Tag: Latest

Selangor the First State to Approve Swiftlet Licence

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SHAH ALAM, 8 Nov: Selangor became the first state to approve the granting of licence for the farming and operating industry of swiftlet nests through an intensive package offer that is fair to existing farmers and operators, with effect from 1 January 2014.

Executive Councillor for Local Government, Studies and Research, Datuk Teng Chang Khim, said that implementation of the policy was decided by the State Government Council Meeting (MMKN) after holding a dialogue session with associations and operators of the industry on 25 September.

He said that the implementation will be done through the enforcement of Rearing of Swiftlet and Manufacturing of Swiftlets’ Nest By-laws 2013 in all Local Authorities in the state of Selangor.

“In the consideration process, the state government took into account several factors including the interests and problems of operators, in addition to the interest of the public in terms of hygiene, disease control, sound pollution, negative impact on property prices as well and building a comfortable city,” he said in a press statement at his office here today.

At the same time, Teng explained several key points of the implementation of the licencing policy which needs to be observed by swiftlet farmers and operators as decided at the MMKN.

“All breeders and operators on agricultural land will be granted licence starting 1 January, 2014. Breeders and operators of existing business premises will receive licences starting form 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2016, while breeders and operators on paddy fields will be given licences from 1 January 2014 to 1 December 2020.

“For breeders and operators in business premises as well as paddy fields, they will be given incentives which includes licensing fees, free quite rent and assessment for five years at the new site if they move their premises to existing farming sites within the period the licence is granted,” he said.

Chang Kim said that the granting of licence is subject to conditions provided for under the by-laws and all operators and breeders have to submit licence application no lter than 31 December this year.

“Licence application for operation in business premises and paddy fields, whether existing or new, will not be considered after 31 December this year and all applications will be submitted to the relevant local authorities.

“We hope that with the granting of this licence, breeders and operators of the swiftlet nest industry in Selangor will grow in an orderly manner, thus benefiting the economic development of the state,” he said.

Busted Edition: SMS ‘Vote PAS to Enter Heaven, Vote BN to go to Hell’ Came from BN

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SHAH ALAM, 8 Nov: A Short Message System (SMS) text ‘calling’ for voters to vote for PAS in the 13th General Election (GE-13) as a ‘ticket to heaven’ was not actually sent by the PAS election machinery, instead, it was sent by Barisan Nasional (BN).

The message also claimed that choosing UMNO would cause the individual to enter hell, it it was clearly aimed to show that the message was purportedly sent by PAS, thus giving the impression that it is an extremist party.

The BN machinery tactic to gain votes in a dirty manner, despite being read by some of the people, has yet to be proven.

However, such tactics were ultimately proved by the Coordinator of Youth Solidarity Malaysia (SAMM), Badrul Hisham Shaharin, when Muslims in Malaysia were set out to celebrate the new year of the Islamic calendar; 1435 Hijra.

The tactic was uncovered when a member of SAMM in Kedah received two different messages from the same number, 019-5791297, which i believed to have been sent by the BN campaign machinery.

“The first message was received during the GE-13 campaign period and I believe that the forgot or assumed that no one would notice the second message before the recent Ma’al Hijra celebration.

“For mobile phones that are using the Android system, every SMS received will cause the previous message to also be displayed if it is not deleted.

“Indeed, God wanted to show this when the SAMM member did not delete the first message and when they sent the second message, automatically the previous message was displayed. This is known as ‘sepandai-pandai tupai melompat’ (as clever as the squirrel hops, it will one day, eat dirt),” said Badrul Hisham when contacted by Selangor Kini yesterday.

The first message received in May, says, “Think of heaven when voting. Vote PAS to enter heaven, vote Umno to go to hell. PAS is Allah’s party (Hezbollah), Umno is the devil’s party”.

The second message received before the Ma’al Hijra read, “Salaam. Happy Ma’al Hijrah 1435H from Barisan Nasional “United Together in Moving Forward”.

Badrul Hisham said that BN should have thought of a smarter tactic compared to the defamatory text.

“Voters are now smart, many know this tactic but BN likes sending tactics that instigates PAS ulamas. The same method was used to instigate PAS leaders by sending SMS messages in the recent Bukit Limau By-Election,” he said.

