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Attorney General should reconsider the decision not to charge Ibrahim Ali

— Catholic Lawyers’ Society
Malay Mail Online
October 31, 2014

OCTOBER 31 — The Catholic Lawyers’ Society, Kuala Lumpur (CLS) is deeply disappointed that the Attorney General (AG) will not prosecute Datuk Ibrahim Ali for his calls to the Muslims to seize and bum the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Holy Bibles on the basis that the latter was only defending the sanctity of Islam.

The Federal Government has echoed similar statements through Nancy Shukri, de facto Minister of Law in parliament on October 7, 2014. With respect, both the AG and the Federal Government has done a disservice to the people of Malaysia. By condoning the AG’s decision not to prosecute Datuk Ibrahim Ali, the Federal Government has failed in its responsibility to defend the minorities in the country.

The Christian communities have lived under the threat of constant aggression by some who are bent on creating religious intolerance. However, prosecution of such insidious acts have been few and far between. Some of these examples as reported in the media include: Continue reading “Attorney General should reconsider the decision not to charge Ibrahim Ali”

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Enron-ising Malaysia

by Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
Feb 22, 2014

Malaysia’s monopoly corporate crony capitalism, framed and flourishing ethnocentrically and laced with economic fascism continue to take root, fashioned after the ethos and eerie-ness of America’s Enron Corporation which was said to be too big to fail yet fell like a house of cards that turned into ashes after an internal combustion of a self-immolation.

It also brought down one of one of the world’s biggest accounting fraudsters and master of creative accounting – Arthur Anderson. This is a feature of the many a Wall Street-fashioned American corporation – grow bigger with bigger lies with the help of world-class lying accounting firms.

What will Malaysia see decades after the seeds of destruction have germinated out of the three-pronged policies of Malaysian-styled Reaganomics and Thatcherism and Marcos-Mugabeism of Malaysia Incorporated, Look East Policy, and Privatisation Policies. Or have we not seen the impact of these policies in terms of the growth of big businesses whose survival also lie in the political-economic patronage of race-based political parties? Continue reading “Enron-ising Malaysia”

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Time to just let MAS crash

– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
February 20, 2014

MAS has just reported a fourth consecutive quarter of losses with a net loss of RM343 million for this last quarter.

For the full financial year 2013, the net loss amounted to RM1.2 billion, compared with a net loss of RM433 in FY12.

The question is whether this eye-popping loss will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

In the past, there have been incorrigible cheerleaders for the airline, regularly claiming that the company is in recovery mode and will soon return to profitability.

This time, even the most optimistic experts have given up. Continue reading “Time to just let MAS crash”

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The best way to produce competitive Bumiputera contractors

by Koon Yew Yin

I recently published an article with the title, “Room for Competitive Bumiputera Companies – A Wasteful National Mission”. My intention was to support Petronas Chairman Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas who is under fire from the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) for allegedly marginalizing Bumiputera companies and favouring more competitive foreign companies.

In fact MTEM has conveniently forgotten that in 2010 and 2011 alone, Petronas awarded a huge sum of about Rm 74 billion worth of contracts to Bumiputera controlled companies. Apparently this is not enough for MTEM which has called for Tan Sri Shamsul and the board members of Petronas to resign. MTEM expects to get most of the contracts irrespective of whether they are competent to undertake the contracts.

This politicking against Petronas – a national company with all Malaysians as stakeholders – is certainly not good for our economy. I wish to emphasize that Petronas is not a Malay company and Malay cronies of UMNO should not expect hand outs and contracts as if we are still living in the NEP era.

It is time that all Malay business enterprises and individuals grow up and realize they have to become competitive if they wish to survive in the business world. Nowhere in the real world is there preferential treatment for Bumiputera or any other ‘putera’!

Continuously giving out contracts to Bumiputeras as MTEM is calling for – without competitive tenders – will make them more inefficient and result in poor quality work. At the end of the day, it will be all Malaysians who will have to bear the collapse of a crony-driven and Malay-oriented Petronas if it loses its standing in the global market.

Giving out contracts without a full tender process is akin to corruption. Why a closed tender or Bumiputra favouring policy has to be pursued by Petronas needs to be openly justified by MTEM rather than swept under the carpet and hidden by the veil of threats.

The best way to produce efficient and competitive Bumiputera contractors Continue reading “The best way to produce competitive Bumiputera contractors”

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Huge bonus payout for Sime Darby bosses

By Habhajan Singh and John Gilbert
Free Malaysia Today
November 8, 2012

Unionists riled up over 20 months’ bonus paid to plantation managers and senior staff for 2011.

KUALA LUMPUR: A good number of plantation managers and senior staff at conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd took home bonus payouts ranging from 12 to 14 months with their September pay cheque.

Some planters and staff from other divisions of one of the largest government-linked corporations (GLC) received bonuses of as much as 20 months for the bonus payout for 2011, according company officials.

It is understood the highest payout against what is seen as meagre bonuses given to lower-level workers at its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd, has raised the ire of its unionists.

“It’s a planters market [at the moment]. Last year, most plantation companies would have paid out good bonuses,” said one industry executive.

Sime Darby declined to comment on the bonus payout, with one offical saying that staff remuneration information was confidential.

All Malayan Estate Staff Union (AMESU), the union outfit for the plantation workers, is looking at the issue with a view to taking further action, sources familiar with the union told The Malaysian Reserve.

The issue comes at a time when Sime Darby is seeking shareholders’ approval for a proposed performance-based employee share scheme of up to the company’s 10% issued and paid-up ordinary share capital.

The proposed scheme, to be voted at its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today, is meant to award shares to selected employees for the “attainment of identified performance objectives” of the group. It is supposed to “attract, retain, motivate and reward” the “valuable selected employees,” the company said in a circular to shareholders dated Oct 16. Continue reading “Huge bonus payout for Sime Darby bosses”

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Pua: Telcos’ tax is illegal

K Pragalath | September 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Decision to charge the 6% service tax is akin to price fixing and is against the soon to be implemented Competition Act 2010, says PJ Utara MP.

PETALING JAYA: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua criticised the decision by telecommunication companies to charge the 6% service tax as illegal because the companies were trying to fix prices.

“There is no question that the joint statement (on the decision) and attempt by the four telecommunication companies to raise prices by the same percentage concurrently is illegal because they are colluding to form a cartel for the purposes of price-fixing.

“The real issue at hand is the blatant and coordinated attempt by the telecommunication companies to raise prices concurrently, contemptuous of the competitive spirit,” said Pua. Continue reading “Pua: Telcos’ tax is illegal”

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Air Asia MAS tie-up – ordinary Malaysian consumers will be the losers?

By Teh Chi-Chang | REFSA

Ordinary Malaysians must view the MAS-Air Asia Collaboration announced on 9 August with dismay. When previously fierce competitors such as MAS and Air Asia choose to collaborate instead, consumers tend to be the losers. This arrangement, called the MAS-Air Asia Comprehensive Collaboration Framework might be more appropriately named the MAS-Air Asia Comprehensive Collaboration Framework Against the Rakyat:

REFSA believes at least some of the synergies and savings to be reaped by MAS-Air Asia will be paid for by Malaysians in the form of higher ticket prices, less frequent flights, poorer service levels and reduced job prospects. Continue reading “Air Asia MAS tie-up – ordinary Malaysian consumers will be the losers?”

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Putrajaya overrules Prasarana, takes pricier LRT extension deal

By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
June 17, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — A Finance Ministry committee has ignored the city’s light rail transit (LRT) operator’s recommendation for the Kelana Jaya line extension project by awarding it to a company whose project price of RM890 million is almost 50 per cent higher than that of the lowest bid.

The Malaysian Insider understands the committee decision was made on Wednesday to hand the electro-mechanical system project to the Hartasuma Sdn Bhd-Bombardier joint-venture, which is already facing a heavy penalty for late delivery of the RM1.2 billion 35 four-car sets to Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd. Continue reading “Putrajaya overrules Prasarana, takes pricier LRT extension deal”

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Renaming Synergy Drive to Sime Darby – merger or reverse takeover?

by Mendela

Some one e-mailed me the below:

I have been curious to find out the reason for the renaming of Synergy Drive to Sime Darby after the merger. By renaming the merged entities, it seemed more like a takeover.

The followings may offer some reasons which weren’t published in the mainstream papers.

1. Was it really a merger or was it a reversed takeover of Golden Hope and Kumpulan Guthrie by Sime Darby? We were told that this was a merger of equals. It’s now obvious that it was called a merger “to enable PNB to vote at the EGM. If it was called a takeover, it would be deemed to be a related party transaction and PNB would have to abstain from voting;

2. A takeover was evident when the new merged entity is called Sime Darby (SD) Berhad. Synergy Drive (SD) was it’s temporary name during the “takeover” exercise;

3. Did the promise to create the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation company really happen? Can the “new” Sime Darby be called a plantation company when only 47 per cent of revenue is contributed by plantation activities?;

4. Have the stakeholders, in particular the PNB, been “taken for a ride” with the promise to establish the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation but ended up still with a diversified company?; Continue reading “Renaming Synergy Drive to Sime Darby – merger or reverse takeover?”