Selangor's free water scheme should be practical, says Yeo

IN LIGHT of the ongoing water crisis in Selangor, questions were raised on the practicality of the state’s free water scheme during yesterday’s state assembly sitting.
Yeo Bee Yin (DAP-Damanssara Utama) said the state must determine if the scheme was the most effective policy to adopt in view of the current situation.
She said the state had asked for an additional RM82.5mil for the scheme under the Additional Allocation Enactment, and this was unnecessary since the number of users had not increased drastically.
“This means RM165mil will be allocated for the free water scheme, which is 7% of the state’s yearly budget of RM1.85bil and the additional budget of RM491mil,” she said.
According to a written answer to a question from Yeo, RM77.5mil had been spent on free water and, with the additional allocation, Selangor would have spent RM1bil so far.
Yeo said a lot of residents had questioned the necessity of the free water scheme if they were deprived of water due to the water-rationing exercise.
Speaking to reporters after her speech, she said although the water problem had been caused by the weather, it has given the state an opportunity to review the money invested in the free water scheme over the long run.

Three-year-old boy killed in car crash

KUANTAN: A three-year-old boy was killed when the car he was in with his parents skidded and overturned at Km 3 Jalan Karak-Mentakab, near Temerloh on Monday.
According to Pahang Public Order and Traffic Department head Supt Mohamed Fauzi Abdul Rahim, S. Karshan died while receiving treatment for severe head and body injuries at the Mentakab Health Clinic.
In the 11.30am incident the father, in his 30s, is believed to have suddenly lost control of the car he was driving.
"The vehicle then hit a rock blocking the path causing the car to overturn," Mohamed Fauzi told reporters here on Tuesday.
The mother and father of the victim were not injured in the crash.

Burst pipe along Jalan Universiti sparks anger

PETALING JAYA: A burst pipe along Jalan Universiti yesterday afternoon not only caused traffic delays but sparked public anger over the amount of water being wasted.
A comment on the photo of this event uploaded on StarOnline by @dytia_aurinh sums up the feelings of most people:
“Dahlah air kena catu – pipe burst lagi what the hell” (Water is already being rationed and now a pipe bursts!).
Workers from Syabas, the company in charge of water distribution, were seen managing traffic at around 4pm.
According to an eyewitness, water was gushing out from the middle of the road and there had been no road works or any construction activity nearby.
Syabas put up a notice on their Twitter and Facebook accounts about the issue at around 5pm, saying that the incident would cause an unscheduled water disruption along Jalan Universiti properties, though they expect supply to resume in stages by midnight the same day.
Efforts to contact Syabas were unsuccessful. 

Citation for Datuk Mahadev Shankar

I have it from our President, Christopher Leong, that it was in the year 2011 that the Bar Council instituted the conferment of an award from time to time, to be called The Malaysian Bar Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition by the Malaysian Bar of past or present members, for outstanding contributions to the Malaysian Bar “inter alia in terms of leadership, service to the Bar and/or to the Nation, and/or in their practice at the Bar, which contributions had a significant, historical and lasting impact on the legal profession and on the community at large”.

The recipient of the inaugural Award was the late Raja Aziz Addruse; it was conferred on him posthumously in March 2012.  For 2013, there was one recipient, Dato’ Dr Sir Peter Mooney.
For this year, 2014, the recipient is Dato’ Mahadev Shankar.
I have been greatly honoured by the Bar Council requesting me to prepare, on behalf of the Bar Council, the citation for the conferment of the Award upon Dato’ Mahadev Shankar.
Dato’ Mahadev Shankar was born in Kuala Lumpur in 1932.  His father, the late Mr T V Mahadevan, had been from 1931 to 1958 (when he retired from Government service), Private Secretary to the Chief Justice of Malaya.  Shankar’s primary schooling started in 1940 at the Pasar Road School.  Two years later, the Japanese occupied Malaya.  Under the Japanese military administration, the Japanese language, Nippon-go, became the mandatory language of education in our schools.  Shankar went to one such school, Tek Sin Gakko, and by the end of 1942, Shankar had acquired a working knowledge of basic Japanese.

Man brutally stabbed and slashed to death

KUALA LUMPUR: A man was brutally stabbed and slashed to death in the heart of the city.
The body of M. Mugunthan, 28, was found in front of a hotel along Jalan Tan Cheng Lock with multiple stab and slash wounds to the neck, and his left wrist almost severed.
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Ahmad said a passer by had stumbled upon the body at around 10pm, Monday.
“The body was lying in a pool of blood along the five foot way, outside the hotel.
“Initial investigations have revealed that the man was from Mantin, Negri Sembilan,” he said when met at the scene on Monday night.
He said a visual inspection of the body revealed multiple stab and slash wounds to the neck and left wrist.
“We have yet to establish a motive for the case.
“We also could not find any weapon at the scene of the crime,” he said adding that the case was being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
Those with information regarding the case should contact the police hotline at 03-2115 9999 or visit the nearest police station.