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Posted: 05 Dec 2013 11:19 AM PST

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The present notices say that the objection period ends on Dec 17. But feedback can be given till March to the panel.

But the same notice says a penalty will be imposed if assessment is not paid by Feb 28 next year. Now how? If the kepala doesn't know what is going on, how does it expect the rest of us minions to make sense of it?

Terence Fernandez, fz.com

IF it is true that the incumbent federal government feels that it is punishing KL folks by re-evaluating properties by almost 300%, they are on the right path.

City folks have been having sleepless nights thinking about the corresponding hike in assessment rates, with many wondering if they are paying the price for their choice at the ballot box on May 5, 2013.

The "opposition" after all, controls 10 of the 12 seats in Kuala Lumpur. But if current sentiments are anything to go by, then in four years the status quo would remain the same, give or take one or two seats.

Of course, "punishment" seems a far-fetched theory. Surely the ruling party would want to regain the seats they lost come GE 14!

Unless of course, as some "political analysts" put it, they are just trying to make as much as they can at the expense of ratepayers, since there is a clear and present danger of the Barisan Nasional (BN) losing in 2018.

This school of thought though plausible is still something that must be taken with a pinch of salt.

What is fact is this: Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor woke up one morning on the wrong side of the bed. He then decided that the government needs to make more money.

Coffers are running low, and war chests needed to be refilled to fund, among others the retaking of the Klang Valley from the Pakatan Rakyat.

So since Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has not reviewed its assessment for 21 years, now looks like as good as any time to raise property value.

Only problem is, Tengku Adnan did not consult anyone, nor did he present it at the weekly cabinet meeting. So when property owners started receiving notices from DBKL, apart from the nasi lemak vendor in Kampung Baru; the electrician in Taman OUG or the taxi driver in Sentul, Tengku Adnan's fellow cabinet colleagues with multi-million ringgit homes in Bukit Tunku and Damansara were also caught unawares.

But instead of hauling up Tengku Adnan and questioning why he acted arbitrarily and dug the hole BN is in even deeper, his colleagues rallied around him, struck by a characteristic Malaysian illness – "bodoh sombong" – and presented a united front supporting the hike.

However, backstage, they are scratching their heads wondering how to get out of this quagmire without losing face.

This perhaps explains why there have been confusion over the quantum as well as when the new valuation will be implemented – of if it will be implemented at all.

In a clear demonstration of left hand not knowing what the right hand is up to, Tengku Adnan even went after his deputy Datuk Loga Bala Mohan for saying that the hike in assessment rates will be postponed indefinitely pending public hearings.

Mind you, Loga said this in Parliament.

Tengku Adnan however said the deadline will be pushed to March for the special panel formed to gather feedback on the hike.

That even his wife is upset over the excessive amount is of little or no significance to the 1.2 million property owners. And frankly, Datin Seri is probably cross with her husband over some other issue or vice (you know like how a wife nags her hubby for smoking or drinking). But seriously, what the government has yet to explain is, do KL-ites still pay the new assessment?

The present notices say that the objection period ends on Dec 17. But feedback can be given till March to the panel.

Even the mayor Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib has put his foot in his mouth by boasting about City Hall's strong fiscal position in his Budget 2014 speech.

So what is the extra money needed for? And what do they plan to do with the billions it already has?

Chang Kim Loong, the honorary secretary of the House Buyers Association (HBA) said his association is galvanising lawyers, accountants, auditors and ratepayers in KL to file a public interest law suit against DBKL.

The action is firstly to get the local authority to open up its books and account for how it spends our money.

If this is of any indication over how our money is being spent, am now the defendant in a defamation case filed by a flower supplier, following a report on City Hall's contract for flowers and landscaping that cost almost RM40 million.

Then mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail had cancelled the contract which he regarded as excessive and relied on City Hall's own landscaping department to beautify the city and its parks.

I dare not say any more about this for fear of being in contempt but seriously the ones who really are in contempt are the ones who want to squeeze more out of an already suffering populace facing dark fiscal times.

Najib turns the sword on Anwar

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 11:14 AM PST

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made a surprise 'appearance' in the middle of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's opening speech at the Umno general assembly.

