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More than 42,000 detained for drug abuse from Jan-March Posted: 25 Jun 2011 09:05 PM PDT More than 42,000 detained for drug abuse from Jan-March MELAKA: Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam today called for public cooperation to help eliminate drug abuse among the young generation. He said parents should play their role by providing their children with religious education, and also to monitor their activities. He also suggested that the National Association for the Prevention of Drugs or Pemadam to carry out a social transformation programme towards moulding a well-rounded human capital. "Pemadam should step up its mechanism so that the existing plan of action will meet its objective, and hence, able to help achieve the government's objective of freeing the country from drugs by 2015," he added. He said this in his speech at a dinner held in conjunction with Pemadam's annual general meeting here last night. Mohd Ali said the number of people arrested for drug abuse had increased from 125,620 in 2009 to 157,765 people last year. Between January and March this year alone, 42,133 had been detained for various drug-related offences, he added. -- BERNAMA Air your comment on this issue: More than 42,000 detained for drug abuse from Jan-March 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. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Too few men Posted: 25 Jun 2011 11:54 AM PDT Too few men 2011/06/26 By P. Selvarani and Audrey Vijaindren nsunt@nst.com.my KUALA LUMPUR: It may be raining men in Pahang and Negri Sembilan but it's slim pickings for women in Perlis, Penang, Kelantan and Kedah. Although men slightly outnumber women in most states, preliminary reports from the latest population census conducted last year show that women far outnumber men in Perlis, Penang and Kelantan, with the states having a ratio of 91 men for every 100 women within the marrying age of 20 and 34 years. This falls short of the average national marriageable age ratio of 103:100. Kedah has a ratio of 99:100. National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) directorgeneral Datuk Aminah Abdul Rahman said the low male count in Perlis, Kelantan and Kedah could be attributed to the rural-urban migration as local men sought greener pastures in other states and bigger cities. Penang, on the other hand, attracted more women of productive age because of job opportunities in multi - national factories. "The many institutions of higher learning in Penang such as Universiti Sains Malaysia also attract a large population of female students," she told the New Sunday Times. This is in stark contrast to the situation in Negri Sembilan and Pahang, where women can afford to be choosy in seeking a life partner because of the higher ratio of men. Negri Sembilan has a man to woman ratio of 114 and 100, while Pahang has 113 to 100, with migrant workers making up a significant number of the male population because of their employment in the plantation sector. Aminah said the lower ratio of women was also caused by more young women migrating out of the states as well as an increase in the birth of baby boys. In Pahang, 13,232 boys were born in 2008 compared with 12,279 girls. "The unbalanced gender ratio in these states is abnormal and it is likely to have long-term social implications such as marriage squeeze and men marrying late." She said a "marriage squeeze" would cause local men to compete with their foreign counterparts for the attention of women, as many foreign men who had stayed here for a period of time would start families of their own by marrying local women. "Such inter-marriages will also change the family institution. In some instances, local women may also not be able to marry someone within their age group. "And with less potential in marriage partners, they may end up marrying someone much older or younger than them." Even smaller states such as Malacca have not been spared the social implications of an increasing migrant work force. With rapid development in recent years, the state now has one foreigner for every 20 locals. "This high ratio of migrant workers here has also impacted the family unit as there have been many cases of young women eloping with their foreign partners to places such as Lombok in Indonesia," said Aminah. While the female population in Penang remains high, the downside is that women in the state are not reproducing as much as they should. The total fertility rate (TFR) in the state is at 1.8 children,way belowthe national TFR of 2.3 children. If nothing is done to arrest the declining birthrate, the state will have an ageing population and will be totally dependent on foreign labour in the future. These are among several issues that the LPPKN has identified in its ongoing nationwide roadshowto create awareness on the National Family Policy launched in December. Other issues are problems faced by "sandwich families" (working couples who have to take care of their children and elderly parents), "empty nest" syndrome (old folk experiencing loneliness when their children leave home) and insufficient child and elderly daycare centres. "We are briefing the states on the National Family Policy Action Plan so they will be able to include the family perspective in their development and planning. "During the roadshows,we identify the social issues peculiar in the state and see howbest they can implement family-friendly policies in their planning without jeopardising the econo my, " Aminah said. For example, states with a gender imbalance could phase out the foreign workers by going for capitalintensive industries. To date, the LPPKN has conducted roadshows in Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Pahang, Kelantan and Sarawak. "It's important that state authorities are made aware of the impact of development on the family unit and find ways to ensure that familyfriendly policies are implemented, even if it means reviewing existing laws and regulations, and make family- friendly services accessible to the public ," Aminah said. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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Russia bets big on World Cup economic revival Posted: 25 Jun 2011 09:27 PM PDT MOSCOW: Russia is making a multi-billion-dollar bet on the 2018 World Cup bringing wealth and promise to remote regions that have seen little progress since Soviet times. Success could spark a social and economic revolution in which growth seeps to cities whose infrastructure had spent decades decaying from mismanagement and financial neglect. But failure could crush the hopes of a generation of Russians living in the provinces and reinforce global investor doubts about a country whose bureaucracy is as notorious as its surly service. "Our government takes it all very seriously. Our regional governments take it very seriously. It is a great motivation to really change for the better," said Russia 2018 World Cup Organising Committee chief Alexei Sorokin. "We want to make full use of the infrastructural growth," he said at the Inside World Football Moscow Forum. The obvious benefits a World Cup can bring have been felt most in countries such as South Africa — places with needs and grand projects that refused to get off paper until it was time to prepare for the world's most watched event. Russia desperately wants to follow suit. It plans to pour up to $100 billion into high-speed rail development and upgrades stretching from the Gulf of Finland to the Ural Mountains host city of Yekaterinburg. Roads have been assigned double that figure while another $10 billion will be spent on more immediate projects linked to the World Cup such as airport and stadium renovation and the construction of hotels. "We are already looking beyond 2018 at all the infrastructure services the World Cup will offer Russia," said British Embassy commercial team leader Damion Potter. "Stadiums are like candles on a cake," added Andrew Garbutt of the Los Angeles-based AECOM engineering and design firm. "They look pretty and they are there for a reason. But what really matters is the cake — the infrastructure — underneath." Organisers have the dual brief of making the hinterlands hospitable to the international masses while locking in long-term rewards. Russian football bosses speak gravely of "white elephants" that dot some less successful host cities and promise flexible-capacity stadiums that will suit local needs after the World Cup buzz fades. But some of the biggest excitement is around the high-speed rail lines. The one from Moscow to Saint Petersburg has been a pet Kremlin project but a second is now proposed for cities such as Kazan and possibly Yekaterinburg. Faster links are also planned throughout central and southern Russia — regions whose shambolic infrastructure is one of several big drags on investment. "What high-speed rail does, is it has a very big impact on the sustainability and legacy of a region. It provides social, economic and financial benefits not just in the short term but also in the longer term," AECOM's Garbutt said. "It brings investment to areas and starts more building in a number of areas that can be developed on." Yet the scale of the task at hand and the Kremlin's central role in it has some Western investors concerned. Current development around the Black Sea resort town of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games is already haunted by reports of graft and the money for the World Cup is exponentially bigger. "It would be recommended to hand things to an experienced international project manager," said Lorenz Schneider of the Tilke & Partners project management firm in Abu Dhabi. "In this context, in these circumstances, it would seem the appropriate thing to do." Russia still needs to change its laws so that refurbished sites can be privatised once completed and streamline a state tender process whose reliability has failed on many occasions in the past. But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — the de facto leader who spearheaded Russia's World Cup drive — said that at stake was the "development of the entire infrastructure of the European part of the country." And officials from the FIFA world football governing body said this was the backing they were hoping for when awarding one of the world's most prestigious events to an Eastern European country for the first time. "The political support for this in Russia has been astounding," FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke told the Moscow forum. "I have personally not seen this level of political support anywhere before." -- AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Wen in Britain on Europe tour as activist freed Posted: 25 Jun 2011 09:19 PM PDT LONDON: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday kicked off the first full day of a visit to Britain, as Beijing released high-profile human rights activist Hu Jia from prison. Wen arrived late Saturday in the central city of Birmingham from Hungary, the first stop on his three-nation Europe tour, as news emerged that Hu, one of China's most prominent prisoners of conscience, was about to be released. China is trying to use the trip to gain a greater foothold in Europe, but has faced fierce criticism from Western powers over its human rights record and in particular a recent crackdown on dissent. The release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei last week was widely seen as an effort to defuse the tensions. London has been among international critics, with Foreign Secretary William Hague repeatedly speaking out against Ai's detention and the crackdown against activists. The British stage of Wen's trip is aimed at strengthening economic and political ties between London and Beijing, and he will hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron and attend the annual UK-China Summit. Around the time Wen arrived in Britain, China released Hu after he completed a sentence of more than three years for subversion and he returned to his home outside Beijing early Sunday morning, his wife said in a Twitter posting. "On a sleepless night, Hu Jia arrived home at 2:30 am. Peaceful, very happy. Need to rest for awhile. Thanks to you all," Zeng Jinyan, also an activist, wrote on her Twitter account. Hu, 37, was jailed in April 2008, just months before the Beijing Olympics, after angering the ruling Communist Party through years of bold and outspoken campaigning for civil rights, the environment, and AIDS sufferers. His release came several days after Ai was freed on bail after nearly three months in police custody. His detention had drawn fierce international criticism. British officials had raised the issue with their Chinese counterparts at the highest level. Hague had given Ai's release only a cautious welcome, saying that "serious questions" remained about the circumstances of his detention and legal status. "I urge the Chinese authorities to clarify the exact details of the charges against him as soon as possible," he said at the time of the release. "I am also concerned by the cases of other activists, lawyers, journalists and bloggers detained in recent weeks, and call on the Chinese authorities to ensure they are treated in accordance with international human rights standards." On Sunday, Wen will visit the MG car plant in the Longbridge area of Birmingham, which was for many years a symbol of British manufacturing dominance but is now owned by SAIC Group, China's largest automaker. In a break from serious official duties, he will indulge his interest in Shakespeare with a visit to the bard's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he will be treated to a short performance. His next stop is London, where he will on Monday hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron and attend the UK-China Summit, an annual event aimed at boosting ties during which business deals will be announced. The premier leaves Britain on Monday for Germany, the third stop on his tour. It is Wen's second Europe tour in just nine months, highlighting a shift in China's interest towards investing in the continent after having ploughed money in recent years into Africa, Australia, Latin America and the United States. Wen's tour comes amid an escalation in the eurozone debt crisis, centring again on Greece, which needs to push through new austerity measures next week to unlock crucial EU-IMF aid and stave off default. -- AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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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. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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. Air your comment on this issue: Gamis students released after statements taken 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. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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Samir steers India to victory Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:21 AM PDT Sultan Ahmad Shah, with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's assistance, presents the Malaysia Cup, which will now be contested as the Asia Pacific Championship, to India team captain Colonel Tarun Sirohi yesterday. Looking on is Royal Malaysian Polo Association president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah. INDIA created polo history when they won their first ever international title on foreign soil with a 12-9 win over Pakistan in the Asian-Australasian-African Championships final at the Royal Selangor Polo Club yesterday. There was more joy for India when Samir Suhag (Handicap 5) was voted the Most Valuable Player. Samir was again in top form in the final, scoring seven goals to take his personal tally to 23 in the tournament. India's other goals came through Simran Shergill (Handicap 4) who scored a hat-trick and one each by Vishal Chauhan (2) and Tarun Sirohi (3). Pakistan's newcomer Temur Nadeem (2) was his team's top scorer with five goals followed by Ahmed Tiwana (3) with two. "This win means history for us. We came here with a mission and we did it in style. As I said, this is the best polo team from India in 20 years. This team has a bright future. Indian polo has come of age and we will be heading to Argentina (for the FIP Polo World Cup Finals) in October with confidence," said India team manager Vikram Singh Rathore Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Hafizh still has the touch Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:16 AM PDT HAFIZH Syahrin Abdullah topped the timed practice session in the CP130 class in Round Five of the Petronas AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship in Teluk Intan, Perak yesterday. Only joining the race from this round onwards, the defending champion had no problems adapting to the underbone machine as he dominated the entire practice session. Hafizh lived up to expectations as he was the only one who clocked below 56 seconds. The Petronas Syntium Moto Yamaha Raceline rider set the fastest lap of 56.685s in Lap 11 while veteran ace, Mohd Zamri Baba of Petronas Syntium Moto Yamaha AHM came in second fastest in 57.160s. Mohd Hafieenaz Mohd Ali of Petronas Syntium Moto Yamaha AHM topped the CP115 class with a time of 58.137s, while in the Wira class, defending champion Mohd Adib Rosley clocked 59.324s to top the practice session. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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