Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Landlord never sent any eviction notice, says PKR
- Red faces after cash envelopes given out at government linked event
- Suspend Anwar as opposition chief, says Ibrahim Ali
- ‘MIC, just an Umno puppet’
- FMT Poll: ‘Yes’ to non-Muslim PM
- ‘Not much difference between DAP and Umno’
- Rafizi: New Electricity Tariff Hike Will Burden the People
- Reveal truth about Felda’s RM6b loan, PKR tells EPF
- MACC clears A-G and Robert Phang of graft
- 'Submissions won't be made public for now'
- RI, Malaysia end standoff on migrant worker rights
- Power rates up 7.12%
- Pro-Lynas group bullies protestors as IAEA panel meets
| Landlord never sent any eviction notice, says PKR Posted: 30 May 2011 08:48 PM PDT
(The Star) - PKR treasurer-general William Leong said they had never received any warning letter from the landlord to kick them out of the party's headquarters. He said the bank was auctioning off the two five-storey building because the owner had failed to service the bank loan. "If the landlord has any problem with us, they should come to us." "They have never taken any action nor served any warning to the effect," he said. Leong had claimed recently that they had been promptly paying the rental and that the bank was auctioning off the building because of the owner's failure to service the loan. It was reported last week that the bank had issued a notice to auction off the building on June 9. Leong said they had raised funds to participate in the auction. "If the price is right, we will bid for it." "If not, we will look for another place to house our headquarters or sign a lease agreement with the new owner," he added. Leong also denied speculation that the party had an agreement with a businessman to source funds for the rental. Sources claim that the businessman had stopped providing financial aid to the party after Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed in his bid to take over Putrajaya by Sept 16, 2008. Anwar had then claimed that he had enough Barisan Nasional MPs who were willing to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat to help the opposition coalition take over the Federal Government. It is learnt that the owner wanted to cancel the five-year lease agreement because PKR had allegedly failed to pay the rental.
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| Red faces after cash envelopes given out at government linked event Posted: 30 May 2011 08:08 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Reporters and organisers found themselves in an awkward situation when brown envelopes containing cash were given out at a media briefing for the Northern Corridor here today. Reporters who attended were surprised when officials representing the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) gave them brown envelopes containing cash during the briefing and were asked to sign for it. The reporters were not informed as to the purpose of the cash envelopes, one of which contained at least RM50, and later returned the envelopes to an NCIA representative, saying that it was against their company policy to accept cash. When contacted via e-mail, NCIA chief executive Redza Rafiq told The Malaysian Insider that the cash was surplus from the event budget and was given in lieu of a mid-day meal and to help with reporters' expenses. "The token that was provided is part of our budget to cover transportation and lunch costs (lunch was supposed to have been provided, but had to be taken out of the agenda due to several last-minute change — we would really like to apologise for this change)," he said. "The signing is actually to record the attendance based on the list that we have been given earlier." Event organisers do sometimes help with parking expenses, normally by validating the parking ticket, but rarely with travel expenses within the city. If lunch is not provided, organisers normally ask a company representative to accompany reporters to a nearby restaurant where the official will sign for the bill at the end of the meal.
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| Suspend Anwar as opposition chief, says Ibrahim Ali Posted: 30 May 2011 05:06 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Pasir Mas MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali backed today the call for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be suspended from leading the Opposition bench in the Dewan Rakyat until the sex scandals linked to the latter have been cleared in a court of law. "As MP, I support 101 per cent Datuk Seri Rais Yatim's suggestion for the Opposition Leader position held by Anwar to be suspended until the sex video allegation and his sodomy trial against Saiful are over," the independent federal lawmaker said in a statement. Ibrahim added it was in line with the law on public service principles and practice but did not cite the source. The suspension idea was mooted yesterday by Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, referring to the controversial sex video supposedly showing the PKR adviser fornicating with a woman not his wife. Rais said the Permatang Pauh MP could be reinstated should the court rule in his favour. "National and international laws too have acknowledged the practice of letting go positions pending the indictment or charge against a person," Umno's Utusan Malaysia reported the veteran minister as saying. Rais highlighted the case of the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to quit his job there on May 18 after being indicted of sexual assault and attempted rape charges in the US and drew parallels to Anwar's situation. "Several of our ministers and mentris besar have also let go of their positions in the course of criminal trials against them," Rais was cited saying. The Attorney-General has yet to bring any formal charges against Anwar. Ibrahim insinuated the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lynchpin was above the law.
