08 NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS theSun ON THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

PRESS DIGEST Road safety education in secondary schools Rejected because of next year PUTRAJAYA: Road safety education will be made a curriculum in secondary schools beginning next year after it was introduced in primary schools since 2007, said Transport Minister Datuk mixed parentage Seri Kong Cho Ha. He said this was part of the govern- > She fails to get job despite application for a scholarship to further her studies, ment effort to educate the people to she could work here to gain some practical be more courteous on the road and at holding master’s degree knowledge. I told them my daughter would not the same time reduce the number of in forensic science mind even if she doesn’t get paid, but they still road accidents.

SIN CHEW PIX would not take her.” In April 2007, the Road Safety De- BY KONG SEE HOH Dian said despite her further explanation, the partment (RSD), in collaboration with [email protected] hospital authorities rejected Arniza, citing the Education Ministry, had introduced security reasons. road safety education which was ab- A MALAYSIAN who obtained a master’s degree in “I don’t know what security reasons they were sorbed into the Bahasa Melayu subject, forensic science from an Australian university talking about as they rejected my daughter beginning with 1,000 selected primary was twice rejected in her applications for without further explanation.” schools. – Bernama government jobs, Nanyang Siang Pau reported She said a friend who works in the police force yesterday. had advised her to “forget about it”. The reason, according to the mother of Arniza “I have written to (prime minister’s wife) Datin Khairani Mohd Jamil, 24, was because she is of Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor’s secretary, Deputy Loan shark harasses mixed parentage and her mother a Chinese. Prime Minister Tan Sri , family over RM344,000 Dian Lai Abdullah told a press conference that Women, Family and Community Development ALOR STAR: A man thought he was her daughter, a University of Western Sydney Minister Datuk Seri as well doing his two colleagues a favour by graduate, recently looked for a job at the Kuala as Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin,” Dian standing guarantor for a RM344,000 loan Lumpur Hospital and was told that she would not said, adding that she has yet to get a reply. which they obtained from a loan shark be accepted unless her mother dies or divorces Arniza said she intended to read for a doctorate last year. The colleagues displayed their her Malay father. and had approached the police academy and ‘gratitude’ by not only failing to service Her job application with the Perlis Police hospital for work while awaiting her applications the loan, but also by disappearing, leav- Academy in February was equally frustrating. The for a scholarship as well as admission for the PhD ing the good samaritan in the lurch. officers told her they could not hire her as her programme. Early this month, the guarantor’s mother is a Chinese, said the report. “I was accepted by Queensland University of family residing in Taman Saga Phase II, Accompanied by Dian, Arniza sought the help Arniza shows her MyKad Technology but missed the enrolment on Sept 14 had a taste of the loan shark’s wrath. of Federal Territory MCA liaison committee last during the press conference. because I failed to get a government scholarship.” Thugs despatched by the loan shark Wednesday. Dian related her daughter’s She said the university has agreed to allow her began terrorising the family. Yesterday, encounters at a press conference held by the to join the programme at its next intake but she they hurled stones at the house, shat- committee on Tuesday. her father,” said Dian. must come up with about A$200,000 tering a mirror on its main door and the Dian alleged that the officers at the police “I was very angry, they did not even look at her (RM640,000) needed for the course. windscreen of a car in the porch. academy told her daughter, “we don’t take, you certificates. They only looked at her mother’s skin Federal Territory 1Malaysia MCA Task Force The guarantor’s father, who wished are a Chinese”. colour. deputy chief Frankie Gan Joon Zin said he would to be known only as Lau, said yesterday “The (officers at the Kuala Lumpur) hospital “I explained to them my daughter is a write to the police academy and hospital with although RM164,000 was paid to the also told Arniza it would not accept Chinese. It bumiputra of Malay-Chinese parentage, and was copies of the letters addressed to the prime loan shark, the latter insisted they pay would not consider accepting her unless I divorce hoping that while waiting for the result of her minister and MCA chief. the entire loan. – Bernama IIUM teaching hospital is fi rst under the PFI programme BY AZRIL ANNUAR “The PFI mechanism can optimise the [email protected] government’s resources as we can use the bulk of our money for other purposes. We can also PUTRAJAYA: The International Islamic mitigate the risk factor because the private University ’s (IIUM) teaching sector will be taking the bulk of the risk. hospital in Kuantan will be the first to be “Under this scheme we can nullify the funded and built under the government’s possibility of abandoned construction private financing initiative (PFI) programme. projects,” he added. The project will be developed by Ahmad Construction is expected to commence in Zaki Resources Berhad’s (AZRB) wholly- January and the hospital is expected to be owned subsidiary Peninsular Medical Sdn Bhd completed in June 2015. The teaching hospital (PenMedic) and is expected to cost around will feature various medical disciplines RM 412.62 million. including surgical and medical sub-specialties IIUM and AZRB signed the concession such as internal medicine, surgery, oncology, agreement yesterday, witnessed by Minister in cardiology, neuroscience, obstetrics, Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor gynaecology, paediatrics, among others. Mohamed Yakcop and Higher Education It will also serve as the primary clinical and Minister Datuk Seri . tertiary facility for IIUM’s medical faculty. “This marks a new landmark in our The government also plans to initialise initiative. For the first time we are developing another 12 public institutions of higher a hospital through PFI,” said Nor Mohamed. learning under the PFI module. Aspiring doctor’s dreams shattered BY PAULINE WONG cheapest option she could. [email protected] “I’ve always dreamt of being a doctor. I applied to study medicine in local universities KUALA LUMPUR: An aspiring doctor found but was denied a place. Despite achieving 3A’s herself in debt with loan sharks after enrolling for my STPM, all I was offered was computer at an unrecognised medical university in science course in Langkawi,” she said. Romania, and is now in desperate need for “So, when an agent told me that I could money. study medicine in Romania for less than M.S. Syamala, 28, had borrowed RM20,000 RM150,000 in total, I took the chance, thinking from loan sharks at 10% interest a month to I could still return to Malaysia and work after I study medicine at the University of Medicine pass the Medical Qualifying Exam (MQE),” Pharmacy of GRT Popa, Romania, after she she told a press conference at the Human failed to secure a government loan. Rights Party (HRP) headquarters here. “I had applied for many scholarships and She went to Romania in 2006, and for the loans but I was rejected as the university I next five years, put herself through her studies chose was unrecognised,” she said, adding that by working in Britain during her summer the university she chose was the cheapest holidays as a cleaner and at fast-food chains so available option to her at that time. that she could pay her yearly fees. Her father had died when she was eight, She is pleading for assistance to complete and her mother struggled to make ends meet her studies and pay off her debts. on a meagre salary. HRP education bureau head G. Ganesan However, she said she did not try to apply said a letter highlighting Syamala’s troubles for a loan to study at a recognised university, has been sent to the Higher Education because she only thought of choosing the Ministry as well as the Prime Minister’s Office.