Kerajaan negeri akan audit Zakat Pulau Pinang (ZPP)

5 Januari 2015

GEORGE TOWN, 5 JAN: Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang akan meneliti dan merancang untuk melakukan audit keatas Zakat Pulau Pinang (ZPP).

Perkara tersebut dinyatakan oleh Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Tetap Hal Ehwal Islam, Perdagangan Domestik dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna, Datuk Abdul Malik Kassim dalam satu kenyataan.

Ujarnya, tindakan itu akan dibuat berikutan aduan pelbagai pihak, selain bagi memastikan urustadbir telus, cekap dan berhemah.

“Audit akan dijalankan dengan segera bagi memastikan urustadbir yang telus, cekap dan akauntabiliti dalam pengurusan zakat negeri,” kata Malik dalam.

Ujarnya, pihaknya sedang mendapatkan kerjasama daripada ahli Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang (MAINPP), pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri dan Pejabat Kewangan Negeri.untuk menjalankan audit terhadap Zakat Pulau Pinang (ZPP).

“Kerajaan negeri melalui Majlis Agama Islam Negeri Pulau Pinang (MAINPP) akan mengambil tindakan selanjutnya setelah memperolehi laporan lengkap, termasuk mengadakan ‘audit forensik’ sekiranya perlu,” kata Malik yang juga ADUN Batu Maung. – Roketkini.com

 “Para huffaz sama ada yang hadir pada hari ini atau yang ada di luar negara adalah harta yang tidak ternilai pada negara. Kepimpinan yang berakhlak mulia akan mengemudikan negara dengan baik,” ujarnya ketika berucap sempena Majlis Pengiktirafan Al-Hafiz dan Ijtimak Huffaz Negeri Pulau Pinang di Dewan Sri Pinang, pagi tadi.

How perasan could Rafizi be?

Rafizi can be so full of himself. Thus far, 90% of his allegations can be dubunked or easily refuted or made up out of pure slander and lies.

He can also make a fool of himself by calling for lower fuel prices but when it is lowered, he argued it would bankrupt pump stations thus giving the impression he is seeking for higher fuel prices.

He is facing a legal action by former NFCorp CEO, which does nt likely to win. In Nurul Izzah's day in court, she effectively admited to slandering NFCorp and tried to seek timeout by requesting  court to wait for judgement on Rafizi's first.

It’s business as usual at 1MDB, new chief assures staff there is no immediate change

Thursday, 8 January 2015

AT the start of the interview in 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) office in Kuala Lumpur, the newly minted man at the helm of the government-owned investment fund, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, pointed out that they want to be as transparent as possible on their workings.

However, the London-trained lawyer-turned-investment banker confessed that he had yet to look at the “tonnes of documents” sitting on his table to reply to all the questions thrown at him.

Nevertheless, he has promised to provide updates and progress periodically as and when there are major developments. Below are excerpts from the interview:

What is the mandate that you have been tasked with at 1MDB?

My first priority is to ensure that my coming in does not impact the running of the business at 1MDB. It is business as usual. We need to get our people reassured that there is no immediate change to their roles and functions.

The second part of my mandate is to undertake a strategic review of 1MDB, and this is essentially an A-to-Z review of the company, its activities and strategies.

Why is there a need for a strategic review, given that 1MDB is a fairly new company?

We have 15 power plants in multiple countries and the scale of Bandar Malaysia and the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) are complex projects. Companies undertake periodic checks of themselves. The age of the company is not so much an issue, considering that the world now moves at light speed.

Why are you taking on this position?

There are a few reasons. One is personal. I am Malaysian and have family and friends here. Having been offered a role to come back to Malaysia was very attractive.

From a professional perspective, a lot of what I have been doing in my career is structured finance and I also have a legal background and have been managing a diverse portfolio of assets. The mandate fits my professional background. It is something I know I can do and am willing to give it a shot.

Thirdly, there is a strong management team at the energy and real estate divisions of 1MDB. Also, the board is fully behind the company and the shareholder, fully supportive.

Of course, there are challenges, and I am fully aware of these challenges.

How do you handle views that you are here to take care of the interests of the investments by Abu Dhabi?

I am a professional and have always been a professional. I am not aligned to any party. I am here not for any other purpose apart from the mandate from the 1MDB board, which is to act in the best interest of our shareholder. There was a process and I was interviewed by the board. Ashvin J. Valiram, who is a board member of 1MDB, had approached me for the role.

Is the listing of the energy arm on target for the first quarter?

Unfortunately, there is not much I can say, as the initial public offering (IPO) is subject to the Securities Commission’s (SC) guidelines.

Has the draft prospectus been lodged with the SC?

We are unable to confirm or deny, as we have to abide by the SC’s guidelines.

Can you comment on the RM2bil loan that is outstanding to banks like Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB?

The loans facility in question is a private facility between us and the lenders/banks. And there are confidentiality clauses. The accounts tell us what the facility is and the interest rates, but apart from that, because it is not a public instrument like bonds, we are bound by confidentiality.

In 1MDB’s latest annual report, it was stated that the remaining US$1.23bil (RM4.3bil) parked in the fund in Cayman Islands would be redeemed by Nov 30, 2014. Can you elaborate on this?

A portion of this has already come back and the remainder of the funds has already or is in the process of coming back. It’s my second day in office and there are tonnes of documents on my table, and unfortunately, my chief financial officer is not here. Otherwise, we could confirm that very quickly for you.

But the important point is that our company’s chairman (Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin) had said recently that the money would come back, and it will.

There was another amount of US$1.58bil or RM3bil that was raised, which was earmarked for TRX via a joint venture with Aabar Investments PJSC, that has been placed with an overseas fund manager. Will that money be brought back?

