The Heath Ministry is short of funds for the nation's fifth Cardiac Centre to be built at Kota Kinabalu. The project cost RM140Million but the ministry was only allocated with RM80million. A short of RM60 million and badly needed.
Looking back, the government probably have enough fund for this project but some ministers have mis-used the rakyat fund and spend it on buying submarines, sending a tourist to space, sending an army squad to London, among others.
Boros, boros.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
RM60m more needed to build cardiac centre
By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: The country’s fifth cardiac centre is to be built here and the Heath Ministry is seeking an additional RM60mil for the urgently required facility.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the government had initially approved some RM80mil for the cardiac centre, but the project cost increased to RM140mil after the ministry had expanded the scope of work.
“The cost of the building itself is not that much but the bulk of the expenditure is for the very specialised equipment needed there,” he told reporters after visiting the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) here on Tuesday.
He said the 100-bed cardiac centre would be a unit of the QEH and would be the latest in the country after similar facilities in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Baru and Kuching.
Liow said the centre was urgently needed as some 100 heart patients from Sabah were being sent to the National Heart Institute (IJN) every year for surgery.
In addition, there were about 174 open heart surgeries carried out in the state by IJN surgeons annually.
Liwat-meliwat in Malaysia 2008 made easy ...
1] Malaysians "liwat" Barisan Nasional by denying them 2/3 majority and losing 5 states which saw many stalwarts like Samy Vellu, Zainuddin Maidin and many other got 'liwat' hardcore style.
2] Anwar Ibrahim "foreplayed" BN by saying there are enough katak MP's around from BN ready jump to PR, in order to 'liwat' BN out of office for the first time in 51 years.
3] Mahathir is truly the 'liwat' Man of the Year. After getting 'liwat" by the Royal Commision, he 'liwat' back Abdullah Badawi by asking Najib to 'liwat' Abdullah Badawi this coming UMNO General 'rear end-kissing" Assembly.
4] Raja Petra Kamarudin 'liwat" Najib by signing a Statutory Declaration implicating Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor being personally witnessing Altantuya's poor body being strapped with C-4 (and see it explode ?). In return, Najib liwat RPK by "asking" the Polis to arrest RPK for contravening the Sedition Act. Wahlau.
5] Not to be outdone, Abdullah Badawi bounces back with a hardcore "liwat" to all Malaysians by increasing fuel price from RM1.92 a litre to Rm 2.70 a litre. This eventually led to price hike in food prices, raw materials etc, and liwat cost for the sex workers. In other words, it was a full scale 'liwat' orgy to all Malaysians resulting general public having really sore rear end of monumental proportions. See Mahathir Mohamad's view on the oil price increase
6] Saiful Bukhari Azlan apa benda entah accuses Anwar Ibrahim doing a 'liwat' on his innocent rear end. With liwat speed, Saiful (ya, Saiful is a speed demon) became a instantly famous (infamous) and Janna Mohd Zaki, his fiancee join the limelight and became a famous blogger too.
7] Anwar Ibrahim 'liwat' Najib by accusing him of trying to 'liwat' him up in 'liwat' case by using Saiful as a pawn (damn that's a lot of 'liwat").
8] While Najib and Anwar "liwat-meliwat" each other using dildo's, sticks, carrots etc, Abdullah Badawi is dozes off while Malaysian economy is slowly being 'liwat' by global economic meltdown.
The above easy liwat was inspired by CofeeTalk
Some more liwat add-ons below:
9] While Anwar is busy with the ACA and Polis, Najib being too free, liwat the Sabahan by announcing at the mass medias that the government is mounting a mass operation to nab the illegal immigrants at Sabah. Big mouth of Najib give early warning to the pilaks and before the Immigresen liwat the pilaks, the pilaks has gone into temporary hiding.
10] PETRONAS who is itchy all along join the fray and liwat the oil producing states, namely Terangganu, Sabah and Sarawak. Petronas revenue shot up to RM223.1 billion and the three states only got RM1.6 billion for each.Terengganu, Sarawak dan Sabah berputih mata
11] UMNO "liwat" Sarawak DAP when they send executive secretary Datuk Yaakob Mohammad to Kuching to pay RM70,000 cash for court security (deposit) in the on-going election petition against the people-choice Chong Chieng Jen, MP Kuching. See UMNO meddling with Kuching election petition
12] Surprisingly, UMNO also kena 'liwat' by vendors for failing to settle RM218million election campaign cost in 2004. Of course, UMNO will claimed unconsented 'liwat' and will fight it at court.
13] On the evening of Aug 26, 2008 when the public is on the edge to get the latest news on Permatang Pauh by-election, RPK's MalaysiaToday site was 'liwat' by TMNet. RPK's 'liwat' back TMNet by moving MT to new URL at http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com/2008/
14] A few weeks later, access to Malaysia Today site was unblocked but RPK was kena liwat when he was detained (together with Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng) under ISA. Read Raja Petra Kamarudin, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng Detained Under ISA. RPK was further liwat by Syed Hamid Albar, the Home Minister when he ordered RPK to be sent to Kamunting detention centre to serve his 2 years prison sentence without trial.
15] On September 17, 2008, SAPP of Sabah liwat the Barisan Nasional coalition when they annouced their withdrawal from the BN coalition.
Related posts:
* Tahun Meliwat Malaysia 2008 (graphics)
UMNO is meddling with the current Kuching election petition between voter Kho Whai Phiaw who is seeking to nullify the result of the Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat in the March 8 general election in which Chong Chieng Jen defeated Barisan Nasional’s Alan Sim.
That is typical of UMNO being the leader in the Barisan Nasional coalition and loaded with money. UMNO leaders always advocate against money politic but who is playing money politic now.
Kho is not even a member of UMNO. UMNO does not have branch in Sarawak yet have the guts to be involve with Sarawak politic. If anyone or any party that want to contest Chong, it should be from SUPP, not UMNO.
Bear in mind, UMNO house is in a mess yet they still have time to mess with other people business. UMNO should clean up their own mess first.
Related posts or links:
* RM70,000 Additional Deposit from UMNO
* Election Petition against Me (Chong Chieng Jen)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
Umno tells why it put up additional security in Bandar Kuching petition
KUCHING: Umno paid the RM70,000 additional security of costs which a voter had been ordered to pay by the court in the Bandar Kuching election petition, because the party had been defamed, said Barisan Nasional executive secretary Datuk Yaakob Mohammad.
Yaakob told the Election Court that one of the grounds in the petition referred to an article posted on Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen’s blog which Yaakob felt had defamed Umno.
Chong is the respondent in an election petition filed by voter Kho Whai Phiaw.
Kho is seeking to nullify the result of the Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat in the March 8 general election in which Chong defeated Barisan Nasional’s Alan Sim.
The Election Court ordered Kho to pay the additional RM70,000 to the court on July 11 as further security of costs in pursuance of his case against Chong.
