6 theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5 2008

news without borders

Special fund for

retrenched workers
THE Special Fund to help retrenched Subramaniam said the proposal
We’re fair to all
states: Azalina
workers will only be implemented to set up the fund had been
after a detailed study is carried out submitted to the International
next year, Human Resource Minister Labour Organisation (ILO) so that a
Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said. feasibility study could be carried out.
He said among the evaluations to Meanwhile, he said the
be considered were the contribution government was constantly taking
rate by the employers and employees measures to reduce dependency on
as well as its implication. foreign workers and protecting job TOURISM Minister Datuk development in
“As such, the ministry has already
held a series of discussions at various
opportunities for the locals.
He said the ministry had created
Seri Azalina Othman Said
says the federal government
Rantau Panjang,
Kelantan.
At the Dewan Rakyat
levels, including with the employers an Industrial Training Scheme has always been fair to all Azalina said by Husna Yusop and Giam Say Khoon
and workers,” he said when winding for unemployed graduates and states, be they governed Khalid has always newsdesk@thesundaily.com
up the debate on the Supply Bill 2009 providing job opportunities for the by Barisan Nasional been making
for his ministry. handicapped. – Bernama (BN) or the Opposition, statements which clarified that the finance
and has never practised were politically motivated ministry had cut down on
discrimination. and stressed it was not development allocations
Motion on multilingual roadsigns rejected Replying to Khalid
Samad (PAS-Shah Alam),
true that she has never
been in contact with the
for all states, not only
Opposition-led states.
THE Dewan Rakyat rejected a the ground that it was not the Federal Constitution, the na- Azalina said the ministry exco, saying the exco has “You are being too
motion by Datuk Ibrahim Ali urgent. tional language must be used for had never practised been invited a few times sensitive as if Opposition-
(Ind-Pasir Mas) to discuss the In his motion, Ibrahim said official purposes, as such road partisan politics in efforts to join federal government led states were the only
Penang government’s move to the move clearly insulted the names are considered official to make and promote programmes at state level ones hurt by the move.
put up names of roads in various position of the Malay language business based on the National Malaysia as a prominent but he could not be present. BN-led states were also hurt
languages. as the national language, and Language Act 1963/1967. tourism destination in this “Your facts are but they use their heads
Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar insulted the foundation of the “The use of various lan- region. inaccurate. I suggest you and facts when they talk,”
Amin Mulia rejected the mo- Federal Constitution. guages can also cause much “This could be seen from discuss with the exco she added.
tion, submitted on Friday, on “According to Article 152 of confusion,” he said. – Bernama the ministry’s programmes first,” she said, prompting To another
which were still being a response from Khalid, supplementary question
carried out in every state stressing the information from Khairy Jamaluddin
even if it is not governed was from the exco himself. (BN-Rembau), Azalina
by the federal government. “Perhaps the exco was said Malaysia had a
And, the allocation not telling the truth. This is problem with connectivity
received by each State my reply. I got the facts. I when Malaysia Airlines
Tourism Action Council thank you for your concern decided to cut down its
(MTPN) is the same for all, but you should be fair to routes, for example, the
irrespective of their political me because we have been London/Langkawi and
stand,” she said. treating all states the same,” London/Penang flights.
However, Khalid was retorted Azalina. “This will result in
not satisfied and asked She said the MPTN acted tourist transits in Bangkok
Azalina why she did not as agents for the ministry in or Thailand and they gain
have direct contact with the states and on average, from this,” she said.
the Selangor state exco each tourist spends However, she thanked
in charge of tourism and RM2,700 in the country. Firefly and AirAsia as they
the withdrawal of an RM8 On the withdrawal had helped ease problems
million allocation for new of allocations, she in domestic tourism.

in petrol and diesel prices to be done in

briefs
Kit Siang slams Azmi over
Eurocopter ‘whitewash’
LIM KIT SIANG (DAP-Ipoh Timur) has accused
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman
Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid of trying to whitewash
grave procedural abuse of the RM1.6 billion
Eurocopter deal.
In a press conference in the Parliament
lobby, Lim said: “How can Azmi claim on the one
hand that there is no procedural abuse in the
tender process and yet in the next breath admit
to the fact that there was the grave procedural
abuse of no physical evaluation and test flight
of the helicopters concerned?”
Lim said Azmi did not show “an independent
and critical mind which are the prerequisites for
a conscientious PAC chairman” as he had swal-
lowed “hook, line and sinker” the government’s
excuses for a gross abuse of procedure in the
deal.
Shahrir denies defending
interest of petrol kiosks
DOMESTIC Trade and Consumer Affairs
Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad has
denied defending the interest of petrol sta-
tion operators by wishing that the price of
petrol will not dip below RM1.92 per litre.
“I only expressed hope for the reduction
a controlled manner and not drastically
because that would lead to problems such
as the recent cases of shortage of supply
in certain petrol stations.
Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat)
claimed Shahrir had been very vocal in in-
sisting that petrol price should not be lower
than RM1.92 per litre so as not to create
difficulties to petrol station owners.
“Don’t you want to reduce the price
further to boost the country’s economy?
Even if the owners or taukeh of the petrol
stations had suffered losses when the price
was reduced, losses could still be absorbed
by the petrol companies,” he said.
Witness Protection Bill
to be tabled
THE Witness Protection Bill which gives pro-
tection to people who provide information to
the authorities, including the Anti-Corruption
Agency (ACA), will be tabled during this parlia-
ment session.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said currently informants
were provided protection under Section 53 of
the Anti-Corruption Act.
He said a new Act for witness protection
was needed as the existing law only provided
for non-disclosure of the informants and pro-
tection of their identity up to the time when
they were required for the accused to be
prosecuted in court.
“If there is no problem, the Bill will be tabled
in this (parliament) session and hopefully, it will
be passed,” he said. – Bernama