Archive for the ‘BornInMalaysia’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Some statistics on income tax payers

June 15th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


If you earn less than RM2950 and still unmarried, you don’t pay income tax. True?

If you are married, the cut-off value is RM3200.

We have 10.5 million workers, with only one million paying tax. Our population is about 27.4 million. This indicates that less than half (~38%)of our population are salaried workers.  If we estimate another 40% as being below working age and retired, that leaves roughly 22% of the population running businesses (and some not declaring their income) who pay tax via their companies/businesses.

Only 38,000 individuals are taxed at the highest bracket (28%), meaning they should be earning above RM20,000 per month or RM250,000 per year. I suppose about 30 of them are in the cabinet. Then we can look at top management of MNC, GLC, prominent companies, etc.

The revenue from income tax comes to about RM10 billion, increasing steadily, especially since IRB revamped their systems and increased their staff.

sourced from The Star.

1 comment »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags:

MIC complaints about civil service intake

June 15th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Same old story, yet again. I think if we analyse the issues discussed by MIC for last two decades, it centers around the same topics only. Sign of stagnation, inaction, inability, or continuous improvement? Which is it?

Samy:

You can hardly find an Indian employee in the state civil sector.

Anyway, this time Samy says that “Indians are grossly underrepresented even at the district and municipal council levels”. At least, those days we can find drivers, office boys, gardeners, etc in these places. But with changing times, the community may not be interested in these kind of menial jobs which lack career prospect. Having said that, even those who apply for these low-salary positions face stiff competition from the majority race.

Samy wants to meet the menteri besar and chief ministers from BN-held states to solve this problem. if I can offer a solution – force 50% of position to be given to other races (let MIC champion other communities too) for the next 5 years. this positions (ranging from all levels of jobs) cannot be filled by the privileged community under any circumstances. this will force the states to find innovative ways to promote the vacancies. No point MIC or other NGOs waste money doing more surveys and roadshow to try promot career in public sector. Let the state departments do it. End of the day, XX number of people must be hired. Make it part of the KPI of the directors.

He says that he won’t approach Pakatan-held states and says that it will be easier to work with BN states. Well, we have seen how “easy” it is to work with BN states for last few years. I think it will be easier to work with Pakatan states. Maybe Samy should give it a try indirectly, using his connections.

Meanwhile, CWC member Murugesan highlighted in his blog that:

On 8th June, 2008, the Road Transport Department or Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) published the list of successful candidates for ‘Jawatan Pembantu Penguatkuasa Gred N17′ in Mingguan Malaysia.

It is alarming to note that out of 751 successful candidates, only 15 were non-Bumiputras. It constitutes less then 2% of successful candidates. Out of this, only 10 candidates or 1.3% were Indians. » Read more: MIC complaints about civil service intake

2 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian

Tags:

Fathers Day at Istana Negara

June 14th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Following is report from Malaysiakini on the HINDRAF-organised Father’s Day gathering at Istana Negara today. Earlier, it was reported that YB Manikavasagam and YB Sivarasa were among the 6 people arrested at the gathering.

Interestingly, Ronnie Liu ACCEPTED the bear on behalf (of the KING?). I’m not sure who he is representing, definitely not the King.

I think Hindraf have to look beyond flowers, teddy bears and other gifts, as it may be shunned if seemed to be not effective. There should be some brainstorming session to ensure it gets continuous support from the Makkal. Makkal will forget the suffering and sacrifices of the Hindraf 5 if not constantly reminded, but there should be variety of ways to maintain the momentum. Perhaps some sort of branding and merchandising strategy – T-shirts, caps, car stickers, badges could be created. They can get support in the Pakatan states, so that’s a good starting point.

The intention of 48 children of ISA detainees to present Father’s Day gift of teddy bears to the Agong was dampened by the police and a no-show from palace representatives.

Chanting “Daulat Tuanku”, the children carrying teddy bear bouquets accompanied by about 30 adults were stopped from approaching the palace by police who formed a barricade 500 meters from the palace gates at around 10.40 this morning.

Policemen, already alert after an earlier arrest of three opposition parliamentarians, were quick to gather around the crowd. A senior police officer approached event leaders who were Hindraf leaders – RS Thananenthiran (national coordinator), S Jayathas (national information coordinator) and A Vathemurthy (Perak state coordinator) – requesting that the crowd to disperse immediately.

Thananenthiran then shouted that “We are Malaysian citizens who would like to present a gift to the father of all Malaysians.”

There were continuous pleas from the crowd which argued that as Malaysian citizens they should have the right to gather in front of the palace without a permit.  “Tourists are allowed to gather and present gifts, so why can’t we? This must be changed. We have all the right to rally peacefully,” said Vathemurthy.

The heat under the strong sun caused some of the children – from five to 15 years of age – to begin crying in discomfort.

Thananenthiran then asked the police to be compassionate with the children. The police officer fired back that although he loved children, they were being only being ‘utilised’ by Hindraf leaders. » Read more: Fathers Day at Istana Negara

4 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian

Tags:

Free Water in Selangor

June 12th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


I thought Khalil’s plan will fall flat, especially when Syabas said they could not come to an agreement regarding the payment period. However, in the last one day, the Selangor government, through Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB) has managed to successfully negotiate a longer payment period.

Even though the free water plan is starting from June 16 and will be reflected from next month’s bill onwards, nonetheless its been successfully pulled off by Pakatan government. But for how long it can be sustained is a question mark. The subsidy is expected to cost RM1.1 million per month for 20 cubic metre per household (according to Malaysiakini). However, NST reports that its going to cost a whopping RM10.8 million per month! The Star provided its own figure of RM1.8 million per month. Looks like 3 parties with three different figures.

There are arguments that providing free water will make people more wasteful and less concerned about conserving water. Anything free won’t be appreciated easily.

What do you think?

9 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags:

Minister uses public transport

June 12th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Earlier, I wrote that MPs should be forced to take public transport. Looks like one of them already had. MP Johor Bahru and Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs took ERL from Putrajaya to KL Sentral. Of course the comfort of the stations and the ERL is better than road transport, so there won’t be much complaint about cleanliness, dust etc. However, even ERL is getting packed nowadays as areas surrounding in Salak Tinggi become more populated. There are also people travelling from Putrajaya to KL or Bandar Tasik Selatan. Perhaps its time to lower ERL’s ticket price.

NST and Star both provided some comments from Shahrir.

Shahrir takes ERL

Picture courtesy of Sin Chew Jit Poh.

 

According to him:

A single ticket to Putrajaya costs RM9.50 and a return ticket costs RM15. Considering Putrajaya is about 30km from the city, the fare is reasonable.

source
» Read more: Minister uses public transport

4 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags: