Indonesian maid may have been starved to death

Petaling Jaya (The Star/ANN) - The Indonesian maid who died while under the care of her employers in Malaysia may have been starved to death. It is learnt that medical examiners at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) discovered that the 26-year-old maid, identified as Isti Komariyah, was emaciated at the time of her death. "She was very thin and it is likely that she was not fed for several months," sources revealed. However, the exact cause of her death is still pending further examination. Meanwhile, the prime suspect in the case was brought to UMMC for a medical check-up. Isti's former employer has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. Isti was declared dead upon arrival at UMMC at 7.50am on Sunday. An initial examination on her body revealed she had both recent bruises and old scars on her back, forehead and limbs. She had been brought to the hospital by one of her employers. The couple in their 50's, who alerted the police about the death, were subsequently arrested. They have been remanded until June 11 and are being investigated for murder. Isti had entered the country legally and had been working as a maid since December 2008.

Source Yahoo News

Ani: TNB got a raw deal

WHEN the Government decided to approve the request from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to raise electricity tariffs, the plight of the national utility took centre-stage. Naturally, the knee-jerk reaction among consumers was not favourable. The 12% rise in tariffs appears to have re-ignited the debate on how good the going is for independent power producers (IPPs) at the cost of the national utility’s cashflow. The imbalance between the generation side of the business and that of transmission and distribution has put a strain on TNB. To understand the privatisation of the power generation sector, one needs to take a look back in history to understand that the country's IPPs came about as a result of the Government's effort to address the issue of stable power supply after the landmark 1992 blackout. Lending a historical perspective to the issue of IPPs is former TNB executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, who headed the national utility from 1990 to 1996. It was during his tenure that the first generation IPPs were created. StarBiz deputy news editor JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU has the story.

STARBIZ: What happened after the first major blackout in 1992?

Ani: TNB had plans in place to pump out more energy by building plants in Pasir Gudang and Paka. Financing was no problem and our credit standing was very high. We had the land acquired and were ready to move in and plant up.

But we were told by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) that it had its own plans. We cautioned EPU that if those plants, which would take two years to complete, were not built, Malaysia would get another major blackout. When you have a place with 250 engineers, it does not make sense to say (the blackout) is because of poor planning. But the EPU said it had its own plans and we were told to surrender the land.

Then it surfaced that it wanted to privatise the power plants. I am not anti-IPPs per se. It is good to have other players but it has to be done fairly. It has to be fair to the consumers, not just TNB, which is a conduit. TNB, because of the electricity hike, has been treated as the whipping boy. The focus should be on the consumers.

When the generous terms were given to the IPPs, all my other peers around the world asked what was happening. They said they would like to have a share in the IPPs. They said (the contracts to IPPs) were “too darn generous.'' (The terms) were grossly one sided.

How was the Malaysian model of IPPs created?

Ask our previous Prime Minister.

Girl, eight, raped in toilet during wedding

PETALING JAYA: An eight-year-old girl was raped when she went to the toilet during a wedding reception on Saturday night. Selangor CID chief Senior Asst Comm Adnan Abdullah said the girl had accompanied her elder sister and brother-in-law for the wedding, which was held at a school in Sekinchan. At about 9pm, she told her relatives that she needed to relieve herself. Her brother-in-law escorted her to the toilet and waited outside for about 15 minutes. When the brother-in-law asked her what was taking her so long, she replied that she wasn't finished yet. "He then went to wait at the school canteen about 10m away from the toilet. Moments later, he heard a scream and rushed to the toilet. He then saw a naked man running out," SAC Adnan said at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters yesterday. SAC Adnan said the brother-in-law managed to catch the man with the help of some wedding guests before rushing the girl to the Klang Hospital for treatment. The man, in his 20's, had two previous convictions for robbery. He will be remanded for five days. SAC Adnan said the girl was traumatised by the incident.

Source The Star

European sex cult spreads to Tamil Nadu, reveals paper

CHENNAI, June 3 (Bernama) -- Several Europeans, among them porn video actors, are allegedly spreading spiritual teachings which combine sex and the ancient art of yoga, a newspaper reported today. The Times of India identified a Romanian-based movement which it said had been operating in Teynampet, Chennai, for nearly two years, and promoted "tantric love". The newspaper said its probe revealed that the group was operating in a rented house where about 100 youngsters were trained in yoga and "tantric love". The paper also claimed to have videos of the foreign yoga teachers in explicit sexual acts. Seven people from Denmark and Romania are reported to be in Chennai to attend a special camp themed "Tantra – The Path of Love".

Source Bernama