2 theSun | FRIDAY APRIL 17 2009

news without borders

‘Resignation
a deliberate No intention to withdraw
move to force
by-election’
PENANG: State Gerakan chief Datuk Dr Teng
Hock Nan (pix) said yesterday the Penanti
seat’s vacancy is a deliberate move by the
MIC minister: Samy Vellu
KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC said mittee at the party headquarters tion chief Datuk M. dissatisfied with the
yesterday it has no intention of here. aravanan have been allocation of one post of
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to force a by-elec-
withdrawing its minister and two By way of explanation, Samy retained as deputy minister and two posts
tion to shore up support for the party.
deputy ministers from the govern- Vellu said the party had not sought minister in the Prime of deputy minister for
“The party wants to create a ‘wave’ of sup-
ment as had been speculated in the post of works minister in the Minister’s Department the MIC in the new
port, thinking that they can always win back the
the media recently, purportedly cabinet as had been speculated and deputy federal cabinet.
seats that their assemblymen had vacated,” he
over the lack of deserving treat- but any senior post. territories minister, Asked whether he
told Bernama when asked to comment on the
ment. “I didn’t mention about the respectively. was worried about
resignation of Penanti
Party president Datuk Seri S. works minister but a senior Samy Vellu said it MIC being sidelined,
assemblyman Moham-
Samy Vellu (pix) said the party minister (portfolio) as the MIC is had been the case since Samy Vellu said he was
mad Fairus Khairuddin
wanted a stop to such speculation the third senior party in the BN the time of the first not worried about that
yesterday.
and now considered the matter (Barisan Nasional).” prime minister Tunku because he believed
Mohammad Fai-
closed after having heard the Samy Vellu said he had also Abdul Rahman, then Tun Hus- that the party would live to a 100
rus, 33, of PKR, who is
explanation of Prime Minister asked for the two posts of deputy sein Onn and Tun Dr Mahathir years.
reported to be under
Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak. minister to be retained and a third Mohamad, for the MIC to have “I am not worried about the
investigation by the
“The appointment of MIC post of deputy minister to be given been given a senior ministerial MIC being sidelined. The MIC
Malaysian Anti-Cor-
representatives to the cabinet and to a woman party leader. portfolio as it was the third most can survive and we will always
ruption Agency, had
government administration is the In the new cabinet, MIC senior party in the coalition. be relevant to the Indian com-
resigned as the deputy
prerogative of the prime minister, secretary-general Datuk Dr S. “So, I was harping on that,” he munity,” he said, adding the
chief minister I.
and we do not wish to make any Subramaniam has been retained said. party would give its fullest sup-
“We feel that the
comment,” he told reporters after as the human resources minister Over the past week, several port to Najib and Deputy Prime
by-election is deliberately planned to gain
chairing a three-hour meeting of while MIC treasurer Datuk S.K. news reports had quoted sources Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin
popularity and support,” Teng said.
the party’s central working com- Devamany and MIC informa- as saying that MIC leaders were Yassin. – Bernama
“It is not impossible that something like this
will happen again in the future until the next
general election.”
He reminded the people to be mindful of
what he described as a “drama” being played
by the opposition parties.
Ahmad, Idris meet PM
“The people should open their eyes and see
what the opposition parties have been doing,”
on Terengganu crisis
he said, adding if the opposition parties had by Maria J. Dass thing other than: “I will meet the PM
been putting the people’s interest first, they newsdesk@thesundaily.com (prime minister) first.”
would have avoided precipitating a by-election Also turning up to meet Najib for
in this time of economic gloom. Anti-Obama PUTRAJAYA: Terengganu Mentri the meeting, which lasted a little more
“Foreign investors will look at the politi- ‘tea party’ Besar Datuk Ahmad Said and his than 30 minutes, was his deputy Tan
cal situation of a country before deciding on predecessor Datuk Idris Jusoh met Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Attorney-
where to direct their investments. If politics is
protests with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail. It is
not stable, it will affect their confidence.” mark Tun Razak yesterday over the state believed Idris had met Najib earlier.
In Kelapa Batas, Penang Umno secretary tax day administration’s “crisis” and revolt by The crisis hit the state last week
Datuk Azhar Ibrahim said the party would 10 Barisan Nasional assemblymen. when rumours circulated about a vote
leave it to Prime Minister and Umno president
pg 10 Najib received a string of visitors of no-confidence to be tabled against
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to decide on the who arrived just after noon in his office Ahmad by his peers in the state as-
candidate for the seat. where the press was invited to cover a sembly, prompting the mentri besar
Meanwhile, Penang PKR chief Datuk Zahrain cheque presentation to the Malaysian to say that those who conspired would
Mohamed Hashim called on party members to Golf Association in support of its junior be sacked.
accept any candidate chosen by PKR adviser development programme. This was in apparent unhappiness
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. However, the attention of waiting over Ahmad’s non-consultative ac-
On talks that he might be fielded by the pressmen were diverted when Ahmad tions, including the formulation of poli-
PKR, Zahrain said: “I am already a member made a sudden appearance in the cies and appointment of those aligned
of Parliament (for Bayan Baru) but if that is prime minister’s office lobby where to him to top positions in state-owned
the wish of the party, then I will abide by it.” he greeted and shook hands with companies.
– Bernama reporters and photographers. Ten BN assemblymen boycotted
Ahmad, however, did not say any- the assembly sitting on Tuesday.

briefs
Resolve problems amicably,
Terengganu reps told
BENTONG: Umno vice-president Datuk Seri His-
hammuddin Hussein has advised party leaders in
Terengganu to resolve their differences amicably
without the interference of national leaders.
“If they fail to resolve the problem at the state
and division level, national Umno leaders will
have to interfere,” he said yesterday.
He was commenting on the absence of 10
BN assemblymen from the Terengganu As-
sembly on Tuesday believed to be related to
the political unrest in the state after three of
them received death threats through the short
messaging service (SMS).
Hishammuddin said Umno leaders should
not get bogged down with internal matters
but should instead redouble their efforts to
strengthen the party and get closer to the
people to win their support. – Bernama
Najib to witness launch of
RazakSAT on April 21
KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Abdul Razak will witness the launch of Ra-
zakSAT, Malaysia’s second remote sensing
satellite into orbit on April 21.
Najib will observe the launch of RazakSAT
at the Putrajaya International Convention
Centre, Deputy Science, Technology and In-
novation Minister Fadillah Yusof said.
RazakSAT is scheduled to be launched
at Omelek island, part of Kwajalein Atoll on
April 21 at 6am Malaysia time. Kwajalein is
grouped under the Marshall Islands.
Ops rooms nationwide to
monitor retrenchment
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Human
Resources is setting up 80 Workers’ Retrench-
ment Operations Room nationwide to monitor
the retrenchment trend daily and assist laid off
workers find new jobs.
Its minister, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, said
following the RM650 million allocation for the
ministry under the economic stimulus pack-
age, a tripartite committee was established
to advise the government on strategies and
measures to mitigate the impact of the eco-
nomic slowdown.
“One of the significant strategies is the need
for Malaysia to reduce dependency on foreign
workers, for example, by enforcing the ‘foreign
workers first out’ policy,” he said in his speech at
the Malaysian Institute of Management and Pub-
lic Bank Bhd’s “Manager of the Year” 2008 Award
presentation ceremony here yesterday. The text
of his speech was read out by Deputy Human
Resource Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan.
Court reverses earlier
decision, jails drug addict
KUALA LUMPUR: “If I had known, I would
not have come,” shouted a drug addict
who had to go back to jail when the High
Court reversed a magistrate court’s decision
yesterday.
Azli Moohad Said, 33, who was earlier
sentenced to one month’s jail and two years
probation by the magistrate’s court after
being caught in possession of 0.13 gram
heroin and 0.01 gram monoacetylmor-
phines at Jalan Sarawak Off Jalan Pudu, on
June 23, 2008 at 9.30pm, was furious when
Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Ab
Aziz set aside that decision and ordered a
two-year jail term effective the day he was
arrested.
He also received one year jail for the
second offence but both sentences were
to run concurrently. – Bernama
Directors charged with
making false statement
KUALA LUMPUR: Two company directors
pleaded not guilty in a sessions court here
yesterday to authorising the submission of false
statements in their company’s quarterly report
involving RM73 million to Bursa Malaysia.
Ooi Boon Leong and Tan Yeow Teck, both
48, of Mems Technology Berhad, are alleged to
have committed the offence in the company’s
quarterly statement for the period ending July
31, 2007, in Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad,
Exchange Square, Bukit Kewangan, here on
Sept 27 the same year.
Judge Rosbiahanin Ariffin allowed bail of
RM200,000 with two sureties and impounded
their passports. – Bernama