MORE INSINCERITY: BIG PLANS for Sabah if BN given mandate again - Najib

Sunday, 14 October 2012 17:05

MORE INSINCERITY: BIG PLANS for Sabah if BN given mandate again - Najib

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KUNDASANG, -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Federal government has major plans for the people of Sabah if Barisan Nasional (BN) was given the mandate once again.

If given BN is given the mandate in the coming General Election (GE), the Federal and state government will work even harder to develop Sabah which has a vast potential.

"I am happy to see the reception and support from the people of Sabah towards Barisan Nasional," he said in his speech during a walkabout session in Kundasang town here.

Najib was accompanied by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

The Prime Minister who is also the BN chairman urged the people of Sabah to continue their support for BN to ensure continuity in the development of Sabah.

In the last election (2008), BN Sabah almost made a clean sweep of all the 25 Parliament and 60 state assembly seats.

The only seats that fell to the opposition, namely DAP, were the Kota Kinabalu Parliamentary seat and Sri Tanjung (Tawau) state assembly seat.

Speaking of his visit to Kundasang, Najib described the serenity of Kundasang, situated at the foot of Mount Kinabalu, as God's blessing and gift to nature and environment.

"Kundasang is a blessed place and a gift from nature. Plant any type of crop and it grows well. There is a delectable and refreshing choice of fresh greens and exotic fruits which grow here and farmers can earn a good income if they put in extra effort," he said.

People from all walks of life from Kundasang and its surrounding areas like Ranau, made a bee-line to meet the Prime Minister in person, clamouring over each other to shake his hands.

Wasli Kandung, 74, a farmer from Kampong Cinta Mata said he was happy to have met a leader whom he had adored.

"I have never met a Prime Minister in person all these years. I have only seen them on television. All our Prime Minister's were good but Najib is special because he likes to go down and help the people, not just make empty promises," he said.

"I hope he will continue to rule the country until he is 70."

Sagin Belinsai, 72, from Kampong Kouluan near here said he got up at 5.30am to make sure he would not miss an opportunity to see the Prime Minister in person.

Malaysia is fortunate to have a Prime Minister who has the peoples' welfare and interest at heart and who always went down to the ground to meet the people, said Sagin.

Meanwhile, at 7am this morning, Najib was at the Mount Kinabalu Park here to flag off participants of the 26th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon.

About 700 participants from 28 countries took part in the climbathon that featured the men's and women's open category plus the men's and women's veteran categories.

-- BERNAMA

 

Malaysia widens crackdown on gold trading companies

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities have

expanded a crackdown on suspected illegal gold trading
activities, raiding a total of four companies suspected of
taking deposits illegally, money laundering and tax evasion.
A central bank spokesperson confirmed on Saturday that
police and government agencies jointly raided the offices of
gold investment companies Pageantry Gold, Caesar Gold and
Worldwide Far East.
The Friday operations followed a raid by the authorities
earlier this week on the office of gold trading firm Genneva
following complaints the company had failed to pay its clients
and agents. Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department also
raided Genneva's offices in the island republic on the same day.
The raids come as gold is increasingly coveted by Asian
investors looking for a hedge against inflation and to ride the
strong gains in the precious metal's price. The price of gold is
around 11-month highs, driven higher in recent weeks by concerns
that loose monetary conditions in Europe and the United States
will stoke inflation.
Genneva Malaysia has more than 50,000 "satisfied" clients in
the country, according to its official website. It has
affiliated firms in China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines,
according to Malaysian national news agency Bernama.
"The management is working hard looking into the matters and
will keep you posted of the events," its management said in a
statement.
Company officials at Pageantry Gold, Caesar Gold and
Worldwide Far East could not be reached for comment.
Crowds of clients and agents of Genneva gathered outside its
closed branches in Kuala Lumpur this week following the raid,
many of them criticising the operation and calling for the
freeze on its trading operations to be lifted.
"We sell gold bars and have agreement letters for the
transaction and no cash is involved, everything is done using
cheques or online transfer, thus there is no fraud here,"
Nordiana Nasaruddin, a Genneva branch consultant in the northern
state of Penang, was quoted as saying by Bernama.
"We hope the company can continue its operations for the
sake of the 8,000 customers in the state, who are mostly
retirees," she added.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and
Jeremy Laurence)

http://my.news.yahoo.com/malaysia-widens-crackdown-gold-trading-companies-100938454--finance.html

 

Malaysia-born makes camera that takes ‘living pictures’

Malaysia-born makes camera that takes ‘living pictures’

March 05, 2012

 

 

 

Ng holds a Lytro camera during a presentation at HP Auditorium, Soda Hall, University of California, Berkeley February 22, 2012. — Picture by Derrick Coetzee

 

Malaysia-born Ren Ng is revolutionising photography with his Lytro light-field camera.

