Hopeful of a rebound

THE state MCA has not given up despite losing all state seats in Penang during the last general election, said its Wanita chief Tan Cheng Liang.

“It must be remembered that in 1990, we lost most of the seats but in the following election, the people voted us back to power.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently came up with the 1Malaysia concept to build a nation with all races united,” she said in her speech during the Majlis Makan Malam Bulan Tanlung held at a restaurant in Chai Leng Park on Friday.

Tan, who is also Nibong Tebal MCA chief and Barisan Nasional co-ordinator for Jawi, said the party did have its own problems but the members have to be strong and united to overcome them.

She also urged veteran members to disseminate the right information to the voters as they (voters) have regretted voting Barisan out of Penang.

About 60 members of the Wanita Veteran Bureau attended the dinner held in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn festival celebrations.

Also present were event organising chairman Kuan Choy Chun Kun, Bagan MCA Wanita chief Teh Lay Cheng and Bagan MCA division vice chairman Sum Yoo Keong.

The Star. Metro Norh Oct 5,2010

1Bagan Mobile service team's first community service

WHEN the 1Bagan Mobile service team conducted its first community service, they only expected a handful of people to turn up at the Tow Boo Kong Temple in Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth.

But they were proven wrong when more than 125 people thronged the temple premises to take advantage of the free medical checkup, which included sugar level and blood pressure screening, from 8.30am till noon on Sunday.

Bagan MCA Youth chief David Chua said eight volunteers from the Segi Nursing College on the island conducted the medical check-up with help from Sungai Dua government health clinic representatives.

"The state Welfare Department also sent a six-member team to register the poor for welfare aid. More than 20 people registered for welfare aid on that day."

"At the same time, the Election Commission also set up at booth and managed to register about 100 new voters." he said in a press statement on Monday.

Chua, who is also Bagan parliamentary Barisan Nasional(BN) co-ordinator, said MCA members from the Bagan division turned up in full force to help.

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The Star.Metro 09.09.2010

State should refer to BN constituency coordinators

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SEBERANG PERAI (Aug 29, 2010): Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives appointed by the Prime Minister’s Department as “constituency coordinators” in areas won by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the last general election insist they are legitimate federal officers whom the state should refer to when applying for federal funding.

MCA Bagan division youth chief David Chua, who is the coordinator for the Bagan constituency, where the MP is Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, said the state’s two municipal councils would benefit by referring their applications to the coordinators who are in a position to evaluate the needs of the people in the area.

He explained that the coordinators were officers on the ground to represent the State Development Officer (SDO) who is appointed by the Prime Minister’s Department to oversee federal allocations in Penang.

“These are federal funds the councils are asking for. So the applications would have to go through federal officers,” he said.

Chua said when announcing the BN’s 1Bagan Community Service Team recently. Also present was state MIC chairman Datuk P.K. Subbaiyah, who is the Bagan Dalam state constituency coordinator.

On Aug 19, Penang executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow, who is also the state DAP chairman, had revealed that the SDO had told the two councils at a meeting on Aug 4 to get the agreement from the BN coordinators before applying for funding for next year.

The state government has since asked for the directive to be made in writing and for a copy of the meeting’s minutes.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, later told reporters the councils were merely asked to discuss the use of the funds with the coordinators.

Although the Penang island and Seberang Perai municipal councils (MPPP and MPSP) had in the past applied for their allocations to the Housing and Local Government Ministry, this was changed after the last general election when PR won the state. The councils were then required to apply through the SDO instead.

Calling SDO Nik Ali Mat Yunos his "boss", Chua took the PR state government to task for its barrage of criticisms against him. -- theSun

The Sun: 29 Aug,2010
By Himanshu Bhatt

MCA division sets up service team to help needy folk

COME tomorrow(28 August), the Bagan MCA division in Penang will launch the 1Bagan Community Service Team aimed at helping the people.

Bagan MCA division Youth chief David Chua said the team would be going around their divisions to register new voters and provide assistance to single mothers, the handicapped, poor and needy.

“Representatives from the Federal Government together with the state Welfare Department, state Health Department and Election Commission will be present at the launching.

“It will be held at the Tow Boo Kong Temple on Jalan Raja Uda from 8.30am,” he told a press conference at the Bagan MCA division headquarters on Jalan Kampung Benggali.

“Even though Barisan Nasional lost some of the seats in the last general election, we are still committed to helping the folk,” he said.

Also present were state MIC liaison committee chairman Datuk P.K. Subbaiyah, Bagan MCA Wanita chief Teh Lay Cheng and Bagan MCA division vice-chairman Sum Yoo Keong.

Chua, who is also the Barisan Nasional parliamentary co-ordinator, said the service team would go around the Bagan constituency looking for people to help.

Subbaiyah praised the people’s outreach programme to be carried out by the Bagan MCA.

■ Bagan BN 1Malaysia mobile service project committee members (seated from left) State MIC Chairman Datuk PK Subbaiyah, Bagan BN Parlimentary Co-ordinator David Chua, Bagan MCA Vice-chairman Sum Yoo Keong and Bagan Jermal Constituency Co-ordinator Teh Lay Cheng discussing during the meeting as other committee members looks on at Bagan MCA office in Butterworth yesterday.

Saturday August 28, 2010 . The Star

Butterworth : Aid for 23 needy people

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A TOTAL of 23 poor people in Butterworth, including the disabled, received RM300 aid each from the Federal Government through the Social Welfare Department.

