Man sues Bank of America for ‘US$1,784 billion trillion’

Pedestrians walk past a Bank of America branch in New York. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK— Dalton Chiscolm is unhappy about Bank of America's customer service — really, really unhappy.

Chiscolm in August sued the largest US bank and its board, demanding that "US$1,784 billion trillion" be deposited into his account the next day. He also demanded an additional US$200,164,000, court papers show.

Attempts to reach Chiscolm were unsuccessful. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

"Incomprehensible," US District Judge Denny Chin said in a brief order released on Thursday in Manhattan federal court.

"He seems to be complaining that he placed a series of calls to the bank in New York and received inconsistent information from a 'Spanish wom[a]n,'" the judge wrote. "He apparently alleges that cheques have been rejected because of incomplete routing numbers."

Chin has experience with big numbers. He's the judge who sentenced Bernard Madoff to a 150-year prison sentence for what the government called a US$65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Bank of America Corp faces real legal problems, including New York Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo's threat to sue its chief executive and a judge's embarrassing rejection of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Yet the money Chiscolm wants could dwarf all the bank's other problems.

It's larger than a sextillion dollars, or a 1 followed by 21 zeros. Chiscolm's request is equivalent 1 followed by 22 digits.

The sum also dwarfs the world's 2008 gross domestic product of US$60 trillion, as estimated by the World Bank.

"These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale," said Sylvain Cappell, New York University's Silver Professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences. "If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense."

Chin gave Chiscolm until Oct 23 to better explain the basis for his claims, or else see his complaint dismissed. — Reuters

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Malaysian students in Jakarta feel the heat

File picture of a demonstration calling for the banning of the Ahmadiyya sect in Jakarta in June 18, 2008. Malaysians in Jakarta have been harassed of late. — Reuters pic

JAKARTA— Some Malaysians studying in Indonesia are facing tough times because their teachers' attitudes have changed amid rising tensions between the two countries in recent weeks.

They told The Jakarta Globe newspaper that the ongoing claims in Indonesia that Malaysia has been trying to steal its cultural heritage have strained their lives.

They are worried about checks against Malaysians carried out on the streets by an Indonesian vigilante group recently.

The Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta has told the students to stay indoors to avoid being harassed, the daily reported yesterday.

A Malaysian medical student, Siti Nurhidayat Pazil, who has been studying for four years at University of Indonesia (UI), said: “When (lecturers) ask me to do something, they will say 'Hey Malay, can you finish this please?' They don't call me by my name.”

The two countries have been less than neighbourly lately, with both nations' armed forces flexing their muscles over a maritime border dispute in an area called Ambalat, off Borneo.

Long-festering issues, such as reports of Indonesian migrant workers being mistreated and claims of Malaysia robbing Indonesia of its heritage, are also hurting ties.

Hazwani Raffar, another UI medical student, said she is hurt when friends, neighbours and teachers ask her why Malaysia must steal Indonesian culture. “Don't they have questions to ask beside this?” she asks. “This is so harsh, even though some of my friends see it as a joke. Deep in my heart, I can't accept it.”

Hazwani also said she and her friends are afraid of “sweeping” — the roadblock set up by over-enthusiastic nationalists to harass Malaysians, The Jakarta Globe reported.

Early this month, anti-Malaysia group Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (People's Democracy Defence) erected a roadblock in Central Jakarta and checked the identification cards of passers-by to screen for Malaysians. None was found.

The Benteng men carried sharpened bamboo sticks, which rang alarm bells in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has roundly condemned the group and has called for all Malaysian nationals here to be protected.

“The (Malaysian) Embassy tells us not to go out if it's not necessary,” Hazwani said, adding that she and her three friends leave home only to go to UI's campus in Central Jakarta.

But classmate Noraishah Abdul Aziz takes a different view. “I think all we need is discussion,” she said. “I always tell my Indonesian classmates that most Malaysians don't know about the claims of (cultural theft) published here.”

The students said they do not understand the allegations made about cultural theft because the two nations share the same ancestry — which brings with it similar cuisine, language and cultural traditions.

“It's sometimes better not to claim things, especially when similar cultures are involved,” Noraishah told the newspaper.

She cited the desire of Malaysia's Tourism Minister Datuk Ng Yen Yen to claim laksa as a Malaysian dish. “This will just create more tensions between us. Why can't we just share all similar things together without saying, 'This is yours and that is mine'?” she said. — The Straits Times

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India’s lunar mission finds water on the moon

NEW DELHI: India’s maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I has detected evidence of water across the lunar surface, scientists announced on Thursday.

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) has confirmed the existence of water on the moon by analysing the data collected from Chandrayaan-I, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Thursday.

The M3, a NASA instrument onboard Chandrayaan-I, detected wavelengths of reflected light that would indicate a chemical bond between hydrogen and oxygen in materials on the thin layer of upper soil.

The finding ends a four-decade long speculation on whether there is water on moon.

Scientists first claimed that water existed on moon about 40 years ago after they analysed rock samples brought to Earth as souvenirs by Apollo astronauts.

But they had doubts about the findings as the boxes in which the moon rocks were brought to Earth had leaked, contaminating the samples with air from the atmosphere.

Scientists believe that the water could have been formed due to the interaction of oxygen present in rocks and soil on moon with hydrogen in the form of protons emitted by the sun as a result of nuclear fusion.

As these protons hit the moon, they break apart oxygen bonds in soil material, and where free oxygen and hydrogen are together, there’s a high chance that trace amounts of water will be formed, said Larry Taylor from the University of Tennessee, who was among the M3 team of scientists.

The M3 instrument analysed how sunlight reflected off the lunar surface to identify water particles in which scientists observed elements of chemical bonding alike water.

However, the instrument can only see the very uppermost layers of the lunar soil -- perhaps to a few centimetres below the surface.

They studied the light that is reflected in different wavelengths of different minerals, and used those differences to know what is present in the thin layer of upper soil.

According to the scientists, it was water, previously theorised but not proven to exist.

Taylor and other M3 team members believe their findings will be of particular significance as mankind continues to plan for a return to the moon.

The lunar maps created by M3 could provide mission planners with prime locations for extraction of water from the lunar soil.

The findings will be published in this week’s online edition of the Science Express journal. -- Bernama

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Kelantan still not given up for oil royalty claim

KOTA BARU: The Kelantan state government has not given up hope on its oil royalty claim from the Federal Government, said Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

He said that although the state government had initially expected the oil royalty to be paid before Hari Raya Aidilfitri it would still strive to make headway on the issue.

“Discussions between officers from both sides are still ongoing. We hope they will have a positive result,” Nik Aziz told reporters here yesterday.

He was asked whether the state government had given up hope on the oil royalty claim after having expected to receive the payment from the Federal Government by now.

According to a report last month, it is seeking RM1bil in oil royalty, claiming that the money constituted 5% of the earnings from petroleum and liquefied natural gas extracted from Kelantan’s offshore since 2004. — Bernama

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Mother gets 33 years for killing sleeping daughters

LONDON, Sept 22 — A mother who stabbed her teenage daughters to death as they slept at their home was given two life sentences today, and told she must serve at least 33 years in jail.

Rekha Kumari-Baker was found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court of using two kitchen knives to stab 16-year-old Davina 37 times and 13-year-old Jasmine 29 times.

Prosecutors said she had done it to “wreak havoc” on her ex-husband.

Judge Justice Bean imposed two mandatory life sentences and said Kumari-Baker should serve 33 years before being considered for parole, the Press Association reported.

The judge said the Parole Board would not consider her for release until 2040, when she will be 72.

“Most people will find it inexplicable that a mother could kill her own children and you have given no explanation for it,” Bean said.

During the two-week trial, jurors heard that Kumari-Baker attacked the girls in the early hours in June 2007 as they slept at her home in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.

Evidence at the trial showed that Davina — whose body was found kneeling on the floor — had put up a struggle.

