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I googled my letters published in the MalaysiaKini and found this below long forgotten letter. Giving out free cash to poor people is my suggestion to reduce food subsidies. Seemed BN policy makers have taken note of free money suggestion to come out BR1M. BN may win the election 13 with free BR1M handouts to millions of rakyat. Am I guilty to indirectly support BN?
Human Resources >>>
Kudos to BN government for adhering to the minimum wage policy for foreign workers after intense pressure from the employers to exempt them from the new policy. Let me stress here that the minimum wage should be the basic salary excluding allowances, overtime pay, incentives and other fringe benefits for the employees and contract workers. The minimum wage policy for foreign workers is to force local employers to hire more local workers instead of depending on the seemingly unlimited supply of cheap foreign workers, and go for mechanization and automation for productivity improvement. The employers from local and foreign companies have been exploiting low wages for the past 30 years and the pathetic result is that 80% of Malaysian household income is still at below RM 3000 per month. The net wages growth for the working class does not correspond with the GDP growth over the last 30 years. The Gini Coefficient, a missing yet critical economical indicator in the national budget has been exceeded the 0.40 red line for last few years is a sign of uneven and unjust wealth distribution amongst the Malaysians. The World Bank estimated that 80% of our national wealth is in the hands of 15% Malaysians and the income gap for haves and have-nots is at least 20 times. Bank Negara should publish the Gini Coefficient yearly under the transparency and accountability principle to support economic transformation policy. Local companies should move out their businesses to any country with cheaper labor cost like Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. if they find the labor cost is too prohibitive and uncompetitive for them to stay in Malaysia. It’s high time for Malaysia to focus on high value-added and high technology industries and services to achieve high income nation status and break away from the middle income trap. PR especially the DAP seems too have backtracked on the minimum wage policy by attending demonstrations organized by local employers to protest against the minimum wage for foreign workers. There is also no demand for a RM1,500 minimum wage at the KL112 rally. As seen in The Star, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/1/18/focus/12591898&sec=focus This letter by Ashok Kumar in the Star is another good read, Give workers their due share.
As a Muarian, I welcome the royal call from his Highness Johor Sultan for relocating bus stations and wet market from the riverbank and gazetting old buildings in the Muar city. Nevertheless, in order to reduce Muar river’s pollution, several areas have to be looked into with a holistic approach by Johor and Federal governments. For instances, 1. There are no solid wastes and sewage treatment facilities for industrial estates along the Muar river like Pagoh and Gersik Industrial Parks. 2. Untreated animal wastes from the poultry farms in Muar river upstream like in Kepong are discharged directly into river. 3. There are no sewage treatment facilities for small towns, new villages and Malay kampungs along the river. 4. The organic fertilizers and cultivation methods should be introduced and encouraged with tax incentives to reduce chemical and pesticide discharges from flowing into river. Unpolluted and clean Muar river is not just for the sake of a better living habitat for fauna and flora and tourism development, but it’s a sole source of drinking water for entire Muar District, a big portion of Ledang District and a reserved reservoir for Melaka state. While for old buildings protection, the gazette should include old shophouses, school buildings, clan buildings, religious places and unique landmarks besides the government office buildings. I hope with the Johor royal town’s declaration and the full blessing from the Johor Sultan, local government and residents will take more proactive actions to keep historic Muar city and Muar river in a clean and green environment all the times. As seen in the FreeMalaysiaToday.com, http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/letters/2012/11/27/muar-town-must-be-kept-clean-and-green/
428 Bersih 3.0 >>>
Let me use a quantitative method to explain who is the ultimate loser and winner in Bersih 428 Sit-in rally. For the beginning, PR, BN and Bersih NGOs all are given 100 marks. Problem 1: Sealing Dataran Merdeka itself is anti-democracy and injustice act made by DBKL and BN without any justification. This is a bad example of using law to to suppress rakyat from using their property. > Deduct 50% for BN. Right solution is to let Bersih to use Dataran Merdeka without condition. Problem 2: Police and FRU used excessive force by spreading teargas and chemical-laced water against invading Bersih protesters. No gold mine in the Dataran Merdeka for FRU to shot anyone with teargas and water cannon. > Deduct 20% for BN Right solution is police should just arrest those protesters entering the Dataran, not went amok to spread chemical-laced water and teargas. Problem 3: FRU ran wild to attack other innocent Bersih protesters and bystanders who were not entering Dataran Merdeka. > Deduct 10 % for BN Right solution is to give them stern final warning and 30 minute for them to disperse and go home peacefully. Problem 4: Police was showing low professional in crowd control and maintaining public order. There are many abuses and brutalities against Bersih protesters captured on tape. > Deduct 10% for BN Right solution is to respect reporters and arrest those trouble makers with reasonable forces. Problem 5: Azmin Ali seemed to have given nod to enter Dataran Merdeka against Bersih’s “No Entry” decision after Ambiga announced the rally was over and asked the crowd to disperse. See youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCXvqoMK8Bc > Deduct 30% for PR Right solution is 100% to obey the court order, although PR might be defected in the battlefield but it would win the war. Problem 6: PAS Amal security squad lost control on crowds and allowed agent provocateurs to control a small group of aggressive protesters. > Deduct 20% for PR Right solution is to install a better quality control on its Amal manpower like using hologram name tag and secret password verification. Problem 7: Bersih role was hijacked by PR. > Deduct 20% for Bersih. Right solution is asking PR to sign an open declaration to accept Bersih decision. Problem 8: Bersih rejected Stadium Merdeka offer. > Deduct 10% for Bersih. Right solution is to accept Stadiun Merdeka offer with a condition attached, that is BN government must allow excess crowd to use Dataran Merdeka. The final scorecard is BN 10% [ultimate loser]; PR 50% [major loser]; Bersih 70% [minor loser]These parties appear are losers to some degrees, but BN is the worst loser in the eyes of rakyat and international community. UMNO is accelerating its own peril and demise with this kind of silliness and cruelty against Malaysians. Read it from MalaysiaKini, Winners and Losers in Bersih 3.0.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/10/focus/11075478&sec=focus I refer to this letter, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/9/focus/11071241&sec=focus which disagree on dual ticketing system for local and foreign tourists. Dual ticketing system is a standard practice in many countries in Asia. The system is fair to locals who have to bear for huge development costs for tourism infrastructure through taxation like income tax, sales tax, etc. The amount of tax payable by foreign tourists during their visit is insufficient to cover the overall development cost, therefore higher ticket price for foreign tourists is indirect taxation to reclaim huge cost in infrastructure expenses like a few hundred millions spent on Melaka River beautification project. Dual ticketing system actually is not a discriminatory policy, but it’s a more balanced and fair policy to recover cost from local and foreign tourists. Besides, cheaper tickets for locals encourage more domestic tourism and reduce the outflow of cash to foreign countries.
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Kuala Lumpur
21/05/2013, 5:24 PM
 06 30°Chmid: 65%
sunrise: 7:02
sunset: 19:18
Forecast 21/05/2013
day
18 33°C night
15 23°C |
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