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The Star Online: Metro: South & East

Apartments in dire straits
Joyful reunion between Royal Consort and childhood pals
Terengganu to deepen Setiu River as flood mitigation project

Posted: 02 Dec 2011 02:32 PM PST

JOHOR BARU: Buyers of the Taman Bayu Tebrau apartments are urged to attend a dialogue this coming Sunday to iron out problems related to the up keeping of the apartments itself.

Only 60 of the 460 units at the apartment are occupied and residents have been forced to live without working lifts, leaking pipes and overall poor maintenance of the building.

Committee president Tan Khai Meng said that the apartment was completed in 2004 but the developer has since gone bankrupt and have ceased to maintain the building.

"This problem cropped up even before the developers went bankrupt and the residents here are forced to live with poor facilities.

"If all the buyers collectively voice out our problems, I believe it will get more attention from the authorities concerned," he said during a press conference held at the Chinese Press Club here recently.

Retired admin executive Antek Ibrahim, 55, said that she used her Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to pay RM5,000 as a deposit for her apartment in 2004.

"I used my 20 years of hard earned money to buy the house and I am still paying RM770 per month excluding utility bills but still have to worry about the shoddy state of the building," she said in tears.

She also said that there are holes in the pillars and there are cracks in the walls.

"We have two swimming pools but the children's pool has been made into fish pond while the adults pool is now a place for mosquitoes to breed," she said.

She added that the apartment had also become a habitat for wild animals such as snakes and monitor lizards.

Meanwhile, Johor Jaya assemblyman Tan Cher Puk's representative Yong Kok Leong said that a dialogue and a briefing session would be held for the buyers to voice out their opinions to the authorities.

"The dialogue session will be held between the buyers, insolvency department and also two assemblymen at Taman Bayu Tebrau apartment itself," he said.

"I urge the buyers or their proxy to attend the session before a decision is made by the authorities," he said.

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Joyful reunion between Royal Consort and childhood pals

Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:41 PM PST

JOHOR BARU: It was a memorable reunion for the Sultan of Johor's Royal Consort Raja Zarith Sofiah Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah when she finally met up with her 15 childhood friends after 40 years.

Her primary school friends came in from different states and one even flew in all the way from Melbourne, Australia to attend the reunion held at Thistle Hotel here recently.

The gathering was organized to reunite Raja Zarith's friends from her primary school days studying at SK Datin Khadijah in Kuala Kangsar.

As soon as she arrived at the hotel, the guests surrounded her to give her hugs and they immediately started "catching up".

Raja Zarith said that she had begun planning the reunion since about four months ago after such a long time apart and got in touch with them via Facebook and email.

"I am so happy as they were my closest friends during my primary school years and seeing them again brought back so many memories.

"One of my favorite moments that I remember was when we sat under a huge tree in the school's compound to chit chat and gossip," said Raja Zarith, adding that she used to invite her classmates to the palace during weekends to have afternoon tea.

"I recall that during those days, we used to hang out at a coffee shop in front of our school to listen to our favourite records by Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and the Partridge Family everyday," she said with a laugh.

Her classmate Lee Guat Im, 52, who visited Johor for a week from Melbourne just to attend the reunion, said that she remembered clearly that Raja Zarith used to draw paper dolls for them.

"She was always the artistic one and we would sit together and make dresses for the paper dolls that she drew for us," said the nursing home administrator, adding that they used to correspond through handwritten letters after Raja Zarith left to England to continue her secondary school studies.

Lecturer Khairunazizi Mohd Azli said that they fondly called her Raja or Zarith in their school days.

"Although we know that she is royalty but there is no gap between us. Of course we now call her Tuanku instead of Zarith like we used to," she quipped.

The event, held at one of the hotel's suites, was decorated in gold and pink while pink rose petals were scattered across the dinner tables.

Each guest was presented with gift bags printed with the reunion event written in cursive, filled with traditional Johor kuihs.

Apart from a scrumptious buffet dinner, the guests were also entertained by a live quartet, while they relived their childhood memories.

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Terengganu to deepen Setiu River as flood mitigation project

Posted: 02 Dec 2011 02:33 PM PST

SETIU: The Terengganu state government is expected to carry out a comprehensive project to deepen the Setiu River in a bid to tackle floods in the district.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Committee chairman Asha'ari Idris said the state government had already applied for the funds from the Federal government under the Setiu Valley Flood Mitigation Project.

"We applied last year but it has not been approved yet," he told reporters here.

Asha'ari said the project would reduce floods that affect the district regularly, the worst being this year.

"Deepening the Setiu river is done yearly but it is still not sufficient. If the new project materialised, it will also ease the dilemma faced by farmers whose crops are destroyed by floods," he said.

He said about 60 farmers in Kampung Tasik and Kampung Buluh incurred losses amounting to almost half a million ringgit when their farms were hit by flood waters. — Bernama

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Sabtu, 3 Disember 2011