œ

The nation’s FREE newspaper MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS (MALAYSIA)

30 sen for delivery to your doorstep 275,000 COPIES DAILY

Award winning newspaper

for public service reporting
and opinion writing.

No. 4641 PP 2644/12/2008 (020369)

Tuesday
November 18, 2008
TELLING IT AS IT IS www.sun2surf.com

Yes, he » RM200m gone in eight years pg6 » Smiling through adversity pg20 Entertainment

can really

BERNAMAPIX
pg15
dance!

Not fit
to eat
A LORRY
dumps
Retrenched
to get help
20,400 kg
of biscuits
found to
contain
melamine
and
ammonia
bicarbonate
in the
Seberang
Perai
Municipal
Council
landfill in by Karen Arukesamy
Ampang
Jajar,
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
New fuel prices
Petrol and diesel prices down

K
Butterworth, UALA LUMPUR: The government
will monitor retrenchments. Those by 15 sen a litre from today
yesterday.
who lose their jobs as a result of the
The biscuits,
global economic crisis will be given help so
RON97
worth NOV
RM90,400, that they can be absorbed by sectors in need 1 TODAY
were of workers.
ordered For this purpose, the government
destroyed by will form two committees – to track job
the Seberang terminations and potential retrenchments,
and to provide assistance for the retrenched
RM2.15 RM2.00
Perai (Utara)
Health in the form of reskilling and retraining
Department. programmes. RON92
“We hope it will not happen but looking NOV
at the other countries, this is already 1 TODAY
happening. We have to be prepared to
address it,” Human Resource Minister

Liu pleads not guilty

PETALING JAYA: Selangor executive councillor
Ronnie Liu pleaded not guilty in a magistrate's
court here yesterday to a charge of abetment
in obstructing a public servant from discharging
his duty in November last year.
The DAP central committee member and
state local government, study and research
committee chairman is accused of abetment
in obstructing Subang Jaya Municipal Council
enforcement officer Mohammad Hadzim
Zulkapli in an anti-vice operation at Hotel Chile
on Jalan Kenari 6, Puchong, near here, on Nov
2 last year.
Liu, 50, who is the state assemblyman
for Pandamaran, was charged under Section
109 of the Penal Code and can be sentenced
under Section 186 of the code, which carries a
maximum prison term of two years or a fine of
RM10,000, upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Roslan Abu Bakar
asked the court to set bail at RM5,000 in one
surety.
Liu's counsel, Gobind Singh Deo, applied for
Liu to be released on a personal bond on the
grounds that the alleged offence took place in
2007 and the authorities had since not taken
any action.
Magistrate Mohamad Ibrahim Mohamad
Ghulam set bail at RM3,500 in one surety and
fixed Feb 10 for the case to be mentioned.
Liu’s brother John provided the bail, Bernama
reported.
» Turn to Page 4
Datuk S. Subramaniam said yesterday.
Subramaniam had met representatives RM2.05 RM1.90
from the Malaysian Employers Federation,
Malaysian Trades Union Congress, National DIESEL
Union of Plantation Workers and chambers NOV
of industry earlier to discuss measures to 1 TODAY
address potential labour problems because
of the economic crisis.
He said the representatives from the
chambers pointed out that many factories
have cut production because of reduced
RM2.05 RM1.90
demand and, therefore, there is likely to be
staff reduction.
Subramaniam said the first committee, to wait that long. We want to prevent it if we
the Employee Retrenchment Monitoring can,” he said.
Committee, will study likely retrenchment The committee, which will be chaired
situations and work with employers to find by the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk
alternative ways to help the workers. Thomas George, will comprise employers,
“For now, there is no problem but there unions and government agencies and will
are predictions that next year we will face
bigger problems. However, we do not want » Turn to Page 3