Month: August 2022

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 16 (Bernama) — The Penang Islamic Religious Department (JHEAIPP) has been instructed by the state government to investigate claims that a Muslim chicken rice trader in Sungai Ara, near here had been selling food sourced from a non-Muslim eatery.

Deputy Chief Minister 1 Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman said the issue is serious as it involves Muslim sensitivity.

“I understand that for now, the investigation being carried out is based on what has been reported over social media as we have yet to receive an official complaint. We are responding to what is seen on social media only,” he told Bernama when contacted.

Ahmad Zakiyuddin, who is also Islamic Religious Council (MAINPP) chairman said the owner and workers of the said eatery have been identified and they could be called in for questioning soon.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Penang Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) director A.Mogan said JHEAIPP has requested for a joint investigation to be conducted on the matter.

A video clip showing two men entering a non-Muslim shop to collect what is alleged to be chicken rice to be resold at a Malay eatery in Sungai Ara has gone viral since yesterday, which in turn has caused concern among the Muslim community.

Meanwhile, JHEAIPP said in a statement, investigations revealed that the eatery where the Muslim trader allegedly resell the chicken and duck rice does not have a Malaysian Halal Certification (SPHM).

JHEAIPP acting director Mohd Hanif Omar @ Wahab said the Muslim man’s chicken and duck rice stall in Sungai Ara was not opened, adding that they also found the man owns another stall, in partnership with a non-Muslim man, in a mall in Gurney Drive.

“Both premises do not have SPHM,” he said in the statement tonight.

He said an inspection conducted by JHEAIPP and KPDNHEP Enforcement Division found that food cooked at the food court stall was also sold at the eatery in Sungai Ara.

Mohd Hanif said the owners of the food court stall have been advised to apply for SPHM from JHEAIPP.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 16 (Bernama) — The Constitution (Amendment) (No.3) Bill that prohibits Members of Parliament from switching parties will be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah for approval soon.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said after it is approved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the bill would be gazetted for implementation according to the targeted timeline which is the first week of September.

“After receiving the royal assent, the bill will be returned to the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) and the Attorney-General’s Chamber to be formatted and the new bill format will again be presented to His Majesty for a second approval,” he told a press conference here today.

Once the royal assent is given, Wan Junaidi said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will issue a notification letter to all menteri besar and chief ministers to inform the states of the amendments to the Eighth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

This will allow all the state legislative assemblies to amend their State’s Constitutions, by including the provisions prohibiting members from switching parties, to be in line with the Eighth Schedule of the Federal Constitution as approved in the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.

“We want the states to follow our format accordingly so that the federal and state laws are the same.

“We are afraid that a difference in wordings will give rise to conflicting interpretation between the federal and state laws, he said.

Wan Junaidi said engagement sessions with the states will be held for the purpose of standardisation with federal law under Article 71 of the Federal Constitution.

The Dewan Rakyat on July 28 passed the proposed anti-party hopping bill, with more than two-thirds majority and later on Aug 9, the bill obtained the support of 52 of 60 Senators after two bloc votes, which is more than two-thirds of the Dewan Negara.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) — The Health Ministry (MOH) is targeting at least 10 million Malaysians to remain healthy in the next 10 years, its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

He said the target is included in the Health White Paper, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament in December.

It is also among the key areas in the Health White Paper in terms of service quality, he added.

“So the central theme is how we can create a system with quality services and preventive measures to ensure 10 million people remain healthy in the next 10 years.

“We are aiming for that figure because based on our rough estimate, one million Malaysians become sick every year due to many conditions that we can actually avoid,” he told a press conference after appearing as a panellist in the Policy Dialogue session entitled The Future of Our Healthcare at the Health Policy Summit 2022 here today.

Elaborating, he said the target meant that 10 million Malaysians would not be referred to hospitals due to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and so on.

Yesterday, Khairy said the Health White Paper should be the country’s collective statement of intent on how it can make the health system more sustainable and resilient through a “whole of government” and “whole of society” mindset.

In the meantime, he said the MOH needs to find funds to finance the proposals presented in the Health White Paper and learn how to manage them appropriately.

He added that the Health White Paper needs to be studied in detail in terms of governance to create measures to ensure that health services can be implemented more efficiently.

“For example, how can we delegate power so that more freedom is given to public hospitals because there is a lot of centralisation of power in the MOH… how can we delegate power, responsibility and accountability to public hospital directors,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khairy said he had appointed an advisory council for the Health White Paper, which will be chaired by former Health Minister Tan Sri Dr S. Subramaniam and Axiata Group Bhd chairman Tan Sri Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 16 (Bernama) — The Rural Development Ministry (KPLB) says it has successfully achieved its target of implementing most of the development projects planned for this year.

In a statement issued today in conjunction with the ministry’s monthly gathering, its minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said he wants KPLB staff to continue working hard to carry out pending tasks.

“I believe the targets set for many of KPLB’s programmes and projects have been achieved.

“For programmes and projects that have not yet reached the set timeline, immediate measures must be taken to get them done,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 16 (Bernama) — For some, collecting antiques is just a hobby.

