| Plug the Evaporation of Our Money Posted: 10 Aug 2011 09:12 PM PDT According to a recent FMT report, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's household electricity bill was RM160,000 and water bill RM66,000 a month. This is not as shocking as other items of expenditure.
In December '08, Malaysiakini revealed that in a written parliamentary reply to DAP MP Liew Chin Tong, Abdullah had revealed that the government forks out RM6 million a year for rental and maintenance works for his official residence, Seri Perdana.
According to the reply, RM4.15 million is paid as rental to Putrajaya Holdings – the master developer of the federal administrative capital – while the remaining RM1,896,616 is for maintenance works. The government also pays RM3.4 million (RM2,273,888 for rental and RM1,129,992 for maintenance) for Seri Setia, the deputy premier's official residence. In total, this works out to about RM26,000 per day for both residences.
In April this year, The Malaysian Insider reported that according to Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, upkeep for the official residences of the prime minister, deputy prime minister and ministers in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) cost RM3.4 million last year. The government spent RM1.76 million running Seri Perdana, the prime minister's sprawling residence in Putrajaya, and another RM1.59 million to maintain the deputy prime minister's Sri Satria residence.
PM Najib said on April 1 that the recent surge in the cost of living may force the government to slow subsidy cuts, and that while the government was committed to reducing the nation's deficit, "we don't want rising prices in Malaysia to be a major burden for the people." Walk the talk!! Although he has already announced the government's willingness to fork out RM4 billion more in addition to the RM10 billion allocated for subsidies this year, do not rejoice yet.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO CLIP.
A month later, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has not come outright and said it but all indications are that there will be price hikes on essential items. He said that the subsidy burden is expected to double this year from RM10.32 billion to RM20.58 billion. He said that hefty subsidy costs is taking a toll on the government and that it could not bear the costs. This could be an indication that the government is preparing the public for more cuts.
Today, The Malaysian Insider reported that in a bid to reduce its energy bills, Putrajaya order all government buildings today to set its air-conditioner temperature to no lower than 24°C and will order the private sector to follow suit by 2013.
Since last Monday, some RM91 billion has been slashed from the stock market and things are expected to turn for the worst.
As such, instead of coming up with such laughable suggestions about controlling the temperature of government buildings to to slash energy bills, the government should:
READ MORE HERE. |
| The Mas-AirAsia deal - part 1 Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:54 PM PDT Look at the share swap? TF got so many shares of MAS right? He parted with so many shares of AA to Khazanah no? What has happened? MAS shares rose in value meaning the shares TF has increased in value. The boy who managed MAS for a short time gets 11 million MAS shares and he is rewarded for bad-managing MAS. What has been produced at this deal? Immediate improvement in the services of MAS? A renewed sense of commercial evangelism by which TF is famous for? Some say it as snakoil-salemanship. Doesn't matter because it works for him personally. On the PROMISE of MAS getting TF Midas's touch, he has made over RM 30m. Those with AA shares got lesser value for the shares including Khazanah. So what do you feel about the whole thing? You will feel that MAS is being made a tool in a vast corporate game exercise masterminded by a few using an asset owned by Malaysians held in trust by those boys at Khazanah. You could almost feel you have been had. You represent thus the people who feel violated. The shares and assets held in trust are held for what purpose? Let's not beat around the bush- there is an unspoken truth that the shares are held in trust for a wider social and political purpose. So that value can be added on the shares in the pursuit of social and political adjustments. Chief among these- adjusting wealth distribution on behalf of Bumiputeras. Two, these corporate games are being played by a few well connected individuals. The benefits (mostly immediate and short term) accrue to them. The full impact only to be felt years later and borne eventually by the government and taxpayers. All this point to the incompetence of the government at managing wealth generating national assets. Sure, everyone is parroting what Fernandes said at a forum on ETP - that government gets out of business. We have been saying that all along too, except that TF is saying it with capacity. In any case, I fully agree with that portion of his take. So let's begin by dismantling the very organization that throws its weight around as a government- khazanah itself. If there is a new government next time, let's put as priority, the agenda of dismantling Khazanah. Khazanah is left holding shares that have gone down in price. Net, TF wins. But what about the minority shareholders holding the balls shares of AA? The lady boss at Bursa Saham needs to investigate whether substantial blocks of MAS shares changed hands before the deal was announced. Does the share swap entail AA assuming a new nationality? Does AA now become a 'Malaysian airlines' so that it acquires previously unavailable landing and flying rights? If it has changed effectively and since landing and flying rights are attached to an airline's nationality, AA has effectively gotten rights that are enjoyed by MAS. So MAS is arm-twisted into giving up more concessions. AA got what Asia-X has been clamoring all this time. That makes the deal having all the ingredients of being much manipulated and not fair especially to MAS. You twist and turn, ending up by giving up more by MAS. Now where is the reason for being angry? You feel angry because the government itself is played out and looking stupid. Very sorry if you insist this is a debate about bumi non bumi, tamil non Tamil. It isn't. It's about transparency and probity in the treatment of assets belonging to this nation. If MAS were an entirely private company, we will say - serve you right, you have been a laggard and therefore you deserve to be outmaneuvered by TF. AA has got a leaner management team, its nimble and all that. We wouldn't bat an eyelid because it's purely an affair between private business entities. The issues here are about MAS and Khazanah. The issues with MAS center on its management. It's not led by a keen entrepreneurial mind. But why are we confining ourselves to just around the talent in AA to prop up MAS? We want to insist MAS and AA remain two separate entities so that there is competition. TF and his gang can do whatever they want with AA. READ MORE HERE |
| Kepimpinan UMNO peringkat bahagian wajib bersatu - Najib Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:10 AM PDT Apa yang dikatakan oleh Najib itu semuanya benar kerana tanpa perpaduan di kalangan pimpinan bahagian UMNO dan BN akan menghadapi jalan sukar untuk memenangi pilihanraya nanti. Itu adalah asas kekuatan sesuatu parti apabila menghadapi pilihanraya nanti. Perpecahan diperingkat akar umbi pasti akan membawa bencana kepada UMNO.
