Gerak Khas was a long running Malaysian movie about police and their works.

On Sept 11, Ahmad Ziqri Morshidi, a 22-year-old man with autism, was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman by touching her chest.

He was then taken to court to be remanded the next day, which meant that he had to spend the night in the police lock-up.

His mother, Hasnah Abdul Rahman told The Star on Sunday (Sept 16) that her son – who is of diminished mental capacity – did not understand the consequences of his actions nor why he was being arrested.

“I’m not blaming the police, and I don’t blame the complainant either. Putting myself in her shoes, it can be a harrowing experience, especially when you are not exposed to autism and my son looks like a normal guy, she said.

However, Hasnah wished that the police could have handled her son’s unique situation differently.

“If everybody were to sit down and listen to explanations, look at the medical report and then later judge for themselves, and make the necessary arrangements then that should be the way,” she said.

Hasnah said people like her autistic son are children in adult bodies.

“We need to address this delicately and the police need to have more interaction with such pecularities so that they know how to handle (such situations),” she said, adding that she is unaware if there is a police standard operating procedure for handling people with disabilities.

Hasnah added that the police applied for a four-day remand but this was denied by the Petaling Jaya magistrate’s court on Sept 12. Ahmad Ziqri was then released on police bail.

He is being investigated under Section 354 of the Penal Code for outrage of modesty.

“I don’t mind if the police want a blood test or even a medical test done, our family can always bring him over,” she said, adding that detaining her son for four days would have been detrimental to his mental health.

She added that after taking her son home on his release, he was not his usual self.

“I noticed that after he got home from Court, he did not want to change his clothes and eat,” she said.

She however expressed relief that the Welfare Department would be counselling her son on Monday (Sept 17) to check on him.

“It is good that they are coming because even I can’t get through to him. I am not even sure if he knows what happened to him. I don’t want him to be traumatised. There is no reaction from him, so I just don’t know,” she said.

Hasnah said that her son is a slow learner and it usually takes him two years to develop the ability to realise that he is not allowed to do certain things.

Yangon – More than 30 inmates on the run after a Myanmar jailbreak may try to cross into Thailand, an official said Monday, a day after they hijacked a garbage truck and ploughed through the prison gates.

The fugitives broke out of Hpa-An jail in the country’s eastern Karen state — which borders Thailand — on Sunday morning.

State media said 10 of the 41 escapees had been recaptured while police are scouring nearby villages for those still at large.

The jailbreak has left villagers near the prison scared, local official Khin Thet Mar told AFP.

“(The escaped prisoners) don’t have anything to eat or money to use so people think they might threaten them to get what they need,” she said.

“They might have fled to Thailand but the authorities here are trying to recapture them by blocking possible escape routes.”

The prisoners escaped after pulling the driver down from a garbage truck and then crashing through the gates, leaving them wrenched off their hinges.

The getaway vehicle was found later on Sunday stuck in the mud some 200 kilometres away by road towards the Thai border, said state-run paper The Global New Light of Myanmar.

The report said the ringleader was serving a life prison term without parole for “drug trafficking, illegal possession of arms and attempted murder”.

In total, 29 of the 41 prisoners had been sentenced while 12 were still facing trial, Khin Thet Mar confirmed.

Archive photographs of the prison, which holds around 2,000 prisoners, showed a large sign in English on the outside reading “Kind but Firm”.

The easy-going 53-year-old runs a modest police station in the equally modest town of Birdsville, making him the law across a vast swathe of outback Australia.

In this isolated, arid, ferrous-red-and-orange moonscape fringing the Simpson Desert, dust, pesky flies, feral camels, wild dogs and deadly snakes are your main companions.

Pursell acknowledges that his patch — which takes four days to drive across — is “quite big”. But he relishes the challenge.

“This (job) came up and I thought, ‘what an iconic location in Australia’, he said, “so I put an application in.”

He got the gig, and so two years ago hauled himself and his wife Sharon away from Queensland’s gleaming surf, 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) to the east, and into this sandy cauldron.

It is not a place for everyone. Daytime temperatures can soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong winds can whip up dust storms that blot out the sun and turn the skies dark.

“You’ve got to experience it to enjoy it. It’s an amazing place,” said Pursell, who became an internet sensation last year after shots of him frying an egg in the withering heat on the bonnet of his Toyota Land Cruiser went viral.

Birdsville itself is home to just over 100 people. There’s one hotel that doubles as the watering hole. A roadhouse allows people to stock up on fuel and life-saving essentials. But the highlight may be a bakery selling curried camel pies.

The tiny township is a relief from the barren landscape. Surrounding Birdsville are endless sandy plains and rolling dunes that merge into the distant horizon, a nothingness that’s both mesmerising and isolating.

So what’s the workload like?  “Crime’s not an issue,” Pursell admits, adding that much of his job is that of a first responder.

“The type of jobs that we do is mainly just making sure that people get here safely, get home safely. Breakdowns, medical issues, accidents — we’ve got to be ready to respond to those sorts of things.”

The most common type of accident is vehicles rolling over, but the station has also had to deal with a pilot whose plane lost a wheel in the air after colliding with a pelican.

Because he has to monitor an area of 240,000 square kilometres (around 92,500 square miles) — where you can go for hours or days before someone passes — the involvement of the local community is essential.

A nurse, mechanic, Aboriginal ranger or community members may join him on rescue missions.

Police officers at other stations hundreds of kilometres away also work with Pursell and nearby cattle stations to track travellers as they pass through.

Twice a year the pace picks up a bit, for the century-old Birdsville horse races, which are known across Australia, and for the Big Red Bash music festival.

Both annual events attract more than 6,000 tourists who travel for up to several days in four-wheel drives or in small planes from across the vast continent.

– Never lonely –

Pursell’s predecessor, Senior Constable Neale McShane, who retired in 2015 after a decade in Birdsville, says there was “never a dull moment”.

Each rescue of a stranded or injured traveller requires an epic drive across long dirt roads or countless sand dunes in the Land Cruiser for hours and sometimes days.

Sometimes what is required is a helicopter big enough to carry a police officer, a nurse and a stretcher, so a call is put out for any aircraft in the vicinity that can help out.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service also plays a crucial role, ferrying patients in remote regions to the nearest hospitals.

In 2009, during a desperate search for helicopters to rescue an injured motorcyclist stuck on a sand dune, an army Chinook — possibly the only one to ever land at Birdsville — touched down at the airport, looking to refuel. The man was quickly rescued and made a full recovery.

There are definite upsides to the job, McShane told AFP. “When you are out sleeping in the desert looking up at the stars, and they (feel) so close you can touch them.”

But in a small, remote community, talking about sensitive personal issues can be difficult, he says.

And the job is non-stop, with calls coming in at any time of the day on any day of the week, each of them possibly involving someone you know well who is in peril or has died.

Perhaps surprisingly, one problem the policemen don’t complain about is loneliness.

Pursell realised more people were popping into his station to talk to him after he was described in the local media as having the loneliest job in the country.

“People came in just to have a chat, because they thought I was lonely,” he says.

“We’ve have never felt isolated or lonely out here. It’s a great little town.”

The PNP said 33 people were injured in the massive storm.

The hardest hit province was Benguet, where most of those who died perished in landslides, the PNP said.

Power and communication lines were toppled, but some were restored late Sunday in parts of the mountain city and in provinces that were in the path of Ompong  as it exited the country on Saturday night.

As of 3 p.m. on Sunday, the typhoon was spotted 935 kilometers west-northwest of northern Luzon, well outside the Philippine area of responsibility. It was headed for southern China and Hong Kong, packing winds of 130 km per hour and gusts of up to 180 kph at a fast northwestward pace of 30 kph.

39 slides in Baguio

The weather cleared up on Sunday in Batanes province, allowing residents to unstrap the ropes holding down their houses.

In Isabela province, farmers began drying out wet palay and corn harvests.

But rescue and retrieval teams continued to search for nine people buried in mud in Baguio, where 39 landslides were recorded.

Five bodies had been recovered, while a sixth person was struck and killed by a falling tree.

In the mining town of Itogon, strong rains eroded a hillside, pushing down a bunkhouse and the houses of pocket miners and their families at Barangay Ucab before 2 p.m. on Saturday.

RETRIEVAL MISSION Rescuers search a landslide area near Loakan Airport for bodies of people buried bymud when “Ompong”

lashed Baguio City on Saturday. —RICHARD BALONGLONG

Family buried in Bontoc

Rescuers on Sunday recovered the bodies of 30 people and were looking for 31 more based on an initial estimate.

In Bontoc, the capital town of Mountain Province, a family of eight was buried in mudslide at Sitio Dantay, Barangay Alab Oriente, on Saturday afternoon.

Rescuers said Glendalyn Minimo, 14, and her brother, Darren Lee, 11, survived but lost their parents, grandparents and two siblings.

Also on Saturday, a man died shortly after he was rescued from a landslide near a river in Pasil town, Kalinga province.

James Cayo Bitao was rescued by volunteers and policemen at Barangay Guina-ang and was to be taken to the Pasil rural health center. He died while he was being transported on foot to Lubuagan town where he was to be driven to  Kalinga Provincial Hospital in Tabuk City.

In Nueva Vizcaya province, a landslide on Saturday killed a family of four at Barangay Banaw in Kayapa town.

The fatalities were a 36-year-old father and his three children—a 19-year-old son; a 2-year-old girl; and an 8-month-old child.

Roads closed

Halsema Highway, a major road network used to transport vegetables, was closed on Sunday due to a 50-meter erosion in Buguias town, Benguet province.

Bontoc-Banaue Road, which leads to Ifugao province, was also closed due to a 150-meter erosion near Mount Polis.

Also closed due to falling rocks was Kennon Road. Landslides also affected Marcos Highway, but it remained open to all vehicles on Sunday.

In Ilocos Norte province, 10,596 residents in two cities and 19 towns who were evacuated at the height of Ompong, returned home on Sunday.

BROKEN BRIDGE Floodwaters damaged the approach to Cayanga Bridge in San Fabian town, Pangasinan province. —WILLIE LOMIBAO

Schools damaged

The Department of Education said many schools were damaged by Ompong’s winds. Initial damage was placed at P12.6 million.

People availed themselves of free calls and charging stations offered at outlets of two telecommunication companies and a private mobile telephone retailer in Ilocos Norte.

A private water company distributed free potable water to residents.

Classes in Ilocos Norte, Benguet and Abra remained canceled to allow clearing operations and repairs to continue.

The Am-among Festival in Bontoc, which coincided with its 110th founding anniversary, was supposed to open on Monday but was also canceled.

But the Philippine Youth Games (Batang Pinoy) would push through as scheduled on Monday in Baguio.

Flooding in Bulacan

In Bulacan province, flash floods caused by cascading waters from the Sierra Madre and rains brought by Ompong submerged most of the 24 towns and rendered eight major roads impassable.

Angat Dam’s water elevation reached 210.33 meters above sea level (masl), breaching its 210-masl spilling level.

The two dams below Angat had been releasing water before Ompong blew through northern Luzon.

But Ipo Dam reduced its discharge when its reservoir level dropped to 101.08 masl.

Bustos Dam, which had been releasing water since Typhoon “Karding” struck Bulacan last month, also reduced its water discharge.

The towns of San Miguel, Marilao, Guiguinto and Calumpit suffered floods that were between 30 centimeters and 1.8 meters.

A total of 3,980 people in 32 villages of the towns of Bulakan, Plaridel, Santa Maria, Obando, Balagtas, Norzagaray, Paombong, and Guiguinto and Malolos City were moved to 32 evacuation centers.

This was part of the book “Billion Dollar Whale” shared by DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang in a speech at Teluk Intan, Perak today (Sept 15).

Lim cited the book about how Low had allegedly hosted a circus-themed extravaganza that would be known in Las Vegas as the most expensive private party ever held.

The party supposedly included an indoor Ferris wheel, circus performers, and a who’s who of Hollywood – including stars like Leonardo DiCaprio.

