Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email 567 students for 5 years (2005 – 2009), means an average of 113 students per year. I wonder how many students are sent overseas in total per year, covering all those funded by tax payers.
Meanwhile in a written reply to Senator Usha Nandhini Jayaram, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said from 2005 to this year, the government gave scholarships to 567 Indian students to study overseas.
from NST.
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email The Defence Minister said this:
He said investigations had so far revealed that low-ranking officers were involved in the crime.
“Those directly involved in the case were enlisted men with the rank of sergeant and below.
“So far, no high-ranking officers have been implicated but should any be found to be involved, action will be taken,” he told reporters after launching buses of the National Service Training Department at Wangsa Maju here yesterday.
I don’t really agree with the idea of low ranking staff being involved. This would be the audit team did not do its work properly, there’s no proper measures to check inventories, etc. Definitely someone should be in charge of all this procedures.
He also clarified on the cost of the engines:
Dr Ahmad Zahid also confirmed that two engines were stolen, with each costing RM50mil if they were new.
“But since they are not new, the value has depreciated,” he said.
It was pointed out that the plane may cost less than the engine itself if it was indeed RM50 million. Not sure how true that is.
And then, he focused on bloggers:
“I do not want bloggers to try to distort any facts with all sorts of speculation and analysis on the matter.
I think he should first ask the media to report properly. He should also ensure the official statements are accurate and detailed. Who mentioned the engine costs RM50 million? Was it bloggers? Who said brigadier general and 40 others were sacked? Bloggers too?
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email So, EPF is launching a scheme for the self-employed. There are many self-employed people in Malaysia, and they come from all walks of life. Some may earn tons of money, while others barely scrape through day after day. For some of them, this would be a good scheme as it offers a channel to save money for retirement. For some others, there will be skepticism since they may know channels that give higher returns than EPF. Or, maybe worried that if they save a lot, income tax people will come looking for them 🙂 The really skeptical group would say that government lacks money, and this is one way to generate fund to mobilise development projects. Well, each to his own.
No one is forcing the contributor to save, so its entirely up to the person to consider this scheme. If you prefer other instruments like unit trust, ASN/ASB, real estate, precious metals, FD etc, so be it.
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will launch the 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme on Jan 3 to help the self-employed cope with income inadequacy during retirement.
EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said the scheme, announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the tabling of the 2010 Budget in October, was to care for the welfare of the self-employed who had no formal retirement savings scheme.
It was designed to provide individuals without a fixed monthly income with financial security in their old age, he said in a statement.
The scheme was also open to self-employed individuals such as hawkers, night-market traders, real-estate agents, freelancers like disc jockeys and fitness instructors, singers and actors and online business owners.
“The Government is sensitive to the fact that adequate retirement savings remains a major concern for all Malaysians, in particular the self-employed, especially those without a fixed monthly salary.
“The 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme offers this group of contributors flexibility in determining how much they can afford to save for their retirement,” he said.
Azlan said that unlike the conventional EPF saving scheme, the amount contributed into the 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme was entirely at the contributor’s discretion.
“Contributors can opt to set aside a minimum of RM50 or a maximum of RM5,000 per month as retirement savings.
“Contribution is voluntary and contributors are also not required to contribute savings on a monthly basis but rather what and when they can afford,” he added.
Azlan said contributors would receive annual dividends declared by the EPF, in addition to a 5% contribution from the Government subject to a maximum of RM60 per year over the next five years from 2010-2014.
Those interested can apply for the scheme at any EPF branch nationwide, or download the KWSP 16G (1M) Form from the EPF website at www.kwsp.gov.my from Jan 3.
The forms are to be returned at any EPF branch or by mail.
However, individuals who are not EPF members have to register with the EPF first.
Existing EPF members who turn self-employed are also eligible and may opt for this new scheme.
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The DJs in THR Raaga’s morning “Guys or Girls” contest repeated the same question last week and today – what is the largest mammal in the world (in tamil, of course). I’m surprised that the listeners who participated do not know the answer! Either they can’t understand the question (the guy today said cow after misunderstanding the Tamil word for mammal) or really don’t know this kind of general knowledge. I think instead of asking names and ingredients of foreign food, brands of perfume or footware, or names football team/players, It would be much more beneficial to ask questions that educate the listeners about science, general knowledge, country etc.
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Below is excerpt of interview between Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan and NST. I’m not sure how readers will interpret the replies by the deputy minister. It will be difficult to monitor thousands of the presenters or trainers involved in the camps, but it has to be done. I think the modules should be vetted by third party. And the presentation/explanation of the modules should be monitored. We also need to remember the participants are those who are dependent on the authorities (occupation or scholarship), so to expect them to openly question the presenters or content is difficult. One may only grumble in private, among friends.
Q: Feathers were ruffled by the labelling of non-Malays as pendatang. How could this have happened?
A: In the module, no one is labelled pendatang. But if the country’s history was taught, maybe it could have been mentioned. If the lecturer was talking about the past, then it’s different; that’s a historical context.
The social contract was drawn at that particular time when everyone agreed to it. That part takes up only five minutes of a two-hour session on Kenegaraan and Perlembagaan Negara.
That’s history, a small part of the whole story on how Malaysia was formed. It is an old episode. We have achieved independence. Indians and Chinese in Malaysia have become citizens.
Q: Why were BTN participants shown videos of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) demonstration?
A: Videos were shown during intermissions to keep participants occupied as speakers sometimes arrive late.
The one on past demonstrations, which included the Hindraf protest, was among a few videos shown to instil patriotism in participants.
There are also videos on the war in Palestine and patriotic songs. When we show the street demonstration videos, our message is that we don’t do things like that if we’re patriotic.
We tell participants that there are other ways to solve a problem instead of taking to the streets.
Q: Are participants made to sign agreements forbidding them to divulge what went on in the course?
A: No. Participants are only not allowed to bring recording instruments into the classrooms.
Q: Why then are there BTN videos of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and how did they end up on YouTube?
A: I don’t know. I haven’t even seen the video. I don’t know whether cameras were allowed into the sessions in the past.
Q: Some participants have alleged that the BTN course is a form of political indoctrination, or the government’s brainwashing tool.
A: Sometimes, when we talk about the country’s policies, some people assume that’s indoctrination. But for us, as government agencies, we have been entrusted with this task to talk about policies.
So we have to explain the rationale behind policies, from corporatisation and privatisation to education, agriculture, youth and poverty eradication.
If we don’t explain these to the participants, when are we ever going to do so?
If they take that as indoctrination, that’s too bad.
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