The Opposition Leader was caught lying first about non-existent Bangladeshi voters and then lying that he never said it. The Opposition parties have used the new technology to great effect but it is a double-edged sword and, yesterday, Anwar fell on his own sword. But the most tragic thing is that so many Malaysians fell for the lie.

Joceline Tan, The Star

WHEN Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as Petronas adviser last week, some read it as a sign that he was upset with the Umno leadership.

He had resigned for health reasons but the timing of his resignation was too close to the Umno general assembly for comfort.

It is no secret that the elder statesman has been quite critical of Petronas' policies and a number of people even imagined that this would be the beginning of the end of his cordial ties with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

But there he was, bright and early, at the opening of the Umno general assembly, seated at the centre-front row several seats away from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Dr Mahathir has not missed a single general assembly since Najib took over as Umno president and it does look like his relationship with Najib will endure even if he and Abdullah are still stuck in a civil cold war.

As usual, Dr Mahathir was mobbed the moment he stepped out of the hall. His voice was softer than usual, he sounded a trifle breathless and although he did not praise the speech, he had nothing negative to say about it either.

But he must have enjoyed the "multi-media show" of his old nemesis.

Midway through Najib's opening speech, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's image appeared on the giant screen.

The video opened with Anwar claiming he had never said anything about Bangladeshis being flown in to vote in the general election.

This was followed by more video clips showing him making these claims – not once but several times before and after the May 5 election.

The Opposition Leader was caught lying first about non-existent Bangladeshi voters and then lying that he never said it.

The Opposition parties have used the new technology to great effect but it is a double-edged sword and, yesterday, Anwar fell on his own sword.

But the most tragic thing is that so many Malaysians fell for the lie.

The video would have been a good laugh had it not been for the grave implications.

Many in the hall were clearly still angry about the issue and they jeered and booed as the Opposition Leader was exposed as a liar.

Later, when they cooled down, some of them joked that Anwar had made his "first appearance" at the general assembly 15 years after he was sacked.

"It shows that Najib is very confident of his place in the party to have 'invited' Anwar back to Dewan Merdeka," one of them joked.

Najib is indeed quite unassailable in the party at this point in time.

He is surrounded by loyalists who won in the party election while he himself won uncontested.

In the last few years, Najib has used the Umno forum to speak to an audience that extended beyond the walls of the party's PWTC headquarters.

But yesterday, his speech was the most "Umno-ish" ever since he became the party president.

It was a speech aimed largely at the party members and he was not apologetic about it.

Najib's aristocratic background has often been a sore point among the Umno folk but his political instincts cannot be faulted.

The Malay rhetoric this year was quite deliberate.

The party has survived a bruising general election and it has also emerged from a successful party election.

Najib could sense that the members did not want any more reminders of how they must reach out to the other communities.

They have yet to recover from the feeling of being rejected, especially by the Chinese voters.

As such, a key message from his policy speech was that Umno has not and will not stray from its core values of defending the religion, the race and the nation. It was what the members wanted to hear.

"They need to hear it at the general assembly and from the president himself. Once they are reassured, he can move on to the national agenda," said the insider.

It was also a celebratory speech of sorts because his party had performed better than in the 2008 general election but was let down by its component parties.

He singled out Sarawak and Sabah for mention because the two states helped carry Barisan Nasional.

"Going back to our core values does not mean that we have abandoned our objective to be inclusive and just. Policies have to address the bumiputera needs because they will comprise 69% of Malaysians by 2020," said former Penang Umno strongman Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad.

But Malay rhetoric aside, Najib is very focused on what he wants out of his party from now till the next general election. His problem is whether the rest of the party can come along at the pace he has set.

For the second time in two days, he held his handphone up in the air as he stressed the need for the party to embrace new technology.

Barisan's survival will be determined by the six million new voters in the next general election.

The new generation is technology-savvy and their opinions will be shaped by what is streamed by social media and the internet.

Umno's own survival will depend on the Malay voters whose priorities will revolve around what Najib terms as surau dan masjid.

In fact, there was a roar of approval when Najib touched on the party's defence of the kalimah Allah issue.

The party has begun to attract young, progressive ulama into its ranks and the signs are there that Islam will also play a bigger role in Umno's future and survival.

Like many Malays, Najib loves his cup of tea which he now drinks without sugar. He has lost his paunch and his clothes look good on him these days.

He is looking lean and fit, which is a good thing because it is a tough race ahead.

