*   ..BERNAMA NEWS SERVICE FOR MALAYSIAN STUDENTS
 *   ..       (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)
 *
 *   1. UPM's NEW DEGREE COURSE TO START IN JULY
 *
 *   SERDANG: Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) will start its
Bachelor of Science (Medical Sciences) programme when the new
academic session begins in July.
 *   UPM Vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Syed Jalaluddin Syed Salim
said the university would be taking its first batch of 36
students for the degree course.
 *   He said the course would be offered at the university's
Biomedical And Health Sciences Faculty which had just been set
up.
 *   UPM's medicine course will be different from other medical
courses offered by local universities as students can opt for
other courses midway.
 *   The course would start with a three year Bachelor of Science
(Medical Sciences) degree course after which students can
continue with a degree in clinical science and become general
practitioners.
 *   Students also have the option upon completion of the
bachelor's degree to specialise in other medical-related courses
in micro-biology, bio-chemistry, parasitology and studies in
genetics.
 *   Medical courses offered by other local universities now
require students to follow the entire five-year course at the end
of which they qualify as doctors or general practitioners.
 *   Prof Syed Jalaluddin said the university decided to come up
with a more flexible course as there had been cases where
students decided that they did not want to become general
practitioners midway through the course. - Star
 *
 *   2. FIVE ON EXCHANGE PROGRAMME TO US
 *
 *   BANGI: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has sent five
students to the University of Ohio (UO) on a student exchange
programme.
 *   Speaking at the farewell meeting with the students, UKM
Deputy Vice-chancellor (Student Affairs) Prof Muhammad Yusuf said
this was the first time the university was sending students on an
exchange programme.
 *   He said the students would be at the university for five
weeks until July 19.
 *   They would attend lectures together with UO students who were
taking up courses in their respective fields, said Prof Muhammad.
 *   He said the university hoped that the students by observing
and participating in the lectures could come up with suggestions
that would help UKM improve its teaching techniques.
 *   They could do so by comparing the approaches used by both
universities, he added.
 *   The five who will go for the student exchange programme are
Teaching English As A Second Language (TESL) students Nawal Aeida
Asarudin and Anisah Kassim, Life Sciences Faculty student Faiz
Hashim, Social And Humanities Sciences student Ching Mi Yee and
alllied Health Sciences Faculty student Nora Khoo Mei Gek. - Star
 *
 *   3. LAND ACQUISITION FREEZE EXTENDED
 *
 *   KUALA TERENGGANU: The freeze on State Governments acquiring
land has been extended to cover public purposes until the
proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Act 1990 are tabled
in Parliament, most probably in August.
 *   On May 22, State Governments were ordered to stop acquiring
land for commercial purposes.
 *   Land and Co-operative Development Minister Datuk Osu Sukam
said the latest move was necessary to avoid problems. The
proposed amendments are expected to address the issue of
compensation for land owners.
 *   The proposed amendments will also include provisions for the
value of land to be assessed based on its use for public
projects.
 *   This is to avoid inflation of the land value based on
potential market price.
 *   As for commercial ventures, Osu said land owners would be
allowed to use a portion from the sale of the land to invest in
the company set up to undertake the development project.
 *   Osu said the amendments would also seek to define the
differences between public and commercial purposes to ensure
State Governments did not abuse their authority. - NST
 *
 *   4. STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF RAKAN MUDA PROGRAMME
 *
 *   PETALING JAYA: The Youth and Sports Ministry will set up a
think tank this week to study the effectiveness of the
implementation of the Rakan Muda programme.
 *   The minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the think tank was
also to obtain views on the programme and to see if any new
approach was needed.
 *   Speaking to reporters after attending a briefing on the Rakan
Muda Phase Two Programme here, he said the think tank would
analyse whether the Rakan Muda launched by Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Oct 29 1994 had attracted the
interest of its target groups who are youths who like to loaf.
 *   "They will identify those who like to loaf apart from
formulating a method to ensure the programme really hits its
target group, like youths with problems," he said.
 *   Muhyiddin admitted that the Rakan Muda programme so far had
not achieved its desired target because it was not easy to mould
the attitude of youths.
 *   However it was not accurate to say that the programme was
totally ineffective, he said.--Bernama
 *
 *   5. STUDENTS FAIL TO PROJECT NATION'S IMAGE
 *
 *   KOTA BAHARU: Malaysian students studying abroad have failed
to project the nation's image, National Unity and Social
Development Minister Datin Paduka Zaleha Ismail said.
 *   She said the students were more inclined to project their
respective racial features compared to their national identity.
 *   "The act of staying together with those from the same race
arises from the feeling that it is safer to do so,"she said after
opening the Jiran Muda Unity Panel 1996 here.
 *   To overcome this situation, courses or activities based on
unity should be organised to allow people especially youths from
all races to interact, she said.--Bernama
 *
 *   6. TRAINING CENTRE FOR WELFARE WORKERS TO BE BUILT
 *
 *   KANGAR: A centre to train welfare workers and volunteers will
soon be built in Kuala Lumpur at a cost of RM2.5 million.
 *   National Unity and Social Development Minister Datin Paduka
Zaleha Ismail said it was scheduled to be built in 1994 but was
postponed because of technical problems.
 *   Kuala Lumpur City Hall approved the building plans last month
and construction work is expected to start before the end of the
year, she said in a speech at the National Social Welfare Council
(MKMM) annual meeting here.
 *   Zaleha said the MKMM is formulating an action plan to unite
welfare and voluntary bodies in order to improve their service to
the community.
 *   Feedback is being sought from the organisations to help draft
the action plan, she added.--Bernama
 *
 *   7. INCOME LIMIT FOR RENTING FLATS TO BE RAISED
 *
 *   KUALA KLAWANG: A study will be conducted to raise the
household income limit for renting of low-cost flats in Kuala
Lumpur, Johor Baharu, Shah Alam and Pulau Pinang.
 *   Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Tajol
Rosli said this was necessary because the household income of
most applicants of low-cost flats in these places exceeded the
present limit of RM500 a month.
 *   If the government insisted on allowing only families earning
below RM500 to rent the flats, many would not be able to meet the
condition and the flats would have to be left vacant, he said.
--Bernama
 *
 *   8. FIVE KEDAH EXCO MEMBERS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR SANUSI
 *
 *   ALOR SETAR: Five of the eight Kedah state Exco members who
were contacted on Tuesday have expressed their willingness to
serve under the new Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Sanusi Junid as long
as their services are needed.
 *   There are Public Utilities and Communication Committee
chairman Datuk Abdul Rahman Ibrahim; Local Government and
Information Committee chairman Abdullah Hasnan Kamaruddin;
Agriculture and Rural Development Committee chairman Abdul Razak
Hashim; Religious Committee chairman Sheikh Alias Mustafa; and
Health and Social Development Committee chairman V. Saravanan.
 *   Housing and Industrial Development Committee chairman Datuk
Beh Heng Seong; Education, Youth and Sports Development Committee
chairman Abdul Rahman Ariffin and State Culture, Art and Tourism
Development Committee chairman Datuk Syed Razak Syed Zain could
not be contacted for comment.--Bernama
 *
 *   9. MEDICAL INFO JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY
 *
 *   KUALA LUMPUR: Information on acne or more serious ailments
like AIDS is now only a phone call away with the launch of
"Medical infoLINE" by Telekom Malaysia Bhd here on Tuesday.
 *   The public can dial 600-857-911 to access the helpline which
was launched by Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng.
 *   Telekom Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Datuk Mohamed Said
Mohamed Ali said "Medical infoLINE" is available 24 hours a day
and eventually will have a total of nine lines.
 *   The other telephone lines will be launched in stages during
the next two months.
 *   He said callers would be charged 13 sen per four seconds
during peak hours and 13 sen per eight seconds off peak hours for
the information.
 *   The information will be updated once a year or as required
and messages will be in English and Malay.--Bernama
 *
 *   10. SAFETY SIGNS FOR WORKERS TO FOLLOW
 *
 *   KUALA LUMPUR: The use of standard safety symbols or signs at
strategic locations will influence the workers to follow safety
procedures in doing their job, Deputy Human Resources Minister
Datuk Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said.
 *   These signs, he said, are an important mean of communication
which can be easily understood by the workers speak different
languages.
 *   "It will thus help overcome communication problem between the
employer and his workers," he said when launching a safety sign
poster competiton here.
 *   Urging the employer to use appropriate safety signs in line
with the safety and health risks involved and their prevention
methods, he said the use of signs without conveying the right
message would only confuse the workers and would probably result
as a risk factor.
 *   Work places dealing with dangerous materials must give
priority to the use of proper safety signs, he added. -- Bernama
 *
 *   11. GOVT WILL LOOK INTO ENVIRONMENT NGOS' CALL, SAYS LAW
 *
 *   KUALA LUMPUR: The government will look into the environmental
non-governmental organisations' call for the setting up of the
National Council for Sustainable Development, Science, Technology
and Environment Minister Datuk Law Hieng Ding said.
 *   He said, initially the government felt that the existing
National Council on Development was sufficient to handle the
country's sustainable development task.
 *   However, the environmental NGOs' fear was that the council's
focus might be more on development rather than environmental
aspect to promote the sustainable development, he told reporters
after a three-hour dialogue between the ministry officials and
NGOs representatives here.
 *   This was one of the important topics discussed at the
dialogue attended by 24 representatives from 16 NGOs at the
ministry.--Bernama
 *
 *   12. M'SIA AND INDIA TO ENHANCE ECONOMIC LINKS
 *
 *   KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to step up efforts to enhance
existing economic ties with India, its outgoing High Commissioner
to Malaysia V.K. Nambiar said today.
 *   Although an uptrend in economic links between the two
countries was evident in the past few years, there was still room
for improvement.
 *   India with its abundant resources and economic opportunities
was an ideal country for Malaysian investors to invest and set up
joint ventures, he said.
 *   Trade between both countries doubled from US$600 million in
1991 to US$1.38 billion last year with a diversified trend which
saw a shift from traditional to non-traditional business
ventures, he told Bernama in an interview.
 *   He said India's imports from Malaysia constituted less than
1.9 per cent of its total imports and accounted for less than one
per cent of Malaysia's export volume.
 *   "This scenario reflects the need for both countries to
enhance their bilateral economic cooperation," he said. --Bernama
 *
 *   13. FORMER ARMED FORCES CHIEF PASSED AWAY
 *
 *   KUALA LUMPUR: Former Armed Forces chief Jeneral Tan Sri Haji
Abdul Hamid Bidin passed away at Pantai Medical Centre here this
morning.
 *   He was 78.
 *   His son Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said his father died at
6.55am after an operation last night.
 *   The Pekan-born Abdul Hamid, leaves a wife Puan Sri Zaharah
Haji Ahmad, 70, three sons and a daughter.
 *   Abdul Hamid joined the Royal Malay Regiment in 1939 and
served in various capacities before being appointed the Armed
Forces chief in 1969.
 *   After his retirement, he was appointed ambassador to Thailand
and Laos.
 *   He served as a Senator from 1976 to 1981 before being
appointed Dewan Negara deputy president.--Bernama
 *
--BERNAMA