theSun | WEDNESDAY MARCH 25 2009
news without borders
37 hotels to switch
off for an hour
by Bernard Cheah served since 2007 in Sydney and
newsdesk@thesundaily.com was first introduced in Malaysia
last year. However, there has not
GEORGE TOWN: Thirty-seven been enough awareness about
hotels in Penang will take part it,” he said at the launch of Earth Global
in the Earth Hour campaign by Hour 2009 at a hotel in Tanjung slowdown?
turning off non-essential lights Bungah. Not in this
on their premises for an hour More than 100 students and
on Saturday. kindergarten children gathered ship-
The people have been urged at the hotel’s beachfront to form breaking
to join in the campaign by also the state’s Earth Hour logo.
switching off their lights at home State tourism development
town
from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. committee chairman Danny pg 12
Tanjung Bungah assembly- Law Heng Kiang said the state
man Teh Yee Cheu said yester- government will also take part
day everyone should play a part by switching off non-essential
in the campaign, which helps to lights at Komtar, Penang Bridge
address climate change, one of and City Hall at the Esplanade.
the world’s largest environmen- “I have heard that shopping
tal issues. malls here will also be taking
“Earth Hour has been ob- part in the campaign,” he said.
The other pleaded guilty to an of-
fence under Section 143 of the same
law for displaying criminal force to in-
briefs stil fear in police who were discharging
their duties at the mass gathering on
Nov 25, 2007.
14 guilty of unlawful Judge Hasbi Hasan fixed this Thurs-
assembly day for sentencing after counsel G.K.
SHAH ALAM: Fourteen people charged Ganesan informed the court that all
with participating in an unlawful as- the accused were not ready financially
sembly organised by the Hindu Rights if they were to be sentenced yesterday.
Action Force (Hindraf) in Batu Caves – Bernama
in November 2007 pleaded guilty to
the offence in the sessions court here Anwar to propose
yesterday. name for DCM’s post
Thirteen of them pleaded guilty to
a charge of causing damage to public PENANG: The state government will
property under Section 149/440 of the wait for a proposal on a suitable
Penal Code. candidate to take over the post
TV3 host gets chance to
reinstate RM5.5m suit
PUTRAJAYA: TV3 personality Maria
Tunku Sabri was yesterday given an-
other 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 business-
man 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 ap-
point 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 govern-
ment is becoming unstable follow-
ing Mohammad Fairus’ resigna-
tion, 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 Ap-
peal rejected Maria’s appeal against
Tiger park only a proposal, says Guan Eng
GEORGE TOWN: The idea of a tiger
park will be scrapped if it is not feasi-
ble, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said
yesterday.
Defending his proposal to set up
a tiger park in Relau based on public-
private 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
 7
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 Ter-
ritories) 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 assist-
ant 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
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 sanctu-
ary for tigers so that they don’t have
to be caged up,” he said.