Judge Datuk Clement Skinner made the order when allowing an application by Chong’s counsel Chan Kok Keong for the additional security of costs under Rule 12 of the Election Petition Rules.
Although Kho had already paid a deposit of RM10,000 when filing his petition, Justice Skinner said the costs to be involved in the case would be far in excess of that amount as the trial had already entered its second week and would probably involve at least 14 witnesses.
Yaakob was asked by Kho’s lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as to why Umno had helped in paying for the extra security.
“As an Umno member and executive secretary of Barisan, I received a lot of feedback related to this article in the election petition which touched on many matters which defamed Umno and triggered the anger of voters in Bandar Kuching.
“That is why we have to get involved to ensure Umno is not defamed and to clear its image,” he said during the re-examination.
Later, Chong took the stand saying that he had a good rapport with his constituents and was aware of the major issues they faced.
He said he set up a service centre in the constituency after he was first elected in 2004 where people could drop in if they had any problems.
Yeah, I just need to rant about it since Streamyx slow syndrome is back. Since early July, my Streamyx connection has been darn slow even with 1M bandwidth. And not only slow, but frequent disconnection.
PC is all clean from virus, trojan and malwares. PC is firewalled. PC got ample memory. Cable all good. Everything okay except for the Streamyx connection.
Complaining to TM 100 centre, and the support guys asked me to reset my modem, plug out plug in cable and they even reset their port. After that, my Streamyx connection resumed but for a while get disconnected again.
Make another call to TM 100 centre, same story from the support guys until they give up and told me that my PC is infected. My foot ! Definitely is not my PC problem but their infrastructure.
From office, make more call to TM 100 centre, and some guys there told me that TM is in the midst of cabling upgrading and maintenance but they won't tell the specific area. Duh.
When I google this issue, apparently the syndrome is not only isolated to me but more. See the list below. Gawd!
* TM Net complaints
* Slow Streamyx connection update for today
* Streamyx broadband troubleshooting
Click here for TM Streamyx Speedometer to gauge your internet connection via Streamyx.
Apparently, veteran bloggers and surfers has rebranded Streamyx to Screamyx, Shitmyx, Slowyx.
This is a typical problem in Malaysia where a service providers deliver low quality services and are not reprimanded by the government. End up, the rakyat waste their money paying for nothing. The rakyat have no choice either as those service is monopoly by one company.
Why can't school textbooks be free for all Malaysian school children ? A very simple question to Hishammuddin. All government schools and now government aided Religious Schools are given free textbooks. Religious Schools in this context are Islamic Schools.
This assistance is not given to Indian and Chinese medium schools as they are deemed un-nationalist. But they are still Malaysia citizen and there are school children in Indian and Chinese medium schools whose parent are just poor. The children there also student national syllabus and government approved subjects.
For those Indian and Chinese parents who can afford to buy the text books, it is not fair for them because they like everyone like is also paying taxes.
Another racist policy from the Ministry of Education.
Related posts:
* Racist rules in Malaysian schools
* Hishammuddin Hussein allows racist rule in Malaysian school
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
Textbooks scheme extended to religious primary schools
JOHOR BARU: The Education Ministry is extending the textbooks scheme to integrated religious primary schools next year, albeit only to Government Aided Religious Schools (SABK).
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the ministry had allocated RM1.9mil for the scheme, which would initially cover Johor, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Terengganu, involving 42 schools and 9,435 pupils.
He said it was Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, who mooted the idea of helping the religious school students in the state.
“This will relieve the burden of parents and make sure that those from less fortunate families are not left out in education,” he said.
Hishammuddin urged the community religious schools to register with the ministry to get the necessary assistance.
He said the allocation provided to SABK had risen from RM15.7mil in 2005 to an estimated RM180mil this year. Since 2005, the Government has allocated nearly RM400mil to SABK for the refurbishment of school blocks and facilities as well as for financial aid.
“This shows that the ministry has never marginalised any school,” said Hishammuddin.
He said the number of SABK students had increased from 26,211 in 2005 to 42,014 this year.
Hishammuddin said the ministry had so far registered 134 religious schools.
“If all had registered with the ministry, we would have 381 SABK in the country,” he said at the closing ceremony of the inaugural national kompang selawat and berzanji marhaban competition here yesterday.
RM50 million is required for illegals eradication in Sabah, for this year. And Musa Aman, the Chief Minister of Sabah is reminding everyone not to politicised the RM50 million allocation.
Bear in mind, the RM50million allocated is for the coming operation and we are not sure if RM50 million is required for every operation in the future.
The sore point for the RM50 million, is why the amount when Malaysia have various agencies that can be pull together to mount the operation. Such existing agencies are the Navy, the Army, RELA, Police, Field Force, Immigration and Marine Enforcement. Most of the time, those personnel are idling at their camps. Just coordinate a mission and deploy them and keep them busy. This will make Sabah safer and peaceful.
In addition to the allocation amount, the government is also been criticized for publishing the news weeks before the commencement of the operation. Najib being a big mouth, has spilled the beans and by this time, all the illegals probably disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from the New Sabah Times
DON’T PLAY POLITICS OVER SWOOP ON ILLEGALS
KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the exercise to flush out illegal immigrants should not be politicised to gain political mileage.
He said some quarters are purposely being skeptical and even accused the government of merely paying lip service to the issue of ridding Sabah of illegal immigrants.
“Is spending RM50 million on this exercise just a lip service? This is a serious matter,” he said during a dialogue with chambers of commerce, NGOs as well as representatives from planters associations and the construction industry at the Federal Building here yesterday
Musa who is also the State Security Committee chairman added that the state and federal governments are both committed to tackling the problem,”
He said this commitment was clearly demonstrated by the fact that a high-powered committee chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister has been set up to tackle the problem in a systematic and coordinated manner.
“This is no ordinary exercise. It involves a lot of planning, manpower and funding.”
Musa also said for the exercise to achieve the desired results, there must be full cooperation from everyone including the private sector especially employers of migrant workers.
The government, he added, welcomed the views and feedbacks from the private sector, professional associations and NGOs.
“And, that is why we have this briefing and dialogue session. We want to hear what your concerns are,” he said.
Musa said the government was open to recommendations from the private sector including request for levy on foreign workers to be reduced.
And, he said the people of Sabah also have to accept the fact that the various sectors especially plantation and construction were dependent on foreign workers.
“We want this exercise to be effective but at the same time we do not want the sectors that are labour intensive to be adversely affected due to shortage of workers.
“We do not want the economic development of the state to be hampered,” he pointed out.
The Chief Minister also said cooperation from employers in only employing foreign workers with valid documents was crucial in overcoming the illegal immigrant problem in the state.
“As such, I hope there will be cooperation…don’t just expect the government alone to solve this problem,” he said.
