The MALINDO DEFENCE Daily

Monday, December 30, 2013

Potongan Elaun Menteri dan Timbalan Menteri

PUTRAJAYA: Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak mengumumkan pemotongan elaun keraian menteri dan timbalan menteri sebanyak 10 peratus sebagai antara 11 langkah bagi mengurangkan perbelanjaan sektor awam berkuat kuasa mulai 1 Januari 2014.

Selain elaun keraian menteri dan timbalan menteri, elaun keraian bagi pegawai kanan kerajaan Gred Jawatan Utama Sektor Awam C (JUSA C) juga dipotong antara 5 hingga 10 peratus.

Menurut Najib, langkah-langkah itu adalah selaras dengan hasrat kerajaan untuk mengamalkan perbelanjaan berhemah pada tahun depan.

"Langkah-langkah penjimatan yang lain untuk sektor awam akan diperkenalkan dari semasa ke semasa berdasarkan kepada keperluan dan keadaan semasa," katanya dalam satu kenyataan yang dikeluarkan lewat petang ini.

Jelas Perdana Menteri, keputusan itu dibuat setelah berunding dengan Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Ketua Setiausaha Negara Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.

Langkah-langkah lain yang diumumkan oleh Perdana Menteri ialah:
Pengurangan sebanyak 5 peratus kos utiliti elektrik di semua kementerian, jabatan, agensi dan premis kerajaan;
Kemudahan bayaran tol bagi pegawai kanan kerajaan (Gred JUSA C ke atas) dikurangkan sebanyak RM50-100 atau 30 peratus; dan
Permohonan baru bagi pengubahsuaian ruang pejabat kementerian, jabatan, agensi dan premis kerajaan dibekukan.

Najib juga mengumumkan langkah mengetatkan pelantikan juru perunding atau consultant untuk projek-projek fizikal kerajaan termasuk dalam menjalankan feasibility study.

Lantikan berkenaan hanya boleh dibuat dengan mengemukakan cadangan pelantikan kepada Jawatankuasa Perancang Pembangunan Negara yang dipengerusikan oleh KSN untuk kelulusan.

Najib juga mengumumkan pengurangan penggunaan syarikat pengurusan acara serta pemberian saguhati dan cenderamata untuk penganjuran persidangan atau majlis kerajaan yang membabitkan anggota pentadbiran dan penjawat awam.

Satu lagi langkah penjimatan perbelanjaan kerajaan yang diumumkan ialah meminda kelayakan tiket penerbangan domestik dan antarabangsa bagi penjawat awam misalnya, penerbangan sektor awam bagi penjawat awam Gred JUSA C ke bawah ialah kelas ekonomi.

Najib juga mengumumkan pengurangan penyediaan makanan dan minuman semasa penganjuran persidangan, seminar, mesyuarat, kursus, bengkel atau sebarang acara rasmi kerajaan.

Tiga lagi langkah yang diumumkan ialah:
Mengurangkan penggunaan kain pemidang (bunting dan banner) bagi penganjuran persidangan, seminar, mesyuarat, kursus, bengkel atau sebaang acara rasmi kerajaan;
Mengoptimakan penggunaan ruang pejabat sedia ada untuk mengurangkan sewaan premis pejabat; dan
Mengaplikasikan pendekatan Strategi Lautan Biru Kebangsaan dengan mengoptimakan penggunaan Pusat Latihan 1Malaysia (1MTC) dan juga kemudahan di institusi-institusi latihan milik kerajaan bagi penganjuran kursus, seminar dan bengkel.


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Rosmah's Son, The Successful Hollywood Film Producer

As a Malaysian, im very proud to say a Malaysian became a multi-millions dollar Hollywood Movie Producers that hires Martin Scorcece to Direct his movie and got Leonardo DiCarprio to star in it. He is none other the son of DS Rosmah Mansur, the wife of the current Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Congrats to you Riza Aziz ! Keep up the good work and make Malaysia Proud !




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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Cost of Goverment by Dr Mahathir Mohamed

1. Governments need money. It cannot function without money. It has to pay the people who work for it. It has to provide services and infrastructures. And now it has to provide more and more social amenities such as education, medical care etc. And of course it must defend the country and maintain law and order.

2. The funds are mostly raised through taxes on the activities of the people, on incomes, on profits, on the services provided by the government such as transportations, sewerage, water and power, ports and airports, approval processes and oversights etc.

3. Although there are many countries where people avoid paying taxes and rates, the people of Malaysia generally pay their taxes and other charges for services rendered by the Government. But as the cost of Government increase over time, the taxes and rates will need to be increased. Naturally tax and rate-payers do not like to pay more taxes and other charges. But they admit to a need for higher tax rates if for nothing else the rise in the cost of living when the wages and salaries of government servants need to be raised as well as the higher cost of Government procurements.

4. But the tax payers cannot suddenly come up with the money to pay the new taxes and charges. Lately Malaysian individuals and businesses have to come up with more money because of the many increases in cost due to Government policy decisions. Firstly the increase in minimum wage to RM900/-. This increase cannot be limited to those earning less than RM900/-. Those already earning RM900/- and above will also need to be paid higher wages. With this the costs of doing business and producing goods and services have increased and in turn the cost of living for everyone has increased.

5. Over and above this the Government decided to reduce subsidies on petroleum products. Then the electricity charges are going to be raised. For the people of Kuala Lumpur new rates, some increasing by 2000 % are to be charged.

6. In 2015 the GST (Goods and Services Tax) will replace the sales tax. Obviously the Government wants to collect more than the revenue from sales tax, and this must add to the cost of goods and services.

7. We must accept that the Government needs more money with the passage of time. But should the increase be as big as the Government says. Should the taxes and rates come all at the same time?

8. In business there is a thing called “cost down”. When a business is faced with competition or its cost of production reduces its profits, it can either increase prices or reduce cost. To a certain extent the price can be increased. This might cause a reduction in sale and also profits. It is far better to reduce cost and maintain or minimise the increase in price.

9. When a business exercises cost down, what it does is to examine everything that it does which contributes to the cost of doing business. It examines the efficiency of the process, the material cost, the reduction of wastage, the speed and volume of production. Invariably some cost can be reduced.

10. The same can be done by Government. All its cost can be examined to determine which are truly necessary, which cost can be reduced, which service can be curtailed or modified etc. etc.


11. Government often waste money because it is not too concerned about the returns on its expenditure in whatever form. For example has a contract been given to the best offered price – though not necessarily the lowest. Every year the Auditor General reports on wastage through improper procedures and carelessness. Usually not much is changed so as to benefit from the Auditor General’s criticism. There is no doubt that much money can be saved if the AG’s criticisms are taken seriously. Even changing procedures can reduce costs.

12. If the Government is interested in reducing the cost of governance, it can do so and perhaps quite substantially. For example it can reduce the cost of electricity by switching to LED for street lights. The savings would be more than 50%. The subsequent reduction in the amount of electricity to be generated will reduce subsidy on fuel for power. But this has not been done by Government. The initial cost may be high but the savings will mitigate this.

13. With regard to taxes, the effect of the increase should be studied very carefully. Is it really true that the percentage fixed cannot be changed. It must always be remembered that increases in tax must contribute towards increases in the cost of living, the cost of doing business, the reduction in profitability and for the Government reduction in corporate tax on profits. Once a long time ago the Government was losing tax on goods brought in by travellers to Singapore simply because it was difficult to determine whether the costly watches, pens and jewellery items were bought in Singapore or worn by traveller when he went to that tax-free country. The Government decided to remove taxes on luxury goods. As a result tax-free shops sprouted in Malaysia and the Government collected more through corporate tax from these shops than it ever collected in import duty.

14. In another instance the government reduced corporate tax gradually from 45% of profits to 26%. More business was done and the collection in corporate taxes increased tremendously. Another case is the tax-free incentives for investments. With this investments increased. Indirectly the government could collect from income tax on executives. The nasi lemak eaten by workers increase the businesses of the rice wholesalers and the Government will collect corporate tax from them.

15. The public needs to find the money to pay the increased tax. Obviously it would be easier if the percentage is low, or spread over a longer period.

16. If the percentage increase is really necessary, cannot it be introduced in stages. For example the increase in electricity charges is fixed at 15%. That is a big jump. It will upset the cost of production of goods which all use electricity, some at a high percentage. Contracts which had already been made will result in losses and this in turn will reduce corporate taxes on profits .

17. Cannot the increase be in stages eg. 6 % per year for 3 years or longer. The losses on current contracts would be minimised. Future contracts would take into consideration the increases. There would be time for “cost down” and increase in contract prices.

18. At 6% per year for 3 years the rate would increase by 18% eventually instead of 15% now. But a 6% increase in the second year would be on 106% of original price and in the 3rd year would be on approximately 113% of the original price, therefore more than 18%. If this is too high, the yearly rate of increase can be reduced to 5%.

19. Clearly the Government would be getting more than the 15% of the current price. It will not really lose anything despite the delays in the increases.

20. Yes, Government needs more money with the passage of time. But with due consideration for the cost to people and business, the Government would really examine the tax rates to be introduced. It will not hurt the Government too much but it will gain a lot of goodwill from people. They might even remember in the next election.

21. Recently Francois Hollande, President of France decided to raise tax on profits to 50%. People left France to do business elsewhere. Far from collecting more tax, the Government may lose much when other businesses and business people emigrate.


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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Open Letter to PM Najib

Yang saya hormati YAB Datuk Seri Perdana Menteri,

Saya sebenarnya sudah bersedia untuk masuk tidur selepas pulang ke rumah hampir jam 12 malam tadi setelah seharian membanting tulang mencari rezeki di pusat bandar Kuala Lumpur.

Namun hasrat saya terbantut bila saya terbaca ulasan Datuk Seri tentang kenaikan kos sara hidup, dan tindakan segera Datuk Seri untuk menubuhkan sebuah "makmal khas" bagi "mengkaji serta merangka langkah-langkah susulan untuk meringankan beban rakyat dalam mengharungi masalah ini", memetik kata-kata Datuk Seri sendiri.

Saya amat berharap agar ayat klise sebegitu tidaklah memberikan gambaran betapa jauhnya hati sanubari Datuk Seri dari denyut nadi urat jantung rakyat jalanan.

Suka saya sampaikan kepada Datuk Seri bahawa datuk saudara saya, Tok Da Musa di Peringat, bapa saudara saya Pak Teh Said di Darau, Besut, jiran emak saya Maksu Minah di Demit, Kelantan, Ustaz Wan di Lubok Bongor, Jerimbong, Pak Mat Gedebe di Kg Alor Melaka Pulai Chondong, bahkan Ah Yee mekanik saya di Kg Sg Penchala dan Maniam yang jaga parkir di tempat saya kerja, sah-sah semuanya tidak akan faham sepatah haram pun tentang apa yang Datuk Seri sebutkan tentang makmal itu.

Sedangkan mereka dan kawan-kawan yang sekutu dengan merekalah yang terjejas teruk dengan kegilaan kenaikan harga barang dan kos sara hidup sejak beberapa bulan ini.

Yang teruk 'kow-kow' terjejas dengan kenaikan harga barang dan keseluruhan kos hidup ini ialah orang-orang kampung, golongan pekerja bawahan yang menjadi setinggan di bandar-bandar, golongan berpendapatan (dan biasanya berpelajaran) rendah dan sebagainya. Mereka ini jugalah yang telah terkinja-kinja dan teruja sekali bangkit mengundi dan menyokong Umno dan BN semasa PRU13 baru-baru ini kerana termakan budi dengan BR1M di sana sini, dan janji Datuk Seri dan pemimpin BN dan Umno yang lain, bahawa "Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan".

Selepas PRU, nampaknya golongan inilah yang pertama sekali terkena badai taufan (bukan tempias lagi) kenaikan harga barang satu persatu saban hari.

Selepas menderita kenaikan kos hidup sana sini, tiba-tiba Datuk Seri datang bercakap tentang makmal itu dan ini, yang akan diterajui pula Pemandu yang diketuai oleh Datuk Seri Idris Jala, yang suatu masa dulu pernah disindir sebagai "being able to give a slick Powerpoint presentation" oleh seorang ahli parlimen BN sendiri.

Bahasa ‘makmal’ dan ‘kajian’ ini tidak mungkin akan difahami oleh golongan sasar ini, Datuk Seri. Bagi mereka, istilah makmal ini seolah membawa maksud main-main sahaja. Yalah, yang mereka tahu tentang makmal ini ialah bila anak mereka kena bawa lipas atau benih pokok ke sekolah untuk pelajaran makmal sains. Sedangkan keperitan hidup yang mereka tanggung adalah 'real' dan sungguh sungguh, bukan main-main dan ‘terkawal’ macam dalam makmal itu.

Tambahan pula bagi mereka, tak perlulah kaji-kaji lagi. Terus buat sahaja. Segala bukti sudah ada depan mata. Segala sengsara sudah tidak terucap dek kata-kata. Pergi sahaja ke pasar malam atau pasar tani, atau ke Econsave, tentu suara-suara ini akan kedengaran lantang oleh telinga yang mahu mendengar.

Bagi rakyat yang ada sedikit pelajaran sahaja pun, mereka tahu bahawa senario di dalam makmal jauh bezanya dengan senario alam realiti. Di dalam makmal semua ‘variables’ boleh dikawal. Bahkan anak saya saya baru tamat darjah enam pun tahu bahawa di dalam ‘setting’ makmal, ‘constant variables’ dan ‘manipulated variables’ boleh dikawal sebegitu rupa untuk menghasilkan ‘responding variables’ seperti yang dikehendaki.

Sedangkan kehidupan rutin harian rakyat jelata adalah penuh dengan ‘variables’ luar kawalan yang datang silih berganti tanpa mengira waktu. Kalau Datuk Seri pernah baca mengenai Lahuma dan Jeha di dalam Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan, tentu Datuk Seri akan faham maksud saya.
Mungkin bukan salah Datuk Seri kerana Datuk Seri dilahirkan sebagai seorang anak bangsawan. Arwah Tun Razak adalah Orang Kaya Indera Syahbandar ke-10, manakala Datuk Seri sendiri adalah penyandang gelaran itu yang ke-11. Rakyat jelata bukan orang bangsawan. Bahkan mereka adalah orang yang bangsat dan melarat sejak dari zaman Tok Wan mereka lagi.

Saya tahu Datuk Seri serius dalam menangani masalah rakyat. Cuma harapan saya, Datuk Seri pilihlah bahasa yang sesuai untuk berinteraksi dengan rakyat marhaen. Tidak payahlah Datuk Seri menggunapakai istilah yang hanya difahami oleh orang yang 'urbane' dan lulusan Cambridge sahaja. Mereka ini, cutinya di Tuscany atau di Johannesburg. Pasar malam mereka adalah di Harrods. Sedangkan rakyat yang terhimpit dengan bebanan kos sara hidup yang tinggi ini, cuti mereka ialah bila ramai-ramai naik Viva untuk balik kampung jumpa atok dan nenek di Ayer Lanas. Itu pun sebulan mengikat perut untuk belanja minyak dan tol. Shopping Mall mereka pula adalah di Pasar Malam Paya Jaras sahaja.

Bercakaplah dalam bahasa mereka. Lakukanlah sahaja apa yang berada dalam bidang kuasa Datuk Seri. Yang rakyat mahu ialah tindakan segera, bukan lagi kajian makmal sana sini. Tentu mereka akan tabik hormat kepada Datuk Seri sebagai Perdana Menteri. 




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Location:Jalan AU5C/12,Taman Zoo View,Malaysia

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