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Should EVERYONE change their lifestyle to reduce fuel price impact?

June 11th, 2008
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I first heard the suggestion about reducing salary of ministers via an email sent to TV3, last week. And voila, the PM announces a 10% reduction in entertainment allowance for cabinet ministers plus limitation in vacation destination. This is being followed by other states such as Pahang, Terengganu, Malacca, and Sarawak. Sarawak even plans to reduce salary of its ministers, BN assemblymen, state speaker etc. by 10%, while Pahang MB hinted at 30% reduction of entertainment allowance.

Lim Kit Siang was talking about reducing more“why stop at just 10%” and asked to cut allowance by half, so I wonder what the Pakatan states will do. Follow suit or do something else? How will the opposition MPs show their support? Will they sacrifice more or will they just sit back and blame the government for the situation?

UMNO Youth  member suggests cutting 10% of salaries of all ministers, deputies an civil servants. Hmm, then how many civil servants will  be under poverty line again?

Looking at the responses on TV, print and online media (even Kalabakan MP Ghapur Salleh Kinabatangan MP Bung Mohktar acknowledged), the rakyat themselves are not fooled by this superficial reductions. They would feel that leaders should “leader by example” and not do damage limitation exercise by announcing such matters after people are angry over price hike.

I personally think that all ministers and MPs should be forced to use public transport. Let them ride in RapidKL or Metrobus, along our Indonesia and Bangladeshi workers, students, wage earners, and pensioners. Let the ministers take Star LRT or Komuter, and get “close” to the rakyat. Komuter carries 90,000 people daily, LRT and Star 300,000 people, and RapidKL about 400,000 people according to this report. Imagine the amount of PR the ministers and MPs can generate.

Ask them to return the government cars and just make monthly claims for transportation costs. Oh, worried about crime and time being wasted? Well, welcome to the real world! If ministers in other countries can take public transport, I don’t see any valid reason why ours can’t do so. We are not a war-torn or under-developed country. Our police have high success rates. Our citizens are polite and helpful people. We have first class facilities. So, why not? » Read more: Should EVERYONE change their lifestyle to reduce fuel price impact?

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more allocation and better guidelines for places of worship in Selangor

June 7th, 2008
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It seems that all this while, there were certain rulings for building places of worship in Selangor. In particular, there are limitation in terms of size (10,000 sqft), and land allocation by developer for new housing projects (0.4ha). There’s also limitation in terms of height, it seems. Wonder why the previous state government discriminated so much? Is it due to inaction by the community leaders or leaders refusing to listen to coalition partners? I remember folks talking about the temples not allowed to be taller than the nearby mosques. Not sure how true it was, but the statement by Dr Xavier indicates some truth in that notion. The following excerpts are from The Star:

SHAH ALAM: Non-Muslim places of worship in Selangor will have a higher annual allocation and the limit on the land size removed, under proposed changes to the guidelines.  Also proposed will be that all land earmarked for places of worship should not be located near oxidation pond, septic tanks, high tension wires or large drains.

State health, plantation workers, poverty and caring government committee chairman Dr Xavier Jayakumar said he felt the current RM3mil allocation from the state government was too small compared to its large population.  He said he would recommend to the state executive council to raise the amount substantially in next year’s budget but declined to reveal the amount sought for.

He added the current 930 sq m limit for the size and limits on height and length of the buildings should not be fixed because there were many things to be considered like the location and needs of the community.

Dr Xavier said he and Liu felt the current condition for a 0.4ha land allocation for non-Muslim places worship in major development was inadequate given the large population in such areas.

source

However, in NST, it is stated that the limits has been abolished:

SHAH ALAM: A requirement that limits new non-Muslim places of worship to 10,000 sq feet has been abolished by the state government. State Health, Plantation Workers, Poverty and Caring Government Committee chairman Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said the requirement was impractical and as such, no predetermined limits on size, length and height would be imposed on any religious community.  Dr Xavier said town planners must consider the size and needs of the communities.”The proposed places of worship should be big enough to cater to the needs of a particular religious community in any area.”

He said no more places of worship would be built next to sewage ponds, high-tension wires or power substations. » Read more: more allocation and better guidelines for places of worship in Selangor

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do they deserve Tun title?

June 7th, 2008
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Looks like few new Tuns and a Tan Sri in town 🙂 Do you think they deserve the title? Or is seditious to talk about it?

Tun

– Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid

– Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik

– Abdul Hamid Mohamad, (Chief Justice0

Tan Sri

– Rafidah Aziz
Can we say the recipients did more good than bad while in power?

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Selangor Free Water

June 7th, 2008
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I have a gut feeling that this “free water” (actually the first 20 cubic metres only) thing may fall flat on Khalid’s face. The new government needs to scrutinise the laws properly before making any announcement. We have seen how the Bandar Mahkota Cheras saga dragged for weeks, until the federal government made use of the opportunity to help gag Grand Saga. They could have done it earlier, but didn’t. They waited perhaps until PKR’s inability to solve the crisis is revealed.

In this case, Syabas says no letter has been issued to them till yesterday, but today KDEB said letter had just been released. Then there’s the question of who can actually issue the directive. Is it the federal level ministry or the state government?

Whatever it is, the state opposition will be waiting with claws sharpened to pounce on the smallest mistake by PR government.

If Khalid fails to keep his words, the rakyat won’t be interested to listen to his excuses, just like now the rakyat not interested to listen to federal government’s excuses on fuel price increase.

Khalil may well be the first to be forced out or resign if he goes around simply promising things.

As for me, I don’t mind getting bill with discount 🙂

You will get 20 cubic metres of free water from this month. This is the guarantee given by Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to consumers following conflicting statements over the past few days.
“The state government guarantees that residents will enjoy their first 20 cubic metres of free water starting from this month as has been announced before,” Khalid said. » Read more: Selangor Free Water

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only 5 percent SME loans approved

June 5th, 2008
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Wow! if RM479.2 million is just 5%, then the total loan approved is about RM9.584 billion! Perhaps the parties concerned should provide more statistics such as number of applicants, total value of application, reasons for rejection etc. To say that just 5% approved is very bad. Does it mean lack of applications from the normal Malaysian SME businesses?

RM479.2 million/217 = average RM2.2 million per enterprise

 

THE SME Bank has approved loans, totalling RM479.2 milion, to 217 non-Bumiputera small- and medium-sized enterprises up to April. Deputy Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperative Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the amount, however, accounted for only five per cent of the bank’s total loans to SMEs.

Saifuddin, in his reply to Senator Datuk Wong Siong Hwee, said SME Bank had been a pioneer in providing financial assistance to small and medium businesses since October 2005. He said his ministry was also helping the bank to iron out several issues which were causing delays in approving loans. » Read more: only 5 percent SME loans approved

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