Tag: Financial Contributions

Norazita Asked Her Children to Study Hard Before She Was Shot

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SHAH ALAM, 8 Nov: “Mom asked me and my brother to study hard,” said the eldest son of the late banker, Norazita Abu Talib, who was shot by a security guard at the USJ Ambank on 23 October.

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Nurisa Nabilah Irwan, 12, said that her late mother’s message still remains in her memory and her brother’s, Muhammad Hazimi Irwan, 8, and it will continue to be the strength for them to excel in their studies.

Nurisa, who just finished taking the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR), said that the loss of Norazita is a blow to her and Hazim, but support from their father, Irwan Kamaruddin, makes them strong.

Meanwhile, Irwan, 37, who works as a personal driver, also expressed his gratitude for the contributions and concern of the state government which is trying to help ease the burden of their family.

“All tasks previously shouldered by my late wife is now my responsibility. Now, I have the responsibility as both, a mother and father to my children.

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“I hope that the police could quickly solve this case as find a solution so it does not recur and no other family would have to face this situation,” he said.

Irwan said this when meeting with Selangor Kini after the state government’s contribution of RM5,000 was delivered by the Exco for Welfare and Women’s Affairs, Rodziah Ismail, and was also attended by the Assemblywoman for Taman Medan, Haniza Talhah, here at their home yesterday.

Rodziah said that the state government is ready to help in the form of legal advice if Irwan takes the matter to court for a lawsuit.

“This lawsuit is not meant for revenge, but it is more towards ensuring that all parties, especially the management of companies, are more sensitive in the selection of security members so that such an incident will not recur.

“We will also provide assistance in the form of legal advice and counsel so that Irwan will get a comprehensive explanation on this case,” said Rodziah.

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Selangor Government Help Residents of Kampung Buloh Telor Overcome Riverbank Collapse

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KUALA KUBU BAHRU, 7 Nov: The residents of Kampung Buloh Telor can now heave a sigh of relief as the riverbank collapse, destroying the only road linking the Orang Asli village, will be fully repaired soon.

Reparation work will involve the construction of a retaining wall at the bank and resurfacing of the damaged roads will be done with provisions channelled through the State Government.

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The Assemblywoman for Kuala Kubu Bahru, Lee Kee Heong, said that the first stage of the construction of the retaining wall in the village of about 150 people from 37 Orang Asli families has already been completed.

“Although this is the responsibility of the Federal Government under the Department of Orang Asli Affairs Development (JHEOA), I ask the State Government to provide allocations to facilitate the residents of the village from entering and exiting.

“There are two parts of the river bank that needs to be repaired, where one has already been completed and for the other, I need to ask for new provisions from the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN).

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“This is because when UPEN officers previously visited, some of the collapse was covered by trees and bushes, causing this part to not be seen at the time,” she said when visiting the construction site of the retaining wall and road at Kampung Buloh Telor.

Kee Heong added that the first stage of the construction reached a cost of RM19,000, while the cost of the second part and road reparation is still under UPEN’s evaluation.

Meanwhile, the Tok Batin (village chief) of Kampung Buloh Telor, Harun Adam, said that the riverbank collapse started in March dues to heavy rains.

“Since then, the road has been damaged and has become narrow because of the riverbank collapse. But with the help of the State Government, I hope that this problem can be completely resolved thus facilitating residents of the village.

“Thanks to YB Kee Heong and the State Government for this assistance which will make it easier for villagers to go about their daily business,” said Harun.

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Eliminating Subsidies is a Severe Punishment to the People

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GOMBAK, 31 Oct: The central government’s move to eliminate subsidies on essential goods in the Budget 2014 is a ‘severe punishment’ to the people seeing that the government does not adopt prudent spending, thus costing billions of the people’s money.

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The Assemblyman for Gombak Setia, Hasbullah Ridzwan said the low to middle-income earners will continue to be squeezed by economic constraints as a result of the elimination of the subsidies.

“We see this as a disaster for the people when the recent budget retracted subsidies of essential goods such as sugar, especially when a festive celebration is coming up,” he told TVSelangor.

Hasbullah said, the central government should adopt the concept of prudent spending and find ways to overcome the national deficit.

“The government should think of finding alternative measures to reduce the deficit and their weaknesses in administration.

“Let not the people, who are already suffering from rising prices of goods, be punished again in the budget,” said Hasbullah.

Prior to that, Hasbullah accompanied participants of the Diwali Jom Shopping (Let’s Go Shopping) programme organised by the Gombak Setia State Legislative Assembly and took the opportunity to mingle with other visitors at the Batu Caves Giant mall.

A total of 300 participants received shopping vouchers worth RM100.

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Selangor and Penang PR Governments Step Forward to Strengthen Democracy

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Youth Solidarity Malaysia (SAMM) congratulated the Selangor and Penang PR Governments for moving another step to strengthen democracy in their administration radar.

On 18 September, the Penang Pakatan Rakyat Government, through the State Government Exco meeting, approved in principle the provisions for Assemblymen from the Opposition in Penang (read: Barisan Nasional) and the subsequent approval from the Exco Meeting will be tabled in the Penang State Budget 2014.

Meanwhile, on 10 October, the Selangor PR Government announced special allowances and privileges for the Selangor State Legislative Assembly Opposition Leader.

For Samm, this are valiant efforts in strengthening and educating the meaning of true democracy in Malaysia, in fact, understanding in the long history of oppression in translating the BN-style democracy system, actions such as this is hard to be accepted by various quarters in PR itself.

But if we are talking about a mature democracy, this is the best time to show that PR is different from the oppression politics of BN. We see all this while how PR representatives, especially Parliamentarians, are denied the right to serve the people without even a single cent of allocation being channelled through PR representatives who were voted by the people.

Now, it is a tremendous blow for BN Assemblymen in Penang. Do they want to receive provisions given to them despite Do they want to receive their allocation to them despite their opposition?

If they accept it, then they acknowledge the practice of the BN Government in other states and even the Federal level BN government as wrong to not channel allocations through representatives of the people who were elected by the people. But if they reject it, they will continue to be remembered for their narrow partisan politics and they can no longer complain in front of their voters that they do not have allocations.

Through the Penang State Government, PR proved that political clash is a different matter, but in matters of democratic state governance, the people’s choice should be respected and Penang PR has acknowledged that.

The Office of the Leader of the Opposition in the House (be it the House of Representatives or the state legislative assembly) is very important. But since the independence of Malaysia, it has not been honoured like other countries of mature democracy acknowledge the post.

The Selangor PR Government made a tremendous stride when they allocated RM8,260 per month with plenty other privileges to the Opposition Leader in the State Legislative Assembly.

With this, this position which is upheld through the democratic pr In this position he also transported through the democratic process of the people’s voice can be used to jointly develop the state. Opposition leaders can have complete office efficiency with enough research officers and Opposition leaders can have a complete office efficiency with enough research officer and able to debate and make constructive criticism to state that ultimately benefit the people.

The question now is would the Opposition Leader from BN in Selangor receive the allowances and privileges or will he reject with narrow political party thinking.

If he accepts it, he would admit the wrong practice of the Central and State Governments under BN in denying the role of Opposition Leaders elected by the people.

This is how the politics of the nation should be practiced with policy competition and competition in improvements which will ultimately strengthen democracy and benefit the people.

SAMM has greats hopes to see the Prime Minister, who is also the Finance Minister, to make the word ‘transformation’ as his daily chant when tabling the Budget 2014 this Friday which can truly welcome the moves taken by the Penang and Selangor PR Governments.

This move is also positive and everyone should move to strengthen democracy by acknowledging the role of PR members of parliament by taking into account the channeling of provisions through those elected by the people and uphold the role of the Malaysian Parliament by acknowledging privileges for Malaysian Opposition Leaders.

Without that, the ‘transformation’ chant will continue being a rhetoric laughed by those from the country and abroad.

Badrul Hisham Shaharin
Youth Solidarity Malaysia

Budget 2014: National Deficit Expected to Increase by One Percent

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SHAH ALAM, 23 Oct: The Budget 2014 is expected to reach RM270 billion, involving an increase of nine percent compared to RM260 billion for the Budget 2013.

The increase is expected to cause the national fiscal deficit to increase by about 0.5 percent to one percent.

Terengganu PKR Chairman, Azan Ismail said the budget which will be tabled by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on 25 October will record a deficit for the 16th time in a row.

“This year, the amount if RM260 billion, but it may increase by about RM10 billion for 2014. This increase would cause the national deficit to increase by about one percent or at least 0.5 percent,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Azan said the approach used by Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, proves that the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government has failed in controlling spending by being responsible and prudent.

“For Pakatan Rakyat (PR), we will not guarantee a balanced budget, but we will try to present a budget where the deficit is not too high.

“If the increase in expenditure is RM10 billion to RM15 billion, we too have to increase to curb a higher increase in deficit,” he said.

Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, presented the Alternative Budget summary which amounts to RM262 billion, compared to an estimated revenue of RM228 billion, with the deficit of RM34 billion, on 21 October.

Among the contributing factor involved in the reduction is that the emoluments that are reduced by 10 percent involves operating expenses that do not include emoluments and the effort is a part of the long-term measures to reduce the country’s debt of over RM500 billion.

MPSJ Urban Poverty Eradication Programme Increases Participants’ Income

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SUBANG JAYA, 21 Oct: The step by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) to have the Urban Poverty Eradication (PKB) programme showed a positive development when s study found that the average income of the programme’s participants increased.

MPSJ found that the average income of the participants increased to RM1,153 compared to about RM793 per month prior to joining the programme.

Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said that the programme should be continued and emulated by other Local Authorities, thus increasing the quality of life and education of participants.

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“This effort should be emulated by other local authorities because we must find a way to help them increase revenues; for example, single mothers. Children of every local authority participant should be monitored so that they are properly educated,” said Abdul Khalid at the MPSJ Urban Community Wellbeing 2013 Award Ceremony here at Sunway Hotel Resort & Spa yesterday.

The PKB programme involved coaching classes and skills training to help residents of MPSJ to improve their family’s side income by selling items that can be manufactured on a small scale but have a positive impact on them.

Among the training provided were sewing workshops, beading, making decorative food covers, repairing computers, jambu (water apple) entrepreneurs, making cupcakes, cakes and bread, and a Back To School Programme.

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In 2009, MPSJ allocated RM100,000 to implement the programme and the amount has been added to RM300,000 since 2010.

At the same ceremony, a beading business operator, Noor Ashikin Ramli and a decorative food cover entrepreneur, Rabitah Yusuf, were awarded the MPSJ Urban Community Wellbeing 2013 Award.

Noor Ashikin said the beading workshop was beneficial in diversifying attractive stitching, thus attracting customers to purchase.

Meanwhile, Rabitah said she did not think that the decorative food cover business she operated on a small scale could generate a decent income for her family.

Contributions in forms of daily necessities worth RM100, given to 20 orphans, single mothers and the needy was also held at the event.

PKR Urges to Establish IPCMC to Tackle the ‘Shoot First’ Issue

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SHAH ALAM, 13 Oct: The Inspector General of Police (IGP) should create an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to tackle the ‘shoot first’ issue effectively, stressed PKR Vice President, Azmin Ali.

Azmin said he was referring to the challenge issued by IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to Member of Parliament for Padang Serai, N.Surendran, to ‘accompany’ the police and experience first-hand a possible shootout with criminals.

“Instead of issuing the challenge, the IGP should address the problems of the people by (acting upon) the shocking statement made by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over a week ago,” said Azmin in a media statement.

Prior to this, Ahmad Zahid in a safety briefing to community leaders in Ayer Keroh, suggested the ‘shoot first’ policy to the police in dealing with suspected triad members.

PKR Vice President, Nurul Izzah Anwar said that the IGP should focus on improving police weakness by seeking a meeting with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders to address the issue.

Nurul Izzah said the IGP’s offer to N.Surendran to join in the operation is a violation of universal principles.

“Surendran, like every single Malaysian, has every right to request for the highest level of professionalism from the police and to be protected without bias, without the fear of threats and requests for an indemnity.

“No members of Parliament should entertain this police display of bias, uncouth and threatening behaviour, lest we all fall into a downward spiral of irresponsible conduct. I, myself, will not condone any of my colleagues pursuing such risky endeavours,” said Nurul Izzah in a statement.

Mukhriz Urged to Emulate Fairness, Wisdom of Selangor and Penang’s PR Government

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SHAH ALAM, 1 Oct: The Chief Minister of Kedah, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir has been urged to learn from the Selangor and Penang Pakatan Rakyat governments in providing welfare to all sincerely without political interests.

Member of Parliament for Penang Hill, Zairil Khir Johari said that the media has reported that the Kedah Government does not entertain any request for assistance from Chinese vernacular schools and only focuses its priorities on national schools.

“Such statements by a Chief Minister, as the supreme leader of the state, are not only irresponsible and vengeful in nature, but it is like no lesson has been learned from history,” he said.

Zairil said, that the Selangor Government had earlier announced that the Opposition Leader of the Selangor State Assembly will receive additional allowances amounting to RM8,620 per month, including the use of an official car.

Meanwhile, the Penang State Government announced an allocation of RM40,000 per year to be given to BN opposition Assemblymen for infrastructure projects.

“The move by the Selangor and Penang governments do not only respect democracy and the people’s choices, but it is also in line with the desire for national integration,” said Zairil in a statement.

219 Residents of Kampung Sri Indah Receive Land Grants

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SUNGAI BULUH, 12 Oct: The 20-year wait for 219 families from Kampung Sri Indah, Paya Jaras, to own the land grants for their residential land ended today when all of them received their respective land grants.

A recipient, Goh See Hai, 52, said that he had to wait so long despite submitting all the relevant documents to the previous Umno-BN Government, in fact the attitude of the previous government caused the issue of the land title to be delayed for years.

“I have lived in this village for over 20 years. All efforts made to obtain this grant, despite the previous government promising to settle it, was finally settled by the Pakatan Rakyat Government,” he said.

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Yap Kwai Loon, 52, was happy that this issue has been finally resolved after waiting over 23 years.

“Previously, MCA representatives promised to settle it. I have been waiting too long and now, finally, I have received the title to my land thanks to the Assemblyman and the State Government which has helped a lot,” said Yap cheerfully.

Both of them were met during a ceremony to hand over the grant approvals presented by the Executive Councillor in charge of Investment, Industry, New Village Development and Whitening of Illegal Factories, Ean Yong Hian Wah here at the JKKK Hall in Kampung Sri Indah A, Paya Jaras today.

Also present was the Assemblyman of Paya Jaras, Mohd Khairuddin Othman and the Member of Parliament for Subang, R.Sivarasa.

Meanwhile, Mohd Khairuddin when interviewed said that five more villages under the Paya Jaras constituency are still waiting for their land titles and hopes that the issue will be resolved in the next three years.

“Firstly, I want to thank the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who vigorously accelerated all matters regarding the land title.

“For the Paya Jaras constituency, there are 15 villages and five more villages are still waiting, and I hope that the State Government will help in all dealings so that all of them will receive their respective titles,” he said.

All residents will receive the grant to their land after settling the premium amount of RM1,000 as required by the State Government.

Audit Report: Ministers Should Not Blame Junior Officers

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Kuala Lumpur, 3 Oct: Cabinet Ministers have been urged to stop blaming junior officers by being fully responsible of all fraud and wasteful spending that happens in government departments.

Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said, based on the Auditor General’s 2012 Report, there were many spending leakages which happened in federal departments that require investigations so that it does not repeat.

“Ministers should take responsibility and not blame junior officers because it happened in front of them without supervision.

“We do not want to hear that ministers are under investigation or consideration because every year, this happens, in fact it gets worse,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

He also urged the Public Accounts Committee (PAS) to provide a special session to look into this matter in addition to asking Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs to be involved in the committee to continue urging for the matter to be monitored.
“Every time an audit report is published, we seem surprised when leakages and embezzlement happens every year.

“The leakages happen when prices of goods go up, the people are pressed but embezzlement that happens are ignored,” he said.

