Don't interfere, politicians told

Politicians should not interfere while police personnel are carrying out their duties, said Inspector-General of Police tan Sri Musa hassan
"One politician recently sent 100 traffic sommonses and told me to cancel them. He claimed the offenders were his constittuents and did not have money to settle the summonses.
"There are also policians whp tell my OCPDs not to summon those ridding their motorcycles in thr kampung areas without helmets. How can we do that?" he asked.
Musa, who was speaking at a national forum on crime and policing, said the police would not be able to carry out their duties effectively if these politicians continued to interfere.
Earlier, he admitted that the country's crime rate was on the rise but was not as bad as reported in the media and blods.
"last year's crime rate per 100,000 population was only 772 cases caopared to Hong Kong (1,166), Japan(1,569) and Australia(4,270). The rising crime rate is actually a global problem but iat is still at a manageable level.
"I have already taken steps to counter the rise in crime rate like improving the response time to a crime scene, building police stations in new housing estates and installing CCTV cameras in crime-prone arreas."
On the small number of chinese joining the police force, Musa said most wanted to be officers and not constables.
"There is still a shortage of policemen despite recruiting over 7000 people a few months ago.
The force now has over 97,000 personnel and needs at least 40,000 more.
"I have asked for another 60,000 to be recruited over the next five years but this still will not be enough as there are hundreds of retirements annually," he added.
Musa said he also wanted the national crime solving rate to be at least 40%.
"From today, the public can lodge reports at the various marine police bases nationawide. I have also directed the marine police personnel to be involved in crime prevention on land instead in crime prevention on land instead of just the high seas.
"The General OperationsForce, whose duties ised used to be only in the jungles, now have awider scope of work. They are responsible for security in airports and certain islands in the country,"he said.
On the police force being biased against yhe participants of illegal gatherings in Kuala LUMPUR, HE SAID THE POLICE ONTRY ACTED BECAUSE it was getting a bit out of hand.

Don't interfere, politicians told

Team of Bloggers to explain Perak govt policies

The Pakatan Rakyat state government will soon have its own team of bloggers to help it disseminate information.
Menteri Besar Datuk seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said the state government was setting up u a "bloggers' secretariat" to ensure accurate information was being channelled to the rakyat.
It will help the state counter accusations and inform the public about government policies.
The secretariat will be headed by Nizar's press secretary Anuar Hashim.
Nizar said the move to set up the secretariat was made after a meeting on Wednesday with 26 bloggers who agreed to assist the state disseminate information on policy matters and programmes.
"This is also to counter and defend the state's stand on certain issues and policies which have been played up by the opposition," he said in his speech at a dinner organised by the state Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth(Angkatan Muda Keadilan ) on Wednesday.
Also present were DAP national Youth chief Nga Kor Ming, PKR national youth chief Shamsul Iskandar, Perak PKR Youth head Anuar Zakaria and Perak PKR chairman Ismail Yusoff.
Nga said he was disappointed with RTM as it had not not invited the menteri besar to go on air and explain state policies to the people.
"It has been nine months since Pakatan Rakyat took over the administration of the state but RTM has yet to invite the menteri besar and has only been criticising the state government."

Lodge Report on vandalised signs, CM tells MPPP

The Penang Island Municipal Council(MPPP) has been instructed to lodge police reports on the vandalisation of two bilingual road signs, both in Malay and Arabic.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said this was necessary to prevent further sabotage of bilingual road signs meant to help tourists.
In a statement yesterday, he noted that other signs with Mandarin and Tamil were not affected.
The vandalised road sign were found sprayed with red paint on Sunday morning and have since been cleaned up.
An MPPP wprker who spotted the defaced road signs lodged a report at the Campbell Street police station yesterday afternoon.
In a separate statement, state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow said the worker had taken photographs of the road signs with his mobile phone before he helped to clean them.

ACA probing 82 cases of money politics

The Anti-Corruption Agency involving money politics with charges of bribery taken against some of the culprits and others referred to yhe respective partive party,s disciplinary boards.
Its director-general Datuk Ahmad said Hamdan confirmed that the agency had received som 280 reports of which 82 cases had basis for the ACA to conduct investigation.
"If there is sufficient evidence then we will take action by either bringing them to court or referring them to their respective disciplinary boards," he told reporters in Alor gajah after closing the agency's training course for 87 investigatig officers yesterday.
Ahmad Said did not name the political affiliation of those under investigations and stressed that the agency didi not label such cases as one of money politics but simply as bribery.
For the ACA, there is no such thing as money politics as anything to do with a bribe is considered corruption,he added.
Meanwhile, Ahmad said that the agency had received 14,817 reports as of Nov 19 compared to the estimated 13,900 reports for the whole of last year.
He noted that the increase in the number of reports is a good indication that the public supports the ACA's efforts to combat corruption and abuse of power.
He added that the agency is beefing up its manpower capabilities fromthe current 1800 officers to 2700 next year.
He said the agency hopes to increase ists strenth to 5,000 officers with plans to open up branches in Kuala Kubu Baru, Limbang and Gua Musang.
Ahamd Said also said the agency would be cracking down on syndicates involved with bribery and corruption, in partivular those with regard to illegal logging and enviromental degradation.

Stop Obsession with cabinet Posts: Tee Keat

MCA members should stop their obsession with holding cabinet posts and focus instead on resolving the woes of the grassroots , party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said yesterday.
"Having the people's aspirations in mind would be something more positive than being obsessed with personal political gains, particularly in relation to ministership," he said.
Ong praised his deputy, Datuk Dr Shua Soi Lek, for his willingness to head the party's government policy monitoring bureau, which will keep tabs on the ministries headed by MCA ministers.
"This is in line with what I said earlier because when I said that we needed to form such a bureau to handle the people's feedback, we must keep the people's aspirations in mind," h e said.
"I am glad he shares my view."
Ong said Chua, a former health minister, was "perhaps the best person" to advise new ministers appointed after the March 8 general election.
"As a former minister, he would be in a very good position to tell us about some of the issues currently confronting us. Issues do not come into place suddenly or abruptly," he said.
Ong , who is the transport minister, told a press conference his ministry is re-examining the e-Kesihatan Programme, which it cancelled earlier.
"For now, the concessionaire has been informed of the government's decision to discontinue with the agreement," he said.
"The project has been reffered back to the Road Transport Department(RTD) to re-look at the format as well as the details of the agreement. We need to look at it again, to look at the limitations and at the same time, we need to come up with something that will serve the public's purpose.
"We need to ensure medical certification of the fitness of public transport drivers, that is a must.
But we do not want to make it burdensome. So we have to strike the right balance between both."
Respondinh to calls to use the Emergency Ordinance to curb the mat rempai menace, Ong said:" In my opinion, the nations is not short of laws. If we,as a nation, were able to defeat a militant insurgency, we should be able to handle a social ill like this."
Asked about the mobes by PAS to open up to chinese supportes, Ong said such overtures were not new.
"Any party, including PAS, has a right to reach out to any segment of the populace. We shouldn't have qualms about it." he said.
"The current outreach proposal is not something new.... if we were to trace back 2 years, 10 1986, when the Chinese Consultative Council(CCC) was mooted and formed by PAS. The CCC has been defunct for years, without an explanation. It would be good for PAS to explain why the CCC was defunct before they came to a new iniative."
Ong had earlier launched Jalan Multimedia in i-City and and welcome the initial batch of tenants to i-City at Concierge@i-City here.

Toll Discount

1. Toll discount of 10% will be given to owners of private cars and light vehicles who used the North-South Expressway Central Link(Elite) Highway during low traffic hours from Jan 1 to end of 2010, with additional discount during festive seasons.

More incentives are expected from other highway concessionaires soon.
Yesterday, the country's biggest highway concessionaire, Plus Expressway Bhd. announced incentives for travel on the two highways, the result of negitiations in recent months with the government which had been pushing for toll reductions.
"Plus's initiative is in line with the government's call to give added value to highway users, especially during the current economic situation," said Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamad at the launch of the Plus Travel Incentive Programme yesterday.
The icng on the incentive cake is that all Class 1(private cars and light vehicles) highways between midnight and 7.00 am will get a 10 % toll discount. This could mean a saving of about Rm4 for the journey from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. Together with the other incentives(see table), the savings would amount to more than 20%.
Mohd. Zin said the incentives went through an indepth study and evaluation by a Malaysian Highway Authority(L.L.M) committee from May."This iniative is part of Plus's corporate social responsibility(CSR) and does not require the government paying compensation," he said, adding that previously the government paid huge compensation to the concessionaires to maintain or reduce toll rates.
He said although the companies made good profit, the terms of the concession agreement called for compensation to redice toll rates or to maintain them although they were to be increased.
On the other 20 highways , Mohd. Zin said eight of them could not reduce their toll rates for various reasons: going through financial problems. debt restructuring, newly operating, concession period ending next year and some were under receiver and manager. He did not name the eight.
Mohd. Zin hoped the rest will come up with toll reductions soon.
He also announced in a stetement that all toll highway operators, except one, had agreed to make public their consession agreements, confirming a report in the Sun on Monday that the government had diclassified the agreements.
LLM directir-general Datuk Mohamad Razali Othman urged other concessionaires to make toll reduction their CSR iniative.He also said that since 1988 compensation paid to highway operators was aboutRM 2 billion.

