Good fortune for Hulu Selangor folks

/* April 5th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Whoever stands for whichever party, the Hulu Selangor folks stand to benefit a lot. From soaring rental rates (RM20,000???) to promises of new schools (I thought no campaigning yet?), looks like the idea that representatives serve best when they are “removed” is correct again.

The feeling is that the seat is for 1Malaysia as the majority last time around is a mere 198 votes. Even though some internal jostling for the candidacy is happening, I think MIC would get the seat as MCA and UMNO are well represented via state seats. Only way BN would lose if there’s an internal sabotage (can’t rule this out).

Throw in a few more goodies or feel good news, and can expect BN to win with an healthy majority. Prefect gift for first anniversary.

As for Pakatan, there’s nothing much to talk about other than Israeli links, a litany of court cases, Perak takeovers and such which may make for coffee shop talks and ceramah time, but won’t really affect the folks there. They have to rely on their track record of governing Selangor, and Hulu Selangor especially (a bit of a problem if their representative was not around often).

They are also doing their own campaigning and “distribution”:

DAP Kampung Tunku state assemblyperson Lau Weng San(left) confirmed to Malaysiakini that the state government will play an important role before nomination day. 

The political parties will then start campaigning, while government servants will play no further role, he said.

PKR election director Fuziah Salleh had earlier made a commitment that the party would not abuse state-owned resources in the campaign. 

However Malaysiakini has learnt that Pakatan is aggressively engaging voters through activities and meet-the-people sessions organised by state agencies.

Allocations and other forms of ‘sweeteners’ – including land titles and financial aid – have been distributed by Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and state exco members via state government departments. However, it was claimed that voters had applied for such assistance earlier.

Pakatan’s argument is that state government programmes cannot be described as campaigning, so long as campaign material is not distributed and there is no fishing for votes.

I hope the winning candidate is one of poor health or with some criminal background so that when he/she is “removed”, the folks can enjoy another round of goodies. Maybe MACC will catch one or two representatives. Maybe someone will resign due to whatever reason. Let’s pray for another by-election soon, folks, preferably in our backyards 🙂

Note: Voter breakdown is as follows:

Hulu Selangor has 64,500 voters , with Malays making up 52.7%, Chinese 26.3%, Indians about 19% and other races 1.7%.

Academy to train local priests

/* April 5th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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15 years ‘toying” with idea. Great! One wonders what was the hurdles that created much toying time. Anyways, the first step of setting up the academy has been done. Next is to find students and start the training I guess. It pays quite well to be a priest, so school leavers may want to consider this as a career option as well.

An academy has been set up to train and accredit Hindu priests in the country in a move to reduce the number of foreign priests from India.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the Government had been toying with the idea of setting up such an academy for more than 15 years.

”At present, there are people practising locally as temple priests with various types of training which are very confusing.

”With the setting up of an academy, there will be a national body to recognise and accredit the priests,” he said after launching the academy at Jalan Pasar in RPT Jelapang Tambahan here yesterday.

He said at present, there were 350 priests from India serving at various local Hindu temples in the country.

“But there is a need for thousands of priests,” Dr Subramaniam said, admitting however that the local Hindu community might take some time to get used to the idea of having locally trained priests.

Dr Subramaniam said the Hindu Priests Association would be in charge of the syllabus which had been drawn up after consultation with leading institutions in India.

He said under the syllabus, it would take five years to become a full-fledged priest.

“There are five grading, allowing those at each level to perform different functions,” he said, adding that, for example, those who passed Grade One could perform the worship ritual pooja while those with Grade Five could consecrate new temples.

RM32 million spent for medical cost of poor patients

/* April 5th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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I always come across emails and newspaper articles asking for donation for medical purposes and wondered why there’s always request for funds. Looking at the amount of money spend by the Malaysian Medical Welfare Fund last year, looks like expenses for treatment for diseases is very high and many Malaysians can’t afford it.  There’s many kinds of diseases that require complicated surgical procedures or use of implants/prosthesis.  There’s an increase of RM7 million from 2008, so can expect this trend to continue as cost of living increases. How are the rakyat going to face this? Even insurance policy may not be enough to cover expenses that can go up to Rm100k to Rm200k

KUANTAN: A sum of RM32mil was disbursed from the Malaysian Medical Welfare Fund (MMWF) to help cover medical costs and related expenses of poor patients who sought treatment in public hospitals nationwide last year.

Its chairman Hasnah Sulaiman said Monday that the amount was higher than the amount dispensed in 2008, which was RM25mil.

“Medical costs are increasing and the main bulk goes to providing financial aids of implants and prosthesis.

“These are very expensive items and poor patients cannot afford to fork out the money,” she said after witnessing a RM150,000 mock cheque presentation from Pahang State Islamic and Malay Culture Council (MUIP) to Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA)’s welfare fund here Monday.

… Hasnah added that the welfare fund was important because it had helped poor patients to get the right medical treatment and attention.

However, the fund was available only to those who sought treatment in public hospitals, she said, adding, the hospital’s medical social work department would handle the cases.

“A case will be referred to the medical social officer by the medical specialist.

“It will take two weeks to process an application but immediate funding will be given if the situation is critical for a patient,” Hasnah added..

…Contributions can be made to MMWF and it can be in cash or kind. For more details, contact MMWF headquarters at 03-26155965, 03-26156464 or e-mail at tkpm2452@yahoo.com or tkpm2452@gmail.com.

So what if its a copycat idea?

/* April 2nd, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions 1 comment »
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I think the politicians, especially parliamentarians should focus on better things rather than questioning about frivolous matters. I mean, who cares if its an Israeli or some other company helped in 1Malaysia concept (and its still at allegation stage) ? If one is really so principled, then there’s many Israeli related products that we have to reject. Liverpool fans know Yossi Benayoun is an Israeli. So how? Boycott Liverpool? PKR want to start campaign on that?

At times, we need not reinvent the wheel. Just learn from success stories or failures and improvise from that.

1Malaysia is just a branding, the content is similar with unity programs of many other nations or even in our country. The implementation is what that matters.

DPM Muhyiddin comment on Malaysian Indians

/* April 1st, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions 2 comments »
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“How can I say I am a Malaysian first and a Malay second. All Malays will shun me and say it’s not proper as Indians will also say they are Indian first,” he said.

I’m shocked to read the above in The Star today (click here or refer page N6).

I’m getting more disillusioned with the DPM. Did he purposely insult/discriminate Malaysian Indians or is it merely slip of the tongue? Or he meant something else and it turned out differently? WHAT is he trying to say actually? For me it sounds like he is giving excuse that ALL Malays would give excuse that Indians would also say the same.  So, in order to “save” the Indians, DPM takes the route of saying race first? Are Indians being made scapegoats here? Are we that bad?

The PM seems to accept DPM’s logic (no choice i guess!):

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin remains committed to the 1Malaysia concept despite his “Malay first” statement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said on Thursday.

“What he is saying reflects the provision in the Constitution, which is based on the ethnic (group) to which one belongs.

“But Muhyiddin is also saying that he is committed to 1Malaysia, so I don’t see that as a contradiction,” Najib told reporters after launching the Finance Ministry’s MyProcurement portal.

The Prime Minister said saying one is a Malay did not mean that he was against 1Malaysia or think that he was not a Malaysian.

“Similarly, if you are a Malaysian Chinese doesn’t mean you don’t think like a Malaysian or subscribe to the concept of 1Malaysia,” he added.

Its a trap by Lim Kit Siang alright.