6 theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 16 2009

news without borders

‘Compulsory
visits to maids
not practical’
by Karen Arukesamy
DAP division head lodges Teh shows
a copy of a
report he

four complaints against rep

newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Foreign
Maid Agencies Association (Papa) has dis-
missed a suggestion that maid agencies pay
compulsory visits to homes where domestic
workers are employed as a way to overcome
the problem of maid abuse.
Its president, Datuk Raja Zulkepley Daha-
lan, said yesterday the proposal by Wanita
MCA chief Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun is
“not practical” and “costly” considering that
maids are sent all over the country.
Describing the proposal as “very crazy”,
he said maid agencies monitor the maids only
for the first three months.
He said employers are often wary of them
contacting the maids as they fear the agen-
cies may try to influence the maids to run
away.
Besides this, he said, one agency has
almost 400 to 500 maids and it is not practi-
cal to visit them all twice a year because of
the travel time and costs, and the workforce
needed to do it.
“We cannot monitor the maids and the
employers throughout the years of their
employment. Most of them work three to
five years,” he said.
Raja Zulkepley said the association had
previously proposed to the government to
make it compulsory for employers to bring
lodged with
the MACC
listing four
complaints
against Tan.
by Opalyn Mok
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: Nibong Tebal DAP
division chief Teh Hock Yong lodged four
complaints with the Malaysian Anti-Corrup-
tion Agency (MACC) yesterday against Jawi
assemblyman Tan Beng Huat.
Teh said one complaint is on Tan’s alleged
abuse of power by issuing a letter in April last
year to relieve the duties of former leaders of
Village Security and Development Committee
(JKKK) and Rukun Tetangga (RT) and also to
ask for the handing over of revenue collection
from public markets and night markets.
The other three complaints are on the al-
leged misuse of state allocations and misuse
of the chief minister’s office letterhead to ask
for donations, he said.
One of the complaints is on the alleged
misuse of a state allocation of RM2,000 for
the purchase of electrical equipment for
Persatuan Amal Chin Chee Kok.
Another is regarding an allocation of
RM5,000 involving Persatuan Dewan Tong

their maids to the agencies at least two
months before the contract expires for both
of them to be interviewed and assessed.
The proposal was not approved.
“We propose (again) that the government
make it compulsory for both employers
and maids to visit the agencies before the
contract expires, failing which the employers’
permit will not be renewed, and blacklisted if
necessary,” he said.
Raja Zulkepley also said the government
should stop individual submissions for do-
mestic workers and they only be allowed to
go through registered agencies.
“But, before that, the government must
make it mandatory for all maid agencies to
register as members of Papa,” he said. “Thus,
Papa can monitor the agencies, employers
and maids during the stipulated period and
the government can monitor Papa.”
On Sunday, Chew suggested that maid
agencies visit the maids at least twice a year
during which the maids should be allowed to
have private discussions with the agents for
at least 30 minutes.
Hai, Teh said.
On the alleged misuse of the chief min-
ister’s office letterhead, he claimed that Tan
had used it for an appeal for donations for a
charitable dinner event.
“I am reporting all these to the MACC in the
hope that it will conduct a thorough investiga-
tion,” he said.
According to Teh, Tan has not revealed how
much he raised and where the funds went to.
Teh denied that he has any misunderstand-
ing with Tan or the party and that he is only
filing the complaints with the MACC in the
“public interest”.
“I only want to protect public interest as the
state allocations and donations are the people’s
money,” he said.
Asked about Tan’s decision to submit an
undated resignation letter pending the out-
come of the MACC investigation into his first
allegation, Teh said Tan has the right to do
what he wants.
“He can put on a show for all to see. My
only wish is for the MACC to investigate,” he
said.
Teh also said he plans to write to the prime
minister is the MACC fails to take the appropri-
ate action.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who issued a
statement regarding the alleged misuse of the
RM2,000 allocation, said State Financial Officer
Farizan Darus had submitted an interim report
to his office on Friday.
“The state finance department is of the
opinion that the RM2,000 had been spent
accordingly to purchase one unit of air-condi-
tioning and two electrical equipment (a TV set
and a DVD player),” he said.
He said the report revealed that Tan had
submitted an application for an allocation of
RM2,000 to buy electrical equipment for Per-
satuan Amal Chin Chee Kok on Sept 12 last
year.
The proposed supplier of the equipment
was Syarikat Northern Victory Enterprise,
and the Seberang Perai Selatan district office
BERNAMAPIX
had issued a purchase order for the electrical
equipment worth RM2,000 to the company.
Northern Victory Enterprise had, on Oct
29, issued an invoice for the equipment and
the district office submitted a payment using a
voucher dated Nov 19.
The report concluded that the MACC had
also obtained copies of the documents on the
purchase on May 7 this year.
Told of Teh’s new complaints against him,
Tan said he had explained the JKKK issue in
the state legislative assembly last year and the
case was considered closed.
As for the other allegations, he said he did
not want to comment and left it to the MACC
to investigate.
“I welcome the MACC to investigate all his
allegations and once they prove my innocence,
I will consider what form of action I can take
against Teh for making the allegations against
me,” he said.

