Day: May 19, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) — Wheat supply is expected to be affected by India banning the export of its wheat, according to the local wheat flour producers.

Bidara Flour Sdn Bhd marketing manager, Arifin Aziz said the company, however, would not be badly affected by the ban as it imported wheat flour from India and not the grains. Hence, there will be no issue of supply.

“Our stock of wheat flour can still meet the demand for the three or four coming months,” he said, adding that the local industry players were already prepared for a supply shortage of wheat flour following the outbreak of war between Ukraine and Russia.

“There are two issues here, which are the ban of wheat grain export by India and the war in Ukraine. Hence, the companies and factories in Malaysia have taken the measure of getting the supply earlier and keeping a stock of the commodity.

Meanwhile, Faiza Food Sdn Bhd plant manager, Nor Haida Ishak said the company had been assured verbally that its supply order for wheat flour for the next two months would not be affected by its supplier in India.

“Currently, our company has a supply stock of 300 tonnes which can meet the sales demand for two weeks,” she said.

However, both companies did not deny that the sale price of wheat flour might increase due to the lower value of the Malaysian ringgit and rise in the price of raw materials.

Arifin said Bidara Flour expected the sale price to increase due to the hike in the price of wheat across the world, besides the market instability and shrinking value of the ringgit.

“We expect the price of wheat to increase by 30 per cent within the next six months,” he added.

Nor Haida said Faiza Food had been noticing the rise in the price of raw materials since early this year and had warned that there would be a spill-over to the domestic market.

“We are still taking the approach of waiting it out as we do not want to increase the market price. However, the market price may have to be increased in the next two to three months,” she added.

Recently, India was reported to have banned the export of wheat to ensure its food security which is worrying due to the heat wave phenomenon which has affected its wheat output.

Following this, Malaysia’s Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs reportedly expected the supply of wheat flour to be not adversely affected as it imported 80 per cent of wheat from other countries, thus was not dependent on India alone.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

TANGKAK, May 19 (Bernama) — The district of Tangkak, which is famous for ecotourism activities, can be turned into an international-standard tourism centre, said Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

He said that Mount Ophir, which is more popularly known as Gunung Ledang, in the district was not only able to attract tourists but also generate income for residents nearby.

“I am confident that tourism facilities will be able to provide economic returns for the people in the surrounding areas, especially during this period of endemic phase,” he said in a post on his Facebook page today.

He said several high-impact development projects would be implemented in the district soon, including upgrading the infrastructure at Gunung Ledang.

Apart from that, he said projects involving the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Youth Centre (TMIYC), Johor Affordable Housing, a new administration centre for Tangkak, flood mitigation plans and Gambir industrial centre would also be carried out.

Onn Hafiz also said that he also presented ‘Bantuan Kasih Bangsa Johor’ contributions to 359 recipients during the Tangkak district department-level Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration today.

He also handed a one-off grant totalling RM10,000 to the Ledang Muslim Orphans Welfare Organisation Care Centre.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUANTAN, May 19 (Bernama) — Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alliance Steel (M) Sdn Bhd (ASSB), the first investor of the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park, today to enhance academic and research collaborations.

UMP and ASSB were respectively represented by Vice-Chancellor Profesor Datuk Dr Yuserrie Zainuddin and Chief Executive Technology Officer Hu Jiulin, while UMP Board of Directors’ Chairman Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman and Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing witnessed the signing ceremony.

UMP board of directors chairman Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman and Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing witnessed the signing ceremony.

According to the MoU, UMP and ASSB will develop the teaching site for Confucius Institute (CI) at ASSB, a Mandarin language institute in collaboration with Hebei University, involving the participation of its teachers and lecturers.

Abdul Aziz said UMP CI would offer Mandarin technical courses to ASSB’s local staff to improve communication skills between Malaysian and Chinese employees, among others.

“This technical course is a Mandarin language course specific to the steel industry. The UMP CI teaching site here will train 5,000 local staff over the next five years,” he said, adding that besides academic cooperation, both parties have also agreed to intensify collaborations in staff training, industrial training for students as well as in research.

According to Hu Jiulin, in a statement to the media, the MoU enhances collaborations between the industry and the university, as well as increases technology transfer endeavours and industrial development in the long run.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PENDANG, May 19 (Bernama) — The Human Resources Ministry will take drastic measures to resolve the worker shortage in the tourism and hospitality sector in Langkawi by initiating interview programmes at a higher frequency throughout the country, including Sabah and Sarawak.

Its deputy minister, Datuk Awang Hashim said the interviews were held through his special committee together with industry players since early this month.

“We are now aggressively conducting interviews in Sabah and Sarawak to fill the vacancies in the tourism sector so that we do not have to rely on foreign workers and to ensure that agencies under the ministry like the Labour Department and the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) need to hold such interviews more frequently and quickly to hire more young people from Sabah and Sarawak.

“With the implementation of the RM1,500 minimum monthly wage, we are convinced that employers do not have trouble paying such salaries or even more after tourism in Langkawi recovers,” he said at the Pendang parliamentary constituency and Tokai state constituency Aidilfitri Open House here today.

