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As Branagh
likes it
After pay cut,
ministers still
earn S$1.54m
SINGAPORE: Even after a 20% pay
cut, cabinet ministers in the reces-
sion-hit republic will earn a salary of
about US$1 million (RM3.5 million)
each this year, Parliament was told
yesterday.
Ministers can expect to take
home about S$1.54 million after
the cuts, said Teo Chee Hean, the
minister in charge of the civil
service. Senior bureaucrats will see
their annual salary shrink 12% to
S$351,000, he said, adding that the
figure could change depending on
the economy.
“As the salaries are linked to
economic performance, the 2009
salaries may be subject to further
adjustment given the volatility in the
economy,” he said in response to an
MP’s question.
Singapore in 2007 introduced
a mechanism linking a significant
proportion of senior civil servants’
salaries to economic performance,
which means that if the economy is
doing well, pay will rise. The reverse
occurs if growth stalls.
Trade-dependent Singapore be-
came the first Asian economy to fall
into recession last year, and Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in
remarks published Saturday that the
government will further reduce its
economic forecast for 2009 because
the global situation has worsened.
There was no discussion in
yesterday’s parliamentary sitting of
Lee’s salary but The Straits Times
reported in November that he will
earn S$3.04 million after a 19% cut
due to salary components linked to
economic growth.
Rare public fury erupted in 2007
when the government announced
pay rises for politicians and senior
officials. In response, Lee said the
government would pay him the
higher salary but he would “donate”
the increase “to suitable good
causes” for five years.
The White House said at the time
that President George W. Bush was
paid US$400,000 per year. – AFP
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» ‘Umno lacks the wow factor’ pg2
pg19
Dengue cases double
by Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
P activities
UTRAJAYA: The Health
Ministry issued a dengue alert
yesterday following worrisome
statistics.
Dengue cases have more than
doubled since the beginning of
the new year, with 3,211 reported
nationwide from Jan 1-17 compared
to 1,514 in the same period last year.
This is a rise of 112%.
Sixty-three per cent of the cases
were reported in the Klang Valley.
At the same time, there were eight
dengue-related deaths compared to
four last year, Director-General of
Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican
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» Chana Era makes Malaysian debut pg17
told a press conference yesterday.
Expressing concern that people
were not serious in taking preven-
tive measures although the disease
is preventable, he said: “We must
declare an all-out war on dengue
and chikungunya so that people
know this is a major problem.”
There were 364 chikungunya
cases until Jan 17 with the major-
ity reported in Selangor, Kelantan,
Perak, Johor, Kedah, Pahang and
Penang.
Ismail said dengue cases had
been on the rise all around the
world because of several factors,
namely human activities, urbanisa-
tion and climate change.
“According to the information
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Tuesday
January 20, 2009
www.sun2surf.com
Business
Fogging
received, 80% of the areas with
dengue cases have a high rate of
Aedes breeding sites. Since dengue
is caused by Aedes bites, the most
effective measure is to get rid of
are effective these sites,” he said.
to kill “Fogging activities are effective
only adult to kill only adult mosquitoes. The
mosquitoes. larvae would not be killed by the
The larvae fog, therefore, the public must be
active in checking their premises
would not be and destroy all breeding sites.”
killed by the fog, therefore, He said it took only 10 minutes
the public must be active in a week for this and advised com-
checking their premises and munity leaders to organise gotong
royong to clean up their areas. He
destroy all breeding sites.” said the ministry had spent RM1.7
– Dr Ismail million on awareness campaigns
through the media.
He said healthcare personnel
in government and private clinics
had been advised to be on the alert
and issued with the refined clinical
practice guidelines on the manage-
ment of dengue infection to ensure
early diagnosis. “Now, dengue cases
come with different presentations
like epileptic, jaundice, hepatitis and
organ failure, so people don’t realise
it is dengue. This atypical presenta-
tion is not like the standard cases
of fever, bleeding or low-platelet
count,” he said.
Because of this, some diagnoses
were made very late. Doctors were
told to do extra testing for dengue if
someone had fever and came from
dengue-infested areas, he said.
Rocking start ...
T HOUSANDS braved the cold
to listen as president-elect
Barack Obama spoke via video at
a music concert in Washington
on Sunday. The concert featured
among others Beyonce Knowles,
Bruce Springsteen and U2’s Bono.
It kick-started events leading to
Obama’s inauguration tomorrow.
Organisers expect two million to
gather at the Mall to witness the
historic event. Reports pages 8-9.