IN CONJUNCTION with the International Day of Peace, more than 15 cars headed to Taiping to promote peace

Held for the third year, the two-day event was jointly organised by various organisations such as Service Civil International, Malaysian Indian Youth Council and Malaysia for World Peace.

Organising committee member Stephen Nah said that Taiping was chosen as the name means ‘peace’ in Mandarin.

Apart from the cars, 50 NGOs joined the jouney along the way.

DID you know that using a safety belt or wearing crash helmet can reduce a person’s death risk by 61% and 45% respectively?

“These statistics from the World Health Organisation are very important for motorists to know.

“The simple act of putting on a crash helmet or wearing your seat belt correctly can save your life,” said Perak deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm (I) Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah in a press conference after launching a road safety campaign in Ipoh on Tuesday.

The campaign, called the 10th Yamaha Balik Kampung Safety Cam-paign, was jointly organised by the Malaysian Motorcycle & Scooter Dealers Association and Hong Leong Yamaha Motor in conjunction with the coming Hari Raya Aidilfitri exodus.

GEORGE TOWN: Archaeologists have stumbled upon eight human skeletal remains, believed to be from the Neolithic period between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago, at an ancient burial site at Gua Kain Hitam near the Niah Caves, Sarawak.

The research team, comprising members from Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia headed by Prof Madya Dr Stephen Chia, and the Sarawak Museum Department headed by its deputy director Ipoi Datan, uncovered the remains.

They were buried together with artefacts such as pottery, beaded ornaments and food remains such as shells and animal bones.

The centre’s director Prof Madya Mokhtar Saidin told a press conference on Thursday that the discovery in the Niah-Subis limestone hill was considered to be of great significance as the excavated remains were almost complete.

“Of the eight, only six -- which were the remains of five men and a woman -- were brought back in June to the centre for analysis.

“The female is believed to be aged between 35 and 45 while the men were probably aged between 25 and 45, They measure between 156cm and 160cm,” he said.

NINE Perak Chinese independent schools have identified a piece of land in Taiping where they plan to grow oil palm to earn income for their expenses.

Revealing this, Perak Education, Local Government, Housing and Public Transport Committee chairman Nga Kor Ming said the state would look into the application by the school boards of governors for the proposed site in Taiping.

He said the school boards had also agreed to set up a non- profit company to manage the land.

“All the nine schools will have equal share and the school boards will not draw any salary or directors’ fees,” he told reporters after a meeting with the school boards in Ipoh on Tuesday.

The nine schools are SM Shen Jai, SM Yuk Choy and SM Poi Lam all three in Ipoh, SM Nam Hwa in Sitiawan, SM Yik Ching in Pantai Remis, SM Pei Yuan in Kampar, SM Hua Lian in Taiping, SM Sam Min in Teluk Intan, and SM Tsung Wah in Kuala Kangsar.

HOMEMAKER Aminah (not her real name) from Taman Assam Mara in Taiping is likely to celebrate the coming Hari Raya minus any sofa for her guests to sit on.

Not only her sofa but also her television and radio sets were seized by the Taiping Municipal Council in its attempt to recover about RM7,000 in assessment arrears accumulated over the past 10 years.

A stunned Aminah, in her 50s, could only clasp both her hands to her mouth as the items were being carried out by the council’s enforcement men onto a waiting truck.

She then appealed to the enforcement men to wait for her husband, a security guard, to return home to settle the matter amicably but to no avail.

TAIPING: A minor derailment at Pondok Tanjung about 60km from here forced about 250 passengers of a north-bound express train Ekspres Senandung Langkawi to continue their journey on chartered buses.

However, no one was injured in the 4am incident which happened after the 15-coach train mowed down a stray buffalo.

A KTM Bhd spokesman said although it was a minor derailment, the locomotive engine had jumped tracks.

TAIPING: A cook injured his left hand when he instinctively caught an object thrown at his father while they were watching a lantern festival at the Lake Gardens here on Sunday night.

The object turned out to be a firecracker which blew up in his hand.

“The firecracker was about the size of a ping pong ball,” said Hor Kim Ann, 24.

Hor, a bachelor who works in Singapore, had returned to his parents’ home in Aulong here a few days earlier for a holiday.

Recalling the incident when Aulong assemblyman Yew Tian Hoe visited him at a private hospital yesterday, Hor said that the incident occurred at 10pm while he was with his parents at the festival.

Visit the Taiping Zoo to get up close and personal with all the different primates.

Ask any senior resident in Taiping, and they will tell you stories of the Monkey Forest during their younger days.

In the middle of the Taiping Lake Gardens, there used to be a jungle, with a track running through it that was a favourite haunt of courting couples.

In the 1880s, tin miners dug up the surrounding grounds, creating the present lakes, but left this green patch alone.

Couples who came here, however, had to contend with peeping toms on the ground as well as from above because four species of monkeys made their home here: the Long-tailed Macaque, the Pig-tailed Macaque, the Dusky Leaf Monkey or Langur, and the Banded Leaf Monkey.

BROKEN artefacts, believed to be utensils used during World War Two, have been discovered in some streams at the foot of Bukit Larut in Taiping.

The discovery has posed questions over what transpired in the hilly area during the period.

“They could be utensils used by the British or the Japanese soldiers during the war,” said Mohd Radzi Mat Rifin, a self-professed history buff.

Mohd Radzi, 45, and his friend Tarmizi Lod, 43, had earlier discovered a row of trenches and a cave which were believed to have been used to store ammunition during the war.

The duo decided to unveil their findings to the press recently since they felt that the site, accessible via Burmese Pool, a well-known picnic area, could hold historical information.

THE current rainy spell in Taiping has kept staff from the Taiping Municipal Council’s health and town services department on their toes.

Their main concern is not flash floods but the aedes mosquito.

“In the past few days, we have three confirmed dengue cases in the town centre and we have sent our men out to remind shop house residents to be on high alert,” said the department director Yahaya Ahmad.

Yahaya said shop house residents should ensure that there were no stagnant pools of rain water around their premises.

“We have also found that some septic tanks of shop houses no longer had their manhole covers, presumably stolen.

“Such septic tanks can also become a breeding ground for aedes mosquitoes,” he said, adding that residents should take their own initiative to cover up the manholes.