Philosophy Politics Economics |
- Home Ministry Hides Crime Stats
- Why EU-banned Lion Air Given License in Malaysia?
- KLIA2 Cost Now RM4 billion
- Why is RM386m exclusive for KR1M?
- Dr Mahathir Senile or Scheming?
- Ismail Sabri Sleeping On The Job
| Home Ministry Hides Crime Stats Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:12 AM PDT 'Not suitable' to reveal detailed crime stats, says Home Ministry By Clara Chooi October 11, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Putrajaya has refused a lawmaker's request to release to Parliament a breakdown of the country's crime statistics, saying it was "not suitable" to disclose details according to the various crime categories. In a written reply released today to a question from DAP MP Tony Pua yesterday, the Home Ministry told the lawmaker that it was "more relevant" to reveal details of the country's index crime cases as it has a more significant impact on public safety. "For your information, there are hundreds of different categories of crimes recorded under the Royal Malaysian Police's (RMP) statistics annually, which include both index and non-index crimes. "Therefore, the ministry is of the view that it is not plausible to present the detailed statistics for each crime category according to the various districts in Selangor and all states," the ministry said. Pua had asked Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to state the reasons why his ministry was yet to disclose a detailed schedule on annual crime statistics according to crime categories and districts in Selangor and all states. "It is more relevant to release the number of index crime cases as they have a more significant impact on public safety. "The number of index crime cases for Selangor and the country were released to Yang Berhormat through written reply in the first parliamentary meeting this year," the ministry replied. Speaking at a press conference here, Pua railed against the ministry for its reply, saying the government was duty bound to release the details to any parliamentarian. "This is clearly a show of disrespect to the Dewan Rakyat," he said. "Even if I had asked for the number of cows there are in the country, they should furnish a reply if they have the details." The DAP publicity secretary repeated accusations by fellow opposition lawmakers that the government was attempting to paint a false picture of the country's crime rate, hoping to calm public fears. "This shows they are hiding something. The government has been claiming that index crime statistics show that the rate has dipped over the past three years... but then again, non-index crime has increased. "This is what I wanted to prove but I wanted the detailed statistics." For the full story on The Malaysian Insider, click here.  |
| Why EU-banned Lion Air Given License in Malaysia? Posted: 10 Oct 2012 03:04 AM PDT Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Tuesday announced the setting up of a new low-cost airline known as Malindo Airways. Najib had said that the airline was "borne out of a collaboration between National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (Nadi) and Indonesia's PT Lion Group", and would begin operations on May 1 next year and be based in KLIA 2. We would like to question the basis the Prime Minister for awarding the the airline license to Malindo, given the many questionable circumstances surrounding both the joint-venture partners of the airlines. Firstly, as exposed earlier, Nadi has not even filed their audited accounts since December 2007. On that basis alone, the any application for an airline license must be rejected outright as no company who has failed to file their accounts could possibly be trusted to securely finance a capital intensive airline company. Secondly, any airline before being granted license must have been thoroughly vetted to ensure that they have complied with the most stringent global safety requirements. Given that Nadi have zero experience in operating an airline, we can only assume that the main airline operating partner is PT Lion Group which runs Lion Mentari Air in Indonesia and the latter is seeking to expand its presence into Malaysia. Is the Prime Minister aware that Lion Mentari Air is subject to a complete ban in the European Union because of "safety concerns due to alleged poor maintenance and regulatory oversight standards on the part of the EU, preventing them from entering the airspace of any member state". [The complete list of globally banned airlines are available here] In fact, Lion Air ran into numerous problems with the Indonesian government regularly over safety issues. As recent as early this year, many Lion Air pilots were caught for drug use. In January 2012, the Indonesian Transportation Ministry said that it sanctioned Lion Air because some of its pilots and crew members were found in recent months to be in possession of crystal methamphetamine. In late 2011 Muhammad Nasri along with two other co-pilots were arrested at a party in Tangerang; and in early 2012 a pilot was caught in possession of crystal meth in Makassar. On 4 February 2012, another pilot of Lion Air was arrested following an positive urinalysis test for use of methamphetamine. In July 2011, Lion Air had to ground 13 planes due to sanction caused by bad on-time performance (OTP). The Indonesian transportation ministry recorded that Lion Air's OTP of 66.45 percent was the worst of six airlines in an assessment conducted from January to April 2011 at 24 airports in Indonesia. Lion Air also had numerous accidents before that –
All of the above incidents and many more before that are publicly available information from Aviation Safety Network. We are completely for a more competitive airline industry in Malaysia. We strongly believe that with real competition, the ultimate beneficiaries are the Malaysians at large, who will receive better quality services at significantly lower prices. The question is whether the Prime Minister had done his due diligence in awarding the new airline license to Malindo. There is genuine concern over the financial integrity and credibility of a company which has failed to submit audited accounts over the past 5 years as well as the operational credibility of Lion Air in ensuring an efficient and most importantly safety of our passengers. Hence the Prime Minister must explain why was the license awarded to Malindo in such haste, and what was the basis of the award.  |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2012 08:41 PM PDT No guarantee KLIA2 cost won't balloon further Nigel Aw 4:43PM Oct 8, 2012 Despite the massive cost overruns and delays to the new low cost terminal KLIA2, the Transport Ministry today did not provide assurance that the project would be finished on time, and without further cost. "At the end of last year the cost was RM3.6 billion to RM3.9 billion, now it has clearly exceeded this at RM4 billion. "Even the deputy minister (of transport Abdul Rahim Bakri) did not appear confident that it will be completed on time at the estimated cost," Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua (left) told a press conference at the Parliament lobby this morning. Pua was commenting on Abdul Rahim's reply to his question in the house earlier on whether KLIA2 will be completed on time. Abdul Rahim, in his response, said the latest estimated cost of KLIA2 now stood at RM4 billion from the initial estimated of RM1.7billion when the project commenced in 2009. "For now, based on the commitment given by the contractors - this information is given to me by the MAHB (Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad), so if they give me this I must accept as it is because I'm representing the government - they said they can complete it according to schedule," Abdul Rahim said. He added that the project was ahead of time at 61.9 percent completion compared to the 56.9 percent required in the schedule. 'Delayed, but ahead of time' At this, Pua took the deputy minister to task for misleading statements. "Ahead of schedule is confusing, this project was supposed to be completed in 2011, then it became 2012 and now April 2013," he said. Acknowledging this, Abdul Rahim (right) clarified that he meant "ahead of schedule" in terms of the revised time frame for KLIA2's completion for April 2013. Abdul Rahim explained the drastic increase in cost was due to various upgrades to KLIA2 to meet future demands of the airline industry. "These upgrades are for the comfort of passengers and to allow the low cost carrier industry to grow. When we do such infrastructure, it is not for the needs of today but for future needs," he said. He added that despite the ballooning cost, it was not being paid by the government. "This does not involve government money, MAHB is getting its own sukuk bond where they have to pay according to their revenue," he said. For the full story on Malaysiakini, click here!  |
| Why is RM386m exclusive for KR1M? Posted: 08 Oct 2012 09:56 PM PDT Datuk Ismail Sabri has yet to respond why the RM386 million allocated to reduce the prices of goods in Sabah and Sarawak is channelled exclusively to Mydin through the setting up of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) The Prime Minister proudly announced that the Federal Government will allocate RM386 million to set up 57 Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) next year to "ensure the prices of essential goods in Sabah and Sarawak as well as in Labuan are sold at lower prices". We have criticised the above plan as being extremely expensive costing a whopping RM6.77 million each store. This is in contrast to the RM40 million allocated in the 2012 Budget in the previous year, which averages RM471,000 each of the 85 stores. Ministers of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Datuk Ismail Sabri has responded last Friday that the government only allocated RM87 million to build the 57 shops in the three states [Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan]. The balance of the RM299 million allocated is to cover "the overall cost for the initiative, including the cost of delivery and distribution of products…. [taking] into consideration the price uniformity programme between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak." The replies by Datuk Ismail Sabri does not in any way reply the original questions as to why Mydin will receive exclusive benefits from the Budget 2013 amounting to RM386 million. Firstly, the allocation of RM87 million to set up 57 shops till cost RM1.53 million for each store on average. Why is the setting up of a retail store selling basic goods and necessities so expensive even after taking into account the higher cost involved in Sabah and Sarawak? This is especially since we have previously alloacted only RM471,000 for each store. Secondly, the balance of the RM299 million mean for the "cost of delivery and distribution" is essentially a subsidy on the goods to be sold in KR1M. For 57 outlets, that works out to a whopping RM5.25 million of subsidies for each store! In fact the RM299 million of subsidy to Mydin exceeds the RM278 million sugar subsidy budgeted for the entire country for 2013! The question remains as to why is it that this benefit will not be extended to all other shops in Sabah and Sarawak offering these "basic necessities"? In fact, since the RM386 million grant and/or subsidy is given only to Mydin, the Government is in effect killing off all of Mydin's competitors – from big hypermarkets to small mom-and-pop shops. Mydin will have the monopolistic right to sell certain products at substantially cheaper prices than its competitors due to the exclusive RM386 million from the Federal Government. We call upon the Government to make available the RM386 million all small retail outlets already in existence throughout Sabah and Sarawak to ensure that the maximum number of retailers and consumers will benefit from the programme to sell basic necessities at lower prices. There is absolutely no need for the Government to sponsor its crony to open up new shops in these areas to compete unfairly and kill of local shop-owners. We are in complete support of any measure by the Government to reduce the prices of goods and services in East Malaysia, especially over the longer term to ease the burden of Malaysians living in these states. However, we are disgusted by the fact that even in a programme ostensibly designed to lower the cost of living of the poor, the Barisan Nasional Government chosen a mechanism to profit its cronies at the expense of the man-on-the-street. The approach taken by Datuk Seri Najib Razak is clearly designed to profit only Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd as the allocation goes direct to the company to set up these stores.  |
| Dr Mahathir Senile or Scheming? Posted: 08 Oct 2012 08:52 PM PDT Pakatan: We don't even know George Soros Nigel Aw 1:33PM Oct 8, 2012 Pakatan Rakyat MPs have rubbished former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that a vote for the opposition would be akin to a vote for billionaire and former currency speculator George Soros. "I don't want to involve the former premier because he is no longer relevant in our politics, but the words are those of someone who is senile," Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua told a press conference at the Parliament lobby this morning. "We have no relationship whatsoever with George Soros. We don't know George Soros." He said Pakatan has no Jewish agenda and that it, like the government, has always been supportive of the Palestinian struggle and against Israeli oppression of the state. In a commentary published in the New Sunday Times yesterday, Mahathir had warned that voting for the opposition would be like voting for Soros, who he claimed was attempting to colonise Malaysia. Pua also hit out at Mahathir for double standards on the matter. "When Mahathir met Soros, he shook his hand and asked him to support his organisation (the Perdana Global Peace Foundation) to combat war crimes. "When he asks for Soros' help, there was no problem. But when people vote for Pakatan, that's a 'vote for Soros' - there is no logic in this." For the full story on Malaysiakini, click here.  |
| Ismail Sabri Sleeping On The Job Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:47 PM PDT Datuk Ismail Sabri, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister was approached by reporters on the fact that many Umno-linked companies have failed to file their accounts on a timely basis. He responded that "Kita baru tahu dan kita akan siasat. Kita akan siasat jika menerima aduan. Kita tak pilih sesiapa (untuk jalankan siasatan)". [We only know (about it) now and we will investigate. We will investigate if we receive a complaint. We do not choose anyone (in conducting investigations)] This is the absolutely laziest answer from a Minister. Firstly, it is not the job of the public to do his job on checking if every company on Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) have duly submitted their accounts on a timely basis. It is the role of CCM to do so and to enforce the law in accordance to the Companies Act 1965. Secondly, and more importantly, the entire CCM companies' database is electronic and has been so for many years. This means that a complete list of companies who have not submitted their accounts on a timely basis can be obtain with the press of a computer button. If even at such convenience the CCM has not done its job, and companies are allowed not to submit their accounts since 2006, then clearly the Minister and CCM are sleeping on the job. What makes the entire situation worse is the fact that the Ministry has "received complaints" on Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd and hence is aggressively "investigating" the company. However, the Minister until today has been unable to pinpoint not even a single irregularity with Suara Inisiatif's accounts! The persecution of Suara Inisiatif is clearly political and a complete abuse of power. We would like to remind the Minister that our allegations against the UMNO-linked companies are not based on some airy-fairy allegations like "misleading" or "confusing accounts". It is based on documents obtained directly from SSM itself which says that these companies have failed to submit their accounts for years. The companies and their directors are listed here. Datuk Ismail Sabri was in such a hurry to have Suara Inisiatif charged by the Attorney-General, despite the fact that the investigations were incomplete as highlighted by the latter. In the cases of these UMNO-linked companies, the proof is clear as broad daylight. There's practically nothing else to investigate. These companies have not filed their accounts in recent years, some since 2006. We would like to repeat that if we fail to see immediate action against these companies and their directors under Companies Act 1965, we will file for a RM10 salary deduction motion against the Minister during the Budget 2013 debate supplementary stage.  |
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