Perlu di akui yang hanya UMNO sahaja yang masih dan mungkin boleh bertahan sedikit sebanyak dalam pilihanraya nanti kerana parti-parti MCA, Gerakkan serta MIC hampir pasti akan lenyap ditelan arus kebangkitan rakyat menentang komponen BN ini. Tetapi UMNO juga tidak terlepas dari menghadapi persepsi yang buruk dari pandangan rakyat ramai kerana terpalit dengan isu-isu negatif yang membimbangkan rakyat.
Tetapi mujarabkah peringatan pemimpin-pemimpin di bahagian ini? Mampukah mereka (pemimpin-pemimpin bahagian) untuk berbuat demikian? Isu ini merupakan isu yang sangat mendapat perhatian saya kerana ini merupakan nadi kekuatan UMNO dan BN yang telah mati selama ini. Nadi UMNO sudah berkurangan denyutnya. Saya selalu menulis tentang isu ini kerana dari segi hakikatnya UMNO hanya tinggal pada namanya sahaja.
UMNO tidak lagi melakukan gerakan yang betul untuk menghadapi rakyat. Tiada lagi program-program kemasyarakatan dan tidak ada pimpinan bahagian yang mempunyai kemampuan untuk melakukan pembangunan mengikut kehendak perjuangan UMNO itu. Yang menjadi masalah besar ialah UMNO sudah tidak dipandang tinggi lagi oleh masyarakat. UMNO sudah mula tidak di hiraukan oleh rakyat dan rakyat bukannya sesuka hati untuk tidak menghiraukan parti ini. Ianya bersebab.
UMNO di peringkat bahagian sudah tidak ada kepimpinan. Yang ada hanyalah ketua-ketua yang tidak mempunyai kepimpinan. Bagaimana mereka hendak ada kepimpinan jika cara mereka menaiki kepimpinan bahagian itu adalah berdasarkan kepada siapa yang berbelanja lebih? Apa bila semuanya dibeli termasuk kepimpinan bagaimana hendak mendapatkan kepimpinan yang berkualiti.
Kalau kita hendak makan makanan yang berkualiti, elok kita masak di rumah. Kalau makanan serta lauk pauk yang dibeli dari kedai orang berniaga masakan kita dapat masakan yang berkualiti? Benda yang di beli tidak mempunyai kualiti yang baik. UMNO sudah kehabisan dan kehilangan kepimpinan secara total. Yang ada pada UMNO hanya kuasa sebagai parti yang memerintah.
Sebenarnya UMNO sendiri telah mengakui yang partinya hanya boleh bertahan di desa-desa yang mana pengundi tidak mempunyai access kepada berita yang sebenarnya. UMNO Selangor dua hari yang lepas telah mengakui yang harapan mereka untuk memenangi kawasan-kawasan kampong dan desa adalah cerah kerana pengundi-pengundi di kawasan ini tidak mempunyai access kepada berita yang lain dari sumber dari Utusan Melayu. Mereka hanya membaca Utusan Melayu kata Ketua Penerangan UMNO Selangor.
Kata-kata ini hanya membuktikan yang mereka yang tidak mempunyai pelajaran sahaja yang akan mengundi BN. Bagaimana seorang yang bertanggunjawab kepada sebaran maklumat UMNO mengatakan orang kampong tidak maju serta memandang rendah kepada orang kampong? Itulah sebabnya saya selalu katakan yang setiap perkara yang di ucapkan oleh pemimpin UMNO akan menjauhkan hati rakyat dari parti itu. Kefahaman terhadap isu tidak ada langsung dan inilah yang membuatkan UMNO itu secara deras telah menjadi parti yang lesu. Dengan kata-kata seperti itu membuktikan yang UMNO tidak berkeyakinan untuk memenangi kawasan-kawasan bandar dan separuh bandar.
