KUCHING: Do not expect the government to interfere -- this is the reminder from Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Joseph Salang to women arrested overseas for drug-related offences. "At best, we will send a lawyer or representative from our foreign mission to see that the trial is fair.

"Other than that, we will not interfere. The reason is that Malaysia has stiffer penalties for drug-related offences," he said when asked to comment on the case of 22-year-old Irene Manggie of Sarawak, who was arrested and charged in Sao Paulo for possession of cocaine.

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The Health Ministry is targeting to provide 15,000 drug addicts with free syringes through its Harm Reduction Programme in its effort to curb the risk of HIV infection among intravenous drug-users. Its deputy minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said until July this year, 2,224 had participated in the programme and 30,000 condoms distributed for the same objective.

"This means, the 2,224 addicts need not share syringes and indulge in unsafe sex," he said when replying to a question from Datuk Mat Yasir Ikhsan (BN-Sabak Bernam) on the effectiveness of the programme, in the Dewan Rakyat here today.

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WITH a relapse rate as high as 70 per cent, it had become evident very early in the longstanding war against the country's public enemy number one that the regimen of cold turkey detoxification, paramilitary discipline and counselling in Pusat Serenti had been a less than smashing success.

However, in the absence of other proven methods, the strategy had been to build even more rehab centres and incarcerate as many addicts as possible.

But with some 250,000 addicts on the official register, and with drug users making up 75 per cent of the 73,000 HIV-positive cases, the point had been reached where there was a dire need for fresh directions. As a result, over the last two years, we've explored alternative methods of rehabilitation and experimented with drug-substitution therapy.

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PUTRAJAYA: He was on Death Row for the past nine years but when his case came up for appeal yesterday, a vegetable seller had every reason to smile. Baha Jambol's conviction was amended from trafficking to possession which meant that his death sentence was overturned.

The reason for the amendment was simply because the High Court judge who had found him guilty of trafficking in 50kg of cannabis and had sentenced him to death, only delivered the written judgment on Sept 26 -- more than nine years after sentencing Baha.

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PENANG: Former painter Chuah Kok Eng was sentenced to death by a High Court for trafficking 271.9g of cannabis.

Chuah, 47, was seen shaking his head when the court interpreter explained the death sentence to him.

He then turned around towards the public gallery where his wife Ong Lean Ean was seated and shook his head as though he was in a state of disbelief.

When Ong signalled to Chuah that she did not understand what he was trying to tell her, Chuah then put his hand around his neck indicating that he would be hung.

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A labourer was sentenced to six years' jail and ordered to be whipped 10 times by a Sessions Court here for possessing 94.4g of cannabis.

Judge Fathiah Idris ordered Shahrin Ishak, 31, to serve the sentence from the date of arrest after Shahrin pleaded guilty to the charge Tuesday.

Shahrin was charged under Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for possessing the drugs, kept inside a blue box under a cupboard, at his house in Taman Berpadu, Sitiawan, on Aug 4 at about 11.45pm.

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PUTRAJAYA: The methadone replacement therapy programme will be extended to help more drug addicts, as the curing method has proven effective and successful, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the aim was for the programme to reach 25,000 addicts by 2010.

Currently, some 5,000 individuals were undergoing methadone replacement therapy at 58 locations across the country including hospitals, health and private clinics.

"We are pleased that the programme has borne positive results. According to records, 66% of those who undergo a 12-month therapy are able to maintain permanent employment while 24.9% will take on odd jobs.

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KULAI: A suspected drug dealer was shot dead by police near his house in Taman Khet Loong Sunday.

Lai Foo Keong, 40, was trying to run away -- after his car landed in a drain following a chase -- when in the ensuing struggle a policeman was shot in the left arm.

The policeman shot Lai in self-defence, killing him on the spot. The incident took place just 100m from Lai's home.

Earlier, policemen on crime prevention rounds spotted Lai behaving suspiciously in Taman Gunong Kulai.

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SHAH ALAM: A factory worker was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to receive 10 strokes of the rotan by the High Court here Friday for possession of 206.9 grams of cannabis.

Zaidi Zainal Abidin, 36, had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of drug possession.

He was initially charged with drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Zaidi Zainal had pleaded guilty of committing the offence at his house in Pangsapuri Kiambang, Jalan Metafasa U16/3, Taman Bukit Subang at about 1.20pm on Dec 23 last year.

The father of two sons aged four and two was first charged in Jan 5 for drug trafficking and had claimed trial.

[end]

Kuala Lumpur: Drugs Are Drugs In The Eyes Of The Law

There is no such thing as "soft drugs" and "hard drugs", a judicial commissioner said when he sentenced an Indonesian labourer to 15 years' jail term and 10 strokes of the whip for a reduced charge of drug possession Monday.

Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Abd Aziz's remark came in response to the mitigation by counsel Ameenuddin Mohamed Ibrahim for 27-year-old Mohamad Abdul Rahman, who had been charged with trafficking over 3kg of cannabis in 2002.

