8  theSun | FRIDAY OCTOBER 16 2009

news without borders

Boost for Klang Valley rail network

KUALA LUMPUR: More trains
will be added in the Klang Valley to
meet the government’s goal to raise
the use of public transport from 16%
at present to 25% by 2012, Transport
Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat
said yesterday.
The target for Penang and
Johor Baru would be set later, he
said in his speech read out by the
ministry’s deputy secretary-general
(planning), Datuk Long See Wool,
at the national summit on urban
public transport.
“Our immediate focus is to en-
hance the capacity, service levels,
coverage, and connectivity for all
modes of public transport, with
particular emphasis on elevating
rail as the backbone of urban public
transport,” he said.
Ong said with only 19km of
track per million population, rail
coverage in the Klang Valley was low
compared with other major cities
of the world and the existing three
railway systems and stage buses
which handled 260,000 passenger
trips in the morning rush hour were
overcrowded.
“For our commuters living along
the Ipoh-Rawang line, four new
electric trains sets (ETS) will be in-
troduced between December this year
and March next year.”
He said RM200 million had been
allocated to purchase 10 sets of elec-
tric multiple units (EMU) for KTM
Berhad.
For the congested Kelana Jaya
LRT line, the government plans to
add 10 new trains with four cars by
end of this year.
“We will continue to put into serv-
ice additional four-car sets in batches
until all 35 are operational by 2012. By
then, our current capacity of 25 trains
with 70 cars will grow to 70 trains
with 210 cars,” he said.
By 2012, the LRT line from Ke-
lana Jaya would be extended to Putra
Heights via Subang Jaya and the
Ampang-Sri Petaling service would
be extended to Puchong and also end
in Putra Heights.
A new LRT line from Kota Daman-
sara to Cheras covering 42.8 km was
being studied.
“The LRT line extensions and new
line will increase our rail coverage in
the Klang Valley to 32km per million
population,” Ong said.
Outside the Klang Valley, the
electric double tracking project from
Ipoh to Padang Besar in the north,
and Seremban to Gemas in the South,
were being completed. – Bernama

Red tape hinders maids keen to

work in Malaysia
PETALING JAYA: Hundreds of
Indonesian women are willing
to work in Malaysia as domestic
maids because they have heard
good things about the country from
their friends and relatives who have
worked here – a senior Indonesian
trade unionist said yesterday.
However, it was difficult for
these women to come here official-
ly because of bureaucratic red tape
back home, said Confederation of
Indonesian Trade Unions treasurer
general, Aisah Teisir Abdat.
“These women had to go
US plans through seven agents or authori-
new ties, beginning from the village
strategy head to district and provisional of-
ficials and agents, to federal level,
for before getting the green light,” she
Afghani- said on the sidelines of the Interna-
stan tional Trade Union Confederation
pg 10
Eight years for causing death of wife’s lover
KUALA LUMPUR: He caught his wife
and her lover in the act and out of
anger hit the man with a piece of
wood.
The man died due to the injuries
inflicted. Yesterday, Lee Meng Ching
was sentenced to eight years’ jail for
the offence.
Lee, 36, pleaded guilty to causing
the death of Chong Swee Sang, 49,
at house No 7X, Jalan Dua, Jalan
Chan Sow Lin, here at 4am on
June 22, 2005.
Judicial Commissioner Az-
man Abdullah ordered Lee to
serve the sentence from the
date of his arrest on June 22,
2005.
(Asia-Pacific) Regional Conference
on Domestic Workers, here.
She said since it was difficult
and costly to get official permis-
sion, women took chances and
entered Malaysia illegally to work
as maids.
“Their illegal status then made
them very vulnerable and at the
mercy of errant employers who
took advantage of them,” she
said.
She said the abuse of maids
was a common phenomenon in all
countries around the world due to
the nature of their job.
“So it was wrong to say abuse
of maids was only prevalent in
Malaysia,” she added.
A total of 35 participants from
Bangladesh, Hongkong, Bahrain,
India, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, the
In handing down the sentence,
Azman said a life was lost and Lee
should not have taken the law into
his own hands.
However, he said the court took
into consideration Lee’s condition,
where he had warned Chong twice
not to go near his wife, but on the
day of the incident, saw his wife and
Chong naked and having sex.
“The tool used was a piece of
wood which was taken outside
Chong’s house.
“Chong had challenged Lee as a
man because of his wife’s infidelity.
Lee has no previous record, but he
was not able to control his anger
because of his wife’s infidelity and
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Sin-
gapore and Malaysia are attending
the two-day conference which was
opened by the Human Resources
Ministry secretary-general Datuk
R. Segarajah.
Human rights activist Dr Irene
Fernandez said the maids were
vulnerable as they worked in
homes “which are considered to
be private entity and no outsiders
are allowed access”.
“This makes it difficult to reach
them if they need assistance,” she
said.
This was why, it was important
to give these maids a day off a
week, she said.
“They can use their days off to
seek redress from either the labour
department or NGOs,” she said.
– Bernama
Chong’s mischievousness,” he
added.
Lee was initially charged with
murder, but the prosecution amend-
ed the charge to that of causing
death after calling three witnesses.
In mitigation, Lee, who was
represented by lawyer Andrew
Davis, said he was remorseful and
wanted to take care of his children
who were now under the care of his
older brother.
Deputy public prosecutor Ah-
mad Akhram Gharib, in asking for a
heavier sentence, said because of
the incident, Chong’s wife was left
alone to fend for her disabled child.
– Bernama

Man charged with “We ask the Iraqi government to

briefs
Deepavali reprieve for
cowherds
GEORGE TOWN: The cowherds perse-
vering at the fringes of the demolished
Kampung Buah Pala got some early
Deepavali relief when the Penang gov-
ernment told the project developer there,
not to touch an adjacent state land on
which the cowherds were surviving.
Deputy Chief Minister (II) Prof Dr P.
Ramasamy said in a telephone interview
yesterday he had told Nusmetro Ventures
(P) Sdn Bhd they were not to demolish
any of the cowsheds on the state land.
He said the cowherds have been given
two weeks to look for an alternative site.
The cowherds have been at a loss over
where to move their 200-odd cattle.
Ramasamy’s statement came after
a stand-off on Wednesday between the
cowherds and contractors hired by Nus-
metro when workers tried to tear down
the cow pen.
double murder
KOTA BARU: A jobless man was
charged in the magistrate’s court
here yesterday with murdering a Thai
woman and her daughter last month.
Mazdi Muhammad, 31, is alleged to
have murdered Maena Ya, 36, and
her one-month-old daugthter, Nuna
Nurasyiken, at an unnumbered
house in Kampung Sireh at about
2.30am on Sept 30. No plea was
recorded. – Bernama
Fugitive ex-Iraqi MP
‘held in Malaysia’
BAGHDAD: A former MP, in hiding for
eight months after being accused of
ordering a 2007 bomb attack in the Iraqi
parliament’s canteen, has been arrested
in Malaysia, an MP said yesterday.
“The Malaysian government has
informed us through our embassy
that they have arrested Mohammed
al-Daini, who was holding a diplomatic
passport,” Mithal al-Alussi, a secular
Sunni deputy, told AFP.
move swiftly to bring him back to
Baghdad,” he said.
Malaysian police did not immedi-
ately confirm the arrest.
Daini, a Sunni Arab who has insisted
on his innocence, originally fled to Syria
before moving to Egypt and then on to
Malaysia, according to Modhi Awad,
brother of Mohammed Awad, an MP
killed in the April 2007 bombing, which
also claimed seven other lives. – AFP
Explosive thrown at
DAP man’s house
SIBU: An explosive was again thrown at
the house of Wong Ho Leng, the state
DAP chairman at Jalan Ipoh here.
The CCTV camera at his house
showed two men throwing the explo-
sive at 7.26pm on Wednesday night.
“I was opening the door when I
saw a large flash of fire followed by
an explosion.
“The flares shot everywhere includ-
ing my house compound. The grass
at the side of the drain caught fire,”
Wong, whose house was similarly
attacked on Sept 27, told Bernama.