Nasihat Najib itu walaupun betul dan benar, tetapi beliau tidak pula menyatakan bagaimana untuk berpadu kerana penyakit berlumba-lumba untuk menjadi calun sedang hebat berlaku. Wakil-wakil rakyat yang menyandang sekarang pula tidak putus-putus berusaha untuk menyambung nyawa politik mereka untuk kekal sepenggal lagi.
Oleh kerana mereka tidak mempunyai semangat perjuangan mereka akan melakukan sabotaj terhadap parti sendiri jika tidak terpilih menjadi calon. Tetapi tidak juga boleh kita persalahkan mereka kerana UMNO yang ada pada hari ini pun terbentuk atas asas perpecahan ahli-ahlinya selepas pengharaman UMNO yang diilhamkan oleh pucuk pimpinan parti itu sendiri 23 tahun yang lepas.
Benih-benih kepimpinan di setiap peringkat adalah dari mereka yang tidak mempunyai kepimpinan kerana semua yang berkepimpinan tidak diambil menjadi pemimpin pro tem kepada UMNO yang baru di wujudkan semasa itu.
UMNO yang baru itu hanya mengambil pemimpin-pemimpin yang tidak ada kepimpinan untuk menjadi penaja bagi mempastikan mereka yang hanya taat kepada pemimpin negeri dan pusat sahaja yang di terima. Dari saat inilah kepimpinan UMNO mula rendah kerana benih kepimpinan yang tidak baik yang dilantik untuk memimpin UMNO yang baru itu.
Hampir separuh dari yang berkepimpinan di seluruh negara diketepikan dari penaja UMNO itu walaupun mereka merupakan menyandang berbagai-bagai jawatan yang dipilh secara demokratik sebelum UMNO yang asal itu dimatikan. READ MORE HERE |
| Heads I Win, Tails You Lose! Posted: 09 Aug 2011 11:35 PM PDT Many are alarmed over this development which poses serious concerns that Air Asia can dominate MAS thereby reducing competition between the two to the detriment of end-users. In the long run, this could lead to a virtual monopoly of the domestic airline industry. In such a scenario, we will be exposed to the risks and concerns associated with such a monopoly bearing in mind that other cronies and political power brokers could be lurking in the shadows.
Is there a conflict of interest notwithstanding his purported 'non-executive' position since the swap is accompanied by effective participation of Tony Fernandez and his nominees in the board of MAS? Have corporate governance rules been violated? Surely they have a framework of laws and guidelines for economic efficiency and ensure a firm's responsibility towards its investors and stakeholders. However, considering the level of secrecy in which this was discussed, we must question the level of transparency in the decision-making of a national issue. In fact, the Securities Commission must investigate if there any irregularities exist.
Remember back in the old days when Telekoms Malaysia monopolised the industry and service was atrocious? Only when the industry was opened to competition did we see service improve (at least some improvement). In the UK, gas and electricity is extremely competitive. Even foreign companies operate in the UK. In Malaysia we only have Gas Malaysia and TNB. That is why service is bad and expensive. In the UK, dozens of companies need to fight for the business.
Competition is good news for the consumer. And that is why many countries have anti-monopoly laws to protect the consumers.
In the US, the MAS-Air Asia deal would be blocked and citizens like you and me can go to court to file a class action suit to get the court to prevent such monopolistic mergers. When Singapore joined Malaysia in 1963, it shared Malaysia's common currency. Later on, Singapore was expelled, became independent in 1965 and lost its monetary union. In 1967 Singapore established a Board of Commissioners of Currency and released its own notes called the orchid. The orchid is now known as the dollar (SGD). Today, the exchange rate is RM2.5: SIN$1.
Looking back, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) came into being in 1966 as a result of a joint ownership of the airline by the governments of Malaysia and Singapore. After six years, the airline ceased operations in 1972 when both governments decided to set up their own national airlines. That was how Malaysian Airline System, now called Malaysia Airlines, and Singapore Airlines were formed.
According to a SIA report dated 28th January 2011, the third quarter of 2010-2011 operating profit WAS UP 58% to SIN$509million (RM1.27billion). And how much does MAS make?
B.K. Sidhu of The Star reported that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) NET PROFIT FELL BY 65% to RM226mil for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 from RM640mil a year earlier due to higher cost of fuel despite carrying more passengers during the quarter. The fourth quarter is normally the most profitable quarter for most airlines. In terms of revenue, the airline reported an 8% a rise to RM3.6bil from RM3.3bil previously.
In short, the two reports show that SIA makes about MORE THAN FIVE TIMES what MAS makes and that is taking MAS accounts at 'face value". With a fine-toothed comb, could the figures be less or even at a loss? So why merge MAS and Air Asia when we should be talking about the poor performance of MAS? South of the border, a premium airline is raking in money while in our own homeground, the opposite is happening!! Why can't MAS stay afloat despite the many injections over the years? (Read Is Mas Still EMAS?)
READ MORE HERE. |
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan