Selangor Times Aug 19-21, 2011 / Issue 38

commnty

August 19 — 21, 2011

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issue 38

Lawyer: M’siaa quasi-secular state

The riseof ciTizenjournalism

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• Turn To page 5

Thumbs-up for village polls

By

Gan Pei Ling

shah alam:

Selangor’s pilot programme to allow residentsrom three New Villages to electtheir own chies has been laudedby election watchdogs as a step inthe right direction.Observers rom the Coalitionor Clean and Fair Elections (Ber-sih 2.0), Malaysians or Free andFair Elections (Marel) and theCoalition or Good Governance(CGG) gave the state seven out o 10 or its overall conduct o the village polls.“I would give the state a strong C, a pass with distinction as they’vedone a airly [good] job,” politicalscientist and Bersih 2.0 steering committee Dr Wong Chin Huattold

Selangor Times

.Te polls at the Jenjarom, PulauKetam and Pandamaran villages were held over three weeks and areseen as precursor to the restora-tions o local government electionsin Selangor. Wong said the village polls provethat local elections, which weresuspended across the country in1965 due to the Conrontation with Indonesia, could be restoredas long as there is political will todo so.He also praised the state ororganising a debate during the week-long campaign or the villag-ers to get to know the six candi-dates on an open platorm.“Tis has never been done be-ore,” said Wong, who was among the three panellists who questionedthe candidates on their maniestosand plans or the Pandamaran vil-lage during the debate on Aug 11.

(Fm lft) Sd Mmbf plimt T ni Chi,Kl Mp Chls Sti,d th fmily f Th BHck t  cdlliht viili mmy f Th's dth,i pdm, Kl Tsdy.

• STorY on page 10

However, he said the stateshould expand the campaign peri-od to 10 days or two weeks i it planned to hold village polls acrossthe state, as a week was defnitelytoo short.Marel chairperson Syed Ibra-him Syed Noh lauded Selangor’suse o henna as a orm o indelibleink to prevent multiple voting inthe village polls.“I would give the state eight outo 10 or its initiative and [political will to bring back local elections].“But implementation-wise, tak-ing into account the low voterturnout (19.1% in Pandamaran and

2

August 19 — 21, 2011

news

By

Chong Loo Wah

and

Gan Pei Ling

SHAH ALAM:

Selangor’s multi-million ringgit bird’s nest industry hasbeen hit hard by China’s ban and aseries o scandals, with a drop in salesand prices since early July.Demand has so ar dropped to be-tween 20% and 30%, while prices haveallen by 20%.Selangor Bird’s Nest Association president Mah Swee Lye told

Selangor Times

that the selling price o bird’s nesthas dropped rom RM4,500 toRM4,800 per kilogramme to RM3,800to RM4,000 per kilogramme.“We need to restore public con-dence in Malaysian bird’s nest,” saidMah, who is also owner o Golden-MahBird’s Nest Sdn Bhd.He said there are around 3,000 to4,000 swilet houses in Selangor, and80% o its production is exported toChina with the remaining 20% soldlocally.Te industry sufered its rst blow when China banned Malaysian bird’snest in July aer it was ound to containnitrite – a common ood preservative which is carcinogenic i consumed be- yond saety levels.Mah said the accepted level o ni-trite in bird’s nest in Malaysia is 30 parts per million (ppm) according tothe Food Regulations Act 1985, butChina has imposed a total ban on ni-trite in bird’s nest.“It’s almost impossible to have zeronitrite in bird’s nest, we can only makesure the level doesn’t exceed 30ppm,”said Mah, adding that the industry islobbying Malaysia to negotiate withChina to reverse the ban.Te industry sufered a second blow when it was discovered that some trad-ers have used articial colouring whichcontains nitrite to dye white bird’s nestred and sell it as blood bird’s nest toetch higher prices.China’s English newspaper

