10 EPP DIJANGKA TINGKAT PNK RM3.6 BILION

PUTRAJAYA : Mesyuarat Majlis Pelaksanaan Bioteknologi (ICM) pada Selasa mengenal pasti 10 Projek Permulaan (EPP) khusus bagi meningkatkan sektor bioteknologi negara, yang bakal melahirkan 20 projek pencetus yang mampu meningkatkan pendapatan negara kasar RM3.6 bilion, di samping mewujudkan 13,600 peluang pekerjaan baru berkualiti tinggi.

Pada satu persidangan media selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat itu, Selasa, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak berkata ketika ini pencapaian sektor bioteknologi negara sangat menggalakkan.

Beliau memberi contoh mengenai pelaksanaan Fasa 2 dasar bioteknologi negara bagi tempoh antara 2011 dan 2015, yang bertumpu kepada usaha untuk menjadikan industri bioteknologi menjurus kepada bidang perniagaan dan pengkomersilan, yang antara pencapaiannya kini sudah melepasi sasaran.

Katanya menerusi fasa 2, pelaburan yang diraih industri itu kini menjangkau RM12.7 bilion, jauh melepasi sasaran RM9 bilion pada tahun 2015, manakala dari segi sasaran jumlah 80,000 pekerjaan baharu pada tahun 2015, angkanya kini sudah menjangkau 64,753.

Perdana Menteri berkata mesyuarat hari ini juga memutuskan untuk menukar nama ICM kepada Majlis Bioekonomi Kebangsaan memandangkan istilah Bioekonomi dilihat lebih menyeluruh berbanding Bioteknologi.

Sementara itu, Najib berkata pembangunan bioteknologi telah mewujudkan industri baharu dalam negara, sebagai contoh, Gevo Inc yang akan melabur RM1.69 bilion untuk membina kilang yang menghasilkan produk terbitan biokimia, biobahan dan biobahan api.

“Projek ini akan menjadikan Jerantut sebuah pusat pengeluaran kaviar sedunia, satu inisiatif yang mungkin sukar untuk kita bayangkan selama ini, namun dapat dijayakan melalui I-Caviar menerusi pelaburan bernilai RM475 juta dalam tempoh lima tahun.

“Ini merupakan contoh bagaimana aplikasi teknologi boleh melakukan perubahan besar kepada satu kawasan yang tidak dapat kita bangunkan. Kita dapat juga mewujudkan satu industri baharu yang bukan berasal dari negara kita.

“Inilah contoh yang sangat bermakna, bagaimana pembangunan bioteknologi membawa banyak kesan positif kepada negara kita,” katanya.

Selain itu, Najib berkata sebuah syarikat Amerika Syarikat akan melabur US$ 1 bilion untuk melaksanakan projek Akuakultur Undang Karang Bersepadu di Semporna, Sabah.

Beliau berkata syarikat yang mempunyai rangkaian restoran jenama Red Lobster itu mengenal pasti perairan Semporna dan Lahad Datu sesuai untuk penternakan udang karang secara komersil yang akan melibatkan rakyat tempatan sebagai peladang kontrak yang dijangka membolehkan mereka meraih pendapatan RM3,000 hingga RM4,000 sebulan.

“Mereka yang terlibat dalam projek ini akan mendapat tempahan terjamin dan udang karang akan dieksport ke pasaran antarabangsa. Ini merupakan satu contoh bagaimana kekuatan yang ada pada kita, seperti biokepelbagaian dan alam semula jadi, yang tidak tercemar boleh kita manfaatkan melalui aplikasi bioteknologi,” katanya.

Selain itu, Najib berkata kerajaan pusat akan bekerjasama dengan kerajaan negeri Sarawak untuk melakukan penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) bagi meningkatkan pengeluaran ikan Empurau secara besar-besaran.

Beliau berkata nilai ikan Empurau yang boleh mencecah RM1,000 sekilo merupakan antara ikan termahal di dunia, namun pengeluarannya terbatas.

“Apabila kita dapat melakukan R&D dan menjaga anak-anak ikan yang berkualiti tinggi, kita dapat menjamin pengeluaran secara berterusan. Ini akan memberi pendapatan kepada penduduk kampung yang sebelum ini terbatas,” katanya.

Sementara itu, Najib berkata dalam mesyuarat hari ini, ICM memutuskan untuk menukar dasar bagi membantu syarikat BioNexus SME dalam negara.

Berdasarkan maklum balas dari Kementerian Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi (Mosti), beliau berkata insentif dalam bentuk pinjaman bagi tahap maksimum RM3 juta dengan kadar faedah lima peratus didapati tidak memberi banyak manfaat.

“Sebagai sebuah kerajaan yang mendengar maklum balas dan suara rakyat dan industri, majlis hari ini memutuskan untuk menukar dasar tersebut kepada RM1 juta geran maksimum dan RM2 juta pinjaman maksimum, tertakluk kepada had maksimum RM3 juta.

“Keputusan ini dibuat serta-merta dan saya berharap ini akan memberi rangsangan dan galakan yang kuat kepada industri untuk membuat permohonan supaya syarikat itu dapat dikategorikan BioNexus.

“Keputusan ini akan memberi impak kepada perkembangan industri bioteknologi dalam negara,” katanya.

Selain itu, Najib berkata mesyuarat hari ini juga memutuskan bahawa peruntukan dana untuk R&D seperti diumumkan dalam belanjawan 2013, termasuk RM600 juta untuk universiti penyelidikan, boleh digunakan untuk mendaftar Hak Harta Intelektual (IP) bagi R&D yang berpotensi untuk dikomersilkan.

“Kita diberitahu bahawa banyak R&D tidak dapat dipatenkan atau didaftar sebagai IP kerana ia tidak dapat menggunakan dana tersebut. Jadi, dengan keputusan hari ini, saya percaya ia dapat menggalakkan lebih banyak R&D hasil dari universiti untuk dipatenkan.

“Ini membolehkan pihak lain termasuk Agensi Inovasi Malaysia melakukan pembidaan secara terbuka dan seterusnya boleh dikomersilkan,” katanya.

SANDY CAUSE WALL STREET SHUT

PUSHED.....A truck drives through water pushed over a road by Hurricane Sandy in Southampton, New York, October 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground, public transport shut down and the stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years.

By : DANIEL TROTTA AND TOM HALS

NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy began battering the U.S. East Coast on Monday with fierce winds and driving rain, as the monster storm shut down transportation, shuttered businesses and sent thousands scrambling for higher ground hours before the worst was due to strike.

About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada were in the path of the nearly 1,000-mile-wide (1,600-km-wide) storm, which forecasters said could be the largest to hit the mainland in U.S. history. It was expected to topple trees, damage buildings, cause power outages and trigger heavy flooding.

State governors warned of the acute danger from the winds and torrential rains. "There will undoubtedly be some deaths that are caused by the intensity of this storm, by the floods, by the tidal surge, by the waves. The more responsibly citizens act, the fewer people will die," Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley told reporters.

The U.S. stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years and many schools and businesses were closed in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.

While the center of the storm was not expected to make landfall until Monday night near Atlantic City, New Jersey, it was already creating dangerous conditions and forcing rescue workers into action.

Off North Carolina, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS Bounty, using helicopters to lift them from life rafts. The Coast Guard continued to search for the two missing crew members about 160 miles (260 km) from the eye of the storm.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the Category 1 storm had strengthened as it turned toward the coast and was moving at 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour). It was expected to bring a "life-threatening storm surge," coastal hurricane winds and heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains, the NHC said.

Forecasters said Sandy was a rare, hybrid "super storm" created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm.

Nine U.S. states have declared a state of emergency.

With the election eight days away, President Barack Obama cancelled a campaign event in Florida on Monday in order to return to Washington and monitor the U.S. government's response to the storm.

"This is a serious and big storm," Obama said on Sunday after a briefing at the federal government's storm response center in Washington. "We don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts.

Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas as it moved north.

While Sandy does not pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, it could become more potent as it approaches the U.S. coast.

Winds were at a maximum of 90 mph (150 kph), the NHC said in its 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) report, up from 75 mph (120 kph) nine hours earlier. It said tropical storm-force winds reached as far as 485 miles (780 km) from the center.

Several feet of water flooded streets in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which could be right in the target zone of the storm.

Local residents said police knocked on doors on Sunday, reminding everyone there was a mandatory evacuation. While the police took names, they allowed residents to stay at their own risk.

"If power goes that's a problem," said John Brunhammer, 40, a recruiter from Lewes, Delaware, who had come to see the waves crashing up to the dune line at Rehoboth Beach. "This area isn't known for prompt utility service."

New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and ordered mass evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet (3.4 meters).

By early Monday, water was already topping the seawall in Manhattan's Battery Park City, one of the areas evacuated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

All U.S. stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said late on Sunday, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.

The United Nations, Broadway theatres and New Jersey casinos were forced to close, and more than two-thirds of the East Coast's oil refining capacity was in the process of shutting down.

The Super Storm

Officials ordered people in coastal towns and low-lying areas to evacuate, often telling them they would put emergency workers' lives at risk if they stayed.

At 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), the NHC said Sandy was cantered about 205 miles (330 km) southeast of Atlantic City and about 260 miles (418 km) south-southeast of New York City.

The minimum central pressure - a key measure of a cyclone's strength - was recorded at 946 millibar overnight, matching the lowest pressure ever measured in the United States north of Cape Hatteras. The only previous time such a low measurement was recorded was in 1938, when the "Long Island Express" ripped up the coast, meteorologists said.

The storms could cause up to 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in some areas, as well as up to 3 feet (1 metre) of snowfall in the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to Kentucky.

Worried residents in the hurricane's path packed stores, searching for generators, flashlights, batteries, food and other supplies in anticipation of power outages. Nearly 284,000 residential properties valued at $88 billion are at risk for damage, risk analysts at CoreLogic said.

Transportation systems shut down in anticipation. Airlines cancelled flights, bridges and tunnels closed, and national passenger rail operator Amtrak suspended nearly all service on the East Coast. The U.S. government told non-emergency workers in Washington, D.C., to stay home.

Utilities from the Carolinas to Maine reported late Sunday that a combined 14,000 customers were already without power.

The second-largest oil refinery on the East Coast, Phillips 66's 238,000 barrel per day (bpd) Bayway plant in Linden, New Jersey, was shutting down and three other plants cut output as the storm affected operations at two-thirds of the region's plants.

Oil prices slipped on Monday, with Brent near $109 a barrel.

While Sandy's 90 mph (150 kph) winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane, its exceptional size means the winds will last as long as two days.

"This is not a typical storm," Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said. "It could very well be historic in nature and in scope." (Reuters)

WHEN DARKNESS FELL ON KKIA

CHIEF MINISTER Musa Aman's initial reaction to the closure of KKIA on the night of 25th and 26th because of lighting failure was one of consternation and great disappointment.

"This should not have happened and the problem should not have taken so long to fix," he said.

Concerned that the closure had inconvenienced thousands of travelers and may possibly have put Sabah's image as a tourist destination in jeopardy he ordered a full report from the Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.

"The State Cabinet is expecting a full report from MAB and on measures to be taken to ensure that this doesn't happen again in the future," Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman's said in a statement.

The report did not take long in coming. According to a press release from MAHB sources, the first hint of impending trouble came at 5.40pm Thursday 25th October 2012, on the eve of Hari Raya Aidil Adha when a routine inspection found that the runway lights lit dimly and were not up to the required brightness.

Shortly after, at 6.10pm, air traffic controllers confirmed that the lights were indeed  dim. As this would impair visibility and compromise safe landing for incoming aircrafts, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) took immediate action to close the runway for further investigation. All airlines were immediately informed of this closure.

MAHB suspected that the dim lights could have been due to electrical current leakages in the old cables that they said were in the process of being replaced by their contractor.

According to MAHB press release this is part of the overall upgrading of KKIA facilities, which include the terminal, runway, taxiway and apron under the KKIA Redevelopment Project undertaken by the government. MAHB further reported that efforts were made to pinpoint the leakages in the 12 km cables in order to rectify the problem.

"This should not have happened and the problem should not have taken so long to fix."

In the morning of Friday, 26th October 2012, rectification works had to be put on hold to allow for flights to and from KKIA to resume daylight operations.

MAHB said the sub-contractor was requested to immediately complete the installation of the new cables and lightings. The installation works can only take place at night commencing  at sunset around 6 p.m. when the runway, again, had to be closed for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, portable lights from various airports including Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) were rushed  to Kota Kinabalu. These portable lights were scheduled to arrive on flights prior to sunset to enable night operations on 26th October 2012.

However, the arrival was hampered by bad weather. The full compliment of portable lights only managed to arrive at 8.00p.m. This was the reason why KKIA had to be closed for an additional night from 6.00pm to 10.00pm.

However, as the sub-contractor managed to install the new cables and runway lights,  the portable lights were therefore not used after all.

According to MAHB the runway was declared safe for operations at 9.30pm on 26 October 2012 and was opened for commercial night flight operations. MAHB further stated that with the installation of the new cables and runway lightings and with the provision of back-up runway circuit, the operations were  now running smoothly.

According to MAHB 51 flights were diverted, delayed or cancelled during the two nights and 6000 passengers were affected. (Insight Sabah)

TKI UNTUK DIJUAL DIDALANGI WARGA INDONESIA

BISNES....Anis menambah, bisnes TKI yang sah di Indonesia berdasarkan UU Nombor 39 Tahun 2004 semuanya dikuasai oleh pihak swasta.

JAKARTA – Migrant Care, sebuah NGO  yang ditubuhkan di Indonesia mengesyaki adanya campur tangan orang Indonesia dalam iklan TKI (amah) untuk dijual yang ditemui di Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur.

Menurut Pengarah Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, iklan tersebut bukan semata-mata kecuaian kerana pemerintah Indonesia telah mengesahkan  TKI melalui UU Nombor 39 Tahun 2004 Tentang Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Luar Negeri.

“Ada sindiket TKI terkait iklan tersebut. Saat ini, TKI sudah menjadi industri dan kami mencurigai adanya orang Malaysia serta Indonesia yang bermain,” ujar Anis, saat dihubungi Okezone, kelmarin.

Anis menambah, bisnes TKI yang sah di Indonesia berdasarkan UU Nombor 39 Tahun 2004 semuanya dikuasai oleh pihak swasta.

Mereka diperbolehkan mencari TKI, menampung, membuat dokumen hingga penempatannya.

“Ini merupakan celah yang membuat adanya iklan amah untuk dijual di Malaysia,” tuturnya.

Kerana itu, Anis meminta KBRI di Malaysia dan Kementerian Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi (Kemenakertrans) untuk menyelidiki  siapa dalang penyebaran brosur iklan tersebut.

“Brosur tersebut telah menghina bangsa Indonesia dan merendahkan TKI, kerana iklan tersebut sama saja dengan perdagangan manusia,” tambahnya.