KL mulls new
KL mulls new 'ocean policy'
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Maritime experts were yesterday mulling ways to shape a new "ocean policy" for Malaysia to protect the Malacca Strait from encroachment and pollution and maximize its economic potential.
"The Strait of Malacca is a life line to Malaysia. We have to do a lot more to keep it safe, clean and economically rich," said B.A. Hamzah, director-general of the Malaysian Institute of Maritime Affairs (MIMA), a maritime think-tank.
MIMA opened yesterday a two-day conference of more than 100 Malaysian government officers and diplomats and maritime experts from France, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands and Norway to help formulate a new ocean policy for Kuala Lumpur.
The officials and experts are assisting MIMA in a study on how the various maritime laws and enforcement bodies of Malaysia could be integrated to safeguard the narrow waterway on the west and the broader South China Sea on the east, Hamzah said.
He said the lack of coordination among the various agencies was a major hindrance to maritime enforcement in Malaysia.
Seven more top police in gem scam
BANGKOK (AFP): A former head of Thailand's national police force and six other officers face charges over the handling of the 1989 theft of US$20 million in jewelry from Saudi Arabia, an Interior Ministry source said yesterday.
Warrants for the arrest of former director-general Sawasdi Amornvivat, Police Gen. Sanong Wattanawarangkul and five lower ranking officers have been prepared, the source told AFP.
But they have not yet been issued because Aree Wongsearaya, permanent secretary at the Interior Ministry, left for the United States yesterday without signing the warrants, he said.
The case involves the theft of precious jewels from the palace of a Saudi prince by a Thai domestic worker. The Thai returned home and was caught the following year.
Some of the jewelry was never returned to the prince and much of what was handed back was fake.
Most Singaporeans back caning
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Eight of 10 Singaporeans familiar with the case of American teenager Michael Fay approve the flogging sentence he received for vandalism, a survey by Singapore state television found.
The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) said yesterday that the survey it commissioned also showed nearly the same number of Singaporeans felt that no exception should be made for the 18-year-old Fay, now awaiting a decision from Singapore President Ong Teng Cheong on an appeal for clemency.
An SBC official said 272 Singaporeans over the age of 15 were asked over the telephone if they were aware of Fay's case, whether they approved of the caning sentence and if they thought the government should make an exception to the law by not flogging Fay.
The survey was conducted by Media Research Pte Ltd between April 15 and 21.
Ancient cliff painting found
BANGKOK (AFP): An ancient painting has been found on a cliff face in northeast Thailand, and the local government hopes to turn it into a tourist attraction, a district official said yesterday.
Srinakarinwiroj University archeologists recently inspected the painting on a face of Hill 362 near Ban Nong Saeng village, some 630 kilometers from Bangkok, and believe it to be very old, said Thongkam Champathong, the deputy official of Boonthrik district in Ubon Ratchatani province.
The painting in red depicts a cow surrounded by a fence with a triangular shape believed to be hay, Thongkam said.
The deputy governor of the province inspected the painting on Tuesday and the government now hopes to develop the site as a tourist attraction, he said.
Thailand to test HIV vaccine
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand will begin its first tests in June of a vaccine to combat the virus that leads to the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a Thai Red Cross official said yesterday.
Thirty test subjects will be chosen from among 70 volunteers, said the official, who works on the project. Of these, 24 will be given the actual vaccine to combat the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) and a control group of six will receive a placebo.
The volunteers include a monk, taxi driver, military officer, policeman, lawyer, nurse and teacher, but most are businessmen, he said.
The official did not say why the people had volunteered for the project, which will be small and merely repeat work that has been done in the United States and is now in progress in Australia and China.
Mahathir leaves for Zimbabwe
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad left here yesterday on a five-day visit to Zimbabwe where he will hold talks with President Robert Mugabe, officials said.
Mahathir's working visit will also see three bilateral economic pacts signed between Malaysia and Zimbabwe, they said.
The visit, the first by a Malaysian premier, is aimed at boosting trade and economic cooperation with the South African state.
Mahathir, who is accompanied by a business delegation, is scheduled to open the Zimbabwe International Trade Festival 1994 in Bulawayo, 450 kilometers from Harare, at the invitation of Mugabe.
He would also witness the signing of three memoranda of understanding on the avoidance of double taxation, investment guarantees and air services.
Miss Malaysia says sorry to RP maids
MANILA (AFP): Miss Malaysia, in the Philippines to compete in next month's Miss Universe beauty pageant, has apologized on behalf of her country for the arrest of 1,200 Filipina maids, press reports here said yesterday.
Going further than Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the 18-year-old Liza Koh was quoted as saying, "I am sorry about what happened to your fellowmen. It's just that our government may have overreacted and detained all the girls."
"My personal apology to you in behalf of my country," she said.
The Philippine government had officially protested against the Palm Sunday roundup of the Filipinas at a Roman Catholic churchyard in Kuala Lumpur, but the Malaysian government did not apologize, saying the women were detained for illegally staying in the country.
Most of the women were subsequently freed without charges.
Army colonel plunges to death
BANGKOK (Reuter): An army colonel plunged from more than 1,000 meters to his death when his parachute failed to open properly on a training exercise, officials said yesterday.
Col. Krispetch Kamdee was dead on arrival at hospital in Lop Buri 153 kilometers north of Bangkok on Tuesday.
Krispetch had jumped from a helicopter during a training exercise at the army's special warfare command headquarters, an army spokesman in Lop Buri said.