The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- No more K-Pop groups for National Youth Day celebrations, says Khairy
- On guard - no, not really, say parents and students
- Wild goose chase for 'hijacked car with child inside'
| No more K-Pop groups for National Youth Day celebrations, says Khairy Posted: PETALING JAYA: There will be no more K-Pop groups performing at the National Youth Day celebrations starting from this year, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said this after the Auditor-General's Report listed a RM1.6mil bill to pay K-Pop groups who were brought to perform in Putrajaya in July last year. It was previously reported that the ministry had secured sponsors who were paying for the costs of bringing three K-Pop groups for the celebrations. Khairy explained that the earlier statement was made when there were offers to sponsor the show. "However, the sponsorship was not given in the end and the ministry had to pay for the concert," he said in a statement on his Facebook page. The National Youth Day 2012, costing RM2.94mil, was among the projects cited in the A-G's Report for high expenditure and not adhering to prudent spending guidelines. The report also recommended that the Youth and Sports Department investigate the wastage of funds from the Rakan Muda membership card programme and take action against those involved. The expenditure for the programme rose to RM4.45mil in 2010 from RM3.32mil initially accrued in 2008. The report said that not enough cards were distributed to youths. The cards were meant for those who actively participated in the programme. Khairy said that he has asked for detailed reports for the items mentioned in the A-G's Report before appropriate action was taken on those cases. "Government funds are public monies. We must be accountable for each sen spent," he said. |
| On guard - no, not really, say parents and students Posted: PETALING JAYA: From drunk guards to absent ones, that's the kind of poor security service that many schools are getting. A former Parent-Teacher Association chairman, who declined to be named, said there was often no one responsible to check on things. "The school often doesn't know whether the guards show up for work or not," she said, citing an example of a school that was supposed to have two guards in the day and two others at night. "The security companies also do not know if both show up. They just assume they do," she said. She told a story about a school that hired a guard who had earlier worked at a community guard post. "He was fired from his earlier job because he had been drunk during his shift!" she said. Even students say the security guards at their school play only a minor role. "They're just there to say hello to the car drivers every morning. If I'm not mistaken, there's only two security guards at night and in the afternoon, it's a lady and an old man. "Someone can just walk in without being stopped," said a 15-year-old student from a school in Selangor. Another student, 16, from Terengganu said that the guards at his school would usually just sit at the pondok at the main gate and that they did stop visitors who entered via that gate. "My school has a second gate. When that gate is open, anyone can just walk in and out," he said. However, there are others who say that the guards at their schools are doing their duties. A Form Three student from Kedah said security was quite tight at his school. "There are five or six security guards and they walk around the school compound. My school has three entrances and there are guards at all of them," he said A Form Four student from Johor said his school had five guards. "Besides preventing unauthorised people from entering the school, they stop students from playing truant by making sure no student exits the school without a valid reason." |
| Wild goose chase for 'hijacked car with child inside' Posted: KOTA KINABALU: Several people using Whatsapp went on a wild goose chase to look for a "missing four-wheel drive, with a boy inside", which was reportedly hijacked in Penampang, here, on Tuesday. A 80-year-old man had parked the vehicle with his nine-year-old son sleeping inside when he went to buy groceries in the Donggongon market area in Penampang at 4.30pm. However, when he returned 10 minutes later, he found the car "missing" and alerted another son, John Mosuyun, who sent messages using Whatsapp to his friends to help locate the vehicle and his missing brother. John said some friends spotted the vehicle parked near a supermarket at 7pm, several kilometres from where it was initially parked. Although the family maintained that the vehicle was hijacked, Penampang district police chief Deputy Supt Ratan Singh insisted that the elderly driver had forgotten where he had parked the vehicle and initially assumed that it had been stolen. "There was no hijack, and the stories passed around through Whatsapp and other social sites were not true", he said. |
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