Another false rumor – EPF Billion Dollar Scam

There is a story about EPF that is circulating on email which alleges that the government is cheating EPF saver by hundreds of millions. The story is as follows:

Remember during Budget 2008 announcement last yr, our Finance Minister cum PM) announced that in order to assist KWSP members to reduce the burden in housing load repayment, KWSP will allow monthly withdrawal from members’ A/C II for the purpose?

Sounds like a nice goodies!

When you apply for the monthly withdrawal, you only need to provide KWSP yr housing loan & installment details from yr bank and the bank a/c # you like KWSP to bank the monthly withdrawal into it. KWSP will approve yr application based on the available amt in yr A/C II and compute the withdrawal period by dividing the approved amt with the
monthly installment amt.

Application process takes about a month and you will receive the monthly payout promptly into yr bank a/c!

Well everything appear to be nice and good. It was indeed a noble plan until you take to close look at yr KWSP Statement!

This is how the so-called KWSP SCAM works…….

Assuming you have RM100,000 in yr A/C II and yr housing loan’s monthly installment is RM2000/mth.
KWSP will approve yr application of withdrawal from yr A/C II of RM100,000 and pay you Rm2000/mth for the next
50mths.

Everything appears to be in order BUT…….. What KWSP didn’t highlight to you is that when the application was approved, the TOTAL AMT (RM100,000) is removed from A/C II! It appears to be transferred to an unknown a/c to effect the monthly payment from therein..

The impact to the member are as follows :-
1. You just lost RM100,000 from yr A/C II. Assuming the KWSP Dividend is 5%, you will lose RM4,000 in dividend during the 1st year. Based on the above example you will lose RM10,000 over the 50 mths period!

2. There is no statement to account for the amt approved vs. amt paid, hence you would need to keep the monthly payment voucher to reconcile against the approved amt over the 50mths period to ensure there is no missing amt!

Assuming there are 100,000 members who innocently fell prey to this SCAM, based on the above example, KWSP would have cheated the members of 100,000 X RM10,000 = RM1,000,000,000 (that’s RM1 BILLION) over the period!

Furthermore, if you discovered this SCAM early and intend to stop the plan, KWSP would not allow any cancellation of the plan until at least 1 year. That would mean, once the application is approved, based on the above example, you would have lost RM4,000.
100,000 members would have lost 100,000 X RM4,000 = RM400,000,000(RM400 MILLION) in One Year!!!

If you’re a victim of this KWSP SCAM, would suggest you call yr MP to raise it up in Parliament!

For others who have not fallen into this SCAM, pls continue to watch out and alert yr family & friends about this.

HOW COULD THE GOVERNMENT ALLOW ITS AGENCY TASKED WITH SAFEGUARIDNG ITS CITIZEN’S HARD EARNED MONEY TO CHEAT ITS MEMBERS IN THIS MANNER???

Well here is EPF’s reply to the above allegations:

EPF PAYS DIVIDENDS FOR SAVINGS RESERVED UNDER HOUSING LOAN MONTHLY INSTALMENT WITHDRAWAL

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) would like to state that members’ savings that have been kept aside in a separate account for withdrawals under Housing Loan Monthly Instalment Withdrawal will continue to receive dividends accordingly. This statement comes in response to recent emails and blogs that state the EPF does not pay dividends on the said amount.

When a member’s application for Housing Loan Monthly Instalment Withdrawal is approved, the total amount of savings that will be taken out from Account 2 for the purpose of this withdrawal will be put aside in another account. The reason for this is to separate the amount from the main account, as funds allocated for this withdrawal cannot be used for other withdrawals from Account 2. In addition, it serves to facilitate as well as monitor the monthly payments.

The EPF would like to reiterate any savings that are still with the EPF will continue to earn dividends annually up until the member reaches the age of 75. Accordingly, the savings that have been kept aside and are committed for withdrawals under Housing Loan Monthly Instalment Withdrawal will continue to receive dividends for the year. The dividends on this amount will be credited into Account 2 after dividend for the year is declared.

In any case, the Housing Loan Monthly Instalment Withdrawal was introduced in January 2008 and as dividend for 2008 is yet to be declared, there is no issue of the EPF not paying dividends on the said amount.

We hope that this statement will put to rest any confusion regarding this issue. The EPF wishes to assure its members that it is committed to protecting members’ interests and enhancing the value of their savings.

(NIK AFFENDI JAAFAR)

Senior Manager, Public Relations

Employees Provident Fund

Date: 30 October 2008

The Debauchery of American Womanhood

by Henry Makow Ph.D., September 18, 2002

On my wall, I have a picture of a Muslim woman shrouded in a burka. Beside it is a picture of an American beauty contestant, wearing nothing but a bikini.

One woman is totally hidden from the public; the other is totally exposed. These two extremes say a great deal about the clash of so-called “civilizations.”

The role of woman is at the heart of any culture. Apart from stealing Arab oil, the impending war in the Middle East is about stripping Arabs of their religion and culture, exchanging the burka for a bikini.

I am not an expert on the condition of Muslim women and I love feminine beauty too much to advocate the burka here. But I am defending some of the values that the burka represents for me.

For me, the burka represents a woman’s consecration to her husband and family. Only they see her.

It affirms the privacy, exclusivity and importance of the domestic sphere.

The Muslim woman’s focus is her home, the “nest” where her children are born and reared. She is the “home” maker, the taproot that sustains the spiritual life of the family, nurturing and training her children, providing refuge and support to her husband.

In contrast, the bikinied American beauty queen struts practically naked in front of millions on TV. A feminist, she belongs to herself. In practice, paradoxically, she is public property. She belongs to no one and everyone. She shops her body to the highest bidder. She is auctioning herself all of the time.

In America, the cultural measure of a woman’s value is her sex appeal. (As this asset depreciates quickly, she is neurotically obsessed with appearance and plagued by weight problems.)

As an adolescent, her role model is Britney Spears, a singer whose act approximates a strip tease. From Britney, she learns that she will be loved only if she gives sex. Thus, she learns to “hook up” rather than to demand patient courtship and true love. As a result, dozens of males know her before her husband does. She loses her innocence, which is a part of her charm. She becomes hardened and calculating. Unable to love, she is unfit to receive her husband’s seed.

The feminine personality is founded on the emotional relationship between mother and baby. It is based on nurturing and self-sacrifice. Masculine nature is founded on the relationship between hunter and prey. It is based on aggression and reason.

Feminism teaches woman that feminine nature has resulted in “oppression” and that she should convert to male behavior instead. The result: a confused and aggressive woman with a large chip on her shoulder, unfit to become a wife or mother.

This, of course, is the goal of the social engineers at the NWO: undermine sexual identity and destroy the family, create social and personal dysfunction, and reduce population. In the “brave new world,” women are not supposed to be “nest” makers, or progenitors of the race. They are meant to be neutered autonomous creatures that indulge in sex for physical pleasure, not for love or procreation.

At his press conference on Sunday, Donald Rumsfeld said that Iranian women and youth were restive under the rule of the Mullahs. He implied that the US would soon liberate them. To Britney Spears? To low-rise “see-my-thong” pants? To the mutual masturbation that passes for sexuality in America?

Parenthood is the pinnacle of human development. It is the stage when we finally graduate from self-indulgence and become God’s surrogates: creating and nurturing new life. The New World Order does not want us to reach this level of maturity. Pornography is the substitute for marriage. We are to remain stunted: single, sex-starved and self-obsessed.

We are not meant to have a permanent “private” life. We are to remain lonely and isolated, dependent on consumer products for our identity, in a state of perpetual courtship.

This is especially destructive for woman. Her sexual attraction is a function of her fertility. As fertility declines, so does her sex appeal. If a woman devotes her prime years to becoming “independent,” she is not likely to find a permanent mate.

Her long-term personal fulfillment and happiness lies in making marriage and family her first priority.

Feminism is another cruel New World Order hoax that has debauched American women and despoiled Western civilization. It has ruined millions of lives and represents a lethal threat to Islam.

I am not advocating the burka but rather some of the values that it represents, specifically a woman’s consecration to her future husband and family, and the modesty and dignity this entails.

The burka and the bikini represent two extremes. The answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Henry Makow, is the inventor of the board game Scruples, and the author of A Long Way to go for a Date. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto.

The racist first world: Racism in the UK – watch this…

Bagan Pinang – why ISA SAMAD?

Many have asked me about Bagan Pinang and so here is my simple view.

When we go to vote we make a choice, that is who we will give our vote too. But the choice is not as simple as the candidate. Behind  that choice there are hidden implications – such as our desires, aspirations and hopes for the future.

When Malaysia went to the polls last year – and the opposition made the huge wins – we were not just vote for candidates, we were making a statement.

Bagan Pinang is no different. While we try to project the by election as a local issue, it really is not about Isa Samad or Zulkefly Mohamad Omar. It is about the mood of the electorate – whether it wants to send a stronger message of change, or has the message been made loud and clear already.

To me. not for the outcome for the last GE, the PKFZ scandal would have gone on and on and on as there was no real check and balance nor accountability in the system.   And PKFZ is the big one. What about the hundreds of smaller ones?

Just read the following extracts on for a  report on the investigation of BALKIS.  (the full rerport is here)

AFTER a gruelling seven days, the public inquiry into possible misuse of funds by Wives of Selangor Elected Representatives Charity Organisation (BALKIS) ended a few weeks ago, leaving those who attended reeling from the revelations.

PNSB chief executive officer Datin Khairiyah Abu Hassan dropped a bombshell when she further revealed how much the State-owned conglomerate had forked out for former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo and his family�s expenses during the overseas technical visits.

1. Jakarta and Jogjakarta , Indonesia – 20-24 April 2003 Total cost: RM201,452

Dr Khir, his wife, daughter and maid also went on the trip.

Cost of airfare for Dr Khir, his wife, daughter and maid: RM37,695 
Miscellaneous costs incurred by the delegates RM34,404

2. Morocco and Paris : 17-24 Dec 2004 (inclusive of four-day transit in Dubai ) 
Total cost: RM900,000

The trip, attended by Dr Khir, his wife, children and maid as well as PNSB delegates,

Cost of the recce team trip: RM366,000

Cost of official trip: RM416,000 
Airfare: RM366,000 
Ground arrangements RM420,000 
City travel: RM70,000 
Other expenses RM43,000

3. Honolulu (Hawaii) & Orlando ( Florida ) – 23 Dec 2007 to 1 Jan 2008 
Total cost: RM646,841 
Additional cash taken: RM101,000

The group, comprising Dr Khir, his family and PNSB delegates, bought tickets to DisneyWorld and again did not meet any Disneyland representatives.

A tour guide instead took them around. Cost of Dr Khir�s luxury suite: RM110,000 
Cost of six single superior rooms for the delegates: RM171,000 
Cost of one twin-sharing room RM24,800

Khairiyah claimed that on the trips, Dr Khir and his wife flew only first class.

Not for the change in state government, this would never have seen the light of day.

Thus, when we vote, we are either voting to endorsing such behavior or voting to want accountability , check and balances, a faithful and fair government that is accountable to the people of the state..

PD is intersting as the BN candidate ISA SAMAD was found guilty by his own party for money politics. AND YET he is fielded on the basis that he has paid his price  and he is immensely popular.

The reality is that UMNO is in rigor mortis – it cannot change as the warlords truly hold sway over the masters. To demonstrate change – Najib needs to be doing to his party what Ong Tee Kiat is doing. for MCA.

I keep saying- this period that we are going through is not about loyalty, its not about track record, its not about  gratitude.History is not autobiography.  Its all about planting the seeds for a better future for our children.  A critical component of that is to ensure that the country is governed with good governance – which means having a strong opposition.

The PKR coalition will not go away.  PKR will grow in strength, not  becasue they are better, not because they are cleverer, not because they are cleaner – but simply because they provide the check and balances.

To the people of Bagan Pinang – your vote will be taken as a proxy vote of the mood of the nation. I trust you will exercise your choice very carefully. But do think about this:

Full Article take for Malaysia Today click here:

The whole country is very focused on Najib Tun Razak’s extramarital affairs. Sure, every Malaysian knows about this. And every Malaysian also knows about him getting caught in a Port Dickson hotel room with Ziana Zain. In fact, Isa Samad even had photographs of Najib clad only in a towel with the delicious young thing in his bed. And Isa handed the photograph over to the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. (And that is why Mahathir just does not understand why Najib would choose Isa to contest the Bagan Pinang by-election when it was Isa who tried to bring Najib down with the photograph).

ed: so RPK, are you suggesting ISA SAMAD blackmailed Najib?

What will it take to build 1 Malaysia?

It is interesting to see what people are saying about 1 Malaysia and Twitter give you the most real, up to date sentiments. The vast majority of tweets on 1 Malaysia paint a picture that people think it is just another slogan and to quite a fair number, they find it repulsive.  It is hard to say if what goes on twitter is representative of the general population of is it skewed to a segment of the population.

Anyway after long reflection on the matter through the fasting month this is my take on 1 Malaysia. What is needed is pretty obvious. The premise is that to have real unity – people must unite – and people will only unite under 2 circumstances: the first is people unite in a cause that they believe in and the second is people unite becasue of a common enemy / threat.

The unity of Malaysia in the pre-post independence period was galvanized through a common ideology , a common belief in the concept of independence and ability for self determination.  The principles were set forth in the rukun negara as follows:

WHEREAS OUR COUNTRY MALAYSIA nurtures the ambitions of:

• achieving a more perfect unity amongst the whole of her society;
• preserving a democratic way of life;
• creating a just society where the prosperity of the country can be enjoyed together in a fair and equitable manner;
• guaranteeing a liberal approach towards her rich and varied cultural traditions; and
• building a progressive society that will make use of science and modern technology.

NOW THEREFORE WE, the people of Malaysia, pledge to concentrate the whole of our energy and efforts to achieve these ambitions based on the following principles:

• BELIEF IN GOD
• LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY
• THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION
• THE RULE OF LAW
• COURTESY AND MORALITY

The rukun negara is a fantastic piece of work as it set our a clear statement of goals and the pillars on which the goals would be achieved.

Somewhere in the Mahathir’s time the rukun negara  concept got buried.

Now the pendulum has swung to the other end. People ARE united – but they are united against a common enemy – “the Political Masters, namely UMNO, MCA, MIC”

In general people of all races feel that the politicians have abused their privileges as seen through the lens of corruption, “discrimination”, a weakened judiciary, poor delivery of public services, deteriorating education  standards, and so on.

The last elections clearly demonstrated that the people are united, but united against a common enemy and hence the unprecedented swing on votes to an untried and untested opposition.

The challenge now is how does one get the pendulum to swing again?

The answer is fairly straight forward. People want:

a: to feel safe

b: that the law and enforces of the law are here to protect us

c: equal access to quality education

d: equal access to quality health care

e: equal access to economic prosperity

f. freedom of expression (social, political, religious)

That’s about it.  No rocket science.

The reality is that the current political system that is race based will not allow for this to happen.  For one, to achieve “equality” will be seen as a concession that is taking away from the Malays to give to the non Malays.

Secondly, it means that people who are used to getting rewarded without competing must now compete to get rewarded.

Third the issues of  freedom of expression be it social, political or religious will be super contentious because of the lack of definition of  what the do’s and dont’s are within the context of and Islamic State.

For as long as the political system is race based and there is an unwritten belief that Malaysia is Malay in the first instance and Malaysian in the second, change will be hard to come by. But certainly  reforms in addressing corruption, education, health, public services, law and enforcement, transparency will go a long way in re-building a foundation of unity.

Ong Tee Kiat in his meeting with the SME’s (talk with Tee Kiat) outlined  a  goal of having 25% of the civil service staffed by Chinese in order to serve the chinese community.  I can understand where he is coming from, but for as long as the paradigm that a race will only serve the interest of its race exists, we will never achieve unity.

Eid Mubarak & Selamat Hari Raya

Wishing all Muslim readers Eid Mubarak – Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir & Batin.

Assuming to day is the last day of ramadan – please use the time wisely and maximize your ibadah.

Also don’t forget to maximise you 6 days of fasting in Syawal 0pportunity.

This is truly the mercy and generosity of ALLAH SWT.  We only fast a month and six day and HE credits us for a full year of fasting. Allahuakbar.

Top Salaries in Malaysia

I picked this up from the Star and I think it is worth contemplating who is getting paid how much.

There is no scandal to this or anything, its simply public data being made public.

Prime Minister RM22,826.65, Deputy Prime Minister RM 18,168.15

Minister: RM14,907.20,  Deputy Minister: RM10,847.65

(now we know their salaries, we should cross check with their lifestyles…)

For the corporate CEO’s I represent their annual salaries as daily salary (annual salary / 12months / 22 days / month):

Nazir Razak (CIMB): RM35,417 per day

Wahid Omar (while CEO of TM): RM RM6,742 per day

Ahmad Zubir Murshid (Sime Darby): RM7,764 per day

Yusli Mohamed Yusoff (Bursa Malaysia): RM7,462 per day

Lodin Wok Kamaruddin (Boustead): RM 7,007 per day.

To put some context around those per day figures, 79.3% of the entire households in Malaysia earn less than RM5,000 per MONTH (see here) and (here).

PKR Press Release on the Cow Head Incident

KENYATAAN MEDIA

UNTUK EDARAN SEGERA

Tarikh: 30 Ogos 2009

Parti Keadilan Rakyat

A-1-09, Merchant Square

No. 1, Jalan Tropicana Selatan 1

47410 Petaling Jaya

Telefon: +603 7885 0530

Faks: +603 7885 0531

E-Mel: ibupejabat@keadilanrakyat.org

Web: www.keadilanrakyat.org

ISU MENGARAK KEPALA LEMBU DI SHAH ALAM

Adalah amat pelik dan mendukacitakan apabila melihat tindakan sekumpulan 50 penduduk mengarak kepala seekor lembu, melaungkan kata-kata provokatif dan bertakbir tidak pada tempatnya.  Ia dilakukan pada hari (Jumaat) dan di bulan (Ramadan) yang cukup mulia bagi umat Islam.  Seharusnya, bulan Ramadan ini dapat melatih kita untuk menundukkan nafsu amarah yang merajalela dalam diri. Tindakan kumpulan ini adalah terasing dan bukan mewakili kehendak Islam.  Agama mengajar kita agar menangani isu-isu seperti yang dihadapi dengan penuh kesabaran, bijaksana dan berhikmah.

Kebebasan bersuara dan memberikan pandangan adalah suatu perlu diizinkan.  Inilah iklim yang kita mahu demi membina masyarakat madani dan masa depan negara yang lebih gemilang.  Namun, apabila kita lupa kepada adab dan susila yang sewajibnya, ia jadi memalukan diri sendiri, menjatuhkan imej agama dan mencalar maruah umat.  Malah, lebih parah ia boleh menimbulkan tindakbalas anarki yang mungkin tidak mampu kita kendalikan lagi.

Garis panduan mengenai hal ini telahpun digariskan Allah di dalam Al Quran yang bermaksud:

“Dan janganlah kamu memaki sembahan-sembahan yang mereka sembah selain Allah,  karena mereka nanti akan memaki Allah dengan melampaui batas tanpa pengetahuan.”(Al-An’am: 108).

Jelasnya, tindakan provokatif ke atas agama lain seperti ini boleh mencetuskan reaksi dan ketegangan yang tidak perlu sama sekali dalam masyarakat Malaysia yang majmuk dan harmoni ini.  Bukankah Islam itu merupakan agama pelindung dan rahmat untuk sekalian alam?

Melihat kepada ironisnya peristiwa yang terjadi, kita mengesyaki bagaikan ada pihak tertentu yang mengambil kesempatan untuk memenuhi agenda politik tersirat yang telah dirancang lebih awal. Maka itu, semua pihak perlu berhati-hati dan berwaspada.

Dengan kejadian ini, kita menuntut agar tindakan segera hendaklah dilakukan oleh semua pihak berwajib – polis,  Kerajaan Negeri dan pihak berkuasa agama sendiri.   Siasatan perlu perlu dibuat, siapa sebenarnya mereka (khususnya kewujudan individu yang tidak dikenali bersama kepala lembunya), siapa di belakang mereka dan apakah matlamat mereka sebenarnya.

Kita juga memohon kesabaran dan ketenangan semua pihak.  Suasana dialog dan mesyuarah dalam menyelesai segala kemelut yang berlaku hendaklah disuburkan. Ini sudah pasti dapat meningkatkan persefahaman dan saling menghormati di antara satu sama lain.  Bulat air kerana pembetung, bulat manusia kerana muafakatnya.  Bukankah Islam itu agama yang membawa kesejahteraan?

DR.MUHAMMAD NUR MANUTY

Pengerusi, Biro Pemahaman dan Pemantapan Agama

Parti Keadilan Rakyat

Minister Idris Jala – step 1 to privatizing the government?

I certainly was shocked to read the BERNAMA ticker stating that Idris Jala  is to be appointed Minister.  An sms to Idris and I got confirmation back from the horses mouth.

With the appointment comes all the cloak and dagger stories; among them are:

• To neutralise Anwar Ibrahim in Sarawak – given that Idris truly represents the local boy who has done good. (read here)
• To pressure  Koh Tsu Koon to step down (read here)
• A wake up call for sleeping cabinet members (read here)
• Failure at MAS (read here, here, here)
• and many more

The reality is that Idris is a good person who will always try his best.He is honest and most importantly he is CLEAN. Idris is a sucker for challenge.  He takes on these jobs purely as a test of himself.  If you thing about it, what bigger challenge can there be after turning around MAS than to turnaround a government.

As much as there are critics of what Idris accomplished in MAS, there probably isn’t any CEO in Malaysia who is as Headhunted as Idris Jala is globally.  And to be sought after globally is true recognition (read here).

The only concern I would have is that in all of Idris’s turnarounds – Shell Sri Lanka, SMDS in Bintulu and in MAS – there is a constant pattern – that he increases prices to the highest point the market is prepared to bear and takes out cost of operations to the barest. This are classic steps in any turnaround as follows:

Here is the step by step guide to turning around companies:

Step 1: Apply massive shock (consultants say “the case for change”) which essentially puts fear of inaction into people. (e.g. we have enough cash to survive 3 months..)

Step 2: Increase prices to that highest point that the market can bear.(e.g. excess baggage charges, administrative charges, ticket prices etc.)

Step 3: Cut out all cost that is non essential to the doing of the businesses. (Employee separation scheme, outsourcing, cutting out middle men etc.)

Step 4: “Anchor everything into the P&L” meaning that the only and true measure of performance is in the profit and loss.  (e.g. route profitability…)

These are perfectly  fine steps for private enterprises where the goal is to maximize shareholder returns – which means profits and cash flow. But in the context of a government, it means something very different.

The same steps applied to Government means Massive Privatization

This philosophy expressed in the context of  government means privatize everything . And to do that you need to shock the system.  Recall our government petrol price hike shock? (remind yourself here)  This is a very  Milton Friedman approach.

Idris is a true capitalist – which is why is so performance oriented.  From a capitalist point of view, I can see the electricity  between Idris, Azman Mokhtar, Nazir Razak  pushing the government into a pure capitalist society . That would be an absolute dream for businesses and a nightmare for society. (Read Naomi Klien’s Shock Doctrine and disaster capitalism)

To really understand how misguided this thinking is, one needs to look at Chilie and what Milton Friedman’s economics did to it.

The Chilean experiment

After his disciples were done with it, Chile was indeed radically transformed…for the worse.

Free market policies subjected the country to two major depressions twice in one decade, first in 1974-75, when GDP fell by 12 per cent, then again in 1982-83, when it dropped by 15 per cent.

Contrary to ideological expectations about free markets and robust growth, average GDP growth in the period 1974-89 — the radical Jacobin phase of the Friedman-Pinochet revolution — was only 2.6 per cent, compared to over four per cent a year in the period 1951-71, when there was a much greater role of the state in the economy.

By the end of the radical free-market period, both poverty and inequality had increased significantly. The proportion of families living below the “line of destitution” had risen from 12 to 15 per cent between 1980 and 1990, and the percentage living below the poverty line, but above the line of destitution, had increased from 24 to 26 per cent. This meant that at the end of the Pinochet regime, some 40 per cent of Chile’s population, or 5.2 million of a population of 13 million, were poor.

In terms of income distribution, the share of the national income going to the poorest 50 per cent of the population declined from 20.4 per cent to 16.8 per cent, while the share going to the richest ten per cent rose dramatically from 36.5 per cent to 46.8 per cent.

(click here to read full article)

Only time will tell.

Having said all of the above, I have enough trust in Idris that he will create a new model of how to make the government “performance oriented.  Good examples around are like the work Dato Azlan Zainol has done in EPF, and certainly Income Tax Department has come a long way. So its not like it has never been done before.

For Idris – there is a fine line between becoming Luke Skywalker (a jedi knight) and Darth Vader (the dark forces of evil.) Both were taught by the same guru – Yoda but each choose to apply the learnings differently. I trust you will choose wisely.

p/s Meanwhile Tony Fernandez can now look forward to realizing his dream of buying over MAS (remember its an airline with routes but no airplanes).

p/p/s watch Naomi Klien here:

Kartika – who then decides for GOD?

Here is an editorial piece by  P Gunasegaran.   He is commenting on the Kartika case and he start with:

And let’s do away too with a slew of outmoded, archaic laws in the statute books, both syariah and civil.

and ends with:

No matter from where justice comes, the bottom line is that it must be fair, merciful, impartial, compassionate and proportionate to the offence committed. If we ensure that all laws – syariah or civil – conform to that, there will be no problems.

In his sign off he says:

Managing editor P Gunasegaram says there is real danger of disarray when man purports to speak for God.

In essence Guna is mocking Islam

What Guna now needs to do is to explain who therefore will decide for GOD?  Who has the moral authority to say what is fair and what is unfair, just and unjsut?

For Muslims – we go back to the Quran, Sunnah of the Prophet and the Hadith.

For Guna – where does your moral compass come from?

NO TO WHIPPING FOR DRINKING 28 Aug 09 Star.
And let’s do away too with a slew of outmoded, archaic laws in the statute books, both syariah and civil.

Let’s come right out and say it: It is abhorrent to most Malaysians and most of the world that a Muslim woman – or any woman – should be whipped for drinking beer. And that is especially so when scholars say that the Quran does not prescribe such a punishment in the first place.

It’s a fact of Malaysian life that when it comes to religion we tread ever so softly, sometimes even too softly, because this entire area is considered so sensitive and is open to manipulation by undesirable elements in society.

But, sometimes, when those charged with the upholding of religious laws overstep their boundaries, it is up to the rest of us – Muslim or non-Muslim – to speak up or otherwise run the risk of having the more extreme views predominate and therefore prevail.

It’s dangerous if we don’t, because shying away from making a stand against an unfair situation means that those perpetrating it simply get more encouraged.

If the silent majority keeps silent its voice will never be heard. That would be bad.

And then there is the issue of many outmoded and archaic laws in the statute books, both syariah and civil, which can – and sometimes are – used to press charges against citizens.

The most famous of these now is the second charge of sodomy that former deputy prime minister and current Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim faces.

Many of these laws don’t involve any harm done to others and mainly centre around a person’s individual behaviour and his relations with other adults in private.

It is time that we cleaned up our statute books and got rid of laws that infringe on a person’s individual choice and which does no harm to others.

We should not only act when there is international reaction and attention focused on the issue but must as a matter of course do what is right and just for those who are affected by such punishment.

Earlier this week, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a Malaysian living in Singapore, had her whipping sentence deferred by the Pahang Syariah Appeal Court in view of Ramadan, the fasting month.

On July 20, the Pahang Syariah Court had fined Kartika RM5,000 and ordered her to be given six strokes of the rotan after she pleaded guilty to drinking beer at a hotel in Cherating, Pahang, last year.

Kartika refused to appeal and was not only adamant that she be caned but also wanted it to be done in public.

Everything seemed set for her punishment when she was scheduled for caning on Monday at Kajang prison. But Pahang Religious Department officers made a literal U-turn after picking her up at her house and returned her 45 minutes later after stopping by the roadside for 40 minutes.

This followed a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

This case is drawing international media attention and may well affect Malaysia’s long-standing reputation and status as a moderate Islamic nation which has managed to blend Islamic tenets with development imperatives for the betterment of its citizenry.

In a twist of events, Kartika achieved what some of our best corporate personalities have not been able to – to make the front page of two of the most respected business newspapers in the world.

Both Asia editions of the New York-based Wall Street Journal and the London-based Financial Times had pictures of her on Tuesday on page 1, with reports inside.

Besides that, her plight was also reported in the New York Times and by other newspapers and agencies across the globe.

While our actions should not be based on what others think of us, we must also be mindful that they are in accord with internationally accepted norms with respect to human rights and right of choice when it comes to personal behaviour.

We must take care not to be hypocrites and not to be selective in our punishments.

If everyone who is a Muslim is to be whipped for taking alcohol, our jails will be filled to overflowing with those awaiting punishment and I dare say this will include quite a number of very big names.

So why can’t we do away with punishment for an offence like this especially when many experts say there is no prescribed punishment in the Quran for taking alcohol?

While at it, we should remove from the statute books archaic laws relating to people’s sexual preferences.

How ridiculous it is for instance to keep laws which outlaw oral sex, for instance, and other acts which occur between consenting adults in their own individual moments of privacy!

There is more than a case to be made out for outlawing whipping completely for any offence, especially since experts say that there is no evidence to indicate that such punishment deters misbehaviour.

We have only to look at the number of rape and incest cases in our country to understand that the assertion is anecdotally true.

We have to stand steadfast against those who would enlist the help of vigilantes to oversee personal behaviour.

There was one proposal a couple of years ago for khalwat or close proximity.

Earlier this week, a Selangor state executive council member proposed that mosque officials be given the right to arrest Muslims who take alcohol.

Imagine the kind of abuse that will give rise to – and the invasion of privacy such moves will result in – if there is a scramble to catch offenders.

Already there have been many reported cases of abuse, including one where a Rela officer refused to allow a female detainee to relieve herself in private and actually took a picture of her when she did.

No matter from where justice comes, the bottom line is that it must be fair, merciful, impartial, compassionate and proportionate to the offence committed. If we ensure that all laws – syariah or civil – conform to that, there will be no problems.

■ Managing editor P Gunasegaram says there is real danger of disarray when man purports to speak for God.