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Penang DCM's assistant resigns over assault report
Dr M again denies having sought World Bank help
KL City Hall to spend RM84mil to tackle floods

Penang DCM's assistant resigns over assault report

Posted: 19 Dec 2011 06:20 AM PST

Published: Monday December 19, 2011 MYT 10:21:00 PM

GEORGE TOWN: Satees Muniandy, the special assistant to Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy, is believed to have been asked to resign after he allegedly assaulted a female employee attached to the Chief Minister's Office.

However, Satees maintained that he had quit on his own accord due to personal reasons. "I did not assault anyone," he stressed.

"I went to Dr Ramasamy's office to hand in my resignation letter at about 5pm," said Satees.

Satees, who is one of Dr Ramasamy's strongest supporters, had stood up for his boss during Dr Ramasamy's bitter spat with DAP chairman Karpal Singh and other leaders.

Dr Ramasamy's private secretary P. Jayabalan said that Satees had resigned from his post with immediate effect.

"He is no longer authorised to deal in any matter relating to Dr Ramasamy's office," he said in a two-paragraph statement.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said police would call up a 26-year-old man to facilitate investigations into the alleged assault which happened at Jalan Tun Syed Sheikh Barakbah at the Esplanade Monday morning.

On Dec 8, Satees was embroiled in a controversy when he tweeted the alleged misdeeds of two DAP assemblymen who had attacked Dr Ramasamy over his "godfather" remarks made against Karpal.

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Dr M again denies having sought World Bank help

Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:46 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again denied that he had sought financial aid from the World Bank during the 1997 financial crisis and thereafter.

Commenting on the disclosure by PKR which showed three documents which allegedly proved that he had applied for the loan, Dr Mahathir said he had to see whether the documents were genuine or otherwise, and had to seek confirmation from the World Bank on the alleged documents.

"I want to see...I want to ask the World Bank whether this is true...Because nowadays even photos of human beings with someone else's body can be made.

"As far as I can remember, and I have not forgotten, I never sent any request for any money, not during the financial crisis or even after that.

"I had just criticised the World Bank, then I ask money from them for what? I would be stupid," he told reporters after a meeting with 26 participants of the reality programme, "Adik-Adikku", at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, here.

Dr Mahathir also questioned why such documents appeared all of a sudden, whereas Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said that he did not have the documents earlier.

"Why only today they appeared after so many years? It's due to politics, because of the general election, (they) want to criticise others," he said.

Anwar was earlier reported to have claimed that Dr Mahathir had written to the World Bank for financial aid during the financial crisis, when delivering a speech at a dinner to discuss the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) which was also attended by representatives from the foreign missions.

Dr Mahathir in return challenged Anwar to swear on the al-Quran as proof to back the allegation. BERNAMA

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KL City Hall to spend RM84mil to tackle floods

Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:38 AM PST

Published: Monday December 19, 2011 MYT 8:38:00 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: City Hall (DBKL) will allocate RM84.1mil next year to tackle flash floods, Mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail said.

Of the amount, RM10.35mil will be from DBKL, RM10mil from the 10th Malaysia Plan allocation, RM4.25mil from the flood mitigation allocation and RM59.5mil from the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley allocation through the "River of Life" programme which will give a new breath of life to the Klang and Gombak rivers.

"DBKL expects the main challenge for us will be to tackle the flash flood which causes damage to properties and threatens lives," he said when tabling DBKL's 2012 Budget.

He said several plans were being drawn up to tackle the problem especially at Jalan Tun Razak, among them by creating a diversion to divert the water from Sungai Bunus to Titiwangsa Lake before channelling it to Sungai Gombak.

Two retention ponds at Air Panas and Setapak Jaya would also be upgraded at the cost of RM20mil to slow down the flow of waters into Sungai Bunus, he said. The Department of Irrigation and Drainage was preparing a working paper for the purpose.

Ahmad Fuad said DBKL also planned to develop housing areas to address the squatter problem and provide 1,620 units of affordable houses, proposed for construction in Kampung Wira Jaya and Setia Jaya in Setapak, Indian Settlement in Kampung Pandan and Sungai Udang in Segambut.

DBKL will also allocate RM96.75mil to repave 33 main roads over 118.71km as well as public roads and streets with a combined length of about 2,000km.

"This includes repairing roads, drains and dangerous intersections," he said. BERNAMA

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 19 Disember 2011