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No. 4670 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Friday
January 2, 2009
TELLING IT AS IT IS www.sun2surf.com

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funny tales
Joy – and tragedy
– greet new year
THE WORLD ushered in 2009 in
contrasting fashion yesterday.
In Hongkong, it was party-time
when revellers – many wearing
“Happy 2009”-shaped eyeglasses
– turned up in full force to welcome
the new year (left pix).
Despite predictions of an
economic slowdown, many cities
staged fireworks, rock concerts and
street parties in the countdown to
2009.
In Sydney, a record crowd of
up to 1.5 million Australians and
tourists kicked off the global new
year celebrations at Sydney’s big-
gest-ever fireworks display next to
the Opera House.
In London, an estimated
Year in
Review 2008
ball on Times Square, kiss and
cheer in 2009.
Back home, 36 couples took
advantage of the auspicious date to
register their marriage at the Che
Hoon Khor Moral Uplifting Society
in George Town, Penang (centre
pix).
After the registration, the cou-
ples proceeded to write Chinese
calligraphy to signify the new year
and their new journey of marriage.
However, tragedy also marked
the start of 2009. In Bangkok, a
blaze at a top nightclub killed at
least 58 people and injured more
than 100 others (bottom pix).
Dozens of bodies wrapped in
white cotton sheets lay on the

Paying for
400,000 braved freezing conditions
to see a fireworks spectacular on
the banks of the River Thames,
which engulfed the London Eye in
a blaze of colour.
And in New York, huge crowds
stood in the biting cold to watch
the traditional drop of the crystal
pavement outside as fire crews
moved in to douse the embers
of the club on Ekkamai, a street
popular with foreign revellers and
high-society Thais.
And in the Gaza Strip, the
conflict between the Israelis and
Hamas raged on ...

not belting up
242 WHO FAILED TO WEAR REAR He said owners of cars regis-
tered from 1995 without the belt
SEAT BELTS ISSUED SUMMONSES mountings have been given a
three-year grace period to retrofit
the rear seat beats. Although cars
built before 1995 are exempted

K
UALA LUMPUR: The Road
Transport Department
(RTD) swung into action
at the stroke of midnight to
enforce the law on vehicle
rear seat belts which came into
force yesterday and promptly is-
sued 242 summonses for failure to
buckle up.
The operation was carried out
in 28 locations nationwide.
Vehicle owners and their pas-
sengers will be given a grace period
of six months to June 30 when they
will only be issued a compound
fine of RM300 for not wearing rear
seat belts.
From July 1, drivers and their
passengers caught not using their
seat belts would have to pay a fine
of up to RM2,000, or serve up to one
year’s jail, or both, under the Road
Transport Act.
Johor had the highest number
of offenders at 95 in the RTD op-
eration involving 500 officers, held
from 10pm on Wednesday to 2am
yesterday, RTD director of enforce-
ment Salim Parlan told Bernama.
He said many rear seat pas-
sengers had begun to wear the seat
belts. In Penang, for example, only
six summonses were issued and
it reflected the success of the RTD
campaign to encourage rear seat
passengers to buckle up.
“Statistics show that yearly
almost 300 deaths are recorded
because of the complacency of
vehicle users who do not wear rear
seat belts,” Salim said.
The RTD also issued 550 sum-
monses to motorists for not having
valid driving licences or for having
expired licence, while 182 sum-
monses were issued to motorists
for having expired road tax. Fifty-
nine vehicles were confiscated for
not having road tax. Seventy-two
summonses were issued for use of
the High-Intensity Discharge (HID)
lamps.
In Kedah, state RTD director
Jaafar Mohamed said summonses
were issued to 12 rear seat passen-
gers from not buckling up during
an operation in Sungai Petani.
Eleven summonses were issued
in Negri Sembilan. State RTD
director Kamal Saad said many
motorists and passengers claimed
they were not aware of the law.
In Perlis, state JPJ director Abd
Rahman Hussain said 12 passen-
gers were booked for not having
buckled up.
In Kuala Lumpur, federal traf-
fic police chief SAC II Datuk Abd
Aziz Yusof said there will be no
special operations or roadblocks
mounted to catch those who do not
adhere to the rear seat belt ruling.
Instead, enforcement will be done
in daily routine operations.
from the new law, the owners are
advised to consider installing the
belts.
Abd Aziz said the decision on
whether the driver or passenger
of a vehicle should be issued the
fine for the offence is still being
studied with other relevant agen-
cies.
A random survey by theSun
yesterday showed that despite
months of publicity over the rear
seat belt ruling, many passengers
have either forgotten that the new
law is in force or are refusing to
abide by it.
In the survey of 100 cars with
rear seat passengers, it was found
that in more than half of them, the
rear passengers had not buckled
up.
While a huge fine would do the
trick eventually, education about
the danger of not belting up seems
to be lacking.
Car owner Ivan Tong said:
“After all, it is a new law. You
can’t blame people for forgetting
to belt up. I think it’s an annoy-
ance, however good it is, but we’ll
see how well it is enforced.”
Ung Han Pin said he liked to
“move freely” in the back seat
instead of belting up. However, he
agreed that the law is to prevent
more fatalities in accidents.