Tag: National News

SHAH ALAM, 12 Nov: The Central Government has been suggested to implement the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to replace the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will be implemented on 1 April 2015, because it is able to provide revenue for the government and not burden consumers.

The Communications Director for the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA), Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said that however, the implementation of the CGT requires more in-depth studies and analysis by economists.

He said that the study is important to ensure that the decision made will not burden the people, who are becoming increasingly pressed with the cost and burden of living which is increasing every year.

“If it is found that the CGT is better, then implementation should be considered to replace the existing tax system.

“We understand that the government needs a source of income to develop the country.However, we want to implement it in a way that does not to burden the people,” said Yusof, when contacted Selangor now.

The CGT would mean that tax is imposed on profits from the sale of assets such as shares, bonds, property, gold and so on.

Currently, the government is only imposing the CGT on profits from the sale of property which is also called the Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT).

He was commenting on the proposal by Economic Analyst, Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin, for the Central Government to implement the CGT to reduce the burden of poor people from being further squeezed by the GST.

Commenting on the implementation of the GST, Yusof suggested for the Central Government to reconsider the six percent to be imposed so as to not dramatically affect consumers.

“I think that the GST, as a new thing in Malaysia, should be introduced at a lower rate; which is about three or four percent, as practiced by our neighbouring country, Singapore.

“This is important so that the people or consumers are not dramatically affected by the implementation of the six percent tax,” Yusof said.

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Nov: Activist Maria Chin Abdullah was appointed as the new Chairperson for the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) after winning uncontested in the first election of the coalition which will be held on 30 November.

Maria Chin received support from 13 NGOs after the nomination period, which ended on 8 November.

A straight fight for the position of Vice-Chairman of Bersih 2.0 will witness a clash between Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa and Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh.

Meanwhile, there is a one-on-one match for the position of treasurer, between Masjaliza Hamzah and Nahar Md Nor.

Five candidates will be vying for the two seats as committee members; K.Arumugam, Ng Chak Ngoon. Farhana Halim, Hishamuddin Rais and New Sin Yew.

A total of six committee members will be later appointed for the state level, adding to the five-member team at the national level.

They will all campaign until midnight on 29 November and the election will be held at the Petaling Jaya Library on 30 November.

The election this time involves postal voting for NGOs in Sabah and Sarawak. Ballot paper will be sent starting today, and they would have to return it to the Secretariat before 30 November.

A total of 90 organisations in Bersih 2.0 will have one vote each in the election this 30th November.

Member of the Bersih 2.0 Election Committee,Stanley Yong, said that the formal announcement on the steering committee will only be made on 30 November, even though there is no competition for the position of Chairperson.

He added that it is up to the new leadership of Bersih 2.0 to decide the status of Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk A Samad Said, who previously led Bersih 2.0.

SHAH ALAM, 12 Nov: The Metered Taxi Drivers Task Force (BBPTB) has asked for the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) Chairman, Tan Sri Hamidi Albar, to stop agendas that inconvenience taxi drivers in the country.

The BBPTB Chairman, Amran Jan, said that taxis under the 1Malaysia Taxi (TEKS1M), which began operating last month, has invited a variety of questions in terms of its appearance.

He said that taxis under this programme are not like normal Budget Taxis where the permit holder’s name is displayed in the vehicle.

“Do not continue making the taxi service industry an ‘slaughterhouse’ of taxi drivers. BBPTB has been informed that the TEKS1M taxi permits actually belong to the SPAD,” said Amran.

He said that selected taxi drivers need to apply for a bank loan, supported by the SPAD, and the hire purchase for an Exora Bold is about RM800 per month for seven years.

“Drivers have to reapply for the new TEKS1M permit, and certainly for new vehicles as well.

“There is no certainty whether the Exora Bold, once the payment period is over, will become the property of the driver or the SPAD,” Amran said in a statement.

Amran said that many drivers have been offered the TEKS1M permits, which is the latest form of ‘modern slavery’, and have decided to return the TEKS1M permit offer by the SPAD.

Feedback from a number of vehicle salespeople have also advised taxi drivers to be careful with the Exora Bold because it has a high maintenance cost.

He said that drivers cannot afford to ‘preserve’ this vehicle in the long-term even though its monthly payments are cheap.

This scenario shows that taxi drivers who dream of their own permit are ‘trapped’ and ‘used’ by the SPAD to meet the repayment of vehicles, in addition to increasing the sales of the Proton produced car.

“BBPTB is worried that all the hard work and good faith will be hindered if the SPAD Chairman uses this commission for the success of partisan political success, as well as personal interests,” Amran said.

SHAH ALAM, 12 Nov: The increase in charges imposed by ASTRO is not warranted since the services offered do not correspond with the price paid by the customers.

The PKR Consumerism Bureau Chairman, Yahya Sahri, said that the company also needs to upgrade services offered to customers before charges are increased.

He said repeated broadcast and service interruptions during rain should also be improved because the price charged does not commensurate with what is offered by ASTRO.

“We consider the action as unwarranted because it directly oppresses users. Many customers complain of not receiving quality services which matches the charges,” he said when contacted by Selangor Kini today.

Yahya said that the central government should also end ASTRO’s monopoly and approve paid television service licences for other companies.

He said that the implementation will create healthy competition among service providers, like what is happening between communication service providers, to enable users to make a choice.

“ASTRO has already hugely profited and monopolised the market. So it is unwarranted for the service charges to be increased,” he said.

In relation to this, he urged the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to take decisive action to prevent the increase in charges, and users are also asked to not subscribe to ASTRO as a sign of protest against the company.

Prior to this, ASTRO informed that they will be imposing an additional charge of RM2 for the family package and RM6 for the sports package, starting from 24 November.

SHAH ALAM, 12 Nov: Nurul Izzah Anwar questioned the BN government’s actions of placing 30 members of the Special Branch in London, England.

The Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai said that the cost of placing the contingent in London is funded by public funds, and as far as she knows, there does not seem to be any credible threat to Malaysia’s internal security coming from England.

“Would it not be better if they patrol our Malaysian neighbourhoods?” Nurul Izzah said.

She said this when speaking at a forum on the goods and services tax (GST) in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, last night,

The Special Branch’s London contingent, she added, was revealed in various government documents such as the 10th Malaysia Plan and the annual Budget, and from the Home Ministry’s replies in the Dewan Rakyat.

She said that placing 30 officers in London was yet another example of how the Home Ministry did not properly allocate policing resources to combat crime.

This is because, she said, the main task of officers placed in the Special Branch is to spy on Pakatan Rakyat (PR) politicians.

“In 1954, to battle the Communists, we had 459 Special Branch officers. Now we have 8,200. So we have more special branch officers now compared to the time when we were battling Communists?”

“The number of special branch members has also increased since Najib became Prime Minister. In 2008, we had 5,000 special branch members. The figure has increased by 3,000 during Najib’s administration,” said Nurul Izzah.

She said that the crime solving rate could be boosted if special branch officers are redeployed to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Nurul Izzah said last year that the Special Branch churned out 830,000 surveillance reports mostly on Pakatan politicians. By contrast, the CID solved 60,000 criminal cases.

“Could not these Special Branch officers be redeployed to the CID so that we could boost our crime solving rate?” said Nurul Izzah.

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 Nov: The federal government is allegedly desperate to save Utusan Malaysia, which is reportedly experiencing a decline in sales, when they ordered several government-linked companies (GLCs) to buy more ad space in the newspaper.

Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru, Sim Tze Tzin, said that the move was also in line with the ‘call’ by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to ask more GSCs to advertise their products in the Barisan Nasional (BN) owned newspaper.

He said that Utusan Malaysia is also facing financial problems and is seen as become more vulnerable after the newspaper received a lot of lawsuits from various quarters, including politicians, on their news reports.

“Utusan Malaysia has suffered a lot of losses when they were forced to pay hundreds of thousands of ringgit in damages and is also facing other cases in court for previous publications of their articles.

“All of these things affect the financial position of Utusan Malaysia, thus clearly demonstrating the central government’s directive to GLCs to buy ads is to save the newspaper,” he said in a press conference here at the Parliament lobby today.

He said that the Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, is also considered to be confused with his role as deputy minister and Umno information chief when he urged the GLCs to buy more ads in the newspaper.

He said that Ahmad should place the interests of all Malaysians when performing his duty, and to not just protect the interests of Umno, which uses the newspaper to spread their propaganda.

“GLCs also need to be more independent and careful, as well as professional, before investing on an ad, whether in Utusan or other newspapers. They should not bow to political pressure to do something that is contrary to the principles of business because the GLC mandate is to protect national interests, not the interests of Umno,” he said.

Previously, Ahmad reportedly wrote to the highest leader of GLCs to spend their advertising budget in the Malay-language newspapers owned by Umno; Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian.

He said that the 3.7 percent expenditure from 35 major GLCs for their advertising budget in Malaysia is too little compared to “Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian’s struggle for the country”, however MCA criticised the directive.

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 Nov: Malaysians are still faced with an increase in electricity tariffs as soon as the goods and services tax (GST) is implemented by the Federal Government, effective 1 April 2015.

Member of Parliament for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching, said that although the Federal Government informed that the GST will not be imposed on the first 200 kWh, equivalent to RM43.60 per month, consumers cannot avoid from paying tax if electricity consumption surpasses the amount.

She said that the implementation of the GST will also affect some other sectors such as health (clinics and hospitals), business and commercial industries, and schools.

“The increase in electricity tariffs will also be felt by other sectors such as hospitals and clinics. How can they accommodate the increase in electricity tariffs, including the tax payment of six percent imposed by the Federal Government.

“The government should review this policy because it affects many parties. If what is said is true, it proves that Barisan Nasional (BN) is no more than the slogan “Prices Up”,” she said in a press conference here at the Parliament lobby today.

She said that the increase in electricity tariffs is expected to be a reality when the Federal Government reduces subsidies for natural gas following the volatility of the world market price.

After the 13th General Election (GE-13), the BN government started pressing the people with the price increase of the RON95 petrol and sugar, by RM0.34 cents, with effect as of 26 October.

