Klang Valley witnesses second day of protests

KUALA LUMPUR, - Non-governmental organization Ikatan Kebajikan Rakyat (Ikrar) today held a brief protest against the government move to increase fuel prices by as much as 40 percent.

Ikrar chairman Mustapha Mansor said the brief protest which lasted for about 10 minutes was just a "warm-up" exercise leading up to a planned mega protest on July 12.

"We hope to have weekly protests which will climax on July 12," Mustapha told the English Section outside of a mosque here, after the Friday prayers.

Mustapha who estimated nearly a thousand people present at the protest, was seen later being trailed by the police. No immediate arrest however was made.

Ikrar wanted Petronas account made accountable

Among others Ikrar wanted the government to scrap the hike and for the annual financial reports of nation's oil giant Petronas to be made public.

Elsewhere in Klang Valley protests were also held at Taman Uda Jaya in Ampang earlier this morning and at the Jumhuriyah Mosque in Taman Dato Harun, also after Friday prayers.

The government announced on Wednesday an increase in petrol and diesel prices, stating that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi said the move would save the government RM13.7bil through the restructuring.

Abdullah said from the savings, RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

Petrol and diesel are now priced at RM2.70 and RM2.58 respectively compared to the previous prices of RM1.92 and RM1.58.-Saadon Aksah/ES

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Selangor among the first to sent aid to China

SEPANG – Selangor state government were among the earliest to send humanitarian team to China after the May 12 earthquake.

As of May 26 the death toll is more than 65, 000 after the earthquake scaling 7.9 on the Richter scale hit northern Chengdu.

The Chinese government announced that 23,775 victims were still unaccounted for.

Selangor government's humanitarian mission comprised of six doctors, five paramedics, two logistics staff and three medical assistants.

The team left for China early May 25 and planned to be back on home soil on May 30.

The medical team is being lead by Hussin Ismail, Amal Foundation of Malaysia (AMAL) chairman.

Several NGOs also took part in the mission.

Hussin who was met at the KLIA before departure, said that the objective of this mission is to bring desperately needed staff and medical equipment and to evaluate the needs on the ground before the next mission leaves for China..

He added the experience gained whilst the team were in Acheh last year had taught them a lot in preparation for the China mission.

They also had to wait for 12 days before the Chinese government finally gave them leave to enter the country, he said.- rfa/ES

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