SCHOOL, SURAU USED AS 'TORTURE CENTRE'

The Star
29/6/2009

INSTEAD of using the school’s surau to perform prayers, students of a religious school turned it into a “torture centre” to bully the junior students, Kosmo! said.
A student, who declined to be identified, told the paper that he and four others were beaten up by the bullies on Thursday night at the surau.
He said they were beaten because they had allegedly refused to listen to their seniors.
“I was the last one to enter the surau, and I could hear the screams of the students who were being beaten up,” he added.
When asked why he didn’t lodge a police report, the student said he considered the matter settled after a meeting between the school authorities and the victims’ parents.
Only one of the victims had lodged a police report, the paper said.
> There is no connection between smoking and a person’s job performance, Public Service director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam told Berita Minggu.
Ismail said that the creation of special smoking areas at government departments for the smoking population of 1.2 million civil servants would not help them to increase productivity levels.
“You can’t expect people to smoke just to achieve better work performance.
“Government offices are no-smoking zones and they will stay that way,” he said in response to the request by Cuepacs for the Government to create smoking zones at government offices.
Cuepacs had voiced its concern that preventing civil servants from indulging in their smoking habit would affect their productivity.