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Friday, 2 January 2015

Bersih wants cops in on Zaidi's 'bias' trial

No fanatics, extremists in my govt, vows S'gor MB

Isis militants flog man for watching porn in Syria

By Thomas Wyke

Islamic State (Isis) have released photos of a man being publicly flogged for "watching pornographic videos".

The man, who appears to be in his 20s and is dressed in a bright red jumper, is shown being repeatedly whipped in front of a large crowd.

The punishment took place in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, recently renamed by Islamic State al-Kheir (meaning "goodness").

In the same week, three other men have been subjected to public humiliation for "bearing false witness" in Deir Ezzor. Photos show the men in a mock crucifixion position, with their arms stretched outwards, tied back with two sets of plastic cuffs.

Each man appears to be strung up against a telephone pylon, located in three different positions in the city.

One of the men is tied up on the hard shoulder of one of the city's main roads. Another man is tied up on a shop corner.

Several onlookers appear to have stopped to look at one of the guilty men and read the large note crudely tied around his waist. Handwritten in blue pen, an Arabic message declares that the men "bear false witness".

It is not known how long the men were subjected to the humiliating punishment, and their identities have not been revealed.

IS's determination to impose its radical interpretation of Shariah law has left many local civilians living in fear. Stonings, amputations, whippings and public executions have been carried out on a regular basis in IS-held provinces in Iraq and Syria.

People More Likely to Have a Bad Day in Muslim and Socialist Countries

Maybe it’s the sand. And the other sand. Or maybe it’s the camels giving you the eye. Or maybe it’s all the beheadings, but people are least likely to have a good day in the Middle East.

That’s what the Pew survey says.
 Africans and Latin Americans were more likely to say it was a good day (47% and 43%, respectively) and certain countries stand out for their more positive responses. For example, around half or more in Nigeria (58%), Colombia (57%), Nicaragua (53%), Kenya (52%) and Brazil (51%) said their day was particularly good. (For full results by country, see here).
The U.S. is also one of the more upbeat countries when it comes to describing the day. Overall, 41% of Americans said the day was a good one, with nearly half (49%) saying the day was typical. Only 8% of Americans professed to having a bad day.

Meanwhile, bad days were more common in Egypt (32% said it was a particularly bad day) and Jordan (27%) than in any other country, and the Middle East had slightly more bad day responses compared to other regions.

A third of Egypt appears to be having a lot of bad days, followed by Jordan and Ghana, a country with a 32% Muslim population. In fifth place is the Socialist motherland of Venezuela.

Islam and Socialism don’t make their adherents happy.

Tony Fernandes to escort family of QZ8501 crew member to Palembang

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes talks with his staff at Surabaya's Juanda International Airport following the disappearance of flight QZ8501. – Reuters pic, January 1, 2015.One AirAsia flight QZ8501 flight attendant's body has been recovered and if her remains are confirmed to be Khairunnisa Haidar Fauzie, the low-cost carrier's chief Tan Sri Tony Fernandes will escort her family home to Palembang.

Fernandes, who is AirAsia group chief executive officer, said this today in his tweet: "If our beautiful and wonderful crew is identified, we will go from Surabaya to Palembang with her parents. Heartbreaking soul destroying (sic)."

He may be making the trip very soon, as Indonesian news portal Detik.com reported this afternoon that three of the bodies recovered since Tuesday had been identified. This is based on identification found on them.

Khairunnisa, 22, was one of them. The other two named in the Detik.com report are Hayati Lutfiah Hamid from Tegalsari in Surabaya, and Kevin Alexander Soetjipto from Malang City, who was a university student in Australia.

Khairunnisa joined AirAsia last year. She is the youngest and only daughter among three siblings and had studied law.

Yesterday, when authorities reported that one female body clad in the red AirAsia uniform had been found, her family hoped that it was her.

Her father Haidar Fauzie and brother M. Ikhsan Nul Kamil said that their family have accepted that she was gone and wanted her body found.

Khairunnisa was reportedly one of two female crew members onboard flight QZ8501, with senior flight attendant Wanti Setiawati. The flight had seven AirAsia staff onboard comprising the pilot, co-pilot, four cabin crew and a technician.

Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea early Sunday morning in bad weather while flying from Surabaya to Singapore with 155 passengers, including 17 children and one infant.

It was reported that seven bodies had been recovered and identification process were under way once they were sent to Surabaya, where families have gathered to identify their loved ones.

Detik.com reported today that authorities had taken DNA samples from 153 family members of the passengers. The Immigration department was sharing data from the passengers' passports to assist the identification process.

Meanwhile, Fernandes also tweeted that there was information that the plane had been found.

“I am hoping that the latest information is correct and aircraft has been found. Please all hope together. This is so important,” he said in a post at 1.51pm today.

The flight was carrying 155 passengers on board, including 16 children and one infant.

The passengers comprise 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. – January 1, 2015.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/airasia-boss-to-escort-family-of-qz8501-stewardess-home-to-palembang#sthash.35qHXXvp.dpuf

First body returned to family in East Java

 
QZ8501 AirAsia's Surabaya-Singapore flight carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members on board went missing on Sunday morning after taking off from Surabaya in Java, Indonesia, at 5.20am local time.

Search and rescue (SAR) efforts have confirmed it crashed in the Karimata Straits between Belitung Island and Kalimantan and are concentrating on efforts to find survivors.

Malaysiakini brings you the live updates of information as it comes in.




Latest developments

  • Divers not sent out due to bad weather
     
  • Search for black boxes could 'take a week'
     
  • No formaldehyde, no ice injected
     
  • Bodies flown to Surabaya
     
  • Three found, only one recovered
     
  • Bad weather hampers search

LIVE REPORTS

10.32pm:
Apart from Hayati Luthfi Hamid, who was buried today, the remains of six other passengers which were recovered in Karimata Strait had been transported in Bhayangkara Hospital this morning for immediate identification by Disaster Victim Identificiation Police Department of Republic of Indonesia (DVI POLRI).

In a statement late today, AirAsia Indonesia says the DVI team is now working on thorough identification which includes DNA check and forensics examination.

“Meanwhile, the search and rescue effort still continues. Indonesian Minister of Transportation has deployed five additional vessels to the searching area.

“To date, there are more than 90 vessels and aircraft from numerous countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, United States, involved in the operation.”

6pm: The first body from the plane crash that was found and identified has been returned to her family in East Java, reports Jakarta Post.

The body of Hayati Lutfiah Hamid was sent today to her family in Sedati district, Sidoarjo regency, East Java, from the hospital in Surabaya.

The East Java Police’s Disaster and Victim Identification division head Commander Budiyono says Hayati’s body was determined from an identification card which was found on her.

Her family also confirmed the necklace and bracelet found on the body as belonging to her.

East Java police chief Anas Yusuf says the forensic results and documents have been sent to the management team of AirAsia Indonesia.

Divers not sent out due to bad weather

3.35pm: Divers waiting to inspect the possible wreck of an AirAsia Indonesia jet off Borneo are unable to resume operations because of heavy seas today, reports Reuters.

Crews were on standby to descend to a large object detected by sonar on the ocean floor, lying just 30-50 metres (100-165 feet) deep.

Divers will not be sent into the water without a target, search official Sunarbowo Sandi is quoted as saying.

"They wouldn't go in without it," he says. "The divers are not searching."

Frogman commander Lieutenant Edi Tirkayasa tells the news agency that the weather is making the operation extra hard.

"What is most difficult is finding the location where the plane fell – checking whether the aircraft is really there," he is quoted as saying.

"This is very difficult even with sophisticated equipment. With weather like this, who knows? We are still hopeful and optimistic that they'll find it. They must."

Search for black boxes could 'take a week'

2.50pm: Air investigators say they hope to obtain the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 black boxes within a week, which will yield critical information about what happened to aircraft, reports Reuters.

"The main thing is to find the main area of the wreckage and then the black box," Indonesia's air safety investigator with the National Committee for Transportation Safety Toos Sanitiyoso is quoted as saying.

Sonar has detected a large object on the ocean floor in the Java Sea, just 30-50 metres’ deep, which authorities believe is the main wreckage of the ill-fated Air Asia plane.

However, divers are unable to conduct a full-scale operation due to poor weather today.

No formaldehyde, no ice injected

2.46pm: No formaldehyde was injected into the bodies and no ice was used in transporting the remains for identification to prevent contamination of DNA samples, Channel New Asia’s Indonesia correspondent Devianti Faridz reports.

According to Indonesian police, ointment is applied on the victims' fingers, which are then wrapped in plastic for ease of identification.

The clothes the victims are wearing are recorded down and their bodies cleansed before being placed in coffins.

Bodies flown to Surabaya

2.29pm: The first set of bodies are being flown to Surabaya today, Channel News Asia quotes Indonesian officials as saying.

Four of them – three women and a man – will be sent to Surabaya from Immanuddin Hopital in Pengkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.

Recovered bodies are taken to Pengkalan Bun first, the closest naval base to the debris site of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, before being transported to Surabaya.

Three found, only one recovered

2.25pm: The Royal Malaysian Navy Chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar clarifies that of the three bodies discovered by KD Pahang yesterday, only one managed to be recovered.

"Regret to inform that out of the three bodies found by KD Pahang yesterday, only one was recovered today at 0815 due to rough sea (condition)," he says on Twitter.

More bodies found

12.15pm: Two more bodies have been found in Pengkalan Bun waters, off Central Kalimantan, taking the total count of those discovered so far to nine, reports Indonesian portal Tempo.

The two will eventually be flown to a hospital in Surabaya, after the ones already discovered are brought to the Pengkalan Bun naval base from the ship.

Earlier, there was a conflicting report from Singapore’s Today, which said a total of 10 bodies have been recovered so far.

Bad weather hampers search

12pm: Royal Malaysian Navy Chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar tweets that bad weather and sea condition are hampering the ongoing search and rescue operations.

He adds on his official Twitter account that the search area has been expanded to 13,500sqnm (150 x 90nm), double from yesterday's 6,160sqnm.

Another body recovered

11.40am: Another body from the debris site of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has been recovered, reports New Straits Times.

"We cannot confirm whether the body is of a man or woman but I can tell you it is on it's way here now," Iskandar Airport commander Jhonson Henrico Simatpang is quoted as saying.

The body is being flown to Iskandar Airport at Pengkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, the nearest naval base to the debris site.

9.42am: Singapore’s Today reports 10 bodies in total have been recovered from crash so far, citing Wall Street Journal.

Weather raises hopes

8.38am: According to Reuters, a break in bad weather raises hopes today that divers would be able to investigate what is believed to be the sunken wreck of an AirAsia jet off Borneo and retrieve the black boxes that should explain the cause of the crash.

So far, at least seven bodies have been recovered from waters near where sonar has detected a large, dark object on the ocean floor, lying just 30-50 metres (100-165 feet) deep, but heavy seas have so far prevented divers from investigating it.

"They will try again this morning," says Siahala Alamsyah, a naval officer involved in the search.

He says that on Wednesday night, bad weather had prevented a team of 47 Indonesian Navy divers from even flying out to warships at the crash site.

The plane's black box flight data and cockpit voice recorder should help solve the mystery of the crash.

Investigators are working on a theory that it went into aerodynamic stall as the pilot climbed steeply to avoid a storm.

Bodies recovered from the Java Sea are being taken in numbered coffins to Surabaya, where relatives of the victims have gathered, for identification.

Authorities have been collecting DNA from the relatives to help identify the bodies.

Some of the bodies recovered so far have been fully clothed, including a flight attendant still wearing her AirAsia uniform. That could indicate the Airbus was intact when it hit the water and also support the aerodynamic stall theory.

Most of the 162 people on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.

Ku Li: M'sia off course, heading backwards

 
Malaysia may be heading into a new year but we have deviated from the path of progress, and instead has been set back several decades, said Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

In his new year message today said 2014 has been a “horrible year”, but the future does not look bright particularly because of worsening racial and religious politics.

“In comparison with our neighbours, we are some years behind some of them. As we enter the new year, we are reminded of how far we have deviated from the original path of economic, political and social development set by our founding fathers six decades ago.

“Some of the more serious developments, such as the increasing polarisation in race relations, the narrowing of perspectives on religion and religious practices long accepted, the many intractable and new imbalances and inequalities in our economy, and a politics that clouds the vision of a maturing democratic system, seem to have set everything back by a few decades,” said the veteran Umno leader in a somber message.

Listing the many disasters that the country faced last year, from the triple air disasters to the fatal landslides in Cameron Highlands, Tengku Razaleigh lamented, “It has been a sad and horrible 2014 for all Malaysians.”

“Little wonder Malaysia, long tiring of being bogged down by negativities, is overdue for some positive and lifting news in 2015,” he said.

'Reset the country'

However, he said, the country’s outlook was plagued by economic troubles, “whether these involve the negative impact of falling oil prices on government finances, or the rising cost of living and household indebtedness, or the profound social consequences of corruption, or inequalities in income and wealth…”

The remedies, he said, involved “reaffirming the federal constitution, reform of how politics is funded, and clean up of our electoral and party system”.

“To achieve a new deal for our nation and its people, we also need our systems of law and governance to be put right,” he said.

“With a determined leadership, I think these negative trends can and must be reversed,” he said, urging a “reset” the country and “unchaining the politics”.

2014, a year after BN’s poorest electoral showing in recent history, has seen a troubled year beginning with the bible raid in Selangor in January, an extended water crisis in Selangor and elsewhere, the shocking disappearance of MAS MH370 in March and the downing of MH17 less than six months later, among others.

The year came to a dark close with what has been called the worst flood in the country’s history, capped with the crash of AirAsia Indonesia's QZ8501 last Sunday, in what Tengku Razaleigh called “our annus horribilis”.

The year of the Malaysian citizen

Marina Mahathir

I WAS afraid that this first column of the year would be a depressing and doleful one. 2014 had been remarkable for its sheer awfulness, with not one but three plane accidents in the region, the worst floods in our history and any amount of angst among our people due to the words and actions of various groups. Would 2015 be better or worse?

But for every action, there is a reaction and happily these reactions have also been unexpected and gratifying.

In January, when a church was a possible target of violence, a group of people turned up to give out flowers to churchgoers and did much to ease the tension of that day. That was the birth of a group called Malaysians for Malaysia (M4M) that set out to promote unity and harmony among their fellow citizens.

M4M then went on to organise the Walks in the Park in several cities that gave Malaysians the opportunity to simply gather and do things together.

When MH370 and MH17 happened, M4M was on hand to unite Malaysians with the Walls of Hope that allowed thousands of Malaysians and others to pour out their grief and hopes for the safety of the passengers of the former and prayers for the souls of the passengers of the latter.

M4M is certainly not the only group that sprang up to bring Malaysians together, not just in grief, but also in volunteerism.

When there was a threat to shut down soup kitchens, KLites banded together to keep them going and even started new ventures to support the existing ones.

Various individuals and groups have formed to do all sorts of charity work to help the poor, the marginalised, disabled and even animals. Civil society has stepped up and is going from strength to strength, a healthy sign.

Then when the worst floods ever in our history turned several states into exact replicas of countries far less developed than us, with people stranded and starving, Malaysians truly showed how generous and kind they can be.

Collection centres for relief goods were set up in various neighbourhoods and when the calls for volunteers spread through social media, dozens showed up.

I visited one and was truly moved and heartened by not only the number of people lending their time and energy to the effort to pack and send off the goods but how diverse they were.

They were young, old, male, female and represented every ethnic group including expats. And they worked side by side and took instructions from supervisors cheerily. There are even people who have organised convoys of cars and trucks to try and reach the stranded folks on the east coast with tonnes of food and other essentials.

Nobody told them to do it, nobody ever paid them to do it. They just did it because their fellow citizens were suffering and this was the right thing to do.

You have to wonder where those self-proclaimed champions of race and religion are in these times and what they would say about these multiracial, multireligious efforts to send aid to flood victims.

Indeed one of the happiest things that has happened in 2014 is the emergence of voices calling for more common sense in the way we discuss things in our country. The Group of 25 has been a pleasant surprise and has inspired more people to speak out against extremists and racists.

Young people especially have welcomed this new development, having previously despaired of a positive future in this country.

