The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Property owners urged to pay assessment arrears or risk legal action
- Councillor condems illegal renovation
- Foreign pilgrims for feast
| Property owners urged to pay assessment arrears or risk legal action Posted: 05 Dec 2012 06:12 PM PST BATU PAHAT: Outstanding assessment bills owed to Batu Pahat Municipal Council stands at more than RM14mil. Council president Abdul Rashid Ismail urged property owners to pay their assessment arrears immediately to avoid legal action. Under the Local Government Act, the local authority can recover unpaid assessments by sealing premises and moveable assets of the defaulters. He also advised property owners - housing, commercial or industry, to ensure ownership transfer is done following a buy-sell transaction or as a result of property inheritance. "Those who fail to do the necessary ownership transfer may be fined RM2,000 or face a jail term up to one year, or both," he said recently. Abdul Rashid said the council collected average assessment payments of between RM4mil and RM5mil every year. To encourage settlement of assessments and transfer of ownership, Abdul Rashid said the council is holding a campaign by giving out five iPads and gifts to those who settled the payments early. The first 10,000 payees at the council's counters would walk away with a gift. "We are targeting to recover at least RM6mil in arrears during the campaign," he said, adding that the campaign would begin on Dec 10 and ends in Feb 28, next year. The last similar campaign conducted was in 2003, said Abdul Rashid. "We do not wish to take stern action and hope property owners will take this opportunity to settle their bills and ownership transfer," he said. Abdul Rashid said there were property owners who had not pay assessment bills more than 10 years and majority of the defaulters were housing property owners. For more information about the campaign, contact the council at 07-4334641, 07-4341427, 07-4341628, 07-4341217 or visit the council's website at www.mpbp.gov.my |
| Councillor condems illegal renovation Posted: 05 Dec 2012 06:10 PM PST MALACCA: A window poser along the famous Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street) here has elicited the ire of a city councillor after a restaurant owner was left with no ventilation flowing into his premise following an illegal construction work. Malacca Historical City Councillor Ronald Gan was dumbfounded when the restaurant owner along the street, within the core zone of Unesco World Heritage site, complained to him that four of his windows were entirely sealed following the illegal extension of a neighbouring colonial building. "I was really aghast upon arriving at the restaurant which also occupies a pre-war building. All the windows were concealed by a pile of concrete stabs. "I checked with the city council's building unit and was told there was no application made recently for such renovation work along the street, so it's deemed illegal," he said when met here, recently. Gan said the workers of the restaurant couldn't open the window to allow the air into the premise eventually affecting their business. "This shouldn't have happened, such illegal extension was totally prohibited within the core zone," he said. Gan said the construction was carried out without prior permission from the city council which had contravened Unesco rules that specify construction of heritage buildings must obtain authorisation from relevant authorities. He said the owner of the neighbouring building should also know that Unesco also recently had warned any indiscriminate development within and near the heritage enclave here could affect Malacca's heritage listing. Gan noted those who intend to carry out any development projects at the core zone site should first apply for the Heritage Impact Assessments to be done before embarking on such construction works. "Properties along the street forms part of the cultural and natural heritage, which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. Hence no illegal extension is permitted within the area," he said. Gan said some of the heritage building owners along the historic city here were overzealous in renovating their properties in a bid to cash in the high arrival of tourists to the city. "In some cases, the modus operandi employed by the owners was to execute such construction works in the night to dodge the sleuthing council's enforcement officers," he said. However, Gan said he will also alert Mayor Datuk Zainal Abu on why the enforcement officers have kept a close eye on such illegal construction in the area although building materials were stacked up at the sites. He said a stopwork order would be slapped on the owner of the building who deliberately sealed the windows of his neighbour. "The owner will not get away freely for being inconsiderate to his neighbour, we will act against him," he added. |
| Posted: 05 Dec 2012 06:11 PM PST MALACCA: Visitng Japanese Catholic priest Fr. Awamoto Teruco was among thousands of Catholics and non-Christian pilgrims, devotees and visitors from Malaysia, Singapore and overseas who thronged St. Paul's Hill in the heart of Historic Malacca to commemorate the feast of St. Francis Xavier. Fr. Awamoto, 84, who led a 14-strong group from Tokyo's St. Ignatius Church also con-celebrated a mid-morning Eucharistic Celebra-tion in the roofless church ruins of St. Paul which was principally presided by Malacca-Johore Diocese head Bishop Paul Tan. The other clergy members in attendance included Frs. Michael Mannayagam, Marcelin De Pores, Joseph Stephen and Deacon Anthony Chua. Said the Japanese priest: "This is my first visit to Malacca and to be part and parcel of the Saint's feast day celebrations on the hill is indeed a privilege to be cherished. Like Malacca, Japan too hold St. Francis Xavier dear. The Saint reached Japan in July 1549 while landing at Kagoshima on the Kyushu Island and was instrumental in the spread of the Catholic faith in the country. Like Malacca which has a church and a school dedicated to the Saint's honour, Kagoshima also has several edifices and statues in public parks to perpetuate his name. St. Francis Xavier is often described as the "Apostle of the East" and the "Patron Saint of Missionaries". Traditionally, it is the parish Church of St. Francis Xavier in Banda Kaba built in 1845 that organises the week-long feast day religious services, devotional and prayer sessions and fellowships. The finale comprise a Tamil, Mandarin and English language Eucharistic Celebration at the hill conducted a specially erected altar sited at the rear of the saint's empty tomb at the ruins of St. Paul's Church. Described as the missionary headquarters of the saint who made five visits to Malacca between September 1545 and May 1552, St. Paul's Hill and its immediate vicinity was included in the World Heritage List in October 1988 and is a major tourist attraction. For the records, the ruins of St. Paul's Church spelt a religious edifice to the Portuguese, a great fortress for the Dutch and then a military bastion for the British during their respective rule of the state. All said, the saint continues to draw pilgrims, devotees, visitors and tourists each year to partake in the reverence, joy and thanksgiving while marking the feast day on the first Sunday in December, with much solemnity and spirituality. For James Matthews, a Catholic from Singapore coming to St. Paul's Hill for the feast day celebrations, is something he has not failed to do annually over the past 29 years. Aged 68, he said: "I have always considered St. Francis Xavier as a patron saint of this part of the world. I have special devotion for this saint and it was through his intercession that I received favours before I got married in 1973. So coming to this hill as long as I am able, is my way of repaying God's mercy and kindness." |
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