Who runs this Government - UMNO or BN?

The sports betting is off, but before you do anything, read the report from Malaysiakini, (below) and  discover  the irrevocable proof that the Parliamentarians in the other parties of the BN are nothing but rubber stamping idiots, who are fed by UMNO  to sell us and our rights lock stock and barrel to UMNO,
Najib and gang.

Malaysiakini report

'The ruling BN led by Najib had earlier approved the legalisation of sports betting with the licence awarded to Ascot Sports owned by tycoon Vincent Tan of conglomerate Berjaya Corporation.

However, Najib announced at a press conference held immediately after the Umno supreme council meeting at 11pm that the approval of the gambling licence has been withdrawn.

He said that the decision by the powerful supreme council - the party's highest decision-making body - was unanimous.

"Since the approval was decided in principle and a survey was carried out, although there were groups who supported as well those who did not support or opposed the decision, it was clear to the government that a majority of the people did not agree that the licence be issued to Ascot Sports.

"As such, I hereby announce that the government has decided that the licence will not be issued," said Najib, who is also Umno president and chaired tonight's supreme council meeting.'

Now examine the report.

The truth is the  BN took the decision to approve the license, and UMNO took the decision to withdraw the license. The BN forms the government, the BN government is supposed to be a consultative body, and now UMNO  has unilaterally decided, even without consulting  the remaining BN members, unilaterally to call it off.

Of course the decision to call it off is good, it is healthy but take a look at the approval in the first place and ask yourselves if it would have been approved if UMNO rejected it.

Why did these so called champions of Islam, who used the word Allah as a political tool, suddenly find it suitable to approve gambling.

And when rights of others are trodden on they shout it is sensitive and,  now all of a sudden you have the likes of Nazri and Mahathir, and even Khairy all joining forces to say they have to protect the rights of non Muslims. I was surprised Ibrahim Ali did not join the bandwagon, or wait a minute did he?

Gambling is not a right, at least in Malaysia, the right to allow us to gamble is provided by a decree by the government after  legislating gambling companies, like PMP, Sports Toto, Magnum four D, the Casinos and Genting and the thousands of legalized gambling machines almost all held in monopoly by one single man owning the various clubs. 

Permission to gamble is done by a decree of the government,  Muslims can't gamble that has been decreed, it is law,persons under the age of 18 can't gamble, it is law, so there is no freedom to gamble.

Whilst it is decreed that Muslim can't gamble, you'll find top UMNO brass and other "Muslims" beholden to UMNO  owning shares, and even sitting on the board of these gambling companies. 

Do we have to wonder why Muslims can't gamble but are allowed to own shares and sit on the board of such companies. The risks are the same, if they lose heavily they can go bust or are the results fixed so whichever side you are on gambling or sitting on the board or owning the shares you partake in gambling. So why is one allowed to and the other not.

Now to get back to the approval, it is a clear indication that the other members of the Barisan are nothing but running dogs who are fed with such corrupt monies, so that they'll sell their souls to UMNo and in the process sell their communities to UMNO. 

I thank God for this case, first we have got the government to stop issuing the sports gambling licence, it is victory to the people, well done.

Secondly it has exposed the truth we always knew, the Government does not run this country, UMNO does and they think they own it. They have hijacked our democracy and in the process robbed the Natives, Malays, Chinese, Indians and others of their rights and their wealth, by deceit and corruption.

If they had even the slightest amount of self respect these other MPs should quit and  the government will fall, but alas these are no self respecting people, they are scum, how can a party that does not have the majority rule, it only happens in Malaysia, because you have the BN made up such people.

Ascot, its over!!! Ascot will now continue to be the great horse race in England, the one we saw at, "My Fair Lady."

Housing Loans, Bumi vs Non Bumi - Discrimination of the highest order

Here is a lesson for all to see, how UMNO discriminates and makes the other Malaysians pay through their nose to fund their corruption.

 Sime Darby's recent loss under the stewardship of Musa Hitam was funded by us, demand that all those responsible be prosecuted.

Some banks are fond of   funding  UMNO's illegitimate activities, remember the Harun Idris case?

Is this one Malaysia? 

We already have to fork out 7% extra, and on top of that we have to subsidize the loan. 

You still think PKR is not good enough? 

Well at least UMNO knows it is a threat to them, and that is why UMNO is pumping millions to corrupt and win over PKR assemblymen and Parliamentarians. 

Don't get fooled by the BN, they are masters of the game, they are the worlds greatest  cheats.

Your Neighbour Is In Trouble.

Now all of a sudden this government requires all traders, that means even your neighborhood sundry shop owner to apply for a license to stock and sell Sugar, cooking oil, rice and flour.

Sundry shop owners have already come under a barrage of competition that is threatening to put them out of business. The big hyper markets, convenience stores and supermarkets use their clout - their bulk purchase power, to get items at a cheaper prices the n what these small traders are able to, and flout it at prices the sundry shop owners can ill afford to.

To make matters worse some unscrupulous suppliers take the unsold goods from supermarket shelves - the older stock that is with lesser shelf life and sell them to the sundry shop owner, who is now being made to look like a third rate dealer.

The livelihood of this small trader keeps coming under threat constantly and no thanks to this this government and the new ruling it is going to add more difficulties to this small trader.

Never mind the fact that even the big traders need to have this license as well, they have the machinery in place to do it, but to ask the small trader and the neighborhood grocer to comply seems to be a move with some sinister motives, they type the BN is famous for.

Is this license another way of enriching the UMNOPUTERA? Is this to be an Ali Baba business? Is this a way round of keeping the NEP going )special privileges)? Is this a way to restrict others from trading? Will future licenses also go out only on a racial basis so that only UMNOPUTERAS will benefit from owning the license? Or, is this an another indirect way of collecting a subsidy reimbursement, pulling wool over the eyes of the rakyat? And, will the issuance for hundreds of this license in future be used at election rallies?

Imagine a trader in the neighborhood who can't sell rice, sugar, cooking oil and wheat flour. who will want to go to him, the shop with the lisence will now have the distinct advantage and the one without will have to close. Is this government going to provide this advantage to their friends and kill off the rest, it sure looks like that, and from past records of this government we must assume that is what they intend to do.

This is done to enrich their party folk, the next time we'll notice the shops with the BN logo on the door, a tag line that says, "another BN shop to screw you up." Credit given only to UMNO, MIC and MCA members. it may sound weird but if you do not see the logic in this you have yet to understand how the BN works.

Leaving all that aside there is a great danger that this move by this government, to make sure that only those with a license will be able to trade in these essential items is a sinister move to restrict people from doing business, unless they assure the public that anyone who applies for such a license will get one as is guaranteed under the spirit of free enterprise.

The more you look at it, with APs, special license, petrol station operators, even gambling outlet operators, indicates that this government controls businesses to operate on a racial basis. We all know that Petronas stations are only for Malays operators, even the other service stations of the kind from the other oil companies seem to go only to the Malays, and the majority if not all are UMNOPUTERAS.

Through the controlled media they even once threatened to put the newspaper vendor out of job once, they seem to be now targeting the normal retail trader and the motive as I see it can't be anything but sinister, to serve the goals and aspirations of the UMNOPUTERA< and the UMNOPUTERA alone.

RM74 Bil Subsidy Cut?

By Syed Akbar Ali http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/


It is good if the Government can cut subsidies. Subsidies create anomalies in the economy and also prevent the economy from achieving it full potential.

The Government will be having a 'lab session' at Hall 4 and 5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center from 9am to 2pm this Thursday to get public feedback on removing the subsidies.

My simple suggestion to remove subsidies is this : remove subsidies that go towards the least productive activities first. And remove subsidies that go towards the most productive subsidies last.

So fuel subsidies should be cut last (but they must be cut). Any kind of subsidies for any kind of 'religious' activities should be cut first (I am sure there must be some inside the RM74 Billion).

Having said that, if we cut subsidies, then surely the cost of things are going to go up. There will be inflation. It will be a one time thing. Never mind. Let it go up. Jangan takut. After a while, everything will settle down to a new balance again. Smith called it the 'invisible hand'. Today we can hardly recall the 70 sen per litre jump in petrol prices. Does anyone recall that? But that was just one item - fuel prices.

But when subsidies are cut all across the Board it is going to cost substantial inflation. The fixed income earners (Civil Servants and Salary earners and pensioners) will be hard hit. There are ways to do it.

If we remove subsidies, which will cause the cost of living to go up, then we must also remove other barriers and impediments so that the cost of living can go down.

The Government can save up to RM74 Billion if subsidies are cut. What is the Government going to do with all that money? I will talk about that shortly.

First of all, can we cut Income Taxes. Can we take personal Income Tax down to say 15%? Or 18%? The highest personal Income Tax bracket now is 25%. Similarly can we take down Corporate Tax down to say 20%? Its at 28% now. This is a fair request. If we cut or remove subsidies, then please cut Income and Corporate taxes.

Secondly can we please get rid of the Approved Permit highway robbery. The Approved Permits are a total fraud on the population. Can someone go to the Lab on Thursday and ask this simple question : How are the Approved Permits dished out?

Ok, lets say the APs are reserved for bumiputras only (1Malaysia notwithstanding). But which bumiputeras get the APs? How are the APs "diagihkan"? We have APs for cars, machinery, equipment, medicines, alcohol (?) and even cigars. No AP, tak boleh import. The APs add to the cost of the product WITH NO ADDED VALUE by the AP holder.

