8/14/2019 TheSun 2009-11-04 Page09 Sgor Govt Urged to Reassess
Stand on Islamic Admin
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newswithout borders9theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4 2009
Fast-track skillsacquisition toaddress shortageby Himanshu
[email protected]
GEORGE TOWN: The federalgovernment is looking into fast-tracking
the acquisition of skillsto resolve a reported shortage ofskilled
workers, including electri-cal and electronics engineers inthe
country.
Science, Technology andInnovation Minister Datuk SeriMaximus
Ongkili said yesterdaythe government was facingpressure to ensure
that skillsrequired in knowledge-based,innovation-driven
industrieswere readily available.
He said that while the min-istry was keeping track of whatthese
industries required, it wasworking to train graduates and
workers in key areas in whichthere was a shortfall of
supply.Maximus said this after wit-
nessing the signing of a memo-randum of understanding for
anindustry-academia collaborationbetween Agilent Technologiesand
the Multimedia Develop-ment Corporation (MDeC) at theAgilent plant
at the Bayan LepasFree Industrial Zone.
Also present were AgilentTechnologies Malaysia and Sin-gapore
president Gooi Soon Chaiand MDEC CEO Datuk BadlishamGhazali.
The collaboration is intendedto help equip knowledge work-ers
with a practical understand-ing of industry-related work aswell as
the technical capabilityfor innovation.
More such collaborationsshould be undertaken to ena-ble
undergraduates, graduates,post-graduate research students,academic
staff and trainers tobecome accustomed to the latesttechnologies
and developments,as well as enhance their knowl-edge and experience
in industry-related work, Maximus said.
Badlisham noted that MDeChad estimated ICT-relatedindustries in
Malaysia wouldrequire 23,000 new workersannually. Some 26,000
studentshad already attended MDeC
programmes designed to equipthem with industry-related skills,he
added.
Maximus said the NationalInnovation Centre to be setup by the
federal governmentwould be equipped with a chainof centres of
excellence underthe ministrys purview.
The objective of the centreis to transform intellectual
prop-erty developed from govern-ment-funded research into
newsources of wealth to contributetowards the nations gross
do-mestic product.
by Hemananthani [email protected]
SHAH ALAM: PAS Shah Alam MP KhalidSamad urges the state
government to reas-sess its stand on issues pertaining to
Islamicadministration and enactments.
Speaking at a press conference at hisservice centre yesterday,
Khalid said thestate needs to evaluate its stand,
especiallyregarding issues of tauliah or permits todeliver
sermons.
Individuals wanting to conduct a sermonor religious lecture
currently require apermit from the Selangor Islamic
ReligiousAffairs Department (JAIS).
This permit requirement, said Khalid,reeked of politics and that
the PakatanRakyat state government should push for
reform.Khalid said he was bringing up the issuenow following the
recent arrest of formerPerlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul
Arriffin.
The former mufti was arrested by JAIS
officers on Sunday night for not having apermit to deliver his
sermons but thus far,he has not been charged.
What happened to Asri should not havehappened in a Pakatan
Rakyat-led state.Enactments that were approved by theprevious BN
government were based onrepressive philosophies and we cannot
betied down to that system of governance.
People voted for us because theywanted to see change. Whats the
point ofus being here if we continue to run thingsthe way they (BN)
did, asked Khalid.
Khalid also called on the state govern-ment to reassess
enactments surroundingother issues such as the anti-beer laws
andissues involving non-Muslims.
The MP then related his own experiencewith regard to the issuing
of permits, saying
he received a letter from the Selangor policeafter he conducted
a sermon at a mosquein Shah Alam recently.
The letter stated that he did not have apermit to conduct
sermons although he had
a temporary permit issued to him by JAIS onJuly 10, 2008 to
teach and preach.
Then I get another letter from the policein October last year
saying my temporarypermit cannot be changed to a permanentone and
my current one had to be cancelledas well because I supposedly have
a criminalrecord, said Khalid.
He said he then wrote in to the Selangorpolice, and then to
Bukit Aman, seekingclarification but they were unable to answeror
to verify if he had a criminal record.
He then said the police told him to askJAIS to write in
enquiring about his record.The puzzled MP said there was no
reasonfor JAIS to ask for his criminal records.
Why should JAIS enquire for me as itis my own criminal record,
asked Khalid,adding that he had instructed his lawyers to
issue a notice to the Bukit Aman police toprovide details on his
case.If they (Bukit Aman police) fail to re-
spond in the given time, then I will take thematter to court, he
added.
Sgor govt urged to reassess
stand on Islamic admin
KUALA LUMPUR: To become a Malaysian,one must at least go to the
same school,said former Prime Minister Tun Dr MahathirMohamad.
He said a single stream school was anideal system practised by
other countriesin the world. Well, I think that is an idealsystem
... no country in the world has got
three streams ... none ... all the countries inthe world have
got only one stream eachbased on their own language.
You can have some schools (of otherstream) but the general
education mustbe in one stream, he told reporters afterlaunching
Rhythm of the 21st Century Monologues of Raja Shahriman which
showcased the latest artworks of Malaysiascontemporary sculptor
Raja Shahriman RajaAziddin at Galeri Petronas yesterday.
However, Mahathir said in this country,you could not even talk
about it because theChinese educationists were very vehementthat
their children must be like Chinese. Bernama
To be Malaysian, we must go to the same school: Dr M