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| Posted: 30 May 2011 04:48 PM PDT
A DAP state assemblyman says the BN component party has done nothing for the community, except to 'steal' from the poor. (Free Malaysia Today) - GEORGE TOWN: MIC is an Umno puppet without any political conviction, said DAP state assemblyman A Tanasekharan. The Bagan Dalam rep said that because of this, MIC would never implement any policies to upgrade the living standards of the Indian community. He claimed that MIC had always taken Indians' hard-earned cash to carry out its projects that failed to benefit the community. Tanasekharan noted that the Maika Holdings and MIED scandals were perfect examples of MIC swindling poor Indians. He also remarked that MIC built AIMST University in Kedah from contributions of Indians from all walks of life. "But how many poor Indians can afford to study at AIMST University? How many Indians have benefitted from Maika Holdings and MIED?" he asked. Comparatively, he said Pakatan Rakyat state governments managed to address various Indian issues in a short span of three years. He said under Pakatan, for the first time in the country's history, Indian elected representatives were appointed as a deputy chief minister (Penang) and legislative assembly speaker (Perak). Currently, he said Penang, Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan had a record high of Indian representatives in state legislative assemblies. Aid for schools and temples Pertaining to Tamil schools in Penang, Tanasekharan said all 28 schools had been receiving annual state allocations to upgrade their facilities. In Selangor, he said the PKR-helmed state government had been allotting funds for similar projects. "Today parents can safely send their children to Tamil schools without the fear of seeing their children studying under trees, unlike during Barisan Nasional days," he added. He claimed that the Pakatan state government had provided land valued at RM4.5 million for the Azad Tamil School in the Waterfall area. For years, he said, the Tamil school was located under the basement of the Indian Association building in Jalan Bagan Jermal. "A new school has been built and is operational because of the sheer determination of Pakatan leaders to upgrade Tamil schooling standards," he added. Under Pakatan, Thanasekaran said no Hindu temple had been demolished in Penang, while many temples sitting on state lands were granted temporary occupation licence (TOL). He recalled that under the previous Barisan Nasional government, a Hindu temple in Butterworth, which was located on its own land, was forcibly removed and placed in a graveyard in Jalan Siram under the purview of the Penang Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB). "The reason for the temple's removal was that it was causing nuisance to an Umno member, who was staying nearby. This is how Indians were treated under the BN government… sheer arrogance of Umno leaders," he said.
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| FMT Poll: ‘Yes’ to non-Muslim PM Posted: 30 May 2011 04:42 PM PDT
Online poll shows almost 70% of respondents were receptive to the idea of a non-Muslim premier helming the nation. (Free Malaysia Today) - Malaysia is ready for a non-Muslim prime minister, a 10-day online opinion poll conducted by FMT revealed. Sixty-eight percent or 2,752 out of 4,065 readers who took part in the poll, which ran from May 20, said that the country was ready for a non-Muslim premier. Sixteen percent or 667 respondents said that the country was not ready for a non-Muslim prime minister while another 16% or 651 said that they did not care about the religion of the premier. Many claim that the prime minister must be a representative of the majority race and religion of Malaysia, and hence only a Malay-Muslim can be the head of government. The religion of the prime minister has been a contentious and sensitive matter as it is closely linked to Islam, whose special position is enshrined and protected under the Federal Constitution. Several independent constitutional experts have argued that there are no provisions in the Federal Constitution that state the premier must be a Malay-Muslim. More recently, the issue of the premier's religion popped up again during the "Christian Malaysia" controversy as highlighted by Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia. The Umno-owned paper's unsubstantiated report claimed there was a conspiracy by Christians and DAP leaders to install a Christian prime minister.
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| ‘Not much difference between DAP and Umno’ Posted: 30 May 2011 04:39 PM PDT
United Borneo Front president Jeffrey Kitingan also warns Sabahans to beware of Barian Nasional which is bent on moving towards extremism to perpetuate its hold on power. (Free Malaysia Today) - Peninsular-based DAP is bullying local opposition Sabah Progressive party (SAPP) just like how they (including PKR) thumbed Sarawak Nasional Party (SNAP) in the runup to the polls on April 16, said United Borneo Front president Jeffrey Kitingan. According to Jeffrey, DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang had started on a wrong footing in Sabah with his arrogant attitude and by pitting local (opposition) parties against each other. "Judging from this new development among the opposition parties, we can see clearly that there is not much difference between DAP and Umno too. "Definitely they are not thinking of the Borneo agenda. "I expected DAP to be more understanding regarding our dreams as Sabahans, but obviously DAP is too much engrossed with trying to get the Sabahans' votes to the point that it feels it can come to Sabah and push us around although we are all in the opposition," said Jeffrey, a former PKR vice president. Jeffrey had cited PKR's arrogant rule of Sabah as the reason for quitting PKR early this year. He called on Sabahans to reject DAP's attitude and reminded them that only local parties can best serve their interests. "Let's do away with relying on Peninsular parties to defend our rights. The people of Sabah and Sarawak have been tolerating this problem for 47 years now and have been hoping that the federal leaders would change their attitude but they never seem to change. "We can see that the Peninsula leaders and parties are in Sabah to serve their own peninsula agendas … pushing their own political games at the expense of Sabahans. "And, the worst thing is that the Pakatan Rakyat component parties are obviously trying to outdo each other in Sabah and Sarawak. "Recently DAP and PKR bullied SNAP in Sarawak and now they are bullying SAPP in Sabah," he said in a statement. Third Force needed He said the best thing for Sabahans and Sarawakians to do now under such circumstances is to take charge of their own future rather than rely on peninsula-based parties. "We need to form the Third Force, the coalition of local parties outside the BN and the Pakatan. "This is the best approach because this will enable us to pursue our own agenda. "We must also beware of the current trend in which BN is bent on moving towards extremism to perpetuate its hold on power, at all cost. "Even the Pakatan is using extreme measures to fight the BN, and both are not too concerned about what all this will do to the country," he said.
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| Rafizi: New Electricity Tariff Hike Will Burden the People Posted: 30 May 2011 03:43 PM PDT By Aidil Syukri, Malaysian Digest KUALA LUMPUR, 31 MAY, 2011: PKR Strategic Director Rafizi Ramli today said the government's announcement to reduce electricity subsidy will only burden the people while Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and IPPs (Independent Power Producer) still enjoy the same profits. According to Rafizi, the announcement of an electricity tariff hike does not come as a surprise to the public as it was made in order to confront the largesse of the elite political-business group that had profited tremendously at the expense of the public by dismantling lopsided agreements that have long caused structural damages to the economy. Rafizi said, Barisan Nasional (BN) has proven time and time again that it lacks courage and political will to undo the crony-capitalism from which it has benefited for a long time. "BN claims that the tariff hike will not affect 4.4 million households as the tariff for the usage of 300 kWh per month and below is left unchanged. The monthly electricity bill for the households may not increase much as a result of the tariff hike, but their disposable income will definitely be affected by the ever rising inflation," said Rafizi. "There are also other households or dwellings (including accommodations shared by the students or workers) whose monthly electricity bill is above RM77 a month which will be affected directly by the tariff hike," he added. The last time the tariff was reviewed that affects the majority of domestic customers was in June 2006. The baseline tariff for the first 200 kWh per month was also maintained at the current 21.8 sen per kWh. "In spite of this, 2006 saw the second highest inflation rate for the second half of the last decade at 3.6%," he said. According to Rafizi, the only time when price increase was higher was in 2008 during the sudden petrol and diesel hike. A closer look at the inflation data in 2006 will reveal that a combination of electricity tariff and petrol/diesel price hikes was the main factor that had led to the increase in inflation. "BN is repeating the same prescription in 2006 for 2011- a combination of price increases for basic goods that include sugar, petrol, diesel and now electricity. The combined effect of this will see the inflation for 2011 surpassing that of 2006 and inflict difficulties to millions of households whose meagre disposable income will be reduced further," he added. "The public does not need a unilateral withdrawal of subsidies that cause these price hikes. Any responsible government facing a dual deficit and inflation crisis in Putrajaya should summon all the political will and moral courage to go to the root cause of these problems," he added. "The power generation sector in this country is shackled with the legacy of lopsided agreements which continue to exact economic pains on the public. TNB has to buy electricity at the much higher rate than its own cost from IPPs," he added. He said, in order to balance the price, TNB and IPPs were given huge gas subsidies borne by PETRONAS each year. "All in all, the result is constant that TNB achieves a status quo financially, the public bears the burden from the tariff hike and IPP is not affected at all from thus exercise due to the fuel pass through mechanism," he said. READ MORE HERE. |