SHAH ALAM, 11 Nov: The former Deputy Governor-General, Dr Rosli Yaakob, described the statement that rich people will be paying more goods and services tax (GST) by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, is misleading.

He said that poor people pay higher tax compared to the rich because the calculations are based on percentage of income.

Rosli said, for example, that a poor person with an income of RM1,000 per month would spend RM160, a tax of 16 percent. Whereas, a rich person who spends at the same rate with RM10,000, will only pay 1.6 percent of tax.

“Of the total amount, we do not deny the truth of his statement. However, the statement is very misleading if we take into account the percentage; the portion of income paid by the rich is far smaller from their total income.

“We can see that the portion of a poor person’s income used to pay the GST is higher, compared to their income,” he told Selangor Kini today.

He said that the way to measure the tax burden is through the percentage of tax paid compared to the income receive, thus making the GST heavier for the poor.

Citing a report from the Malaysiakini news portal, Penang Institute is of the opinion that Idris Jala’s argument that the rich will pay more GST does not match the standard measure of international taxation.

A fellow of Penang Institute, Lim Kim Hwa, said that it is the international practice to measure the impact of taxes on income groups is by looking at paid tax as part of the income and not the absolute tax paid, and this method is also used by the US tax administration, the IRS.

SHAH ALAM, 11 Nov: The PKR Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli, will continue to investigate the fraud scandal involving RM250 million of funds from the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) project which is linked to the Umno Wanita Chied, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil.

Rafizi, through his twitter updates, stressed that he will continue to seek out those who should be responsible in the NFC case, even though Shahrizat has withdrawn the suit against him and the PKR Wanita Chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin.

He said that it is likely that the withdrawal was done by Shahrizat because more exposure on the NFC scandal will come up in court.

“I will continue to investigate and seek accountability for the NFC issue even after the suit has been dropped,” he said.

Rafizi said this following the cancellation of the RM100 million lawsuit filed by Shahrizat Jalil against him and the PKR Wanita Chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Shahrizat withdrew the suit before the High Court Judge, Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, this morning.

In the suit, which was filed on 19 January 2012, Shahrizat claimed that Rafizi and Zuraida issued defamatory statements in their exposure on the NFC project.

Rafizi and Zuraida then filed a counter suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court against the former Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in relation to a speech which was alleged defamatory, issued by her on 9 March.

Previously, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) suggested that the government project, which was awarded through direct negotiations and involved soft loans, should be examined by the cabinet, especially if it involves “family and allies”.

The MACC said that the move would avoid problems like what happened in the NFC scandal from occurring again.

SHAH ALAM, 11 Nov: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should be given the power to prosecute in order to balance actions or decisions by the Attorney-General’s Office, which appears to have lost its credibility.

PKR Deputy President, Azmin Ali, said that the Attorney-General’s (AG) failure in handling big cases such as the murder of a Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu, and the fraud case involving the former Transport Minister, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, requires for a check-and-balance body.

He said that the MACC will take over prosecution to ensure that cases are strong and solid enough to be submitted to court when the Attorney-General’s Department fails to do so.

“Unlike now, when within the system, a person can determine whether a case should be brought before a court or not and whether an appeal should be made or otherwise. Therefore, we need the MACC for the purpose of check-and-balance,” he said when met here recently.

He said this when asked to comment on the statement issued by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM), Datuk Razali Ibrahim, that the government will not give the MACC power to prosecute because it can lead to abuse of power.

Azmin, who is also the Member of Parliament for Gombak, said that the statement is baseless and irresponsible. He also stressed that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will continue to urge for the MACC to be given the power to prosecute in efforts to uphold justice in Malaysia.

“The list of the Attorney-General’s failures clearly shows that the agency can no longer be relied on to produce strong prosecution in court.

“The government should seriously look into this proposal, which is to give the MACC power to prosecute, if Barisan Nasional and Umno are truly sincere in upholding the rule of law,” he said.

SHAH ALAM, 11 Nov: Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s RM100 million lawsuit against the PKR Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli, and PKR Wanita Chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin, was withdrawn after both parties agreed to withdraw the suits filed.

In the lawsuit filed on 19 January by the Umno Wanita Chief, she claimed that Zuraida and Rafizi issued defamatory statements against the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) project.

According to a report by The Malaysian Insider, the withdrawal was done before the High COurt Judge, Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

SHAH ALAM, 10 Nov: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has urged the Federal Government to take action against the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, following allegations from former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that there are two agents of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Attorney-General’s Office.

The Opposition Leader said that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, must immediately investigate the allegation since there have been many negative allegations against Gani Patail.

“The allegation by Dr Mahathir, that the Attorney-General’s Office has two CIA agents, is shocking and requires immediate action from the Prime Minister and also the Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi,” Anwar said in a statement.

“Gani Patail should provide an explanation regarding all these allegations, including those linking him with illegal and conspiracy activities allegedly involving his office,” Anwar said.

Gani Patail, 58, joined the Attorney-General’s office in 1980 and was appointed the Attorney-General in 2002.

He received great criticism from various parties regarding the government’s failure for cases under his purview, including the murder case of a Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu, and the fraud case involving the former Transport Minister, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik.