Malaysian Home Minister Condemns Rumours IGP Has Died In London

KLUANG (Johor, Malaysia) Jan 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Monday strongly condemned the rumours saying that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar has died in London. He said Ismail was in London on official matters associated with the United Kingdom Police and was in good health and that he would return to Malaysia on Feb 2. "I strongly condemn the rumours. He (Ismail) is abroad on duty to ensure the security of our people and country," he told reporters. He said Ismail was in London to look into expanding cooperation between the Royal Malaysian Police and the MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom. Hishammuddin, who is also an Umno ice-president and Sembrong Umno Division chief, spoke at the handing over of houses to 56 flood victims, here. Also present was SPNB chairman Idris Haron. The Royal Malaysian Police issued a statement on its page in the Facebook social utility dismissing the rumours. Hishammuddin said he could not understand what benefit the perpetrators of the rumours derived. He advised the people not to be influenced by unverified news on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Idris, speaking at the function, said the affordable houses handed over on Monday cost RM96,000 each but the government subsidised RM50,000 of it. (US$1=RM3.03) The recipients would have to pay a monthly instalment of only RM150, he said. He said SPNB has been instructed by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to build 10,000 units of affordable houses this year. -- BERNAMA