Jurors were told that Kumari-Baker was unhappy about a new relationship her ex-husband had entered into. She was also upset by the break-up of her relationship with her new boyfriend.

Prosecutors suggested that she murdered the children in an attempt to wreak havoc on her ex-husband.

Psychiatrists called by the prosecution said Kumari-Baker was suffering from mild depression but did not have a mental disorder or mental illness. — Reuters

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President Obama sends Aidilfitri greetings

KUALA LUMPUR —United States President Barack Obama and wife, Michelle have personally extended Hari Raya Aidilfitri greetings to Muslims in the world, including Malaysia.
In a press release issued by the US Embassy here today, Obama said: “As Muslims in the United States and around the world complete the month of Ramadan and celebrate Aidilfitri, Michele and I would like to extend our personal greetings on this joyous occassion.”
He said that Hari Raya Aidilfitri was a time to celebrate the completion of 30 days and nights of devotion.
“But even on this festive occasion, Muslims remember those less fortunate, including those impacted by poverty, hunger, conflict and disease.
“Throughout the month, Muslim communities collect and distribute zakat-ul-fitr so that all Muslims are able to participate in this day of celebration.
“As I said in Cairo, my administration is working to ensure that Muslims are able to fulfill their charitable obligations, not just during Ramadan, but throughout the year.
“On behalf of the American people, we congratulate Muslims in the United States and around the world on this blessed day, Eid Mubarak,” he said. — Bernama
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Negri prince claims Johor Raja Muda beat him up, wants justice

Tunku Nadzimuddin with his wife Nur Azini Mohd Kamal (left) and mother Tunku Dara Naquiah Tuanku Ja'afar at the press conference. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR— It was his first night out on the town after being cooped up for cancer treatments. But for a Negri Sembilan prince, the happy event at a popular nightspot in the city centre here soon turned into a disaster.

Tunku Nadzimuddin Tunku Mudzaffar claims he and his friends were badly beaten up at gunpoint by the Raja Muda of Johor, Raja Muda Tunku Ismail Idris Abdul Majid, and his bodyguards at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here in the wee hours of the morning on Oct 25 last year.

The eldest son of Tunku Dara Naquiah Tuanku Ja’afar – and grandson of the 10th King of Malaysia – went public today after a year of waiting for justice to be served.

He was accompanied by his parents, his uncle, his wife, Nur Azini Mohd Kamal, 32, a business development manager with Antah, his lawyer, M. Puravalen and the friend, Shamshuddhuha Ishak, 40, who also alleged assault at the hands of the Raja Muda of Johor, the second-in-line to the state throne.

Speaking at a press conference in upscale Damansara Heights office here today, the 37-year-old, who suffered from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said he lodged a report at the Dang Wangi police station the very next day.

“I was a victim of a brutal armed assault. I was attacked with a gun,” Tunku Nadzimuddin said, recounting how he was dragged into the hotel lift and taken into a hotel room and beaten up without reason with a gun aimed at his head all the while.

But, to date, no one has been charged, despite the Attorney General’s (AG) promise last December that investigations will be carried out fairly and action taken against the culprits.

“He said he will check on everything and get the details done first,” Tunku Nadzimuddin’s mother related.

“Police had assured that their probe would be caried out without fear or favour. I was further assured that no one was above the law and the assailants would be produced in court to face charges,” Tunku Nadzimuddin said.

“However, today I am left bewildered and shocked to learn otherwise,” he added, slamming the police for their “serious lack of affirmative action in the investigations”.

“We just want to see things moving,” said Tunku Dara Naquiah. “In any situation, in any society, you hold a gun, you go to prison straightaway, isn’t it?”

“In the spirit of Hari Raya, we want closure,” the Negri Sembilan princess said, and added: “I want justice to be done.”

The AG’s Chambers is said to have advised her to try and settle the royal row out of court.

Tunku Dara Naquiah, who called the media conference, dismissed hearsay that her family was suing the Johor Raja Muda for RM100 million.

Lawyer M. Puravalen, who is acting for the Negri Sembilan royals, stepped in and explained that a letter of demand for RM50 million in compensation and a full apology for the incident was sent to the Johor Raja Muda’s lawyer, Datuk Shafee Abdullah, on Dec 10.

No lawsuit has been filed yet, Puravalen said. They are still waiting for the AG’s reply.

“You can’t dictate to the AG. It’s not proper,” he added.

The incident is said to have started on Oct 24, 2008 when Tunku Nadzimuddin and some friends were partying at the Heritage Mansion.

A glass bottle – said to have contained whisky – was thrown in their direction and hit the prince’s friend, lawyer Shamshuddhuha, who fell unconscious as a result.

Tunku Nadzimuddin claimed he received a call on his mobile phone from a man who said he was acting on behalf of the Johor Raja Muda and invited him up to the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel to apologise for the earlier incident at the club.

They accepted. But instead of an apology, he was bashed on the head with the pistol butt and also suffered a broken nose and bruises.

He claimed he was not given a reason for the assault. There was no conversation between him and the Johor Raja Muda during the 45 minutes or so of the thrashing.

“I didn’t want to provoke him,” Tunku Nadzimuddin said when asked why he did not say a word.

He was later treated at the government-run Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).

His lawyer friend Shamshuddhuha, who was hit by the bottle, was repeatedly assaulted while still out cold.

Both Tunku Nadzimuddin and his mother denied that they knew the Johor Raja Muda, either personally or even socially.

“I don’t know him at all. Not even socially,” Tunku Nadzimuddin replied when asked about his relationship with the Johor Raja Muda.

Tunku Dara Naquiah said that even though they were royals, it did not mean they moved around in the same social circles.

But she said she received a phone call from the Raja Muda’s family after the incident.

“They called me to apologise. But not in so many ways. Only ‘Oh, I’m so sorry my son did this to your son’,” she recounted.

Today’s disclosure could reignite debate about the indiscretions of royalty here. In the 1990s former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad managed to push through amendments to the Constitution which removed the immunity of royalty from prosecution.

Under the Constitution, the country’s nine Sultans can be tried only by a special court. Other members of royal households are not immune from prosecution and can be charged for criminal offences. (TMI)

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Anwar fails in bid to remove prosecutors

By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has been accused of sodomy for the second time in his life, today failed to kick out seven lawyers from the Attorney General's Chambers from taking part in the prosecution against him.

The High Court here rejected his application for leave to disqualify the seven.

They are: Solicitor General I Datuk Idrus Harun, Solicitor General II Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden, deputy public prosecutors (DPP) Datuk Nordin Hassan, Hanafiah Zakaria, Wong Chiang Kiat, Shamsul Sulaiman and Noorin Badaruddin.

In his affidavit supporting his bid, the Permatang Pauh MP charged the prosecutors of having shown bias and prejudice against him when he was first tried for sodomy and corruption a decade ago.

He claimed they had worked hand-in-hand with Tan Sri Gani Patail, then the lead prosecutor in his trials, to hide evidence in his favour.

He also accused them of making up facts, including how he got the “black eye” while in police custody in 1998.

Anwar wanted the High Court to bar all seven as prosecutors in the present case because he believes they are likely to continue what he claims are their biased and prejudiced actions against him.

The man who dreams of being prime minister has repeatedly claimed the Sodomy II charges against him are meant to spoil his chances in taking over Putrajaya.

The 62-year-old politician is also challenging a recent document from the prosecution omitting clear facts in his favour.

He claims that medicals reports state that his complainant, former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, has not been sodomised.

The document under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code is needed before the trial can begin.

Anwar, who made his miraculous come-back from political wilderness last year, is charged with sex against the order of nature, which is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

If found guilty this time, the grandfather will once again be sent to jail, effectively ending his once- meteoric career. (TMI)

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1Malaysia F1 Team or Lotus F1 Team?

A model of the new 1 Malaysia team car unveiled today in Putrajaya. - Reuters pic

UPDATED

LONDON— Formula One’s governing body today named Lotus as the 13th team for the 2010 championship. The new outfit will be led by Tony Fernandes of Malaysia, it was announced here.

In Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also confirmed the news and said the team will be known as the 1 Malaysia Formula One team, although Reuters quotes the FIA as calling the new outfit the Lotus F1 team.

According to Reuters, the new team is a partnership between the Malaysian government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs.

The FIA said the team principal will be leading Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes. The 45-year-old set up Asian budget airline Air Asia and, with a net worth of US$220 million (RM770.57 million), is Malaysia’s 15th richest man, according to Forbes Malaysia 2009 rich list.

Investors in the new team are Air Asia co-founders Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Fernandes as well as SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin of Naza.

Technical director Mike Gascoyne has more than 20 years of experience in Formula One having previously performed the same role for the Force India, Toyota, Renault and Jordan Formula One teams.

As part of its application to compete in the 2010 championship, the Lotus team agreed an engine supply deal with Cosworth.

The team will initially be based in Norfolk, some 10 miles from the Lotus Cars factory in Eastern England.

The team’s future design, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit, the FIA statement said.

1Malaysia is Najib’s platform for uniting Malaysians irrespective of ethnicity and creating a performance based culture.

The concept has gotten mixed reviews as some have praised its objectives while others have criticised its vagueness, which Najib says is deliberate.

The Malaysian government has gone on overdrive to promote 1Malaysia via billboards and song competitions.

Najib declined to disclose the amount that the public-private initiative will cost.

He added however that the government’s investment will be via proton.

Lotus, one of the most successful and glorious names from Formula One’s past, will return next year replacing BMW-Sauber as the 13th entry on the starting grid.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that, after due diligence and an intensive selection process, it had chosen Lotus.

“The cars will be made in Malaysia, by Malaysians,” the Malaysian government said in a separate statement.

The vacancy arose after BMW announced that they were withdrawing at the end of the season, following a path already trodden by Japan’s Honda.

The FIA said BMW-Sauber, who are still seeking a buyer, had been given a reserve slot to fill any vacancy that might occur between now and the start of the 2010 championship.

“The team will announce its two drivers by October 31, 2009. Currently six local and international drivers have been selected,” the Malaysian government said.

Three teams had been on the FIA shortlist for the 13th slot: Lotus, a BMW-Sauber entry to be renamed under eventual new ownership and Spain’s Epsilon Euskadi.

The original Lotus won seven Formula One constructors’ titles and six drivers’ crowns between 1963 and 1978 under the inspirational leadership of the late Colin Chapman, one of the most innovative engineers in the sport.

Chapman died of a heart attack in 1982 and the company slid into administration in 1994 after giving the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna his first victory in 1985.

British great Jim Clark spent his entire F1 career with Lotus, winning two titles. The team’s other champions include compatriot Graham Hill, Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi and American Mario Andretti.

In 1970 the team’s Austrian driver Jochen Rindt became the sport’s only posthumous champion.

The right to the Lotus F1 name was acquired by David Hunt, brother of the 1976 champion James, while the British-based car company was bought by Malaysian state-owned Proton. (TMI)

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Samy Vellu’s Malay dilemma

Datuk Seri S. Samuy Vellu holding up his vote towards the media before casting it during the recent election for the post of Vice President at the MIC general assmbly in PWTC on Septemeber 12, 2009 - Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR— Flush from a major victory, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is now twitching like a beached fish under Umno's glare over an emotional outburst by a MIC delegate who had wanted to garland Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with slippers for criticising the party president.

Umno leaders and Malay organisations have taken umbrage over the remark and have demanded a personal apology from Samy Vellu.

It is now a dilemma for the veteran Indian leader who is caught between appeasing the former prime minister and Umno or staying firm with the anti-Mahathir grandstanding he himself had created.Samy Vellu has offered to sack the offending delegate, believed to be from Selangor hoping the storm would blow over. But that offer conflicts with comments made by other MIC leaders responding to the Malay demand for a personal apology.

The president's son, Vel Paari, who is also a MIC Youth wing co-coordinator, has tried justify the anti-Mahatihr invective by saying the delegates were worked up by Dr Mahathir's criticism of his father.

MIC Youth chief T. Mohan added his two cents in a statement carried prominently in the Samy Vellu-owned Tamil Nesan asking Umno to take disciplinary action against Dr Mahathir for “interfering” in the internal affairs of the party. By all accounts, Samy Vellu appears to want to settle the prickly issue of Dr Mahathir by sacking the delegate but is reluctant to offer a personal apology to keep his “tough and afraid of anyone” image among his diehard supporters.

Dr Mahathir was seen as an “interfering enemy” by Samy Vellu and his camp ever since the former prime minister told the Makkal Osai, a Tamil daily owned by losing deputy presidential candidate Datuk S. Subramaniam’s supporters, that the long-serving party president was destructive, had failed the Indian community and was the reason they abandoned the Barisan Nasional for the Pakatan Rakyat in Election 2008.

Dr Mahathir, who spoke to the vernacular newspaper in the run-up to the Sept 12 MIC election, had also urged party delegates to elect good leaders like Subramaniam.
Once a close ally of Dr Mahathir, Samy Vellu worked quickly and hard to head off the impact of the statement on delegates by using his Tamil Nesan newspaper to attack the former leader as a person unfit to advise the MIC because he had disposed off his own deputies.

He also attacked Subramaniam as “disgraceful” for bowing to Dr Mahathir and using him to get votes in the MIC. “Shame!” was the one-word headline of the Tamil Nesan newspaper on the eve of the poll to reflect Samy Vellu's opinion of Subramaniam, who was once his deputy.

After the president's men swept through the party polls last Saturday despite criticisms from Dr Mahathir and Umno-held newspapers, MIC delegates on Sunday criticised the former prime minister in what was seen as an organised manner with Datuk A. Muneandy from Ampang wanting to pass a resolution condemning Dr Mahathir for interference. But Samy Vellu interjected to say such a resolution was unnecessary adding Dr Mahathir, although interfering in MIC affairs, should be respected because he had brought the country to great heights.

However other delegates keep coming back to the subject and the “garland of slippers” speech was made when Samy Vellu was not in the party assembly ironically held in Umno's Putra World Trade Centre.

Incensed with the attacks, Dr Mahathir renewed his criticisms of Samy Vellu in his blog - although not naming him - saying “there are politician who think if they as party president then they can win in the general election.” “So they try to win by sacking members opposed to them using money to buy support or use their power to threaten or offer any promises to win support,” said the Umno veteran who was prime minister for 22 years.

He noted that they can win through this means but will lose support among the people because the people would notice their abuses. (TMI)

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LPG lorry tanker explodes, two seriously injured

PORT DICKSON: An LPG lorry tanker parked at the vehicle store yard in Kampung Kuala Lukut here exploded and burst into flames, seriously injuring two people.

Residents in the area ran out of their homes on hearing the loud explosion in the 9.20pm incident.

A spokesman from the Fire and Rescue station here, said the two victims who had not been identified yet had 80 per cent burns on their body.

They were sent to Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital in Seremban and are now being treated in the intensive-care unit.

The spokesman said three fire-engines with 2O firemen from here and Lukut took 20 minutes to put out the flames.

The cause of the explosion and fire and loss are being investigated.(NST)

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Yossi Benayoun overwhelms Burnley with second Liverpool hat-trick

Yossi Benayoun (R) shoots to score his third goal against Burnley during their English Premier League soccer match in Liverpool. Sept 12, 2009. – Reuters pic

Liverpool – On the eve of this match, José Reina had described Liverpool’s chances of winning the league title as “unrealistic”. That may be the case, but on a sun-kissed day at Anfield, the hosts’ attempts to at least be contenders this season continued to warm up.

