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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:15 |
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Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, the chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club has called on the reduction of toll rates by 10% instead of the initial proposal for discounts of 10% for cars using the North-South Expressway and the North-South Central Link from 12 to 7am starting next year. He said “There is no real sincerity in giving the discount. The Ministry should monitor the traffic volume at toll plazas and if it had increased more than the pre-estimated volume as stated in the agreement, there would be extra income and the concessionaire could afford to reduce the toll rates. The Ministry cannot come up with the excuse that their hands are tied,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:14 |
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Arianna Teoh, the event organizer of the Kings of Tennis event has offered another tennis show in Penang where she is now trying to obtain sponsors for the show. She said “With the support of the Penang government, I am endeavouring to ensure that a tennis event with world class players will still take place in Penang at the soonest possible time. Hopefully I will be able to salvage a position that will make Penang proud, especially after so much time and hard work had been spent,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:13 |
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Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, the president of the MCA has denied any setting up of a Veterans Committee as claimed by a Chinese newspaper although a proposal do exist. He said “I have yet to make any decision let alone an announcement on the matter. But everyone is free to make speculations,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:12 |
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Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs said that the current petrol price of RM2 per liter might just reduce further come December and did not rule out of such possibility when the NEAC (National Economic Action Council) meets then. He said “In October, the retail price was RM2.15 while the commercial price was RM2.26. In September, the retail price was RM2.45 and the commercial price was RM2.77. In August, the retail price was RM2.55 and the commercial price was RM2.83. We do not have a situation where we change the price every week and we also have to take into consideration petrol dealers and their stock. They claim each time the price is reduced by 15sen, they lose 15sen. In my opinion, they only lose 3sen,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:11 |
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In his reply to Karpal Singh on the criteria of promoting the Court of Appeal and Federal court judges, Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister’s said that the promotion of judges are based on their seniority, integrity, capability and experience. He also replied to Teresa Kok where he mentioned that Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, in her capacity as the special advisor on women and social development affairs are focused on identifying issues and programmes that involves women and Islamic families while proposing policies in overcoming such problems.
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05 |
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Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that he will be naming the members in Umno who are involved in money politics and is willing to be sued for defamation as he is not afraid to expose the truth. He said “I can’t do anything about the complaints except to hand these over to the Umno disciplinary committee. I will put these names up in my blog. I am not afraid of being sued for libel or being arrested by the police. If they can release (blogger and Malaysia Today editor) Raja Petra Kamarudin, won’t they also be able to release me as well?”
He added that “Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has mentioned that he will continue with the teachings of Islam Hadhari. This is not a good sign as it shows that the transition is only in the person, and not in terms of policies. The voters did not like the policies that were put into place by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, so they will still reject Umno. So, there is no point in having such a transition. We have to think whether the person taking over from the Prime Minister will get rid of all those in Umno who are now involved in corruption. If he is biased and there won’t be any cleaning up, the rakyat will reject the party. If they end up choosing the Opposition party, that will present us with a dilemma because their leadership is not convincing,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05 |
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Lim Kit Siang the veteran DAP MP has demanded for Datuk Wong Chun Wai, the Editor-in-Chief of The Star to amend the allegations that Lim had signed a ‘secret’ pact with other Pakatan Rakyat leaders to uphold Malay rights and the status of Islam as the official religion. Lim released a press statement that stated “The realities of Malaysian politics” that “Anwar Ibrahim has revealed a signed document between himself, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and PAS’ Hadi Awang that none of us has heard of until now - an agreement to uphold the rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The Sept 8 agreement pledged to uphold Malay rights and the status of Islam as the official religion. My position and that of DAP on Articles 3 and 153 have never changed in the past 41 years since the formation of the DAP. We have also never shifted from our stand that Article 3 does not provide the basis for an Islamic state which is contrary to the secular character of Malaysian nation-building agreed by the major communities on the attainment of independent nationhood and an important feature of the Merdeka social contract.”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:15 |
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Lee Kim Sin, the chairman of the Selangor Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) has started investigations into the discrepancies of the Sungai Panjang RM28 million Marine Park Project. The issue was highlighted by the Auditor General’s 2007 report which was also brought up by the assemblymen and MPs of the Pkatan Rakyat. He said “We have to spend RM700,000 now to stop the erosion problem, fix damages due to the soil settlement and replace some of the metal items facing corrosion but even then there is little chance that it will end up as anything more than a white elephant,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:13 |
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Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, the Health Minister said that the ministry will be working closely with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry where they will send their officers overseas to help restore the confidence of Malaysian produced biscuits and products. He said “I’d like to say that we would expedite and work together with Miti to restore the confidence overseas. We will also send officials oversea to brief them on the steps we have taken to restore confidence,” He added that “I would like to assure the public that the problem of high melamine levels in biscuits has been resolved. We managed to solve the issue and so the biscuits in the country are safe to be eaten,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:12 |
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Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan, the director-general of the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency) said that investigation have since started on some 82 money politics cases. He said “We have received about 280 reports so far and we have opened investigations into 82 cases. If there is sufficient evidence then we will take action against them by either taking them to court or referring them to their respective disciplinary boards. For the ACA, there is no such thing as money politics as anything to do with a bribe is considered corruption,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 23:11 |
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Datuk Chor Chee Heung, the Deputy Home Minister said that since 2000, there has been forty-five convicts who have pardoned including 3 foreigners by the State Pardons Board. He said "Rule 54 of the prisons regulation 2000 states that the prison officer is responsible for submitting a report for a review of the sentence to the State Pardons Board once every four years. Rule 113 (convict petition other than those on death row) and Rule 114 state that a convict has the right to submit a petition or appeal to the Yang Dipertuan Agong or Sultan or Yang Dipertua Negeri where the crimes were committed. None of the convicts pardoned had returned to a life of crime. This clean record is because the convicts pardoned were picked based on their discipline, repentance and rehabilitation progress." He added that "The parole system is not like pardon as the convict still has to undergo the sentence outside prison and is only applicable to certain offences. Parole is not allowed for serious offenders,"
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05 |
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Mohamad Azmin Ali, the PKR representative has alleged that Approved Permits (APs) for imported cars have been given to the relatives of Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, the former Minister of International Trade and Industry after it was approved a committee then chaired by the Secretary general Tan Sri Sidek Hassan. He claimed that Autostadt Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Zulkifli Ishak, the husband of Annie Tajol Arus who is Rafidah’s niece. He said “Till now the company has no showroom but only dealers to sell the cars,” he added that “My question is why Naza is given so many APs. Another question is why APs were only given to 77 companies and not others. Also, the award of APs do not seem to be fair and transparent,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05 |
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Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs said that the government do not plan to abolish the subsidy for fuel although it no longer is doing so but is only subsidizing diesel and LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas). He said “At the price of RM2 per litre, the Government is not subsidising. The subsidy for petrol at the pump in October was only RM15mil,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05 |
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Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister said that the government cannot force traders to slash prices of products in light of the falling fuel prices. He said “We can only encourage and ask for the cooperation of small traders and business owners to take part in the price reduction campaign and cut prices of controlled items. We cannot force them to do it because they do not only sell controlled items. Even if there is a price cut, consumers would have to wait until these products were produced using cheaper material before they could enjoy lower prices,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday |
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