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DAP says cuts cannot be limited to subsidies

Malaysian Insider
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
May 27, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — DAP’s Tony Pua grudgingly admitted today that cutting subsidies could lower Malaysia’s debts, but he said the cuts will only be successful if leakages from graft and help for big corporations are plugged first.

“I feel that in general, the points raised were agreeable. But at the same time, these plans can only be put into motion if other conditions are first met.

“He (Datuk Seri Idris Jala) was quite naughty when he said that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) agreed with lowering subsidies. We agree to it but with conditions,” DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua said shortly after he attended a government open day on rationalizing cutting subsidies.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP told The Malaysian Insider that while the government has outlined ways in which to gradually lessen subsidies, other “main causes of debts” had not been carefully addressed.

According to Pua, the issue of subsidies was a small problem compared to the actual cause of Malaysia’s huge deficit problem. Continue reading “DAP says cuts cannot be limited to subsidies”

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‘Clueless’ SUPP comes under heavy DAP fire

Free Malaysia Today
Thu, 27 May 2010

KUCHING: The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), the oldest Chinese-led political party in the state, has come under blistering attack from the DAP for its lies.

DAP state assemblyman for Sentosa Chong Chieng Jen said SUPP should stop making excuses for its loss in Sibu and accept that it has lost touch with its voters.

“I am shocked. The SUPP is still clueless as to why it lost and Wong Soon Koh (SUPP Sibu chief) is making baseless and unbelievable accusations against the DAP, ” he said in a statement.

Chong was referring to comments by Wong, who is also State Finance Minister II, in his winding-up speech at the Sarawak State Assembly sitting on yesterday. Continue reading “‘Clueless’ SUPP comes under heavy DAP fire”

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Educational absurdity in Hulu Selangor

by Azly Rahman

“If we win this by-election, you can come to Kuala Lumpur the next day to look for me. I will write a personal letter to approve the money and it will be transferred to the school board’s account. If we lose, don’t have to come.” – Najib Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia

If these words quoted in Lim Kit Siang’s blog were uttered and they were true, we have reached the highest level of idiocy in charting the future of Malaysian education. How much shame must we parade in our desperation to win this or that election that is a theater of the absurd anyway?

The essential question is, how dare we use education – the only means for social and economic progress for ALL races – to bribe voters!

We hear all too often now that education is being prostitutionalized in the name of political gains. That gentle profession and a noble enterprise, from the Latin educare (drawing out the potentials) have been overused in election campaigns. From rice to roads, credit cards to cruises, youth facilities to new universities – all these have been used as political baits throughout our history. Continue reading “Educational absurdity in Hulu Selangor”

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Proposal for a Parliamentary Caucus on Crime and Security to help Hishammuddin and Police to restore to Malaysians their fundamental rights – safe neighbourhoods, safe streets, safe homes and safe schools

In the past two weeks, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein kept reminding the country that the street crime rate and the crime index have fallen by 39% and 15% respectively in the first quarter of the year, well beyond the 20% and 5% target set by the end of the year.

For the first quarter of last year 9,984 cases were reported while during the same period this year it went down to 6,158 cases.
Hishammuddin’s statement was repeated in a major local newspaper today.

There should be a sense of joy and relief that Malaysia is becoming a safer country, which is not only a fundamental right of Malaysian citizens and the most basic duty of any competent government in a civilized society, but also important in enhancing our international competitiveness to attract foreign investments so that Malaysia can take the quantum leap to escape the decade-long middle-income trap to become a developed high income country.

However, such a national sense of relief and joy is distinctly missing in public response and reaction to Hishammuddin’s repeated announcements in the past fortnight of a sharp drop of street crime rate and crime index in the first quarter of the year – to the extent that Hishamuddin’s announcement had to be repeated in a major national daily today.

Why is this so? Continue reading “Proposal for a Parliamentary Caucus on Crime and Security to help Hishammuddin and Police to restore to Malaysians their fundamental rights – safe neighbourhoods, safe streets, safe homes and safe schools”