About the 1838 abortion law...

The Muvman Liberasyon Fam supports all attempts by the present Government to reduce the suffering of women that continues unabated as the 1838 law on abortion continues to remain in force. We wish to draw your attention to the fact that the 1838 abortion law might not criminalize all abortion. Section 235 of the Criminal Code states:

?Whoever by food, drink medicine or by violence, or by any other means whatever, shall procure the miscarriage of any woman quick with child, or shall supply the means of procuring such miscarriage, whether the woman be consenting or not, shall be punished??

The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition on Compact Disc) 1992, reads as follows:

4. Constr. with.

a. quick with child, said of a female in the stage of pregnancy at which the motion of the foetus is felt. Now rare of Obs.

In one of the standard old texts where a variant on this term, i.e ?quickening? is used is Clayton?s Obstetrics, he uses the term synonymously with ?foetal movements?. The number of weeks of pregnancy he uses as a guide for this stage is the 20th week of pregnancy.

This means that in the meantime, until more progressive abortion laws are proposed, debated and passed, it would be possible for the 1838 law to be interpreted in a way that does not criminalize women who have undergone abortion before the 20th week of pregnancy.

We wish to ask that as soon as possible and while debate continues, that you request the Cabinet to introduce an Amendment or a Regulation to define the phrase ?quick with child? as it is used in the Penal Code so that it is consistent with the definition we have quoted above.

Once such a regulation or amendment is added, then debate can continue, while women are not, in the meantime, exposed to so much danger.

Rajni LALLAH

Tech Park model: A One-Stop Agency

On the debate on BPML and Cyber City, I felt that it may worth sharing some of the best practices of an ICT Business park management.

The concept : Since its inception in 1970s, science parks & technology districts are designed to provide an infrastructure of technical, logistic and administrative support to attain a competitive market. Today, the ?Cyber-city? concept has taken over the role of science or technology parks. This offshoring phenomenon has been adopted by a number of countries to capture market share and boost their economies. New entrants including Mauritius are Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Vietnam. The question is how & what it takes to kick off, grow and sustain.

There are many critical success factors for the development and sustainability of a Cybercity /Technology Park, and one of the key success factors is through a highly effective ?One-Stop Agency/Shop as a hassle free environment to meet expectations and aspirations of business and Knowledge workers. It would suggest that the epic-center of the technology park is the management of the tech park which in our case is BPML. Eventually, the success lays in their hands. The One stop Shop/Agency model is currently used in Malaysia and Dubai.

Their roles are not about building office space for lease or rental, but include other services such as education & training for engineering, ICT, business, entrepreneurship, and consultancy services, science park maintenance, share facilities, infostructure services & payment and venture capital. In some cases, like in Malaysia, the Cyberjaya (the land) is owned by the government, and responsible for the infrastructural development. This is also observed in Australia during my visit to the Adelaide Tech Park. The key objective of Adelaide Tech Park Management is targeting at combining elements of a business park and research park by bringing together both public and private enterprise.

The proposed model of a one stop management agency is best linked with a steering committee for policies issues and the Tech Park Management (akin to BOI & BPML) as an investment promoter & compliance auditor.

This association is crucial as the Government remains the leading role as a catalyst through positive intervention via strong economic policies, subsidies and incentives.

Apart from dynamic strategies which need a continually renewal, it is suggested that critical success factors for tech park management are endorsement & guidance from top level management, involvement from all relevant stakeholders /parties, defined roles and responsibilities, involvement of the private sectors and the adoption of relevant skill set.

The one stop agency model has worked in Malaysia, and through its extended services, the agency is now providing consulting services to various countries such as UAE, IRAN, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia & Rwanda for development of Business Park and other ICT projects. For more information on the above article or business park, the writer can be contacted at: [email protected].

Dr. Muniruddeen LALLMAHAMOOD