theSun | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 4 2008
news without borders
Kua’s contract
not extended
A 10-3 vote by Dong Zong
(United Chinese School
Committees Association) Press Digest
not to extend the contract by Kong See Hoh
of Kua Kia Soong as New newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Era College principal
made headline news in the Chinese press
yesterday.
The decision, made at Dong Zong’s
extraordinary general meeting in Kajang
on Sunday, put a period to months of
bickering over the issue.
Kua will now have to leave the college
when his contract expires on Dec 31,
having failed to put in an application
when the Dong Jiao Zong Education
Centre, which runs the college, advertised
for a new principal. The closing date for
applications was Oct 31.
Dong Zong chief Dr Yap Sin Tian, who
is also the college’s senate chief, said he
would leave the matter of hiring a new
college head to the centre.
Kua, meanwhile, expressed
disappointment at Dong Zong’s decision
and said he would leave the matter to the
Chinese community – his “real boss”.
At the two-hour closed-door EGM
which attracted a record turnout, 10 state
Dong Liang Hui (components of Dong
Zong) voted against a motion by Malacca,
Negri Sembilan and Johor to extend Kua’s
contract.
Speaking to the press after the meeting,
Yap said that apart from a vote on the
motion, the state components reached a
consensus on three points, including a
decision that New Era would continue
China’s CNY exports expected to suffer
THE recent melamine-in-milk scare is expected
to exact a toll on the export of China’s Chinese
New Year goods.
Worried that many Malaysians have lost
confidence in Chinese food products, import-
ers are expected to slash imports of Chinese
New Year goods from China and are turning
elsewhere to source products.
Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Sundry Shop
Owners Association president Lim Hock Chai
said consumers had lost confidence in Chinese
goods as a result of the milk scare.
“In the past, Chinese New Year goods were
mainly sourced from mainland China, but this
year importers will buy more from manufactur-
Anwar: Economic progress possible
only with dedication, high morals
by Humayun Kabir
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
IPOH: Economic progress can be achieved only
with dedication, efficiency, accountability, a code
of ethics and high morals on the part of both civil
servants and politicians, Opposition Leader Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
The Permatang Pauh MP said civil servants
must also live up to the people’s high expecta-
tions in public services. High morals and a code
of ethics must be promoted in the work place to
reduce corruption and wastage, he said.
Anwar said although Malaysia had recently
been referred to by the World Bank as the East
Asian economic miracle, “the economic gap
between the rich and the poor between 1957
and 2008 has widened and there is a need to
narrow it”.
While Bahasa Malaysia is the official language
of the nation, importance should also be placed
on English – the international language – and
Mandarin, which is becoming the language of the
Asian economy, he said.
While the bumiputra are now the main
stakeholders in the civil service, consideration
7
to be run based on
the constitution of the
college management
and that of the centre.
He said it was also
agreed that Dong Zong
would continue to actively participate in
the management of the non-profit DJZ
Education Centre.
Apart from Dong Zong, other
stakeholders of the centre are Jiao
Zong (United Chinese School Teachers
Association), Merdeka University Berhad
and the centre’s sponsors.
Yap said he believed Dong Zong
would not be split on the college issue
and urged its three dissenting state
components to respect the decision
reached at the EGM.
Kua said what was decided at the EGM
was Dong Zong’s stand on the matter, and
that as far as he knew, Merdeka University
Berhad had taken a different stand a day
earlier.
He stressed that he had never asked to
have his contract extended.
Asked what he would do next, Kua
said: “What can I do when the boss has
written to me to say I will not be rehired?
I will have to look at the response of the
Chinese community, which is my (real)
boss.”
He said he was willing to serve as New
Era head but would not apply for the job.
“This is my stand,” he said, adding that
he had taken up the position when it was
offered to him by Yap’s predecessors in
Dong Zong.
ers in Hongkong, Macau and Thailand.
“We also expect more stringent inspection
of imports from China this year, causing delays
at customs,” he said.
A spokesman for the Malaysian Association
of Sundry Goods Importers and Wholesalers
concurred with Lim that sales of Chinese New
Year goods from China would be affected.
However, he said, food products found
to be contaminated were mostly distributed
in China and were cheap and sub-standard
products.
He said China is strict with its food exports
and consumers should not unduly worry about
the safety of food products from the country.
should also be given to others who may have the
expertise to excel in areas that would benefit the
nation, he said in an address entitled “Executive
Talk” to some 2,000 state civil servants at the
State Secretariat here yesterday.
Anwar urged the five Pakatan Rakyat state
governments of Perak, Penang, Kedah, Selangor
and Kelantan to work with confidence in their
administration and fulfil their election promises
to retain the people’s support.
At a press conference later, he said the ap-
pointment of Low Siew Moi as Selangor State
Development Corporation (PKNS) acting general
manager should not be made a racial issue.
On former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid
Ibrahim’s statement that the “concept of Malay
supremacy has failed”, Anwar said: “By Malay
supremacy, we enrich a few, I do not believe in
that. I believe that the Malays and bumiputra
have a place here and cannot be marginalised,
and we should do everything possible to help the
Malays together with the Chinese and Indians.”
“Enriching a few Malay billionaires while leav-
ing the majority of Malays living in deplorable
conditions is just unacceptable. In that sense,
Zaid’s views must be carefully studied.”