www.ipohecho.com.my IPOH Your Community Newspaper echoechoServing the people of Ipoh, Chemor, Sg.Siput,Taiping, Kuala Kangsar, Gopeng, Kampar, Batu Gajah, Air Tawar, Sitiawan, Lumut and Teluk Intan. FREE for collection from our office and selected outlets, on 1st & 16th of the month. ISSUE PP 14252/10/2008(007226) June 1 - 15, 2008 30 sen for delivery to your house by news vendors within Perak. 51 RM 1 prepaid postage for mailing within Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. The causes . What’s to be done PERAK’S RICE CRISIS Ipoh Echo’s editor, Fathol Zaman Bukhari, explores the issue on page 3 Photograph by Rosli Mansor 2 IPOH ECHO June 1 - 15, 2008 Your Community Newspaper Snatch theft series, part 3 By Nisha Devina Roy Pictures by Rosli Mansor 5,820 sf RM505,500 WE WARNED OF THE DANGERS. WE EVEN PINPOINTED IPOH’S LATEST PERILOUS ‘SNATCH ALLEY’ LOCATION NOW, JUST ONE STREET AWAY FROM JLN SEENIVASAGAM, A WOMAN HAS NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH IN ANOTHER SHOCKING SNATCH THEFT ATTACK. It was 11.30 am when his left and, with what was down Jln Leong Sin Nam, Passers-by rushed there was another one – not the 38 year-old woman obviously a well exercised dragging the plucky wom- to her aid. Admitted as dramatic, perhaps, but parked her car near the manoeuvre, secured a firm an with them as horrified first to hospital in Ipoh, in reality appalling just the junction of Jln Leong grip on her handbag. motorists and pedestrians doctors there advised she same. Sin Nam and Jln Rajah Instantly, the well looked on helplessly. be transferred to Kuala Forums, discussions Ekram and prepared to practiced rider acceler- Lumpur for more special- and meetings have long walk a few short steps to ated away. The resulting CRUELLY GOUGED ist attention. Thankfully, been held around Ipoh to the coffee shop located vicious impact hurled the having narrowly cheated address the issue of snatch right on that corner. woman several metres Twenty metres . death, the woman will theft. One such gathering Having read recent through the air and thirty metres . forty fully recover. But she took place on Thursday, stories on bag snatching brought her crashing to metres . still the woman will never forget that April 13, 2006, under the published by the Echo, the the roadway on her back. maintained her hold on lunchtime attack. ambitious title: ‘Public/ woman realised she was Had she tumbled as she the handbag. By this time, Private Sector Co-operation but a street away from Jln flew she might well have though, the rear of her THEY WON’T to Prevent Snatch Theft’. Seenivasagam, the latest landed on her head. Her clothing had been ripped FORGET During proceedings, dangerous “snatch alley” story, terrifying as it is, away and the skin on her participants were asked to identified by this paper. could then have been truly back cruelly gouged by the As far as shopkeepers propose possible methods Instinctively, she held tragic. road surface. Fifty metres . along Jln Leong Sin for preventing such crimes. tightly onto her handbag as The victim, an office . sixty metres . .now the Nam are concerned, they Suggestions were duly noted she made her way carefully worker, realising she pain of her injured back won’t forget it either. and submitted to relevant around the front of her had her passport, some was becoming too much They will always recall authorities for action. vehicle. important personal papers to bare. Crying out in the utter indifference to The result? There has been no result. No meaningful action was undertaken by anybody. The Ipoh Echo feels there is both an obligation and responsibility to disseminate information on crime prevention topics. What has been recognised during these various attempts to force action on the snatch theft issue is that the police and other agencies must take a far more proactive approach to the problem. PROPOSALS Among several pro- posals put forward for Distribution of Jln Leong Sin Nam where the 38 year old female office worker was dragged almost 80 metres in a vio- consideration by authorities flyers in ipoh areas lent attack to snatch her bag. The red line marks the attack path.. have been: -3 sen (A4/A5) o The construction of Distribution of Suddenly a motor- and cash in her bag hung anguish and unable to take life and limb exhibited pedestrian-friendly walk- cycle, with engine racing on grimly in the hope the further punishment she by the two snatch theft ways with railings along flyers outside Ipoh and two crash-helmeted two snatch thieves might let go her precious bag. thugs. But they will, by road-sides. These railings areas-6 sen (A4/A5) thugs aboard, swerved abandon their raid when