MCA to make sure courses meet needs of all

SANDAKAN: MCA is embarking on an overall strategic plan for its educational initiatives, party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said.

He said this was aimed at ensuring that courses offered at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC), Kojadi Institute and training centres for early childhood education were in line with the needs of students and their parents.

“That is why we are going to various places for these fact-finding missions,” Ong said.

He said this after visiting the proposed site of the permanent campus of Sabah TARC at the Sabah Education Hub in Sungai Batang, some 25km from this east coast town Saturday.

Ong said the Sabah government’s move to centralise higher educational institutions at the hub was a good idea, adding that he hoped to see the permanent campus of Sabah TARC take shape there.

He said TARC’s Sabah branch would be relocating from its present temporary campus at Donggongon near Kota Kinabalu soon.

The college’s Sabah branch began operating from a rented classroom block at the Kian Kok Middle School in Kota Kinabalu in 2002. Five years later, it moved to bigger premises at Donggongon.

Ong said that since taking over as MCA president, he felt compelled to resolve the party’s various outstanding matters including having a permanent headquarters for Sabah MCA.

The headquarters has moved three times since the party expanded its wings to the state 17 years ago. He said this was among the issues he had discussed during his meetings with state MCA members and leaders in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau earlier this week, and in Sandakan on Friday evening.

“I have had discussions with the members and the message to them is that we need to walk the talk,” Ong said.

He said the meetings were also aimed at enabling him to gather feedback on the needs of the community.

Ong, who is also Transport Minister, said he would try his best to ensure that low cost flights between Sandakan, Tawau and Singapore got off the ground. He said the Government had earlier this year given its nod for such services.

Chua’s sex DVD resurfaces, sparks off fresh controversy

PETALING JAYA: The sex DVD which led to the downfall of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has resurfaced, sparking off a fresh round of controversy and raising the who-and-why question.

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker is blaming it on a “third force” from within the party which re-distributed the DVD to add more fuel to the current leadership tussle.

The DVD, which became public last year, was a recording of a tryst between the suspended MCA deputy president and an unidentified woman.

Dr Chua reportedly said that the DVD was sent from Bukit Mertajam this time. However, the Bukit Mertajam MCA division has denied that they had a hand in it.

Yesterday, Ti said the re-emergence of the DVD was another move by unseen hands to embarrass Dr Chua besides inciting anger and hatred against party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

“There is indeed a third force from within the party intending to exploit and inflict maximum damage to the personality and credibility of both Ong and Dr Chua, with little or no love for the party.

“Their motive is obvious – to dislocate and uproot Ong’s leadership and to damage Dr Chua permanently,” he said on his blog http://tilianker.blogspot.com/.

Such an act was targetted at destroying the party and the next party leader would be a lame duck, he said.

“This third force wanted to control MCA’s leadership for their personal agenda. The disagreement from within the party had rendered them an opportunity to kill two big birds with one stone,” he said.

Ti warned delegates to be wary of these unseen hands which were bent on manipulating events that would affect the party’s image and dignity.

“The DVD is a blemish of the past and ought to be left behind.”

He said the party needed to move forward “instead of being stuck in muddy waters.”

“All we need now is a fresh mandate and added strength to enable the present party leadership to continue with the course that we have taken,” he said.

Many claimants to Noordin’s body complicates his burial

JOHOR BARU: Numerous people have come forward to say that they are slain Islamic militant Noordin Mat Top’s relatives and wanting to claim his body.

Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam said the process of returning his body might not be a simple procedure with so many claimants.

“We have to vet these claims before allowing the body to be brought back to Malaysia,” he said, declining to reveal the number of people claiming to be Noordin’s relatives.

Although the process would be time-consuming, Nordin’s body should arrive here by next week, he said.

“He will definitely be buried in Pontian as that is where his hometown is,” said Mahmood.

Asked about the large police presence at Noordin’s home in Sg Tiram and Pontian, he said it was done to protect the family.

“People might want to hurt them because of their relationship with Noordin.”

When The Star visited Noordin’s home in Sg Tiram, a family member said he was not sure when the burial would take place.

He said that Noordin’s wife, Rahmah Hamid, has not contacted them since she left for Indonesia.

“We were told that the protocol will be similar to what happened when Dr Azahari’s body was brought back,” he said.

He was referring to Malaysian Dr Azahari Husin, a bomb specialist who was also killed in a shoot-out with the Indonesian police in Surabaya three years ago. He was buried in Malacca.

Seasonal flu shot increases A(H1N1) risk: Canadian study

OTTAWA: Preliminary results from some studies have found that seasonal flu shots may increase the risk of catching Influenza A(H1N1), Canadian scientists said Wednesday.

About 2,000 people from four Canadian provinces were involved in the separate studies, which showed that people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to get sick with the A(H1N1) virus, China’s Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday, citing the scientists as saying.

Researchers know that, theoretically, when people are exposed to bacteria or a virus, it can stimulate the immune system to create antibodies that facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus.

Dengue fever is one example, scientists say.

But experts stressed that these are very preliminary results and need to be validated.

“This is some evidence that has been floated; it hasn’t been validated yet, it’s very preliminary,” cautioned Dr Don Low, microbiologist in chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

But this is nevertheless very important data to help guide policy decision, as the time comes for seasonal flu shots, he said.

This latest finding raises questions about the order in which to get flu shots.

Across Canada, public health authorities are fiercely debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against A(H1N1).

The main reason is because A(H1N1) may be the dominant strain of influenza circulating when the fall flu season hits, meaning it could be a waste of time and resources to mount a seasonal flu vaccine campaign.