 

The Australian has developed a new technology for the mass market that allows anyone to adjust the focal point of digital photographs after they have been taken, and without having to fiddle with Photoshop or other image-editing tools.

 

The hand-sized digital point-and-shot camera looks like a torchlight; its key feature is what the California-based company calls “shoot now, focus later”.

 

In an interview with the New York Times last year, Lytro chief executive Ng described the images as “interactive, living pictures” due to their ability to be manipulated.

 

The Lytro achieves this trick with a special sensor called a micro lens array, which puts the equivalent of many lenses into a small space.

 

The camera was listed as Time magazine’s “50 best inventions” in its November 17 edition last year.

The 32-year-old Ng, born in Malaysia and raised in Australia from age nine, started work on the digital camera while studying for his doctorate in computer science at Stanford University in California six years ago.

 

The Lytro camera captures far more light data, from many angles, than is possible with a conventional camera.

 

When pictures are shared online, the “light field engine” travels with each image so anyone can interact with them on their computers, whether on desktops, tablets or smartphones, a technology review in the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

 

However, the camera is not quite perfect yet, based on first reviews that came out last week.

 

A reviewer with the New York Times, Sam Grobart, noted that adding a filter or importing the image into Photoshop was not possible at the moment.

 

“Should Lytro’s engineers refine light-field photography into something more versatile and cheaper (imagine this on a smartphone), it may turn out to be a game changer,” he was quoted as saying by the Australian daily.

 

Another influential technology reviewer with the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg, reported that the Lytro pictures can currently only be imported to Macintosh computers with its accompanying software, adding that the process is slow because of the relatively large files.

 

The Lytro camera is now available in the market in two storage sizes. The red hot 16-gigabyte (GB) model of the camera costs US$499 (RM1,500) and can take up to 750 pictures.

 

An 8GB version costs USUS$399 and can capture 350 images. It is available in graphite gray and electric blue.

Wednesday October 3, 2012

‘Gold’ raid long overdue

I REFER to the front page report on the raid on Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd “Raid on gold trader” (The Star, Oct 2).

The authorities should have acted long ago.
Now, millions of ringgit of innocent depositors and investors are at stake. My deepest sympathies go out to them.
I was approached by a consultant of the company, shown some gold investment schemes, and told not to worry about storing gold as it would be in the form of a deposit account that paid guaranteed attractive interest rates.
Being in a financial institution, I knew that only a licensed bank could do so.
So I rejected the scheme even though it appeared attractive.
Undeterred, the consultant insisted that the scheme was perfectly legal and even showed me the company’s profile, letter of incorporation, form 49, etc.
I was later invited to their office for a preview which I rejected.
Living near their office, I often passed by and saw huge crowds outside on most weekday nights.
For added security, there would be police standing guard at the office. What is puzzling is that this scheme had been going on for at least four years.
Many investors are not aware that a company can be legally registered or incorporated (eg. Sdn Bhd) with a minimum RM2 paid up capital, but the business may not be legal.
There are many more such schemes in the form of gold investments, forex, land banking, plantations, etc. which are illegal.
From the layperson’s perspective, deposits are regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and investments by the Securities Commission (SC).
But we would later be told that such schemes, better known as interest-based schemes, come under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).
There is much confusion here.
These products are usually marketed like unit trusts.
The Securities Commission should be the main regulatory body for this kind of investments. A phone call to the SC would verify whether this company is properly registered and its business legal.
When will all this stop?
These investment schemes have definitely tarnished the nation’s image with local and foreign investors.
We need to streamline and consolidate the regulatory bodies for all investment schemes.
Set up a dedicated hotline and website which the public can use to verify the legality and authenticity of the scheme.
Education programmes should also be conducted to forewarn the public about such schemes.
THOMAS
Kuala Lumpur

Arabic is not tied to a particular religion

Arabic is not tied to a particular religion

Kevin Chin

I am really appalled by the politicisation of our schools and all public institutions and the various applications of Islamisation in Malaysia. I am absolutely against compulsory religious indoctrination of children in our schools.

However, I would like to share this; I worked in Egypt for two years as an engineer.

Being a Christian, I attended mass in Egyptian churches on Sundays.

As mass was celebrated in English only in a very few churches and only at certain times, I had to attend mass in various other languages that were used in the Churches there; French, German and Arabic.

I was taken aback the first time I attended mass in Arabic, because the priest started by saying:"Bismillah Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim".

