Insight Sabah - News Summaries as at 22 May 2013

Current Issues

Special Affairs Minister Teo Chee Kang announced that the 2013 Education allocation fund by the state government is now open for application. Hence, he urged all applicants to submit their application, and it can be made through the department or Sabah Chinese Schools Board. (See Hua)
Sabah Chinese Association Acting Chairman Ng admitted that he is slightly disheartened with the decision of reducing one from two posts of Chinese ministers in the State Cabinet, however he hopes that Teo Chee Kang is able to solve the Chinese community affairs. He believes the BN Government is able to perform its best for the people in Sabah including the Chinese community. The association will continue to act as a bridge between the Chinese associations and the state government , in solving any matters related. He said this when led the association's members during their courtesy call on Teo Chee Kang. (OCDN, AT)
Sepanggar MP Jumat Idris accused the Mayor Abidin Madingkir as an " agent of the opposition ", for failing to deliver his job to a satisfactory level in the Sepanggar constituency. He claimed RM4-RM5m allocations given by PM's Department and other federal agencies for implementing various projects in Sepanggar had yet to be utilized due to a lack of cooperation from the Mayor's office. He charged when officiating at the Touch Point Assistance Presentation for Inanam Farmers Association members in Menggatal, yesterday. (BP)
Lahad Datu Executive Officer, Mohd Fauzi Abdul Kadir suggested that building more housing for locals can reduce the number of squatter colonies in Sabah, as the first settlers in a squatter colony are usually locals who do not have a proper place to live in. He said at the RCI on illegals hearing yesterday. He was responding to a question from Conducting Officer Jamil Ariffin who sought his opinion on how the squatter problem in Sabah can be resolved. He also suggested the Government consider establishing cluster settlements for foreigners . He informed that there are 13 squatter colonies located within the Lahad Datu rating area, 2,186 illegally built houses in those colonies with 15,053 inhabitants. (BP, OCDN, See Hua)
Elopura Assemblyman Au Kam Wah is seeking an increase in the monthly quota of diesel for each fuel station in Sandakan to overcome an alleged shortage of diesel at the end of every month. He said the worst affected are the operators of buses, school buses and other modes of transportation. (BERNAMA, BP)
Maximus will like to reduce the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) in Sabah by half in the next 2 years. He disclosed this after attending a closed door briefing with ministry staff yesterday. His ministry has set the SAIDI target by Sabah at 600mins/customer for last year. (BERNAMA, BP)
The Customs Department yesterday launched Ops Gegar, an integrated operation by its Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan to curb smuggling in Malaysian Borneo. The operation, implemented according to the concept of the Blue Ocean Strategy aims to use cost, energy and time at optimum level while being effective, said the Assistant Director General of Customs for Enforcement, Dato' Zainol Abidin Taib yesterday when launching Ops Gegar. (NsaT, OCDN)
The Sabah Inland Revenue Board (IRB) expects to rake in RM40b in tax collection this year against RM38b collected in 2012. Its Director, Kamaruzaman Ab Salleh said he is confident the target can be achieved judging from the agency's collection last year. He told reporters after launching a 2 day campaign where IRB officers will visit housing estates and business premises to explain and educate tax payers besides helping them to fill up their tax return forms. (DE, NsaT)
The Malaysia Handicraft Development Corporation of Sabah invites the public to a crafts promotional programme on May 24 until June 3 from 9am-10pm at City Hall's Lintasan Deasoka.Its Director, Mohd Latiff Dirun said the programme is meant to gather and feature all the uniqueness of high quality Malaysian craftmanship which will presented through exhibitions, educational talks, demos and performances. (DE)
Masidi said Sabah is safe to visit for both domestic and international tourists, and the ministry will continue to work closely with foreign embassies and high commissions, the Federal Tourism Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to overcome the negative perceptions and concerns. He said during a meeting with Matta Sabah members here recently. (DE, NsaT, See Hua)
The Independent News : The battle against global warming has received a transformational boost after China, the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, proposed to set a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. Under the proposal China, which is responsible for a quarter of the world's carbon emissions, would put a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions from 2016, in a bid to curb what most scientists agree is the main cause of climate change.
The Independent News: The annual rate of inflation eased to 2.4 per cent last month, thanks to falls in petrol prices and air fares, the Office for National Statistics reported yesterday. The drop from the 2.8 per cent inflation rate recorded in March was larger than most City analysts had expected and represents the first moderation in consumer prices index growth since last autumn.
Sandakan suffered losses of RM1,252,550 due to injuries and deaths from fires, said Fire and Rescue Sandakan Zone Acting Chief, Ordine Gilu. He said for the same period, RM985,450 was saved, during the period, 10 deaths and 16 injuries were recorded. He said 60 calls were received for different types of fires including one false call. He said this when met by reporters at the Sandakan Zone level Firemen's Day celebration 2013 held at the Sandakan Fire and Rescue, Batu 3, Sandakan, Tuesday. (DE, NsaT)
Channelnewsasia: Japan's trade deficit expanded a worse-than-expected 70 percent on year to $8.6 billion in April, government data showed Wednesday, as a weaker yen made imports costlier. The monthly trade deficit came to 879.9 billion yen ($8.6 billion), 69.7 percent higher than the year-before deficit of 518.4 billion yen, finance ministry data showed.
A total of RM614,355 have been spent over the past 6 years on foreign juveniles sent to Henry Gurney schools in Sabah. State Prisons Department's Deputy Superintendent Kalbin Mohd Said told the RCI on illegals in Sabah that it cost the school RM33 a day, same as that of the adult prisoners in the state prisons for the upkeep of the juveniles. As of October 2012, he said there were 11 foreign juveniles including a girl serving their sentences in the State Prison's Department Henry Gurney schools mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. (DE, BP, See Hua)
Channelnewsasia : Singapore's police are piloting a new voluntary Victim Care Cadre Programme. Under it, volunteers will be trained by police psychologists to provide care services to victims. Revealing this on Tuesday was Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran at the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology, which is being held in Singapore.
Sabah Health Principal Assistant Director (Epidemiology) , Dr Maria Suleiman said foreigners who sought medical treatment in government hospitals and clinics are a burden to the country as evidenced by the RM21.672m in arrears they incurred from 2007-2012. And from 2007-2011, a total of 472,452 foreign children below the age of 6 were treated at the 80 health clinics and rural clinics in Sabah.Testifying before the RCI on illegals in Sabah, Tuesday, she said it is difficult to go after the 42,092 non paying foreigners. According to her, hospitals treated 1.3 million foreigners as inpatients from 2000-2011, this had made the state health services are overly burdened by those foreigners. (DE, OCDN, AT, See Hua)
The Straits Times: A more holistic eldercare policy - rather than differentiating among health care, social care and housing - is needed in the long-term care sector. This was one of several insights shared in a new report commissioned by the Lien Foundation and developed by consultancy KPMG. The report, titled An Uncertain Age: Reimagining Long-term Care in the 21st Century, is based on interviews with 46 experts in 14 countries, including Singapore, Japan, Australia and the United States. They were asked about trends and challenges in the eldercare sector, and asked to identify innovative solutions in the world.
Raymond Tan said Sabah aims to bring in between RM10 and RM15b investment into the State this year, and the figure accounted for 10% of the national target if RM150b is the target of getting the total investments, this year. He said this in a press conference after delivering his keynote address 2013 for the Industrial Development Ministry at a hotel here on Tuesday. Also present were assistant minister Bolkiah Ismail, permanent secretary of the ministry Hashim Paijian, Rural Development Assistant Minister Nilwan Kabang and other senior officials. (DE, NsaT, BP, AT, See Hua)
The Malaysian Insider : The MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) proposed today that all government administrators and their family members at both federal and state levels be barred from bidding for government projects. The panel also suggested a mandatory declaration of assets by all MPs and state assemblymen at least once in every three years to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and a one-year “cooling-off” period before retired civil servants are allowed to hold posts in professional practices or the corporate sector.
The first sitting of the State Legislative Assembly next month after the 13th GE is likely to see Bills coming under closer scrutiny with lengthier and more intense debates over issues raised. This is the expectation with the increased number of opposition members in the 60 member Assembly, said Deputy Speaker Johnny Mositun who was sworn in for the second consecutive term, Tuesday. Also sworn in as Deputy Speaker was Dr Johnson Tee who replaced Datuk Frankie Chong. (DE, NsaT, BP, OCDN, AT)
Malaysia Kini : The Election Commission (EC) today set up a special team to find out why the indelible ink used to mark voters in the 13th general election could be easily removed, said EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof.