theSun | THURSDAY MAY 7 2009
news without borders
I consulted doc
before issuing
burial permit: MO
KUALA LUMPUR: A medical
officer told the Coroner’s Court
yesterday he had consulted Dr S.
P. Sakthiveloo before concluding
that actress K. Sujatha died due
to paraquat ingestion and there-
after issued burial permit.
Dr Chor Chee Ken said a
nurse contacted him while he
was on his rounds at Ward 7A
of the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah
Hospital in Klang on June 25,
2007 to inform him that Sujatha
had collapsed.
“I performed CPR on her for
about 30 minutes and while
performing the CPR, I contacted
Sakthiveloo since he was the
first to treat Sujatha when she
was admitted to the hospital on
June 19, 2007,” explained Chor.
However, Chor said the CPR
failed and he consulted Sakthivello
as to what should be stated on the
cause of death in the burial permit
to which the latter told him to
write paraquat ingestion.
Questioned by DPP Geethan
Ram Vincent why he had con-
sulted Sakthiveloo since he was
not the specialist in charge of the
ward, Chor said because the spe-
cialist was with him at that time,
besides he was his superior.
Chor told magistrate Mohd
Faizi Che Abu, who acted as the
coroner, that other than consul-
tation with the specialist, he also
had relied on the clinical notes
before concluding Sujatha died
due to paraquat ingestion.
Questioned further by
Geethan why Sakthivello did
not pronounce Sujatha’s death
since he was there, Chor said the
resuscitation procedure on the
patient was carried out by him.
On Geethan’s suggestion that
toxicology tests on gastric lavage
Paris
opens
taken from Sujatha would have probe into
conclusively established the
cause of death, Chor agreed. African
He also told the coroner no leaders’
one including Sujatha’s two broth- assets
ers approached him to request
not to conduct a post mortem. pg 8
Chor was testifying at the
inquest into the death of Sujatha,
28, who died at the Tengku Am-
puan Rahimah Hospital on June
25, 2007, four days after her
admission for allegedly drinking
weedkiller.
Queried by counsel Datuk C.
Vijayakumar, who is representing
Maika Holdings Bhd chief execu-
tive officer Vell Paari, whether
any doctor who treated Sujatha
had a different finding other
than paraquat poisoning, Chor
said clinical notes showed their
diagnosis were the same.
He said even without pres-
ence of Sakthiveloo on that day,
Deadly fighting in Pakistan
his conclusion on the burial per-
mit would have been the same.
Earlier, Sujatha’s younger
brother K. Ugenthiran, 28, said
he spoke to his sister from
Australia immediately after she
had consumed paraquat and she
ahead of US talks
repeatedly told him that she had
unknowingly drunk the poison.
“Even when I visted her at
the hospital after I arrived, she
repeated the same answer but
until today I don’t know why she
did it,” explained Ugenthiran.
Questioned by Gheethan
whether his family approached
anyone for assistance to find out
why Sujatha took the poison,
Ugenthiran said no, but his family
had sought the help of Paari to
issue a press statement to say
Sujatha died due to ovarian cyst.
The inquest continues today.
– Bernama
EPAPAIX
Homage... A buddhist monk
cleans the statue of Lord Buddha
ahead of his birth anniversary
in a monastry in Bhopal, India
yesterday. The 2,553rd anniversary
of Lord Buddha will be celebrated
on Saturday.
Prosecutors raid tax
offices in bribery probe
SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors
yesterday raided tax offices in Seoul
as part of a probe into a bribery
scandal allegedly linked to former
president Roh Moo-Hyun.
Some 20 investigators raided two
offices of the National Tax Service
and confiscated computers and
documents, a spokesman for the
Prosecutor-General’s Office said
without giving details.
Yonhap news agency said the raid
was aimed at securing evidence that
a wealthy shoe manufacturer bribed
officials to avoid a tax probe into his
company.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security
forces attacked Taliban fighters yes-
terday, killing at least 64 of them,
the military said, after the US called
on the government to show its com-
mitment to fighting militancy.
Expanding Taliban influence
in nuclear-armed Pakistan has
spread alarm at home and abroad
and will be a core issue when US
President Barack Obama meets his
Afghan and Pakistani counterparts
in Washington today.
A February peace pact aimed
at ending Taliban violence in Swat
has collapsed and thousands of
people fled from Mingora, the re-
gion’s main town, on Tuesday after
a government official said fighting
was expected.
The military launched attacks on
the outskirts of Mingora, the main
town in Swat, 130km northwest
of Islamabad, and in the nearby
district of Buner.
While a curfew kept people
off Mingora’s streets, government
forces struck militant targets with
artillery and helicopters, including
an emerald mine the Taliban had
taken over.
Briton wins ‘best job in the world’
CANBERRA: A British charity fund-
raiser won the “best job in the world”
yesterday – caretaker of an Australian
tropical island – after an innovative
marketing campaign that highlighted
the power of social media.
Ben Southall, 34, was picked from
16 finalists in a highly publicised
contest by Tourism Queensland which
attracted nearly 34,700 video entries
from almost 200 countries and sur-
passed all expectations in promoting
tourism in the Australian state.
The job description? Explore the
islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six
months and report back to Tourism
Queensland and the world via blogs,
a photo diary, video updates and
interviews.
Also, if you feel like it, feed the fish,
collect the mail and clean the pool
– and earn A$150,000 (RM396,000) for
your efforts.
“To go away now as the island
caretaker for Tourism Queensland and
the Great Barrier Reef is an extreme
honour,” Southall said on live televi-
sion from Hamilton Island after being
NOW OPEN !
AT BERJAYA TIMES SQUARE
Park Yeon-Cha, head of Taekwang
Industry Co, has been arrested on
charges of funnelling millions of
dollars in bribes to political heavy-
weights, including the family of the
former president, police and judiciary
officials.
Roh was questioned last week
about a payment worth US$1 mil-
lion (RM3.6 million) by Park to his
wife, and a payment by Park worth
US$5 million (RM18 million) to the
husband of one of Roh’s nieces, Yeon
Cheol-Ho.
Prosecutors say the five million
eventually ended up in the hands of
“There have been two quick
offensives by security forces. We
knocked the militants out and are
moving forward,” said a security of-
ficial who declined to be identified.
The army said 37 militants were
killed in the clashes in Swat, 35 of
them at the mine, while two soldiers
were killed in a bomb blast. A mili-
tant headquarters near Mingora was
also destroyed, the military said.
A paramilitary force said 27
militants were killed in Buner.
A military official, who de-
clined to be identified, brushed off
speculation the clashes signaled an
imminent major offensive in Swat
but residents said they saw troops
being trucked in and a government
official also said reinforcements
were arriving.
Up to 38,000 people have been
displaced from Swat and nearby ar-
eas since fighting flared last month,
provincial authorities said, adding
that up to 800,000 people could
flee from the valley, which has a
population of 1.6 to 1.7 million.
Several hundred thousand have
already fled fighting in different parts
of the northwest since August.
named the winner. “I hope I can fill the
boots as much as everybody is expect-
ing, my swimming hopefully is up to
standard and I look forward to all of the
new roles and the responsibilities that
the task involves,” he said, adding he
would soon be joined by his Canadian
girlfriend on the island.
While the job itself attracted global
attention, so did the campaign by
state-run Tourism Queensland as it
highlighted the marketing potential
of websites such as YouTube and
Facebook.
“This is probably the first time that
a campaign has achieved this sort of
reach with so little advertising spend
other than a few strategically placed
job ads around the world,” said Austral-
ian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes,
editor of media and marketing website
Mumbrella.
“This has all been about the power
of people passing things on, largely
through YouTube. The main lesson to
be learned here is that if you have an
original, exciting idea that gets people
talking you don’t need to spend huge
7
Roh’s son Gun-Ho. Roh told prosecu-
tors he was unaware at the time that
his wife had accepted the sum as a
loan from Park to pay off debts.
Gun-Ho and Yeon have said the
five million dollars was a legitimate
business investment.
Roh, a former human rights
lawyer, won office partly on an anti-
corruption platform and served from
2003 to 2008. He has publicly apolo-
gised for his family’s involvement in
the case and expressed shame at
disappointing fellow Koreans, but
has not admitted personal wrongdo-
ing. – AFP
A Taliban spokesman said the
Swat peace pact was over.
“The situation is very bad.
They’re using all sort of force
against us. Full-fledged war has
begun and our fighters are putting
up resistance,” the spokesman,
Muslim Khan, said by telephone.
President Asif Ali Zardari, former
premier Benazir Bhutto’s widower,
is due to meet Obama and Afghani-
stan President Hamid Karzai for
talks on the militant threat.
Obama will urge the leaders to
put aside a history of mistrust and
join Washington in an alliance
against extremists, US officials said.
Pakistani action against militant
enclaves on the Afghan border is vi-
tal to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
But increasing violence and the
spread of the Taliban in Pakistan
have raised doubts about the ability
of the civilian government elected
last year to deal with the threat.
“Pakistan must demonstrate its
commitment to rooting out Al Qaeda
and the violent extremists within its
borders,” Richard Holbrooke, US
special representative for Afghani-
stan and Pakistan, said. – Reuters
on advertising.” The “Best Job in the
World” campaign began in January
with Tourism Queensland launching an
advertising campaign centred around
the lure of a job that is more like a paid
holiday.
Within days, the campaign was one
of the most popular items on the web,
as applicants from all over the world
sent in 60-second video applications
and news of the contest spread on
social networking sites.
The number of applicants was cut
to a top 50 who competed to develop
online followers, holding stunts to
promote themselves that included
scuba diving in a tank in an Amsterdam
square and riding the London Tube in
scuba gear. The final 16 contestants,
from 15 countries, included students,
journalists, TV presenters, photogra-
phers, a receptionist, radio DJ, teacher
and an actress. They also came from
countries where Australia is pushing
itself as a tourist destination including
China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,
India, France, Britain, the United States,
Singapore and Malaysia. – Reuters