4 theSun | TUESDAY AUGUST 4 2009

news without borders

Mercy’s Jemilah takes

Teacher and new mum up UN posting
in New York
latest fatalities H1N1 figures
(as of 8am yesterday)

» New cases: 18
by Alyaa Alhadjri
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR: Consultant phy-

over-
seas as
well as
within
by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
extensive pneumonia
due to the A(H1N1)
» Imported cases: 0 sician Dr Ahmad Faizal Perdaus has
been appointed Mercy Malaysia’s new
Malay-
sia dur-
» Local transmissions: 18 president, succeeding founding presi- ing her Ahmad Faizal
virus.
PETALING JAYA: A 51-year-old woman The 23-year-old dent Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood. 10-year
» Total no. of cases:1,447
teacher from Selangor and a 23-year-old mother died in Miri Jemilah is heading for New York tenure.
woman in Sarawak who gave birth to a healthy Hospital at 4am yeater- on Aug 15 to assume the post of United A h m a d
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Faizal said: “Dr Jem, as she is
8
baby girl two weeks ago are Malaysia’s latest day. She was Sarawak’s
Influenza A(H1N1) victims. first victim. » Total no. of deaths: humanitarian response chief.
The announcement was made at
fondly known to us, has set a very
high standard for Mercy, after having
They bring to eight the number of A(H1N1) Her baby is safe and
related deaths in Malaysia. confirmed free from the a media luncheon to bid farewell to had the courage, vision and foresight
Health director-general Tan virus, Mohd Ismail said Jemilah yesterday. to start Mercy Malaysia.
Sri Mohd Ismail Merican said “This is a completely new chal- “She had the foresight that she
the teacher died in Seremban lenge for me and a daunting task as I cannot be with Mercy forever and so
INFLUENZA A(H1N1) HOTLINE in an earlier state- oversee global humanitarian response for the past five to six years, we have
Hospital at 11pm on Sunday ment.
and was confirmed positive » 03-88810200/300 He said the wom- to ensure that in times of crises, been practising the ‘Life After Jem’
of A(H1N1) yesterday, mak- » 03-88834414/415 an also had medical women and young people receive philosophy. Her foresight has allowed
ing her the eighth A(H1N1) complications in her special attention and their rights and volunteers like myself to step forward
related death lungs. needs are met,” Jemilah said of her and take responsibility for Mercy.”
The teacher was from a school “She suffered from severe pneumonia and new role in UNFPA. Ahmad Faizal, an active volunteer,
in Selangor that was closed on July 27. was confirmed to be A(H1N1) positive on July “Walking into the office or ware- had led several international and local
“She had cough, fever and breathing dif- 23, just two days after her delivery. She was house to see young interns and vol- missions since the birth of Mercy in
ficulty and saw a general practitioner on July down with fever and cough four days before unteers of different faiths, culture and 1999 and had acted as president from
Orked gives ethnic groups at work makes me feel January to June.
27,” Mohd Ismail said in an SMS to theSun. her delivery. Due to the severe lung complica- Jemilah a
She was admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital tions, she was referred to the ICU,” he said. very proud that we have embraced The luncheon was attended by
hug during the spirit of 1Malaysia for the past media members and Jemilah’s close
on July 30 (Thursday) and then moved to Ser- “The cause of her death was recorded as the farewell
emban Hospital, where she suffered shortness pneumonia due to influenza A(H1N1) infec- decade,” she friends and supporters. Local celeb-
luncheon said of the rity Fatimah Abu Bakar and the late
of breath and was referred to the Intensive tion.” yesterday.
Care Unit (ICU), he said. Eighteen new cases were detected in the many hu- Yasmin Ahmad’s sister Datin Orked
Her sample was taken after she died and 24 hours to 8am yesterday, bringing the total manitarian Ahmad were also present. Yasmin was
the cause of death was recorded as bilateral number of cases to 1,447. projects the creative brains behind Mercy Ma-
that Mercy laysia’s first official corporate video.
under- “Before Talentime was released,
took Yasmin held a private charity screen-

Eight found guilty of EPF fraud
KUALA LUMPUR: Eight peo-
ple were found guilty of cheat-
ing the Employees Provident
Fund (EPF) between April
and June, EPF public relations
general manager Nik Affendi
Jaafar said yesterday.
They made fraudulent
withdrawals and had been
fined by the courts, he said in
a statement.
Two of them would end up
in jail if they could not pay the
fine, he said. He did not reveal
the details of the cases and the
amount of the fines.
The eight cases were
among 65 filed in the courts
as of the end of June.
“The EPF had earlier this
year launched the anti-fraud
and whistle-blowing policies
to heighten the prevention
and detection of wrongdoings
by contributors,” Nik Affendi
said.
The effort, coupled with a
stringent approach taken by
the EPF in handling cases of
fraud, has resulted in a number
of fraudulent withdrawals and
attempted fraudulent with-
drawals being uncovered by
the agency.”
Under Section 59 of the
EPF Act 1991, members found
guilty of fraudulent withdraw-
al or attempts at fraudulent
withdrawal can be jailed up
to three years or fined up to
RM10,000, or both.
“The EPF is aware that
some members do not operate
on their own but are coached
by third parties or syndicates
who target members who
appear desperate and in dire
need of money,” he said.
“Members are advised not
to fall prey to these malicious
ploys.”
Singaporean woman critical
after stabbing incident
KUANTAN: A Singaporean is
in critical condition after she
was stabbed in the neck by an
unknown woman in a resort
near Bentong last Thursday.
Pahang CID chief ACP
T. Narenasagaran said the
attack happened at 8.40am
while the 66-year-old victim
was opening the door to enter
her room after returning from
a gambling centre there.
“A woman, who was be-
lieved to have been following
ing raising RM60,000 for Mercy,” said
Orked.
Jemilah said: “She (Yasmin) was
my friend in so many ways. My one
last request to the board was for them
to dedicate a fund related to children
named in her honour.”
the victim, then stabbed her of a 42-year-old woman from
in the neck. The assailant Taman Midah, Cheras, and a
fled without taking anything 43-year-old man in a room in
when the victim screamed for the same hotel.
help,” he told reporters here In another case, police
yesterday. detained a man and a single
The victim was sent to mother in Cenderawasih here
Kuala Lumpur Hospital where to help in investigations into
she was warded in the inten- Friday’s murder of a caterer,
sive care unit. M.Segaran, in Lorong Cender-
Narenasagaran said police awasih 45 here.
obtained footage of a closed- The suspects, in their 30s,
circuit television camera in the were arrested at 12.30am
area which led to the arrest yesterday. – Bernama

uration. The cause of death was Nurhafizah, who worked

briefs
Woman 6th H1N1
flu victim in S’pore
SINGAPORE: Singapore
reported a sixth Influenza
A(H1N1) related death after a
29-year old Indian woman died
here on Sunday.
In a statement, the Health
Ministry said the woman had
no other known underlying
medical conditions other than
being overweight.
The woman was admitted
to Changi General Hospital’s
emergency department on July
25 with a four-day history of
flu-like symptoms and having
fainted that morning.
She was transferred to the
intensive care unit the following
day because of low oxygen sat-
pneumonia with renal failure,
with influenza A(H1N1) infec-
tion as a contributing factor, the
ministry said. – Bernama
Sisters die in
car-lorry crash
KAMPAR: Two sisters were
killed when the car they
were travelling in collided
with a trailer at Km40 Jalan
Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur near here
yesterday.
Nurhafizah Izwani Abdul
Halim, 24, and Nurnadilah,
18, of Kampung Teluk, Kepala
Batas, Kedah, died of head
injuries at the scene.
Police said the accident
occurred when a Perodua
Kancil driven by Nurhafizah
was believed to have tried
overtaking a car before it
collided with an on-coming
trailer lorry at 7.50am.
with the Immigration De-
partment in Kuala Lumpur,
and her sister were on their
way to their family home in
Kepala Batas. – Bernama
Air quality in most
areas moderate
KUALA LUMPUR: The air qual-
ity across the country continued
to deteriorate yesterday with
more areas registering higher
air pollutant index (API).
The Department of Environ-
ment in its 11am posting yes-
terday showed that 33 areas
had moderate API while the API
in 13 other areas was good.
Kuala Selangor and Sama-
rahan, Sarawak, registered the
highest API at 97, followed by
Bintulu with 87 and Port Klang
at 86. Malacca showed a high
API at 80 and Shah Alam regis-
tered 74. – Bernama