JDT down with the flu

<p>SEVENTEEN players, several coaches and staff at the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) Football Club have caught the flu.</p> <p>JDT technical director Alistair Edwards said in a statement on the Johor Southern Tigers website that the infected players were from the JDT senior team (10), JDT 11 (four) and JDT 111 (three).</p>

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Putrajaya not seeking more say on land rights, says minister

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar.

KUALA LUMPUR: The federal government has no intention of seeking a constitutional amendment to give it more say on land rights, Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said.

He said land rights had been promised to the state governments as part of an agreement during independence.

“We are engaging all the states in regards to land use and maybe set an SOP (standard operating procedure) to safeguard the interests of the states as well as individuals,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

He said the SOP would only be a guideline for states to use before degazetting land for other purposes and was not “binding”.

On reforms to the National Forestry Act 1984, the Kuala Langat MP said these were in the pipeline.

He said the reforms were mostly related to enforcement and punitive action against those who trespassed forests illegally and those who carried out illegal logging.

The proposed amendments to the Act would be brought to Parliament next March, he said.

This comes on the back of the Sungai Pulai golf course controversy which saw the de-gazettement of part of the Sungai Pulai mangrove reserve and protected wetlands in Johor to make way for a golf course and hotel project.

Xavier said investigations into the matter by his ministry had ended and the Johor government had reassured Putrajaya there would not be any more “intrusions”.

He said the status of the part of the mangrove reserve where the golf course was located “definitely is no more a mangrove reserve” and that the state government was most probably the owner of the land.

Activists had raised the alarm over the opening of the first of three golf courses by a foreign company, which they claim was within the Sungai Pulai mangrove reserve in Gelang Patah, a well-known riverine mangrove system.

Sources close to the issue told FMT the first golf course and hotel project, which opened its doors to the public late last year and reportedly cost RM2 billion, encroached on the Sungai Pulai Ramsar site as well.

Witness: SRC International got PM’s special attention, desperately needed funding


Datuk Matnoor Nawi (left) and Datuk Maliami Hamad are pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court July 8, 2019. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
Datuk Matnoor Nawi (left) and Datuk Maliami Hamad are pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court July 8, 2019. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — SRC International Sdn Bhd received special attention from then prime minister and was in desperate need for funding when two government guarantees were granted to the company between 2011 and 2012, the High Court was told during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial today.

The ministry’s Loan Management, Financial Market and Actuary Division former secretary Maliami Hamad testified that these were the reasons given to his subordinate when confronted over the need to expedite the preparation of a Cabinet memorandum.

The memorandum concerns the granting of the government guarantees for a total of RM4 billion loan SRC International obtained from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP).

“I was questioned by my subordinate Afidah Azwa on why the Finance Ministry needed to quicken the process as she did not have sufficient time to verify information provided by SRC International before they were included into the memorandum.

“I told her the instruction I received came from then Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah who said SRC received special attention from the PM himself and the company was in desperate need of funding,” he said in his witness statement here.

Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz, who is the prosecution’s 41st witness, previously testified that she was instructed to prepare the internal memo and a Cabinet memorandum on the same day to be included for the Cabinet’s consideration on August 15, 2011 by Maliami.

At that time, Najib was the prime minister and also held the portfolio of finance minister.

During the course of the trial, witnesses have testified that KWAP granted a total of RM4 billion in loans in August 2011 and March 2012 to SRC International, with money allegedly flowing through other companies before being transferred into Najib’s accounts.

Najib is currently standing trial for seven money laundering and criminal breach of trust charges over RM42 million in SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

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Seleweng dana DUN: Wakil rakyat BN ditahan SPRM

Adun Sg Rambai, Hasan Abd Rahman. (Gambar Facebook)

PETALING JAYA: Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) hari ini menahan seorang Adun Barisan Nasional (BN) Melaka berhubung penyelewengan peruntukan yang dikaitkan dengan Program Strategik Lautan Biru Kebangsaan (NBOS).

SPRM berkata berkata Hasan Abd Rahman selaku pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pembangunan dan Penyelarasan Dewan Undangan Negeri (Japerun) ditahan bersama keraninya Khuzaiman Abdullah.

Ketua Pesuruhjaya SPRM, Latheefa Koya berkata, kedua-dua mereka dibebaskan dengan jaminan SPRM dan dikehendaki hadir di Mahkamah Sesyen Ayer Keroh untuk pertuduhan esok.

“Kes adalah berkaitan penyelewengan peruntukan bagi Inisiatif Strategic Linkage di bawah NBOS 2016 untuk negeri Melaka yang disalurkan pada Japerun,” kata Latheefa.

Julai tahun lalu, dilaporkan sejumlah RM10,412 wang milik Japerun Durian Tunggal, dilaporkan hilang selepas kemenangan Pakatan Harapan (PH) pada pilihan raya umum ke-14.

Exco Kerja Raya, Pengangkutan dan Kemudahan Awam negeri, Mohd Sofi Abdul Wahab, berkata pihaknya menerima 3 penyata melalui bank CIMB yang menunjukkan berlaku pengeluaran wang pada 15 Mei tahun lalu.

Beliau berkata, akaun pertama adalah Tabung Kebajikan Japerun Durian Tunggal dengan baki akhir terdahulu RM318.16 dan baki terkini, RM10.60.

“Akaun kedua pula adalah Tabung Kebajikan Khas Japerun Durian Tunggal dengan baki terdahulu RM10,104.15. Kemudian, baki terkini adalah RM10.60.

“Akaun 1 dan 2 ditutup sejurus pengeluaran dilakukan pada 15 Mei lalu. Kita percaya penama akaun ini mengeluarkan wang berkenaan selepas berlaku peralihan kuasa,” katanya.

 

Hannah Yeoh: Studies needed on link between child neglect and juvenile crime


Hannah Yeoh said research is lacking on possible causality between parental neglect of children and the rising incidence of juvenile crimes. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
Hannah Yeoh said research is lacking on possible causality between parental neglect of children and the rising incidence of juvenile crimes. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Research is lacking on possible causality between parental neglect of children and the rising incidence of juvenile crimes, Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh said today.

Commenting on the recent rape and murder cases involving juveniles, Yeoh said it was difficult to gauge the effectiveness of awareness programmes or plan these when there was not enough data collected to offer plausible conclusions.

“We don’t have enough study on such cases, on how many per cent of the increase are coming from neglected family. It is a vicious cycle.

“So if we don’t have the data, we don’t have intervention and then whatever programmes we have is not going to work,” Yeoh said at the lobby of Parliament today.

She added that such data was crucial as punitive measures alone were not the answer in cases where both the perpetrator and victim were minors.

Instead, she said other factors such as causality and mitigation must also be determined.

“There is a reason why children behave like that and we have to look at firstly, the enforcement and the existing laws. Charge the adults who had neglected the children that had resulted in this.

“Secondly is looking at rehabilitation, you have to focus on recovery,” she said.

Yeoh also said attention should be given to the deterioration of the family unit in Malaysia as there was growing incidence of intra-family crime.

The deputy minister said such issues would not be addressed until effort is made to resolve fundamental issues in familial units, such as a lack of communication and under parenting.

Yesterday, two teenagers were arrested after they confessed to involvement in the murder of a Form Four student in Taiping, Perak.

The 16-year-old boy was reportedly killed by his 14-year-old sister and her boyfriend, 15, over a dispute.

Separately, a 12-year-old boy in Batu Gajah, Johor admitted last week to raping a four-year-old girl in the care of his mother, who is a babysitter.

The Year Six pupil had raped the toddler three times since May and was purportedly influenced by pornographic videos he viewed on a mobile phone.

Top Oman diplomat meets Assad in rare Syria visit

<p>THE Oman state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah today met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Muscat said, in the Gulf official’s second visit to the war-wracked country since conflict broke out in 2011.</p> <p>The two met to discuss bilateral relations and regional security, the sultanate’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Abdullah also met with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem.</p>

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Umno-PAS can’t win on Malay support alone, says Khir Toyo

<p>UMNO and PAS will not win in the 15th general election if its political cooperation only raises issues of concern to Malay-Muslims without focusing on other races, said Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo.</p> <p>The former Selangor menteri besar said focusing on winning Malay votes at the expense of other races was one of the reasons Barisan Nasional lost in Selangor for three consecutive elections.</p>

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