MPs see nothing positive about ICJ ruling

Malaysian Insider (26/5/08): There was no support in Parliament today for the official position that the decision by the International Court of Justice on Pulau Batu Puteh was a win-win for Singapore and Malaysia. Instead, it was a day of regret, recrimination and some republic-bashing.

As expected, the MPs from Johor had much to say about the loss of the outcrop of rocks to Singapore. Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi cut through all the fluff and said that sovereignty fell to the republic as a result of Malaysia failing to keep a proper record of its historical documents.

He noted that the government could not locate a letter from the British seeking permission from the Johor government to build a lighthouse on the island. The letter was a piece of "valuable evidence" which could have swung the case in Malaysia's favour.

"As a Johorean I am disappointed. We lost simple as that. I don't believe in the win-win situation as claimed by the government. This is the end result of not placing a premium on historical documents," he declared.

To remedy this situation, Puad called on the government to create a centre to cater specifically for the storage and documentation of important national documents.

Hamim Samuri (BN-Ledang) said that the loss of Batu Puteh should make Malaysia more vigilant. "We must watch Singapore's activities on our territory. We have to monitor Pulau Merambung which is near Tuas in Singapore," he said, adding that the government had to ensure that Pulau Pisang remains in Malaysian hands.

"The Singaporeans fly their flag on the lighthouse there. It gives the impression that they have sovereignty over the island. We must ensure the island does not go the way of Batu Puteh," he said.

Parti Islam SeMalaysia are going to table a motion tomorrow to debate the ICJ decision and party firebrand Mahfuz Omar gave an indication of its plan of attack.

He blamed Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail for the loss of Batu Puteh to Singapore. "The way I see it, the attorney-general has failed in giving sound advice to the government," he said.

Since Friday, the Opposition including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim have tapped into the rich vein of dissatisfaction against Gani and blamed him for the poor handling of the case. The AG has also come under attack for the dismal track record of his prosecutors in major criminal cases.

Independent MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind) said that the government had to be wary of Singapore, and expanded the scope of concern beyond the ICJ decision.

Singaporeans had a water treatment plant in Gunung Pulai which was run by the republic. "No one can go near Gunung Pulai. I have been made to understand that the the plant is big and if it was to burst half of Johor will be submerged in a flood," he said.

Nor Yakcop: Opposition states will be funded

Malaysian Insider (22/5/08): Malaysian Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the Barisan Nasional-led Federal Government will not choke development in Opposition-held states.

He said over the years, the federal government had already been having pragmatic relations with Opposition-held states and it would continue the close cooperation for the sake of national development.

He said development in the PAS, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led states would gain greater momentum as the federal government had put in place various development measures in the last five years.

Speaking at a media conference after giving a talk on the Malaysian economy at an international conference in Singapore, Nor Mohamed said the government had put the last general election behind it and was now moving forward to bring fair development to the whole country.

He said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said that "he is the prime minister for all" and sincerely planned to distribute equitable wealth to the people and development to the states depending on affordability.

He said the economic and political challenges that the country was currently facing was a pale comparison to the crises that it had went through such as the 1969 racial riots and the financial crisis in 1997.

Nonetheless, he said the present challenges were real but the government has the ability to face it straight on.

Nor Mohamed said Malaysia was very lucky because as a commodity exporting country it had benefited from the current increase in the prices but income earned from palm oil and petroleum would not last long. It is projected that by 2014, Petronas would be net importer of oil.

He said the government would need to utilise its revenue judiciously and strategically especially for long term investments.

He pointed to the various kinds of subsidies the government was providing that had reached the RM$50 billion mark with the bulk of it or RM$45 billion for oil and gas subsidy and this had stretched government spending.

Nor Mohamed said a new scheme on oil subsidy, which the government was currently drafting to reduce its financial burden including the pump price of petroleum for vehicles, would be ready in a couple of months.

He explained government needed time to study the scheme as it had to distinguish which groups - the lower, middle or high income brackets - were to benefit most from the new subsidy structure.

Nor Mohamed also said inflation was not a major issue in Malaysia adding that it would hover around three per cent as forecast. — Bernama

RM630m gone to LDP concession holder

Malaysian Insider (22/5/08): The government has paid RM630.54 million in compensation to the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) concessionaire up to last year.

Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed said the government had implemented the restructuring of the LDP toll rates and as a result, it had to pay compensation to the concessionaire.

"To avoid the burden of higher tolls for LDP users, the government studied and restructured the toll rates and approved lower tolls than that called for in the the concession agreement. For example, the rate for a Class One vehicle in 1999 was reduced to RM1 from the RM1.50 allowed for in the agreement and last year the government again restructured the rate to RM1.60 from RM2.10," he said.

Mohd Zin was replying to a question from Hee Loy Sian (PKR-Petaling Jaya Selatan) who wanted to know the subsidy paid by the government until now for the LDP and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) to avoid the burden of higher tolls for highway users.

He said for the NPE, the government had not restructured the toll rates.

Bumiputera contractor list for Iskandar

The government is drawing up the Bumiputera Contractor Master List to ensure the active participation of Bumiputeras in the Iskandar Malaysia economic development region.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the preparatory effort, expected to be completed by end of this year, was an important strategy towards supporting a strong Bumiputera economy.