Tidak logik banding kemenangan Obama

Sebarang percubaan untuk membandingkan atau menyamakan kemenangan Presiden kulit hitam pertama Amerika Syarikat(AS), Barack Obama dengan sentimen politik Malaysia bukan sesuatu yang logik dan ia di luar realiti.
Menteri Luar, Datuk Seri Dr. rais Yatim berkata, beliau hairan dengan tindak tanduk pihak terbabit yang cuba'tumpang semangkok' kemenangan Obama agar dapat dikaitkan dengan senario politik negara.
Tegas beliau, hakikatnya banyak peruntukan yang berkait dengan pelbagai kaum. Politik dan masyarakat kita berbeza dengan negara itu walaupun nilai demokrasi serba sedikit boleh dikaitkan.
"Malah AS sudah menjadi negara bebas sejak tahun 1777 sedangkan kita 1957," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di Putrajaya hari ini.
Beliau mengulas kolum Bisik-Bisik Awang Selamat Utusan Malaysia analisis tertentu mengaitkan pemilihan Obama yang juga warna kulit hitam pertama sebagai presiden AS dengan politik Malaysia.
Menurut kolum itu, sudah kedengaran suara pemimpin bukan Melayu yang mahukan bukan Melayu diberi peluang menjadi Perdana Menteri.
Semalam, Presiden MCA, datuk Ong Tee Keat berkata, sudak sampai masanya bagi rakyat malaysia membebaskan diri merea dari belenggu isu perkauman. Dengan mengambil Obama sebagai contoh , Tee Keat berkata:"Sedihnya do Malaysia, kita masih berbalah dalam soal remeh berhubung pelantikan seorang wanita Cina sebagai Pemangku Pengurus Besar Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor(PKNS)."
Tindakan kerajaan negeri Selangor yang diterahui Pakatan rakyat melantik Low Siew Moi sebagai Pemangku Pengurus Besar PKNS dipersoalkan banyak pihak kerana dikatakan tidak memenuhi aspirasi penubuhan PKNS bagi membantu meningkatkan soal sosial dan ekonomi bumiputra.

Govt to appeal Raja Petra's release

The Home Ministry will appeal against the Shah Alam High Court decision to release Raja Petra Kamarudin from detention under the Internal Security Act, the prime minister said.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government respected the court's decision but would nevertheless mount an appeal.

Asked if the government would be more carefulbefore making future ISA arrests, Abdullah said:

"The Home Ministry is always careful. The power of ISA detention is not to be used carelessly.

"Tere is a reason for all the arrests made under the ISA."

Raja Petra, 58 who was detained under the ISA on Sept. 12, was released on Thursday by the Shah Alam High Court.

Judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahnad accepted the habeas corpus application filed by the blogger. He ruled that the grounds given by Home Minister datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar for Raja Pettra's detention did not fall within the scope of Section 8(1) of the ISA.

raja Petra was arrested as he was deemed a security threat.

Penang Gerakan has urged the government not to filed an appeal.

State Gerakan chairman Datuk doktor Teng Hock Nan said rhe party was happy with the court's decision, which had shown the jidicial system was tansparent.

"We should respect the High Court's decision that Raja Petra is not a direct threat to the nation."

Dr. Teng said Gerakan also wanted the government toreview the ISA to review the ISA and replace it with an anti-terrorism act.

Shorsighted to turn BN multiracial

calls to turn Barisan nasional into a multiracial party are shorsighted as raced-based parties are crucial to the development of every community, Umno supreme council member Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said.
He said Gerakan and the People's Progressive Party were not right to make the proposal in view of the composition of Malaysian society.
"Our country is race-based with Malays, Chinese and Indians living in their own areas. How can we reach these people if we are not seen as one of them or don't know their mother tongue?" asked the Tambun MO after presenting uniforms to 285 Federal Village Security and Development Committe members for Manjoi and Ulu Kinta in Ipoh. Husni said, the presidents of every BN race-based party had more power to effect change by reaching out to their own communities."If a person is just a committee member in a single race-based party, he would not be able to raise the interests for a community which he may or may not belong to, said Husni, who is seeking re-election to the supreme council.
The Tambun Umno chief pointed out that Parti Keadilan Rakyat, DAP and Pas were dominated by an ethnic group.

Perak bars KL-appointed village chairman from district meetings

Village Development and Security Committe(JKKP) chairmen appointed by the Federal Government are barred from attending district action committees,says Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar jamaluddin.
The JKKP is not an entity recognised by the state government.
The JKKP was formed by the Rural and Regional Development Ministry in states ruled by Pakatan rakyat after the March 8 general election. Each JKKP chairman receives a monthly allowance of RM400.
"The only legal entity the stste government recognised is the village development and security committee, or JKKK, whose chairmenwere chosen by the people," Mohammad Nizar told reporters yesterday after presenting ahe annual dividend of RM650 to 51 participants of a"Ladang Rakyat." The project is an oil palm estate managed by the state Agriculture Development Corporation in Batu Kurau.
The Menteri Besar said the ban was effective Aug 1 when the state-sanctioned JKKK chairmen officially assumed office.
To a question, Mohammad Nizar said the ban was imposed because the state government felt that the formation of the JKKP would cause disunity.
"The people are bound to be divided as most of the JKKP chairmen comprised former JKKK chairmen(appointed by the previous Barisan Nasional-led state government),"he said.