2
news without borders
Govt to lift country out of
economic crisis soon: DPM
IPOH: The government will strive to lift
the country out of the global economic
crisis earlier than the developed
nations and other countries of this
region, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday.
Once that had been done, it would
engage in bigger and more effective
development efforts, he added.
“Malaysia has to emerge from the
economic downturn earlier, especially
when the country is on the doorstep
of the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015).
It will be achieved in not too long
a period,” he said when addressing
heads of federal and state departments
and Perak educators, here.
Muhyiddin, who is on a one-day
visit to Perak, said emphasis was placed
on the implementation of the economic
stimulus packages totalling RM67 bil-
lion to consolidate the living standard
and national development though the
economic downturn did not have much
impact on the country.
He also said all civil servants should
work for the government of the day and
serve the people with responsibility
Blind runner inspires and motivates
by Eva Yeong
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Henry Wanyoike,
world record-holder of the 5,000m
and 10,000m events in the Paralym-
pics of Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004,
will run the 21km half marathon in the
Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009
on Sunday.
The visually impaired runner, who is
also “Seeing is Believing” programme
goodwill ambassador, will be running
with his regular running partner and
childhood friend Joseph Kibunja.
Kibunja will guide him with a tether
connecting them at the wrists.
The duo gave a motivational talk
and shared tips on running with guides
at a running clinic at SM Pendidikan
Khas Cacat Penglihatan, Setapak on
Wednesday.
“Courage and determination can
help one overcome adversity to excel.
And they can make dreams come
and trust despite differences in political
opinion.
The deputy prime minister said
there were many matters to be attended
to but national unity could not be
neglected.
“We have become accustomed to a
life of progress, peace and prosperity in
Malaysia. It is important to forge unity
in spite of the differences in political
opinion,” he said.
At a dialogue session at the function,
Muhyiddin said heads of department
should not feel threatened if newly ap-
pointed young officers or subordinates
came up with criticism and views
on how work was done or had to be
done.
These views should be accepted
with an open mind as they could help
to upgrade the service, he added.
“I believe new appointees and
subordinates will not feel restricted
in giving their views if there is good
relationship in a department.
“I feel their views can help in the
progress of the government admin-
istration as the new officers are also
true. Together with Joseph, I know
that partnership changes lives and I
hope we can touch the lives of oth-
ers through our work with ‘Seeing is
Believing’,” Wanyoike said.
Wanyoike, who started running at
the age of 12, was not born blind. He
went to bed on the last day of April
1995 and woke up the following day
blind. Fourteen years on, Wanyoike
still does not have his sight, but has
become a successful runner.
In 2005, the 35-year-old Kenyan set
the marathon world record for blind
runners in Hamburg, Germany with a
time of 2:31:31. Last year, he won the
Beijing Paralympics bronze medal at
the 5,000m event. These are just two
of his achievements over the years.
With determination, courage, self-
confidence, motivation and hard work,
one can achieve anything, Wanyoike
said. However, for visually impaired run-
ners like himself, teamwork, partnership
and friendship are equally important.
qualified although they lacked experi-
ence,” he said.
He said every staff should be bold
enough to come up with views which
were relevant to the interests of society
and beneficial for the people.
Muhyiddin also said that Chinese
language print and electronic media
should be more responsible in news
reporting.
He said media had a huge role in
shaping the thinking of the people and,
as such, had to be responsible because
it did not have absolute freedom.
The deputy prime minister said
inaccurate media reports, particularly
those which had been manipulated,
could influence the people negatively,
especially those who did not know the
actual situation.
“Not all Chinese language media
reports are inaccurate. Much of the
news is accurate.
“However, what is inaccurate has
to be set right. The important thing
is to have a sense of responsibility to
society to avoid dissatisfaction,” he
said. – Bernama
Wanyoike
(second
from
right), and
“You have to develop trust. I know
Kibunja
Joseph is there for me,” he said.
show
While most Kenyan athletes tend to
the right
focus on one or two events, Wanyoike
way to
breaks the norm by excelling in mara-
run with
thons, road races and track. To date,
guides.
he has completed 18 marathons.
In 2005, Wanyoike set up the Henry
Wanyoike Foundation, an organisa-
tion that motivates young people to
become champions in their own way.
When at home in Kikuyu, he trains
three times a day with Kibunja. He is
married with one child.
This Sunday, 33 students and three
teachers from SM Pendidikan Khas
Cacat Penglihatan, Setapak will be
joining the race; the students will be
guided by 33 Standard Chartered Bank
staff. The bank is also sponsoring six
visually impaired runners from Hong-
kong for the run.
To date, “Seeing is Believing” has
raised more than US$17 million (RM60
million) for blindness initiatives.
China reclaims RM14b of
embezzled public money
BEIJING: China has re-
covered 26.77 billion yuan
(RM13.7 billion) of public
money that was embezzled
last year, the country’s top
audit official said in a report
seen yesterday.
Some 30 people involved
in 116 cases had been arrested
and sentenced, the official
Xinhua news agency quoted
Liu Jiayi, head of the National
Audit Office, as saying.
Another 117 received pun-
ishment according to Com-
munist Party rules, Xinhua
said, without elaborating.
In many cases, money was
taken or illegally transferred
by officials, but investigators
also uncovered problems
including unsound loans,
dereliction of duty and insider
trading, Liu said.
Rising revenues in recent
years and now the govern-
ment’s big stimulus plan have
put growing sums of money
within the reach of officials,
and corruption is one of the
top frustrations for ordinary
citizens in one-party China.
Anger at greedy or abusive
officials occasionally erupts
Varsities must
probe ‘marks
fixing’ claims
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: “Marks
fixing” by universities is
unacceptable and should be
investigated by the respective
universities, Higher Education
Minister Datuk Seri Khaled
Nordin said.
“I think any attempt to fix
marks is totally unacceptable.
We cannot accept such things
because it is against profes-
sionalism. We hope, if there
is any complaint over such
matters, an investigation will
be conducted by the relevant
university,” he said yesterday.
He said autonomy is impor-
tant for the universities.
“This is because one aspect
of our efforts to bring excellence
to our universities is to give
them autonomy, and one mat-
ter in which they can have full
autonomy is in academic mat-
ters. It is not for the government
to check and interfere, because
at the end of the day it will be
linked to their reputation.
“We believe that all univer-
sities will act to ensure that
this does not happen,” he told
reporters after opening the an-
nual National Higher Education
Conference.
On the matter of a Universiti
Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
lecturer who was allegedly
forced to resign after refusing
to pass students who had failed
her course, he said it is not the
role of the Malaysian Qualifica-
tions Agency to police universi-
ties for such incidents.
“The role of MQA is to en-
sure the quality of the courses
offered. It does not cover stu-
dents who sit for exams.”
Such issues are for the uni-
versities to handle themselves,
he said.
theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009
into protests and violence, and
Beijing regularly launches
anti-corruption crackdowns
to try and tackle the problem,
with limited success.
Liu said spending on con-
ferences and overseas trips
was down after the global
financial crisis prompted a
cut-back in perks but there
was still problems with
“extravagance, waste, false
reporting of expenses and
cheating”.
“Some officials increase
the number of personnel,
change the route or prolong
a stopover duration of official
trips abroad without permis-
sion,” the Xinhua report said.
Illegal bank lending total-
ling 21.5 billion yuan was
also discovered by auditors,
including fake mortgages,
loans to substandard real
estate companies, and loans
that were not in line with
government policies.
“Some branches of the six
banks had issued loans up to
10.69 billion yuan to projects
not in line with industry poli-
cies or unapproved projects,”
Liu said. – Reuters
“If there is any plagiarism or
cheating or poor standards, it is
for each university (to handle)
because at the end of the day it
will affect their reputation.”
He said investigations into
the USIM issue have been com-
pleted and it is up to the parties
involved to act on them.
“As far as the ministry is
concerned, we want to see that
such a thing does not recur,
and if it does, the matter must
be investigated,” he said.
Asked on the rating system for
Malaysian higher education insti-
tutions (Setara) being extended to
private institutions, Khaled said
the evaluation, which had been
limited to public universities, was
welcomed by private universities
that had been invited to take part
for the first time.
“The invitation to all univer-
sities have been given out, and
private universities have come
back and indicated they are
ready to be part of the Setara
evaluation,” he said.
He said a committee of rep-
resentatives from public and
private universities had been
formed for the evaluation.
“The Setara system of rat-
ings is not a system that seeks
to punish or find fault but to
see where improvements can
be made,” he said.
Earlier, in his keynote ad-
dress, Khaled said the higher
education sector is essential for
national development.
He said the sector is
important for progress and
development of a country,
and especially important in a
country like Malaysia which is
transforming into an innova-
tion-based economy.
He said the industry gener-
ated an estimated RM1.5 billion
per year from some 921,000
students last year.