Remembering this was mass in a Catholic church, I asked my Egyptian friends what it meant. They informed me that it meant "In the name of the Almighty, God".

I also found out that the word "madrasah" meant religious school, Christian or Muslim.

The word "Allah" was used in Christian churches all the time. In fact there were many Christians in Arabia, speaking Arabic and praying in Arabic; Copts, Orthodox Greek, Armenian, Syrian, all Christians, speaking Arabic.

Learning Arabic is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact I found the Arabic people so genuine, honest and caring, I eagerly tried to learn as much Arabic as possible.

The only thing wrong with the picture in Malaysia is that the Malays are trying to hijack Arabic and make it a Muslim language, which it is not, it is just a language.

Paul Anka was an Arab and he is Christian and there are many Arab Christians.

I still am devastated by the things, Malays are forcing upon our children; however, if we fail to prevent this practice, I think we should inform our children that Arabic is not Islamic - they should visit the many beautiful churches in Egypt and attend mass in Arabic.

 

Maju Expressway

by Tony Pua
 

The Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s attempt to plunder the nations’ coffers and impoverish the rakyat cannot be more blatant than the award of the 26km Maju Expressway (MEX) toll concession to Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd (MESB) which is 96.8% owned by Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd. Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd is in turn wholly owned by Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed.

 

The highway was first awarded in 1997 and the concession agreement was amended by supplemental agreements in 1998, 2003 and 2006. The contents in the agreement are still a mystery as of today as the MEX agreements was mysteriously not included when other highways agreements were declassified by the Cabinet in November 2008.

 

On 16 March 2012 EP Manufacturing Bhd, a small-medium manufacturing company listed on Bursa Malaysia announced that it has proposed the acquisition of MEX for the amount of RM1.7 billion. What was revealed since included the cost of construction of MEX was RM1.32 billion as reported in The Edge Financial Daily.

 

What was shocking however, was the revelation that the Government has given a grant of RM976.7 million to MESB for the construction of the highway.  Effectively, 74% of the cost of constructing the highway was borne by the tax-payers.Note: A grant is like a "donation" --no need to repay !! )

 

According to reports by the Malaysian Ratings Corporation, Tan Sri Sahid Mohamed only invested RM60 million and lent RM87 million in funds to the project. The rest of the construction and operational cost of the highway was borne by borrowings which amounted to RM529 million at December 2010.

 

The question that needs to be asked is if the Government can already fund three quarters of the highway construction project, why was there even a need to “privatise” it to the private sector? Why couldn’t the government raise a further small sum of RM343 million to complete the highway without privatisation? Needless to say, the award of the contract was done via direct negotiations without any open tender.

 

The MEX is the most clear-cut case of making tax-payers’ pay for the construction of the highway, and subsequently allowing a BN crony to milk the tax-payers further by charging toll, in this case, over a period of 33 years. There is no better example of how the BN Government and its cronies are conducting highway robbery in broad daylight.

 

As my colleague in Pakatan Rakyat, Rafizi Ramli has highlighted in his press statement yesterday, Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed has only effectively forked out RM60 million for the project, but with the proposed acquisition by EP Manufacturing Bhd, he would effectively be making a NET profit of RM1.09 billion. That works out to more than an astronomical 1,800% return on investment in less than 8 years since construction began in 2004 for MEX.

 

The rape of Malaysian tax-payers which made a billionaire out of Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed on this exercise alone is simply outrageous and unacceptable. As highlighted above, out of his “profit”, RM976.7 million was paid for by Malaysian tax-payers.

 

I would echo Rafizi’s demand that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak demands that the RM976.7 million grant given to MESB must be returned to the Malaysian government. The grant is clearly unnecessary as there were known to be at least 6 bidders seeking to acquire MEX, proving that MEX is assured of profitability.

 

Datuk Seri Najib Razak must live up to his call for a “transformational government” as well as his promise in the New Economic Model that he will “not tolerate the behaviour of rent-seeking and patronage”. If the Prime Minister fails to take immediate action, he can be assured that the Pakatan Rakyat will launch a relentless campaign against this highway robbery by BN and its cronies all the way to the 13^th General Election.
__________________________