Gone here were the horrors of Liverpool’s last home league match – the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa – instead, Rafael Benítez’s side displayed the relentlessness and deadliness to suggest they can, after all, better last year’s second-place finish. Bar a first-minute strike from Martin Paterson that slid just wide of Reina’s near post, the men in red were rarely threatened by Burnley.

It will have pleased Benítez that his side kept a clean sheet after a series of poor defensive displays. Three of their goals also came from a player who has become a firm favourite of the home support and perhaps now deserves wider recognition.

Yossi Benayoun was superb throughout this contest, as he has been since the tail end of last season, and played a defining role in releasing Liverpool from their initial sluggishness. His clever running worried Burnley throughout, and it was fitting that the Israeli should score his second hat-trick since arriving on Merseyside from West Ham in July 2007.

“He is a player with lots of quality,” said Benítez of the 28-year-old. “We have seen how good he can be from the bench and now he is showing how good he can be from the start.”

Benayoun’s first goal was undoubtedly his best. Collecting Glen Johnson’s pass, he snaked by the Burnley captain Graham Alexander before sliding the ball past a diving Brian Jensen into the far corner.

The second was a tap-in following a superb charge into the area by Steven Gerrard and the third similarly comfortable after the player found himself onside and in space having collected Andriy Voronin’s through pass.

But that should not take away from his achievement nor the class displayed by Liverpool, who briefly moved into fourth place before Manchester United’s win at Tottenham.

Burnley, meanwhile, should not be too despondent. Theirs was an encouraging display before Benayoun scored the first, and had they gone in at half-time 1-0 down, they perhaps would have achieved more.

But that was made impossible by a second Liverpool goal on 40 minutes, and again Benayoun was involved. It was his shot that the Jensen spilt into the path of Dirk Kuyt, who finished with ease. “I’m disappointed that we lost four-nil, as we started well,” said the Burnley manager Owen Coyle. “But we switched off and, with the quality that Liverpool have, they were always going to punish us for that.”

Gerrard and Voronin would have added to the rout had they scored with clear chances late on, but that was of little concern to the home supporters, whose only frustration came when it was announced that Chelsea had scored a winner at Stoke. – Guardian

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Motorola unveils Google phone to muted response

SAN FRANCISCO— Motorola Inc unveiled yesterday the first of many cellphones to be developed in partnership with Google, but analysts questioned if it could revive the once-dominant handset maker’s fortunes.

Wall Street sees the phone as Motorola’s last big hope to regain the market share it has lost to rivals like Apple Inc’s iPhone, Nokia and Samsung.

Analysts were unimpressed by the phone’s design, but many hoped that a focus on integrating social networking sites from Facebook to Twitter might help prop up sales.

Shares of Motorola were up around 1.5 per cent at US$7.97 (RM28), but barely more than the overall market and off their earlier high of US$8.15 before the phone was shown. In contrast, when Palm Inc unveiled the Pre phone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, its stock rose 35 per cent.

Motorola’s stock had risen over 10 per cent in the past month in anticipation of the new phone.

“This is just the first salvo in the whole discussion about where they are going to place, but it sounds like they’ve done a good job here,” said Ed Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research. “It’s nothing really to write home about from a physical aspect, but they don’t really need to knock it out of the park to do much better.”

The phone, which uses Google’s Android software, has a slide-out mini-keyboard and a five megapixel camera.

“It’s not really a threat to iPhone because it doesn’t look distinctive enough,” said Macquarie Research analyst Phil Cusick. “It’s pulling back here because really what they launched was essentially in line with what we’d been expecting.”

While many analysts agreed the phone’s physical appearance was none too exciting, they liked Motorola’s efforts to simplify managing contacts and the sending and receiving of messages from online social sites on the phone.

“They did a good job on the social networking element,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff.

The phone will be called Cliq in the United States, where it goes on sale at Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA in the fourth quarter, and branded as Dext when it goes on sale in the rest of the world. France Telecom’s Orange plans to sell the phone in the United Kingdom and France; Telefonica will launch it in Spain; and America Movil in Latin America, Motorola said.

Snyder said the phones may help the company regain profitability, but market share gains may be limited.

“More than likely these phones will substitute for very unprofitable phones that Motorola is selling, so they will probably cannibalize some of Motorola’s own phone sales and probably not show up as huge market share gains initially,” he said.

Motorola’s announcement was anticipated by many as a make-or-break event for the company, which has cancelled other phones slated for this year in order to devote most of its development resources into the Google Android devices.

Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha, who revealed the Android strategy three months after he took the helm at Motorola’s mobile devices unit in August 2008, said the phone was “a very important starting point.”

The centrepiece of Motorola’s Android development is its MOTOBLUR software, which integrates contacts, emails and text messages along with postings and photos from social networks.

For example, Motorola’s live “Happenings” application automatically delivers updates posted by friends on multiple social sites to one place, and gives the user a choice of ways to immediately reply to those updates.

Contacts, messages and log-in information will be backed up on a MOTOBLUR secure server, so that when a user gets a new phone all the information will show up after the entry of a username and password on the phone.

A phone owner could also wipe data from a lost or stolen phone remotely or even find out where the phone is by using the device’s Global Positioning System technology.

But ABI Research’s Kevin Burden said it was insufficient.

“It’s got to do something more, because that alone is not going to make people go out and rush to buy this phone,” he said. — Reuters

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Graft busters beat me up, says new witness

SHAH ALAM, Sept 9 — He was handcuffed and taken into a dark room where he saw a tall man with spectacles wrapping an iron rod in newspapers.

He was told to strip and blindfolded. Several men assaulted him. He was hit with the metal rod, punched, kicked, slapped all over and even caned on his gentitals and the soles of his feet until he passed out from the pain.

Sivanesan Tanggavelu remembers clearly his encounter with officers from the national anti-graft agency.

He still has the white underwear, the only stitch of clothing he was allowed to wear, from that assault.

Pulling it out from his pants pocket, where it was wrapped in an orange plastic bag, he lifted it up and showed the coroner’s court three gaping tears at the crotch area, the anal area and on the top right corner just below the waistband, said to have been caused by the beatings.

The 22-year-old was introduced today as a new witness into the inquest of Teoh Beng Hock, a DAP political secretary fell to his death on July 16 after being interrogated overnight by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office on the 14th-floor of Plaza Masalam here.

Under questioning from lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, the assistant manager of a Kuantan-based company recounted how he was met at home on Sept 4 last year by three men who said they were anti-graft officers and requested his help in an investigation.

He followed them to their office on the 14th-floor of Plaza Masalam here where they tried to get him to sign a document admitting guilt.

When he refused, one of them, whom he called “Mohan” told him in Tamil: “If you don’t tell the truth, this place will be hell.”

He told the coroner’s court he was assaulted by between 10 to 15 men, which he did not name in his Sept 11, 2008 police report lodged against the national anti-graft agency — ACA, as it was known then — that first night.

But he said he learnt some of their names later. One of them, he said was “Ashraf”, which he recently recognised from reading newspaper reports on Teoh’s inquest.

He said “Ashraf” was the person who had caned his genitals while his hands and feet were bound by cuffs, all the while calling him racist and derogatory names.

Gobind stands with the new witness Sivanesan (left), who came forward to allege torture and abuse at the hands of anti-graft officers last year. — Picture by Jack Ooi

Apart from the two officers named earlier, Sivanesan remembers hearing five others: Zulkifli who had introduced himself when met at his home, “J”, Sachi, Raymond and Hairul Nizam.

He remembers the officers stopping briefly and hurriedly telling him to get dressed when another man entered the room.

But any relief he may have felt was cut short when the new man asked: “Continue the interrogation. Why have you stopped?”

The new man was said to be the deputy director, Sivanesan told the court.

His nightmare did not end there. The assault continued the next day and night.

He was taken to a corridor in the morning, where he saw a window at the end, and repeatedly beat-up by the tall man in glasses, assisted by two or three others.

He heard one officer ask another if the deputy director was in. The other replied he was but that he had given “permission” the previous night.

Each time, he was bashed till he passed out.

He remembers the first two instances when he came to, he found a piece of ice wrapped in plastic inside his underwear, pressed against his genitals. Once, he was given some ointment to rub.

Unable to withstand the pain, he finally signed the document. The beatings stopped after that.

He was released on Sept 9 last year. He snapped photos of his injuries the next day before filing a police report against the anti-graft agency on Sept 11. He was admitted to the Klang general hospital on Sept 12 where he spent the next four days in bed due to his injuries, including to the kidneys.

Lawyer for the MACC, Datuk Abdul Razak Musa had objected strongly this morning to admitting Sivanesan’s testimony as well as police report on the assault in spite of the magistrate’s ruling to allow the materials.

He had also objected to the testimony yesterday when it was to be put to the MACC’s own man, Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus, for questioning.

Then, he argued that Sivanesan’s statement and police report was “not relevant” to finding out how Teoh died because the case was a year old, did not name any of the officers alleged to have assaulted him, and had different circumstances as Sivanesan was a suspect while Teoh was called in as a witness.

Abdul Razak added that if it was to be tendered as evidence, it should rightly be entered through the appropriate witness.

But the MACC legal director argued today that Sivanesan’s testimony was prejudiced against the MACC even before the man took to the witness stand.

He added that magistrate Azmil Muntapha Abas, who is acting as coroner, had agreed with him that the testimony was not relevant to Teoh’s inquest.

Lawyers for the Teoh family and the state government, Gobind and Malik Imtiaz Sarwar respectively, were outraged at what they said was an attempt by Abdul Razak to mislead the court.

Gobind went a step further and likened Abdul Razak’s arguments to contempt of court.

The arguments quickly spiralled into a long-drawn out squabble, which ended with Abdul Razak calling on Azmil to postpone hearing Sivanesan’s testimony, insisting it was “not relevant” and highly prejudiced against the MACC.

But Azmil — after being persuaded by Gobind, Malik, other lawyers acting for the Attorney General (AG) in helping the inquest as well as from the Bar Council and Ean Yong Hian Wah who was Teoh’s boss — decided to hear Sivanesan out first before deciding what to do with the testimony.

Gobind and Malik stressed that Sivanesan’s safety as a witness was now at stake because his identity has been exposed as he was seated in the public gallery during the lawyers’ quarrel.

If the magistrate chose to ignore the precaution, Malik highlighted, it would send the wrong message to future witnesses who may change their minds from giving testimony in open court.

The other lawyers pointed out to Azmil that the ball was in his court as he is the magistrate/coroner. He could choose not to consider the evidence in his final decision or even to expunge the witness’ evidence from the court records.

Teoh, the political secretary to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was said to be the star witness in an ongoing probe over the abuse of state funds by DAP assemblymen.

The 30-year-old husband-to-be had checked into the MACC office on July 15 but never checked out. His body was found sprawled on a 5th-floor landing of the same building the next day.

It was “sudden death” the police said initially. Two pathologists who carried out the autopsy on Teoh said all the signs point to “suicide”.

But his family and his employer strongly believe foul play is involved. Their lawyers believe the same.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, representing the Selangor state government, told the coroner’s court today that the state plans to enter famed Thai pathologist, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, into the witness box next Monday.

A dissatisfied Abdul Razak who immediately filed for the high court to review and revise the magistrate’s decision to admit Sivanesan’s testimonies, succeeded to hold off the inquest from continuing tomorrow at 9am.

The high court in neighbouring Petaling Jaya will hear the application for a review tomorrow at 11am. (TMI)

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A love song for the nation

RECENTLY a group of Indonesian students caused a minor diplomatic furor when they pelted the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta with rotten eggs.

It was the eve of our country’s 52nd National Day and the young Indonesians picked our national anthem, Negaraku as one of the reasons for their dissatisfaction with Malaysia.

The beautiful melody of the anthem was very much similar to a well-loved keroncong tune of the 1930s called Terang Bulan (Moon Light). It was an immensely popular love song at that time in both Indonesia and Malaya that continued to be sung, hummed and whistle to right through the 50s.

The airwaves in Malaya, however, stopped playing it as a mainstream family favourite after the just-independent nation adopted the music as its national anthem in August 1957. Any such use after that is proscribed by statute.

Borrowed from a 19th-century French tune

Indonesian nationalists have, in recent weeks, raised again their longtime claim that Malaysia's national anthem plagiarised “their” song, but have been dealt a blow by musicologists who say both countries had borrowed from a 19th-century French tune.

In the recent embassy ‘attack’ we do not know how attached the students were to the song. But they certainly took it as a great excuse to draw attention to several other upsetting issues between their country and Malaysia.

One bitter episode was the footage of the Balinese pendet dance that was shown by the Discovery Channel in a tourism promotion for Malaysia,

Malaysia has denied the advertisement was produced by any of its agencies and Discovery Channel has also written to the Indonesian tourism ministry to explain that the video clip was not produced by the Malaysian government.

The damage was, however, done. Indonesian Tourism Minister Jero Wacik slammed the advertisement and certain extreme quarters have resorted to burning Malaysia’s national flag and asking their government to declare ‘war’ against Malaysia.

The ‘rotten eggs’ incident was also reportedly triggered by Indonesian claims that Malaysian warships had entered the Ambalat area in the Sulawesi sea in early June and alleged brutalities by Malaysian employers against Indonesian maids and workers.

There were no casualties in that incident but it badly dented Malaysia’s nationalistic pride for, whether the Indonesians like it or not Negaruku is our national anthem, just as the Jalur Gemilang (which has a distant resemblance to the United States’ Stars and Stripes) is our flag.

Terang Bulan tune belonged to Indonesia?

Still, the pertinent question remains: Is it true that the Terang Bulan tune belonged to Indonesia?

A similar tune was heard by Sultan Abdullah of Perak when he was in Mahe in the Seychelles islands after he was deposed and sent to exile there in the aftermath of the assassination of British Resident JWW Birch in November 1875.

He heard it played at a public band concert on the island. The song was said to be adapted from a French melody that was originally composed by a popular songwriter of that time, Pierre Jean de Beranger (1780-1857), who was born and died in Paris.

During the installation of King Edward VII, Sultan Abdullah’s successor, Sultan Idris Murshidul’adzam Shah, represented the rulers of the Federated Malay States at the ceremony.

His delegation was asked for the notes of the state anthem so that it could be played when the Sultan attended all official functions.

But in 1888, Perak as yet had no state anthem. However, thinking that it would be undignified and embarrassing to say so, a protocol officer judiciously informed the King’s representative that he had not brought the note along but could hum the tune if someone could take down the notes.

The tune he hummed and whistled was none other than the popular tune that Sultan Abdullah reportedly heard in the Seychelles. Thus, the state anthem was born

Many people liked the tune and it spread across the Malay Archipelago, to the extent it was no longer sung as the state anthem of Perak.

An Indonesian bangsawan (Malay opera) troupe visiting Singapore, heard the tune and used it in their shows. New lyrics were given and it became the evergreen Terang Bulan.

The Indonesians then were the first to commercialise the tune, making it more popular than it ever was with the advent of the home radio.

No reference to the Mamula Moon.

Largely played in the keroncong beat, which is similar to the Hawaiian rhythms, the song was also picked by a band leader from the islands and named Mamula Moon by Felix Mendelssohn and his Hawaiian Serenaders.

However, in the Malaysian archives pertaining to the history of the song, there was no reference to the Mamula Moon.

Down under in Australia, Paul Lombard and his orchestra reportedly recorded the tune around the year 1936 with Columbia Records in New South Wales.

The recordings featured Joan Wilton in an English version of the song, re-titled Malayan Moon. She also sang the Malay version in a duet with fellow Australian Geotti Brooke.

At that time records were played on gramophone turntables, running at a speed of 78rpm (revolutions per minute), with one song per side (thus, called singles).

