China Says It Needs No Internet Lessons From U.S

BEIJING, Jan 24 (Reuters) - China needs no lessons about its Internet from the United States, the head of an online media association said through official media on Saturday after the United States rapped Beijing over information freedom.

A speech by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday showed a lack of respect for China, which cannot accept conditions on matters of "national security" or "social stability", said Beijing Association of Online Media Chairman Min Dahong.

The Internet has joined trade imbalances, currency values, U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and tensions over human rights and Tibet among the quarrels straining ties between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies.

"How China's Internet develops and how it is managed are Chinese people's own affairs," Min said in an interview with state-run Xinhuanet.com.

"On the Internet question, China doesn't need any lessons from the United States on what to do or how," he said.

Clinton's speech criticised the cyber policies of China and Iran, among others, and demanded Beijing investigate complaints by Google Inc about hacking and censorship.

Google, the world's top search engine, said it may shut its Chinese-language google.cn website and offices in China after a cyber-attack originating from China that also targeted other firms and human rights campaigners using its Gmail service.

Websites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked in China, which uses a filtering "firewall" to prevent Internet users from seeing international web sites with content China's Communist Party opposes.

"Hillary's speech on Jan. 21 insinuating that China lacks freedom of information and speech is in fact disrespectful and doesn't stand up," Min said.

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Malaysia has healthy birth rate, says lecturer

(The Star)
Friday January 22, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 516,645 babies were born in Malaysia last year, an increase of 3.9% or 20,231 from 2008.

Selangor continued to record the highest birth rate with 80,110 babies, followed by Sabah (60,190) and Johor (58,597), according to the National Registration De­part­ment.

In 2008, Selangor was ahead with 76,932 births, Johor 58,517 and Sabah 51,773.

A total of 129,922 deaths were reported last year compared with 123,335 in 2008, an increase of 5% or 6,587.

Selangor also recorded the highest number of deaths at 16,494, followed by Johor (15,749) and Perak (15,467).

According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysia’s population in 2007 was 27.17 million. It increased to 27.73 million in 2008 and is believed to have reached 28.31 million last year.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Marshitah Mohd Radzi said Malaysia had been having a healthy birth rate for the past 10 years.

She said that based on the National Population Policy of 1985, the population is expected to grow to 70 million people by 2100. — Bernama

Jumlah penduduk Malaysia kini menghampiri 30 juta orang

(Utusan Online 22/1/2010)
KAJANG 21 Jan. - Jumlah penduduk Malaysia dijangka mencecah 28.9 juta orang pada tahun ini berdasarkan kadar pertumbuhan kira-kira 2.1 peratus pada setiap tahun.

Ketua Perangkawan Jabatan Perangkaan, Datuk Wan Ramlah Wan Abd. Raof berkata, jumlah penduduk tahun lalu meningkat 1.54 peratus iaitu daripada 27.7 juta pada tahun 2008 kepada 28.2 juta orang.

''Orang Melayu kekal dengan kaum paling banyak iaitu 66.7 peratus diikuti Cina 24.6 peratus dan India 7.4 peratus,'' katanya pada sidang akhbar selepas merasmikan Pejabat Operasi Jabatan Perangkaan Negeri Selangor di Wisma Wan Asia di sini hari ini.

Pada masa sama, katanya, kaum lain iaitu bumiputera Sabah dan Sarawak adalah sebanyak 1.3 peratus.

''Selangor kekal dengan jumlah penduduk paling ramai di negara ini iaitu 5.2 juta orang diikuti Johor seramai 3.4 juta orang dan Sabah sebanyak 3.2 juta orang pada tahun lalu," katanya.

Turut hadir pada majlis itu ialah Timbalan Ketua Perangkawan (Program Sosial/ Demografi), Ismail Yusoff; Timbalan Ketua Perangkawan (Program Ekonomi), Dr. Abdul Rahman Hasan dan Pengarah Jabatan Perangkaan Selangor, Ibrahim Jantan.

Menurut Wan Ramlah, kadar pertumbuhan 2.1 peratus pada setiap tahun adalah sihat dan bukan satu keadaan yang mendadak.

Dalam pada itu, beliau memberitahu, jabatan berkenaan kini mempunyai 10 pejabat operasi di seluruh negara termasuk di Kajang.

''Tujuan pejabat operasi ini ialah mempercepat dan memudahkan penyeliaan serta mengurangkan kos operasi penyiasatan," katanya.

Mengulas bajet jabatan itu yang dikurangkan 30 peratus tahun ini, katanya, ia akan memastikan langkah penjimatan dilakukan dengan berkesan supaya perbelanjaan digunakan secara berhemah.

Beliau berkata, pihaknya akan menggunakan teknologi terkini seperti e-survey dan e-mel bagi membantu penjimatan perbelanjaan jabatan tersebut.

Usage of word not an issue, says Anwar

The Star
Monday January 18, 2010

KUANTAN: The usage of the word “Allah” by Christians to refer to “God” should be allowed, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said that the word had been used about 1,000 years ago by the Christians and this was not an issue.

“Our stand is similar to PAS that the word can be used by non-Muslims, but it should not be abused. The issue to address now is whether it may be abused and not its actual usage per se by those of the Christian faith,” he told reporters after opening the state PKR convention in Tan Jung Restaurant here yesterday.

MIC Youth: Register missing foreign workers

The Star
Monday January 18, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC Youth has asked the Government to come out with a clemency programme to register the missing foreigners working illegally in the country.

Youth chief T. Mohan said the Government could legalise them and allow them to be employed by local companies in need of workers.

“It would be pointless to deport them. We should think of ways to get them to come out, register and be legal workers in the country,” he said yesterday.

He said these illegal workers would not take up the offer if they were required to pay a hefty fine or leave the country.

“We feel a minimal fine and a condition to allow them to work legally in Malaysia for a three-year term would be an attractive incentive,” he said.

Mohan said the Government would also benefit from the levy imposed on the workers.

He was commenting on reports that there were nearly 40,000 Indian citizens missing in Malaysia after their tourist visas expired.

Mohan urged the Government to set up a special committee to identify the reasons for the high number of missing foreigners in the country and recommend appropriate measures to prevent a recurrence.

Nearly 40,000 Indian Nationals "Missing" In Malaysia - Najib

January 12, 2010 16:08 PM

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- A total of 39,046 Indian citizens are "missing" in Malaysia after their tourist visas expired and it is a worrying issue for the country, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The prime minister said they had gone missing from the Immigration Department's records, according to an estimate drawn up in June last year.

That was why the department was not keen on visa-on-arrival for Indians as the facility had been abused, especially by those from Chennai, he said.

"These people who came to Malaysia through the visa-on-arrival facility, could be back in India or be among people here...(maybe) working in the Indian restaurants.

"We just don't know where these people are now...probably still in Malaysia for economic reasons," he said in a interview with visiting Indian journalists at his office here Monday.

Najib indicated that he might take up the issue during his three-day official visit to India, beginning Jan 19.

The prime minister said Malaysia had been quite liberal in allowing priests and barbers from India to come and work in the country.

"We would like the Indian people to visit Malaysia as tourists. We have been quiet liberal. We want genuine ones. They are most welcome.

"We are willing to consider reintroducing the visa scheme for people coming from cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi but not from Chennai. The problem of overstaying is only from Chennai, he said.

Asked whether the government would hold any dialogue with the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), Najib said many people had realised that the group had "really exaggerated and manipulated the whole situation" of the ethnic Indian minority.

He said that most Indians in the country wanted the government to be sensitive to their needs and the government had been responsive.

"We have attended to a lot of the Indian problems and I don't see that Hindraf has been an important force in Malaysian politics," he said.

Asked on the move by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to appoint a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Najib said any follow-up action would be possible only if India and Pakistan were agreeable.

"Malaysia feels that the issue should be settled through peaceful negotiations," he added.

-- BERNAMA

Record number of students in Chinese schools ( The Star)

Monday January 4, 2010
Compiled by ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN, LEE YUK PENG and A. RAMAN

THE number of students studying in the 61 Chinese independent schools throughout the country has reached unprecedented numbers.

Sin Chew Daily reported that 2,635 applications had to be turned down, even with student enrolment increased by 1,077.

Last year, student enrolment totalled 60,481. In 2008, the number was 58,212.

In Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the Chinese independent schools resorted to only taking in “good students” due to their limited capacity.

Chung Hwa Independent School and Kuen Cheng Girls’ High School each turned down 400 students while Confucius Independent School had to reject 100 applications.

The daily reported that parents preferred to send their children to such schools although the fees were no longer cheap.

Their decision, the daily said, showed that parents had acknowledged the teaching system adopted by such schools.

Feedback from parents showed that they opted for Chinese independent schools due to the good discipline, dedicated teaching staff, the double system of sitting for SPM and the United Examination Cer­tificate (equivalent to SPM) and the recognition of United Examination Certificate by foreign universities.

The daily also reported that the Penang education department had adopted a new system which allowed Year 6 pupils to choose their own secondary school.

It also consented to vernacular secondary schools increasing their number of Form 1 and Remove classes.

These two measures had directly affected the student intake of Chinese independent schools in the state, it said.

Except for Jit Shin High School which maintained the size of its new students intake, three other Chinese independent schools in the state recorded a drop of 67 students.

Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a sub-heading, it denotes a separate news item.