Civil servants banned from visiting 39 porn sites

A total of 39 mostly pornographic websites have been blocked, especially on government office computers.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today released a list of “offensive” and “obscene” websites which are blocked in all government offices’ computers.

In a written answer to Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh), Najib said there was a code of ethics for civil servants relating to the use of Internet facilities in government departments, which included a ban on surfing porn sites.

He said a circular was issued to civil servants on Nov 28, 2003 which disallowed them from uploading, downloading and keeping obscene materials, issuing statements tarnishing the government and participating in online chat sites using government computers.

Interestingly, while access to the 39 websites are blocked in government departments, many of them can be readily viewed by the general public.

Among them are skandalmelayu.blogspot.com, zarina-an-julie.blogspot.com and syafeera.blogspot.com.

Pakatan state farmers get gov't fertilisers too

Farmers in the five Pakatan Rakyat states are not being overlooked by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry in participation or distribution of projects.

Minister Noh Omar said that his ministry does not practice favouritism and worked on the basis that all farmers were entitled to get fertilisers for their farms or any other aid regardless of their political beliefs.

However he admitted that the ministry would ask for all application forms to be verified and supported by the local village heads.

"The support, however, must be based on merit," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Noraini Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong).

He said that his ministry was also on the constant look out that no one abuses the aid given to them by the ministry.

He said the ministry had formed a committee with power to appoint an examiner to ensure that the support was valid and given to qualified applicants.

He also said that the federal government would continue to use its own channels at the state and district-level for aid distribution without having to depend on the state-appointed agencies.

"At present, the Farmers Organisation Authority and the Farmer's Area Organisation have been given the mandate to select the participants and distribute the aid for the projects under the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry," he added, according to Bernama .

The five Pakatan controlled states are Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan. Of these, Kelantan, Kedah and Perak are largely agricultural-based.

PSD awards: Annual begging season

The Public Service Department (PSD) has granted scholarships to 2,100 students for this year, of which 1,176 were bumiputera students.

In revealing these statistics, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) also stressed that the government did not act in an unfair manner in awarding the highly sought after scholarships.

He said the department followed a set criteria to ensure all candidates have a fair and equal chance of obtaining a PSD scholarship.

The issue of ‘unfair PSD scholarship' distribution is raised annually with many deserving students complaining of not getting the scholarships despite their high scores.

This morning Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) had asked a question as to why there seemed to be an "annual begging season" for PSD scholarships. He wanted to know what were the criteria used by the department in awarding the scholarship.

Later, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) told reporters at the Parliament lobby that the scholarship criteria were based on what was agreed upon in the cabinet.

"The criteria for selecting PSD scholars were always dependent upon examination results, social and economic factors and racial composition," he said.

Apartments among oil palm trees

The government is proposing to build apartments in Felda settlements to help younger Felda settlers own houses.

The new government-built apartments will also reduce the subsidy borne by the government at present as it is cost effective to build apartments, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan today.

"The government will be able to minimise the burden of subsidising infrastructure facilities in Felda settlements and at the same time allowing more settlers to own houses," he said in reply to Abdul Manan Ismail (BN-Paya Besar) during question time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The settlement to benefit from this new government venture will be Jengka 11, Jengka 19, Chini 3 and Triang 3 in Pahang, Neram 1 in Terengganu and Ciku 5 in Kelantan. In all a total of 1,910 units will be built.

Ahmad said the housing facilities would encourage the new generation of Felda settlers to remain in their settlements and prevent migration into urban areas, reported Bernama .

The deputy minister added that Felda would continue to implement housing projects depending on the availability of funds.

Bills withdrawn without reasons

Two bills, which have been scheduled for tabling for second reading, have been withdrawn from the current sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.

They are the Destitute Persons Bill (Amendment) 2008 and the Malaysian Timber Industry Board Bill (Incorporation) (Validation) 2009.

The first was withdrawn by Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Chew Mei Fun while Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Hamzah Zainuddin withdrew the other.

No reason was given for the withdrawal.