Malaysia to Face Lawsuit if TPPA is Signed

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KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Nov: The Malaysian Government will face the risk of lawsuits from giant firms if they insist on implementing the investment dispute settlement (ISDS) by signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah, said that although many believe that the ISDS is important because it has been adopted in many countries, but the mechanism would only benefit foreign investors and cause local investors to fall into the second class.

She said that the government has been urged to create a special fund in case Malaysia is sued by giant companies at a high cost, in addition to advising them to accept the TPPA post-signing risk.

“This is a serious problem if the agreement is signed without knowing the burden to be shouldered by the country and it would affect future generations as well as the Malaysian economy.

“Leaders of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have met with ISDS experts and we think that we cannot accept it without carefully looking at the black and white of every chapter of the TPPA to be signed by Malaysia,” she said in a press conference at Parliament today.

She said that PR has never rejected any trade dealings; however the implementation of the law may entrap many parties and should not be adopted.

She said that the TPPA should be stopped, especially since the United States have been found to be spying on Malaysia by using their embassy and high commission in Kuala Lumpur.

“We must stop this, especially after finding out what is being done by the US to Malaysia, and the government should seek clarification.

“Malaysia should emulate the European Union and stop US banking access after knowing that they were conducting surveillance on the country,” she said.

Residents Representative Committee has Political Aims and to Seize Power from Local Authorities

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KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Nov: The Residents Representative Committee (JPP) which was established by the federal government to support community development programmes is deemed to have political aims and attempts a coup from the state government and local authorities.

Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru, Sim Tze Tzin, said that the function of the JPP which is proposed by the central government is similar to the duties of council members and may be in violation of the Constitution.

He said that the JPP which is concentrated in urban areas will target local authorities in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state and may be aimed at competing with council members appointed by the state government.

“The establishment of the JPP was decided after Barisan Nasional (BN) failed to win the majority vote from the population of urban areas during the 13th General Election.

“We suspect that the federal government wants to centralise power by establishing the JPP as ‘Appointed Council Members of the Federal Government’ which is clearly in contradiction with the Constitution because local authorities are under the jurisdiction of the state government.

“I urge for the local government and state government to take not on this initiative,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

He said that it would be better is the government allows for the implementation of local government elections to be held to give a larger mandate to the administration of local authorities.

He said that the election will be guaranteed to make existing council members more effective in administration and municipality.

“The establishment of the JPP is just a waste of time and provisions because it would limit the power of local authorities, which are actually under the jurisdiction of the state government. The federal government should take heed that the power of local authorities lies under the state government and avoid from breach of power,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a budget allocation of RM63 million to set up 24 JPP zones in every local authority on 2 October.

The JPP will act as a single entity consisting of representatives of the local community to support community development programmes, while addressing urban issues in local authority areas, and the latest initiative is the result of feedback indicating that most of the urban population do not clearly understand government funded programmes during the GE-13.

Cost of Fuel and Maintenance of 7 Executive Jets Reach RM182 million a Year

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KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Nov: The Central Government is allegedly continuing to be wasteful when spending RM182 million a year on the cost of fuel and maintenance of seven executive planes (VVIP) in all official government business.

Member of Parliament for Seremban, Anthony Loke, said that the cost is allocated for 372 international and domestic flights to 339 different destinations for the use of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Deputy Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in 2012.

He said that the average for each flight is estimated to reach RM489,000 a day if the amount is divided with the period of one year.

“Why is it that everytime Najib and Muhyiddin has affairs abroad, they use executive jets that cost so high compared to first class commercial air-crafts which are more economical.

“Government leaders ask the people to be prudent in spending when they themselves fail to set a good example in cutting costs,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

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Anthony also does not rule out the possibility that the planes are used by Barisan Nasional (BN) for the previous election campaign.

It is understood that the executive planes include a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), Global Express (1), Falcon (1), Blackhawk (1), Agusta (2) and Fokker F28 (1) which has been retired and presented to the Royal Malaysian Airforce Museum (RMAF).

Earlier, Anthony revealed Najib and Muhyiddin’s spendthrift attitude when the electricity bills for the Seri Perdana Complex reached over RM2.2 million, while RM300,000 was spent on water in 2012.

For the Sri Satria Complex, RM865,000 was spent on electricity bills while water bills amounted to RM99,264.

Power Distribution Reform

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KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Nov: Malaysia needs to implement a decentralisation of power of a total reform to the distribution of power in efforts to make the government more efficient.

Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru (PKR), Sim Tze Tzin, said that decentralisation process allows for power to be distributed more equally between the federal and state government, as well as the local authorities.

“For example, in the United States, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is collected by the local government and not the federal government.

“This similar in our neighbouring country, Indonesia, which implements the ‘Big Bang Policy’ a decentralisation of the central government to local governments,” he said during the Budget 2014 debate at the Parliamentary session last night.

Tze Tzin said that power that should be under the state government was transferred to the central government, including land and water, since independence.

The centralisation of power has not only caused various problems or left local issues hanging, but it has also increased the national debt.

“Malaysia has 35 ministers and 26 deputy ministers, but Australia, with a population which is about the same, only has 19 ministers, while Obama only needs 15 ministers.

“This centralisation of power has caused the operating budget to be huge and it has jumped up to 82.4 percent, compared to development expenses of a 17.6 percent growth rate,” he said.

More ‘Special Branch’ Members in Najib’s Time Compared to the Era of Emergency

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KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Nov: The number of members in the Special Branch (SB) of the Police is more in Najib’s time compared to the Emergency in the 1950s, said Member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam, Steven Sim.

Steven revealed that in 1954, when a state of emergency was declared, there were only 459 members of the SB, about two percent from the entire police force.

“But in 2012, under the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, there are 8,200 SB members compared to only 5,000 members in 2005 under Tun Abdullah Badawi.

“Does this mean that Malaysia, under Najib, is worse than the era of emergency?” asked Steven during the House of Representative’s session when debating on the Budget 2014.

Steven said that last year, SB completed 380,000 intelligence reports, equivalent to 1,000 reports per day, while the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) only successfully completed 60,000 cases in the same year.

“The number of cases solved by the CID was only 15 percent of the crimes reported.

“Wouldn’t it be better if the SB’s excellence in intelligence, including political intelligence, is used to fight crime,” said Steven.

US Spying on Malaysia, Immediately Stop TPPA Negotiations

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KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Nov: The Federal Government has been urged to halt talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) with the United States and Australia following the surveillance activities conducted on Malaysia.

Member of Parliament for Klang, Charles Santiago, said that the action was necessary to show Malaysia’s dissatisfaction on surveillance as a violation of human rights of the citizens of this country.

“Instead, the government merely sent a protest note which was embarrassing and shows that the Malaysian government is weak.

“Even Najib merely responded that he will wait for response from the US about what is happening in Malaysia,” said Charles.

He said this in a press conference here at the Parliament lobby, which was also participated by the Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru, Sim Tze Tzin.

Last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a memo of protest after news of spying by the two countries on Malaysia was exposed by the media.

Tze Tzin, in a statement, urged for Najib and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, to urge the American and Australian embassies to explain the real situation to the Federal Government.

“We hope that the government will seek an explanation from both the embassies this week and that they will give us an answer in Parliament next week.

“This matter cannot be regarded as petty because it involves national sovereignty,” said Tze Tzin.

The two parliamentarians urged Najib, ad the Prime Minister, to rise up and protest strongly on the spying done.

Healthcare Costs to Increase due to the GST

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KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Nov: The cost of healthcare will increase with the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) despite the Minister of Health issuing a statement that says otherwise.

Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara, Tony Pua, said that the GST will still have an impact on consumers when the hospitals have to pay the GST for all their services and products purchased from suppliers.

“Without the GST, hospitals, for example, pay RM50 to suppliers and resell it to patients at RM55 for a profit of ten percent. With the GST, hospitals would need to pay suppliers an additional of 6 percent, thus making the cost RM53.

“It is impossible for hospitals to maintain the sale cost to consumers with a profit of only 3.8 percent, if it is sold for the same price of RM53,” said Tony Pua.

On Monday, Datuk Seri S.Subramaniam claimed that the implementation of the GST in 2015 will not increase the cost of healthcare because it is exempt from the GST.

