10
news without borders
Malaysian
seeks RM5b
treasure in
Guangzhou
A MALAYSIAN wants to dig for treasure worth
10 billion yuan (RM5 billion) said to be buried in
Guangzhou city by his father before fleeing communist
rule in the last century, the Chinese press reported
yesterday, quoting the Yang Cheng Wan Bao.
The southern Chinese city’s popular evening daily
said an official of the Guangzhou Municipal Overseas
Chinese Affairs Office made the billion dollar revelation
during a press briefing on Dec 15.
The Chinese official said the Malaysian, identified
only as Liu in the report, had sought his assistance to
find out how the treasure, hidden below what is now a
busy street in the city, could be unearthed and whether
he could lay claim to it.
Liu, in his 80s, said his father, a jeweller in the
Guangzhou province had at one time controlled the
gold and silver trade in Southeast Asia.
When the
communists
liberalised China, Press Digest
Liu’s father, who by Kong See Hoh
became a target newsdesk@thesundaily.com
of the communist
party criticism, fled China for Hongkong with his
family. They eventually settled in Malaysia.
Liu’s father died during the Cultural Revolution but
before he died he told Liu he had hidden the family
fortune, including gold, silver, antique and priceless
paintings, at a secret location in Guangzhou.
It was reported that Liu has hired experts to do
a clandestine search for the treasure based on the
information given and found that the treasure is located
below a busy street. He wanted to know whether he
would be allowed to stake claim on the treasure, saying
he is willing to donate part of the family fortune to the
Chinese government.
A lawyer contacted by Yang Chen Wan Bao said
according to Chinese laws, if Liu can pinpoint the
location of the buried treasure and is able to give a
correct description of the items in the treasure trove, he
can claim ownership to them.
However, he may not be allowed to take the antique
items out of China.
No maggot-infested
mandarins sold here
KUALA LUMPUR Fruits Wholesalers Association chairman Tai
Gong Lim said mandarin oranges sold in the market are safe
to eat as none of them is imported from Sichuan where the
citrus fruits have been hit by maggot infestation.
According to a report in China Press, he said the mandarin
oranges sold in Malaysia are mainly imported from southern
Chinese provinces such as Guangzhou, Fujian and Chaozhou
(Teo Chew).
“As such, consumers do not have to worry that they might
end up with maggot-infested mandarins from Sichuan,” he
said when asked to comment on possible fear by consumers
that they might be buying diseased mandarins following an
online report of an epidemic of maggots in mandarin oranges
in Sichuan.
According to the online report, tens of thousands of man-
darin trees in the south-western province were infested with
maggots and that government officials had tried to cover up
the epidemic.
Tai said all imported fruits are subject to checks by the
Health Ministry to ensure that they are fit for consumption.
“The Health Ministry has made good efforts to ensure
imported fruits meet safety requirements. Its officials carry
out spot checks on the fruits,” he said.
Asked if any grower in Sichuan is able to export the dis-
eased mandarins to Malaysia by some unscrupulous means,
Tai said the question does not arise as Malaysian importers
only obtain their supply from reputable exporters.
He also said Malaysian importers have long stopped bring-
ing in Sichuan mandarins as they are sourish and are shunned
by local consumers. At present, mandarins are being retailed
at RM11 per carton of 4kg and RM20 for the 8kg carton.
theSun | FRIDAY DECEMBER 19 2008
Matta ready to
resolve travellers’
woes
KUALA LUMPUR: Complaints about products or
services by travel agents can be made directly to the
Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents
(Matta).
“We have resolved 80% of such complaints to the
satisfaction of both customers and travel agents,” said
Matta Outbound VP and Complaints Bureau head John
Tan recently.
However, he said some complaints may take longer
to resolve. They can be emailed to admin@matta.org.
my
Tan assured that Matta will look into all complaints
and an acknowledgement of the complaint can be
expected by complainants within the first 24 hours.
He said complaints should preferably be written and
supported with the necessary documents to facilitate
investigations by the association.
“If customers are complaining to other parties, we
request that a copy of such complaints be sent to Matta
too,” said Tan, adding that this is to ensure that both
sides of the story from the complainants and travel
agents are heard by Matta to ensure fairness when
dealing with the complaints.
The association reminded travellers on the
importance of being sufficiently insured when they
travel overseas as they may fall sick or even be
hospitalised while on holiday or business travel.
Tan urged customers to get evidence of payment
being made by travel agents when buying insurance, or
better still, to get a copy of the receipt.
“Customers should buy insurance from Matta
members to ensure that their insurance is legitimate,”
said Tan, adding that Matta Global Traveller Insurance,
which is endorsed by two insurance companies, is
recommended.
“With this insurance, any complaints and problems
can be dealt with more conveniently.”
He said customers can request to see the
membership details of Matta travel agents when in
doubt, as it is compulsory by law for Matta members to
have them.
They should also report travel agents who have no
membership, he said, adding that Matta is concerned
about the ethics and professional conduct of travel agents.
100 have died
of dengue
fever this year
PUTRAJAYA: Dengue fever claimed two
more victims last week, bringing the
number of fatal cases in the country to
100, the Health Ministry said in a state-
ment yesterday.
The Ministry of Health’s disease con-
trol division director, Datuk Dr Hasan Ab-
dul Rahman in the statement yesterday
said the figure was slightly higher than
the 96 deaths registered for the same
period last year.
Of the total, 41 deaths were recorded
Madoff in Selangor from the 19,368 cases re-
under ported, amounting to 42% of the total.
He added that 1,155 dengue cases
house were reported in Selangor and Tereng-
arrest ganu last week (Dec 7-13) and there
pg 14 were two deaths but he said it was 118
cases less than the 1,273 recorded the
previous week.
He said four states had recorded
an increase in the number of cases,
compared with last week, when Labuan
registered a 100% increase, Perak (62%),
Putrajaya (8%), Terengganu (8%) and
Kelantan (3%).
Hasan said inspections carried out by
the ministry and local councils showed
that houses and shops accounted for
83% of the breeding grounds for the
Aedes mosquitoes.
He also said 158 Chikungunya cases
reported for the same period (Dec 7-13),
raised the total number of cases for the
year to 3,864, but this did not result in
any deaths.
From the total, 79% were detected
through serology tests and 77% of the
patients needed only outpatient treat-
ment while 23% or 873 affected cases
required treatment in hospitals, said
Hasan.