Thesun 2009-03-25 Page07 Tv3 Host Gets Chance To Reinstate Rm5

theSun

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| WEDNESDAY MARCH 25 2009

news without borders

37 hotels to switch off for an hour by Bernard Cheah [email protected]

GEORGE TOWN: Thirty-seven hotels in Penang will take part in the Earth Hour campaign by turning off non-essential lights on their premises for an hour on Saturday. The people have been urged to join in the campaign by also switching off their lights at home from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu said yesterday everyone should play a part in the campaign, which helps to address climate change, one of the world’s largest environmental issues. “Earth Hour has been ob-

served since 2007 in Sydney and was first introduced in Malaysia last year. However, there has not been enough awareness about it,” he said at the launch of Earth Hour 2009 at a hotel in Tanjung Bungah. More than 100 students and kindergarten children gathered at the hotel’s beachfront to form the state’s Earth Hour logo. State tourism development committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang said the state government will also take part by switching off non-essential lights at Komtar, Penang Bridge and City Hall at the Esplanade. “I have heard that shopping malls here will also be taking part in the campaign,” he said.

briefs 14 guilty of unlawful assembly SHAH ALAM: Fourteen people charged with participating in an unlawful assembly organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) in Batu Caves in November 2007 pleaded guilty to the offence in the sessions court here yesterday. Thirteen of them pleaded guilty to a charge of causing damage to public property under Section 149/440 of the Penal Code.

Global slowdown? Not in this shipbreaking town pg 12

The other pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 143 of the same law for displaying criminal force to instil fear in police who were discharging their duties at the mass gathering on Nov 25, 2007. Judge Hasbi Hasan fixed this Thursday for sentencing after counsel G.K. Ganesan informed the court that all the accused were not ready financially if they were to be sentenced yesterday. – Bernama

Anwar to propose name for DCM’s post PENANG: The state government will wait for a proposal on a suitable candidate to take over the post

TV3 host gets chance to reinstate RM5.5m suit PUTRAJAYA: TV3 personality Maria Tunku Sabri was yesterday given another chance in her bid to reinstate her suit in the High Court against a businessman for breaching a RM5.5 million settlement agreement after a broken promise of marriage. The Federal Court here granted her leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s refusal to reinstate her civil suit in the High Court against businessman Datuk Wan Johani Wan Hussin. Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin

of deputy chief minister I vacated by Penanti state assemblyman Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin on Saturday. “The proposal will be made by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and I will then consider it,” he said. Asked why he had to wait for Anwar’s proposal when the chief minister has the prerogative to appoint executive council members, Lim said: “’We run the government collectively, so I have to wait for the proposal from him.” On talk that the state government is becoming unstable following Mohammad Fairus’ resignation, Lim said it is still strong and stable.

Zakaria, who sat with Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram, were unanimous in the decision. Maria’s counsel, Karpal Singh, said the court should grant the application as it involved novel questions and important issues which have risen for the first time in the country and a decision by the Federal Court would benefit the public. The 39-year-old popular host of the Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan programme in 2004 sought to enforce an agreement under which Wan Johani, 56, had promised to pay her RM5.5 million for not instituting any legal action against him for refusing to marry her as promised. On Aug 5, 2008, the Court of Appeal rejected Maria’s appeal against

the High Court’s dismissal of the original suit and ruled that Maria could not enforce the agreement because it was invalid under the Contracts Act. The court held that section 14(1) of the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act forbade a married woman to contract a marriage with another man, and under the Contracts Act, the object of the agreement – being an agreement for compensation for broken promise of marriage – was forbidden by law since she, being a married woman, could not marry another man. On Feb 22, 2008, a senior assistant registrar summarily struck out the suit after ruling that the case was intertwined with the issue of betrothal which falls under the Syariah Court’s jurisdiction as both parties were Muslims. – Bernama

Tiger park only a proposal, says Guan Eng GEORGE TOWN: The idea of a tiger park will be scrapped if it is not feasible, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday. Defending his proposal to set up a tiger park in Relau based on publicprivate partnership, Lim said he had mooted the idea after seeing two tigers locked up in a cage at the Bukit Jambul hibiscus, orchids and reptile

farm, which has closed down. “It is mainly to provide for these two tigers because I don’t want them to be caged up,” he said, adding that he himself had been “caged up” so he could relate to the loss of freedom suffered by the tigers. “We only want to provide a sanctuary for tigers so that they don’t have to be caged up,” he said.