Children without birth certs can now go to school

Children who do not have birth certificates can now be enrolled in school as long as their parents obtain a confirmation letter from their village headman or the Village Development and Safety Committee (JKKK) head.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said under present regulations, children who do not have birth certificates cannot attend school.

“This is a Cabinet decision and takes effect immediately. These children no longer need to wait for confirmation from the National Registration Department,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting between his ministry and the Plantation and Commodities Ministry.

All school heads have been directed to accept these pupils, he added.

Hishammuddin said the cabinet has also approved the setting up of a fund especially for the children of estate workers.

“This will help ensure they receive equal access to education and prevent them from dropping out of school,” he said.

The two ministries, he added, have taken the initiative to set up the fund.

Money for the fund would come from donations from government-linked companies as part of their corporate social responsibility, he added.

He said 85,000 pupils in 517 schools in estate areas should benefit from the fund.

Five-year-old girl was strangled to death

A five-year-old girl found lying naked in her mother's car was not raped but had strangulation marks on her neck and her mouth and nose had been blocked before she died, according to the post-mortem report.

Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Ahmad Sofian Md Yassin said there were several bruises and cigarette butt marks on the little girl’s body.

The girl's mother was arrested after the child was pronounced dead at the Selayang Hospital at 12.25am on Wednesday.

Her mother claimed that she left her daughter in the car for an hour while she went to get groceries at a sundry shop in Kepong on Tuesday night.

She claimed she found her daughter lying motionless and naked in the car when she returned and rushed her to the Selayang Hospital.

Doctors tried to revive her but to no avail. Noticing fresh external wounds on the girl, they immediately alerted the police.

Police are now looking for the mother’s boyfriend, who is believed to have gone into hiding.

ACP Ahmad Sofian said the man from Batu Pahat had worked as an illegal DVD seller and owned a telecommunication outlet.

He had been living with the mother and daughter for the past one year at their home in Taman Fadason, Jinjang.

Investigations also revealed that the man had previous police records for theft and criminal intimidation.

Source: The Star
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Telcos prepared for election traffic surge

As election day approaches, telecommunications companies are confident that their respective networks are well-equipped to handle an expected spike in voice calls and text messages.

A Maxis Communications Bhd spokesman said that the company is expecting a surge of anything between 10% to 30% in both voice and SMS usage for the coming elections, which is scheduled for March 8.

“For major nationwide events, including the general elections, Maxis works on the assumption that there will be surges in voice calls and SMS traffic,” he said.

Maxis is confident that its network will be able to handle the expected surge in voice and SMS traffic, based on its experiences during the festive seasons.

“Generally in the past, the traffic increase during elections is lower than that during the festive seasons,” he said.

During the recent Chinese New Year celebrations, Maxis claimed that it handled over a 30% increase in the number of calls and delivered over 30% more SMS, without any traffic congestion issues.

“Therefore, we are confident that our network is prepared to handle additional traffic expected during the upcoming general elections,” he said.

However, Maxis also has backup plans in case the unexpected occurs.

“We are still putting in place plans to mitigate surges, if any. For instance, Maxis will deploy additional capacity in the form of portable base stations to support the existing network infrastructure,” he said.

“In addition, we monitor traffic changes by the minute to ensure the highest level of service and network availability for our customers,” he said.

A DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd spokesman expressed a similar confidence that the company’s network is prepared to handle any surge in voice or data traffic.

“We are ready for higher usage during the elections. Our network is able to sustain voice calls and SMS surge/peak traffic,” the spokesman said in a statement.

The other local network operator, Celcom Communications (M) Bhd, did not respond by press time.

Source: The Star
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Parliament dissolved, elections onParliament dissolved, elections on

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has announced that Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the 12th general election.

At a hastily convened press conference at his office Wednesday afternoon, he said he had met the Yang Di Pertuan Agong in the morning and received His Majesty's consent to dissolve Parliament.

"I've informed Parliament and the Election Commission," Abdullah said. The state assemblies have also been advised to dissolve.

The Prime Minister declined to speculate on what date Malaysians would cast their ballots, saying that it would be up to the Election Commission (EC) to decide.

"I am confident of winning, and I hope that we will retain our two-thirds majority," he said.

The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition swept to a landslide victory in the last general election in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission said it would announce polling and nomination day on Thursday at its office in Putrajaya.

The Election Commission held several meetings Wednesday in preparation for the Prime Minister's announcement of the dissolution of Parliament.

“We have got the declaration on the dissolution of Parliament by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong and the announcement of nomination and polling will be done tomorrow," said EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

When asked if nomination day was February 21 and election day on March 2nd, he said: “You can speculate anything you want. The official announcement is tomorrow.

“You wait for the official announcement,” he added.

Abdul Rashid also said, "We want to make sure of fairness in this election process. We will ensure the appropriate time and space is given for the parties to choose their candidates and for campaigning."

Source: The Star
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Amin Shah’s ‘Datuk’ title revoked

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government has revoked the Datukship conferred on corporate figure Amin Shah Omar retrospective from Jan 31, 2008, according to a statement issued by State Secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud.

He said the decision was taken after consultations with the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, when the Dewan di-Raja Selangor held its 124th meeting here on Wednesday.

“The decision was made because of conduct on the part of Amin Shah not befitting the status of the title,” Ramli said.

Amin Shah, 53, was conferred the Darjah Kebesaran Datuk Mahkota Selangor (DPMS), which carries the title of Datuk, in 1996

Source: The Star
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