So if we are going to remove the subsidies, please remove the APs. In Malaysia, a brand new graduate Civil Servant is paid RM2,500 a month. (I think this is overpayment. If you ask me, RM1800 should be enough. I am basing this on the quality of the Civil Service now. After 24 months of service (all KPIs achieved) then you can raise their salary to RM2,500.)

But even at RM2500 a month, even a Perodua Myvi requires monthly installments of RM650 a month. That is 25% of the monthly salary. Petrol may cost another RM400 a month. That is RM1050 on fuel alone per month. This is because cars are so expensive in Malaysia. Why? Because we are protecting our local car industry. That is where the APs come in.

So remove the car APs, let Proton, Perodua and Naza find their own way in the world and reduce the prices of cars. So that a graduate Civil Servant who earns RM2500 need ony pay 10% - 15% of his monthly salary for car payments. This can be done overnite. I believe in the rich countries, this is the right portion of monthly wages that go towards paying for a car.

Then if you remove the RM74 billion subsidies, the public can withstand the pressure. Otherwise, potong subsidy but car prices are still the highest in the world because a few Dato AP holders benefit from the APs. Yang jadi miskin orang Melayu juga. Orang lain pun miskin. Yang jadi kaya berapa kerat Dato saja. What kind of economic management is that?

Also remove APs for the import of medicines, foods, machineries and everything else.

The Government wants to implement the GST. Among the reasons is because "other countries also have it". What a lame excuse. OK using the same logic, other countries also dont have APs. So why do we have APs? Remove the APs. Forget about the GST. It is going to screw up the system. McKinsey and Boston Consulting dont know what they are saying.

Then get rid of the monopolies. Many Malaysians (my dear Malaysians - I am referring to you lah, please wake up) don't know that over the years many monopolies and oligopolies have crept into the economy. Some of them can be justified at the time they were created. But after a certain grace period, they should not be protected anymore. The market should be opened for more competition.

One example is the LAW that was passed which prevents people from owning satellite dishes larger than 36 inches. This LAW was passed to protect Astro which was spending billions of Ringgit at that time to establish a satellite TV network in Malaysia. OK they have had their grace period, its about 15 years now. Its time to repeal that LAW and allow people to own satellite dishes larger than 36 inches and watch their own satellite stations.

The argument about too much pornography coming in through satellite TV has now become a 'bodoh macam pintu' (dumb as a door knob) statement. Porno is on the Net not from satellite TV.

Also Net TV is going to kill off satellite TV. Its cheaper and easier. You can broadband it everywhere. Thats why we need the High Speed Broadband network up in a hurry all over the country and let there be as many providers as the market can bear. It will eventually lower the cost of watching HDTV broadcast, the already here next generation in TV. Eventually satellite TV will have to be cheaper too.

So can we please remove all these monopolies that we have created. There is a monopoly granted to a company to check and certify all weighing machines used by businesses in this country. This is a huge monopoly. On what basis was this monopoly granted to this private company? They can bully the consumer easily. There is still much corruption in this weighing machine certifying industry. A Government regulatory authority was privatised.

The same goes for Puspakom. Also the other one that repairs and maintains Government vehicles Spanco or something. Now another group wants a monopoly over all the toll roads in the country. Why do we create these monopolies? All these add up to our cost of living. So if the Government is now also going to reduce the RM74 Billion subsidies, that is fine and well.

But also remove all these monopolies and APs that are cluttering up the system.

The Government is also scaring me with even newer and weirder proposals. Why should a Qatar Investment Agency be even considered to redevelop prime land at the Sungei Besi Airbase? What is the basis to give it to a foreign company? Was there an Open Bid? How can we give our prime land to a Qatar company without even an Open Bid? Are they better than Malaysian companies who may be asked to put in Open Bids? If so, how come? Which part of the Federal Constitution says that companies from Qatar can gain access to our prime land without even putting in an Open Bid.

The Government should also not pay bloated prices for Government projects to help "friends". That is a grave wrong. It really adds to our cost of living.

Lastly "minimum wage" is also one of the biggest subsidies, usually implemented by people who do not understand how much damage it does in the long run.

There are many forms of minimum wages. The 'dole' or social welfare payments in Europe are also a form of minimum wages. In many European countries if you are unemployed, you are guaranteed some sort of social welfare payments. This is just another form of minimum wages. Now the financial crisis sweeping across a Europe is showing up the final results of all this 'subsidy mentality'. The economy has become less competitive because of the dole system.

In Greece, the hardest hit country, private sector workers are lamenting why they have to work up to 50 hours a week to pay taxes that support Civil Servants who don't do much work. The same applies here. The private sector too works hard and pays taxes which are used to pay the salaries of the Civil Servants - whom we all know for a certainty do not work as hard as the private sector.

Lets get rid of the subsidies. Lets also get rid of the APs, the monopolies, the weird Government announcements, the cronyism and such which only adds to our cost of living.