The next general elections will be all about Islam

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 10:59 AM PST

I was chatting with a senior PAS leader just before the party's annual congress, and he expressed his worry over the creeping skin-deep Islamisation that the country is going through. "The next general elections will be about who seems the most Islamic," he said, and despite his Islamist credentials, his concern was understandable.

Zurairi AR, MM

It is a relatively good time to be an Islamist in this country.

If signs are to be believed, it is only a matter of time until Malaysia becomes a full-fledged Islamic country, just like how it was meant to be.

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was kind enough to grant the Mentri Besar of Kelantan, Ahmad Yaakob, an audience. It was believed that part of their discussions centred on steps to allow hudud laws to be implemented in Kelantan.

This, of course, came after Ahmad's party, the Islamist PAS, passed a resolution during its annual congress last month, calling for the Federal government to not impede the implementation of Islamic laws, especially hudud, in states which are run by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat.

This frenzy, in turn, came about after the Sultan of Brunei decreed that Islamic laws including hudud be enforced in his country, inviting praises from PAS among others, despite international concerns over human rights.

PAS delegates even went as far as calling attention to the Acheh province in Indonesia, urging for the same kind of moral Gestapo to be given authority in Malaysia to harass citizens.

The frenzy for hudud in PAS' annual congress was followed, almost serendipitously, by the Sultan of Johor's announcement that the state will revert its rest days to Fridays and Saturdays to allow Muslims time for their weekly Friday prayers.

The last time this had happened was before 1994, and unlike previously, this time around the proclamation was made without much consideration for business entities, and almost failing to recognise Johor's status as a neighbour to the burgeoning economy of Singapore.

Alas, this is a small matter. The sultans have listened to the rakyat. Islam is back in the grandstand.

For some, this might feel like a fortuitous turn of events. But not everyone obviously will feel the same way.

I was chatting with a senior PAS leader just before the party's annual congress, and he expressed his worry over the creeping skin-deep Islamisation that the country is going through.

"The next general elections will be about who seems the most Islamic," he said, and despite his Islamist credentials, his concern was understandable.

For a devout Muslim, this discomfort comes with seeing Islam being cheapened to a mere political tool, with support for hudud seen as the ultimate tool of proving a politician's devoutness.

It is as if just by crying one's religious credential over the others, it automatically absolves him of his many other sins.

We have already seen the ball rolling during the Umno general assembly this week.

Seemingly locked in religious auction with PAS, its Malay support base eroded in the last polls, Umno had beaten its chest, proclaiming itself as the "real" champion of Islam.

A delegate from the women's wing even declared Umno as "more Islamic" than PAS, citing proven Islamic products such as Islamic banking as purportedly the fruits of Umno's labour.

We also heard the Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin calling for a Constitutional amendment so that Malays will only adhere to the Sunni denomination of Islam, in another demonisation against the Shia sect.

The deputy prime minister also urged for Islamic studies to be a lifelong learning, whatever that means, to combat liberalism of all things.

We have witnessed a truly rare event, where both PAS and Umno mirrored each other: condemning the "liberals" and advocated human rights as undeniable threats to the sanctity of Islam in the country.

Thanks to smear tactics and fear-mongering by some narrow-minded Muslims NGOs, we have now been assured of not only a state-sanctioned, but even bi-partisan effort to deny Malaysians minorities of their rights.

Top of the list, however, is talk that both Umno and PAS should combine their powers for the sake of the Malays and Islam.

Talks of a unity government between the two have always been in the air, but never have they been so loud. Some of the public are truly looking forward to it.

If anything, if both of them do resort to unity after years of labelling each other heretics, it would only show their desperation and lack of political depth to survive the upcoming years.

For now, they might be in consensus. But it might not be long until they start the heretic blame game again in the game of one-upmanship.

The Muslims might think that they are winning out of this—surely this is a victory—but whether they will benefit from this remains to be seen.

One thing for sure, those who will suffer the most from the creeping Islamisation are the multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-ideological Malaysians. You and me.

There is nothing worse than being the minority, and to see the government that is supposed to represent you fixated on the whims and fancy of only one domineering ethno-religious group.

The road towards the next general elections will be intimidating. The hope of seeing any political body standing up for a secular Malaysia looks bleaker than ever.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Jumaat, 6 Disember 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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