4 theSun | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2 2009

news without borders

New approach to child Cuepacs hopeful of one month’s bonus

trafficking needed
BANGKOK: A recent as-
sessment of programmes
to combat child trafficking
in seven Asian countries
including Malaysia has found
that the tide of trafficking has
yet to turn, despite the best
efforts of governments and
aid agencies.
A study on “Child Traffick-
ing in East and Southeast Asia:
Reversing the Trend” showed
that a new approach was
needed to stem not only traf-
ficking, but also related forms
of abuse and exploitation.
One critical issue was
the categorisation of child
vulnerabilities and creation
of different programmes and
Persons Forum in Wellington,
New Zealand yesterday.
Unicef says the many pro-
grammes on offer split finan-
cial resources, burden human
resources and stretch already
limited capacity to keep pace
with new laws, regulations and
similar but different training,
procedures and guidelines,
Rao Singh added.
The countries assessed
were China, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam. The
study found that a great deal
had been accomplished in the
region in generating bilateral,
multilateral and transnational
cooperation, and with un-
KUALA LUMPUR: Cuepacs is op-
timistic that the government will
give its employees a one month’s
bonus this year.
Its secretary-general, Ahmad
Shah Mohd Zin, said yesterday this
was based on the fact that the gov-
ernment has savings from petrol,
rice and sugar subsidies.
He told Bernama that according
to Cuepacs’s calculations, it would
cost the government less than
RM500 million to pay a month’s
bonus, which was “well within its
means”.
Ahmad Shah reiterated that
Cuepacs had earlier asked the
government to pay at least a half
month’s bonus before Hari Raya
and another half at the end of the
year.
He said although the sum was
not provided for in this year’s
budget, it was still possible to give
an advance and include it in the
forthcoming budget next month.
Ahmad Shah said civil serv-
ants deserved the bonus as they
were working hard to improve the
delivery system and achieve key
performance indicator targets set
by the government.
“We civil servants have always
supported the government in
power and effectively implemented
its policies.
“We hope the government,
being a model employer, will not
disappoint the 1.2 million civil serv-
ants looking forward to the bonus
to help tide them over, with the
year-end family expenses.”

Buah Pala folk shut out

approaches for each.
United Nations Children’s
Fund (Unicef) regional director
Anupama Rao Singh said that
although there were currently
dozens of programmes to
combat child trafficking in
the region, there were also as
many such programmes for
child labour, sexual exploit-
ation, child violence and
neglect, and juvenile justice.
“Yet, the core vulnerabili-
ties that put children at risk in
these situations should really
be addressed together rather
than separately,” she said in
a report released on the eve
of the Pacific Trafficking in
precedented developments in
legislative and policy reform.
However, it also found
that although most countries
have developed or amended
laws and policies with gusto,
enforcement has generally Residents
been weak due in some part,
were
to insufficient resources,
prevented
limited capacities, poor coor-
from
dination or lack of leadership.
The study concluded that entering the
what was required to add- state
ress the situation was the admin-
development of national child istration
protection systems within office lobby
countries, similar to the crea- yesterday
tion decades ago of effective to stage
health systems. – Bernama a hunger
strike.

Former CJ Hamid Omar dies

KUALA LUMPUR: Former lord president Tun
Abdul Hamid Omar (pix) died of renal failure
at the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre in Am-
pang at about 10am yesterday. He was 80.
His son, Azizuddin, 51, told Bernama
Hamid was admitted to the hospital at 8am

MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

on Monday with fever and chronic influenza.
He said a doctor confirmed that a kidney
infection had led to renal failure.
Hamid’s body was taken to his residence
in Bukit Tunku, and then expected to be taken
to the Damansara mosque for prayers after
asar and buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim
cemetery. by Himanshu Bhatt
Hamid is survived by his wife Toh Puan and Bernard Cheah
Azian Aiyub Ghazali and four children, newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Azizuddin, Ainuddin, Hanizah dan Hanizan.
GEORGE TOWN: About a dozen
residents of Kampung Buah Pala
including women and children found
themselves shut out of the main
administration office lobby of the
Penang state government in Komtar
here yesterday.
The residents who are appealing
against an impending demolition of
their houses saw security officials clos-
ing the main door to the lobby as they
were about to enter for a day-long sit-in
hunger strike.
This prompted a stand-off between
them and state officials outside the
lobby at about 11.30am with police
standing by.
A visibly frustrated K. Maran, an
adviser to the residents association, pro-
tested: “Is there any law that says you can-
not come in and sit down? The (Pakatan
Rakyat) administration is victimising the
poor and those who have no voice. This
building where (Chief Minister) Lim Guan
Eng sits is built on taxpayers’ money, our
money. Why can’t we go in and sit?”
Pattani Road Police Headquarters
Chief Inspector Mohd Asri Don who
was at the scene then appealed to the
residents and photographers present
to disperse.
The residents had earlier submitted a
memorandum to police expressing con-
cern over the weekend arrests of three
committee members of the association
– chairman M. Sugumaran, secretary
J. Steven and assistant secretary C.
Tharmaraj – two days before a Monday
deadline to evict the residents.
The memorandum was received by
ACP Zakeri Kamaruddin, head of the
state police headquarters’ administra-
tion department.
Deputy Chief Police Offi-cer (SAC I)
Datuk Tun Hisan Hamzah denied allega-
tions that police were conspiring with
developer Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn
Bhd to evict the residents. He said the
arrests were based on reports of criminal
intimidation lodged against the three.
The residents had been locked in a
protracted battle to save their homes
after the land on which Kampung Buah
Pala sits was sold to Koperasi Pegawai
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang by the previous
state government.
After the residents lost a court battle
to stop the sale of the land, Nusmetro,
under pressure from the PR state govern-
ment to reach an amicable settlement,
offered them link houses.
However many residents rejected
the offer on the ground that the agree-
ment presented was full of loopholes
and placed them at a disadvantage.
Chief among the restrictions was that
residents were required to drop all legal
suits filed against the landowner, the
co-operative and relevant parties, and
to refrain from filing any new action.
The agreement would also automati-
cally cease to have effect if the project
were not approved by the authorities,
putting the residents at risk of being left
high and dry. Lim however has dismissed
the concerns, saying the clauses were
part of a “standard agreement”.

Vigilance advised after accidents in India

NEW DELHI: Malaysian tourists in India
are advised to take extra precautions,
with the worrying spate of fatal road
accidents involving Malaysians.
Malaysian High Commissioner to India
Datuk Tan Seng Sung said recent acci-
dents in which Malaysians had lost their
lives showed that travellers need to be
more careful with travel arrangements.
“They must hire proper drivers and
have their travel insurance ready when
making trips to India,” he told Bernama
on the sidelines of a Merdeka Day cel-
ebration in Delhi on Monday.
Over 200 guests including foreign
diplomats, Indian officials and Malaysians
attended the event hosted by the High
Commission at a hotel in the capital.
The envoy’s comments came in the
wake of a recent accident in Leh in the
Kashmir region, in which three Malaysian
women were killed and another was still
missing after the vehicle they were in hit
a rock and toppled into a ravine.
Another woman, who was part of
the Malaysian entourage on a trip to the
mountainous Leh, suffered severe injuries
and is recuperating in a Delhi hospital.
In April, a van ferrying a group of Mal-
aysians on a pilgrimage to the Hindu holy
site of Haridwar, collided with another
vehicle, killing the tourist guide and his
assistant. Two women in the group who
were injured later died in hospital.
A month later, two sisters, one a jour-
nalist at a Kuala Lumpur-based English
newspaper, were badly injured when the
taxi they hired from the airport in Delhi
rammed into an oncoming car.