Adakah Taib Mahmud akan bertanding?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
SIAPA PENGGANTI TAIB MAHMUD?
Taib Mahmud sudah berkuasa di Sarawak sejak tahun 1981. Persoalanya bila Taib Mahmud akan turun ' takhta' kuasanya dan siapa pengganti pilihannya?. atau..Taib Mahmud akan terus 'bertakhta' di Sarawak sehingga akhir hayatnya seperti Rajah James Brooke?
KEMPEN JIMAT CERMAT..
Kerajaan BN buat macam-macam kempen..la ni kempen Jimat Cermat..sebab ape?? sebab BN dah takde 'idea baru' nak tolong ringankan beban yang ditanggung rakyat akibat kenaikan harga minyak..inflasi meningkat...tu la nak ajak rakyat Jimat Cermat. Tapi kerajaan berjimat ke?? Beli Mercedes..buat 'roadshow' macam-macam....dah tu...sibuuuuuk je berebut jawatan dalam parti...bukan nak cari idea tolong rakyat...piraaaaah!!!
45 Tahun Sarawak Maju Dalam Malaysia
Betul ke maju? Cuba pergi ke pelosok pedalaman negeri Sarawak! Masih banyak rumah panjang dan kampung yang tak ada bekalan air bersih dan bekalan elektrik!! Jalan raya?? Harap maaf la..Kapit hingga hari ini masih tak di hubungi dengan jalan raya!! Pulau Pinang dah nak tambah jambatan..tapi Kapit?? Macamana?? Lebuh raya??? Jangan mimpi laaa.... tapi orang Sarawak patut di puji....tetap pilih BN bila musim pilihan raya...tidak komplen dengan TV3
HARGA MAKANAN NAIK..SEBAB HARGA MINYAK NAIK
Perlukah harga makanan naik kerana harga minyak naik? Kenapa harga makanan naik bila gaji kakitangan awam naik? Sebenarnya peniaga-peniaga sengaja cari alasan nak dapat untung lebih.
HARGA MINYAK ? BOLEH TURUN KE?
Harga minyak dunia dah turun. Bila lagi harga minyak di Malaysia nak turun? Kerajaan BN MESTI tunai janji. Jangan berdolak dalih!!
OVER A CUP OF COFFEE
Jimat cermat’ (be thrifty) but spend when you can
WE occasionally see slogans on state-owned TV stations exhorting Malaysians to ‘Jimat Duit (Save Money), ‘Jimat Minyak’(Save Petrol), ‘Jimat Eletrik’(Save Electricity) and ‘Jimat Air’ (Save Water) followed by what the campaigners think are smart ideas in graphics or video pictures to show how the intended purpose can be achieved.
I do not know whether it’s necessary at all to do that, especially considering that in the post-fuel price hike period, it is nigh impossible to make any more adjustments to meet what may be described as ‘bare minimum’ spending for most people to get by.
This is not to pour scorn on official attempt to get the population to be thrifty. How much more thrifty can one be under the circumstances, considering that everything seems to be going up in price after the record increase in fuel prices?
Indeed, I am often told, can you expect prices of food and transport items to go down when fuel pump prices are adjusted downwards, in the likelihood that global fuel prices drop below US$100 per barrel?
A lot of subsidies to cushion the impact from the government raising pump prices by more than RM1 per litre for petrol and diesel have already been given out. The expectation is that such subsidies, including cash rebates for road tax renewal, will continue.
Alarm bells must be ringing last week when the national newspapers reported that truckloads of oil palm fresh fruits were queuing outside overstocked mills in Peninsular Malaysia after the sharp decline in crude palm oil (CPO) prices of more than 30 per cent in a matter of a few weeks. FFB prices dropped by RM100 overnight, selling at RM500 per tonne only! This badly affects smallholders.
Oil palm is a big money earner for its players and the country and there are naturally concerns about whether there would be a further decline in CPO prices, in view of its implications on the industry as a whole.
Analysts are saying it will no longer be profitable if CPO prices drop below RM2,000 per tonne, and planters are hoping and praying that prices will stay within the RM2,500-RM3,000 range per tonne.
Today’s price is a shade below RM3,000 — a drop from the highest ever of RM4,300 per tonne not very long ago.
But there is a good side to all this — new plantation land should cost less, and this would naturally be welcomed by investors keen to expand their business or enter the business for the first time.
Not known to many outside the industry is the fact that development costs, especially of peat swampland have almost doubled, apart from the rising costs of fertilisers and labour costs.
Meanwhile the timber industry, after its heyday years ago, is back again with gusto — prices at a high from increased demand.
