Friday

18 APRIL 2008 RENEW ROAD

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No. 17800
(PPI64I/3/2009)
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For RM8.75, you can renew your

road tax and have it delivered to
people's you the next day >N8
thestar.com.my
paper
OSK confident of double-digit growth >STARBIZ

Trust
NATION
Govt moves to strengthen judiciary
KUALA LUMPUR: A Judicial Appointments crisis from which the nation never fully recov-
Commission to help the Prime Minister choose ered," he said.
judges is to be set up as part of reforms The dinner was also attended by former
announced last night by Datuk Seri Abdullah Lord President Tun Salleh Abas, Tan Sri Azmi

and
Ahmad Badawi to renew the people's trust in
the judiciary.
Shut down for Addressing the Malaysian Bar Council din-
ner here last night, Abdullah said the
breaching rules Government proposed the change to make the
>NI4 process of nominating, appointing and pro-
moting judges more transparent and repre-
sentative.
The Prime Minister, as expected, also
Kamaruddin and Datuk Seri George Seah. They
were among six judges who were sacked in
1988. The other announcements by Abdullah
were:
> Goodwill ex-gratia payment to the six out-
standing judges as recognition of their contri-
butions;
> A review of the judiciary's terms of service
and remuneration to ensure that the Bench

justice
addressed the sacking of six Supreme Court
judges in 1988, saying "the legacy of 1988
haunts us until today".
"For many, the events of 1988 were an
upheaval of the nation's judicial system. Right-
ly or wrongly, many disputed both the legality
and morality of the related proceedings.
"For me, personally, I feel it was a time of
can attract and retain the very best of the
nation's talent;
Abdullah said there would be more reforms
to come to strengthen the capacity and credi-
bility of the judiciary.
> SEE PAGES 4,16 and 18
> FULL TEXT OF PM'S SPEECH ON PI2

Speaker
speculation
>N36

WORLD

Pope: Crisis
badly handled
>W44

India seals off

Renewing trust: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi shaking hands with former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas as Chief Justice Datuk
torch route Abdul Hamid Mohamad (right) looks on during the Bar Council dinner at the J W Mariott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — AZHAR MAHFOF / The Star

>W49
Govt extends civil servants' retirement age to 60
SPORT
By S I M LEOI LEOI
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
PUTRAJAYA: The Government has
agreed to five of the six demands by
Cuepacs, including extending the
retirement age for civil servants from
56 years to 60, and the scrapping of the
efficiency level assessment (PTK)
examination.
However, there will be no RM2,000
New blood honorarium payment in lieu of bonus-
es for last year.
for Devils Cuepacs president Omar Osman said
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi at his office here yes-
terday, the Government had agreed to
all its demands except the honorari-
um.
"The Prime Minister explained that
should the Government give out the
honorarium, it may spur another
round of price increases, like what
happened last year when we received
our salary revision.
"We agreed that we should sacrifice
this demand as we also don't want cer-
tain parties to take advantage by
adding that Cuepacs was mindful that
prices of certain goods such as flour,
bread and rice had also been increas-
ing recently.
However, Omar said the Govern-
ment had agreed to the other demands
- the extension of the retirement age,
reinstatement of critical and housing
allowances, pension payment to be
based on one's actual years of service
and the scrapping of the PTK exam.
"The Prime Minister will make the
announcement soon," he said, describ-
ing the outcome of the meeting as
"Cuepacs is relieved the Govern-
ment has agreed to all of the above," he
said, adding that the Public Service
Department (PSD) would brief
Cuepacs today on the new method of
evaluation for PTK.
The PTK, which has become a bone
of contention among the 1.2 million
civil servants, was introduced in 2002
when the Malaysian Remuneration
System replaced the New Remunera-
tion System.
Passing the PTK exam was used as a

>S73 that in a 45-minute meeting with increasing the prices of goods," he said, "positive". > T U R N TO P A G E 8