But for J. Prakash, 44, an antique collector from Penang, it is more than that as the antiques in his collection also remind him of the important events of the country, especially achieving independence on Aug 31, 1957.

Prakash has in his collection, souvenirs and antiques such as clothes, mugs, photographs, flags, notebooks, pencils, pins, postcards, envelopes and stamps issued to commemorate National Day.

Although he owns more than 1,000 antique items comprising kitchen utensils, decorative items and various old documents from 1880 to 1970, the historical items pertaining to the country’s independence are the most priceless to him.

As a collector of antiques, his initial intention was just to keep all these old (pre-merdeka) items but everything changed when he was given an old flag of the state of Penang.

“While studying in Preston, United Kingdom, I liked visiting the flea markets selling old things there much like the ones in Malaysia. In 2002, I came across a Union Jack flag with a pinang (betel nut) tree logo.

“The seller claimed that the flag was the old Penang flag before Malaya achieved independence and the flag was given to me for free after the seller learned that I was from Penang,” he told Bernama, here, recently.

According to Prakash, the flag which is 116 cm long and 58 cm wide, was made in Liverpool, England in 1950, based on the symbol printed on the side of the flag.

Prakash said since that day, he started collecting items commemorating Malaysia’s independence day such as photos of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, glasses, postcards, shirts and pins.

“If you look at my collection, you can feel that at that time the passion to celebrate independence was so strong, with many companies in Malaysia producing special souvenirs to commemorate independence day.

“The celebration of independence back in the day was very lively, reflecting the people’s love for the country and independence. Now, such commemorative items are not produced as much. The spirit and love for the country need to be inculcated and intensified in the community,” he said.

“Although I was born after the country achieved independence, I can see the difference in the celebration now through the old items that I have collected. Now, there are no more special independence souvenirs produced by companies and even putting up the flag seems forced. The spirit of independence is fading and slowly dying,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 16 (Bernama) — The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) plans to use new instruments for solid waste management by placing the responsibility of managing post-consumer products on producers or Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

KPKT secretary-general Datuk M Noor Azman Taib said EPR represents one of the important elements in driving the implementation of the circular economy, especially for solid waste management since a well-designed EPR system will improve the recycling value chain and domestic recycling industry.

“The implementation of EPR will be a method for the government to deal with the environmental pressure caused by post-consumer products and reduce the government’s burden for the financial needs of waste management,” he said in a statement today.

The statement said Noor Azman witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between KPKT and the Malaysian Recycling Alliance Bhd (MAREA) which is aimed at implementing an EPR pilot project in Langkawi.

Among those involved in the project are the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleaning Corporation (SWCorp), the collection and cleaning service concession company E-Idaman, the Langkawi Municipal Council Tourism City, the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Collaborative Actions for Single-Use Plastic Prevention in South-East Asia (CAP SEA), recycling manufacturers and local residents.

MAREA was established with the aim of finding a solution to the problem of post-consumer packaging waste in Malaysia, in addition to focusing on efforts to strengthen the value chain and improve the collection and recycling of consumer packaging waste.

Noor Azman said the study in Langkawi that started in April was important to create a more viable and sustainable implementation of EPR in Malaysia, to further assist the KPKT to create a policy and framework for the implementation of EPR in the country.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) — A health commission needed to be established to enable access to funds, to reduce bureaucracy and address health practitioners maldistribution and remuneration issues effectively, said health experts.

Ministry of Health (MOH) former deputy director-general (Medical), Datuk Dr Azman Abu Bakar said the creation of a health commission was nothing new and such a commission should be responsible and accountable to Parliament.

“We can move faster as there is no red tape. My hope is that the health commission not be totally detached from the Public Service Department (JPA) but given autonomy to make some decisions as advisor in terms of government’s directions and policies.”

Dr Azman said this as a panel speaker on the second day of the Health Policy Summit 2022: The Future of Our Healthcare – Health White Paper Development, today.

On his hope of the Health White Paper on the allocation of human resources, he said medical practitioners needed to be bold and brave enough to come out and think out of the box to have them heard on human resource issues in the health services.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya’s Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman echoed Dr Azman on the commission’s establishment and added that in health human resources, training of personnel is important in order to fill in the gap.

“We need to increase the number (of workforce) and the quality, and a system put in place as the current state of training is fragmented and can be improved in substantial ways, especially funding,” she said.

On the proposed health commission, Dr Adeeba also said that it should have a high-level committee chaired by a minister or even the prime minister, as Indonesia has its president as the chair.

“We definitely need to be out of the JPA as the system doesn’t allocate appropriate pay remuneration. It’s not just doctors but also nurses who are in worse conditions. We need to alleviate this situation as health is a service industry which requires the best people because they’re dealing with lives,” she said.

On the prevailing issues in public healthcare other than workforce shortage, she noted the maldistribution in terms of public and private providers as 70 to 80 per cent of the healthcare burden in Malaysia was borne by public healthcare facilities, both in the primary and secondary/tertiary care settings.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency