Cops seize air rifles and keris

PETALING JAYA: Close to 19,000 criminals have been nabbed by the police under Ops Cantas Khas so far, along with the seizure of an assortment of weapons.

Besides 35 firearms, nine fake guns, a hand grenade and 1,954 bullets, the police also seized a variety of unconventional weapons, inclu­ding homemade air rifles, crossbows, axes, a stun gun, a sickle and a keris.

Among those netted during the nationwide major crackdown against crime, which was launched on Aug 17, include wanted armed robbers, extortionists and secret society members.

Federal Anti-Vice, Gambling and Secret Societies Division (D7) principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Jalil Hassan said to date, 18,977 suspected criminals had been arrested.

“We screened 508,004 people and 309,677 vehicles and recovered 840 stolen vehicles,” he said yesterday.

Ops Cantas Khas was launched following a spate of shootings in the country. The shootings were believed to be related to turf wars among gangs and linked to illegal activities such as drug trafficking and extortion.

The operation was targeted at tracking and seizing weapons, especially guns, from gang members.

The next phase of Ops Cantas Khas will see the police going after the underworld kingpins and seizing their assets.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said on Monday that this would be done after amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act are gazetted.

Those with information on secret societies have been urged to contact the police at 03-2266 3333 or 03-2031 9999, or go to the nearest police station.

Rain fails to dampen Aidiladha spirit

KUALA LUMPUR: Overcast skies and rain in several parts of the country did not prevent Muslims from turning out in large numbers at mosques and participating in the sacrificial slaughter of animals in conjunction with Aidiladha.

In Shah Alam, the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, performed Aidiladha prayers at the State Mosque with about 10,000 people.

Also present was Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Thirty-nine cows, two of which were donated by the Sultan, were sacrificed in the compound of the mosque.

In Putrajaya, 46 cows were sacrificed at the Precinct 16 car park.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who is the Putrajaya MP, helped to distribute the meat to the people.

A kenduri rakyat was held in Precinct 11.

In Kuantan, Pahang’s Sultan Ahmad Shah, accompanied by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, performed Aidiladha prayers with thousands of people at the Sultan Abu Bakar 1 State Mosque.

Pekan Umno Religious Bureau chairman Datuk Ariffin Daud said 303 cows were distributed to mosques and surau in the Pekan parliamentary constituency for the sacrificial ritual.

He also said that seven cows donated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would be sacrificed in the compound of the Prime Minister’s residence in Pekan today. — Bernama

Twitter pays engineer US$10mil as Silicon Valley tussles for talent

SAN FRANCISCO: Among Twitter Inc's highest-paid executives, Christopher Fry's name stands out.

The senior vice-president of engineering raked in $10.3 million (RM30.9mil) last year, just behind Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo's US$11.5mil (RM34.5mil), according to Twitter's IPO documents. That is more than the paychecks of executives such as Chief Technology Officer Adam Messinger, Chief Financial Officer Mike Gupta and Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani.

Welcome to Silicon Valley, where a shortage of top engineering talent amid an explosion of venture capital-backed start-ups is inflating paychecks.

"The number of A-players in Silicon Valley hasn't grown," said Iain Grant, a recruiter at Riviera Partners, which specializes in placing engineers at venture-capital backed start-ups. "But the demand for them has gone through the roof."

Stories abound about the lengths to which employers will go to attract engineering talent - in addition to the free cafeterias, laundry services and shuttle buses that the Googles and Facebooks of the world are already famous for.

One start-up offered a coveted engineer a year's lease on a Tesla sedan, which costs in the neighbourhood of US$1,000 (RM3,000) a month, said venture capitalist Venky Ganesan. He declined to identify the company, which his firm has invested in.

At Hotel Tonight, which offers a mobile app for last-minute hotel bookings, CEO Sam Shank described staging the office to appear extra lively for a prospective hire. He roped in two employees for a game of ping-pong and positioned another group right by the bar.

It worked: the recruit signed on and built a key piece of the company's software.

In Fry's case, his compensation came mostly in the form of stock awards, valued last year at US$10.1mil (RM30.3mil), according to Twitter's IPO documents registered with securities regulators. He drew a salary of US$145,513 (RM436, 539) and a bonus of US$100,000 (RM300,000).

Some might call that underpaid. Facebook Inc's VP of engineering, Mike Schroepfer, took in US$24.4mil (RM73.2mil) in stock awards the year before the social network's 2012 initial public offering. He also drew a salary of US$270,833 (RM812,499) and a bonus of US$140,344 (RM421,032). But Facebook that year posted revenue of US$3.71bil (RM11.13bil), 10 times more than Twitter's US$317mil (RM951mil).

Grant said more than three-quarters of candidates who took VP of engineering roles at his client companies over the last two years drew total cash compensation in excess of US$250,000 (RM750,000). Many also received equity grants totaling 1 to 2% of the company, the recruiter added.

Lore of 10X

The hot demand for engineers is driven in part by a growing number of start-ups, venture capitalists say. Some 242 Bay Area companies received early-stage funding - known as a seed round - in the first half of this year, according to consultancy CB Insights. That is more than the number for all of 2010.

Another factor is the increasing complexity of technology. Many in Silicon Valley like to discuss the lore of the "10x" engineer, who is a person so talented that he or she does the work of 10 merely competent engineers.

"Having 10x engineers at the top is the only way to recruit other 10x engineers," said Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures, an early-stage venture fund.

Former colleagues said Fry, who joined Twitter earlier this year, fits the bill. The messaging service poached him from software giant Salesforce.com Inc, where Fry had worked in various positions since 2005, rising from engineering manager in the Web Services team to senior VP of development.

Perhaps most attractive to Twitter is the fact that Fry joined Salesforce when it was also a six-year-old company with big ambitions of taking on the software establishment. At that time, Salesforce's product development needed help, Fry has said in previous interviews. He whipped them into shape, helping build the company into one of the hottest enterprise-software providers in the industry today.

Twitter has had its share of technical problems, such as the notorious "fail whale" that regularly appeared on screens during outages. That made Fry's experience all the more valuable.

"All it takes is a couple of bad incidents where Twitter is down, or there's a security breach. That could be the end of the company," said Chuck Ganapathi, an entrepreneur who previously worked with Fry at Salesforce, where he was senior vice president for products.

"You need somebody of this caliber to run it."

Neither Twitter nor Fry responded to requests for comment.

Personal drum studio

Today, even entry-level engineers can draw lucrative salaries in the Valley. Google Inc offered US$150,000 in annual wages plus US$250,000 (RM750,000) in restricted stock options to snag a recent PhD graduate who had been considering a job at Apple Inc, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The average software engineer commands a salary of US$100,049 (RM300,147) in Silicon Valley, according to Dice, a technology-recruitment service. That is down from US$113,488 (RM340,464) last year, due to an increase in hiring of less experienced engineers, said a Dice spokeswoman.

By comparison, the average salary for all professions in San Francisco's Bay Area is US$66,070 (RM198,210), according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Other jobs in the area can command higher wages - physicians make US$133,530 (RM400,590), a lawyer about US$174,440 (RM523,320) and a civil engineer makes US$107,440 (RM322,320) - but the tech industry often offers restricted stock or options on top of salaries.

Even for plain-vanilla engineers, competition is intense, said Dice CEO Mike Durney, leading companies to go to great lengths to attract and hold onto the right people.

Accommodation-search service ApartmentList rents a drum studio on an ongoing basis to help retain a key engineer, said CEO John Kobs.

In one of the better-known examples, Google famously allowed engineers to devote 20% of their time on personal projects. It is worth it, many recruiters and industry executives say.

Many of the most talented engineers bring more than programming chops, promoting the sort of career diversity prized in Silicon Valley.

Take Fry, who earned a PhD in cognitive science from the University of California at San Diego in 1998. He is a surfer, a sailor and a snowboarder, according to his personal website.

In a fitting twist for Twitter, known for its blue bird mascot, Fry also has avian expertise. His postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, focused on the auditory cortex of zebra finches. - Reuters

Hospital holds week-long organ donation drive

KOTA KINABALU: A week-long organ donation drive is now being carried out at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital to get more people to pledge as donors in the state.

Hospital director Dr William Gotulis said there were more than 17,000 people on the national transplant waiting list but the number of donors, as well as suitable organs in the country, was still insufficient.

From this, Sabah had been listed as among the states with the lowest pledges in Malaysia, he said, in noting that the donation drive was also to create awareness on the need and importance of organ donation.

He said among the main reasons for the situation were because people were afraid of disfigurement and pain during the organ procurement surgery, and the belief that donating organs was against one’s religion or culture.

“No pledge means no donor. No donor means no transplantation,” Dr William said after launching the event.

The event is organised by the hospital’s tissue and organ procurement team in collaboration with Sabah Regional Transplant Procurement Management Unit in an effort to promote organ donation awareness among hospital staff and also the public.

Later, visitors and invited guests heard stories about past donors as well as patients who died after waiting in vain for suitable organs.

The stories were told by regional transplant coordinator Low Lieh Yong, who also commemorated a patient, Winnie Chen, who died three years ago while waiting for a heart transplant.

Despite her state, she still inspired people as she donated her kidneys, lungs, liver and corneas after her death.

The crowd also heard local donor Damian George’s story, who donated one of his kidneys to his sister in 2008, and continued to live a normal life after that.

Further information can be obtained at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital II, by contacting the National Transplant Resource Centre at its toll-free number 1-800-88-9080, surf online at www.dermaorgan.gov.my or through Facebook at www.facebook.com/agiftoflifesabah.

Star-studded awards ceremony

MALACCA: The state awards ceremony of the 75th birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negri of Malacca Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob was a star-studded affair when several celebrities also received awards.

Rock legend Ramli Sarip, Harimau Muda A coach Ong Kim Swee and award-winning film and television stalwart Rosyam Nor were among 427 recipients who were conferred various titles during the second investiture held at the Seri Negeri hall yesterday.

Ramli, Ong and Rosyam all received the Darjah Pangkuan Seri Melaka (DPSM) award that carries the title Datuk.

Ramli said he never thought that he would be given the award and thanked the state government for recognising his work in the music industry.

“I am really happy to receive this award and I wish to share the honour with my family and those who have been supporting me throughout the years,” he said after the ceremony.

Rosyam, whose real name is Mohamed Noor Shamsuddin, said he was excited about the state recognition of his work in the local television and film industry.

This is an honour not just to me, but also all the local artistes who have been working hard.

“I see this recognition as a bigger responsibility and a motivation for me to work harder, contribute more and keep fighting for the artistic scene in Malaysia,” he added.

Rosyam insisted he would remain the same person despite being called a “Datuk”.

Ong thanked the Malacca government for the award. He said the Malaysian football team was fully prepared for the SEA Games that will be held in Naypyidaw, Myanmar.

Bukit Aman management director Comm Datuk Mortadza Nazarene received the Darjah Cemerlang Melaka (DCSM) award which carries the title Datuk Wira.

During the first investiture on Friday Chief Minister Datuk Wira Idris Haron was conferred the Darjah Gemilang Seri Melaka (DGSM) award, which carries the title Datuk Seri.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar was conferred the Darjah Cemerlang Melaka (DCSM) award which carries the title Datuk Wira.

Others who received the DCSM award included Armed Forces chief Jeneral Tan Sri Zulkilfeli Mohd Zin, state Education, Higher Learning, Science and Technology committee chairman Datuk Md Yunos Husin, Mamee Double Decker (M) Bhd CEO Datuk Pang Tee Nam and Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.

The third investiture ceremony has been postponed to another date that will be announced later in December.

Khairy and Shahrizat set for victory

PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil look set to retain their posts at the Umno elections tomorrow.

Political observers said both were riding a wave of support because of their incumbency but cautioned against over confidence as almost 220,000 delegates will be voting in the elections for the three wings and the huge number made it tough to gauge sentiments. Previously only 2,000 voted, making it simpler to predict their leaning and the likely outcome.

The 37-year-old Khairy’s political fortune is on the upswing after being appointed Youth and Sports minister after the 13th general election.

As for the 60-year-old Shahrizat, she continues to be ‘haunted’ by the National Feedlot Centre scandal involving her family. But she received a huge boost with her appointment in August as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister to oversee the development of women entrepreneurs and professionals.