“Suppose the hospital wants to maintain the ten percent profit in the previous example. Then the price would be RM58.30 (RM53 + RM5.40), which still causes consumers to pay the GST.

“Looks like BN should stop misleading the public and begin to come clean about the impact of the GST,” he added.

Therefore, he said, Pakatan Rakyat will continue to oppose the implementation of the GST, even more so in the country’s administration which is filled with leakages, corruption and cronyism.

“What’s even worse is that the GST is to be implemented when 80 percent of the people do not have enough income to pay the income tax,” said Tony Pua.

Fishermen Protest Federal Government’s Reduction in Subsidised Diesel

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KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Nov: This morning, about 50 fishermen held a peaceful protest outside the Parliament House to protest against the move by the Central Government to reduce diesel subsidies.

They also urged the government to review the use of the 38 millimetre (mm) hole size of trawl nets.

A representative of the fishermen, Cheah Swee Teck, said that boats in Zone C2, waters up to 30 nautical miles from the mainland, is now charged RM2.00, while for Zone A, B and C, the price has increased from RM1.25 to RM1.45.

“The action to reduce the subsidy burdens fishermen nationwide.

“And the use of 38mm hole trawl nets affect the catch of fishermen, for example, the fishermen in Hilir Perak are affected badly because the 38mm nets are not suitable to catch shrimp in the area,” said Swee Teck.

According to him, attempts to negotiate with the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries, Datuk Ismai Sabri, have been ignored until now.

“So is the proposal for the hole size of trawl nets; the government did not respond.

“So we decided to send a memorandum of protest today to be submitted to Ismail Sabri,” he said.

The peaceful assembly was attended by fishermen from Selangor, Johor, Perak and Pahang, and lasted about 30 minutes.

Also participating in the demonstration was the Member of Parliament for Gelang Patah, Lim Kit Siang, and Member of Parliament for Ipoh Barat, M.Kulasegaran.

Anwar Ibrahim: Democracy in Indonesia is better than in Malaysia

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SHAH ALAM, 6 Nov: Indonesia has a better democracy system than in Malaysia, stressed Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar said that in Indonesia, the right to an opinion and views are more open compared to Malaysia.

“In Malaysia, you cannot speak like this, this is an advantage that does not exist in my country,” said Anwar.

Anwar added that Indonesia has a huge chance of becoming a leader of Muslim nations because it has the advantage of a large Muslim population and a stable democracy to become a strong platform to realise it.

“Indonesia has a great opportunity to lead Muslim countries in the world after Arab faces a crisis, so the expansion of Islam will point to Southeast Asia.

“Indonesia, as a country with the biggest Muslim populated country, with good economic growth, has an opportunity in this regard,” Anwar said at the National Museum in Jakarta on Tuesday.

In a quote from Tribunnews.com, Anwar said that the Indonesian government is still being 50/50 when fighting for the Muslims when the American Government is involved too much in the conflict in Syria and Egypt; the Indonesian Government is not being assertive.

“While the US Government is doing that, Indonesia is not being stern with them, not like Brazil or even Germany, when this is the way to establish attachment to Muslim unity,” Anwar said.

Currently, Indonesia has a population of 250 million people (July 2013 statistics), with 88.2 percent, or 202.9 million people, being Muslims (2009 statistics).

Suhaimi Said Dies

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SHAH ALAM, Nov: The Chairman of the PKR Felda Bureau and Indigenous People, Suhaimi Said, 58, dies at the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital at 6.00pm, Senator Syed Husin Ali’s twitter reports.

Suhaimi was admitted in the hospital since 29 July for a suspected infection in his spine.

Suhaimi, who is also the Kuala Krau PKR Branch Chief, was a fighter of the Felda community since the 1980s, and he was also involved in a bloody tragedy during the Lubuk Merbau by-election in Kedah.

His services to the people, especially the settlers and indigenous people, were tremendous. He was also a tenacious lawyer who helped the people and was feared since the days of Tun Dr Mahathir as Prime Minister.

He was twice detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and was many times arrested and his lectures were surrounded by the police.

The Selangor Kini portal wishes heartfelt condolences to his family..Al-Fatihah.