PENANG called Umno’s bluff over gambling money

PENANG called Umno’s bluff over gambling money
UPDATED @ 04:00:40 PM 03-10-2010
By Debra Chong
October 03, 2010

PETALING JAYA, Oct 3 — The DAP dared Umno lawmakers today to return their salaries to federal coffers to prove they were principled Muslims against being funded by gambling money, which is forbidden in Islam.

The dare came after Bayan Baru Umno chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Saibu’s stunt yesterday, which saw 50 teary-eyed elderly folk each hand over their RM100 compassionate allowance received from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government after being told the money was “non-halal”.

“All Umno elected representatives should immediately return all their parliamentary and state assembly allowances to the government as the revenue source is even more dubious than in Penang,” its national publicity chief Tony Pua said in a statement today.

“These Umno leaders should not only return their allowances back to the Government, they should also demand that for future infrastructure projects such as highways built by the Federal Government, there should be lanes designated for Muslims and non-Muslims based on the proportionate breakdown of source of revenue used to build the roads,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said.

He slammed the grand old party for “lying through their teeth to gain political mileage” in persistently claiming the Penang state government’s welfare aid to senior citizens was funded by revenue from gambling.

He pointed out that Lim Guan Eng’s state government had clearly denied the welfare fund for Muslims was sourced from gambling money.

He stressed that Umno leaders’ attempt to distinguish halal and non-halal income for Penang was hypocritical and ridiculous, especially when Putrajaya controlled licensing for gambling activities.

Pua also highlighted the Finance Ministry’s written reply to his DAP colleague in Parliament on June 9 this year, which stated that taxes were channeled indiscriminately into a Consolidated Fund, which would then be distributed for government spending, which includes the salaries and allowances for ministers and legislators.

“Penang state opposition leader, Datuk Azahar obviously could not tell the difference when he claimed that ‘Umno assemblymen need not return their allowances as the state government’s income was from tax revenue’,” the DAP lawmaker said.

Pua accused Umno of playing the religious card to create fear among Muslims and split the races in order to remain in power and urged the public to reject the “ridiculous thoughts by Umno leaders”.

The Penang government has refuted allegations that it was using gambling revenue to fund compassionate payments to senior citizens.

State Religious Affairs committee chairman Abdul Malik Abul Kassim claimed last month that the allegation, made in a blog and by Umno Youth, was “imaginary”, not based on facts and made with bad intentions.

The funds, he said, were a direct result of the state administration’s frugality and adherence to the principals of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT), which allowed the state to set aside RM20 million for the welfare programme.

“From that allocation, we have spent as much as RM10.7 million and we still have an additional amount of RM9.3 million to continue with the programme for the senior citizens in the state.

“It has been explained clearly that the compassionate monies were not from gambling sources. They came from revenue made from our collection of assessments and other means — not from gambling.

“The state government also does not have the power to approve gambling licences. Only the federal government has the power to do so,” he said.

Umno Youth had urged the Penang government to clarify a blogger’s accusation that it had been using funds from gambling sources to make compassionate payments to senior citizens.

Its information chief Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican asked Lim to explain the claim made in the blog Pisau.net, which alleged that the annual payments of RM100 to senior citizens and RM1,000 to their beneficiaries were being funded through gaming revenue.

Reezal also claimed the rumours had caused discomfort among some of the recipients of the money, especially those who were Muslims.

Usul utk menguatkan proses pemilihan parti PKR

Adalah di sarankan bahawa perlembagaaan parti di gubal supaya hanya ahli yang hadir mesyuarat ranting (lebih dari 4 kali?) layak membuang undi.

Dari pemantauan kami, ramai yang datang membuang undi tidak menghadiri mesyuarat Agong yang sedang berjalan,bahkan ramai yang tidak pernah hadir satu mesyuaratpun.Bagaimana mereka hendak memilih pemimpin yang berkualiti sekirnya mereka tidak tahu mengenai aktiviti parti atau kaliber peminpinnya?

Kelemahan ini boleh di salah gunakan untuk mengambil kuasa tanpa membuat sebarang kerja atau sumbangan untuk parti.

Pada pendapat saya,proses yang dicadangkan boleh membantu parti untuk membina pimpinan yang lebih berkualiti dan memantapkan pimpinan disemua peringkat.Selain dari kelayakan,proses yang disarankan adalah saperti berikut:

1.Setiap ahli yang datang untuk mesyuarat Agong perlu mengdaftar sebelum dibenarkan masuk kedalam dewan untuk mengikuti perjalanan mesyuarat.

2.Setiap calun dibenarkan 5 minit untuk berucap dalam mesyuarat untuk memperkenalkan diri dan agenda perjuangan masing masing.

3.Kertas undi dikeluarkan apabila mesyuarat tersebut selesai dan pengundian dijalankan selepas ini.

Wain: Dr M caused country’s woes

PETALING JAYA, May 21 — The author of a hot-selling political biography on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said many issues hampering Malaysia had come from the ex-prime minister’s tenure.

Former Asian Wall Street Journal editor, Barry Wain, whose book “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in turbulent times”, sold 4,000 copies in just two weeks added that he does not see any broad changes being brought about by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“I argue that a lot of problems in Malaysia stem from Dr Mahathir’s rule,” said Wain in an interview yesterday, during a reception to celebrate the launch of the book. “Issues like corruption did stem from when he was in power. Lack of leadership, abuse of the NEP (New Economic Policy), problems that exist today.”
Wain, who was a Malaysia correspondent from 1977 to 1979 and has been
in Asia for 38 years, said it was “quite obvious” that Malaysia has fallen behind other countries because of abuse of the controversial race-based NEP and that he was still waiting to see substantial reforms.

