Syariah court enforcers?

/* June 16th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Hmm..i suppose body snatching and kid-napping may enter the job scope as well since Zaid says that “job scope is still being worked out”.  He mentioned that:

The Syariah Judicial Department has set up a special division, to enforce syariah court decisions on family-related and divorce cases.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said experienced officers who made up the family support division would be based in all syariah courts to help in the enforcement of judgments

“If, say, in a divorce case, a husband fails to pay matrimonial claims as decided by the courts, the officers will act accordingly to make sure the husband follows the order.

“The officers may have to apply for a court order or do other things they deem fit.”

Obviously it will be helpful for single mothers who suffer because the husband does not pay alimony. However, in cases of suspected conversion and matters arising from conversion, it may create problems. If wrongly executed, enforcement will create more stressful situation for cases like divorce, conversion, property division etc. Perhaps it will be prudent to send the officers for soft skill courses like communication skills, counseling, public relations etc.

As malaysians are becoming increasingly wary of syariah courts in last few years, we have enforcement officers roaming around soon. Hopefully the plans to streamline conversion applications process gets attention like the enforcement officer proposal as well.

There should also be some check and balance to ensure these officers are not exposed to bribery or become little Napeleons of their own. We have read in papers about reports on officers from religious departments receiving bribes or soliciting sexual favors in return for not taking action.

Well, don’t get me wrong. I’m quite wary on such plans since the issue of impact of syariah law on non-muslims itself is a sore point.

No merger with IPF says Samy

/* June 15th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 1 comment »
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Samy clarified that IPF should not merge with MIC since some of its (IPF) members were not ready, and that the IPF should instead support MIC. He further said that IPF should remain as a political to “carry out the aspirations and dreams of Pandithan”. As for IPF’s ambition to join BN, well I don’t think so Samy is that charitable! 🙂

It remains to be seen if IPF can also “rebrand” itself like many of the BN coalition members. It has good reasons to do so – lost its charismatic leader, party is being led by Pandithan’s widow at the moment, and its in limbo, since its support for BN had not seen any positive effects in the last election.

IPF can take this opportunity to join Pakatan as well. But Pakatan will not accept a raced-based party. They can merge with PKR or DAP. Or dissolve and join Gerakan or PPP if we look at BN.

It depends on the next General Assembly. Will Pandithan’s wife stand for presidency or make for others? Will there be a split in the party?

Hishamuddin asks about land for schools in Pakatan states

/* June 15th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 1 comment »
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Very interesting indeed. What if someone asks him back about 50 years track record? What guarantees are there that requests from these states will be given due consideration? One can just hope.

BINTULU: The Education Ministry wants Pakatan Rakyat state governments to disclose how much land would be set aside for the construction of new vernacular, mission and religious schools in the respective states.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said his ministry had yet to receive any plan from these states although the Opposition made lavish promises to the people during the general election campaign.

“Now, I want to see them fulfil their promises.

“Even in Penang, the DAP has yet to talk about allocating land for Chinese schools, Tamil schools, Sekolah Agama or mission schools.

source

Some statistics on income tax payers

/* June 15th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 1 comment »
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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.

Interview with Malim Nawar Assemblyman Keshvinder Singh

/* June 15th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Summary: Keshvinder (lawyer by training) wants to focus on land issues and activities for youths.

BTW, Malim Nawar had developed a lot compared to 20 years ago. The railway station had been closed since double-tracking project started. I still remember taking train from KL station years ago.


Know your state rep: Squatters depending on him to secure land titles
By : Jaspal Singh
MALIM NAWAR: The odds may have been against Keshvinder Singh in the general election but he proved his detractors wrong by winning the Malim Nawar state seat.  The 37-year-old father of two who joined DAP in April 2005 was seen as a political greenhorn with little chance of taking over the seat from the Barisan Nasional.

“Many, including friends and relatives, did not expect me to win as they considered me a greenhorn but that did not dampen my resolve to do my best to win the seat,” he told the New Straits Times. However, Keshvinder, who defeated Barisan Nasional’s Chai Song Poh with a majority of 1,362 votes, acknowledged that the next four or five years before the next polls will not be easy for him.

Just two months into his new job, he has already received close to 1,000 appeals from constituents to help them to either get new land titles or renew old ones.   Many of them have been squatting on state land for two generations or more and, so far, have failed in their attempts to apply for land titles.  Some of those whose titles have expired have been trying to get them renewed for more than 20 years. » Read more: Interview with Malim Nawar Assemblyman Keshvinder Singh