Training local maids

KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu is hoping to train about 1,600 single mothers as local maids in a 15-day intensive training plan.

State Education, Higher Learning, Science, Technology and Human Resource Committee chairman Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman said the training would be based on methods used at a maid-training centre in Bandung, Indonesia.

“Officers of the State Family Development Foundation will obtain the training modules to help us train our domestic helpers,” he said.

The Indonesian modules covered household duties and each complete session would last two weeks, he said when met here recently.

Ahmad Razif said the foundation’s officers were expected to leave for Bandung after the Hari Raya holidays.

According to the Terengganu Women and Family Department database, there were more than 16,000 single mothers in the state, some as young as 21 years.

Many of them depended on state handouts and the state anticipated that 10% of them would be interested in the training.

The first batch was expected to be equipped for employment by year end.

Ahmad Razif said the single mothers would be given a monthly salary of RM450 to RM550.

The proposed working hours were from 9am to 5pm daily and Friday would be a day off, he said.

“They don’t have to stay in with their employers as they are not from another country. This would minimise homesickness,” he said.

He said the plan was mooted by the state to address the shortage of maids and minimise the entry of foreign domestic helpers.

He said the locals had the advantage of understanding Terengganu dialects and the culture of their employers.

The centre, he said, would be monitored by state-owned training provider Tesdec to prevent complaints of poorly-trained maids from employers.

The maids would be given uniforms and the centre would recruit nurses, former maids, chefs and psychologists as facilitators, he added.

The Bandung modules, he noted, covered all fields including caring for the elderly.

The centre would issue a certificate of competency to the participants once they complete the training, he added.

Ahmad Razif said that details like agreements between maids and employers would be outlined later.

Elderly man and lover, 60, among 25 couples caught for khalwat

KUALA TERENGGANU: A 70-year-old man and his 60-year-old lover were among 25 couples caught for committing khalwat (close proximity).

The elderly couple was nabbed in a compromising position at a budget hotel here during a raid conducted by enforcement officers from the state Religious Department.

Terengganu Religious and Information committee deputy chairman Muhamad Ramli Nuh described their actions as extremely disturbing, especially when such indecencies were committed during Ramadan.

“Even on the first day of the holy month, enforcement officers nabbed an unmarried young couple committing khalwat.

“This reflects their disrespect for the holy month,” he said here yesterday, adding that the youngest couple caught was only 17.

Muhamad Ramli said Dungun, where nine couples were detained, recorded the highest number of khalwat cases during the Ramadan month, followed by four cases each in Besut, Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu. There were also two cases each in Hulu Terengganu and Marang.

He said the raids were conducted at budget hotels, beach fronts and recreational parks throughout the state from the beginning of the Ramadan month until Sept 5.

More Than 380 Bikers Nabbed On Merdeka Morning

KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 31 (Bernama)-- More than 380 motorcyclists were nabbed around here in operations to put the brakes on illegal motorcycle races on the nation's 52nd independence day early Monday.

Kuala Terengganu police district chief of traffic and public order, ASP Mohd Faudzi Mohammad, said 146 summonses were issued for 180 offences which included not having valid licenses and insurance coverage.

"The operations were carried out by 60 officers and men on patrol and manning roadblocks at strategic locations," he told reporters here today.

Those detained were taken to the Kuala Terengganu traffic division for further investigation of their vehicles and urine tests.

As a result eight motorcycles were seized and random urine tests on 44 riders and pillion riders revealed that six persons were positive for methamphetamine use ('pil kuda').

--BERNAMA

Cheating wife caught but lover manages to flee hotel room half-naked

KUALA TERENGGANU: A housewife was caught in a compromising position with her lover by her husband when he stormed into a hotel room in Merang, Setiu, with his friends on Thursday.

However, the lover, a senior state government official, managed to bolt off half-naked from the room before the enraged husband and his friends could assault him.

In his haste to get away, he left his handphone behind.

The husband, a manager with a communications service provider, found video recordings and pictures of the pair having sex on the handphone.

He lodged a police report, claiming that he feared for his safety and that of his children.

At the district police headquarters, the 33-year-old man said he suspected that his wife was cheating on him when she began to behave strangely over the past two months.

“She would hide the SMSes she received in the wee hours of the morning and was very secretive about telephone calls from a friend saved as ‘Aisah’ in her list of contacts,” he said

He added that the calls usually came in between 10pm and 11pm each night.

The husband said his 27-year-old wife had also been neglecting her children, aged between two and seven during that period.

He said he decided to spy on his wife by informing her that he had to travel to Kuala Lumpur for work and left the house at 8am.

However, he doubled back and hid in a secluded area near his home where he observed his wife getting into a car driven by a man in his 40s an hour later.