They have responded by organising petitions and writing articles of support for the G25, most notably by a multiracial group of 33 prominent citizens and a group of young Islamic Studies graduates from Middle Eastern universities.

These developments have really brought hope to many concerned Malaysians.

So perhaps when you look at it from this perspective, things were not so bad after all in 2014, despite the major tragedies.

While we mourn those we lost, and sympathise with those who are suffering in the floods right now, we can also rejoice in the fact that 2014 was really the year that The Malaysian Citizen showed that their natural kindness and generosity enabled them to respond much faster and more efficiently than any politician can.

This is truly community leadership at its best.

For 2015, perhaps we can put our hopes in The Malaysian Citizen and therefore be more optimistic about the coming year.

Their sense of unity that arises out of a sense of fairness is fully developed.

What The Malaysian Citizen has shown is that there is no law needed to foster unity. They will unite naturally against suffering and injustice.

The only proviso is obvious: keep the politicians out of it.

> Marina Mahathir is a human rights activist who works on women, children and HIV/AIDS issues. Her column in this newspaper goes back 25 years and has likewise evolved because, in her own words, “she probably thinks too much for her own good”. Marina continues to speak out and crusade for causes that she passionately believes in. The views expressed here are entirely her own.

QZ8501, MH370 is the rivalry between Airbus, Boeing

Former Prime Minister blames Boeing for not co-operating on the introduction of technology to make flying safer.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: The real mystery regarding AirAsia Indonesia’s QZ8501 and the still missing MH370, writes former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in his latest blog posting, is the rivalry between Airbus and Boeing.

Mahathir was extending his condolences to all families of passengers and crew on board AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501, and cited two articles.

He noted the first (See here for story) in Flight International magazine dated 14 – 20 Oct 2014 which carried an article entitled, “Searching for Answers.” Together was a small picture with MH370 and some material.

The article, added Mahathir, relates about “Another rift in the competitive landscape between Airbus and Boeing.” “It seems that while Airbus is ready to move forward with a deployable flight data and voice recorder system for commercial aircraft, Boeing which has installed deployable recorders on at least three military aircraft fleets, disagrees that the technology is appropriate or safe for commercial transport.”

The Airbus concept involved deploying one of the two sets of flight data and cockpit voice recorders in the event of a mid-air collision or impact with the ground, continued Mahathir. “The deployed unit includes a locator beacon, and is designed to float if the crash occurs in water.”

“Just imagine if this recorder and beacon is installed on the AirAsia Indonesia aircraft or MH370, we would not have to search the oceans for the planes.”

He could not understand why Boeing was against it. The article said, “If either the Malaysian or the French airlines (which crashed in 2009) were equipped with a deployable flight recorder, the narrative of the search would likely be different.”

The article was written before the loss of QZ8501.

An article in FlightGlobal.com of December 2006 reports, said Mahathir, that Boeing had received a US patent for a system that allows seizure of an aircraft by remote control as a means to prevent terrorist hijacking.

“Boeing had made no comment on its powerful capability. And MH370 has not been found till now. And now Boeing seems to be unwilling to make finding lost aircraft easier and faster, possibly saving lives as well.”

The mystery, warned Mahathir, deepens!

MAF Deputy President shot in leg stable after surgery

Dato Noorul Ariffin Majid was shot by two assailants on a motorcycle in front of his house.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Doctors who operated Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) Deputy President Datuk Noorul Ariffin Abdul Majid who was shot in his leg by two assailants last night, have managed to remove the bullet.

Noorul Ariffin who was shot at by two assailants on a motorcycle in front of his house at Bukit Rahman Putra, Sungai Buloh at about 10pm last night was reported to be in stable condition after a surgery at the University Malaya Medical Centre.

“He looked a little tired after the surgery and is resting now,” said MAF President Datuk Karim Ibrahim when contacted by Bernama, today.

Karim who expressed shock and disappointment over the incident said it was the first incident where a sports official was shot at.

“At first I was shocked and did not believe that Noorul Ariffin was shot. I received a call from Yayasan Kebajikan Atlet Malaysia (Yakeb) to say that Noorul Ariffin was shot in front of his house because he had attended a MAF coaching committee meeting at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil in the afternoon,” he said.