Voices of reason — Foong Li Mei

Voices of reason — Foong Li Mei

October 07, 2012

Oct 7 — Tired of politicians’ mudslinging and dirty tricks? We are, too. Thankfully, the panelists at REFSA’s recent forum showed that our country still has political leaders who rise above the muck to focus on working for the best interest of Malaysia.
Her crisp and confident voice swept through the packed hall with grace and conviction. It was nothing like the ferocity fired from the top of the lungs that one has come to expect whenever a political figure is handed a microphone.
She emphasised that politicians should not be given full control of the country’s finances. She spoke of the need for an independent authority to release a pre-Budget report that serves as a reference point for the actual Budget, much like the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the UK.
She urged Malaysians to remain vigilant over government spending, and insist on having a say in how tax monies are spent.
She stressed on the importance of bridging income inequality, as poverty enslaves people’s minds, preventing them from understanding the policies that are made and the politics that are played at their expense.
The crowd did not get riled up. They were listening — which, as crowds go, was a pretty rare sight.
Nurul Izzah Anwar speaking as one of the panelists at REFSA's recent forum.
I had to remind myself, time and again, that Nurul Izzah Anwar is a politician. I had never heard or met the Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament in person before, but given my scepticism about political leaders, I expected her speech to be yet another “We are saviours, they are evil” chin-wag.
I was wrong. As a panelist on REFSA’s recent forum Creating an Economic Tide that Lifts All Boats, Nurul Izzah stirred style into substance, but the real spark of her speech was the sincerity she exudes.
The vice president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) dangled the many weaknesses of the BN administration for all to see, yet steered clear of dipping into acidic, scathing remarks.
Her illustration of policies that have worked in developed countries showed that her vision for Malaysia is built upon realistic optimism rather than baseless idealism. She did not hijack minds with personal attacks and distasteful, snide remarks about her political opponents, but captivated hearts instead with charismatic intelligence and self-deprecating humour.
Several young women were as surprised as I was at Nurul Izzah’s eloquence, and enquired if she was a lawyer by training.
In truth, this up-and-coming leader holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from Universiti Tenaga Nasional before earning her Master’s Degree in International Relations from John Hopkins University, USA.
Being a public figure calls for a very basic and necessary skill and that is the art of public speaking. The fact that many of the attendees, including yours truly, were dazzled by the quality of Nurul Izzah’s rhetoric only hammered home one sad truth — Malaysians are used to, and have come to expect, the more disgraceful variant of political speeches.
Joining Nurul Izzah as forum panelist was Liew Chin Tong, Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera and international secretary for DAP (Disclosure: Chin Tong is also a trustee of REFSA). He, too, spoke with clarity and conviction as he offered alternative solutions to Malaysia’s current economic woes.
Liew spoke on restoring the country’s economy by reducing the reliance on cheap foreign labour. The strength of his speech lies in the examples that ordinary Malaysians can relate to.
“Why can’t garbage collectors be paid RM2000 per month?” he asked.
He went on to explain that if Malaysia’s garbage trucks could be upgraded to make the process automated, we would only need to pay for one garbage man to operate the truck, instead of an army of workers trailing along to pick up the trash bags. With manpower slashed, the sole garbage collector can be paid more, thus making garbage collecting a more attractive job, especially for the locals.
With that real-life example based, Liew successfully illustrated that most of the time, businesses do not need as many  labourers as they claim they do.
They could reduce manpower by investing in productivity improvements, but there is currently little incentive for businesses to do so, especially when hiring a whole troop of foreign labour can be much cheaper.
Liew also pointed out that to maximise profit, some businesses even prefer to employ migrant workers rather than the more expensive locals. This ultimately contributes to the rising unemployment rate in our country and low-incomes and bad work conditions.
Liew agreed with a member of the audience that one way to reduce reliance on foreign labour is to pay them wages comparable to that given to locals. If there is no longer an option of cheap labour, businesses would be forced to upgrade their productivity methods, and Malaysian workers would not be faced with unfair competition.
The forum also offered attendees a rare chance to meet a PAS leader, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who was the third panelist of the day. The Member of Parliament for Kuala Selangor and executive director of PAS’ research institute clarified that the party is no longer Islamist, but Islamist Democrats (the full story has been duly highlighted in REFSA Rojak Special Feature recently).
I thought Dr Dzulkefly’s speech revolved too much around PAS’ ideologies and would have preferred him to address specific economic issues and give solid solutions.
However, the Kuala Selangor MP must have impressed the multiethnic audience of various ages as the Negara Berkebajikan (Benevolent State)  document which outlines PAS’ policies, sold like hot cakes. His own book, Striving for Change also recorded a good number of sales.
All in all, the three panelists were a breath of fresh air to me, very unlike those who engage in dirty political games that get splashed across our news pages every day. These three represent a new breed of enlightened political leaders who are ready to lead thinking Malaysians, not angry mobs.
Will Nurul Izzah, Liew and Dr Dzulkefly keep up their resolve to establish a transparent government and acknowledge citizen empowerment should the Pakatan Rakyat coalition seize Putrajaya? Only time will tell if they are immune or susceptible to power’s tendency to corrupt.
However, in the present, watching the three of them speak inspired confidence — I can imagine them taking our country out of the rut it is in. That is more than can be said about what most politicians are doing these days.
I write this not merely to give credit to these three leaders, but more importantly, to remind those politicians constantly embroiled in wars of words that their conduct is not so different from a display of fireworks – amusing, but short-lived. Malaysians are long tired of explosions, and are finding relief instead in the voices of reason and professionalism.
Nurul Izzah, Liew and Dr Dzulkefly not only struck a chord with the audience at REFSA’s forum, but also left this resounding tune in the hearts of the rakyat – Malaysia is our home; let’s do our best for her. — REFSA Rojak special feature

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Anwar: Audit report delayed to stifle opposition’s Budget 2013 debate

Anwar: Audit report delayed to stifle opposition’s Budget 2013 debate


UPDATED @ 06:56:46 PM 24-09-2012 By Clara Chooi

Assistant News EditorSeptember 24, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today questioned the government’s motive in delaying its release of the Auditor-General’s Report, asking if this was a deliberate attempt to prevent opposition lawmakers from referring to the document when debating Budget 2013.



The opposition leader said this was an “inappropriate” practice as the A-G’s Report should be used as reference when parliamentarians review the government’s expenditure plans for the following year.



“It seems like this is a tactic of the Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) government to prevent MPs from viewing this report.



“The A-G’s Report is an evaluation of the government’s performance over the year. So in order to fairly debate the budget, we need to read this audit report first,” Anwar (picture) pointed out.



The Permatang Pauh MP vowed that should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) take over the reins of Putrajaya after the coming polls, it would ensure that the A-G’s Report is released to MPs before the budget is tabled.



Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz told reporters in Parliament this morning that the government had decided to delay its release of the A-G’s Report, which had severely embarrassed the government last year when it revealed several financial irregularities in federal expenditure, including the use of a RM250 million loan for the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) cattle farming scheme.



The Padang Rengas MP said the public document would only be released in the House “one or two weeks” after Budget 2013 is tabled this Friday.



“The report is ready but it’s not going to be tabled simultaneously (with Budget 2013) because the audit report may take more news that the budget.



“So what we will do is the audit report will be tabled a week or two later but there will still be enough time for the MPs to debate,” he said.



PKR deputy president Azmin Ali accused the government of attempting to hide its weaknesses by delaying the report, pointing out that the audit was meant to reveal any irregularities in federal expenditure.



The Gombak MP agreed that tabling the document before the Budget would help parliamentarians better assess the government’s plans for the country’s finances in the year ahead.



“The government is trying to distract MPs from seeing the facts. This report is important; we do not want to debate with baseless allegations,” he said.



The A-G’s Report is traditionally tabled simultaneously with the Budget but the government had delayed it last year, despite protests from opposition lawmakers.



The 2010 A-G report released on October 24 last year found that nine federal ministries and departments had exceeded their overall operational allocation by a total of RM3.73 billion.



They include the Education Ministry, Health Ministry, Home Ministry, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry, Public Service Department, Attorney-General’s Department, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Public Services Commission.



The report also stated that the overspending was unavoidable due to additional activities and unscheduled payments.

SELANGOR FOLKS CONNED BY FALSE WATER CRISIS

SELANGOR FOLKS CONNED BY FALSE WATER CRISIS


The technical term for the amount of raw water that is wasted due to inefficiencies in the water treatment plant is called “non-revenue water” or NRW.



Under Rozali ismail's SYABAS/PUNCAK NIAGA, Malaysia's NRW is 32%.



A third of the water that enters SYABAS's plant goes to waste. This has been happening for years, meaning nothing whatsoever has been done to mitigate the problem.



For his inefficiency, he is paid RM500k per month, some put it at RM800k in a company that is riddled with almost RM2billion debts.



That really is good news for those yearning to return BN to power in Selangor isn't it? Lol!



http://jtpotshots.blogspot.com/2012/07/selangor-folks-conned-by-false-water.html

Tony Pua

Tony Pua latest dinner talk at P/J. - Don't miss it !


This video is especially for those who have been ONLY reading THE National papers like THE STAR, THE NEW STRAIT TIMES, NANYANG SIAN PAU ETC..and were made to believed in what it has written.



Watch this video and listen carfully what have been transpired in the local news recently esp. on the SEDA, TALAM and other issues...



Judge for yourself who has better governance, BN or PERKATAAN RAKYAT (PKR).......

Begin forwarded message

I love how he circumvents the defamatory injunction.

Tony Pua latest dinner talk at P/J. - Don't miss it !



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FG8aDlr7VE&feature=player_embedded