The significance of the recording was that it retained the Malay musical background, providing an original and authentic Malayan flavour to the tune.

At the time of Malaya’s independence from colonial rule in 1957, nine of the eleven states in the federation had their own anthem (except the former Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca, which used Britain’s God Save the Queen anthem).

There was no anthem for the newborn nation.

Tunku played a key role

Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman (who was also Home Minister) organised and presided over a committee to look for a suitable national anthem and a worldwide competition was launched. None of the 514 entries received were deemed suitable.

Next, the committee decided to invite selected composers of international repute to submit their compositions for consideration.

The composers chosen were Benjamin Britten, Sir William Walton, who had earlier composed the march for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, American opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said, who later composed Majulah Singapura, the national anthem of Singapore. They were all turned down too.

The committee then heard four songs played by the Royal Police band at an event at the police depot in Kuala Lumpur, and it was there on Aug 5, 1957 that the Perak anthem, Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan was chosen to be Malaya’s national anthem.

The proposal was submitted to the Royal Council, which gave its approval. New lyrics were written by a panel, in which the Tunku played a key role. And Negaraku came into being. In 1963, it was also adopted as the national anthem for the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia.

The music, it was felt, captured the essence of the people’s national identity and unity in diversity.

For many years, the original score was considered one of the most beautiful and inspiring anthems in the world, at par with Britain's God Save the Queen and The United States’ Star Spangled Banner.

It begins with a short drum roll, which beckons the audience to stand to attention and heralds a stately pace. The lyrics pledge loyalty to the nation and the King and expressed unity among the multi-ethnic population and gratitude to God for His blessings.

And as the music repeats the coda section, praying for the safety of our enthroned King, there comes a stirring crescendo of drum rolls and cymbals, which culminates in a poignantly dignified ending.

However, in 1992, the Government decided it was not keeping with the rapid pace of development that the country was going through and commissioned for it to be revised at a faster and more vibrant tempo.

There was a public outcry over the change as it was felt that the rearranged music had veered away from values cherished by society.

Critics said the altered tempo to a quick march beat resembled circus music and it was 11 years later that it was reverted to a more somber mood, with new arrangements by renowned musician Wah Idris.

The reformed Negaraku, which was warmly welcomed by the people, made its debut at the 2003 National Day celebrations that was being held for the first time in the country’s administrative capital Putrajaya.

However, after the general election of 2004, national sensitiveness began to wane and in 2007, when anti-government sentiments were gaining momentum, a Malaysian student studying in Taiwan recorded a satirical rap version of the national anthem in a self-made video clip.

Wee Meng Chee re-titled the Chinese-language song Negarakuku and the video had the Jalur Gemilang flying in the background, with lyrics criticising the government and pejoratively speaking about the Malays in Malaysia.

The controversial video caused outrage among most Cabinet members but Wee was just given a verbal reprimand when he apologised to then MCA president Ong Ka Ting and then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Pass down through the generations

In most countries, the national anthem as well as the national flag and various monuments to depict national dignity and pride, are respected as national treasures.

For the Negaraku, it cannot just be brushed aside as another movie theme song that changes with each sequel but should pass down through the generations for conservation and not desecration.

Wee gave the excuse that he was just interested in making music but artists do not repaint Mona Lisa's smile nor do composers rearrange Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Wee had the same attitude as many leaders of our nation who have a tendency to believe that new things are better than older ones.

Everyone wants to do something or to bring in new concepts during their time of fame.

They constantly discard time tested concepts and ideas to embrace new ones without first assessing whether it is more superior or whether there is a need for it. This attitude clearly exhibits our lack of appreciation for originality and function.

The national anthem has been in the hearts of Malaysians from all walks of life for many generations.

Negaraku belongs to the whole nation, it will always invoke a special meaning in each individual. The anthem's unifying appeal should never be taken for granted and it should be the music that unifies the nation under our glorious Jalur Gemilang.

The national anthem went into its low ebb in 1992 and then went lower in 2007. It is not surprising that only few came in defence of the Negaraku when the Indonesians revived their claim to the music on the eve f our National Day.(MM)

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Khalid Samad: Cow head will haunt Umno in Bagan Pinang

SHAH ALAM-- Khalid Samad said Umno will pay a price for the actions of the cow-head protestors at the upcoming Bagan Pinang by-election, in Negri Sembilan where almost 20 percent of voters are Indians.

“Nothing can negate the damage that Umno has done to itself.”

While he welcomed the decision by the Attorney-General yesterday to charge the cow head protestors, he questioned why authorities took so long to act.

“It’s ridiculous. This should have been done at the very beginning because their actions were clearly detrimental to the country and contradicts the prime minister’s 1Malaysia motto.”

The Shah Alam PAS member of Parliament said he was not calling for the Internal Security Act (ISA) to be used against the protestors but the sentence handed down to them should fit their offence.

“This will determine if authorities are really serious about tackling such behavior.”

Khalid also continued to accuse Umno for instigating the cow head protest and said the government’s move to charge the protestors will no absolve the real culprits.

On Oct 30, 50 protestors marched from the state mosque to the state secretariat with a severed cow head to protest the relocation of the 150-year-old Hindu temple from Section 19.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the Muslim protestors were from Umno, PKR and PAS, but this claim has been denied by Pakatan Rakyat.

Meanwhile, Khalid said the alternative site being proposed for the temple in Section 23 is next to the Nitto Denko factory and is located about 500 metres from any homes.

The empty factory lot belongs to the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) and it was the residents themselves who proposed the new site.

“I don’t think there should be any objections from protestors. If there are, then it clearly shows they don’t want Hindus to have their rights.”

Meetings will first be held with the temple committee before public hearings are held to listen to any concerns from the public. (TMI)

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Students selling sex for dope

KUALA LUMPUR: Students as young as 13 are getting high on cannabis, Ecstasy and ketamine, not just outside schools, but under their teachers’ very noses in class.

Even worse, the New Sunday Times found that female students who don’t have the money have sex with the pushers for a free supply of drugs.

Students claim the drugs help them relax and recover from the stress of examinations.

A sizeable number of secondary school students, aged between 13 and 17, are very familiar with both plantbased drugs such as cannabis, and synthetic drugs such as Eramin-5.

Students from several national and private schools in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negri Sembilan admitted they are drug users.

Many come from middle and upper class families and receive generous monthly allowances of between RM250 and RM1,500.

Those who can’t afford to buy the drugs, are recruited as pushers by the traffickers. If they hit the “sales target” –– selling drugs to five students a week –– they can get drugs for free.

Female students can get the drugs free by having sex with pushers. They also get discounts but the boys have to pay the full price.

Kylie (not her real name) said she knows of female classmates who sleep with drug pushers to be taken to popular entertainment outlets, and also to get
ketamine, Eramin-5 or Happy 5, Ecstasy (in various colours), cannabis, cocaine
and syabu or “ice” for free.

Seventeen-year-old Jamil (not his real name) failed his Penilaian Menengah Rendah exam because of his drug habit.

"Even though I failed, I continued to smoke cannabis with my friends at a park near my house."

Jamil gets a monthly allowance of RM300 and pools his resources with friends to buy cannabis. His friends also buy Ecstasy for RM35 a tablet and ketamine for between RM250 and RM300.

Jamil, who is sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations this year, has been drug free for four months and is trying hard to quit.

"I feel very restless though as I have been smoking regularly since I was 15."

Jamil's classmates introduced him to drugs.

"I could not focus on my studies after starting on the habit. I was constantly lightheaded and in a dream-like state."

Alang (not his real name) began doing drugs when he was 14. His peers were doing it, and he did not want to be perceived as a "square". He had also heard that cannabis could help students relax and ease exam stress.

Others told Alang that snorting ketamine was more effective than coffee if he wanted to stay awake and study until morning.

Now 21, Alang also pops Ecstasy and Eramin-5.

"My choice of drugs depends on my mood and where I will be going to hang out. A stressful day means a joint to relax and wind down.

"Clubbing night means Ecstasy, ketamine or Eramin-5 because it helps me to loosen up and groove to the music."

He stocks up every week.

City Narcotics Department chief Assistant Commissioner Kang Chez Chiang said investigations revealed that some of the arrested pushers were selling drugs to students.

"Certain pushers are using students to sell drugs. Some students get RM10 and think they are doing their friends a favour."

There are also students who know what they are doing is wrong but they do it anyway for the money. Many of the drug pushers are studying at institutions of higher learning or have just started working.

"They recruit their juniors to act as runners or even be pushers. They meet once a week," said Farahin (not her real name), 17.

"Some of my more creative classmates sniff glue and correction fluid to get high. They squeeze the correction fluid on a piece of paper and inhale the fumes."

Farahin said there were also students who sprayed muscle relaxant into their mouths to get high.

"They become violent after that and fight in class. The older ones, those between 15 and 17, prefer to inhale glue."

Selangor Narcotics Department chief Assistant Commissioner Nordin Kadir said 541 youngsters, aged between 14 and 18, were arrested in the first six months of the year for drug offences.

Of the figure, 460 were males and 81 females. During the same period last year, there were 229 arrests.

"Many students take drugs because of peer pressure. They want to fit in. There are also those who take drugs because they come from broken families," Nordin said.

According to statistics from the National Anti-Drug Agency, there were 115 cases of 13 to 17-year-olds involved in drugs last year. The agency conducts its own raids, separate from the police.

Akmar (not her real name) said students usually take drugs after school examinations.

"That is when our teachers are busy marking examination papers. We have all the time to wander around, go to other classrooms and meet up with friends," she said.

It is not just urban students who do drugs. The reach of the pushers may not extend to rural areas and small towns but imaginative students there make do with controlled medication such as Dormicum, codeine or Nospan.

In April, 14 lower secondary school students, including three girls, were detained by Bukit Mertajam police for supplying and consuming Nospan.

If more than one pill is taken, the active ingredient in Nospan, dextromethorphan, can induce hallucinations, vomiting and drowsiness.

A Health Ministry source said two or three pills were enough to induce hallucinations. To get the same high from heroin or syabu, addicts would take between five and 10 tablets.

A businessman operating a Chinese medical hall in Seremban was until April selling about 50,000 Nospan pills a month to students for just 50 sen each.

Health Ministry enforcement officers closed down the medical hall as its licence had been revoked more than a year ago. (NST)

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Relocation of temple shelved temporarily, says Khalid

SHAH ALAM: The decision to relocate the Hindu temple in Section 19 to Section 23 has been temporarily shelved due to protests by some residents, said Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

He, however, said the state government is looking for more suitable sites to relocate the temple.

Earlier in the morning, Khalid had a dialogue session with residents of Section 23 to resolve the issue of the relocation of a century-old temple from Section 19 to Section 23.

He wanted to explain to the residents the reasons for the relocation and to find an amicable solution.

His explanation and that of the Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor fell on deaf ears as protesters and residents numbering some 300 constantly shouted and booed at them.

Also trying to explain to the unruly crowd were Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, Batu Tiga state assemblyman Rodziah Ismail, and state development agency PKNS chief Othman Omar.

The dialogue session ended at about 12.30pm without any amicable solution due to the fracas.

Khalid announced that there was no final decision on the matter yet as an agreement could not be reached at the dialogue.

The dialogue was planned when residents of Section 23 here staged a protest last Friday against the Pakatan Rakyat-led government’s decision to relocate a 150-year-old temple from Section 19 to their Malay-majority area.

The protest sparked controversy when some of the participants brought along a cow’s head and left it at the gates of the state secretariat building.(TheStar)

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Another by election in Bagan Pinang as the rep died of blood infection

SEREMBAN: Azman Mohd Noor, the Barisan Nasional assemblyman for Bagan Pinang in the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency, died of blood infection at the Seremban Specialist Centre at 3.30pm yesterday.

The one-term assemblyman was 55.

He leaves a wife and five children aged between 13 and 23.

His wife, Normah Zainal Abidin, said Azman was sick on Thursday evening and his condition became worse at night.

Azman Mohd Noor died of blood infection.

"He was adamant that he didn't want to go to the hospital, but I eventually managed to persuade him.

"We brought him to the hospital at 5.20am and he was admitted to the ICU soon after," she said at the hospital.

Normah said her husband underwent a by-pass at the same hospital in May and showed progress.

"However, after the state assembly sitting last month, his condition deteriorated and he was always tired."

Azman, who was also Teluk Kemang Umno division vice-head, was laid to rest at the Bagan Pinang Muslim cemetry near Taman PD Utama, Port Dickson, after the Maghrib prayers yesterday.

His demise will now set the stage for the ninth by-election since the general election in March last year.

During that general election, Azman garnered 6,430 votes to beat Ramli Ismail of Pas, who got 4,097 votes.

Among those who were at the hospital yesterday were Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Teluk Kemang Umno division chief Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad.

Mohamad said he was sad to lose a friend in Umno who had been very active in the party.

Isa said Azman was always loyal to the party and close to his constituents. (NST)

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Oil prices fall, natural gas at new seven-year lows

NEW YORK: Natural gas prices tumbled again Thursday, hitting new seven-year lows as the U.S. pares down on energy usage and more unused supply is put into storage.

In other trading, benchmark crude for October delivery fell 9 cents to settle at US$67.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent crude dropped 54 cents to settle at $67.12 on the ICE Futures exchange.

On Monday, Spokane, Washington-based utility Avista Corp. said it wants to reduce natural gas prices for its Oregon customers to the lowest levels in five years.

And in the Midwest, Alliant Energy Corp. and Wisconsin Public Service Corp. both predicted heating bills would drop around 20 percent.

That will mean huge savings for a lot of Americans this winter when the heating bill arrives.

"Any savings we get, they get," Alliant spokesman Scott Drzycimski said.

Natural gas for October delivery gave up 20.7 cents to settle at $2.508 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.

Prices dropped as low as $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet - the lowest since March 2002 - after the government reported that U.S. natural gas supplies grew again last week and are now nearly 18 percent above the five-year average.

Natural gas, a key energy source for power plants, has plummeted to less than a third the price it fetched last summer, and its contract on the Nymex lost nearly 23 percent in the past six trading days.

The United States Natural Gas fund, an exchange-traded fund that tracks natural gas prices, has fallen steadily this year, giving up 76 percent of its value and it hit a 52-week low of $8.94 a share on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Institute for Supply Management showed that the service sector shrank in August, though hospitals, retailers, financial services companies and other industries covered by its index posted their best reading in 11 months.

Also, the Paris-based OECD said that while the world economy is headed for an earlier recovery than previously forecast, the pace of any rebound will likely remain modest for some time to come.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for October delivery lost 1.58 cents to settle at $1.7928 a gallon and heating oil fell by 1.55 cents to settle at $1.735 a gallon. - AP

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Pakatan wants Hishammuddin sacked

SHAH ALAM — Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leader Xavier Jayakumar demanded Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to be sacked or step down from the Cabinet after the home minister appeared to favour those linked to last week’s cow-head protest.

Jeyakumar chided the Umno vice-president for interfering in police investigations by talking to those suspected of carrying out the bigoted Hindu temple protest, as cows are sacred in Hinduism.

“We ask for him to step down or be sacked as minister of internal affairs as he has broken the trust placed in him by Malaysians,” the Selangor state executive councillor said in a statement.

He noted that Hishammuddin had met with “a group who has no respect for other Malaysians and worse still, defends them, forgetting that he is the Minster of Internal Affairs of all Malaysians”.

Hisham’s (centre) overt support for the protesters in the cow-head protest has Selangor Pakatan leaders calling for his head. — Picture by Choo Choy May

“Can we now accept that anyone who is disrespectful of other Malaysians and is still under investigation, will be heard by the Minister himself,” the PKR man asked.

