theSun | MONDAY APRIL 20 2009
news without borders
Snap polls in Sarawak?
FOLLOWING Barisan Nasional’s (BN)
thumping victory in the April 7 Batang Ai state
by-election in Sarawak, will there be snap
elections in the second half of this year?
State opposition parties believe so and are
starting to gear up for it. They are convinced
the BN government would want to ride its
current popularity to extend the victory to the
state polls.
According to a report in China Press yes-
terday, the currently divided opposition par-
ties are in talks to form the Sarawak Pakatan
Rakyat.
Their plan is to upset the BN in the next
state election.
Sarawak is the only state where Pakatan
Rakyat has yet to see full cooperation among
its component parties, due mainly to conflicts
between state leaders of Parti Kedailan Rakyat
(PKR) and DAP.
It is learnt that PKR de facto leader Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim is mediating between the
“feuding politicians”.
According to the reports, a three-man
DAP committee led by its state chief Wong
Ho Leng has held talks with Anwar, PAS state
representatives and SNAP (Sarawak National
Party) leaders to set up the Sarawak PR.
The talks are progressing well, said a
source.
Apart from holding talks among the state
opposition parties, PR national leaders plan
monthly visits to the state to keep tabs on the
progress of the formation of the state PR as
well as to make their presence felt.
Storm damages 30 houses
KUANTAN: A storm lashed through the
Balok Perdana residential area here
yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction,
including 30 damaged houses.
A resident there, Mohd Amran A.
Hamid, 45, said it happened at about
4pm while he and his wife and their five
children were in their house, which they
occupied only about four months ago.
“We could do nothing, but prayed in
the house, and then saw the roofs of our
‘No scientific reason
for July 22 tsunami’
by Maria J.Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: There is no scientific reason
for a big earthquake or a tsunami to occur in
July, the Hawaii-based NOAA Pacific Tsunami
Warning Centre said in response to rumours
and predictions that a destructive tsunami is
expected to hit the shores of several countries
including Malaysia on July 22.
The centre’s geophysicist, Gerard Fryer,
said great earthquakes do not correlate with
eclipses, lunar phases or the moon’s closest
approach to Earth.
“At the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre we
cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by such
predictions. Instead, we must be ready to deal
with an earthquake at any time, on any day,” he
said in an e-mail.
“Indeed, because of the failure to find a clear
link between eclipses and earthquakes, some of
those who think there ought to be a connection
claim a successful prediction if any earthquake
exceeding magnitude 5 occurs anywhere that
has recently been partially shadowed during
an eclipse (where “recently” can be as long as
two weeks).
“However, since there are about 10 earth-
quakes a day exceeding magnitude 5, their pre-
dictions are no better than random guesses.”
Fryer said the usual argument is that eclipses
impose an unusual gravitation attraction on the
earth’s crust.
“But variations in gravity cannot influence
earthquakes, because in an earthquake the two
sides of a fault move in opposite directions.
“Gravity, on the other hand, will pull both
sides the same way,” he said, explaining that
œ 7
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Sources said that although Chief Minister
Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud has ruled out
snap polls this year, he may change his mind
given the increasing presence of PR national
leaders in the state.
The state BN is worried that if it does
not hold the state election sooner, the PR
national leaders might be able to brainwash
the voters in the state and change the political
landscape.
The long delay by Taib to fill six more
deputy minister’s posts in the state cabinet
also fuelled speculation that he would be call-
ing a snap election soon.
PR also deems Taib’s remarks that he
would not call for a snap election while
the country is experiencing an economic
slowdown as a tactic aimed at catching the
opposition off-guard.
This is because the slowdown is expected
to last a few years and holding the state elec-
tion next year or in 2011 would not do the
state BN any good.
Sarawak held its last state election on May
20, 2006 and the current state government
convened its first state legislative assembly in
July the same year. Under the state constitu-
tion, the tenure of the state government will
expire only in July 2011.
neighbour’s houses ripped and blown
away,” he added.
Mohd Fikri Azri Md Saat, 24, said his
rented house was badly damaged in the
storm, and so were most of his electrical
appliances.
Meanwhile, Balok Perdana Rukun
Tetangga chairma, Osman Abdullah said
he would request for assistance under
the disaster for residents affected by the
storm. – Bernama
pulling both sides in the same direction is
neither going to increase or decrease the prob-
ability of an earthquake.
“If variations in gravity did influence earth-
quakes, then we would see a correlation be-
tween earthquakes and earth tides and phases
of the moon,” he said, stressing there was no
such correlation.
Fryer said the centre has received about two
dozen anxious communications from Malaysia
and Singapore about the possibility of a damag-
ing tsunami on July 22.
This was apparently in response to a web
page published at www.garagegames.com/
community/blogs/view/15946 as well as an
earlier prediction of a more spiritual nature at
www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-217369.
There has also been a tsunami warning e-
mail which has been reposted so many times
that the original authorship is now lost.
It states: “Hello there. I just wanted 2 let you
know that please stay away from the beaches
all around in the month of July. There is a predic-
tion that there will be another tsunami hitting
on July 22. It is also when there will be sun
eclipse. Predicted that it is going 2 be really bad
and countries like Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak),
Singapore, Maldives, Australia, Mauritius, Sri
Lanka, India, Indonesia, Philippines are going
2 be badly hit. Please try and stay away from
the beaches in July. Better 2 be safe than sorry.
Please pass the word around. Please also pray
for all beings.”
Fryer said while he was sure that the people
who generated the predictions (and the public-
spirited person who wrote the e-mail) are all
sincere none of these predictions should be
taken seriously.