MAF officials and athletes hope Noorul Ariffin, the former Johor Amateur Athletics Association (Johor AAA) president, would recover soon and also hope the police will nab the culprits responsible for the act.

– BERNAMA

Tragic end to story of AirAsia’s Nisa

Khairunisa, known to her friends as Nisa, was identified because her name tag was reportedly still attached to her uniform.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: The body of a former law student, Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, who was following her dreams of becoming a stewardess after joining AirAsia last year, was among seven bodies identified so far, said the Daily Mail Australia in a Mail Online report which quotes from other sources as well. She was a trainee flight attendant on board doomed AirAsia flight QZ8501.

She left a touching love letter from the sky for her boyfriend in one of her last Instagram posts.

“I love you from 38,000 ft,” 22-year-old Khairunisa wrote on a napkin to her partner Divo just two weeks ago.

Along with photos of her travels, family and friends, Khairunisa often shared messages to her boyfriend including his and her name written in sand on Instagram.

Khairunisa’s brother, M. Ikhsan Nul Kamil, told Indonesian news portal Detik.com: “If they are saying they have found the body of one of the air stewardess, then we hope it is our little sister.”

He described her as a cheerful person and said: “She was a good girl, always liked to help others. I always asked for her help when I needed it. But she was also ‘manja’ (spoiled) because she phoned home four times a day.”

Khairunisa, known to her friends as Nisa, was identified because her name tag was reportedly still attached to her uniform.

Authorities have confirmed the bodies of four males and three females – including a flight attendant – have been discovered in the search.

Nisa was tentatively identified as one of the seven bodies so far retrieved from the Java Sea after the aircraft crashed on Sunday, 42 minutes after taking off from Surabaya in Indonesia with 162 people on board.

Her father, Haidar Fauzi, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he heard his daughter had been found but it has not been officially confirmed.

“We only borrowed our daughter from God and now he has taken her back,” Haidar told the SMH.

Her family has been waiting at Juanda Airport near Surabaya in East Java province, where a crisis centre has been providing information to anxious relatives since the plane vanished from radars after departing the airport for Singapore.

“This is what we expected, and the sooner the body is returned, the sooner we can have her back,” said Haidar.

Her father said she would have put the lives of her passengers before her own.

Flood Situation In Terengganu, Kelantan Continues To Improve In The Afternoon

Siti Noh Awang, 61,contemplating her future at the site of her house destroyed by floods at Kampung Limau Kasturi Gua Musang KelantanKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 (Bernama) -- The flood situation in Terengganu continued to improve this afternoon as there were lesser evacuees at the relief centres, but the numbers in Kelantan, Pahang and Johor remained.

In TERENGGANU, the number of evacuees dropped further to 9,040 this afternoon from 10,051 in the morning, according to statistics from the Terengganu National Security Council (MKN).

The number of evacuees in Dungun this afernoon were at 4,289, Kemaman (4,570) and Kuala Terengganu (181).

In KELANTAN, a state MKN spokesman said although the flood situation continued to improve, there were still many evacuees at the relief centres as they had lost their homes, or their houses were badly damaged or covered with mud.

Their number remained at 44,081 (from 10,753 families) at 178 relief centres since morning after a sharp drop from 81,458 last night.

Tanah Merah district still had 14,184 evacuees, Tumpat (9,524), Kuala Krai (5,645), Kota Baharu (4,910), Machang (3,769), Pasir Mas (3,015), Gua Musang (3,006) and Pasir Puteh (28).

In Pahang, the number of evacuees remained at 50,272 like in the morning and housed at 232 relief centres in eight districts.

Temerloh district had 21,773 evacuees, Pekan (13,425), Jerantut (4,776), Bera (3,174), Maran (3,021), Lipis (2,745), Kuantan (1,174) and Rompin (130).

In JOHOR, the number remained at 138 in two districts, namely Segamat (93) and Batu Pahat (45).

However, in Perak, the number rose slightly to 7,360 in the afternoon, housed at 52 relief centres, from 7,313 this morning.

According to a state MKN spokesman, Central Perak had 5,192 flood evacuees, Kuala Kangsar (1,231), Hulu Perak (762), Kerian (107) and Manjung (68).

-- BERNAMA