Protesters angry over Selangor’s plan for pig-rearing centre in Ladang Tumbuk

BANTING: Two groups of protesters caused a commotion in front of the Kuala Langat district council office here yesterday over the Selangor Government’s plan to set up a centralised pig-farming project in Ladang Tumbuk near the district’s border with Sepang.

Some 100 people gathered there at 3.15pm and started arguing, but the police and the council’s enforcement officers managed to calm down the two groups, who were from Umno and Pakatan Rakyat.

Kuala Langat district police chief Supt Muhammad Radzi Ishak said the protesters dispersed half an hour later without any untoward incident and no one was arrested.

The largest group of protesters, numbering about 90, was led by Sepang Umno division information chief Nisman Yusof, who held prayers, hoping the state government would change its mind and stop the project.

Wearing green and orange T-shirts, the protesters also showed their annoyance by putting up banners proclaiming that the people of Sepang were against pig-breeding centre in their area.

The banners also showed caricatures of the coalition partners of the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor government.

The other group of about 10 supporters of Pakatan Rakyat was for the project and put up a banner featuring Barisan’s Tanjung Sepat assemblyman Datuk Dr Karim Mansor showing a thumbs-up sign at a pig farm in Germany with the words Saya sokong (I agree).

 

The Umno supporters tried to tear down the banners. Dr Karim opposes the project.

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim recently announced that the controversial RM100mil integrated pig-rearing project, which he said was approved by the former Barisan state government led by Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo, would proceed.

Some own 700 cars each

ABOUT 30 rich men in the country own between 100 and 700 cars each, reported China Press.

Quoting sources from the Road Transport Department (JPJ), the daily reported that these men registered the vehicles under their names for collection purposes.

One of the sources believes the owners had bought the cars to avoid paying income tax. Most of these cars were not used as some owners did not even renew their road tax.

He also questioned the roadworthiness of such cars since most of them seldom appeared on the road.

Of the 10 million registered car owners in the country, one-third of them owned more than one car, based on JPJ statistics for the first quarter of the year.

Some 78,000 drivers possess five cars each while another 1,589 drivers own 10 cars each.

Sin Chew Daily reported that a 14-year-old student blamed for trying to commit suicide in a school in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, claimed she was actually an assault victim.

She claimed she was hit on the head from behind by a hard object while walking up the stairs during the incident on April 8.

She said she was gagged with a handkerchief and had her head covered with a plastic bag before she passed out. Her hands were also tied up with masking tapes.

The girl said she found herself at the staff office when she regained consciousness. But instead of showing concern, school authorities allegedly blamed her for trying to commit suicide over a failed relationship.

Her parents lodged a police report over the incident and are contemplating taking legal action against the school. They have taken her out of the school.

 

Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a sub-heading, it denotes a separate news item.

I won’t overstay as PM, says Abdullah

KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says he has no intention of overstaying as Prime Minister but wants to put all things in order before retiring.

Abdullah, the Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman, wants to put the party and ruling coalition on a stronger footing first.

“I will retire one day. I will not stay any longer than I should. But there are things I would like to do now. Of course, I cannot leave at a time when the party is in this condition,” he said when asked if he had a succession plan in mind after naming Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as his successor.

Abdullah said he had no intention of remaining as Prime Minister “for years”, adding: “Datuk Seri Najib understands more than you can understand it.”

He said he had to ensure development programmes and schemes would be implemented effectively following the March 8 polls.

To another question, the Prime Minister dismissed talk that he was absolving himself of any blame for Umno and Barisan’s dismal performance in the polls.

“X” PM does not support the current PM Anymore !!!

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has withdrawn his support for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to be Prime Minister.

In the past, the former Prime Minister had, countless times, openly said he wanted Najib to take over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister.

“I feel we should not pick who the replacement should be. We should give the opportunity to a number of people so that we can evaluate them whether it is Pak Lah, Najib or (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin).

“For now, I can’t say who (should replace Abdullah). Although I have said before it should be Najib, I don’t know why for ‘some reason’ I have now changed my mind,” he said at a packed “Umno Post 12th General Election: An Assessment” forum organised by mykmu.net.

Dr Mahathir said the Cabinet and Umno supreme council were not relevant anymore because they were all just “yes” men to Abdullah.

He said those who tried to speak up were chastised for supposedly being disrespectful.

“They are then invited by the Prime Minister and given an explanation why they should agree with him,” he said, adding that their mouths were kept shut because they were afraid of losing their position and power.

He said Abdullah preferred to seek advice on government and party matters from “outsiders” such as family members including his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin rather than his own Cabinet and Umno supreme council members.

Speaking about the losses suffered by Barisan Nasional in the general election, Dr Mahathir said it was clear that the people, including Umno members, wanted Abdullah out.

Going back to history, he said Datuk Onn Jaafar, the founder of Umno, was a man of dignity as he quit the party when his idea of opening it up to non-Malays was rejected.

He noted that the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, also resigned shortly after the 1969 election when Barisan lost ground.

“He withdrew on his own accord without being chased out by anyone. These two leaders were sensitive and listened to the views of the people and acted accordingly,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said that, as Prime Minister for 22 years, he resigned respectably when he heard that people were questioning why “this old man” was staying for so long in the position.

He questioned why Abdullah was not prepared to do the same.

“Does he want to wait until Umno is destroyed?” he said.

Dr Mahathir also threw support behind Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s proposal for the party to hold an extraordinary general assembly to discuss the polls results, and urged members to speak out and reform the party.

Dr Mahathir’s son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said he was inclined to support Najib if he were to vie for the Umno president’s post.

Hindraf leader’s wife denies seeing Samy Vellu

KLANG: ISA detainee and Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan’s wife S. Pushpaneela has denied seeking MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s help for the release of her husband.

“I didn’t go and see Samy Vellu,” Pushpaneela said.

She was commenting on Samy Vellu’s statement on Sunday that she had gone to see him to seek his help.

She added that she did not understand why Samy Vellu wanted to appeal to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the release of the five Hindraf members detained under the ISA (Internal Security Act) at this juncture.

“Why now, when he could have done it earlier?” said Pushpaneela.

She added that the onus had been on Samy Vellu to advise the Prime Minister not to detain the Hindraf 5 under the ISA.

However she did not dismiss the possibility that their relatives had gone to see Samy Vellu to seek his help.

“We have many relatives who are MIC members and strong supporters of the party,” said Pushpaneela.

Manoharan’s father M.S. Malayalam is the Kanchong Laut MIC branch chairman while Pushpaneela’s sister S. Thangeswari is the Perak MIC Wanita chief.

Pushpaneela also added that if she needed any help she would turn to DAP chairman Karpal Singh.

“Mr Karpal is my pillar of strength, and if I needed anyone’s support or help, he would be the one would I turn to.”

Meanwhile R. Kenghadaran’s wife Dr M. Kalaivani said that she and her husband’s family did approach Samy Vellu during the early days of the Hindraf 5’s detention.

“It must have been two or three weeks after their detention, and we went to see Samy Vellu in his capacity as the leader of the Indian community,” she said.

She said they had gone to see Samy Vellu in the hope of securing Kenghadaran’s release.