theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26 2008
speak up!
We salute Merdeka
Award recipients
WHILE we salute the recipients of
this year’s Merdeka Awards, they
too should feel truly honoured.
They go down in the country’s
history as the first recipients of
the award created to mark the
50th anniversary of the coming
into being of this nation. The
search for the first recipients was
most exhaustive.
At the inaugural award evening
on Monday, three Malaysians and
a foreigner were honoured for
their contributions to the well-
being of the people of Malaysia.
Royal Prof. Ungku Abdul Aziz
Abdul Hamid certainly deserves
the award after having spent
about three quarters of his life in
various fields including education,
economy and cooperatives. He is
the longest serving vice-chancel-
lor of the country’s first and pre-
mier university, Universiti Malaya.
Also deserving the award is the
Malaysian Nature Society which
has done much for the environ-
ment. No one can deny that the
NGO has been instrumental in
bringing to public attention the
ravages that were suffered by the
forests, rivers and the hills in the
name of development.
The award under the health,
science and technology category
was given to the Nipah Encepha-
litis Team of Universiti Malaya
jointly with Prof Datuk Khalid
Kadir for his work on diabetes
and the relationship between
hormones and stress in various
letter
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Mid Valley links
a long time coming
IT IS interesting to read that
Mid Valley City is working to
improve transport access to the
sprawling commercial centre.
Mid Valley City Gardens
chief executive officer Antony
Barragry says that the company
is “in discussions now with
Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM)
for another station at Abdullah
Hukum and we are hoping to
wrap up with City Hall on the
linkage to the LRT Abdullah
Hukum stop”.
What is sad is that despite
the claims, the public transport
improvements have been so
slow, partly because planning is
taking place behind closed doors
without the involvement of the
public and experts from special
interest groups.
I believe that the
announcement about the bridge
to Abdullah Hukum station was
made many years ago. Even the
most recent announcement (in
2007) stated that work would
start in September last year. It is
now more than a year past and it
appears that no work has begun.
Those building the link
between Abdullah Hukum
and Mid Valley City have to
consider improvements to
public transport services as
well. The expansion of KTM
Komuter service to three
tracks is a necessary part of the
construction of a rail station at
Abdullah Hukum because it
13
t h e s u n s a y s
tissues. The award for a foreigner
who had contributed the most
for the well-being of Malaysia
and Malaysians was given to
Datuk Leslie Davidson for his
work on the pollination of oil
palm through weevils. The award
for one of the five categories was
not presented as none has been
found deserving. Each awardee
received RM500,000, a certificate
and a trophy.
With the presentation on Mon-
day the Merdeka Award is truly
inaugurated. It has long been felt
that Malaysia needs to create a
prestigious annual award to be
given to those who have contrib-
uted significantly to the progress
and development of the country
and the well-being of its people.
The Philippines has one which
is named after President Ramon
Magsaysay. Since the Merdeka
Award was created under the
watch of Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
and, therefore, it was felt he
deserved to make the inaugural
presentation. More prestige
would be added to the occasion
and the awards by having the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong to do
the honours next year. While we
salute the recipients, we should
also salute Petronas, ExxonMobil
and Shell for initiating the awards.
Hopefully, the awards presenta-
tion night will become one of the
annual national highlights of the
country.
would allow a track for express
trains, which would improve
service along the entire network.
Also, nothing has been said
about the extension of the KL
Monorail to Mid Valley although
this has been talked about for
years.
Finally, if KTM Komuter
Mid Valley station has been so
successful in bringing people to
Mid Valley, why is it that Mid
Valley has been reluctant to
build a second connection to the
stop?
I have often wondered why
Mid Valley was not designed
with an integrated transport
terminal underneath the
shopping centre and office
complex.
Mid Valley would be an ideal
site because it would have great
transport links and enough
space for an integrated terminal
including LRT, bus, KTM,
monorail, Airport Express Link,
and intercity coaches and taxis
as well.
If the KL Sentral terminal had
been located at what is now Mid
Valley City, Brickfields would
still be a lovely neighbourhood
with lots of room to grow, rather
than a clogged and congested
transport corridor, and the
LRT network would be better
integrated with the city.
Moaz Yusuf Ahmad
Subang Jaya