The housing and construction industry, both at state and national levels, is facing its great challenges largely from increased cost of building materials such as sand, cement and steel and a slowdown in demand in most parts of the country that could cause oversupply.
Bank Negara, the central bank, has read the situation correctly by deciding not to push lending rates up, otherwise many highly-geared companies such as in the plantation industry and borrowers of business, housing and shophouse loans would find increased finance costs stacked against their ‘diminishing’ income.
The so-called Windfall Tax on CPO earnings the government had hoped would help raise revenue is, unfortunately, not so well-timed. The necessity for it is being questioned, particularly since the industry in Sarawak is already paying a 10 per cent State Sales Tax which is triggered at a certain price level and since profitable oil palm companies are paying corporate tax on profits.
Some of my car salesman friends told me sales are sluggish due to several factors, including the recent steep rise in diesel and petrol prices.
The millions of credit cards issued to individuals in this country have led to a high level of indebtedness, and to many people turning to the ‘along’ or ‘loan sharks’, leading many to greater level of indebtedness and even more trouble.
According to a car company assistant manager, out of every 10 applications for higher purchase financing, there could be as many as five cases rejected, not because the would-be borrowers have not furnished sufficient documentary evidence to prove their income, but because they have been blacklisted in the banking system for being three or four months behind in their housing loan instalment payments!
It doesn’t matter a bit if a borrower has a fixed deposit of RM100,000 or more in some financial institution. As long as he is months behind in instalment payments, he cannot be considered for a car loan of RM30,000 until presumably the account is updated and officially confirmed by the lending institution.
We are not talking about an individual who has been declared insolvent.
In the light of the present economic situation which has taken a big toll on business generally, Bank Negara and financial institutions ought to change the rule. Applying the same rules when times have changed is not going to help businesses. It’s akin to taking away the umbrella when it rains.
Indeed, businesses would welcome interest rates being brought down. Some sectors of business prone to profiteering had better change their policy, and be content with lower profits rather than try to take advantage of the situation by raising prices. There’s a possibility that regular customers will be driven away.
The owner of a motor-repair workshop in Batu Kawah, Kuching told me he has noticed that his loyal customers now try to find ways to save costs on parts either by sourcing for still usable parts including spark plugs, and not-so-original parts. It is not surprising that the used car industry is picking up in business again due to increasing demand. There may also be less trade-in of old cars allowed, which could explain the sluggish sales in new cars.
But of course, there are always people loaded with cash who splash on a car without batting an eyelid. Just drive around and see those expensive cars in showrooms. Don’t ask where their money comes from.
“Plenty where it comes from,” one is sometimes told about a particular individual. It’s like adding mistresses for some.
On a more serious note if the slogan ‘Jimat Wang’ is to have some meaning, since everyone is agog with politics of the land, and in Sarawak the state election is due in less than three years, it could be time for the authorities concerned to consider holding the state elections simultaneously with the rest of the country.
Sarawak has always held its state elections at different times from the rest of Malaysia; there was a reason for doing that the first time. The authorities concerned may find it no longer necessary to do that anymore as polling can now be conducted in a single day.
More importantly, it will save a lot of the taxpayer’s money for the Election Commission to hold the general elections (parliamentary and state elections) simultaneously throughout the country.
WE occasionally see slogans on state-owned TV stations exhorting Malaysians to ‘Jimat Duit (Save Money), ‘Jimat Minyak’(Save Petrol), ‘Jimat Eletrik’(Save Electricity) and ‘Jimat Air’ (Save Water) followed by what the campaigners think are smart ideas in graphics or video pictures to show how the intended purpose can be achieved.
I do not know whether it’s necessary at all to do that, especially considering that in the post-fuel price hike period, it is nigh impossible to make any more adjustments to meet what may be described as ‘bare minimum’ spending for most people to get by.
This is not to pour scorn on official attempt to get the population to be thrifty. How much more thrifty can one be under the circumstances, considering that everything seems to be going up in price after the record increase in fuel prices?
Indeed, I am often told, can you expect prices of food and transport items to go down when fuel pump prices are adjusted downwards, in the likelihood that global fuel prices drop below US$100 per barrel?
A lot of subsidies to cushion the impact from the government raising pump prices by more than RM1 per litre for petrol and diesel have already been given out. The expectation is that such subsidies, including cash rebates for road tax renewal, will continue.
Alarm bells must be ringing last week when the national newspapers reported that truckloads of oil palm fresh fruits were queuing outside overstocked mills in Peninsular Malaysia after the sharp decline in crude palm oil (CPO) prices of more than 30 per cent in a matter of a few weeks. FFB prices dropped by RM100 overnight, selling at RM500 per tonne only! This badly affects smallholders.
Oil palm is a big money earner for its players and the country and there are naturally concerns about whether there would be a further decline in CPO prices, in view of its implications on the industry as a whole.
Analysts are saying it will no longer be profitable if CPO prices drop below RM2,000 per tonne, and planters are hoping and praying that prices will stay within the RM2,500-RM3,000 range per tonne.
Today’s price is a shade below RM3,000 — a drop from the highest ever of RM4,300 per tonne not very long ago.
But there is a good side to all this — new plantation land should cost less, and this would naturally be welcomed by investors keen to expand their business or enter the business for the first time.
Not known to many outside the industry is the fact that development costs, especially of peat swampland have almost doubled, apart from the rising costs of fertilisers and labour costs.
Meanwhile the timber industry, after its heyday years ago, is back again with gusto — prices at a high from increased demand.
The housing and construction industry, both at state and national levels, is facing its great challenges largely from increased cost of building materials such as sand, cement and steel and a slowdown in demand in most parts of the country that could cause oversupply.
Bank Negara, the central bank, has read the situation correctly by deciding not to push lending rates up, otherwise many highly-geared companies such as in the plantation industry and borrowers of business, housing and shophouse loans would find increased finance costs stacked against their ‘diminishing’ income.
The so-called Windfall Tax on CPO earnings the government had hoped would help raise revenue is, unfortunately, not so well-timed. The necessity for it is being questioned, particularly since the industry in Sarawak is already paying a 10 per cent State Sales Tax which is triggered at a certain price level and since profitable oil palm companies are paying corporate tax on profits.
Some of my car salesman friends told me sales are sluggish due to several factors, including the recent steep rise in diesel and petrol prices.
The millions of credit cards issued to individuals in this country have led to a high level of indebtedness, and to many people turning to the ‘along’ or ‘loan sharks’, leading many to greater level of indebtedness and even more trouble.
According to a car company assistant manager, out of every 10 applications for higher purchase financing, there could be as many as five cases rejected, not because the would-be borrowers have not furnished sufficient documentary evidence to prove their income, but because they have been blacklisted in the banking system for being three or four months behind in their housing loan instalment payments!
It doesn’t matter a bit if a borrower has a fixed deposit of RM100,000 or more in some financial institution. As long as he is months behind in instalment payments, he cannot be considered for a car loan of RM30,000 until presumably the account is updated and officially confirmed by the lending institution.
We are not talking about an individual who has been declared insolvent.
In the light of the present economic situation which has taken a big toll on business generally, Bank Negara and financial institutions ought to change the rule. Applying the same rules when times have changed is not going to help businesses. It’s akin to taking away the umbrella when it rains.
Indeed, businesses would welcome interest rates being brought down. Some sectors of business prone to profiteering had better change their policy, and be content with lower profits rather than try to take advantage of the situation by raising prices. There’s a possibility that regular customers will be driven away.
The owner of a motor-repair workshop in Batu Kawah, Kuching told me he has noticed that his loyal customers now try to find ways to save costs on parts either by sourcing for still usable parts including spark plugs, and not-so-original parts. It is not surprising that the used car industry is picking up in business again due to increasing demand. There may also be less trade-in of old cars allowed, which could explain the sluggish sales in new cars.
But of course, there are always people loaded with cash who splash on a car without batting an eyelid. Just drive around and see those expensive cars in showrooms. Don’t ask where their money comes from.
“Plenty where it comes from,” one is sometimes told about a particular individual. It’s like adding mistresses for some.
On a more serious note if the slogan ‘Jimat Wang’ is to have some meaning, since everyone is agog with politics of the land, and in Sarawak the state election is due in less than three years, it could be time for the authorities concerned to consider holding the state elections simultaneously with the rest of the country.
Sarawak has always held its state elections at different times from the rest of Malaysia; there was a reason for doing that the first time. The authorities concerned may find it no longer necessary to do that anymore as polling can now be conducted in a single day.
More importantly, it will save a lot of the taxpayer’s money for the Election Commission to hold the general elections (parliamentary and state elections) simultaneously throughout the country.
From The BORNEO POST
ANWAR DAN KONTROVERSI
Anwar Ibrahim pemidato hebat dan berkarisma tidak mampu lari dari masalah dan kontoversi. Dulu di penjara atas tuduhan meliwat dan rasuah dan sekarang Sdra. Anwar menghadapi situasi yang sama. Benarkah tuduhan itu? Atau ini merupakan satu lagi helah politik UMNO dan BN?
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