My Say

Another accident. A few more deaths. Read here.

Isn’t this an obvious area for the government and the police to focus their efforts on? Everytime one of these crashes happen, many innocent lives are lost. How much innocent blood much be spilled before the government can hear the cry? Instead of ‘wasting’ time booking motorists who commit ‘minor’ offences, start mobilising against the main culprits - the operators of these transport companies. A check will almost certainly reveal vehicles that are not properly maintained (how often have we seen exploded tires on the expressways?), drivers who are not properly trained (’kopi-o’ licence?) or even high on illegal substance?

Enough is enough. Though I don’t believe in them, I hope the ghosts of these victims see to it that justice is served before they rest in peace…

Barely a week all, and the new defence minister is already made up his mind that he should be spending his way to more votes for the government.

Reading his priorities as the defence minister, it’s incredible that the security of the nation is not among his top 3 considerations!

Can someone please give him a “Dummies’ Guide to Becoming Defence Minister”?

He’s probably too quick to fire from his hips. As anyone who has read the dummies’ guide would know, the defence minister’s priority is the country’s defence. Sure, improving the lot of the armed services is one way of doing it, but surely he should assess the current defence blueprint or ‘doctrine’, as he puts it, first.

Questions he should be asking should be, for example (on page 65 of the dummies’ guide): should we be spending billions of taxpayers’ money to buy more submarines, since the 2 or 3 that we have bought do not stand any realistic chance against an invading navy? Or perhaps the money could be better spent to buy smaller carfts to patrol the coast, which are a lot cheaper and can be used to counter the threat of piracy, which we have a realistic chance against?

He should also weigh the cost of maintaining a ‘bloated’ armed services, against the benefits of doing so. Perhaps he could start with the activities logs of the armed personnel. Other than training and vying for the Mr Malaysia/Asia title, and the occasional duties to patrol the borders, how do they fill their time? Not to be ungrateful, but the country has not faced (or indeed expect to be facing) any real threats for a while now. Even bigger nations (other than Communist China) have cut down the size of their armed forces…

Well, if anyone wants to donate a copy of the abovementioned guide, please leave your contact details below…

The whole world has announced stimulus packages to minimise the impact of the impending global depression on their economies. Being the only country in the world not affected by the global crisis, Malaysia is taking her own sweet time to announce the second stimulus package, after a confident finance minister had said that the economy is resilient and will withstand the storm. How much can you trust someone who changes his mind twice every second?

Now that the Finance Minister has admitted that the country’s economy is in bad shape, he’s still dragging his feet on the matter. And what is he doing in the meantime? Well, according to some, he was busy luring members of the opposition to switch their allegiance and defect to Barisan Nasional, especially in the states which are not controlled by the ruling party.

He asks for patience. Time and tide waits for no man, not even the PM-in-waiting of the country.

For goodness sake, do your job and stop the politicking. Enough is enough. If you don’t have the time or ability to do this, just resign. There are plenty of apolitical experts who can do the job - don’t drag the whole country down with you…

The “Approved Permit” (AP) system must be one of the most lucrative money making scheme created for a privileged few, even by Malaysian standards.

So how does it work?

1) Get the government to restrict the import of cars to those with APs
2) Get the government to issue the APs exclusively to you
3) Get the government to impose up to 300% duties on imported cars.
4) Sell the APs for at least RM40,000 each to car importers / traders / franchise holders
5) Pocket the RM40 mil for the 1,000 APs issued per month, pat yourself on the back and thank you lucky stars that you are one of the privileged ones…

The situation has become even more ridiculous, as Malaysia has entered into a free trade agreement with Japan, which means that there will no longer be any import duties on cars made in Japan. However, as one needs an AP to import Japanese cars, the people can’t benefit from this free trade agreement.

What is the consequence of this policy?

1) Cars (especially Japanese) in Malaysia are among the most expensive in the world
2) The people suffer, as they could be driving better quality and newer cars. Instead, the average person will have to make do with the rattles and shakes of a used Proton. (if someone will only do a study on the number of fatal accidents caused by old vehicles, with no airbags like Proton.

How much longer will the Government maintain this policy which benefits few (really, really benefit) at the expense of the rest of the population?

according to the results of the recent PMR exams …. our students are becoming more proficient in English.

I have not done any formal survey but there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise. New graduates these days can hardly express themselves in writing or speech…

So how do we reconcile the two opposing facts? I suspect, without any evidence whatsoever to back this up, that the hurdle has been lowered - so it’s easier for most to clear …

Remember how the performance of the educationalists are measured - passing rate and percentage of As scored. So who’s to ensure that they do not serve their own interests by making more people pass and score As?

Quote from the Star:

Najib: No more fuel rebates if you don’t appreciate them
By ROSLINA MOHAMAD

PEKAN: The Government might consider not issuing any rebates in the future if the people continued not to appreciate the initiatives taken to help reduce their financial burden due to high oil and food prices, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

To another question, Najib said if the people still viewed the fuel price as high, the Government could always transfer the rebates to pump prices.

Who does the DPM think he is? What right does he have to be “annoyed”? The people are the ones who should be “annoyed” with the Government - everything has gone wrong with the country. His job is to find ways to lessen the people’s burden and that he is a wakil rakyat. Learn from history - Stop behaving like an arrogant despot.

While everyone is suffering from the higher fuel prices, we have some of the richest bankers in Malaysia saying they should be shielded from the impact and not share the pain. Read Here. Do you have any sympathy for them?

The Malaysian government’s policies have been very favourable towards corporates. They get all sorts of tax exemption. In fact the highest tax rate for individuals is 2% higher than corporation tax. The rich in Malaysia can avoid paying income tax by setting up companies and get all sorts of tax incentive, exemptions. Why, even capital gains on their shares are not taxed. So if they do some tax planning, they can avoid paying tax altogether - just don’t declare any dividends but let the net assets increase.

With the increase in fuel prices, the average Malaysian is feeling the pinch. The rich, however, don’t feel the full tax impact, as they have a tax shield - they get tax deduction of 26% for every Ringgit they spend. In fact, some lucky individuals have fuel cards, which immunise them from the impact totally (the tax on the fuel benefit is so negligible it’s a joke).

So I can’t believe that these people are now whining that they have to share in the pain. All the reasons given as to why the windfall tax should not be imposed are for the benefit of the rich.

I really hope that the government will not succumb to pressure and reverse their decision. Of course windfall tax should not be used at the whim and fancy of the ruling government to fill up their coffer, but these are difficult times and difficult actions have to be taken. I would go further and say that the windfall tax should be imposed on the oil companies and palm oil companies as well.

Read Jeff Ooi’s blog HERE.

“In summary, the Finance Minister stated that…

Untuk makluman Yang Berhorbat, subsidi yang ditanggung oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan pada tahun 2007 adalah sebanyak RM43.4 bilion. Daripada jumlah ini, sebanyak RM16.2 bilion adalah untuk subsidi produk petroleum (termasuk cukai terkorban RM7.4 bilion) dan RM18 bilion untuk subsidi harga gas kepada sektor elektrik dan industri. Manakala sebanyak RM9.2 bilion untuk pelbagai bantuan kepada rakyat…”

Bravo to Tony for asking the question. Now we know the true picture. The subsidy actually paid by the Government is NO WHERE near the RM43.4 billion. The actual subsidy paid for fuel is only RM8.8 billion (RM16.2 b - RM7.4b). The RM7.4 billion does NOT cost us any money, anymore than say, not taxing the 9 million working-but-not-taxpaying population cost us any money. It’s an opportunity cost. We do not measure our wealth using opportunity cost.

The biggest users of subsidy are actually the Independent Power Producers (IPP). So the increase in fuel prices has not addressed this AT ALL. The Rakyat has been taken for a ride yet again by the wonderful statisticians employed by the Government using the Rakyat’s and Petroleum money…

The average Rakyat has to suffer while the shareholders of the IPPs, many of whom are already listed as the richest Malaysians in the FORBES list released recently, continue to add to their immense wealth…

I’m DISGUSTED!!!….

Can’t help wondering what the PM is trying to say HERE… Is he saying that he has been able to satisfy the others? How many others has he bribed?

In Putrajaya!

According to the Malaysian Association of Automobiles (website: www.maa.org.my ) , a total of 487,000 vehicles were registered in 2007.

Doing a simple math: Assuming the average price of the vehicle was RM50,000 , and the average tax is 33% of the price, the total taxes amounted to RM8 billion. That’s right, it’s RM8,000,000,000. This is a very conservative estimate. Even then, it’s a whole lot of money. Where has it gone to?

Well, let’s see: Govt Allocates RM5.8 Billion For Staff Quarters In Putrajaya

That’s RM5.8 billion of the RM8 billion down the drain or should I say swamp?

Now you know why the Government always wins the parliamentary seat in Putrajaya?

If you want to recover some of the taxes paid on the car you bought, you should join the civil service and get yourself subsidised accomodation. Now, why is no one making a fuss about this subsidy?