the referee's assistant for offside.

He did, however, make it four in the 59th minute following good work from Nani. The winger weaved into the box and teed up Carrick, and the former Spurs midfielder saw his shot blocked and run loose into the path of the Mexican, who pounced once again.

Nine minutes later, the job was complete when Rooney completed his second hat-trick in as many Premier League games with a right-footed strike after more creative magic by Nani.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle was left bemoaning his side's failure to contain United, despite his belief that the 5-0 scoreline flattered the champions.

Coyle, more perhaps than anyone, knows the respective strengths of the two Manchester clubs, having fallen to defeat against both clubs even at this early stage of the season.

"They are both terrific teams. Manchester City have spent £300 million," he said.

"Manchester United have spent enormous sums of money as well. The form they are in just now, both sides, make them pleasing on the eye and they are scoring lots of goals.

"I don't think there's any doubt they were ruthless and clinical. In fact, you can use all the superlatives you want."

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PM's Kluang visit: A commentary

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 03:59 AM PDT

2011/03/27
By Shahrum Sayuthi
news@nst.com.my

I WAS quietly amused when my hometown friend Fiona reacted with much enthusiasm when I told her that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was making a stopover at her alma mater, the Chong Hwa High School, during his visit to Kluang on Saturday.

She is after all a DAP supporter and had not made it a secret to me who she voted for when she had cast her vote for the first time in the 2008 general election.

"Oh my God! That's so great of him!" was what she text messaged me in return before proceeding to relate how when as a student she had, along with others, lined the street leading to her school when then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad went there in 1987.

"That was the last time a prime minister visited our school. I remember it was a very hot day and we were sweating, but we were all so happy that a prime minister visited our school," she added.

If Fiona was at the school on Saturday, she may have thought she had been transported back in time to that day.

The over 2,000 students, in their all white uniforms, were equally enthusiastic in welcoming Najib.

The highlight of Najib's visit to the school was when he mentioned in his speech the government's "landmark decision" to allow Unified Examinations Certificate holders with three credits including passes in Bahasa Malaysia and English, to take part in the special intake for the Chinese language degree course to become Mandarin teachers.

The students cheered as he made the announcement.

"We (the government) are committed to being fair to everyone and will continue to strive for this. Dreams will not be realised until we are at peace with one another," Najib had said.

My colleague Chuah Bee Kim interviewed some of the students and teachers on how they felt about Najib's visit.

Seow Yu Sheng, 15, a Form Three student said it was a memorable day as it was the first time he had seen the prime minister in person.

"I am happy to see him. Furthermore, he was here today to launch our school's green programme which my teachers have always promoted among us," he said.
Another Form Three student, Dana Lim, 15, echoed Seow's sentiment but lamented that Najib's hour-long visit was such a brief one.

"My classmates and I nonetheless feel very honoured to have the prime minister at our school," Lim said.

Liong Kok Kiong, 32, a geography teacher at the school for the past six years said the announcement made by Najib regarding UEC holders was very uplifting as it was a step towards the success of the 1Malaysia policy.

"I also hope that Najib's visit will encourage more English language teachers to join our school as we need more of them here," he said.

Later in the night, Najib attended a "dinner with the people" function at down town Kluang which was attended by more than 10,000 people.

Such was the overwhelming response given by the crowd when Najib arrived at the function that Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had to pause several times to compose himself while delivering the welcoming speech.

Expressing his pleasure, Najib in his speech, suggested that judging by the crowd's response at the function and during his walk-about in several parts in Kluang earlier in the day, Barisan Nasional may probably recapture the lost ground it suffered during the coalition's disastrous outing in the 2008 general election.

He told the crowd how an old Chinese lady gave him a 51-year-old Jalur Gemilang during the walk-about.

"I was so touched because she told me that it was a gift for my effort in initiating 1Malaysia," he said to thunderous applause from the crowd.

The prime minister probably had in mind that Kluang, with its huge Chinese community, was the DAP's first stronghold in Johor before it was overwhelmed there by BN in the late 1970s.

However, in 2008, DAP captured the Mengkibol state seat there when its Ng Lam Hua defeated Gan Ping Shou of MCA by a majority of 1,281 votes. Ng had got 13,538 votes while Gan received 12,257.

When Najib announced an allocation of RM105 million for the construction of a dam in Kahang to ensure no recurrence of a water supply problem which hit Kluang during last year's Chinese New Year, I immediately sent a text message to Fiona.

After all, she was the one who had pushed for me to initiate extensive news coverage about the problem in the first place.

Gamis students released after statements taken

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 03:24 AM PDT

Gamis students released after statements taken

2010/10/31
By Aidi Amin
aidiamin@nst.com.my

GUA MUSANG: Police today recorded statements from four university students who were detained for several hours yesterday for allegedly distributing political pamphlets in the Galas state constituency.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the students, aged between 18 - 25 years old were taken to the district police station and released soon after.

"We are investigating if the students are from Gua Musang or outsiders," he said after a briefing at the police operations centre here.

He said they would also work with the Election Commission and the students' universities during their investigations.

The students are from a group, calling themselves Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam SeMalaysia (Gamis) and were allegedly distributing brochures urging the locals to exercise their democratic right to vote.

A spokesman yesterday said the group represented students from various universities and had come to Galas to observe the campaign process and also explain to the people certain national issues, including the 2011 budget and how it effects them.

Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the detention of the students should not be politicised as they were merely detained for not possessing a valid permit to distribute the pamphlets.

"The students were not aligned to any political party and were merely there to urge the people to come out and vote. They are acting on their own and nothing to do with their respective universities.

"However, I would like to advise these students to go home and concentrate on their studies instead," he said when contacted.

On another issue, Ismail also said the police had to date received four reports on minor incidents involving the parties contesting the by-election here.

"I urge all parties to adhere to the laws and prevent any untoward incidents," he added.

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UDA Holdings acting managing director dies

Posted: 30 Jul 2011 11:27 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]UDA Holdings Bhd acting managing director Muhammad Radzi Mohd Basar, 53, died at a hotel in Kuantan about 6am today.

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Football / EPL: Awesome Aguero

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 05:58 PM PDT

SERGIO Aguero struck a hat-trick to shoot Manchester City to the top of the Premier League yesterday as Arsenal scored their first win of the season against Swansea.

Argentinian international Aguero took his tally for the season to six as Roberto Mancini's City outclassed Wigan 3-0 at Eastlands with a mesmerising display of attacking football.

The victory maintained City's perfect start to the season and saw them leapfrog to top spot ahead of Manchester United, who play Bolton Wanderers in yesterday's late kick-off.

City manager Mancini was purring with pleasure after the virtuoso display of Aguero, signed from Atletico Madrid this summer.

"They were fantastic strikes. He is an incredible player. He is young and scored three fantastic goals," Mancini said. "He always scored in his career and I hope that can continue here.

"We are in a good moment. It is important we continue to play well and improve our performance.

"We still need to improve. In the first half we had 15 chances to score and only got one goal."

In other results, Arsenal bounced back from their humiliating 8-2 defeat against Manchester United in their last outing to record a badly needed 1-0 win over Swansea at the Emirates.

An Andrey Arshavin goal on 40 minutes secured victory for Arsenal, the Russian international punishing a dreadful blunder by Swans goalkeeper Michel Vorm to finish from a tight angle.

Chelsea moved up to second place after recording their third win in a row with a 2-1 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Blues skipper John Terry drove a deflected shot into the net to put Chelsea ahead on 18 minutes after Sunderland failed to clear.

Chelsea doubled their lead on 51 minutes when striker Daniel Sturridge latched onto a ball over the top from new signing Raul Meireles to score.

Sunderland's South Korean international Ji Dong-Won gave the Black Cats hope with a goal in stoppage time but Chelsea held on.

Liverpool's recent revival ground to a halt as they crashed to an unexpected 1-0 defeat at Stoke.

The Merseysiders appeared poised for a fruitful afternoon after dominating throughout the early exchanges at the Britannia Stadium.

But Stoke edged ahead against the run of play on 21 minutes after Jamie Carragher was adjudged to have hauled down City striker Jon Walters in the box.

Walters duly stepped up to convert the penalty and although Liverpool continued to carve out openings, including a glaring last-gasp miss by Luis Suarez, Stoke held on for the win.

Tottenham recovered from their 5-1 home mauling by Manchester City with a 2-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux.

Emmanuel Adebayor, who joined Spurs on loan from Manchester City last month, struck on 67 minutes to put Tottenham ahead after being played in by fellow debutant Scott Parker. Jermain Defoe then made the game safe for Spurs on 80 minutes.

Everton and Aston Villa shared the points in a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. — AFP

Rugby / World Cup: England survive thriller

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 05:29 PM PDT

Argentina's Gonzalo Camacho is tackled by England players in their match yesterday. England won 13-9. — AFP picture

DUNEDIN: Ben Youngs spared England's blushes as they came from six points behind to beat Argentina 13-9 in their opening World Cup Pool B match at the Otago Stadium here yesterday.

England were trailing 9-3 when, after wing Chris Ashton was illegally upended, they kicked a penalty to touch.

They won possession from the resulting lineout and replacement scrum-half Youngs, recently sidelined with a knee injury, went over for the only try of the match 13 minutes from time.

Jonny Wilkinson, who remarkably missed five of his eight goalkicks as he began his and England' quest to appear in a third successive World Cup final in uncertain fashion, added the conversion to make it 10-9 before landing a late penalty to extend his side's lead.

But there was still time for a last-gasp Pumas attack from their own line launched by replacement back Marcelo Bosch.

A brilliant handling move ended with replacement Juan Jose Imhoff kicking ahead only to be seemingly tackled late by Manu Tuilagi.

But referee Bryce Lawrence did not award a penalty and England hung on.

"I aged about 20 years," said England manager Martin Johnson. "We had to find a way to win and we did.

"It's not a fantastic performance by any means, but it's a fantastic win," added England's 2003 World Cup-winning captain.

"I always thought if we kept on going, we'd tire them out."

Argentina, third at the 2007 World Cup where England finished runners-up to South Africa, were made to pay for missing six out of nine penalties, a possible 18 points in total.

The Pumas, their forwards especially, performed brilliantly for a side that had played just one Test in 11 months -- a 28-13 defeat by Wales in Cardiff in August and England captain Mike Tindall said: "We are under no illusions about what Argentina can bring.

"You've got to give full credit to the Pumas, when they got the ball they controlled it," added the 2003 World Cup-winning centre, leading the team in the absence of injured skipper Lewis Moody. -- AFP

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