Khairy is facing four challengers in what is described as a contest bet­ween his “new politics” and his challengers who represent calls for the movement to focus more on championing the interest of Malays.

Umno insiders believe Khairy has the edge as none of his challengers – Akhramsyah Sanusi, Syed Rosli Syed Harman, Mohd Karim Ali and Irwan Ambak Khalid Izhar – are political heavyweights.

In the 2009 party elections, Khairy defeated more established aspirants – (now Kedah Mentri Besar) Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and (then Selangor Mentri Besar) Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

Shahrizat, who is squaring off against Datuk Maznah Mazlan and Raihan Suleiman, faced probably the biggest test of her political career when the NFC scandal broke out two years ago.

The scandal forced her to resign from the Cabinet but appears to have done little damage to her as far as the Wanita movement is concerned.

She has officially been backed by a majority of the 191 Wanita division chiefs, which is a big advantage compared to her challengers.

“Since Shahrizat took office in 2009, she has taken care of the grassroots and because of that she is enjoying good support from them now although there is an undercurrent of unhappiness due to the NFC issue,” said a Wanita division chief.

Shahrizat has admitted it is difficult gauging her chances.

“When I go down and meet the grassroots, the support is there and it is sincere but we cannot take anything for granted,” she said.

A point to note, however, is that while Shahrizat’s challengers may not be as formidable, the Wanita movement has previously defied expectations – in the 1996 party polls Datuk Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman registered an upset victory over iron lady Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.

In Khairy’s case, Akhramsyah who is the son of former Kedah Mentri Besar Tan Sri Sanusi Junid appears to be the strongest of the four challengers as he enjoys the backing of the members wanting the movement to champion the interest of the Malays.

“This is a challenge not just for Khairy but for the whole party because the elections will show which direction Umno will choose,” said political analyst Assoc Prof Shaharuddin Badaruddin.

“If delegates show their preference towards candidates promising to make Umno more Malay-centric than it already is, Malays will benefit more but it may affect efforts to woo the non-Malays (in the next general election),” he added.

Japanese selling off record foreign bonds, likely Treasuries too

TOKYO: Japanese investors sold a record amount of foreign bonds on a net basis last week, offloading nearly US$23bil’s worth, amid concerns over US lawmakers might not reach a deal to raise the federal debt limit by mid-October and avoid a historic default.

Japanese investors sold a net 2.226 trillion yen ($22.9 billion) in foreign bonds in the week through Oct 5, Ministry of Finance data released on Thursday showed.

That was the largest amount since the ministry began collecting the data in 2005, and ended three straight weeks of net buying totalling 1.77 trillion yen.

With pressure rising and no clear path forward for breaking their fiscal impasse, President Barack Obama launched a series of White House meetings with lawmakers on Wednesday to search for a way to end a government shutdown and raise the borrowing limit by Oct 17.

If a deal is not reached by the deadline, the US could default on its debt, an outcome that is unthinkable for the global economy.

"It's probable that some of the Japanese money got out of Treasuries," said Tadashi Matsukawa, head of Japan fixed income at PineBridge Investments.

Japanese investors, including banks, pension funds and life insurance companies, had 40% of their debt holdings in U.S.-denominated bonds as of the end of 2012. Analysts say a large chunk of them are in US Treasuries.

Yields on benchmark 10-year US Treasuries hit their highest closing level in two weeks on Wednesday at 2.661%. Yields move inversely to prices.

By contrast, the 10-year Japanese government bond yield stood at 0.655%, near a five-month low of 0.625% touched last week.

Tomoaki Shishido, a fixed-income analyst at Nomura Securities, said the large selling by Japanese investors might have had more to do with booking Treasuries-related losses in the first half of Japan's financial year, than with the US government shutdown.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 76.3 basis points from the end of March to Sept 30.

"That probably reflected selling for the half-year book closing at the end of September. Japanese investors typically do some operations for accounting purposes at the end of March and September," Shishido said.

"I don't think there is panic selling among Japanese investors. Some people are selling the bonds that have interest payments during later October to mid-November but most are essentially stuck with what they've got," he added.

Foreign investors also turned net sellers in Japanese equities, with 27.1 billion yen of outflows last week, after fourth straight weeks of buying – Reuters.