Awang said the ministry would also continue to focus on tourism and hospitality sector skill training preparation to create a bigger workforce of the field.

“Currently there is no need for foreigners to fill the tourism and hospitality industry as there is only one foreigner working in two five-star hotels while the other 99 per cent are all locals.

“There is no issue about locals not wanting to work in the sector. I hope locals will take this opportunity because this isn’t a 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) job, so it suits the demands of our society,” he said.

Awang said based on monitoring by the Labour Department, 17,000 workers are needed in the tourism and hotelling in Langkawi after the sector was reopened through a tourism bubble, with more than 2,000 active employers requiring workers in the sector in Langkawi.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

ALOR SETAR, May 19 (Bernama) — All 10 Kedah State Executive Councillors who have served for a period of two years since the change of leadership in May 2020 have all been retained.

Kedah State Secretary, Datuk Ammar Shaikh Mahmood Naim said all the exco members were sworn in before the Sultan of Kedah, Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah at the Balai Mengadap Besar, Istana Anak Bukit at 10.30 am today.

“Kedah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor was present at the ceremony. Besides retaining their positions as State Exco members, all of them were also put in charge of the same portfolios that they previously held.

“The Kedah Menteri Besar is still the chairman of the State Economic Planning; State Planning; Land Affairs, Land and Natural Resources, as well as the Finance Committees; the Kedah Economic Council and government-linked companies (GLC),” he said in a statement, here, today.

Datuk Dr Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail was sworn in as chairman of the Industry and Investment; Science, Technology and Innovation, and Higher Education Committees while Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman is the Health and Local Government Committee chairman.

Meanwhile, Azman Nasrudin was sworn in as chairman of the Agriculture and Food Industry, Plantation Industries and Commodities; Transport and Indian Community Affairs Committees while Datuk Suraya Yaacob heads the Public Works; Water Supply and Water Resources; Irrigation and Drainage and Energy Committees.

Datuk Siti Ashah Ghazali is chairman of the Rural Development; Poverty Eradication; Human Development and Community Well-Being Committees while Datuk Halimaton Shaadiah Saad is the Women, Family and Community Development Committee.

Romani Wan Salim is chairman of the Information, Communications and Multimedia, and Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Committees while Datuk Najmi holds the Religion, Education and Human Resource Committee chairman post .

Mohd Firdaus Ahmad is chairman of the Tourism, Arts and Culture; Youth and Sports and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Committees while Dr Robert Ling Kui Ee is chairman of the Housing and Environment, and Unity and Chinese and Siamese Affairs Committees.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) — Recipients who have been shortlisted for the Keluarga Malaysia Child Restraint System (child safety car seats) Purchase Subsidy Programme (MyCRS) have been urged to quickly buy the accessory.

The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) in a statement today said till now, the number of qualified recipients to receive the rebate is 231,012 out of 427,798 applicants, which is more than 20 per cent of the original target of subsidy recipients numbering 188,000.

According to MIROS, the RM30 million subsidy was limited to just 188,000 recipients with each recipient only eligible to claim a subsidy for one unit.

“MIROS would like to remind eligible recipients to immediately make their purchase at any one of the 240 registered nationwide stores or via online purchase as this subsidy is given on the basis of purchase and not on the basis of eligibility,” said the statement.

A list of registered shops as well as eligibility status can be viewed via www.mycrs.gov.my.

According to the statement, recipients are encouraged to make purchases as early as possible within two months from the date of approval of the application before the subsidy quota runs out.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) — The Supplementary Electoral Roll for April 2022 (DPT BLN4/2022), which was verified and gazetted today, is now open for review.

Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak, in a statement today, said the DPT BLN4/2022 is open for 30 days starting from today until June 17.

He said DPT BLN4/2022 contained the names of 40,201 citizens aged 18 years and above in the period of April 1 to 30, 2022 who were automatically registered as new voters; 9,972 registered voters who changed constituencies and 3,669 voters who changed status or category of voters.

Ikmalrudin said the commission provided five methods of review, namely, through EC portals at https://www.spr.gov.my or https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my and the official portals of State Election Offices at http://ppn.spr.gov.my.

In addition, the review could also be done through the online app at https://myspr.spr.gov.my, MySPR Semak mobile app and EC hotline at 03-8892 7018.

“EC urges citizens aged 18 and above in April this year and any registered voter who has applied for change of constituencies or status to check their names in DPT BLN4/2022.

“If they find that their names are not listed in the electoral roll, they can make a claim by filing in Form C through the online app at https://myspr.spr.gov.my or visit the State EC office concerned,” he said.

Ikmalrudin said registered voters in any constituency who wish to make an objection to the entry of voters who changed to their constituency could fill in form D and go to the relevant EC office.

“Forms C and D can also be downloaded from the State Election Offices’ portals at http://ppn.spr.gov.my and should be submitted to the state election director concerned during office hours on any working day during the review period of the DPT BLN4/2022,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency