A Necessary Evil (II)

Many countries have successfully adopted GST as part of their fiscal strategy, including our neighbours Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. And over the years, the scheme has proved to be a good tool to strengthen government finances. Presently, the Government has a narrow revenue base that is dependent mostly on direct taxes on income and contributions from oil-related sources.

As things stand, if you want our salaries to rise, it is also important to remove stupid prohibitive taxes on certain consumption items such as cars. Any hike in salary will only be meaningful if we do not end up having to pay for the prohibitive "taxes" on cars. Technically speaking we are putting money into Proton's and Perodua's coffers - the government should really distribute free Proton and Perodua shares to all car buyers for the past 20 years. But I digress..

Top 10 SPM 2009

Alhamdulillah, Tanjung is still among the top ten:

Gangster Puchong Mengganas Lagi (II)

Susulan berita Gangster Puchong...
Kali ini melibatkan nyawa seorang lelaki dalam perjalanan berhampiran IOI Mall.

Man believed gunned down by hired killers (TheStar Friday March 5, 2010)
PETALING JAYA: A man was gunned down near Puchong last night believed to be by hired killers while he was being driven by his brother-in-law.

It is learnt that the victim’s brother-in-law Chia Kim Kui, 48, from Setapak, was driving past a popular shopping mall near Puchong at 9.30pm when the incident occurred.

Two men on a motorcycle suddenly drew level with the left side of the car before one of them whipped out a gun and fired three shots at the victim, who was in the front passenger seat, before speeding away.

The brother-in-law, who was unhurt, then quickly drove Chia to a nearby private hospital but the victim died before receiving any medical attention.

It is learnt that Chia was shot in the head, neck and chest. Police have not ruled out the possibility of hired killers being involved.

A statement is expected to be recorded from the brother-in-law later.

Selangor deputy police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan confirmed the incident, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

A Necessary Evil

TheStar reports "The e-filing for the 2009 income tax return forms is now open".

As per the quote from Benjamin Franklin: In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
It's the time of the year where we start to compile everything and submit it to the IRB. For individual tax payers, don't miss the deadline: 30th April 2010.

Fakta Atau Auta: Facebook Boleh Bawa Risiko Kanser...

LONDON: Laman web sosial seperti Facebook dan MySpace boleh meningkatkan risiko kesihatan serius dengan mengurangkan tahap hubungan wajah ke wajah, dakwa seorang doktor. Menghantar emel kepada rakan berbanding bersemuka dengan mereka mungkin memberi kesan biologi yang negatif pada kadar tinggi, kata pakar psikologi, Dr Aric Sigman. Peningkatan masalah keterasingan akan mengubahsuai gen cara bekerja dan menjejaskan reaksi imun, paras hormon dan fungsi arteri malah turut memberi kesan kepada persembahan mental.

Ia boleh meningkatkan risiko masalah lebih serius seperti barah, angin ahmar, sakit jantung dan nyanyuk, kata Dr Sigman dalam Biologist, jurnal Institut Biologi. Laman web sosial seperti MySpace dan Facebook membolehkan orang ramai berhubungan dengan rakan menerusi internet. Mereka boleh bertukar-tukar gambar, bermain permainan dan meninggalkan mesej.

Namun, walaupun ia dicipta untuk mendekatkan hubungan, Dr Sigman berkata laman web berkenaan sebenarnya menjadikan pengunjungnya lebih terasing.

Penyelidikan menunjukkan bilangan jam yang diperuntukkan untuk berbual secara bersemuka jatuh mendadak sejak 1987 apabila penggunaan media elektronik meningkat.

“Memang ada perbezaan antara ‘kehadiran sebenar’ dan kepelbagaian maya,” kata Dr Sigman. Sesetengah gen, termasuk yang terbabit dengan sistem imun dan reaksi kepada tekanan, bertindak secara berbeza mengikut sejauh mana seseorang itu berinteraksi secara sosial dengan orang lain. – Agensi

Worker Dead For 5 Days

Moral of the story: Take more time for short break..nobody notices and nobody cares what you're doing..even if you're dying...

Puisi Indah Si Pari-Pari

"Harapnya kisah perpisahan ini tidak akan digembar-gemburkan. Saya tidak mahu kisah ini terus-terusan menjejaskan kerjaya seni saya yang kembali bernyawa, " ujar Natasha Liana Hudson mengenai perpisahannya dengan usahawan dan ahli politik, Datuk Shahrin Zahari.

How not to have your story being broadcast if you're the one meeting the journalist and spreading the words? If you don't want some negatives stories about you being published, don't ever talk to journalist. You know where it will end up...

Related post:
Kembali Janda
Suami Natasha Hudson Raja AP Yang Baru?

Sebelum ini heboh isu Natasha menciplak puisi tulisan orang lain dan memuatkannya dalam buku tulisan beliau (tanpa menyebut nama penulis asal). Cuba perhati dan bandingkan puisi di bawah:

Kek Coklat
oleh Natasha Hudson

Saya mahu satu kehidupan,
Kamu mahu sesuatu yang lain,
Kita tidak dapat makan kek coklat,
Jadi kita makan sesama diri.

Bandingkan dengan puisi tulisan Roger McGough:

Cake
oleh Roger McGough

i wanted one life
you wanted another
we couldn’t have our cake
so we ate each other.

Natasha kata “coincidently similar” (walaupun sajak melayu dia tak make sense dan tak rhyme). Cuba lihat yang ini pula:

Si Kura-Kura Kecil
oleh Natasha Hudson

Ada seekor kura-kura kecil
tinggal di dalam kotak
berenang di tepi tasik
memanjat di atas batu

dia cuba menggigit nyamuk
dia cuba mengigit kutu

dia cuba menggigit berudu
dia cuba menggigit aku

dia berjaya menangkap nyamuk
dia berjaya menangkap kutu

dia berjaya menangkap berudu
tetapi dia tidak berjaya menangkap aku

Bandingkan dengan ini:

I Have a Little Turtle
oleh Nicholas Vachel Lindsay

I have a little turtle,
He lives in a box.
He swims in the water
And he climbs on the rocks.

He snapped at a minnow
He snapped at a flea

He snapped at a mosquito
And he snapped at me.

He caught the minnow,
He caught the flea,

He caught the mosquito,
But he didn’t catch me!

Juga puisi ini:

Mentega kuning, jelly ungu, jem merah, roti hitam
oleh Natasha Hudson

ratakan tebal
katakan cepat

ratakan tebal
katakan cepat

sekarang ulang
sambil kamu makan

sekarang ulang
sambil kamu makan

janganlah bercakap
bila mulut kamu penuh

Bandingkan dengan ini:

Things We Like to Eat
oleh Mary Ann Hoberman

Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Spread it thick,
Say it quick.

Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread
Spread it thicker,
Say it quicker.

Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread
Now repeat it,
While you eat it.

Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread
Donít talk
With your mouth full!

...talking 'bout coincidently similar...

Billions Siphoned?

Someone from MalaysiaKini put this comment:
-They are not leaders but robbers in suits who robbed the rakyat's money and then used the state apparatus to prevent anyone from bringing them to justice. Thieves, in the name of 'Agama, Bangsa and Negara'.

TheStar reported that - The Sarawak Cabinet has ordered an internal investigation into claims made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that up to 60% of government allocations — running into billions of ringgit — meant for vital infrastructure projects between 2002 and 2008 have been misappropriated.

MACC investigations showed that only 40% of the money set aside by the Government were spent on the projects. The remaining 60% were said to have been “leaked elsewhere.”

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said yesterday the state government’s internal audit department would carry out a detailed probe into the allegations.

“The state government is investigating. We also want the MACC to give us a full and detailed briefing on these claims. We (state government) view these claims very seriously and if such abuse of government funds had taken place, we must find out who was responsible and take appropriate action against them.

“This is government money that comes from taxpayers. If indeed funds from the Government meant for projects for the rakyat and the poor had been misappropriated, the state government wants action taken,” he said yesterday.

Guess so many years of BN has brought this kind of problem...

My Father's Murderer

A lady wrote this letter to Starmag, The Star on 28 September 2003.

My Father's Murderer

ON the night of Dec 19, 1948, my father, the headmaster of the Chinese school in Simpang Dua, Sitiawan, Perak, was resting with his pregnant wife, also a Chinese school teacher, and his seven children at home after dinner. Some people came and called my father, so he wore his shirt and stepped out of the house into the dark. According to my mother, a conversation took place followed by the sound of two gunshots.

The shock was too great for a pregnant woman to bear. Four days later, I was born, prematurely and fatherless.

I used to go for Cheng Beng (All Souls Day) to take flowers to my father’s grave every year. Next to his grave is that of my classmate’s father. He was the headman of Simpang Dua at that time and was also gunned down by Chin Peng’s men on the same fateful night.

When I was studying in ACS, Sitiawan, I used to look at Chin Peng’s son, who was my senior in the same school. He could walk out of the class when Mr Moses Tay taught Malayan history about Chin Peng, but I could only sit there and wish that my father was alive. Perhaps if he had not been a headmaster but just an ordinary teacher, he would not have been murdered and my mother wouldn’t have had to suffer so much, bringing up eight young children single-handedly.

In my birth certificate, in the column for "Father", is written: "Ditembak mati" (shot dead). It should be "Ditembak mati oleh Chin Peng, the villain"!

Impossible to Forgive & Forget,
Klang, Selangor

Kualiti Jalan Raya KL...

Apa sudah jadi dengan kualiti jalan raya di Kuala Lumpur? Berkeretalah atau tunggang motosikal di ibu negara dan sekitarnya, anda pasti selalu terlanggar permukaan jalan raya yang tidak rata, berlubang dan bercompang-camping.

Keadaan tersebut sukar disaksikan jika menyusuri jalan-jalan yang biasa digunakan oleh pemimpin negara dan orang kenamaan (VIP) tetapi cukup ketara di laluan yang menjadi tumpuan rakyat. Jalan Genting Kelang dekat Setapak misalnya asyik berlubang dan tidak rata hampir sepanjang tahun. Banyak lagi jalan yang sibuk dengan kenderaan terutama menghubungkan ke taman-taman perumahan, berkualiti rendah. Adakalanya Awang tidak percaya bahawa keadaan jalan-jalan seperti itu terletak di ibu negara yang mahu dijadikan bandar raya bertaraf dunia.

Bagi penunggang motosikal, ia umpama jerangkap samar, yang boleh mengakibatkan mereka terjatuh atau terlibat dengan nahas apabila cuba mengelak lubang, lebih-lebih lagi ketika hujan dan waktu malam. Jika kita berpeluang meninjau keadaan jalan raya di Jakarta dan Bangkok, sukar untuk melihat jalan yang berlubang, tidak rata dan rosak di laluan-laluan yang penting dan sibuk. Itu belum bercakap tentang perbandingan dengan kota Singapura, yang Awang sentiasa cuba elakkan.

Lebih aneh, kerosakan jalan biasanya berlaku setiap kali selepas kerja-kerja pengorekan permukaan jalan oleh kontraktor mewakili pelbagai agensi. Penurapan semula yang dilakukan tidak berkualiti, menjadikan jalan mudah rosak. Sekali lagi yang aneh, ia seperti tidak dipantau oleh PBT dan jika dipantau sekalipun, ia tidak dilakukan dengan tegas. Manakan tidak, banyak laluan di lorong kiri (daripada dua lorong) sentiasa cuba dielak oleh kenderaan kerana selalu menjadi mangsa kualiti turapan buruk para kontraktor, menyebabkan pemandu bertumpu di lorong kanan. Permukaan jalan sebegitu hanya sesuai untuk kenderaan lasak pacuan empat roda. Sepatutnya kontraktor yang gagal menurap jalan dengan kemas dan baik, didenda selain ditamatkan kontrak mereka.

Berdasarkan pengamatan Awang, banyak jalan yang rosak itu terpaksa diturap secara menyeluruh oleh DBKL apabila ia semakin teruk dan berbahaya. Tetapi tidak lama selepas diturap, kerja pengorekan jalan dilakukan maka berulang lagi kerosakan.
Bayangkan berapa banyak wang terpaksa dibelanjakan untuk projek membaik pulih jalan yang rosak di ibu negara? Siapa yang untung untuk projek penurapan berulang kali ini?

Bercakap tentang isu korek jalan dan kualiti jalan di bandar-bandar Lembah Klang, ia memang menyakitkan hati sejak dahulu lagi. Anak-anak remaja pun boleh bertanya kenapa sampai begitu keadaannya? Mengapa PBT kita tidak mahir menurap jalan atau gagal menjaga kualiti turapan kontraktor?

Kita mungkin berbangga dengan kepesatan fizikal Kuala Lumpur termasuk dari segi bangunan pencakar langit tetapi dalam soal pengurusan kualiti jalan rayanya, kita masih ketinggalan.

Aduan mengenai jalan rosak dan berlubang adalah antara yang terbanyak disalurkan oleh warga kota tetapi penyelesaiannya tidak ke mana. Sedangkan antara perkara paling asas untuk menilai imej sesebuah bandar raya ialah kualiti jalan rayanya.
Awang cadangkan seluruh barisan anggota Kabinet menaiki kenderaan secara konvoi mengelilingi Kuala Lumpur dan perhatikan sendiri kualiti jalan di merata pelosok. Mungkin kita asyik mendongak ke atas dan terlupa memberi perhatian kepada yang di bawah. Silakan...
-Awang Selamat, Mingguan Malaysia 22 Nov 2009.

Now MCA Got 2 Deputy..?

So how la MCA?
ROS has confirmed Dr Chua Soi Lek was still legally the MCA deputy president.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Registrar of Societies has re-instated Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek as the MCA deputy president.

Dr Chua said he had received a letter from the Registrar of Societies at 11.30am on Tuesday confirming that he was still legally the MCA deputy president.

The letter was passed to him at Wisma MCA here.

Dr Chua, however, refused to comment on the status of Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who was appointed his replacement.

Meanwhile, four appointed MCA central committee (CC) members were sacked just hours before a key CC meeting on Tuesday.

The four sacked are Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung, national organising secretary Yow Wei How and his deputy Gan Hong Su, and Datuk Chai Kim Sen.

They were among the 16 CC members who had signed a requisition calling for an extraordinary general meeting to decide whether the party should have a fresh elections.

Simon Lim, political secretary to president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, informed them that Ong had terminated their services as CC members at 10.30am on Tuesday.

“All this came as a surprise to us,” said Chor, who noted that Tuesday’s meeting was to discuss an important agenda -- the greater unity plan.

Chor, who was accompanied by the three others at a press conference at Wisma MCA here at 2pm, said the president’s action was a mockery of the greater unity plan he himself had conceived.

He said Ong wanted to get rid of people who did not agree with his views, and reiterated that fresh elections was the best way to resolve the party’s crisis.

Bekas Mufti Pun Kena Dakwa

Something wrong with the arrest...

Why Arrest Dr Asri?

Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary: The New "Sugar King"?

PPB Group Bhd, controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Robert Kuok, stands to lose its dominance of the domestic sugar market under a proposal to sell its entire stake in two sugar units and land used for sugar cane cultivation to Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) for RM1.29 billion.

The proposed sale will see PPB exiting the local sugar industry, which had earned founder Kuok his nickname of "Sugar King".

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, PPB said it will dispose of its entire 36.36 million shares of RM1 each in Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co Bhd (MSM) to Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of Felda.

This sale does not include assets and investment holdings held or previously held by MSM, which are not part of its sugar refining operations.

It is also selling its 50 per cent stake, or six million shares of RM1 each, in Kilang Gula Felda Perlis Sdn Bhd to Felda Global Ventures for RM26.31 million.
Felda Holdings Bhd already holds a 50 per cent stake in the company, which is involved in sugar cane milling and refining of domestic and imported raw sugar.

PPB said it will also sell 5,797ha used for sugar cane cultivation in Chuping, Perlis, to Felda Global Ventures for RM45 million.

The group said the disposal of these three assets will help it realise its investments with a substantial gain.

Meanwhile, its 49 per cent-owned associate Grenfell Holdings Sdn Bhd will sell its stake in plantation group and sugar refiner Tradewinds (M) Bhd for RM207.53 million.

Tradewinds is controlled by businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

Malaysian girls easily duped

If we read the news, Malaysians seem to be easily being conned nowadays, not only the Malaysian girls as per the report from theStar below...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian lasses are an easy lot to charm. They are easily smitten by sweet words and gifts, making them an easy target for drug-trafficking syndicates looking for mules.

This is the view of Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay, who said young Malaysian girls, some fresh graduates, were easily conned by men from the syndicates to travel abroad with a package.

“Some of the girls meet the men abroad and some meet them in Malaysia.

“There have been cases where girls just knew the men for a day and were willing to travel around with a bag, not knowing the contents,” he said at the launch of the Wanita MCA women and children’s aid and public complaints bureau in Kepong yesterday. Also present at the event was Wanita MCA chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.

He said there were currently 1,565 Malaysians jailed abroad and 60% of the cases were drug mules.

“Thailand has the highest number of jailed Malaysians at 52. In Peru, 12 out of the 15 Malaysians jailed are girls,” he said, quoting 2007 statistics.

He added that 25 Malaysians were jailed in Taiwan, 11 in China, 12 in Spain and one in Chile.
“Six in China have been sentenced to death. Since 2007, about 30 Malaysians are in death row,” he said.

Blame It On Boring Sex

According to theStar, Terengganu state government is considering some innovative ways to improve sexual relations among married couple...

KUALA TERENGGANU: Body odour, humdrum sex and boring pyjamas have been blamed for the high divorce rate in Terengganu and the state government is coming up with innovative ways to improve sexual relations, especially among newly-weds.

Top on its list is to invite cosmetic firms to introduce exotic and sensuous fragrances that can arouse sexual desire.

And husbands and wives are being encouraged to bathe together.

State Religious and Information Committee deputy chairman Muhammad Ramli Nuh believes that these moves can curb the divorce rates among young couples.

He told The Star yesterday that at least three in every 10 marriages in the state end in divorce, adding that separation was now the prevalent trend among couples aged between 25 and 30 years.

Muhammad Ramli said couples who had been married for less than five years and were on the verge of separation had told counsellors that routine sex and body odour were the main reasons for them to want to break up.

He said he was bewildered that some of these couples said their spouses’ old-fashioned pyjamas – sarong and t-shirt – and bad smell during intimate moments made their sex life monotonous or turned them off completely.

“I know of one case where a separation was triggered just because the spouse smelled of fish crackers,” he said.

As such, he said the state government – through state Family Development Board – was asking cosmetic firms to introduce special perfumes for the couples so they could “sustain their relationships, hopefully for eternity.”

Muhammad Ramli said married couples should bathe together to make their relationship more exciting.

“I met this elderly couple in Kelantan, they bathe together although they are grandparents; they enjoy a blissful marriage, this is when I mooted the idea where this method could be introduced as part of the pre-marital courses conducted in the state,” he said.

Kenari Terlupa Jalan Pulang

satu senja
para penghuni kota
dikejutkan kehadiran
sekumpulan sang kenari
yang berlegar di ruang angkasa
seakan mencari arah hala

rupanya
sang kenari terlupa jalan pulang
kerana sewaktu pemergiannya
dia berpandu kehijauan alam

kebingungan
sang kenari
melayang rendah
tak jemu mencari arah

sang kenari
terus berlegar-legar
tanpa haluan
alamnya kini dicabul
dan hijau telah pergi

aduhai sang kenari
kau kehilangan arah
di celah-celah konkrit dan besi
juga kenderaan berbagai reka
yang mengeluarkan asap hitam berbunga
untuk segala bentuk bencana

benarkah
sang kenari terlupa jalan pulang
tanya seseorang di ibu kota
atau kita yang menyesatkan
hala laluannya ?

(Mingguan Malaysia 25/07/98)

In the news again...

Didn't notice that theStar has picked up this story about our decade-old problem..

"RESIDENTS of Taman Kinrara Section 2 Apartment in Kinrara, Puchong, are grateful that their woes have been resolved after a decade of having to put up with poor drainage. Residents association chairman Rohaizan Khamis said residents from the 200 apartments have had to endure the stench from the drain’s stagnant water, as well as occasional health problems like dengue, since 1999."

Sinar Harian has also put up the story in their paper:

"PUCHONG – Masalah bau busuk yang menghantui kira-kira 1,500 penduduk di Pangsapuri Taman Kinrara Seksyen 2, di sini sejak 10 tahun lalu bakal berakhir apabila parit monsun yang dikatakan menjadi punca bau terbabit bakal ditutup dengan lapisan besi khas.

Ahi Dewan negeri (ADUN) Kinrara, Teresa Kok Suh Sim, ketika mengadakan tinjauan melihat kerja pemasangan penutup di parit berkenaan berkata, beliau sudah beberapa kali menerima aduan penduduk.

Menurutnya, melalui peruntukan RM1 juta yang diberi Kerajaan Negeri bagi membaiki prasarana di DUN Kinrara, sejumlah wang berkenaan digunakan bagi tujuan itu."


Read the full story here: Solution to Taman Kinrara’s drainage woes.
Excerpt from YB Teresa posting is here: Sinar Harian, “Derita 10 tahun penduduk berakhir”, 13 September 2009.
My related previous post is here: When it rains.

This was what the drain looked like (pix taken when it was raining):


This is now, the drain is covered:

Let's see how long this RM160K solution will last...

McDonald vs McCurry

US fast food giant McDonald’s lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent local restaurant
McCurry from using the ‘Mc’ prefix in a precedent-setting judgment by Malaysia’s highest court.

The Federal Court ruled Tuesday that McDonald’s cannot appeal against another court’s verdict that had allowed McCurry to use ‘Mc’ in its name. The owner says McCurry, which serves Indian food, is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.

The ruling by a three-member panel of the Federal Court ends all legal avenues for McDonald’s to protect its name from what it said was a trademark infringement.

More related news:
McDonald’s loses court battle against McCurry
McDonald’s vs McCurry: McD to rephrase questions
The ‘c’ is back in McCurry Restaurant
McDonald’s loses court battle against McCurry

Spidey is back in Malaysia

L'Homme Araignée était de nouveau en Malaisie.
Alain Robert, un français, était arrêté hier apres avoir montée le 88 étages la tour Petronas à Kuala Lumpur.

Extrait du "theStar online":
KUALA LUMPUR: French climber Alain Robert, also known as “Spiderman,” was arrested Tuesday after successfully scaling the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, city police confirmed.
Deputy police chief SAC I Abdul Samah Ahmad said the Frenchman was arrested for criminal tresspass. It was Robert’s third attempt to scale the 88-storey structure, at one time the world’s tallest building.

Alain Robert en 1997

Keretakan di LDP Puchong Jaya Interchange

Ada laporan memberitahu banyak keretakan ditemui pada structure Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong, Puchong Jaya interchange (Exit 1114). Sesiapa yang lalu bahagian bawah jambatan mungkin boleh nampak keretakan yang dimaksudkan.

...nampak gaya satu lagi isu akan muncul..