The private sector too has a big role.” Also present at the dialogue session were State Secretary, Datuk Sukarti Wakiman, deputy secretary-general of the Home Ministry, Datuk Raja Azhar Raja Abdul Manaf, Federal Secretary to Sabah Datuk Ismail Wadin and state immigration director Datuk Baharom Talib.
Not only there is severe shortage of beds (overcrowding) in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) compounded with faulty or lack of oxygen supply to the wards, now there is shortage of nurses.
Before this, there were also issues on shortage of doctors at Malaysian hospitals.
What have the Health Ministry and the government being doing for the past few years. It has become hypocritical when the government itself is trying to promote Health Tourism yet there is shortage of nurses and insufficient medical infrastructure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
Wards, ICUs remain shut due to shortage of nurses
By AUDREY EDWARDS
KUALA LUMPUR: The shortage of nurses in Malaysia has caused several wards and intensive care units in newer hospitals to remain closed.
Revealing this on Friday, Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the situation existed in hospitals including those in Serdang, Sungai Buloh, Ampang and Sungai Petani.
"Many new hospitals are not able to open wards, intensive care units and operating theatres, which need a lot of basic nurses," he told reporters after opening the 2nd Universiti Malaya Medical Centre Nursing Congress 2008.
He said as of March this year, only 85.9% of the 42,476 staff nurse posts had been filled with 6,004 posts vacant.
"The need for specialised nurses is increasing in line with increasing specialisations of medical practice," he said.
There were 11 areas, which lacked nurses with post-basic training including intensive care, coronary care, neo-natal care, paediatric care and emergency and traumatology, he said.
Only between 30% and 40% of nurses working in the 11 areas have the necessary post-basic training.
In addition to this, there are also new specialist nursing areas including HIV counselling, genetic counselling and neuro-radiology intervention.
Liow added 27 nurses from India would arrive next month following the Cabinet's approval last year to recruit 1,300 foreign nurses from Asean and Commonwealth countries over a period of three years.
There are currently 73,613 nurses of all categories and grades in Malaysia where 78% worked with the ministry and the rest were in the private and non-ministry sectors.
Training is being done at 17 nursing colleges under the ministry producing about 3,500 diploma nurses yearly while private colleges have also been roped in to help for the exercise.
He also said the highest number of complaints at hospitals were against nurses and doctors where training was carried out to ensure they had better communication skills and were competent in patient safety.
When asked about investigations being carried out against the doctor who conducted the botch cosmetic surgery on former Labuan MP Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman's wife Datin Fatimah Wan Chik who is now in a coma, Liow said he was waiting for the report to be presented to him.
Later during his keynote address for the conference, the ministry's director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said it was important for healthcare providers to realise that treatment revolved around the patient and not them.
"When I get complaints and investigations are finished, the conclusion is we had done everything possible and it is always the patient's fault. It can't be like that all the time. Some of it must be the faults in our system or because of miscommunication," he said.
He added doctors and nurses needed to have the right attitude when meeting patients including smiling where it would help them feel more comfortable.
"I hear many stories about doctors and nurses from friends and family or even at the supermarkets from people about their relationship with healthcare providers. And (cases) do occur where staff like nurses are rude or uncaring. This minority should be wiped out so they do not tarnish the others," he said.
This is a simple procedure. You might have seen it done elsewhere on a few scarce weblogs. What is different, is that when we reach a certain point on the list, we start yet another one. Instead of one master list and its done, we will repeat the process over and over again, with new folks jumping on board. These backlinks combined with the social networking friends status will affect all areas of search engine algorithims.
-=This List Will Stop At 100, then the next phase (list) will start=-
--->Copy The Post & List below into a blog post of yours.
--->Add Your Link to the list at the bottom.
--->Comment On the original post at LBP so that I can update the list with your link.
--->Make sure the list links and names are in place on your weblog post.
--->Digg, Stumble, Tag, and Reddit all of us, spread the word, get more on board.
--->Be sure to send them back to The Linkback Project for the updated list.
Make sure links and name are in place on your weblog, and then put yours on the last number, and "YOUR NEXT" below it on a new number.
Be sure to Digg, Stumble Upon, and Tag this post, so that you will be prepared with backlinks for Phase two, when we begin backlinks in Social Networking. Putting each list into the social networking system will be the second link in our "Closed Circuit" theory of search engine/link index exposure.
1. The Linkback Project
2. All About Crime
3. Foolsville
4. Guy Vestal
5. SunEGrl Loves To Shop
6. Great Ways to Make Money Online
7. Shabam Development
8. CoffeeCoffeeCoffee~the blog
9. Kinky Personification
10. Da Kinky Kid Speaks
11. Josh Ottley Dot Com
12. Cebu Entrepreneur
13. Random Detoxification
14. PoeARTica
15. CoolAdzine for Marketers
16. Best Blog in the Universe
17. Ctrl + Alt + Delete : Personal random journal and reviews
18. the blog lab
19. Bradley Hankins
20. The Radical Blog
21. Get Rich Quick !? Really ??
22. Musikalye - Music is a two-way street
23. Planeta Turismo Activo
24. Swollen Pickles
25. EZ RICH PROJECT
26. ULUPONGDOTCOM
27. Picture to People
28. Your Fun Family
29. Mob Me
30. Healthy Moola
31. Champagne Dreams
32. David Rader
33. Gossip Girls
34. Before I am Famous
35. SUPLADO Online Reviews
36. Salsa Faith
37. BigMoneyList
38. Emmsy’s Stuff
39. That Blog 4 Me
40. Hey Just Blog
41. A little bit of THIS & THAT
42. Poker Forums
43. Blogging Tips
44. Journal of Journey
45. Hypn.za.net
46. Download Applications, Themes for Smart Phones
47. Memory This
48. Make Money Online from Earth
49. Dare to be Rare
50. Your One Stop Information Center
51. Reality of Legal World
52. Nita's Random Thoughts
53. Nita's Corner
54. Great Finds and Deals
55. Thomas Travel Tales
56. Filipino Online Community
57. Batuananons
58. My Wandering Thoughts
59. Erlinda's Wandering Thoughts
60 Thomas Web Links
61. Aeropama Dot Com
62. Nita's Ramblings
63. Junior IM Dot Com
64. Internet Marketing Expose
65. Hasbullah Pit
66. Tangan Yang Menghayun Buaian
67. Jejak Sahabat SMSP
68. Blog Sempoi
69. More Cowbell!
70. YOUR NEXT!
malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
Dr Konrad Ng, a Canadian with Sabahan root has a link to US Democrat candidate Barack Obama. Small world.
Konrad's father Howard Ng was born in Sandakan and married his mother, Joan from Kudat. Howard and Joan then moved to Canada where Konrad Ng was born there. Though Konrad is a Canadian, his parents are Malaysian (or maybe ex-Malaysian).
Konrad then married Maya Soetoro, a half-sister to Obama. Maya was born to Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian businessman, and Ann Dunham, a white American cultural anthropologist, who is also Obama’s mother.
That give Obama not only one but two links to Asia, i.e. Indonesia and Malaysia.
UPDATES:
* Nov 04, 2008: About Konrad Ng and US President to be
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
Obama has links to Malaysia
By SOO EWE JIN
PETALING JAYA: Dr Konrad Ng is amused that his Malaysian roots got noticed halfway round the world, thanks to his link to Democrat candidate Barack Obama.
An assistant professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa (UHM), Ng, whose family originally comes from Sabah, is married to Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro.
Maya and Obama have the same mother.
In an e-mail interview with The Star, Ng, 34, said that his father, Howard, was born in Sandakan and his mother, Joan, in Kudat.
“I have many relatives who live throughout Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and the two towns where my parents came from,” he said.
His parents subsequently settled in Canada and Ng was born there.
Maya was born to Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian businessman, and Ann Dunham, a white American cultural anthropologist, who is also Obama’s mother.
Ng said his parents return to Malaysia once every one to two years.
“It remains an important place of origin to them. In addition to a large, extended family, they have many good friends in Malaysia. I try to visit Malaysia every few years; it is a special country and feels familiar to me,” said Ng.
Maya, who was born in Jakarta, also cherishes her Indonesian roots.
According to Ng, she is active in the local Indonesian community and continues to speak Indonesian when she can. She visits Indonesia every few years.
Ng described Obama as exceptionally brilliant.
“He has a thorough understanding of the challenges we face and sound judgment on how we should address these challenges.
“Barack is a dedicated family man and cares deeply about transforming the world into a better place so that all families will have the same opportunities to do better.
“South-East Asia is a place of connection for him and a region that he understands well. It gave him numerous examples of alternative modes of communication and perspective.
“Maya, Barack and I have talked about the beauty of South-East Asia and our mutual desire to visit again,” he said.
Not too long ago: Watching an Independence Day parade in the US four years ago were (from left) Michelle Obama, her daughter Sasha, Obama, Malia, Maya, Ng, and their daughter Suhalia. - AP
The family tree: Dr Konrad Ng, Maya, Howard and Joan posing for a picture. Maya, who is Obama’s half sister, is married to Ng whose parents originally came from Sabah.
Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Deputy Finance Minister mentioned in the Dewan Negara that an average worker will have about RM120,000 in his Employee Provident Fund (EPF) account by the time he reaches the age of 55. However, 20 years from now RM120K would probably worth RM60,000, after 50% devalue.
At the rate the oil prices is going up and the loom recession and inflation, RM12oK savings probably worth RM12,000 (of current value).
And as usual, their is no plan or policy from the government to safeguard the income of retired workers. Rising oil price will jack up prices of all goods and services and average worker like you and me will be forced to dig deep into our pocket for spare cash, leaving us little or no savings.
Without stable income, the farmers and other individuals who are self-employed will even face harsher time by the time they retired.
Related posts:
* High oil prices affect padi planters in remote Sarawak
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from TheStar
Average worker will have RM120,000 in EPF
By ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN
KUALA LUMPUR: An average worker will have about RM120,000 in his Employee Provident Fund (EPF) account by the time he reaches the age of 55, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said in Dewan Negara on Monday.
He added that the amount, which was calculated based on the person's working life of 30 years, would provide him with an average of RM500 in monthly returns for 20 years after reaching 55 years.
Ahmad Husni said the amount would enable him to meet basic expenditures.
However, the person must contribute more than RM120,000 to his EPF account to enjoy a more comfortable retirement life, he told Senator Ikhwan Salim Sujak.
Ahmad Husni said the EPF had strategies to ensure workers were prudent with their savings and they should invest their savings in proper schemes.
He also said EPF contributors were allowed to withdraw from Account II to buy a house or a second house if they had settled the loan on their first house.
To a question, Ahmad Husni said there were no plans to compel contracted or part-time workers to contribute to the EPF.
This year is not Visit Malaysia Year (Tahun Melawat Malaysia) but Tahun Meliwat Malaysia. It's a joke.
Below is the banner from your Ministry of Tourism home page. Notice "Malaysia Truly Asia".
And the image below, also with "Malaysia Truly Asia" has been enhanced to reflect the current situation.
Image grabbed from the Internet
And right now the Minister of Tourism is really pissed off when she knew some blogger are abusing (or defacing) the Visit Malaysia logo. I've yet to find that logo though.
Related posts:
* Tahun Liwat-meliwat Malaysia made easy
This is a follow-up post on racist rules in Malaysian schools. As they said, educate Malaysian from young, corrupt them from young.
My previous post "Hishammuddin Hussein allows racist rule in Malaysian school" highlighted a discriminating rule in an English Language Debate competition for secondary school whereby the rules stated that there MUST be one Bumiputera candidate in the debate team, regardless whether that member is a dungu or not (so long as he or she is a Bumiputera).
No insult, dungu is God's creature but not meant for competition, ya.
You know when you include a dungu in your team, your team winning chance will be reduce by 20% or more. That idiotic rules definitely hamper team and motivational spirits. It dampen your fighting chance and that is the kind of rule that spoil young Malaysia. That will lead to racist Malaysian.
I mean, if that Bumiputera member is qualify for the team then you don't need the rule. But if there is no Bumiputera member qualify then don't force the team to include a dungu.
Let's go to an Islamic Religious school and imagine that there will be a Islamic Debate (no, you are not suppose to debate on religion) whereby the rules say the team must be include a non-Bumiputera. Tak masuk akal, right. Unless of course there is indeed a qualify Muslim non-Bumi in that school.
Image from: Bumiputra Rule in Malaysia's English Debate Competition - Word by word
Updated:
* Aug 20, 2008: Racist teacher still teaching
Can you believe that the newly multi-millions Ringgit renovated Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) has serious shortage of oxygen supply that the SGH administrator have to ration the supply even to those critically ill patients ?
Low oxygen flow may hampered the recovery of critically ill patients and let's just hope that there will be no fatality as a result of this problem.
Sarawak has been facing problem on shortage of doctors, shortage of beds (read overcrowding) and now shortage of oxygen supply. When will all these nonsense end ?
The engineer firms (involve in oxygen supply) and the building consultants (involved in renovation design) must be penalized for their flawed and defective works.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract from BorneoPost:
Oxygen thin at SGH’s East Wing: PKR
By Jacob Achoi
KUCHING: The state Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has urged the federal government, particularly the Ministry of Health, to act swiftly to resolve the problem of shortage of oxygen in the newly renovated Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).
According to the party, it had been reliably informed that the engineering consultant firm overseeing the multimillion-ringgit renovation of the SGH tower block, had admitted to the hospital’s administrator during a briefing early this month that the hospital must limit the use of oxygen for patients in the newly renovated East Wing of the tower block, even for patients who are critically ill.
PKR state legal advisor See Chee How, at a press conference yesterday, stressed that the engineering consultant firm had previously insisted the oxygen supply in the East Wing was adequate despite repeated complaints of low oxygen pressure made by SGH staff.
According to See, SGH is the main tertiary hospital for Sarawak, providing sub-specialty surgery and medical referral services for 2.7 million Sarawakians.
“However, the new wing has been plagued with controversies. There has been a severe shortage of beds since renovation began, prompting complaints from the public.
“The bed shortage arose because half of the main tower block has been emptied while work proceeds on the remaining wing,” See told reporters.
Now, he said, the firm had told doctors that patients’ oxygen must be rationed strictly in wards in the renovated East Wing because the oxygen supply installed was inadequate for the current daily use by the patients.
He explained that all floors in the East Wing had oxygen access points in the walls supplied by pipes from a central oxygen source - a standard practice in all large hospitals worldwide.
According to hospital staff, he pointed out, the wall oxygen supply in both the old East and West Wings were adequate before renovation.
See also said that PKR was told that doctors and nurses had reported the oxygen supply shortage to the consultant firm on several occasions since the new Easy Wing began operation.
According to the staff, he said, SGH staff from various wards had complained that recovery of critically ill patients may be hampered by low oxygen flow. Doctors and nursing staff were forced to use oxygen from portable tanks.
Before this, the consultant firm had insisted that the oxygen supply was adequate, but later blamed leakage at wall oxygen points as cause of shortage.
The connectors were then replaced - using hospital funds, but the problem persisted.
There are eight levels in the East Wing, each warding up to 45 patients. During periods of heavy oxygen use, more than a dozen patients in each ward would be connected. These patients include several unconscious or critically ill patients in some wards, who rely on high-flow oxygen pumped into their lungs by mechanical ventilators, to stay alive.
It is standard medical practice that patients on breathing machines should be in the SGH Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
At SGH, many patients are placed on ventilator machines in the wards in the East Wing because the ICU has only nine beds.
See said that considering the city population, there should be 40 ICU beds in the hospital, based on international standards.
See showed the press a list of wards in the East Wing, reportedly given to SGH by the consultant firm, with corresponding restrictions of oxygen use on each level. “According to this list, the majority of levels have now been allocated a maximum of 70-98 litres per minute.”
See argued that since one patient on high-flow oxygen uses 10-15 litres per minute, while patients on ventilator machines need even higher oxygen flow, 15-20 litres per minute, it follows that only 5 to 10 patients per level can be treated with high-flow oxygen, at the most.
“This is clearly inadequate for each level, which has up to 40-45 patients, of whom 10-20 may require high flow oxygen at any given time,” he explained.
See also referred to a press conference last month that revealed extensive fungal infestation found in the newly renovated East Wing, posing risks to patients warded there.
The Aspergillus fungus was found in cultures taken by SGH staff from ceilings and wards in the East Wing.
Aspergillus can cause lethal infections, especially in weakened or debilitated patients.
Startling photographs, of ceilings and walls in the wards covered by dark patches of mould, were published in local newspapers.
See pointed out that the director-general of the Ministry of Health, Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican, visited the SGH on May 30, followed by the Minister of Health Datuk Liow Tiong Lai the following day.
“They toured the wards in the East Wing and both were aware of the fungal infestation, but why has the fungal risk not been resolved, and why has there been no report made public on the fungal infestation?” he asked.
According to him, when the RM500 million Pandan Specialist Hospital (Hospital Sultan Ismail) in Johor was found to be infested with Aspergilllus fungus in 2004, the Ministry of Health refused to accept the building and closed down the hospital two months after it opened.
“Does the Ministry of Health feel Sarawakians deserve any less,” he asked.
He stressed that any shortcomings in the renovation work must be fully investigated to prevent loss of lives and the risk from the fungus and the continuing oxygen problems.
“There must be urgent solutions found to the existing problems. We must prevent further mistakes. Health care is an issue of national interest. The people of Sarawak, and the entire country, deserve an independent and transparent audit, with no cover-up. If wrongdoing is uncovered, those responsible should be prosecuted,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, at the press conference yesterday, See also said that the public who want a CD on the public debate between Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek and PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can buy them from PKR office at Third Mile.
With See at the conference were PKR Stampin division secretary Loo Chao Min and publicity secretary William Lee.
Yes, that's right. Najib Tun Razak the DPM of Malaysia indeed has big mouth. I know he and his officials are working on the problem illegals immigrant in Sabah.
But don't lar announce to the world that there will be a massive cleaning operation against the illegals. And he did just that. This news has alerted the illegals and they have a couple of weeks to lay low or self-deport themselves out of Sabah and to return when the operation is over.
The media estimate of 100K to 150K illegals is also way off. The actual number is definitely more.
And get this, another RM50 million is required to kick start this operation. What the heck. The armed forces are around. The police forces are around. The Immigration enforcement are around. It just need a proper planning and coordination to mount the operation. Maybe that RM50 million is needed to mobilize the two submarines to Sabah water, huh.
And Najib is only taking about chasing the illegals away. There is no policy on who to secure Sabah water and to prevent the illegals from reentering the State. Another half-cooked effort from the government.
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Source: TheStar
Massive swoop on illegals in Sabah next month
KUALA LUMPUR: A massive crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah will start next month, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
An estimated 100,000 to 150,000 illegal immigrants, those without documents or who have overstayed, will be deported. The crackdown would be open ended and continuous.
“This shows that the Government has the political will to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah. We do not want this problem to recur,” said Najib after chairing a meeting on illegal immigrants with Sabah political leaders, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and others at Parliament yesterday.
He also said the Cabinet, at its meeting last Friday, had approved RM50mil for the purchase of equipment and expenses for the operation to be led by the police and state secretary to co-ordinate the move.
The operation would involve multi agencies such immigration, armed forces, Rela and others.
“The Home Ministry has also had bilateral talks with the Philippines and Indonesia on the operation,” he said.
Najib also said the Home Ministry would discuss with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry on how to handle street children and to have a place to house them.
The operation would start from the west part of Sabah as a detention transit camp was ready, and move east, he said.
The last crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah was in 2001.
On Raja Petra Kamaruddin being slapped with criminal defamation charges, Najib said: “ I don’t decide.”
A bunch of corrupted cops from Gemas Police Station get light punishment after a complaint (from fellow cop) that they received thousand of Ringgits every month in kickback from the underworld taukay.
Look like the all the men in that station are dirty and the main suspects will be transferred to other Police Station instead of being suspended. Transferring those suspects to another Police Station would mean breeding corrupted practice to other policemen. And that one bit will not minimize the corruption disease among the Police force.
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Source: TheStar
Ang pow cops transferred
By SARBAN SINGH
SEREMBAN: Four policemen from the Gemas police station have been transferred out after a colleague lodged a report alleging that they received “ang pow” running into thousands of ringgit every month from those involved in illegal activities.
State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh said more policemen would be transferred out once investigations were completed.
“We have yet to conclude investigations but we expect more to be transferred out from there,” he said when met yesterday.
Last Friday, the policeman, a corporal in his early 40s, lodged a report that his colleagues were accepting “protection” money from those involved in illegal activities.
The policeman was apparently unhappy with the officer-in-charge (OCS) at the station, an inspector and a sergeant at the station because they were allegedly taking the lion’s share of the “ang pow” while the other rank-and-file officers received very little.
The sergeant, in retaliation, lodged a report against the corporal alleging that the latter had sold some items belonging to the station to scrap dealers.
It is understood that the corporal had disposed of some of the station’s old wooden and iron furniture to the dealer.
Osman said the corporal was apparently unhappy because he had received his transfer orders prior to the incident.
“He had been working in Gemas for some time and did not want to leave. It was then that he decided to lodge a report against his colleagues,” he said.
Osman said the allegations against the OCS was also questionable, as he had been stationed there for less than six months.
However, Osman said the transfer of the four did not mean they were guilty.
“This is a normal procedure. We will take action if there is hard evidence to suggest that they had been on the take,” he said.
It is understood that the Anti-Corruption Agency has also started a probe into the matter.
This week, the Malaysian Police are extremely efficient. On Monday, they blocked the city to prevent potential protesters and demonstrators from entering certain part of Kuala Lumpur.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Police arrested Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Pakatan Rakyat for sodomy related case and for scaring that Anwar may not turn up at the Police station.
Today, the Malaysian Police arrested Raja Petra Kamarudin, the owner of Malaysia-Today for his over-sentive Statutory Declaration.
Next on the arrest list could be Mahathir Mohamad (the ex-PM of Malaysia is now a rogue and a pain to Barisan Nasional's back side).
Updated:
* Aug 27, 2008: Old MalaysiaToday site blocked by TMNet. New MalaysiaToday site.
Related posts:
* Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, Malaysian influential blogger in trouble with the Sedition Law
* Tan Sri Dr Nordin Kardi wins the first battle (against RPK)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: TheStar
Raja Petra arrested
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin was arrested Thursday morning under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation, and is now on the way to the Jalan Duta Courts to be charged.
The charge was being made over his June 18 statutory declaration on the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.
In the declaration, Raja Petra claimed to have knowledge that two lieutenant-colonels and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Najib Tun Razak's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor were present when Altantuya's body was blown up on Oct 19, 2006.
Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, the acting chairman and president of Petronas is absolutely correct when he commented that Malaysia under the rule of the Barisan Nasional government has become too dependent on money from the oil and gas sector as its contribution accounted for over 50% of the Government’s revenue. But of course most people know this except for the government officials at Putra Jaya.
Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican said it was very dangerous for the country to depend so heavily on “finite resources like gas and oil” and it would seem like the country had not progressed. Again, so true.
The current government indeed like to spend lavishly without considering that funding will slowly become limited and does not think deep into the future. Unlike a tiny republic state of Singapore, Malaysia have abundant natural resources as well as manpower. However, due to lack of planing or improper planning, only certain groups benefits from the exploitation of those natural resources.
Singapore being a small republic is much more develop than Malaysia. Her economy also outperformed Malaysia. Singapore is always a few step ahead of Malaysia because they have one advantage, i.e. smart and non-corrupt officials in their think tank committee that do advance planning, forecasting and come out with good policies.
When the oil run dry and when Petronas can no longer give money to the government, Malaysia will be like a poor state in Africa.
Related posts:
* Response from PETRONAS
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Source: TheStar
KUALA LUMPUR: The country has become too dependent on money from the oil and gas sector as its contribution accounted for over 50% of the Government’s revenue, said Petronas acting chairman and president Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican.
He said it was very dangerous for the country to depend so heavily on “finite resources like gas and oil” and it would seem like the country had not progressed.
“It is just like when we gained independence, when we were dependent on rubber and tin. At least then, rubber was an infinite resource because it could be cultivated but petroleum is just like tin as it can run out,” he said.
“What has happened to the manufacturing sector? What has been its economic contribution to the nation? There are real structural issues,” Hassan told reporters after releasing details of Petronas' performance for the financial year ending March 2008.
He said the country received billions of ringgit worth of foreign investments to set up factories here but yet their national contribution could not be seen.
Foreign workers staff many of the overseas factories set up here, the Petronas boss said.
He questioned whether the country could “survive in the long term” under such conditions.
Hassan pointed out that the national oil corporation paid the Government RM67.6bil, which made up 44% of the federal revenue.
“If you take into account taxes paid by the other oil and gas companies in the country, then the total sectorial contribution is over 50%,” he said.
“This dependency on oil money has become an addiction and something the Government must address.”
This post is all about Idris Jala. Who is Idris Jala ? Read further.
First, a little bit side track from the normal political bickering and let's digest into the personality of Idris Jala. Why the sudden change of topic? Well, this blog is even hit by search engines from surfers querying about the religion of Idris Jala.
Idris Jala was born in 1958 as a member of the Kelabit tribe from the Bario highlands in Sarawak, Malaysia. His name sounds like a Malay name but Idris Jala is not a Malay. He is a Christian. Yes, a man with a Malay name is a Christian. Surprise ? Not in Sabah or Sarawak, whereby the native with their first name in English is a Christian but a native with his or her first name in Malay is not necessary a Muslim.
Back to Idris Jala. In 1982, he graduated with a Bachelor Degree in development studies/management in University Sains Malaysia, winning the Bishen Kaur Award as the top student in development studies. He joined Sarawak Shell in the same year and, thanks to a Shell scholarship, earned a Masters degree in industrial relations from the University of Warwick, England, in 1986.
He was appointed human resources advisor of Shell International in the Netherlands in 1989, before returning to Shell Sarawak four years later as head of human resources planning. In 1998 he became chairman and managing director of Shell Sri Lanka before being transferred to London in 2000 to become the company's vice-president of business development consultancy and retail marketing.
Idris Jala is currently the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Airlines.
YouTube Live: Idris Jala guitar play
Related posts:
* Idris Jala should be the Minister of Finance of Malaysia
Most detractors of MIC or Samy Vellu have grudgingly acknowledge that ‘Samy Vellu is MIC, and MIC is Samy Vellu’. That's mean, once Samy Vellu left the party for retirement, there is likely no suitable or capable candidate to take over the leadership of MIC.
MIC now is in a shamble and headless. It's foundation has been destroyed after the result of the General Election 2008 that resulted in severe loss for their heavy weight. As a result, Indian MPs from MIC representation in the Parliament as well as the Cabinet has been greatly reduced. And Samy Vellu is responsible to this mess.
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Extract: Bernama
Who will lead MIC after Samy Vellu?
Departure date set, but answer to this question a mystery
KUALA LUMPUR: Who is set to take over as MIC president from Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu
The answer to this question, as always, continues to be shrouded in mystery. This is despite the man - who helmed the largest Indian-based political party since 1981 - having announced that the recent general election was his last and he would vacate his party position, come 2012.
But, one must remember that this is a man who runs the MIC with an iron fist and brookes no nonsense, causing some detractors to grudgingly acknowledge that ‘Samy Vellu is MIC, and MIC is Samy Vellu’.
Although there are a few potential candidates who can fill in the shoes of the MIC supremo, the absence of a succession “talk” in the party has added to the mystery on who would eventually takeover from Samy Vellu and face the immense task of reviving the party which lost six parliamentary seats and 13 state constituencies in the March 8 general election.
To worsen matters, the former works minister, by his own admission at the party’s 62nd annual general assembly in Putra World Trade Centre on Saturday, revealed that the 630,000-member strong MIC did not have a secession plan but “would leave it to the grassroots to chose their next leader.”
“The grassroots can elect their next leader. There is no such thing as an automatic succession plan in MIC. The grassroots can elect whoever they want,” he said.
His latest remark, according to political observers, is a departure from what he had announced after the party polls in 2006, when he voiced support for his former press secretary Datuk G Palanivel, who beat longtime incumbent deputy president Datuk S Subramaniam to become the party’s number two.
However, Samy Vellu’s most recent stance is likely to open the floodgates for aspiring candidates to vie for the deputy presidency at the party polls next year, knowing very well that the person who wins the race is likely to replace Samy Vellu at the next party elections would be after the planned departure of the MIC supremo.
This, observers say, is likely to lead to more politicking in the MIC, and thus, adding to the “misery” suffered by the party at the recent general election.
“It appears that not only is the party facing a decline in support but also emerging as one of very few Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties void of a succession plan. It reflects very badly on the current leadership,” a party insider, who declined to be named, told Bernama.
Other BN components like MCA and Umno have announced or seem to have a succession plan but this issue was not even raised at the one-day MIC annual general assembly held at the Putra World Trade Centre.
However, the focus of the general assembly was instead, on re-branding the party and its idealogies and the lack of discussion on the succession plan had irked some quarters.
Would Samy Vellu heed the message sent by MIC coalition partners that he should consider early retirement, despite making a stand to hand over power by 2012?
However, the vocal and outspoken ‘Thalaivar’ (leader in Tamil) as Samy Vellu is affectionately known, also threw another mind-boggling statement at the assembly when he said: “I would leave the decision of re-electing me as party president in the next party election, to the 3,600 branch chairmen.
“When there is an election, the question of automatically becoming a president goes off. I don’t think anything can happen without an election,” he said.
These statements by Samy Vellu have added more “confusion” to the already-confused MIC members, as not only was a successor not been identified, but they are not sure if the party chief would vacate his post, come 2012.
His detractors feel that his latest statement was “as rhetoric as before” since it does not have any significant meaning as he is likely to be renominated and win the top post uncontested.
Several grassroots leaders speaking to Bernama, on condition of anonymity, say that it was very unlikely that Samy Vellu would be challenged as “nobody dares to do that”.
“Whoever tries to go for the top leadership, he or she will be chopped off. That is why nobody dares to speak up,” said a leader who repeatedly asked not to be identified.
Some argued that the signal from the grassroots “is very clear that they are not too happy” with Samy Vellu’s decision to stay on until 2012 and that he should soon hand over power to his deputy.
However, when this question was posed to Samy Vellu yesterday, he brushed it aside saying: “If they are unhappy with me, they wouldn’t come for the meeting.”
However, some party leaders are not too concerned about the succession plan or whether Samy Vellu should stay on until 2012.
Seremban branch chairman Datuk M Muthupalaniappan, also a former MIC vice-president, said although succession was important, the priority now should be to strengthen the party through its re-branding exercise.
He believes the MIC can regain its support among the 1.8 million Malaysian Indian community, regardless whether there was a transition plan for the top leadership.
“The assurance by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to help the Indian community, especially in education, will help the MIC. That is more important than who takes over the party.
“Education is the key to success and the country’s progress depends on the people. The step taken by the government will help the Indian community progress on par with the other races,” he said.
Selangor MIC Wanita secretary J Malika believes that with or without transition of leadership, MIC would still regain its strength. She said there were many leaders in the MIC who were capable of helping and developing the community.
“Rebranding comes with new ideas and the leaders now have a clear idea on ways to aid the community. We will leave it to the president to handle it and we believe that he has the capacity and capability to do it,” she added.
Petronas revenue shot up to RM223.1 billion, up 21.2% from RM184.1 billion last year. A whopping increase considering that most companies are struggling to even sustain their revenue.
Of RM223.1 billion, three oil producing states of Malaysia namely Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah receiving RM4.8 billion in royalty. That's about RM1.6 billion for each of those mentioned states.
That amount is like a drop of water in a big ocean. The beneficiary of course is the federal government. Federal government means the Barisan Nasional and Barisan Nasional means UMNO.
Putih mata lar orang Terengganu, Sarawak dan Sabah.
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Extract from: Sun2Surf
Petronas declares RM6 billion special dividend to government
KUALA LUMPUR ( July 15, 2008 ) : National oil company Petronas will pay a special dividend of RM6 billion to the government this year.
Petronas president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican who announced this today said the special dividend was worked out, after Petronas took into account its capital expenditure needs.
"We are owned by the government and our financial result has been exceptionally good this year," he said, when announcing the financial results for the year ended March 31.
"We don't need that much to reinvest for the future, so, we are able to increase our dividend for the government," he said at a press conference.
Overall, an "exceptionally good financial year" due partly to high crude oil prices, has enabled Petronas to contribute RM62.8 billion to the federal government's coffers for the year.This represents 44% of the federal government's revenue.
Petronas also paid RM4.8 billion in royalties to the state governments of Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah.
The RM67.6 billion paid to the federal and state governments represented 63.1% of the group's profit.
Mohd Hassan said overall, RM403.3 billion had been paid to the federal and three state governments since 1974.
He said this year's payment to the federal government comprised:
>> royalty: RM4.7 billion;
>> dividends: RM30 billion including the RM6 billion special dividend "which will be paid this year";
>> petroleum income tax: RM20.6 billion;
>> corporate income tax: RM5.4 billion; and
>> export duties: RM2.1 billion.
He attributed the performance not only to higher oil prices and sales volume but overall improvement in the group's operational efficiency and prudent management.
Petronas' pre-tax profit increased to RM95.5 billion, up 25.2% from RM76.3 billion previously, while net profit rose to RM61 billion, up 31.5% from RM46.4 billion.
Revenue shot up to RM223.1 billion, up 21.2% from RM184.1 billion last year, amidst a more complex and increasingly challenging global oil and gas industry environment, he said.
Petronas' international operations, which constituted 40.3% of the total revenue, was the biggest contributor to the group's revenue for the first time, overtaking exports. The revenue from the international operations increased by 33.1% to RM90 billion.
"This signifies not only the growing importance but also the success of the group's international operations," he said.
Mohd Hassan said most of the international revenue came from Africa, the "continent that we first identified way back 1995, that we will focus on our globalisation process".
So far, it has proven to be a right strategy, he said, adding that the international operations will continue to be the main contributor to group revenue.
As for reserves, he said as at Jan 1, Malaysia's total reserves declined slightly to 20.13 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from 20.18 billion boe last year.
This was the result of downward revisions in gas reserves offshore Sarawak and higher production of crude oil and gas during the year despite additions through new discoveries, he added.
'Bitch' and 'running dog' battle between PBS, SAPP
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Barisan Nasional components SAPP and PBS have resorted to name-calling with SAPP think tank chief Datuk Tham Nyip Shen likening PBS to a "running dog".
It was in response to PBS Deputy President Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili's earlier description of SAPP as a "political bitch"
Tham said SAPP may be a "bitch" but it is not like the PBS which is like a "running dog" with its tail always between its legs.
"While I may have my own views on many things, for Dr Max to use insulting words is unacceptable", Tham said in a statement.
Tham, who is the State Science Adviser hoped Dr Maximus would make good use of his current position in the Federal Cabinet to push for the resolving of the perennial illegal immigrants issue.
He recalled that Dr Maximus once strongly objected to his proposal to introduce the border-pass (restricted passport) for foreign workers, which he (Tham) deemed as a better way to trace foreign workers and to prevent them from using Sabah as a "spring board" to other countries by obtaining a Malaysian passport.
The Anti-Corruption Agency recent arrests of top Immigration Department officers on corrupt practice does not prove anything. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that the arrests prove that even big fish can be caught. But I don't think it prove anything. Corruption are still very rampant.
Why ? ACA should have done their work 5 years ago when Abdullah take overs from Mahathir. ACA has been sleeping since then. Only upon instruction from PM, that ACA woke up and do investigation. And that is also partly because of pressure on BN after they do badly in the General Election.
So during those 5 years, ACA would only investigate if the suspect has no link to the PM, his son-in-law or cronies. There are several Chief Ministers in some states that rule like a king and live like a king. Did ACA do anything ? Certainly, those Chief Ministers, the PM, his son-in-law and cronies are above ACA.
Note: Just visited ACA website at http://www.bpr.gov.my. The site didn't even have proper English translation pages. 99% of the pages in the site are in BM. To spread the information, ACA must also target non-Malay so that they can give info to ACA. What I'm trying to say is that, corruption knows no race or religion. As such, ACA must expand their outreach to other races in term of getting public tips as well as spreading info and procedures on their website to other races.
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Source: TheStar
PM: Arrests show that even big fish can be caught
By JANE RITIKOS
PETALING JAYA: The detention of two top Immigration Department officers by the Anti-Corruption Agency in investigations into allegation of bribery in the issuance of visas to foreign workers if proof that even big fish will not be let off the hook, the Prime Minister said.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that the public was shocked by the detention of the top officers as if it was unusual.
"So they perceive that big guns cannot be arrested and that is why they are shocked? All this while the authorities act on "big or small" people, whether they hold posts or not.
"As long as there is misconduct, the ACA will investigate. If they obtain information that ties the accused to the crime they will surely charge them, " he said after opening the National Summit on Urban Poor and Low Income Groups.
On whether the alleged offence threatened national security, Abdullah said the probe might involve massive work as the ACA would need to identify those involved and the extent of the problem which included training those who had been issued the documents through the illegal means.
He said the alleged offence had caused an undesirable situation.
News on the merger status of SPDP and PRS has emerged as still in negotiation stage. “As far as I know, there has been no concrete action yet. I hope nobody would get offended if I describe the process at this point as ‘only lightning and thunder, but no rain’,” said William Mawan, the president of SPDP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extract: BorneoPost
Merger for greater leverage, says Mawan
PAKAN: The main intention of merging Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is to prevent them from being pitted against each other by irresponsible quarters in future.
This was pointed out by SPDP president Dato Sri William Mawan when he replied to a question from the floor during a dialogue session at Rumah Abi Gayan, a 16-door Iban longhouse by Amut Tengah River in Pakan yesterday.
After requesting anonymity, the questioner asked Mawan about the progress of the proposed SPDP-PRS merger which he said was widely reported in the media and had caught the attention of many longhouse people.
Mawan said the committees from both parties were still engaged in negotiations.
The SPDP committee was headed by deputy president Datuk Peter Nyarok while PRS’ was headed by Datuk Dublin Unting.
They were supposed to report to their respective party presidents.
“As far as I know, there has been no concrete action yet. I hope nobody would get offended if I describe the process at this point as ‘only lightning and thunder, but no rain’,” said Mawan.
On the possibility of being pitted against each other, he said if it happened it would be aimed at destabilising the BN at both state and federal levels.
“Mathematically, SPDP and PRS are politically weak although we are part of the ruling BN government,” he said.
Singly, he said, the parties have a small number of MPs and assemblymen, which is “weak representation and leverage” and, therefore, puts them in a ‘risky position’ as the more dominant quarters can exploit them easily.
“If we merge and have a united voice, our increased strength due to greater representation and political leverage would shield us from unscrupulous elements,” he said.
Currently SPDP has four members of parliament (MPs) - Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Jacob Dunggau Sagan, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Industry Jelaing Mersat, BN Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe.
The party has eight assemblymen — Mawan himself, Assistant Minister of Cooperative Development Datuk Peter Nyarok, Assistant Minister of Public Utility (Water Supply) Sylvester Entri, Peter Nansian, Rosey Yunus, Wong Judat, Nelson Balang and Paulus Palu Gumbang.
PRS has six MPs - Deputy Minister of Water, Energy and Communications Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum; Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Joseph Entulu; Datuk Billy Abit Joo; Aaron Dagang; Masir Kujat; and William Nyallau.
The party’s eight assemblymen are Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Masing, Assistant Minister of Youth Datuk Dublin Unting, Assistant Minister of Industrial Development and Planning Larry Sng, Joseph Mauh, John Sikie, Liwan Lagang, Mong Dagang and Snowdan Lawan.
If a merged entity comes into being, it would have at least 14 MPs and 16 assemblymen, thus becoming the second biggest BN component party in Sarawak after Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headed by Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
It was reported recently that Taib suggested the new entity could then merge with PBB in future for a stronger BN.
Another BN partner is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
Among those present at the dialogue yesterday were a political secretary to the chief minister Paul Igai, Acting Pakan District Officer Inting Nyami, Special Affairs Department (Jasa) coordinator for Julau Sylvester Embuas, Penghulu Dundang Jalin, host Tuai Rumah Abi Gayan and nine other longhouse chiefs from Sungai Amut-Sungai Genega area.
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