Selangor To Attract More Foreign Investors By 2014

PETALING JAYA, 26th SEPT: Despite global economic uncertainties, Selangor still maintains a robust performance, and hopes to continue this success into the future through a series of joint cooperations with foreign investors.

Speaking to foreign diplomats and delegates of chambers of commerce during a high tea at the Intan Suite of Hilton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the consistent performance and good educational infrastructures offer extra value to investment opportunities in the state.

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“In 2012 and 2013, we recorded a strong performance in terms of domestic investments and reinvestments. We are hoping to attract foreign investment in the second half of 2013, and through 2014 especially. Therefore, we plan to intensify international cooperations, and trade and investment missions,” said Khalid.

“We recognise the need to integrate housing development projects with the development of the industry because people will need jobs to contribute to the economy. Education will be an important issue and I am pleased to inform that Selangor is home to 100 institutions of higher education, 30 international schools and a lot of vocational training centres that will add value to the development of the industry,” said Khalid.

Also present was the Canadian High Commissioner Judith St. George, Honorary Consul of Malta High Commission Paul Vincent Galea, Ambassador of France Martine Dorance.

Investment and Industrial Exco Ean Yong Hian Wah and Chief Executive Officer of Selangor State Investment Centre (SSIC) Hasan Azhari also honoured the consuls of trade, representatives of high commissions and embassies, business partners and representatives of foreign chambers of commerce.

As of June 2013, Selangor has recorded the highest investment proposals, totalling 97 projects. In terms of total capital investment, Selangor strongly ranks at number four with investments worth RM2.2 billion.

Through SSIC, Selangor has sent trade and investment missions to Japan and Korea recently, followed by another missions to Germany, Switzerland and Belgium in October. To the audience, Khalid also invited international cooperations in various forms so as to promote sustainable economic developments in the state.

Selangor Budget 2014 Is People Friendly

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SUBANG JAYA, SEPT 23: The Selangor State Government is formulating Selangor Budget 2014 by taking into account the will of the people through their discussions with community leaders during a dialogue session held at the Hotel Grand Dorsett Subang Jaya, running from today till tomorrow.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the discussion is vital for the implementation of Selangor Budget 2014 in accordance with the needs and wishes of the people. Prior to this, the State Government had also carried out a similar dialogue to discuss the implementations of PR’s 13th General Election Manifesto (GE-13).

The feedback from the dialogue was included in the Five Year Action Plan.

“We run discussions in order to get feedbacks from community leaders such as village heads, Members of the Council, Members of the Legislative Assembly (ADUN), Members of Parliament, lecturers et cetera to discuss Selangor Budget 2014.

“We took the will of the people into account even though they know that the result of state budget is restricted between RM1.4 to RM1.6 billion,” he told reporters after opening the Budget 2014 Dialogue Ceremony here.

Abdul Khalid said emphasis on a balanced budget is his administration’s top priority. Any programmes and action plans will be drawn up based only on budget limits and in accordance with the State Government’s revenues.

“For Selangor, the budget should be balanced without any deficit spending. What we produce is what we can use,” he said.

In his speech, Abdul Khalid said the state government wanted to close the acquisition of the state’s water industry by December this year.

Equally important is the distribution of water shares to the people of Selangor should the acquisition be successful.

Meanwhile, Abdul Khalid also said that the 20 cubic metres of free water scheme could go on for another 10 years with the acquisitions.

Recognising the problem of housing for people of low and moderate-income, the construction of Affordable Homes in Selangor will be boosted via the new Affordable Quality Homes (AQH) policies, along with the semi-autonomy role delegated to the units under Selangor Housing and Properties Board’s responsibilities.

Among other purposes that were given emphasis is building an Integrated Database for all funded programmes, including the State Government’s statistical assistance recipients and beneficiaries of the State’s People-Based Economy agenda (MES), the listing of new programmes, and improving details of existing programmes.

To help boost entrepreneur economy, all entrepreneurial activities and programmes will be centralised under the State Entrepreneurship Centre as a one-stop agency for local entrepreneurial development, and thus increasing community programmes funded by the State Government.

The State Government will also undertake a comprehensive survey before establishing Selangor’s Scientific Halal Laboratory, which aims to address the issues of halal certifications for local products.