Spears reportedly took a six-figure sum in US dollars for her brief cameo while Swizz Beatz, Low’s producer friend and husband of Keys, received US$800,000 (RM3.31mil) for an evening’s work.

“Low arranged for every aspect of the event to be paid from the 1MDB bonds,” Lim claimed in his speech during the opening of the DAP Teluk Intan service centre.

The book “Billion Dollar Whale” is written by the Wall Street Journal’s two award-winning journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope.

Why was the book titled as such? Lim said he initially thought it was because of Jho Low’s size and appearance. But he discovered the answer in page 3 of the book: “Casino operators and nightclubs refer to their highest rollers as ‘whales’, and one thing was certain about Low, he was the most extravagant whale that Vegas, New York and St. Tropez had seen in a long time – maybe ever”.

Low also supposedly stayed at the most opulent “Chairman Suites” at Palazzo in Las Vegas, priced at US$25,000 (RM103,000) per night.

Another book mentioned by Lim is that by Clare Rewcastle Brown: “The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose”.

Lim said, “The more I read the two books, the angrier I became… how tens of billions of Malaysian ringgit and the future of the present and future generations of Malaysians could be so easily and irresponsibly stolen and pawned away!”

“I thought I had known more than ordinary Malaysians about the criminality and moral turpitude of the 1MDB scandal, but I was completely floored by the scale and scope of the immorality and brazenness of the two protagonists of the 1MDB scandal which transformed Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.”

He claimed that the two were Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the “real operator” of 1MDB, Jho Low.

Lim cited former US Ambassador to Malaysia, John Mallot, that the 1MDB scandal is even worse than what one had thought.

As John Mallot wrote in his recent article on “Billion Dollar Whale”: “Jho Low put Malaysia on the map, but for all the wrong reasons.

“The Najib in this book is incompetent and uncaring and doesn’t care to learn the details – as long as he gets money for his political purposes, and as long as his wife, Rosmah, is happy and gets what she wants.

John Mallot added, “The authors talk about Imelda Marcos and the 1,100 pairs of shoes that were found after Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in the Philippines.

“But even if each pair of shoes was worth US$1,000 (RM4,140), that still is only a million dollars. The Malaysian police say that all the ‘loot’ confiscated from the Najib family home and condos added up to US$273 million (RM1.13bil).”

Lim said, “Those who claim that 1MDB is fake news, an elaborate international conspiracy to topple a freely-elected Prime Minister in Malaysia should just read these two books.”

He added that the two books should also be translated into Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

He brought some seedlings of Chinese Cavendish bananas, or kluay hom kheaw, to his hometown in Phayao’s Chun district and found that they flourished. So, he leased a 200-rai (32-hectare) plot from villagers and started his own plantation, called “Huay Kieng”.

“I was lucky to have worked in a ‘safe’ agricultural zone in Laos, and learned many things, especially how to grow fruit without using dangerous chemicals,” he explained.

Over the past two years, Chinese investors appear to have invaded provinces in the North, such as Chiang Rai and Phayao, to grow Cavendish bananas after the practice was banned in Laos.

Locals and NGOs, however, have voiced concerns about Chinese-run plantations using pesticides excessively and giving rise to conflicts over water.

Cavendish bananas are widely consumed in China because it is said to be good for health. And thanks to the seven years he spent in Laos, Prasat built connections with Chinese businessmen and now exports the fruit to China, Vietnam and the Middle East.

He sends off some five containers, or a total of 100 tonnes, every eight months to the three countries. His income before expenses per container is about Bt1 million.

Prasat said this business would do even better if Chinese investors could take over large tracts of land and allow plantations to be controlled by Thais.

“But it’s hard to do that in the North, because the land is divided into small plots for villagers,” he explained, adding that sometimes it is difficult to meet all the orders. This why, he said, he decided to go into contract farming, following Chinese investors’ practices with hilltribes such as Hmong, Man and Yao living on the border with Laos.

Prasat sells banana saplings to his luk rai, or contract farmers, and teaches them how to get a good harvest of top quality fruit. He also finds them foreign buyers.

“I don’t take any commission or profit, but if both sides are generous they give me something,” he said, though he does sometimes struggle when contract farmers fail to pay him for the saplings.

Chinese influence

Though Prasat appears to be setting a good example by not using too many chemicals in his plantation, the Chinese-run farms are still posing big concerns in terms of environment, labour and farmers.

Contract farming for Cavendish bananas began in the North of Thailand two years ago, according to an ongoing study titled “Shifting Agricultural Plantation, Chinese Influence, and its Impacts on the Agriculture Security of Northern Thailand”.

Due to the Chinese-driven boom and expansion of the export market, fruit growers in the North had to adjust to contract farming, Chiang Mai University Sociology and Anthropology lecturer Panitda Saiyarod, who is leading the study, said.

Under this system, small-scale Thai firms act like investors and sell banana seedlings to contract farmers, and provide them with advice and farming techniques until the fruit can be harvested.

However, since China has strict quality controls in terms of size and weight, inexperienced Thai growers face the risk of their crop being rejected, the researcher said. Supported by the Thailand Research Fund, the study also found that Chinese investors preferred to own and operate huge banana plantations.

“Chinese investors invest in large plantations in other countries, because there they can have full control on the management and ensure highest production,” Panitda said.

This pattern of investment was found in Chiang Rai, where a 2,700-rai banana plantation has been leased by Phaya Mengrai Agriculture Limited Partnership. The firm is owned by Chinese-Thai investors, with the lion’s share of the firm held by locals, as Thai law does not allow foreigners to majority own or lease land for commercial agricultural purposes.

Another interesting finding is the higher incentive offered to workers. Chinese-owned plantations pay as much as Bt300 a day to labourers, but a major share of the work is taken over by migrant workers, affecting the bargaining power of local labourers.

Panitda raised concerns about workers’ rights being abused and the lack of proper healthcare benefits. She also pointed out that measures to protect the environment were still weak. Hence, she said, the authorities should screen all foreign investors and strictly enforce public land laws to ensure resources are fairly shared between big business owners and communities.

Her study also learned that Thai agricultural goods exporters relied heavily on China, and that the mainland is one of the biggest buyers of bananas from Thailand. Though statistics show a continuous increase in exports from 2014 to 2017, the value of banana exports last year alone rose to 48.82 per cent to around Bt350 million. These figures were released by the Information and Communication Technology Centre of the Office of the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Commerce as well as the Customs Department.

“But with volatile cultivation prices, farmers are earning less and their debts could rise. This will certainly affect their lives in the future,” she concluded.

By the time its impact on the environment and marine ecosystems became clear, plastic had conquered the world marketplace.

“A toxic love story” is how Tommy Tjiptadjaja, co-founder and CEO of Indonesia-based social enterprise company Greenhope, describes people’s relationship with the material. Today we face a dilemma – we can’t live with plastic’s impact, but we can’t live without its convenience.

Tjiptadjaja’s company specialises in the development of sustainable production and consumption practices for plastic.

He sat down with other panellists during the World Economic Forum on Asean 2018 (WEF Asean) to discuss how Asean countries can turn the tide in the battle against plastic waste.

The outcome could be decided here in Southeast Asia – Asean countries are among the world’s largest producers of plastic waste.

A report by the Ocean Conservatory and the McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment showed half of the world’s plastic waste comes from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Much of that waste ends up in the ocean. According to a WEF report, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, unless the volume of waste people produce is reduced.

Pointing fingers, however, will likely lead us nowhere. Instead, solutions must take into account the unique characteristics of communities. Plastic waste is a problem too big for any one person or government to tackle alone – the key to success may lie in the ability to involve local people, said the panellists.

Plastic is cheap to produce and its applications are numerous beyond measure. For these reasons, it is a constant presence in everyday life. As with many of life’s other conveniences, the key word is moderation. Panellists argued that while effective regulation and technology will be important, the largest factor is likely to be whether customers are willing to shift their habits.

These shifts have already begun, with rising public awareness and more educational programmes emerging in recent years.

From a young girl who asks her father, a manufacturer, if he makes a good kind of plastic, to classrooms where students volunteer to take part in a recycling group, the will to change is gaining momentum.

Some supermarket chains are beginning to charge extra for plastic bags. They hope they can prompt a change in the way people shop.

Enabled by the rise of social media, these sorts of grassroots movements have the potential to force plastic makers to change their business model.

Everyone has a part to play in the effort. The best solutions are likely to come from a multitude of different sources, from people of different backgrounds coming together.

In some places, authorities have taken regulatory actions to reduce waste. One example is Delhi, where the Indian government introduced a plastic bag ban.

Tjiptadjaja, however, said policies must be crafted from an informed position lest they have unintended consequences.

“What are people using as a substitute? Do they use carton bags or do they use paper bags? Those things are more energy-intensive to produce,” he said. “They use it often enough and they create this other thing – which is climate change.”

Panellists argued for solutions that include local communities, businesses and governments. The best solutions would be economically and technologically sustainable while improving the lives of local people.

Greenhope has introduced a biodegradable cassava-based plastic called Ecoplas. Tjiptadjaja hopes that material, along with an oxo-biodegradable additive they call Oxium, will help reduce plastic waste worldwide.

Did you know bright green is one of the least eco-friendly colours to print on a label? Cees ‘T Hart, CEO of Carlsberg Group, told audiences that fact during the panel. The group is planning to reduce the flashiness of its green label to lessen its environmental impact.

We all share the Earth, so plastic waste is not a problem that belongs to any one group. There is no reason we cannot come together to deal with it, agreed panellists. Tjiptadjaja best summed up their sentiment: “Less ego, more eco.”

The escape occurred on Sunday morning as prisoners seized a truck that had entered Hpa-An prison in eastern Karen state.

“They attacked a prison officer, wounding him, and drove the truck out off the prison,” local official Khin Thet Mar told AFP.

Citing conflicting reports from police and prison officers, she said the truck had either gone in to drop off sand and stone for construction, or to take out garbage from the facility.

The inmates drove through the prison gates, she said.

Khin Thet Mar warned locals to contact authorities if strangers appeared in their villages.

Photos showed one side of a large prison gate wrenched off its hinges by the force of the truck crashing through it.

Forty-one prisoners escaped, according to state police chief Aung Myat Moe, but three have been recaptured while the hunt intensifies for the rest.

Archive photographs of the prison, which holds around 2,000 prisoners, shows a large sign in English on the outside reading “Kind but Firm”.

    Harvard educated Tshering Tobgay was seeking a second term in the poll but fell short of two rival parties, who will contest a runoff on October 18.

Election officials said Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), which won Bhutan’s first-ever election when the kingdom transitioned to democracy in 2008, attracted nearly 93,000 votes, narrowly beating Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT).

“I congratulate DNT and DPT and their candidates (on) their outstanding performance,” Tobgay posted on Twitter.

Tobgay, a 52-year-old mountain-biking enthusiast, and his People’s Democratic Party won power from opposition in 2013.

More than 291,000 people cast their vote in Saturday’s poll for a 66 percent turnout of registered voters, an election official told AFP.

Bhutan has tried to shield itself from the downsides of modernisation, striving for “Gross National Happiness” over over GDP growth, maintaining a carbon-negative economy and keeping tourist numbers down with a daily fee of $250 per visitor in high season.

The 800,000 inhabitants of Switzerland-sized Bhutan got television in 1999 and democracy arrived only in 2008 when its “dragon king” monarchy ceded absolute power.

Corruption, rural poverty, youth unemployment and the prevalence of criminal gangs remain challenges for Bhutan’s economy.

During the last election campaign in 2013 India abruptly withdrew subsidies for kerosene and cooking gas imports, in what was seen as an attempt to coerce a change of government.

India is unhappy about China’s growing influence in Bhutan.

Last year India and China became embroiled in a military standoff over the Doklam plateau high in the Himalayas claimed by both China and Bhutan.

New Delhi does not claim the territory but has a military presence in Bhutan.

It stepped in to prevent Chinese border guards from building a road there, prompting Beijing to accuse it of trespassing on Chinese soil.