"The objective of the programme is to reduce and eventually eradicate any imbalance in the participation of Bumiputeras in business and it is also a mechanism to easily facilitate the establishment of efficient Bumiputera joint ventures with potential investors in Iskandar Malaysia," he said in his written reply to a question from Salahuddin Ayub (Pas-Kubang Kerian).

Abdullah said the master list is also being drawn up to strengthen the ties between Bumiputera-owned companies, especially the small and medium enterprises, with the public and private sector as well as research institutions.

The prime minister said several initiatives have been identified to counter social issues of locals.

Abdullah said the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development has also formulated an action plan to help identify and get the involvement of capable Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the development of all the corridors.

The implementation of Iskandar Malaysia and all the other corridors have been in fact planned taking into account the interest of all communities, he said.

Walls at Sarawak-Indonesian border

The government has agreed to erect walls at several locations along the Sarawak-Indonesia border to prevent foreigners sneaking into the country via secret land routes dubbed as "jalan tikus".

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said the walls would be built among others at Mangsasan, Lingsawan and Wongpanjang in Lubuk Antu, and Titika and Batu Lintang in Sri Aman in reply to Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

Support for Myanmar not mistake

Malaysia did not make a big mistake in supporting Myanmar's entry into Asean in 1997.

Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said that what was important was for Myanmar not to return to its closed-door policy.

"It is a country close to us and if Myanmar were to be isolated, its development, economy and trade would be stifled, besides having to face a more serious poverty problem. "Inevitably, it would have to depend on the big powers which will eventually usurped its sovereignty," he said when winding up the debate on the King's address.

Abdul Rahim said although not much change had taken place in Myanmar, it was nevertheless developing little by little after it joined Asean.

He was replying to Dr P. Ramasamy (DAP-Batu Kawan) who had asked whether Malaysia had erred by recognising Myanmar as a member of Asean.

Solid Waste Management Act

The Solid Waste Management Act will not be enforced in Sabah and Sarawak as both the states have their own set of laws to regulate solid waste management and public cleanliness, Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said.

He said both the Sabah and Sarawak governments had also expressed the intention that they would not apply the Act even when the legislation was being formulated.

"When we were formulating the act, it was with the view of including Sabah and Sarawak but the governments in both states decided not to apply the law for the time being as they have their own legislation for the purpose," he said in reply to a question from Datuk Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan).

Ghapur had wanted to know whether it was the federal government or the state government which was responsible for sewerage management in Sabah.

30pc target for women decision makers

Although no time frame has been given for the 30 per cent target for women to be at the decision-making level in the public sector to be achieved, the indications have been positive.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said promotions for civil servants were determined based on certain criteria regardless of gender.

"If more women qualify and can meet the criteria, the 30 per cent target for women civil servants to be at the decision-making level can even be surpassed," she added in her written reply to Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam).

Dr Ng said the number of women holding top positions in the public sector increased from 18.8 per cent in 2004 to 26 per cent last year, the number of women ambassadors from 10 per cent in 2006 to 15.6 per cent in 2007 and High Commissioners from 4.3 per cent (2006) to 40 per cent (2007).

She said the ministry believed that the target could be achieved soon considering that women officers at the middle management level (Grade 48 to 54) exceeded 30 per cent last year.

Call to speed up work on Penang's tuna port

The government has called for a faster completion of the upgrading work carried out on the tuna port at the Batu Maung fishing port in Penang.

Minister of Agriculture and Agro Based Industries Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the upgrading of the Malaysia International Tuna Port, besides speeding up the government's plans to develop the port as an international tuna hub, will be also important in generating economic activities in the region.

He was replying to a question from Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim (PKR-Bayan Baru) on the short and long term plans by the ministry for the tuna port.

The upgrade costing more than RM260 million included extension of the tuna berth from 430 metres to 1,600 metres, expansion of the port area and construction of several office buildings. It will then be able to handle tuna boats of 3,000 tonnes instead of the present 150 to 750 tonnes. It will be able to also handle 100 boats at a time.

Malaysia's tuna industry is estimated to be worth between RM70 and RM80 million.

Rebranding of Agrobank

This exercise of turning Bank Pertanian to Agrobank on April 1 was aimed at giving the bank a more global image and enhance its competitiveness, Mustapa said to reflect its new paid-up capital of RM1 billion.

Besides providing loans to local farmers, it will only be natural for Agrobank to look at establishing global links, he told Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique (BN-Tenggara) on the reason for the name change.

Agrobank, which has 173 branches nationwide, approved loans worth RM15.3 billion as of last year. Its deposits and savings amount to RM4.58 billion with a total of two million account holders.

Heart surgery in Bangalore

The sending of children of poor families who have congenital heart disease for surgery at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital in Bangalore, India, is a last resort to save them, deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad explained due to reduced waiting time.

"Ten out every 1,000 children born in Malaysia each year are afflicted by congenital heart disease. This means each year we are faced with about 5,000 cases of children born with the disease, of which between 2,000 and 3,000 of them need surgery," he replied to Dr Lee Boon Chye (PKR-Gopeng).

The Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital is world renowned as a heart surgery centre for children. -Bernama