| Reveal truth about Felda’s RM6b loan, PKR tells EPF Posted: 30 May 2011 03:34 PM PDT By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — PKR has urged the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to clarify if it lent RM6 billion to the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) as has been alleged by a settlers' group. PKR central leadership council member Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong said the EPF board of directors has to explain why it chose to lend such a significant sum of money to Felda as the agency has always been cash-rich. "It's not your grandfather's money. It belongs to all 10 million contributors," he told reporters at PKR headquarters here today. The former deputy land and co-operative development minister pointed out there was no reason for Felda to borrow money while other plantation companies like IOI Corp and Tradewinds Bhd were making record profits on the back of high crude palm oil prices. He said this suggested that Felda was being badly mismanaged as the agency should be making at least RM1 billion in profit every year. The National Association for Children of Felda Settlers (Anak) alleged last week that Felda had borrowed RM6 billion from the EPF to develop settlers' lots. Anak chairman Mazlan Aliman showed reporters last Tuesday what he claimed to be minutes from a Felda Nitar 02's programme development committee meeting confirming the massive loan. According to the minutes, one of the issues discussed at the April 20 meeting was an application to increase the living allowance of the settlers. The document states that the application was rejected by the national settler consultation committee because "Felda had borrowed RM6 billion from EPF for the development of settlers' lots". Mazlan said this was proof that Felda, a government-linked company (GLC), was in dire financial straits. The dispute over Felda's financial status hit the headlines last June when opposition parties alleged that its considerable reserves had declined as a result of irregularities. |
| MACC clears A-G and Robert Phang of graft Posted: 30 May 2011 03:32 PM PDT By Florence A Samy, The Star KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) cleared Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of graft allegations over his Haj pilgrimage to Mecca with his family. MACC also cleared former MACC Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel member Tan Sri Robert Phang of having tried to bribe a ministry's secretary-general. There was not enough evidence to prove graft, according to the MACC on Tuesday. Malaysian online news portals and bloggers had been playing pictures of Abdul Gani seen together with Shahidan Shafie, who was said to be close to former Malaysia Airlines chairman Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli in the recent haj pilgrimage in Mecca. They had claimed that Shahidan had convinced Abdul Gani not to press charges against Tajuddin, who was chairman of MAS from 1994 to 2001, over the national carrier's loses which ran into billions. MAS was reported to have filed several reports against Tajuddin with the MACC, citing Tajuddin's move to relocate MAS' cargo operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to a single hub in Hahn, Germany, as the single biggest loss suffered under him. The new hub operation reportedly incurred monthly losses of between RM10mil to RM16mil before it was terminated and the government took over control of MAS in 2001. Meanwhile, the allegation against Phang was that sometime before Hari Raya of 2010, the secretary-general of a ministry, which was awarding a contract worth RM900mil, had to tell Phang to leave his office because Phang had tried to bribe him. |
| 'Submissions won't be made public for now' Posted: 30 May 2011 01:02 PM PDT By Irdiani Mohd Salleh, NST KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry investigating the death of Teoh Beng Hock has decided not to make public the written submissions by the three parties until its report is submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Commission secretary Datuk Saripuddin Kasim said the decision was made after a meeting between the commissioners and the lead counsel for the Bar Council, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the conducting officers yesterday morning. "The commission is answerable to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and it is his prerogative whether to make the report public." Saripuddin said the commissioners, led by Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen, were now studying the various documents. Shafee said the parties agreed not to release the written submissions to the public in order to avoid a trial by media. |
| RI, Malaysia end standoff on migrant worker rights Posted: 30 May 2011 12:56 PM PDT By Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post A previous MoU was signed in 2006 but Indonesia complained the document favored only the Malaysian side at the cost of Indonesian workers.
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| Posted: 30 May 2011 12:35 PM PDT By Karen Arukesamy, The Sun PUTRAJAYA (May 30, 2011): Households that use 300 kilowatt hour (kWh) or less of electricity a month will not be affected by the higher tariff effective Wednesday, June 1. This means if your monthly bill is RM77 or less, there's no change. "The average electricity tariff will be increased by 2.23 sen/kWh or 7.12% from 31.31 sen/kWh to 33.54 sen/kWh," Energy, Green Techno-logy and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui told a press conference today. He said all domestic consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 200kWh (lifeline band) and the next 100kWh will not be affected. "Domestic consumers in these bands will continue to enjoy the subsidised unit rate of 21.8 sen/kWh and 33.4 sen/kWh respectively. "Domestic consumers in the 301 to 400 kWh per month band will experience minimal electricity bill increase (0.1%-6% or 7 sen-RM6.60)," he said. Consumers whose monthly power bill is RM77 and below form 75% of the population. The other 25% will have to pay RM6 more (see table).
The 7.12% increase comprises: * 5.12% or 1.60sen/kWh due to higher natural gas price to the power sector from RM10.70/mmBTU to RM13.70/mmBTU in line with the increase in global energy prices; and * 2% or 0.63sen/kWh for Tenaga Nasional Bhd to partly recover the increase of electricity supply cost since the last base tariff revision in June 2006. "There will an additional 1% imposed on the monthly bill as the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) to promote renewable energy fund to bear the additional cost. However, domestic consumers who use less than 300kWh/month will be exempted," he said. The tariff review package also provides the following special rates and discounts: * 10% discount on electricity bills enjoyed by local schools and higher learning institutions, places of worship and welfare homes registered with the government; and * 10% discount extended to partially government-funded educational institutions. Industrial consumers will experience an average increase of 8.35% (ranging from 6.2% to 10.3%), he said. Chin said the main rationale for the tariff revision was the higher price of natural gas supplied to the power sector effective Wednesday. "The increase in natural gas price is unavoidable due to the increase in global energy prices since 2009 and is based on the government natural gas pricing mechanism in which the price is periodically reviewed in tandem with market price trend. "Since natural gas cost constitutes around 54.2% of the total fuel cost mix (FY2010), the additional fuel cost incurred due to the gas price revision is reflected via the increase in end-use electricity tariff," he said. Announcing the increase in the natural gas price earlier at the same press conference, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said gas prices were determined based on their alternative fuel pricing. "For example, if fuel oil is used in power generation and if gas is used to replace fuel oil as an energy source, then the price of gas will be the same as that of fuel oil. The practice of pricing gas relative to its alternative fuels has been adopted in all countries in the region," he said. |
| Pro-Lynas group bullies protestors as IAEA panel meets Posted: 30 May 2011 12:34 PM PDT By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider KUANTAN, May 31 — For the second day in a row, demonstrators supporting the controversial rare earth plant forced anti-Lynas protestors to leave the Hyatt Regency here. The group of about 100 men confronted a group of residents from Beserah, where the plant is located, just as they finished their meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency-led (IAEA) team that is here to meet local stakeholders. After a scuffle, the Beserah group led by their assemblyman Syed Mohammad Lonnik and community leader Andansura Rabu had to be escorted by police light strike force officers to their car. Earlier in the morning, protestors wearing "Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas" T-shirts were also chased away from the beach in front of the hotel by the pro-Lynas group. Many of the pro-Lynas group were those here yesterday holding up banners supporting the IAEA and also Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob. Two reporters from Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau were also confronted by men who demanded they stop taking pictures. One of the reporters said a man threatened to punch her if she did not stop. "You want to report good or bad, think properly first. The government has already brought in a panel of experts. "I am from Balok. We are more concerned than these people who come from Ipoh, Seremban and KL. Why do we want to chase away investors?" said members of the group to reporters later.
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