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Vietnam jails five for trafficking women to Malaysia
HANOI: A court in communist Vietnam
has jailed five people up to 17 years
for trafficking women to Malaysia and
forcing them to work as prostitutes, a
court official and media reports said
yesterday.
The gang had sent 18 women from
Vietnam’s poor southern Mekong
delta region to Malaysia over the past
three years before the ring leaders
English improves in PMR results
PUTRAJAYA: The Penilaian Menengah
Rendah (PMR) results are better than last
year’s with English showing the highest
increase of 3.6% in passes.
A total of 26,378 students or 5.96% of PMR
candidates scored grade A in all subjects
they sat for compared with 5.65% last year
and 4.83% in 2006.
Education director-general Datuk
Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the PMR results
this year was better than last year in terms
of the number of candidates getting grade A
to E in the subjects they had taken.
“The results in all subjects, except for
Geography and Arabic Communication, are
better than last year with English achieving
the highest increase,” he said when
announcing the results here yesterday.
He said the disparity in the performance
between urban and rural candidates had
also narrowed, especially in Bahasa Melayu,
English, Mathematics and Science.
The number of rural students who
obtained grade A in Mathematics increased
by 2.7% compared with urban students
(2.1%) while in Science, rural students who
obtained grade A went up by 0.3% and the
performance of urban students dropped by
0.3%.
“The reduced disparity shows that the
second thrust of the Education Strategic
Planning in the Education Development
Masterplan, that is to bridge the performance
gap between urban and rural students, has
met its objectives,” he said.
On the number of candidates who failed
to achieve the minimum standard by scoring
at least grade D in all subjects, he said the
figure had reduced from 63.53% last year to
62.93% this year.
On the number of students who
scored grade E in all subjects, he said
they accounted for 440 candidates (0.1%)
were arrested in January, said a Can
Tho court official who declined to be
named.
Hua Thi Thuy Trang, 35 – identified
in media reports as a former prosti-
tute who had worked in Cambodia,
Malaysia and Singapore – was jailed
17 years, while her four accomplices
received terms of five to 12 years, the
official said.
compared with 559 candidates (0.13%) in
2007 and 524 (0.13%) in 2006.
“The majority of the candidates achieved
better than grade C in 12 subjects and this
is commendable,” he said.
Alimuddin said it was encouraging to
notice that the number of students who
had answered Science and Mathematics
The Thanh Nien daily reported that men per night each without payment,
the gang lured the women to Malaysia the report said, adding that while
with promises of waitressing jobs, pay- those who resisted were beaten and
ing their families US$800 (RM2,800) starved.
each while forcing the women to sign Thousands of Vietnamese women
promises to pay the group US$4,400 are believed to be trafficked every
(RM15,840) each. year, especially to neighbouring China
Once in Malaysia, the women were and Cambodia, lured with promises
closely guarded during the day and of jobs but then forced to work as
forced to have sex with about seven prostitutes or to marry.
papers in English had increased this year
compared to last year.
He said 51.2% of the candidates
answered Science papers in English this
year compared with 21.5% last year, and
26.9% tackled Mathematics questions in
English compared with 4.6% last year.
– Bernama
briefs
Countdown to 2009
in Penang
GEORGE TOWN: Penangites have several places
in the state to usher in 2009 tonight.
The Hotlink-Jiayu Countdown Party concert
is at Queensbay Mall. Hongkong artiste Bosco
Wong is performing along with other local acts
such as Andrew Tan, Danny One, Orange Tan,
Dayang, Farah Asykin and Mary Go Round, from
6pm onwards.
From 7pm at the Esplanade is the state-level
countdown celebration featuring dance perform-
ances, big bike shows and fireworks displays.
On the mainland, there is the New Year
Countdown Feista 2009 in Juru Auto-City, featur-
ing performances by Champion Superstars John,
Henley and Kay, Hongkong artiste Ron Ng, local
talent Mahadhir and others.
RapidKL services for
revellers
PETALING JAYA: Rangkaian Pengangkutan In-
tegrasi Deras Sdn Bhd (RapidKL) is extending
its bus and LRT services to as late as 2.30am
tomorrow for New Year eve revellers in the
Klang Valley.
RapidKL general manager (communica-
tion) Ebi Azly Abdullah said in a statement
passengers are advised to buy return tickets
when using the LRT service to minimise incon-
| WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31 2008
Between 2005 and 2007, Vietnam-
ese police detected 900 trafficking
cases involving 2,200 victims, state
media have said.
The true extent of the trafficking
is unknown and police suspect many
of the more than 20,000 Vietnamese
women and children who have gone
missing since 1975 were victims of
trafficking. – AFP
RTM
launches
disaster unit
KUALA LUMPUR: Radio
Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) yes-
terday launched a Disaster Unit
to channel the latest reports
on disasters to TV and radio
stations.
The unit would disseminate
information on the weather,
earthquakes, landslides, floods,
storms, river levels, sea condi-
A group of tions and other disasters.
students Information Minister Datuk
from Ahmad Shabery Cheek said it
SMK King would also issue brief safety
George V in guides. – Bernama
Seremban,
who scored
8As, holding
up their
result slips
yesterday
Still in
talks with
pirates
KUALA LUMPUR: The owners
of Masindra 7, a Port Klang
registered vessel which was
seized by pirates in Somali
waters on Dec 16, are still in
talks with the captors over the
release of the vessel and its 11
crew members.
National Security Council
secretary Datuk Muhamad
Hatta Abdul Aziz said yester-
day the government was not
involved in the negotiations
which were being done by the
vessel’s owners.
“They will deal with the
pirates directly,” he said. – Ber-
nama
venience as stations such as Kuala Lumpur
City Centre (KLCC), Pasar Seni, Masjid Jamek
and Hang Tuah would be very busy.
For further information, contact RapidKL
helpline at 03-76256999 or visit its website at
www.rapidkl.com.my.
KTM Komuter also extending
operating hours
PETALING JAYA: KTM Berhad is extending its
KTM Komuter operating hours for the New Year
celebrations.
Additional trains will be operating after normal
hours to cater for the Sentul-Port Klang-Sentul
and Seremban-Rawang-Seremban routes.
KTM is also adding seven trains to operate
from KL Sentral and the KL Railway Station to
Rawang, Seremban, Port Klang and Sentul after
normal hours.
However, there will be no additional trains for
the Rawang-Kuala Kubu Baru sector.
The last train leaves Seremban for Rawang
on Jan 1 at 12.15am, Rawang to Seremban at
12.45am, Sentul to Port Klang at 12.25am, Port
Klang to Sentul at 11.55pm (Dec 31), KL Sentral to
Rawang at 2.02am, KL Railway Station to Serem-
ban at 1.54am, KL Railway Station to Port Klang at
2.06am and KL Sentral to Sentul at 2.02am.
Passengers are advised to buy return tickets to
avoid congestion at the ticket machines.
For more information, call 03-22671200.