4 theSun | MONDAY JUNE 15 2009

news without borders

RM14.4m Father’s Day windfall

for three lucky punters
KUALA LUMPUR: Father’s
Day was never happier for
three men who took home a
total of RM14.4 million from
Sports Toto Malaysia.
An accountant in his 50s
from Selangor, won the RM9.1
million Mega Toto 6/52 jack-
pot with his numbers 12, 13,
15, 17, 46 and 47 in the June
7 draw.
He derived the numbers
mainly from the ages of his
children and wife.
Asked what he plans to do
with the windfall, he said he
No local transmission of H1N1: D-G
PETALING JAYA: A total of
42 cases with influenza symp-
toms were reported in the last
24 hours, Director-General of
Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail
Merican said yesterday.
He said in a statement that
no new cases of influenza A
(H1N1) were reported since
Saturday and that there hasn’t
been any local transmission of
the global virus.
Currently, five cases are
under treatment at the Sungai
Buloh Hospital (one), Tuanku
could now quit his job and
retire comfortably.
A lorry driver in his 40s
from Johor won RM3 million
when his lucky set of num-
bers – 740515 was drawn as
the first prize of Toto 6D. An
ardent Toto 6D player, he
said he would share some of
his winnings with his friends
whom he always consulted
when deciding which num-
bers to try.
The best part of winning,
he said, was that he could
now set up a small business
Jaafar Hospital, Seremban (one),
Penang Hospital (two) and Kuala
Lumpur Hospital (one).
The patients are responding
well to anti-viral treatment.
Of the 42 cases, 16 have been
admitted to the isolation wards
at four hospitals for treatment
and investigations while the
remaining 26 have been placed
under home quarantine.
He also said the World
Health Organisation
reported that the
of his own.
The third winner, an office
boy in his 30s from Selangor,
believed in “moderate ven-
ture” in the numbers games
and used to spend a few ring-
git in each Toto draw.
That investment finally
paid off handsomely – he won
RM2.29 million with the num-
bers 4, 13, 26, 28, 31 and 41 for
the first prize of the Toto 6/42
Jackpot in the June 6 draw.
The first thing he said he
would do with the money is
buy a house for his family.
number of cases
rose 113 to 29,960
yesterday, with the
majority from Australia
(67), China (22) and the
Philippines (19).
Bernama reports that Singa-
pore had the biggest number of
confirmed H1N1 flu cases in a
day when 13 new cases were
reported yesterday, bringing
the total number of confirmed
cases to 40.
Group suggests
alternative financing
LONG-TERM SOLUTION
NEEDED TO STOP ‘ALONG’
MENACE: MONEY LENDERS
by Tim Leonard
newsesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: Money lend-
ers have proposed that financing
services be introduced for those who
don’t qualify for a loan as a long-term
solution to the problem of loan-
sharks or along.
Malaysian Licensed
Money Lenders As-
sociation president R.
C. Veeraseelan (pix)
said a credit delivery
designed for this
Opel purpose has been suc-
rescue cessfully introduced in
other countries and will
opens
work in Malaysia as well.
Pandora’s “Bangladesh has the
Box Grameen Bank which has
successfully assisted poor villagers
pg 14 and those who don’t qualify for loans
to obtain credit,” he said.
Veeraseelan said it was necessary
to come up with an effective solu-
tion fast because the problem of loan
sharks is getting out of hand.
He said the association, which has
some 1,300 members nationwide, is
willing to help the government, by
pooling its energy and resources to
come up with a workable solution.
“We must find ways to design
a credit delivery system to provide
financing services for those who
don’t meet the criteria or don’t have
collateral to qualify for a loan.
“Once we have successfully put
a system in place, it will be easy to
eliminate loan sharks,” he said.
The preferred solution, he said,
is one that benefits both consumers
(those who need cash) and licensed
lenders.
“There are many who are ‘tech-
nically’ unqualified to obtain a loan
because they might not have a steady
income or collateral.
“On the other hand, licensed
money lenders currently have a
NPL (non-performing loan)
rate of more than 20%.
“They want some sort
of guarantee or protec-
tion for their money. So
the solution has to look
into all these aspects,”
he said.
Veeraseelan said the
association’s proposals
include setting up a data-
base to match consumers
with lenders, and a commu-
nity credit system or micro-credit
institution to assist genuine cases of
those who need money to do busi-
ness, but don’t qualify for credit at
banks.
He said licensed money lenders
follow a mandatory code of ethics
and have to abide by the law at all
times, without resorting to violence.
He also said the association is
willing to assist small-time traders,
hawkers and those without fixed in-
» See also Page 11

Chinese maids, if no objection

HOME Ministry secretary-
general Datuk Mahmood
Adam says if the Chinese
community no longer objects,
the ministry will reconsider
allowing Chinese to hire
China maids to overcome
problems between some em-
ployers and their Indonesian
maids.
He said in the past, the
government had considered
allowing domestic helpers to
be brought in from China but
the community had objected,
Nanyang Siang Pau reported
yesterday.
“We had intended to open
the market to allow Chinese
employers to hire Chinese
nationals as maids but faced
objections from certain peo-
ple,” he told the daily.
Mahmood said the
ministry can make
decisions on the issue Press Digest
of China maids based by Kong See Hoh
on the request of the newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Chinese community.
“If the Chinese China maids’ salaries should
community does not object, not be very much higher
we can reconsider allow- than that of Indonesian
ing domestic helpers to be maids. The minimum could
brought in from China.” be fixed at RM1,000 a month,
A proposal by Malaysian he said.
Association of Foreign Maids “We will also make sure
Agencies president Datuk that those brought in are not
Raja Zulkepley Dahalan to too young, possibly above
bring in China maids two 30, and not too pretty. They
years ago was shot down will be professional maids of
when then Wanita MCA chief good calibre,” he said.
Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen led Meanwhile, Chinese
a chorus of objections, wor- ambassador to Malaysia Liu
rying that the move would Jian welcomes any move by
lead to families breaking up. Malaysia to consider bring-
Raja Zulkepley had said ing in maids from China.

Poll does not reflect MCA’s stand

MCA secretary-general
Datuk Wong Foon Meng
says the result of the opin-
ion poll posted on party
president Datuk Seri Ong
Tee Keat’s blog does not
represent MCA’s stand, and
the party will not pull out of
the Barisan Nasional (BN),
Nanyang Siang Pau reported
yesterday.
He said he did not know
the intention of the poll but
“what is clear and definite
is that MCA will remain in
BN”. Wong said MCA has no
agenda to quit BN, especially
during these trying times.
Instead, it will continue to
coordinate with BN to imple-
ment reforms, he said.
He said the opinion poll,
in which 75% or 1,905 of
the 2,517 respondents an-
swered “yes” to the question
whether the party should
pull out of the BN, did not
represent MCA’s stand nor
could it reflect the stand of
the public.
“They (the respondents)
are probably people who
have all along wanted MCA
to leave BN, and expressed
their opinion through the
blog.”
The opinion poll was
removed from Ong’s blog
on Friday, a day after Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Abdul Razak said it was
done for academic purposes
only and that MCA would
remain a senior member of
the coalition.