8 
news without borders
Nizar to vacate residence
before Feb 27
by Humayun Kabir
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
IPOH: Former Pakatan Rakyat mentri besar,
Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin
will vacate his official residence much
earlier than the deadline of Feb 27, set by
the state secretary.
Nizar told theSun yesterday, he had re-
ceived a written order from State Secretary
Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hasim on Saturday
to vacate the residence by Feb 27.
However, he said, he will vacate the
premises much earlier than that.
“Actually, I did not bring much of my
family’s belongings when I took office as
the mentri besar. I have moved most of the
items out and only some personal belong-
ings remain to be cleared.”
Nizar intends to rent a house in Sungai
Rokam, where four of his eight children are
attending a religious school.
He said he will hold a ceramah before he
moves out of the official residence but did
not specify the date.
He said, he will continue to use his official
car “as I am still legally the mentri besar of
Perak” but said, six of the 11 members of the
Pakatan Rakyat state executive committee,
had left their official cars at his residence
for the state secretary to collect.
The six are Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham
(Sitiawan), Nga Kor Ming (Pantai Remis),
A. Sivanesan (Sungkai), Seah Leong Peng
(Pasir Bedamar), Chen Fook Chye ( Keranji)
and Thomas Su Keong Siong (Pasir Pinji).
Kuala Sepetang assemblyman, Tai Sing
Ng, said that he and Lubok Merbau assem-
blyman, Mohd Zainudin Mohd Yusof, had
left their official cars at the state secretariat
about a week ago and are using their own
cars.
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D r i v i n g
Tronoh assemblyman V. Sivakumar, who
had declared that he is still the Perak state
assembly speaker, is still using his official
car.
Former exco members, Jamaluddin
Mohd Razi (Behrang) and Mohd Osman
Mohd Jaitu (Changkat Jering), who had an-
nounced that they had become independ-
ents, could not be reached for information
about their official cars.
On the by-election for the Bukit Gantang
parliamentary seat fixed for April 7, Nizar
said, the PAS Bukit Gantang division is pre-
paring the list of potential candidates.
This list will be forwarded to the state
PAS headquarters, which will shortlist the
candidates, and forward it to their party
headquarters for the final decision.
The Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat
fell vacant, following the death of Roslan
Shaharum (PAS), of a heart attack on Feb
9. There are 55,562 registered voters in the
constituency.
Nizar said that out of the three state
constituencies in this parliamentary seat,
PAS has strong support in Changat Jer-
ing and Kuala Sepatang, which are PAS
strongholds. The problem area is Trong,
where PAS’s influence will be tested in the
by-election.
He said the support from the Chinese
and Indians for the Pakatan Rakyat is very
good. However, the same cannot be said
of the Malay support, because PR has no
source of media coverage to reach out to
them “as the media is fully controlled by the
Barisan Nasional government”.
That is why Nizar will be launching a
series of ceramah in the Malay areas to
inform the Malays of the recent political
crisis that brought down the PR state gov-
ernment.
www.srikdu.edu.my
D r e a m s TM
Mukhriz,
3 young Turks battle
Khairy and
Khir share
a light
moment
before the
debate at
Dewan
it out in talk show
Bahasa
dan
Pustaka
auditorium.
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Temperatures rose at the
Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka during the live
television talk show Hujah featuring Umno
Youth chief aspirants Datuk Seri Dr Moha-
mad Khir Toyo, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and
Khairy Jamaluddin yesterday.
The one-hour show broadcasted live on
TV9 was hosted by hard-talking political
analyst Associate Prof Dr Mohammad Agus
Yusoff and provided a glimpse on how the
three politicians viewed various issues
affecting the country and their way of think-
ing in general.
Mohammad Agus started off by asking the
question on why Umno took a severe beating
in the 2008 general election and moved on
to serious issues such as the New Economic
Policy (NEP) , the Social Contract, the Internal
Security Act, the sovereignty of Malay Rulers,
the price of oil, and the teaching of Science
and Mathematics in English.
The professor, who lectures on history,
politics and strategic studies at Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, also took occasional
swipes at Khairy, Khir and Mukhriz, much to
the amazement of the packed auditorium.
On one occasion, he asked Khir and Khairy
how they perceived being seen by the public
as “liabilities” for Umno while on other occa-
sions, he asked them for their frank opinion
on issues affecting the Malays.
He asked Khir what he felt about being
the person responsible for losing Selangor to
Penang wants bridge expansion completed earlier
by Opalyn Mok
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: The state government wants
the Penang Bridge expansion project, to be com-
pleted before its scheduled date of August.
Public works, utilities and transport commit-
tee chairman, Lim Hock Seng, said yesterday, he
has written to the Malaysian Highway Author-
ity to increase the number of workers for the
project.
“The project is on schedule as 1.2km of the
Prai-bound and Penang-bound third lanes are
already open to traffic,” he said.
Another 1km on the Penang-bound side will
be opened soon.
“But we want them to complete the whole
project earlier. So I have asked them to put in
more machines and workers to speed it up.”
Lim said, an earlier completion of the expan-
sion project would relieve the bridge of its daily
theSun | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18 2009
KAMARIDUAN MOHD NOR/THESUN
the Opposition.
Khir replied: “Even Tun Dr Mahathir,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had
suffered defeats in their political career ... I
was fortunate that I learnt (of failure) at a
relatively young age.
“I have gone through the cycle ... from the
son of a farmer to a mentri besar to being
ousted by the Opposition after the elections
... but I thank God I learnt a lot from my
failure,” replied Khir.
All three politicians agreed to a question
by Mohammad Agus that the NEP must be
given a new package to be more relevant, fair
and competitive in today’s world.
Muhkriz also reiterated a stand he made
months earlier that students must learn to
integrate among one another at a young age
in a singular school and not learn to mix with
other races only at higher learning institu-
tions.
“For the sake of national unity and inte-
gration, we must have singular schools,” he
said.
Mukhriz, Khir and Khairy also expressed
that the Social Contract must look into the
interest of all races in the country in a fair
and just manner.
Before he ended the show, Mohammad
Agus asked Mukhriz what differentiates him
from his illustrious father Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad.
Mukhriz replied: “I am very proud of my
father and I aspire to be a continuous exam-
ple of him ... and bring about changes to the
country.
traffic congestion problems.
“They have completed the piling works and
the sub-structure works.
“All that is left is work on the deck, which
could progress very fast if they put in more work-
ers,” he said.
However, he was disappointed that the ex-
pansion project did not provide for a separate
motorcycle lane.
A line would be drawn to indicate a lane for
motorcyclists, but it would not be exclusively for
motorcycles.
The RM585 million bridge expansion project
started in 2005 and was delayed by a year be-
cause of piling problems.
Upon completion by August, the bridge may
be upgraded from Class F to Class C or D, mean-
ing there will be traffic congestion only if there
is a major accident or breakdown.
Class F means, that even a minor breakdown
or accident could cause a jam.