Saturday, June 21, 2014

RM10 mil approved for Kajang Hospital upgrade

The Sun, 19 June 2014

KAJANG: The federal government has approved an allocation of RM10 million to Hospital Kajang to upgrade its facilities, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said the allocation provided is another government initiative to improve facilities at the public hospital in line with the needs of the people especially those from the low income group.

Subramaniam said the upgrading will include additional 30 new beds, two additional operation theatres and the installation of electrical and water systems.

"We will also build one additional ward as well as improve and upgrade the existing wards," he said adding that the allocations also includes upgrading of medical equipment such as ultrasound machines.

"What we are doing now is to improve the facilities so that the medical teams and specialists here can work more efficiently," he told the reporters after a work visit here, today.

According to Subramaniam, Hospital Kajang is now serving 1.1 million patients and it is the only public hospital in the Hulu Langat area.

"This hospital caters to some 100 admissions and more than 400 patients seek outpatient and emergency treatment every day," he added.

"This upgrading will increase the capacity of this hospital," he said.

He said upgrading works have already commenced at the hospital and is scheduled to be completed by 2016.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Gangland violence a thing of the past

The Star, Tuesday June 17, 2014

Police officers inspecting the scene of the shooting in Kajang.
Police officers inspecting the scene of the shooting in Kajang.
PETALING JAYA: It’s been 10 months since Ops Cantas Khas was launched, long enough for gangsters to emerge from hiding and return to gangland-style shooting and killings again.

However, police say the gangsters have got it wrong as the force is on top of things, vowing that lawlessness will never return.

At least eight shootings occurred this year, the latest when wholesaler Abd Ghani Abdullah, 50, was shot by a man on a motorcycle as he was walking from the car park to his meat stall at the Kajang Market yesterday. He survived the attack.

Abd Ghani, who claims to be a Sulu Datuk, was critically wounded on his left shoulder and below his right ear after he was shot twice in the 6.30am incident.

Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Ab Rashid Ab Wahab said a passer-by who witnessed the incident contacted the police after the shooter sped off.

Wholesaler Abd Ghani Abdullah being wheeled into the Kajang Hospital after he was shot while walking from the car park to his meat stall at the Kajang Market.
  Apparently, gangsters packed their bags and left the country when Ops Cantas Khas, aimed at weeding out gang elements, began.

However, some gangs have been lurking in the shadows and are now trying to regroup.

Sources revealed that one such group – Gang 36 – held clandestine gatherings in some parts of the country on June 3 to commemorate the forming of their gang.

It is also learnt that some Gang 36 members who had gone hiding in neighbouring countries were back for the “reunion”.

However, Bukit Aman assured the public that all is still well.

“Only remnants of the gangs are trying to launch sneak attacks on rival gangs, nothing more,” said Federal CID deputy director Deputy Comm Datuk Mazlan Mansor.

“They are of the impression Ops Cantas Khas has been scaled down. Mark my words – the gangs cannot come back. Ops Cantas Khas is still on.

“Our men are working day and night to ensure gangs do not make a comeback,” DCP Mazlan told The Star yesterday.

He said gangsters were extra cautious as the police now had the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) as one of their main ammunition.

“We cannot publicise it as much as we cannot share our tools of the trade. We will strike at any remnants of the gangs when they least expect it,” he said.

Federal Secret Societies, Gambling and Vice Division (D7) principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Roslee Chik said 134 people, mostly gang members, had been arrested under the amended PCA since April 2.
  “Of the number, 38 people were issued with Restricted Residence orders by the Crime Prevention Board while 24 were in the process of being re-charged.

“The remaining suspects are still in detention,” he said.

SAC Roslee said the PCA had come in handy in putting dangerous and violent criminals behind bars.

Ops Cantas Khas has contributed to a decrease in gang activities. Murder was reduced from 504 cases to 433 cases, while armed robbery dropped from 83 to 54.

Gang robberies have also gone down from 13,533 cases to 12,048, with crimes involving firearms going down to 14 cases from 20.

A total of 9,659 types of firearms, explosive material, weapons and ammunition were seized throughout the special operation.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Missionary returns home after 57 years

The Star, Thursday June 12, 2014

Long service: Bretaudeau will be returning to his parish in Vendée, France to re-evangelise the French people.
Long service: Bretaudeau will be returning to his parish in Vendée, France to re-evangelise the French people.
ONE of Malaysia’s longest serving foreign priests, 83-year old Reverend Father Peter Bretaudeau will be closing a chapter of his life to return to his homeland after 57 years.

“Having spent so many years in Malaysia, I regret very much having to leave this beautiful country, but I know France needs me more now,” said Bretaudeau.

When he first arrived in the then Malaya, one month after independence in August 1957, there were only about 37,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. To-date, that figure has grown to 300,000.

Conversely, Bretaudeau said French Catholics had become alarmingly complacent about their religion.

“In the parish that I am returning to in La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, less than 10% of Catholics regularly attend Mass, so I will spend the rest of my days trying to bring more French people back to the church,” he added.

Born in 1931 as the third of five children in the village of Le Poiré-sur-Vie in Vendée, Bretaudeau found his calling to join the priesthood at the age of 25.

“At that time, there were hardly any Catholics in Asia and I wanted to join the Paris Foreign Missions Society or Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) so I could come here.

“The MEP decided to send me to Malaysia.

“When I first arrived, I could not speak a word of English so I learnt the language here before going to India for two years to learn Tamil,” said Bretaudeau, who has retained his French accent but incorporates “lah” in his conversation.

One of his fondest memories is the 10 years he spent as the main parish priest in Seremban, Negri Sembilan in the 1960s and 1970s.

“At the time, there were many Indians working in the rubber estates around the area and their poverty and hard working conditions struck me,” said Bretaudeau.

Wanting to provide estate workers in the state with a better life, Bretaudeau met with the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) and discussed forming an organisation to improve the education opportunities for workers’ children.

“In the late 1960s, the fall in the price of rubber badly affected them and the need for such a movement became more urgent,” he said.

With the help of the NUPW, the Persatuan Kemajuan Rakyat (PKR) was born, starting with eight members and expanding to hundreds over the next two years.

“To address the problem of unemployment among youths in the estates around Seremban, we set up tailoring classes for girls and a vocational institute to train boys in electronics,” said Bretaudeau, noting that the institute was the first of its kind in the state.

Many students from this electronics institute went on to become teachers when NUPW started another institute.

His career as a Catholic missionary took him to 10 churches around the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan.

“Malaysia has developed so much, I feel there is nothing more for me to do here so I want to return to France while I am still in good health,” said Bretaudeau, who will spend two weeks visiting his family, including two sisters, before starting his pastoral work.

He leaves the Holy Family Church, Kajang in the capable hands of Reverend Father George Harrison, who was inspired to join the priesthood by Bretaudeau.

Police nab gang of former convicts after car chase

The Star, Thursday June 12, 2014 

by natasha joibi
KAJANG: A gang of ex-convicts, including a 41-year-old man with 12 criminals records, was arrested for committing a series of robberies, car break-ins and illicit drug activities.

A brief chase with the criminals ensued after a police patrol unit spotted a suspicious-looking white Perodua Viva along Jalan Wan Siew here at around 5.20am on Tuesday, said Kajang deputy OCPD Supt Abdul Ghani Mohamad Ji.

Police managed to stop the fleeing men at the traffic light junction in Jalan Sungai Chua.

There were two men in the car, aged between 41 and 44, with 1.24g of syabu in their possession.

“We also found 25 tools commonly used to commit house break-ins and a pair of keys to a Toyota Camry that was reported stolen in Taman Sri Kejora on Monday.

“The complainant was a 34-year-old clerk,” said Supt Abdul Ghani.

Police raided a budget hotel in Pudu following the arrest where they arrested four more men in two separate rooms.

They confiscated a laptop, camera, video player, an antique coin collection from China, three pairs of car keys and two pairs of house keys in the raid.

The suspects, aged between 26 and 51, all have previous criminal records and tested positive for drugs.

Supt Abdul Ghani said police ma­naged to track down one of the victims based on information found in the laptop, which was stolen.

The suspects had been remanded to facilitate investigations.