Dr M takes another
swipe at Kuan Yew
by Meena L. Ramadas
Malaysia and Indonesia can FSFM sold ranks
to members
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: All’s well that ends well?

Apparently not, according to Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad’s post in his blog yesterday con-
cerning former Singapore prime minister Lee
Kuan Yew.
Mahathir labelled Singapore Minister Men-
tor “a little emperor” and called Singapore as
“a tiny middle kingdom”.
He went on to say that “Singapore regards
the lands within a 6,000-mile radius of Singa-
pore as its hinterland. This includes Beijing
and Tokyo and, of course, Malaysia”.
“Of course, this self-deluding perception
places Singapore at the centre of a vast
region. It is, therefore, the latter day middle
kingdom. The rest are peripheral and are
there to serve the interest of this somewhat
tiny middle kingdom.”
Mahathir also wrote in his blog chedet.
co.cc the Malaysian leaders who met Lee dur-
ing his eight day visit were “lectured” about
ways to run a country. Lee had visited Kuala
Lumpur, Seremban, Ipoh, Penang, Kota Baru
and Kuantan with his delegation in the past
week.
“All those who met the great man from the
little country were lectured on how Malaysia
should be run. We should not have anymore
problem now. We have been told the direction
to take,” he said.
“MCA must help Umno to win because
Singapore does not want an Islamic party like
PAS to win. We must ensure this. Sorry, PAS.
Working with the DAP, the offspring of PAP,
has not endeared you to Mr Lee,” he said.
do more to tackle haze: Don
by Himanshu Bhatt
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SEBERANG PERAI: A senior
environment researcher at Uni-
versiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has
said that both Indonesia and Ma-
laysia can do more to reduce the
regional haze problem caused by
peat fires by enforcing stringent
measures.
Prof Dr Eric Goh, of the School
of Materials and Mineral Resourc-
es Engineering, said yesterday he
has submitted detailed informa-
tion and data to the government
for advice and recommendations
to be forwarded to Indonesia on
preventing such fires.
“Our government needs to
advise our neighbouring country
on ways to curb the burning,”
he said at a press conference at
the USM engineering campus in
Nibong Tebal.
“The people there need to be
told they do not have to engage
in burning to make their farms
fertile if they can afford not to.
Some of the fires spread to other
surrounding land, contributing to
the problem.”
Goh, who has been commis-
sioned by the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to
deal with environmen-
tal issues in Southeast
Asia, said there was
technology available
to make land fertile
without resorting to
burning.
He said the au-
thorities could also
undertake measures
like aerial spraying of
water over the burning
land.
“The problem is
that this burning does
not originate in our
country,” he said.
Goh said the Malay-
sian authorities could
enforce measures to
mitigate the effects of
the haze by curbing air pollution
from industries.
He said he was conducting
research to assess the effective-
ness of air filters such as elec-
trostatic precipitators and back-
filters that have been installed by
factories in Malaysia.
He was helping to come
Goh ... ‘no
need to
resort to
burning’
up with ways to ensure the air
filters are maintained to function
optimally.
Goh also said the current API
readings, which are moderate
and measure less than 100, are
not dangerous compared to
levels of between 200 and 400
in 2005.
» From Front Page
RM1,900 a month.
Police will record the statements of the
36 people and release them on bail but will
seek a remand order of Nor Azami and his
five assistants.
He said Nor Azami was to enter his defence
on June 25 on cheating charges filed against
him in 2005.
Police said since the movement’s illegal
activities were exposed in 2003, the year it
was registered as a business organisation, its
leaders had targeted the East Coast states.
The organisation made news when Nor
Azami, who was clad in a uniform similar to
that used by enforcement agencies, told his
members the FSFM was a “watchdog” which
kept tabs on other government enforcement
agencies, including the police, military and the
Anti-Corruption Agency.
He had claimed then that the FSFM was
under the Prime Minister’s Department and
was empowered to arrest even police and
military personnel.
Police investigations showed the organi-
sation had sold ranks such as captain, major
and even brigadier-general to its members,
said to number about 8,000. The ranks were
sold for between RM10,000 and RM50,000
each.
Among the 100-over members rounded up
then were teachers, lecturers, nurses, former
military and former police personnel and staff
of other government agencies.