TAN SRI TAN CHENG SWEE DIES

MCA veteran from Malacca dies at 91

MALACCA: MCA stalwart Tan Sri Tan Cheng Swee (pic) died at Hospital Pantai Ayer Keroh on Sunday night. He was 91.

Tan, who was Malacca MCA adviser, was admitted to the hospital in early July for treatment due to failing health and died at about 11pm.

He leaves behind wives, Puan Sri Tay Siew Phung and Nelly Ng, two daughters, two sons and several grandchildren.

Tan was one of the founding members of MCA and was former MCA vice-president, Deputy Chief Minister of Malacca (1970-1976) and Malacca MCA state liaison committee chairman (1963-1976).

The wake will be held today, tomorrow and Thursday at 8pm at 16, Jalan Bukti China here. The funeral service will be held on Friday at 11am followed by the cremation at Melaka Memorial Park.

State MCA chief Datuk Gan Tian Loo said Tan's death was a great loss to the state and party.

He said Tan had contributed greatly to the state government during the post-Merdeka period and brought MCA to greater heights during his tenure.

“Tan Sri had once led the state as Deputy Chief Minister and was also a father figure to younger MCA leaders,” he said.

Gan said as a mark of respect, MCA would cancel all events scheduled for today.

FORMER LIDO CINEMA BURNT TO THE GROUND EARLY THIS MORNING

7th.August 2012

PASARAYA KHELASS located at the junction of Jalan Kee Ann and Jalan Pasar Baru was destroyed in a fire last night.

The local fire services receive a distress call at 11.50pm last night and rushed to the scene only to find the former Lido cinema (was originaly the El Dorado Cinema) converted to a emporium for the past 10 years was burning to the ground. With the textile, supermarket articles, clothing etc. the fire was intense until once of the walls of the old building collapsed.

Also destroyed were the 10 fruit stalls in front of Khelass and 2 food stalls. It took 47 fire personnel and 8 fire engines from 3 fire stations around Melaka to control the blaze which was put out at about 1.26am.

It was a pity that Khelass was burnt down early this morning. The owners of Khelass only changed the roof of the emporium about 6 months ago before this fire occurred.

Hopefully, the store is covered under fire insurance and we look forward to some positive development in this site.

Pity that the years old structure of the former Lido Cinema was destroyed. Lido Cinema served the Malaccan public with Shaw Production movies from the late 1960's until 1980's. Personnally, I lived a stone's throw from the former Lido Cinema in my teen years and saw numerous Shaw movies in Lido before it was converted to this current emporium in late 1980's. I feel sad that this had happened.

TOURISM MELAKA TIES UP WITH BUSONLINETICKET.COM

Tourism Melaka has signed an agreement with BusOnlineTicket.com, a company incorporated in Singapore, to provide the purchase of bus tickets on-line via our website.

By doing so, visitors from Singapore can buy tickets to travel to Malaysia and even Thailand just by clicking on the BusOnlineticket.com logo. Payment can be made via credit cards. It is easy and convenient that you can buy your bus tickets from the comfort of your home via the Internet.

Let's come to visit Melaka - World Heritage City, UNESCO by making your own way here via BusOnlineticket.com.

Enjoy.

LENGGONG VALLEY WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Malaysia now has four world heritage sites Posted on 2 July 2012 - 07:47pm Last updated on 2 July 2012 - 10:22pm

Commissioner of Heritage Malaysia Datuk Siti Zuraina Majid, (third from left), leading the Malaysian delegation to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in St Petersburg, Russia. BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR (July 2, 2012): Malaysia now has four World Heritage Sites recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco) World Heritage List, the latest being the Archaelogical Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (AHLV) in Perak.

The others are the historic cities of Melaka and George Town along the Straits of Melaka, Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak and Kinabalu Park in Sabah.

The listing of AHLV by Unesco is also 953rd on the World Heritage List in the current session of the World Heritage Committee here, and it also "testifies another dimension of the global recognition of Malaysia as a nation endowed with and committed to the conservation and protection of its world renowned heritage", the National Heritage Department said in a statement from St Petersburg, Russia today.

