The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
| Posted: 13 Jan 2013 07:56 PM PST PONTIAN: Johor is now a leading growth centre in the country with many exciting developments taking place in the recent years, especially within Iskandar Malaysia. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Mustapa Mohamed told the media Iskandar Malaysia attracted domestic and foreign investors to invest in nine key sectors. The sectors are electrical and electronics, petrochemical and oleochemical, food and agro-processing, logistics and related services, tourism, health, educational, financial services and ICT and creative industry. "The Government is pleased with the progress made so far in Iskandar," he said at the opening of RM1bil oil storage terminal in Tanjung Bin here on Thursday. The oil storage terminal operated by ATT Tanjung Bin Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of VITI BV, has a total capacity of 890,000 cu metre and is the country's largest oil storage terminal. Also present at the event were ATB chief executive officer Eric Arnold and VITI chairman Datuk Kho Hui Meng. Mustapa said the opening of the oil storage terminal was significant for Johor in its quest to transform and develop south Johor. "Johor has all the right ingredients to emerge as leading oil and gas hub within the next five to seven years." Mustapa said Johor's close proximity with Singapore and south Johor's location along one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world augur well for the oil and gas related activities. The development covers Pengerang areas in the Kota Tinggi district in southeast Johor, Tanjung Langsat in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Bin in the Pontian district. Launched on Nov 4, 2006 – Iskandar is located in the southernmost part of Johor spanning 2,217 sq km and three times bigger than Singapore and two time the sizes of Hong Kong as of December 2012, has attracted RM105bil in cumulative committed investments. Iskandar is divided into five flagship development zones – the JB City Centre, Nusajaya, Western Gate Development Zone, Eastern Gate Development Zone and Senai-Kulai. Similarly, Mustapa said the Government has approved multi-billion ringgit investments from five new investors in the oil and gas industry to invest at the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex. |
| Pirate DVD peddler’s dirty little secret Posted: 13 Jan 2013 04:46 PM PST JOHOR BARU: Some 500,000 pirated and pornographic DVDs worth RM3.5mil were seized by the Home Ministry from seven shops at a market in Pandan here. During the operation, the ministry's Film Censorship Control and Enforcement Division also found two shops, which hid the DVDs inside "secret" rooms. Division secretary Razak Drahman said his enforcement officers had to break into the two separate rooms. He added that the division also detained seven men in their 20's believe to be DVD peddlers to assist in the investigations. "We conducted surveillance at this market for two weeks before raiding the seven premises. "The two shops stored their DVDs in their hidden vault that were mostly pornographic DVDs to evade them from getting caught," he said, adding that the shop owners were not present during the raid. All seven shops were previously raided by other relevant agencies. Initial checks showed that the premises sold most of the discs without the 'B' certificate while others are believed to be using fake certificates. "We are investigating the case under Section 18 of the Film Censorship Act 2002. Action would be taken against the DVD peddlers for selling pornographic DVDs under Section 5(2) of the same Act which carries a fine of between RM10,000 and RM50,000 or maximum jail term of five years or both. Razak also urged the public to call the Home Ministry's hotline at 1-800-227 676 to report on the sale of pirated DVDs. |
| Posted: 13 Jan 2013 07:57 PM PST JOHOR BARU: The Johor Islamic Religious Council (JAIJ) has collected RM171.60mil in zakat collections (tithes) for 2012 surpassing its earlier target of RM150mil. Its deputy-director (operations) Ramly Jusoh attributed the increase to better awareness on the duty of paying zakat among Muslim employees and business owners statewide. He said the money collected from zakat contributors would be disbursed to the eight asnaf (eligible recipients). "We hope well-off Muslims and business owners in Johor will come forward to perform their religious duty by paying their tithes to help the needy," said Ramly. He said this after presenting a one-off cash payment of RM100 to 30 recipients from Kampung Sungai Danga held at Masjid Kampung Sungai Danga here recently. The money was collected by the council from the fidyah (penalty imposed on Muslims who were not able to fast during Ramadan due to chronic illnesses or reasons deemed appropriate from Islamic laws) and the dues must be settled before the next Ramadan. Ramly said presently there were 8,000 eligible recipients from all over Johor who received their monthly financial assistance amounting to RM2mil monthly which was collected from the zakat payments. "We want to assure our contributors in Johor that their money goes to the deserving parties and all payments are done in a transparent manner,'' he said. Ramly said off the 10 districts in Johor, the Johor Baru district recorded the highest zakat collection and last year it managed to collect RM70mil and has 1,800 asnafs who received their monthly financial assistance. He said on the average, they received 1,500 new applications monthly from Muslims who are seeking monthly financial assistance from the council. Ramly said JAIJ officials would conduct investigation including checking the background of the applicants and their financial capabilities to ensure that only deserving Muslims received the financial assistance. |
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