They will receive the amount every month till January next year.

The money was presented to them by Bagan Barisan Nasional coordinator David Chua, Sungai Puyu Barisan coordinator Sum Yoo Keong and Bagan Jermal Barisan coordinator Maggie Teh Lay Cheng.

Sum said the Bagan MCA applied for the funds after it was approached by the poor people.

Help for the disabled: Sum (blue shirt) handing over a cheque to Chuah Seng Guan (third left) during a cheque presentation at the Bagan MCA service centre in Butterworth. With them are Chua (right) and Teh (left).

“We have so far managed to obtain cash aid for 271 people which include single mothers, senior citizens and also the disabled,” he said after the presentation ceremony at the Bagan MCA service centre in Butterworth recently.

He said the 271 people, including the 23 recipients, would receive a total of RM429,000 ranging from RM135 to RM450 per person depending on their financial background.

Chua said the aid given to the needy showed that the Federal Government was committed towards helping the poor irrespective of race or religion.

“Claims by the state government that they had eradicated hardcore poverty in Penang is not true because thousands of people are still receiving financial aid from the Federal Government,” he said.

Teh urged single mothers, who are going through hard times, to approach her for help.

A recipient, Tan Seng Hock, 62, said he was grateful to the MCA for its assistance in securing the cash aid for him.

from: The Star. Metro North 10.08.2010
By M. SIVANANTHA SHARMA

Yen Yen: Use enactment against illegal operators along Batu Ferringhi

THE Tourism Ministry has asked the Penang Government to use the Personal Watercraft (Penang) Enactment 1999 against unlicensed traders and beach activity operators.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen urged the state authority to use the enactment effectively by granting the permit for the use of personal watercraft only to those who were eligible.

“Come out with guidelines for these operators to comply with, for instance, a well-trained instructor and security measures, before granting them the permit.

“The state government also has the power to arrest, search and seize any illegal beach activity as it is an offence for those who contravene any provision of this enactment,” she told a press conference at the Penang International Airport yesterday.

■ Firm action: Dr Ng showing Penang hotel representatives the Personal Watercraft (Penang) Enactment 1999 yesterday.

Dr Ng said the issuance of water sport activity permit came under the purview of the state government as the Tourism Ministry was only responsible for issuing licences for tour operators, tourist guides and tour buses.

“Tourism is a very fragile industry so I am pleading to the state authority to take immediate action and place enforcement officers along the beach to monitor the situation,” she said.

She said the Penang police would hold a meeting with all agencies involved today to study a long term solution against beach touts.

Dr Ng was commenting on reports of unruly beach touts who allegedly endangered hotel guests’ safety and harassed them to take up the beach activities.

“We have a total of 5.4 million tourists visiting Penang in 2009 and of those, 1.2 million of them visited Batu Ferringhi.

“Among them, 600,000 tourists visited the Batu Ferringhi beach, so this is a very serious matter,” she said.

About 70 unlicensed operators offered beach-related activities — buggy rides, horse riding, para-sailing and water scootering — along the 3km-long stretch (behind Golden Sands Resort and Parkroyal Penang) to both local and foreign tourists.

Penang police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob, who was also present at the press conference, said police would be monitoring the area on a daily basis to make sure there were no unlicensed traders and beach activity operators along the beach.

When contacted, state Local Government and Traffic Manage-ment Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) had to demarcate the zone first for beach operators to run their business before using the enactment.

“We don’t want to go after them because they are there to make a living. It was an attitude issue when they started harassing and intimidating the hotel guests,” said Chow.

A joint operation by state and federal agencies, codenamed Ops Sepadu, will be taking place today to put a stop to the illegal activities which have been marring the image of the famous stretch for decades.

The operation will be led by the police and targeted to clear the stretch of DVD and counterfeit goods stalls, unlicensed entertainment and eatery joints as well as unauthorised water sport activities.

Among the agencies involved in the operation are MPPP, Customs Department, Immigration Depart-ment, Anti Drug Agency and Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry.

MCA: Resolve ‘Allah’ issue fast

PETALING JAYA: Christian groups want the issue over the use of the word Allah in Christian publications to be resolved as soon as possible, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

“The MCA presidential council held a dialogue with the Christian Federation of Malaysia last week and the non-governmental organisation felt there was a need for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible,” said Dr Chua in a press statement.

He clarified that the MCA did not share the same stand with the DAP on the call to lift the ban on the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims.

Dr Chua explained that the MCA was only voicing out the wish of the NGO because the issue had not been resolved since it was brought up last year.

“We are not making the same stand as DAP. We only want the Barisan Nasional government to resolve the issue as soon as possible so that it will not be exploited further by the Opposition,” said Dr Chua.

The MCA president was responding to a statement yesterday by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said he did not understand why the MCA, as a component party of the Barisan, had joined the stand taken by DAP in calling for the ban on the use of the word Allah to be lifted.

“The (Barisan) component parties agreed it (the issue over the use of the word Allah) should not be debated any more, as it will heat up matters that have since cooled down.

“It is best not to start the issue again. Consider the interest of the public and not the interest of any specific group, be it a political or administrative group,” the Deputy Prime Minister told a press conference after chairing the Cabinet Committee on Youth Development meeting here yesterday.

He was commenting on calls by several parties that Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein lift the ban on the use of the word Allah in Christian publications.

Muhyiddin said it was best that all parties leave it to the courts to decide.

The Star - Wednesday August 4, 2010