Note: As of 2010-Oct-02,there is no news that Tun Mahatir is taking legal action again Wain.This silence says a lot.

Say "NO" to GST

The Rakyat should send a clear signal to Putrajaya that they are against the imposition of the GST (Goods and Services Tax-currently due for the 2nd reading in Parliment) as it will burden the poor,disabled and the elderly.

Some compelling arguments against the imposition of the GST:

• GST is more suited in a high-income economy.Malaysia is still a low income economy-85% of its income earners do not qualify to pay income tax .Singapore(a high-income economy) has implemented GST but workers there earns 15 times more than their counterpart here.
• Under the GST,everyone have to pay 4% for every item or services that they purchased regardless whether they are poor,jobless or retired.
• Wages are low against rising costs.Only 11% of the workforce are in a position to negotiate better wages through their union affiliation.The rest are not represented and are subject to supply and demand situation. Govt has introduced the COLA for public sector to alleviate the problems of the rising costs but have largely ignored the private sector.Without a minimum wage policy or govt intervention,real incomes are shrinking in face of rising costs.GST makes it worse.
• Impact of GST to a worker who earns RM 1000 is very much more significant than to a Manager who earns RM10,000.A lower paid person would end up pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes compared to a higher paid person.In effect, the poor are taxed more.In a progressive taxation method, a higher paid person would have to pay more tax.
• Reform of the government sectors can be a source of income rather than implementing GST which will only transfer the cost to the people. The Finance Ministry claimed that GST will increase the country's income to up to RM1 billion.On the other hand, the govt.'s income can also increase by RM2.4 billion if it decided to sell Approved Permits through open tenders.

GST implementation is a bread and butter issue for all Malaysians and should be seriously debated.No one can afford to be a fence sitter.

PERAK BY-ELECTION SOON?

The word out is that by-elections in Perak maybe held after the CNY holidays.

It seems that the Federal Court delay in delivering the judgment, on Nizar’s position as the lawful MB of Perak, is to allow UMNO /BN to strengthen their position in Perak. With UMNO/BN confident that the Malays have run back into its arm, it is said that judgment will be handed out in favor of Nizar.

As a “gentlemanly gesture”, Zamry maybe calling for dissolution of Perak DUN before the judgment is delivered.

It is said that the current hype on ketuanan Melayu and Kalimah Allah is very much designed to prepare the ground for the eventual by-elections in Perak. If true, they are using the same old trick-the fear factor (race and religion in this case). Desperate times call for desperate measures?

As if only UMNO can protect the rights of the Malays and Muslims? Let’s not forget that there was life before UMNO and there will be life after UMNO.

I hope that the people of Perak are smart enough not to fall for the same old trick…

KALIMAH ALLAH

There are many views on this hot issue. The reality is that the Arabs have been using Allah to describe the One God, the Supreme Being. This is true for both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians.In East Malaysia, they have been using this even before Merdeka.

But Allah is the ONE God for all mankind. Not one of many Gods. So, if we use Allah to describe the One God, then it is perfectly OK. So in this context, people of the Scriptures who believe in ONE God, are united in that they believe in one God.

In Malaysia, there is another name for GOD and that is Tuhan. In my view, those who believe in more than one God should refer to God as Tuhan and not Allah. Because ALLAH is ONE GOD FOR ALL MANKIND. Unless of course, they believe in One God for all mankind and in which case, they are partly a Muslim already....( two basic beliefs -belief in One God and belief that Mohammad is a prophet of God).

The above is my personal view and I stand to be corrected.

SEE MALAYSIAKINI REPORT BELOW ON HERALD MSIA (a Catholic Church publication):

Malaysiakini:What exactly did the High Court declare?

Let's be reminded that the Herald's application for a judicial review was only limited to have the home minister's prohibition on the use of the word 'Allah' in its Bahasa Malaysia section declared ultra vires.

Putting it in another way, the reason for the judicial review was to enable the word 'Allah' to be used in Herald's Bahasa Malaysia section for the benefit of East Malaysians.

Also too for other Bahasa-speaking Catholics who have since time immemorial used the term 'Allah' in their texts and prayers and is therefore their right to continue to do so under the constitution.

As such, the High Court's decision has wrongly been expanded by various sections of the public until it now appears that the Catholic Church has succeeded in getting the court to declare that the word 'Allah' can now be used by all and sundry for any old reason.

This was not the intention of the Justice Lau Bee Lan, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, Father Lawrence Andrew or any other Catholic for that matter.

USA HOLIDAY

My family and I visited USA during the Xmas holidays. It’s my fourth visit and each time I came back, I acknowledge America’s position as the No. 1 Country in the world. Why do I say this? Firstly, they have a system and the system works for them. In most places, we work for the system.Secondly, they encourage diversity (backgrounds, beliefs and views).

This is clearly demonstrated in their education system. During my visit, I spoke to some 7-10 year old Malay children who only moved to a US school some 6 months ago.( Parents from Kg background) . They spoke good English and have so much knowledge. They can even talk about US politics with me, wow! In Malaysia, only kids from well to do families would have that kind of exposure. And the schooling is free!

In terms of beliefs, everything is on the table for all to see. The only downside to me as far as the “everything is cool attitude” is when it comes to religious and sexual orientation. As a Muslim, this is where I draw the line. Otherwise, I can’t fault them.

There is still a lot that we can learn from America.