300,000 COPIES DAILY Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)

30 SEN for delivery to your doorstep

Award winning newspaper

for public service reporting
and opinion writing.

No. 4751 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Tuesday
May 5, 2009
TELLING IT AS IT IS www.sun2surf.com

» Najib to civil servants: People’s satisfaction our KPI pg2 » 12-page special Education Focus

His world pg15

a stage “I’m seeking his consent to postpone

I
POH: With two days to go before
the Perak state assembly sitting,
police warned yesterday against
gathering near the State Secre-
tariat building, where the sitting will
the sitting to another date to be deter-
mined by the sultan,” he said, adding
that the postponement was necessary
because the dispute over the status of

STAY AWAY
take place, while assembly Speaker V.
Sivakumar attempted to get the Sultan
of Perak to postpone it.
Perak police chief Datuk Zulke-
fli Abdullah said a meeting was held
yesterday between the police and the
assemblymen from Barisan Nasional,
PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat at the
state police headquarters to ensure
smooth running of the assembly sitting
on Thursday. He was disappointed no
DAP assemblyman or representative
the Perak mentri besar between Datuk
Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and Datuk
Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin was
still pending in court.
Sivakumar said he was also con-
cerned that quarrels during the sitting
might go out of hand.
“I foresee that there will be argu-
ments between both sides to defend
their positions,” he said.
For the sake of keeping harmony and
the decorum of the assembly, it was only

» POLICE WARN AGAINST GATHERING attended the meeting although they

were invited.
At the meeting, the assemblymen
proper that the sitting be postponed, he
said.
It was earlier reported the BN state

NEAR STATE SECRETARIAT were advised against doing anything

that could threaten public order and
security, like organising illegal gather-
ings on that day, and to show decorum
government had given notice of a
motion to remove Sivakumar as the
speaker, who represents the last hurdle
in the BN’s move to exert full control

» SPEAKER SEEKS ROYAL CONSENT

at the assembly sitting.
Sivakumar has written a letter to
Sultan Azlan Shah seeking his consent
to postpone the assembly sitting.
TO POSTPONE SITTING In a statement, he said the letter was
sent to the office of the Kinta Palace
here at 11am yesterday.
REUTERSPIX
over the state.
This sitting is crucial for the BN
government as the assembly must meet
by May 13 to avoid an automatic dis-
solution.
A state assembly sitting must be held
on or before that day, exactly six months
after the last sitting in November 2008.
If BN fails to convene an assembly
by then, the assembly is automatically
dissolved and fresh state elections must
be held within 60 days.

Zulkefli said police had received

many reports that certain political lead-
ers, during their ceramah, had been
urging the people to assemble near the
State Secretariat and such calls were
also made through certain blogs and
websites.
No way Although he did not mention it, it
is well known that the Pakatan Rakyat
out… leaders have been urging supporters
Hotel staff to gather to protest against the sitting
wearing masks under the “Jom ke Ipoh, 7 Mei 2009”
gesture behind campaign.
a lobby window “Such a mass gathering without a
in Hongkong police permit is an illegal gathering
yesterday. and action will be taken according
Travellers to the law against those who plan,
quarantined organise or take part in it,” he warned
in a Hongkong in a statement.
hotel for a week Zulkefli said police would deploy
after a Mexican enough personnel and take meas-
guest tested ures to ensure the safety of all the
positive for H1N1 assemblymen and invitees to the
flu expressed assembly sitting, and to safeguard
frustration at public order.
the tough steps, “Police will act against those who
and a medical organise or commit any act that can
expert said the jeopardise public security and order,”
authorities had he said.
over-reacted. He advised the people not to
H use the roads near the State
About 200 hotel ( 1
A N1)
guests and ZA Secretariat and those who
have nothing to do with the
INFLUEN

100 staff were

HO

ordered to stay assembly sitting not to gather

TLINE

inside the hotel. near the building.

03

00

-8
WHO may raise flu alert to level 6 881
0200
/3

MADRID: The World Health Organisa-
tion is likely to raise its flu alert to the
top of its six-point scale and declare a
pandemic, its director-general indicated
in an interview published yesterday.
In remarks setting the scene for
another alert increase, but without
saying when, WHO chief Margaret
Chan warned against over-confidence
following a stabilisation in the number
of new cases of the H1N1 strain that
has proved deadly in Mexico.
“Level 6 does not mean, in any way,
that we are facing the end of the world.
It is important to make this clear be-
cause (otherwise) when we announce
level 6 it will cause an unnecessary
panic,” she told Spanish newspaper
El Pais.
“Flu viruses are very unpredictable,
very deceptive. We should not be over-
confident. One must not give H1N1 the
opportunity to mix with other viruses.
That is why we are on alert.”
The WHO’s pandemic phases reflect
views about how a virus is spreading
and not how severe its effects are.
Last week the United Nations
agency raised the alert level twice,
from 3 to the current 5, in response to
the sustained transmission of H1N1 in
Mexico and the United States.
Before issuing a level 6 alert, the
WHO would need to see the virus
spreading within communities in
Europe or Asia. A declaration of a full
pandemic would send a signal to gov-
ernments worldwide to institute their
pandemic response plans, which may
include measures affecting hospitals,
schools or public events.
Level 6 would also trigger increased
support for developing countries
which lack the drugs, diagnostic tests,
and medical staff to respond appro-
priately to the flu that the WHO has
said could be especially dangerous for
people with HIV/AIDS.
While the top-level alert would not
have an automatic effect on the world’s
flu vaccine production, the WHO is
expected to make an announcement
alongside any such declaration to
specify whether manufacturers should
switch from making seasonal to pan-
demic flu vaccines.
Chan said that weather patterns
could play an important role in how the
flu continues to spread. The southern
hemisphere is about to enter winter,
when seasonal flu cases normally
spike, she said.
“We have to be very careful. No one
can predict what is going to happen
when countries in the south have flu
peaks and this new one arrives – which
it is going to do, without a doubt,” she
said. – Reuters
» More reports Page 5