Other Pakatan Rakyat leaders have accused Umno of being behind the protest by Section 23 residents who are against the relocation of the 150-year-old Sri Mahamariamman temple from Section 19. The residents claim their area is a Malay-Muslim majority neighbourhood although the state says there is a significant presence of Hindus there.

In a sarcastic aside to the home minister, Jeyakumar said, “Hey — all you thieves, murderers, rapists, corrupt officials and whoever else can now turn to Hishammuddin before the Attorney-General decides what to do.”

He added that Hishammuddin had in the past “waved his keris inciting bloodshed, supported the arrest of lawyers who went to defend those detained by the police, arrested 580 people (this is a record) for standing up for their rights to protest against the ISA and now defends a group who is prepared to bring about racial unrest and bloodshed”.

“This shows that he has utter disrespect for the rule of law and uses his position and power for his own political gain,” he added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday it was up to the Attorney-General and police to decide prosecution, brushing aside his cousin’s views of a possible solution that could prevent legal action.

Jeyakumar claims Hisham’s actions have eroded people’s faith in his as home minister. — Picture by Choo Choy May

An outraged Najib ordered police to take action after the residents carried the severed cow-head to the Selangor state secretariat last Friday to register their protest as riot police stood by.

Noting Hishamuddin’s support for the Section 23 residents which he said flies in the face of Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept, Jeyakumar asked “Do minorities have a right to pray, build a place of worship and live peacefully with other Malaysians, or does Umno and the Barisan [Nasional] prescribe that we build our places of worship in the heart of a jungle, where we will be out of sight and this is safe for Barisan?

“We teach our children [the] Rukun Negara, moral studies in school, but how do we explain to a child that toleration is important when such hatred and irresponsible behaviour is supported by national leaders?”

While the Selangor government will hold a town hall meeting with Section 23 residents this Saturday, Jeyakumar asked for tolerance, goodwill and a spirit of give-and-take among the neighbours there to solve the issue soon. (TMI)

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Pakatan assembly orders Ganesan, Hee jailed and fined over May 7 fracas

The pandemonium outside the state secretariat as police cordon the building from PR assemblymen.

IPOH, Sept 2 — Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) state assembly sitting today approved a decision by its rights and privileges committee to arrest and jail for six months Barisan Nasional (BN) Speaker Datuk R Ganesan and his deputy Hee Yit Foong for their role in the May 7 fracas.

The two were also fined RM500,000 by the assembly, which convened at the Heritage Hotel here with 23 PR lawmakers after they were forcibly stopped from entering the state secretariat building this morning.

Ganesan and Hee, who had defected from DAP, were elected to their posts after policemen removed Sivakumar by force at the state assembly sitting on May 7. Their appointments remain contentious because they were voted in amid chaotic scenes before Raja Nazrin Shah declared open the assembly.

Since then, Sivakumar has maintained that he remains the legitimate Speaker of the state legislature.

Today’s sitting, while slammed by Barisan Nasional (BN) as a political ploy, is a move by PR to maintain the stand that it still legitimately controls the legislature nearly nine months after a controversial power grab that is still being disputed.

Sivakumar presided over the assembly with no BN assemblymen present, even though sitting was arranged for them.

After the vote on Ganesan and Hee, the PR Speaker issued a directive for the police to take action and arrest the duo, but this is not likely to be executed as the authorities have said they do not recognise the sitting.

Among the other decisions made by the rights and privileges committee which was passed by the sitting today include further suspensions of BN Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir, senior executive councilor Hamidah Osman and five other BN exco members.

With no way in, the PR legislators head to a hotel instead to hold their assembly.

The sitting also approved the membership to three legislative committees — on rights and privileges, public accounts and standing orders — with nominations made for one BN representative in each panel.

A final emergency motion condemning the actions taken by the police earlier this morning as well as the role played by the BN administration in preventing lawmakers from entering the state secretariat was also passed.

Earlier, police arrested three Perak lawmakers this morning, including state DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham, as they forcibly blocked a group of PR representatives from entering the state secretariat building here to convene a state assembly sitting.

The PR lawmakers, including former mentri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, who was ousted by BN in the power grab, were engaged in a scuffle with riot police before eventually dispersing.

Besides Ngeh, others arrested included Simpang Pulai assemblyman Chan Ming Kai; Malim Nawar representative Keshvinder Singh, who was kicked by policemen; and a Nanyang Siangpau photographer.

Three other members of the public, believed to be PR supporters, were also detained.

Keshvinder, who sustained injuries during the scuffle, has been taken to hospital.

Police had rolled out barbed wire and placed riot police with water cannons around the Perak state assembly, brandishing a court order barring assemblies within 30 metres of the area.

PR lawyers had tried in vain this morning to set aside the court order, but could not obtain an appointment with any magistrate.

Sivakumar had called for the sitting six months — as required by law — after the last sitting that was forced to be held under a rain tree.

The Pakatan Rakyat government fell last February when three lawmakers quit to turn independent in the 59-seat assembly, locking both Pakatan and Barisan Nasional with 28 lawmakers each.

The Perak ruler asked Pakatan mentri besar Nizar to quit the post but he refused, saying only the state assembly could force his resignation.

The Sultan also rejected Nizar’s advice to dissolve the assembly and call for fresh elections, and instead named BN’s Pangkor assemblyman Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new mentri besar. (TMI)

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Will RON95 will save your money?

Salaries can only be increased so much (and increases usually occur only once a year!) and belt-tightening also has its limits so everyone is looking for ways to reduce their cost of living. For people with cars, the cost of motoring can be a significant chunk of their monthly expenditures and therefore keeping it down is helpful.

The big jump in fuel prices last year certainly made motorists more conscious of the need to economize on fuel while driving. Studies have shown that many motorists still waste a lot of petrol due to long periods of idling, eg while waiting for the kids to come out from school, and of course, not keeping the engine in proper tune also causes fuel consumption to be higher.

While it is possible to save fuel by modifying driving styles and perhaps using the car less, the petrol you buy doesn’t offer many alternatives as prices are fixed by the government. Two grades have been available all this while – RON92 and RON97 – the former grade retails at a lower price.

From September 1, 2009, the government has directed that RON92 be phased out and replaced by RON95. The move will see the RON95 price per litre going up by 5 sen compared to RON92 but it will be cheaper by 5 sen too compared to RON97. At the time of writing, it is presumed that RON97 will see a price increase as the government subsidy will be reduced if not stopped.

The move to RON95 will benefit many motorists whose vehicles do not really need RON97 petrol and can run just as well on RON95. The switch will save them money without having to even alter their driving styles, modifying the engines or sacrificing driving pleasures.

While the difference of 5 sen per litre from the RM1.80 price of a litre of RON97 may seem small, think of the total savings per full tank of, say, 60 litres and that will come to RM3.00. If you think of it in terms of a Malaysian breakfast, that could get you a packet of nasi lemak and a drink!

So switching from RON97 to RON95 will save you money right away and if you choose your petrol brand thoughtfully, you can even save some more in the long run. Caltex Premium 95 with Techron®, a RON95 unleaded petrol, can help you save more money in your pocket by keeping your engine running at its best all the time with the Techron® additive package which provides a highly effective clean-up of the fuel intake system as well as the fuel injectors or carburetors. And if you keep using Caltex Premium 95 with Techron®, it will keep your car engine clean and running efficiently.

Most modern cars can use RON95, among them Proton and Perodua models, all locally assembled Honda models and even the latest models like the Nissan Sylphy and Chevrolet Optra. You should check the Owner’s Manual or ask the company that sells your car whether the engine can run on RON95 and if it can, then you’re in luck and can get a further ‘rebate’ on your petrol purchase!

Contributed by Chips Yap, editor of the Motor Trader website for Caltex.

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