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PUTRAJAYA: A 32-year-old factory worker escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal acquitted him of trafficking in more than 9kg of cannabis six years ago.

However, Court of Appeal judges Justices Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Abdull Hamid Embong and K.N. Segara unanimously convicted Zulkifli Arshad for possession and jailed him 18 years and ordered him to be whipped 10 times on each of the two charges.

They ordered the jail terms to be served concurrently from the date of his arrest on Jan 27, 2001.

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Bruce Willis has crticised the American government's stance on drug abuse, insisting that it is more productive for politicians to handle the social problems that lead people to take drugs in the first place.

"The big problem is the reasons people have for wanting to anaesthetise themselves. We fight it the wrong way. The war on drugs is a joke. If somebody weren't making money off cocaine traffic or drug traffic in general, it wouldn't exist," Willis said.

Willis returns in the new instalemnt of the Die Hard franchise, Die Hard 4.0, next month.

[end]

KUALA LUMPUR: Preventing the spread of HIV in Malaysia may have hit a snag with the Health Ministry being unable to openly promote the use of condoms.

Health Ministry deputy director of disease control (AIDS/STD) Dr Jalal Halil Khalil said this could lead to prevention programmes being less effective.

"It may slow down the effectiveness of prevention. It is difficult to promote the open usage of condoms," he said after attending a Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) International AIDS Memorial Day function.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Visit Ma-laysia Year 2007 is attracting "unwanted" visitors. International drug syndicates are scrambling to get into the country to make profits off foreign tourists.

The drugs of choice are high-grade heroin and cocaine, which are popular in Europe and the United States.

Malaysian addicts prefer low-grade heroin while cocaine is difficult to obtain here as it has to be imported from South America.

In the past fortnight, police have seized substantial amounts of such drugs. Federal Narcotics director Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai said the syndicates were trying to cash in on foreign tourists under the Visit Malaysia Year campaign.

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MORAL dilemmas are hard to grapple with when they arise as a consequence of a scourge as deadly as AIDS. Consider the qualified success of the needle and syringe exchange programme introduced last year as a means of cutting down the incidence of HIV/AIDS infections spreading through the contaminated paraphernalia of drug abuse. This was an instance of "realism" taking precedence over the morally repugnant notion of helping drug addicts remain addicts, only with cleaner equipment, which too many of them took only to exchange among themselves as before. Now comes the question of condoms: To promote, or not to promote?

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Sabah Commissioner of Police Datuk Mohammad Mokhtar Hassan said the Crime Index involving students in Sabah showed an increase between January and April this year compared to the similar period in 2006.

According to him, the increase was 25 per cent or three cases from 12 cases last year.

"What is worrying is the involvement of students in violent crimes," he said, when launching the secondary school level Rakan Cop and Crime Prevention Programme at Wisma Muis, here, Sunday.

He said the violent crimes committed by the students comprised two rapes, one non-firearm robbery, one criminal intimidation case, one rioting case and four causing hurt cases.

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More and more students are getting involved in violent crimes and drug abuse in the state and the police are getting very worried.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Hassan said that students from secondary schools and institutes of higher learning had been caught for a variety of crimes including rape, robbery, fights and house break-ins.

Last year, of the 409 juvenile reports, 62 cases or 15.2% involved students and many of them involved theft and property crime, he said at the launch of the Rakan Cop and state-level anti-crime campaign for secondary students here yesterday.

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USING artistes like Datuk Siti Nurhaliza to campaign against drug abuse has been proven to be too expensive, said Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom.

While it was not known if their involvement had any impact against drug abuse, the problem was worsening by the day, he said.

He said as more than 80% of the addicts were Muslims, the National Drug Agency planned to hold outreach programmes in mosques starting this year.

Mohd Johari said campaigns against drug abuse held in mosques would be more effective and inexpensive.

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The Positive

THE "harm reduction" pilot programme introduced in 2005 for intravenous dadah users is a resounding success, at least as far as the Health Ministry is concerned.

Deputy director-general of Health Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat said the majority of the addicts involved in the pilot project had kicked the habit.

He said the ministry will start recruiting more addicts in new areas.

He said the ministry had an understanding with the police and the anti-drug agency on the expansion of the programme and on areas which will be out of bounds to raiding parties when the programme is on. The ministry will, however, not stop the police from arresting addicts involved in the programme caught in criminal activities or dadah abuse outside the programme area.

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Kota Kinabalu: Two death row prisoners failed in their bid at the Federal Court here on Monday to reverse the death sentences imposed on them by the High Court.

Judge Datuk Bentara Istana Nik Hashim Nik Abd Rahman who sat with Judges Datuk Haji Hashim Datuk Haji Yusof and Datuk Azmel Haji Maamor unanimously dismissed the appeals by Mohamed Hj Muslimin, 34, and Basil Omar, 36, respectively.

The judges affirmed the death sentences by hanging imposed by the High Court which had also been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

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