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Najib happy with vote swing in Manek Urai
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt): Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul
Razak believes the swing of votes in
the just-concluded Manek Urai state
by-election signals the approval of
the people, especially the Malays, of
his administration.
Although the Barisan Nasional
failed to capture the seat, the result
was most encouraging, more so
because the by-election took place
in the Malay heartland, Bernama
quoted him as saying.
The BN lost by a mere 65 votes.
Mohd Fauzi Abdullah retained the
seat for PAS with 5,348 votes after
beating Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat of BN,
who garnered 5,283 votes in the by-
election on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, the people’s rising
support and trust will continue,”
Najib, who is also BN chairman, told
Malaysian journalists covering his
attendance at the 15th summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement in this Red
Sea resort city.
He said the by-election results
showed that the BN is beginning to
Students, foreigners detained
over religious misunderstanding
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SEPANG: Two Universiti Putra Malaysia
students and seven friends, including six
from Hongkong, were detained by police for
almost 20 hours following reports alleging
they had attempted to spread Christianity
to Muslim undergraduates at the campus
in Serdang.
It is learnt that the UPM students were
visited by the foreigners and a local woman
late on Wednesday at the university grounds
and later proceeded to the canteen near
their hostel at about 9pm.
Sepang police chief ACP Zahedi Ayub
said yesterday the group, made up of
five men and four women aged between
19 and 24, began distributing pamphlets
and leaflets which contained material on
Christianity.
He said investigations showed that
although the group had only intended to
hand out the material which was in Chinese
and English to Christians, the foreigners
regain the people’s confidence and
continuing with the efforts which
This maybe because our candidate
was very suitable.
have been taken thus far would place “This is the indicator we have
the ruling coalition on a stronger been waiting for and we will con-
footing. tinue with what we have been doing
“We cannot (as yet) say that eve- all this while, hoping that eventually
rything (we have done) has passed people will see for themselves that
the test but I am most satisfied that we will listen to and implement
what we started over
the past 103 days has
received encouraging
response from the
people,” he said.
In Putrajaya, Husna
Yusop reports that
Umno vice-president
Datuk Seri Hisham-
muddin Hussein
described PAS’s slim
majority as a sign that
people in Kelantan,
especially the young
voters, have turned
their support to Umno and BN. what the prime minister has said,”
“During the early post mortem, he said.
if I’m not mistaken, we (BN) won in On the stone-throwing incident
streams three and four where the in SK Peria polling station, Hisham-
majority of voters were youngsters. muddin, who is also home minister,
had mistaken all of those in the canteen
as one.
He said several Muslim students report-
ed the matter to the university’s security
officials who then rounded up the group
and took them to the Sepang district police
headquarters at about midnight. The Muslim
students also lodged police reports.
Zahedi said the students were detained
at the station for investigations but were
not held in a lock-up.
“We interviewed them and found out
the whole incident was a misunderstand-
ing. There was no intention by the group to
spread Christian teachings except to Chris-
tians. The foreigners in the group could not
differentiate who was who or belonged to
which religion. We held them and also took
them back to UPM to verify what happened.
We are releasing them as no offence has
been committed,” he said.
The group’s lawyer Annou Xavier said
the nine people were released by police at
about 5pm. He said one of them will lodge
a police report over the incident.
Specimens
at fire scene
sent for tests
KUALA LUMPUR: The Fire and
Rescue Department forensics unit
have collected specimens from the
condominium unit of Commercial
Crimes Investigations Department
director Commissioner Datuk Koh
Hong Sun which was destroyed by
a fire on Wednesday that also killed
his 22-year-old son Keat Lee.
Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue
Department head of operations
Zakaria Mohammed said yester-
day the specimens have been sent
to the Chemistry Department for
tests and the results which will
help conclude the cause of the fire
should be known by Friday.
He said based on early findings
at the razed unit on the 32nd floor of
the Mount Kiara Bayu, investigators
are almost certain the fire was not
caused by sabotage or foul play.
“As for now, it is a fire which was
triggered by common causes but the
full findings will be released by my
director over the next few days.”
Keat Lee’s remains were found
by firemen at the balcony where
he took cover from the intense fire
after finding himself trapped in the
house.
| THURSDAY JULY 16 2009
said it saddened him.
He congratulated the police on
slim-majority in the by-election.
Nik Aziz also accused BN of “po-
their good work and said BN will litical bribery”, especially in the last
have discuss the matter with the few days of campaigning, by promis-
Election Commission to ensure simi- ing development for the area.
lar incidents do not recur in future. In PENANG, Himanshu Bhatt
In KOTA BARU, Bernama re- reports that DAP secretary-general
ports that PAS spiritual leader and Lim Guan Eng considers PAS’s “wa-
Kelantan Mentri fer-thin” margin as an indication that
Besar Datuk Nik the electorate has been confused by
Abdul Aziz Nik the party’s overtures for unity talks
Mat attributed with Umno.
the drastic drop He said people may have felt the
in the party’s difference between the two parties
majority to the had blurred, bringing about such a
influence of BN close margin.
development “When PAS talks to Umno, it
promises. would show that BN is good. We
He said this cannot deny that (Prime Minister)
was the main Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is in
factor that drew his honeymoon period as he has
many voters to announced many goodies that have
BN as the coali- made some people feel good.”
tion had spoken a lot on development He said the results were also a
for the upper Kelantan area. signal that Pakatan Rakyat parties
He said a post-mortem would be should resolve internal problems
conducted by top PAS leaders to deter- and disputes to counter possible
mine the real reasons for the party’s decline in support.
New design RM50 note ...
Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday issued the new design RM50 banknote incorporating various
modern and innovative security features principally aimed at deterring counterfeiting.
Businesses told to have continuity plan
by Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
INFLUENZA A(H1N1) HOTLINE
PUTRAJAYA: Private agencies dealing with es-
sential services have been urged to come up » 03-88810200/300
with business continuity plans in dealing with » 03-88834414/415
Press
Digest:
the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.
This is in order to prevent their premises and
Disabled staff from being affected by the virus, Health
director-general Tan Sri Ismail Merican said.
mitigation guidelines.
“There are 22 prevention and control steps
man
nabbed
“To date, only five or six agencies have
prepared this although we urged them to do so
which need to be taken immediately to ensure
effective and efficient implementation,” he
two years back,” he said yesterday, declining to said.
over nude name those who have complied. On the vaccine for H1N1, expected to be
photos Ismail said some of the agencies involved available by year-end and which will be pro-
pg 9 were banks and petrol stations. vided first to some 200,000 frontliners, he said
“If they have the business continuity plan, it would cost the country
they could take preventive around RM7 million.
and control measures im- Meanwhile, Deputy
mediately. For example, H1N1 figures Education Minister Datuk
if one of their staff were (as of 8am yesterday) Dr Wee Ka Siong said
sick, he can be sent back the ministry’s decision
home.
“Otherwise, the disease
» New cases: 21 to cancel the national
athletes’ participation in
could spread through the
whole office and everyone
» Imported cases: 7 sports meets abroad was
not meant to boycott the
would be sick and the office
would have to be closed.
» Local transmissions: 14 events but to protect the
students from infection,
If it concerns companies Bernama reports.
providing food or water, for
instance, the whole nation
» Total no. of cases: 825 A group of students
went to Thailand to
could be affected,” he said. participate in a tourna-
The framework for the busi- ment recently, and when
ness continuity plan is available they returned to the country, they were
on the Health Ministry website, he said. infected with the virus.
“I hope they would come up with the plans “If the government does not take appropriate
immediately and not take the attitude of wait actions to control the spread of the virus, there
and see,” he told reporters after chairing the 9th will be chaos. So, the decision must not be seen
H1N1 technical committee meeting here. as boycott,” he told a news conference.
During the meeting, the ministry told gov- He also said the ministry had cancelled
ernment hospitals and clinics, as well as all the country’s participation in the Asean inter-
agencies involved, to follow closely the H1N1 schools sports meet scheduled for July 20-29
pandemic prevention implementation and in Thailand.