Malaysia is a member of the 21-nation World Heritage Committee that decides on the inscription, referral or deferral of properties proposed for nomination, a position it was elected to, for a four-year term (2011-2015).

The department said the lush Lenggong Valley contained artefactual evidence in the open air and cave sites spanning all the periods of hominid history outside Africa.

It said the series of caves and open air sites along the Perak River in the Lenggong Valley were an exceptional testimony to occupation of the area, particularly during the Palaeolithic era, but during the Neolithic and Bronze age periods from 1.83 million years ago to 1,700 years ago.

These sites represent one of the longest records of early man in a single locality in the world.

The department said Malaysians should be proud that this inscription by Unesco meant that the Lenggong Valley was an important site for humankind to be shared by all in the world.

With this comes a serious responsibility to protect and preserve its outstanding universal value for future generations, it added.

Datuk Zuraina Majid, the Commissioner of Heritage Malaysia, led the Malaysian delegation to the meeting here.

Others in the team include Professor Dr A. Ghafar Ahmad, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Wilfred Landong and Syahrin Abdullah.

Malaysia's Permanent Delegate to Unesco, Mohd Zulkifli Mohammed, also attended the meeting. – Bernama

HONDA TO BUILD HYBRID CARS IN MELAKA PLANT

Honda Motor to build hybrid cars at Malacca plant in Malaysia Reuters Jul 19, 2012, 12.25PM IST

TOKYO: Honda Motor Corp started building a second production line at its Malacca plant in Malaysia on Thursday where it will build hybrid and small-sized vehicles as local demand grows for green cars, the Japanese automaker said.

The new line, which will start operating by end of 2013, will produce small cars such as the Jazz, known as the Fit in Japan, as well as hybrid vehicles, Honda said.

The capacity at the plant will be doubled to 100,000 vehicles. Honda, which will invest a total of about $110 million for the line, said it plans to hire about 700 people once it is running.

Last year, Honda sold 4,600 hybrid vehicles in Malaysia, its largest market for hybrid cars in Southeast Asia. The automaker plans to more than double sales to about 10,000 vehicles this year.

To meet growing demand, it will start producing the Jazz hybrid locally at the end of this year using the Malacca plant's existing line until the new line is set up.

Honda currently manufactures vehicles including the Civic compact cars and flagship Accord at the Malacca plant.

MELAKA AND GEORGETOWN CELEBRATES 4TH YEAR AS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CITIES

Today is an auspicious day for Melaka and Georgetown in Penang. Both our cities were conferred with UNESCO World Heritage cities on 8th July 2008.

Four years have gone by and have there been any benefits for both cities? On the positive side, both cities have seen a marked increase of tourists both within and outside the countries. Our cities are now world recognised. With more visitors, there has been an increase in economic activities. More hotels have been built or are going to be built to cater for visitors.

More visitors have caused traffic jams especially during weekends and long public holidays. Existing roads cannot handle the increased traffic loads into the heritage areas. Some mode of transport must be implemented to prevent traffic from happening without damaging our heritage. We want to retain the charm that these cities for generations to come. Extra development should be done outside the heritage areas.

NO SMOKING IN JONKER WALK AND JALAN KOTA

Monday July 2, 2012

Malacca bans smoking in Jonker Walk and Jalan Kota By ALLISON LAI allison@thestar.com.my

MALACCA: Jonker Walk and Jalan Kota, which are major tourist attractions here, are now smoke-free zones.

Smokers risk being fined RM5,000 if caught puffing along the streets in the historic city.

State Health director Datuk Dr Dul Hadi Md Junid said smoking indoors or outdoors including entertainment outlets at the two locations were strictly prohibited.

“A signboard has been put up next to the Tan Kim Seng bridge near the entrance of Jonker Walk to remind smokers.

“There is a special spot below the signboard for smokers to put out their cigarettes and a bin for them to dispose it,'' he said at the World Tobacco-Free Day celebration in Banda Hilir here on Saturday.

He said the department planned to install eight more similar signboards along Jonker Walk.

They are in the process of getting permission from the Heritage Department for Jalan Kota as the street is located in the heritage core zone.