She had been dragged for force of circumstance, be should act as barriers be- We also provide into Jln Leong Sin Nam faced with determined almost 80 metres. As the relegating this incident to tween snatch thieves and from Jln Rajah Ekram and opposition. woman, her back bleeding the list of similar attacks printing of flyers at pedestrians. headed straight for her. In But the thugs had no profusely, lay in agony on that regularly take place o The introduction affordable prices. a fraction of a second the such intention. Instead, the centre of the roadway in that part of town. of strategically placed Call -Sam at : bike was level with the in total disregard of their the victorious thugs rode Indeed, two days later, in closed circuit TV cameras 012-586 6112 woman. As it flashed by victim’s life they further off in triumph with their exactly the same section (CCTV). the pillion passenger lent to accelerated, careering on booty. of Jln Leong Sin Nam, Contined - page 11 Your Community Newspaper IPOH ECHO June 1 - 15, 2008 3 www.ipohecho.com Empty shelves . rising prices IPOH echo Your Community Newspaper RICE IN CRISIS From the Editor’s Desk The price of rice throughout Perak has not just risen dramatically . By Fathol Zaman Bukhari it has skyrocketed beyond reason! And there’s little consolation in being told it’s the same across Malaysia, indeed, internationally Sadly, that’s only part of ten that Tesco, Giant and prompted consuming na- people differently. The re- the picture. Econsave, the more promi- tions to source for cheaper action of manufacturers Walk into any su- nent supermarkets in Ipoh, alternatives. and consumers differ as permarket or retail shop now exclude references Bio-fuel is the “in their needs are at odds with in any population centre to rice, and to a lesser ex- thing” today. Bio-diesel one another. End-users, in- across our state and you’ll tent, cooking oil and wheat extracted from oil palm, evitably, lose out in this be hard pressed even to lo- flour, in their weekly fly- coconut, vegetable oil unending battle of wits. cate supplies of Grade B ers and on their notice and the Jatropha seeds, Manufacturers, not sur- rice, wheat flour and cook- boards. Unless remedial indigenous to the Indian prisingly, will endeavour ing oil. action is taken to stem the sub-continent and South to maximise profits. They Shelves reserved for tide, public reaction could East Asia, can help reduce have no compunction to these items are now virtu- prove particularly awk- global reliance on fossil cheat in order to gain. The ally empty. There are, of ward for a Federal govern- fuel. Moreover, bio-fuel is scarcity of Grade B rice, a course, exceptions. High- ment still recovering from cleaner and produces less controlled item, is the di- end brands remain gener- aftershocks of the March 8 pollutants, unlike petro- rect result of this insatiable ally available. As long as election. leum. desire to profit. Rice mill- you can meet the stagger- So what is the root Some American and ers are known to mix low ing price increases. Reality cause of this phenome- even Chinese companies with high grade rice. They The quality of Maizon’s roti canai remains unchanged, is, though, that many of us non? It centres on a global then pass off the combined but her profit margins keep shrinking. simply can’t. development. Thailand, product as “high grade”. Locally produced Vietnam and India com- Since prices of high grade year ago, today it is RM27. acquired the skills to make Grade B rice (better known prise the world’s three top rice are not controlled, a This is too much.” roti canai while living in as “Super Tempatan”) rice exporting nations. As hefty profit results from Lower-income groups Kuala Lumpur in the mid- – incidentally, a controlled a result of increased home- such shenanigans. naturally favour the Grade 1980s. Since 1990, she has commodity with a secured front demands, both India B variety, which has a been operating a hawker price of RM1.60 a kg and Vietnam have decided TWO CASES higher percentage of bro- stall at the Malim Nawar – seems to have vanished to stop selling rice on the ken rice. Still, it is decid- wet market. Maizon’s stall from the shelves. world market. What is the social edly more affordable. has a steady stream of cus- Local and imported impact of price increases A couple of years tomers but she considers Siamese super grade rice SOLE MARKET on Malaysians? Let us ago it was possible for the morning market hours is available although not as PLAYER examine two typical cases Shamsuddin to save a little as her peak period. plentiful as before. A 10 kg Challenging times for involving two families from his meagre earnings.