ChinaDaily

reported yesterday that a spotcheck conducted in Zhejiang provinceon 30,000 cups o blood bird’s nestound that some samples contained 350times the amount o nitrite allowed.Te shocking discovery has prompt-ed a nationwide inspection o the in-dustry in China.Mah condemned the unscrupuloustraders’ irresponsible actions that haveafected the entire industry in Malaysia.He explained that blood bird’s nestcommands higher price as it is believedto be more nutritious and harder to nd.“Blood bird’s nest can only be oundin caves where the nests are built onrocks, and minerals such as iron seep intothe nests, turning them red,” said Mah.Te industry received a third blowaer three people, including two claim-ing to be Malaysian government repre-sentatives, held a controversial pressconerence in Hangchou city on July 26to assure the Chinese public that theblood bird’s nests were genuine and sae.he Chinese media later claimedthat the government posts held by thetwo “government representatives” werenon-existent.Te third person is reported to be aMalaysian bird’s nest supplier.However, the supplier told Nanyang Siang Pau he was invited by a riend toattend the press conerence, and that hedid not know the identities o theother two people.Mah said the Malaysian Federationo Bird’s Nest Merchant Association ismeeting this Saturday to nd ways torestore public condence.He advised traders to observe theban and rerain rom smuggling in bird’snest containing nitrite.Agriculture and agro-based industryminister Datuk Seri Noh Omar is plan-ning a trip to China beore Hari Rayato thrash out the issue with the Chinesegovernment.

Ban, scandals hitbird’s nest industry

Villagers andMPK resolveland dispute

PORT KLANG:

Kampung Papan residents in Pandamaranand the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) have reached anamicable out-o-court settlement over an order to demolishtheir homes.“MPK has withdrawn the emergency order it issued (in2006) to demolish our houses, and we’ve withdrawn ourlawsuit against them,” announced Kampung Papan Com-mittee head Ang Mah Chye yesterday.Ang said the matter was oicially resolved through aconsent judgment in court on June 20, and both partieshave agreed to bear their own legal costs.Ang thanked human rights lawyer Roger Chan Weng Keng rom the Bar Council, who represented the 117residents on a pro-bono basis.In 2006, MPK had issued an eviction notice under theEmergency Ordinance 1969 (Clearance o Squatters) to552 house owners (935 amilies) living in Kampung Pa- pan.Ang said the land originally belonged to the state, andthe Klang District Oice had asked the villagers to applyor emporary Occupation Licences, but the land waslater sold to developer Melati Ehsan Sdn Bhd.Many amilies had moved out while the matter wasbeing disputed in court, but 120 amilies remain.he orced evacuation is a sore point among manyPandamaran residents who still carry a grievance againstthe previous state government.Ang said the committee representatives had met withthe Menteri Besar on Aug 11 during the Selangor Eco-nomic Action Council meeting to ind a air resolution.He said more than 30 amilies have agreed with thestate’s suggestion to buy the houses to be built by the private developer at RM99,000, but some residents wantto purchase the homes at lower prices.he current state administration has been trying to actas a mediator between Melati Ehsan Sdn Bhd and the villagers to resolve the land dispute.“We hope our assemblyperson Ronnie (Liu) and thenewly appointed village head Low (See Mee) will step inand help us to resolve this long-standing issue with thestate and developer,” said Ang.

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EDITORIAL

CHIEF EDITOR

KL Chan

COMMUNITY EDITOR

Neville Spykerman

WRITERS

Tang Hui Koon, Chong Loo Wah, Gan Pei Ling,Basil Foo, Alvin Yap, Gho Chee Yuan, Brenda Ch’ng

COPY EDITORS

Nick Choo, James Ang

DESIGNERS

Jimmy C. S. Lim, Chin Man Yen

ADVERTISING

Timothy Loh, Ivan Looi

ADVISORS

Faekah Husin, Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz

Bungalow damaged bylandslide

By

Basil Foo

KAJANG:

A two-and-a-hal-storey bungalow in aman BukitKajang Baru here was damaged by alandslide at 6.30pm on Wednesday.here were no injuries as thehouse was empty when the landslideoccurred.Te house on Jalan 18 is home tonine adults and three children, whohave been warned to vacate the premises as it is now structurallyunsound.Kajang Municipal Council(MPKj) president Datuk HassanNawawi Abdul Rahman said theyound a large hole dug by the houseowner.He said the hole, which wasmeant to be used as a car park, hadcaved in and caused the collapse o the kitchen, living room and sur-rounding walls.MPKj public relations oicerKamarul Izlan Sulaiman said theresidents were told on Wednesdaynight to move out o the house.He added that similar orders weresent in written notices to the homeowner by both MPKj and the FireDepartment on Tursday.he owner claimed a nearby

MogFriday Saturday Sundayafeoongh

Selangor WeaTHer

Source:

Malaysian meteorological department

construction site had caused the land-slide.Kajang has seen landslides occur-ring requently over the past ewmonths, including one in May whichhit the Madrasah Al-akwa in HuluLangat and killed 16 people.MPKj has since set up a slope unitcomprising engineers to monitor de- velopments along hill slopes.

The holethat wasmeant toserve as acar park.The bungalow afterthe landslide.