While tracking the car to the hotel, the man contacted his friends for help.

“By the time they arrived, my wife and her lover were already in the room.

“The senior official managed to shove us aside and flee,” he said.

He also claimed that moments later four men, believed to be linked to the official, turned up at the hotel to threaten them.

“I scolded my wife because her lover was only sexually attracted to her whereas we, her family, truly loved her.

“Anyway, I am not going to forgive her for betraying my love,” he said.

OCPD Asst Comm Zamri Shamsuddin said police would investigate the report.

95,000 warga emas tinggal sendirian

WAKAF CHAGAK - Jawa-tankuasa Kawasan Rukun Tetangga (KRT) Wakaf Chagak merancang untuk melancarkan program Mes-ra Warga Emas khusus untuk menjaga kesejahteraan golongan itu di kampung berkenaan.

Perancangan itu dibuat selepas mengambil kira Bancian Penduduk dan Pe-rumahan dilakukan Jaba-tan Perangkaan Malaysia baru-baru ini yang mendedahkan lebih 95,000 warga emas di negara ini yang kebanyakannya tinggal di luar bandar hidup bersendirian.

Pengerusi KRT Wakaf Chagak, Mohamad Abdul-lah, 60, berkata, melalui program Mesra Warga Emas, golongan itu akan diberikan keutamaan untuk terus aktif dalam komuniti dan mendapat perhatian sewajarnya melalui Jiran Warga Emas.

Program itu, menurutnya dikelolakan secara bersama KRT Wakaf Chagak, Komuniti Bestari dan Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK) Wakaf Chagak bertujuan memastikan golo-ngan itu diberikan perha-tian dengan lebih berkesan.

“Selain perangkaan itu, usaha ini juga sebagai meneruskan usaha UMNO Parlimen Setiu selepas mengambil inisiatif menganjurkan Liga Bola Sepak Veteran Piala Ahli Parlimen Setiu kepada warga emas dan akan berakhir pada 25 Julai ini.

“Usaha ini bukan sahaja dapat menggalakkan warga emas terus aktif walaupun sudah berusia tetapi mengelak golongan itu sering tinggal bersendirian,” katanya ketika ditemui semasa menyaksikan pertandingan Liga Bola Sepak Veteran di Wakaf Chagak.

‘End of the road’ for victim of road bullies

KUALA TERENGGANU: Road bullies have left a 26-year-old badly bruised and too traumatised to ever drive again.

A trainee teacher, who wished to be known only as Muhamad, was bashed up by a group of men after an accident in Tepoh, near here, on Thursday evening.

He now fears for his life.

“I am very afraid,” Muhamad said at the teachers’ quarters in Batu Rakit, here, yesterday.

“They are aggressive and violent. If not for the prompt intervention of some police officers, they could have beaten me to death,” said Muhamad, who is undergoing practical training at a primary school in Batu Rakit.

Muhamad said he was driving to school at about 7.55pm when the mishap occurred.

“While negotiating a corner at a dark T-junction, I heard a loud bang at the rear of my car,” he recalled.

“When I went to check, I was shocked to see a youth bleeding profusely,” he said.

Muhamad said he went to the motorcyclist’s aid. “But his friends blamed me for the accident.”

While some friends rushed the injured youth to a clinic nearby, a few more emerged on several motorcycles and surrounded the trainee teacher.

“They began assaulting me with clubs,” he said.

Fortunately, police officers from the Tepoh station arrived at the scene and saved him from his ordeal. He said they took him to the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital where he received outpatient treatment for bruises on his face.

“I dread to think what might have happened to me if not for the police,” said Muhamad. “And I am now scared to drive.”

Police have apprehended a few suspects in connection with the incident.

Wanita Mengadu Diraba Orang Kurang Upaya

July 02, 2009 18:55 PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, 2 Julai (Bernama) -- Tangan kirinya cacat, matanya juling dan dia juga tempang tetapi kecacatan lelaki ini bukan satu penghalang untuk dia mencabul kehormatan seorang wanita yang bersimpati dengan keadaannya.

Dalam kejadian di sebuah kedai kain di Bukit Payong pada 5 petang Ahad lepas, lelaki berusia dalam 40an itu, didakwa meraba wanita berusia 23 tahun itu walaupun selepas wanita itu memberikannya derma, kata Timbalan Ketua Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Terengganu Supt K Manoharan.

"Lelaki itu membawa kad bukti dari Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat mengenai kecacatannya dan kerana bersimpati, wanita itu memberi derma RM5 dan sanggup pula duduk berhampirannya untuk bersembang," katanya di sini Khamis.

Manoharan berkata wanita itu membuat laporan polis keesokannya.

-- BERNAMA