At the moment, we have no plans to do so. The management of those funds, as stated in the company’s accounts, is with an independent fund manager. We have various obligations that we need to manage in terms of the use of funds.

What’s important to highlight as a company is that we need to optimise our use of cash and we need to prioritise the payments and obligations that we have.

Bear in mind that there are three parts to the company – energy, Bandar Malaysia and TRX. We have operational costs and debts that we need to manage and service.

At any point in time, we have cash inflows and outflows and assets and liabilities that we need to manage and we try to optimise the use of this from a timing perspective to ensure we generate maximum value for the shareholders. In that sense, we are no different from any business.

The decision of what funds we use and when has to take into account these specific circumstances.

With the declining ringgit, what would be the impact on 1MDB, given that most of its projects are in ringgit and located in Malaysia?

Companies have a mix of funding sources. Like in any company looking at its funding requirements, it would be able to tap a variety of debt markets. At any given point in time, there would be some debt markets that are more attractive from a tenure perspective, a size or a pricing perspective.

And it was determined at that time by the management and the board that that was the optimal instrument to be issued for the company, given the company’s requirement.

Has the Aabar option tied to the purchase of the power plants been extinguished?

The option, which is the right to receive shares during the IPO, has been extinguished. To extinguish the option completely, there is a payment that is required. That payment has been made, but is subject to a formula with adjustments upward or downward, depending on the value of the proposed IPO.

What about the options granted to Tanjong plc?

Those options are still there.

— By Risen Jayaseelan and Gurmeet Kaur

Why are M’sian businesspeople so bankrupt in ethics?

January 6, 2015

Now that the government has finally decided to float the fuel cost it is puzzling why traders are unable to bring down the price of goods and services.

By J D Lovrenciear

For a very long period our nationwide experience has been one of spiralling prices that the business community quickly justifies as due to the “increase in fuel cost”.

Each time the government announces an upward revision of fuel prices, hot on its heels are the price increases in “teh tarik” at 10 to 20 sen more a cup.

And along with it is the argument that cooking gas has gone up; sugar has gone up; cooking oil has gone up; and so on and so forth.

One wonders how on earth these traders and businessmen manage to revise their prices almost overnight all in the name of keeping profits intact if not doubled.

And now that the government has finally decided to float the fuel cost along with global pricing, it has become even more puzzling why traders and businessmen are unable to reduce the prices of their goods and services.

While the cost of fuel at our pumps is reduced, we instead get petrol pump operators telling us that they may have to close shop because of the lower pricing of fuel.

Mind you, when prices were increased every now and then these past decades, these same operators were only too happy to revise their pump prices not to mention capitalise on the huge spare inventories they would have craftily reserved in time with the rumoured price increase.

Likewise, our 24-hour eateries that are insisting that the cost of teh tarik and air suam cannot go down even by one sen.

Anyone who has been to Thailand, Myanmar, or even India for that matter will tell you that their traders dutifully revise their product prices with the price of fuel for the day or week.

There is no need for enforcement in these nations. Traders allow their ethical bearings to dictate. They take it in their stride as part of their duty to nation-building and service to its citizenry.

Even in wet markets all across Thailand for example, the prices of greens and fish and poultry is adjusted for the day by the traders. But do we experience the same in Malaysian markets?

Why are Malaysians so bankrupt in ethics when it comes to business? Do we blame law enforcers? Is profiteering already a deeply entrenched pattern that being ethical in business has become almost alien to our business community?

Similarly, too, Malaysian consumers lack the will to fight this unhealthy practice in the marketplace. We continue to patronise the mamak shop or buy chicken and vegetables when we know that the price is unfair and unjustified given the reduction in fuel cost.

Malaysia’s new experience of a downward adjustment of fuel costs has revealed the extent and seriousness of how far ethics has miserably failed to take root in the country after all these decades of securing independence and self-governance.

Whatever happened to ethics in this country?

Do we blame the government? Do we blame law enforcement? Do we blame consumer organisations? Do we blame NGOs?

Or should we not blame ourselves for our pathetic lack of will to force the business community to be like their counterparts in Thailand, Myanmar and India who do not practice “opportunistic-profiteering” at the expense of nation-building and the citizenry.

J. D. Lovrenciear is an FMT reader

45 year old Sheril to make way for 65 year old Halim

Halim Shafie named MCMC chairman

11 January 2015 @ 1:58 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Former chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie, has been appointed as the new chairman of MCMC for a two-year term, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek announced today.

Halim, 65, is currently the chairman of Telekom Malaysia, a non-executive position he has held for close to six years after his stint with MCMC ended. He had served as MCMC chairman from April 2006 until May 2009.

Before joining MCMC, Halim was secretary-general of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications where he served for six years.

“I am happy to announce that Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie has agreed to come on board again,” Ahmad Shabery told Bernama.

“His tenure will be for two years and I have assigned specific tasks for him to achieve. These include looking at good governance, which is in line with the government’s efforts for all ministries and agencies.”

“Among others, Halim will be working on decoupling the role of the chief executive officer (CEO) from the role of chairman of MCMC. I feel this is important for MCMC in ensuring continuity and the balance of power within the organisation,” he added.

According to the minister, Halim was also expected to review the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 towards a healthy cyber space.

“What happened during the East Coast floods last year should be prevented from happening again. Although the law is not likely to prevent it fully, we hope that people will think carefully before they share information which is unverified,” said Ahmad Shabery.

In a crisis situation, this sort of irresponsible behaviour might cause chaos and make relief work more difficult, he added.

Halim, who is also the chairman of the Multimedia University, is well placed to assist Ahmad Shabery in advancing the minister’s digital agenda for the nation. -- Bernama

Tighter Internet control with new MCMC head?

FMT Reporters | January 11, 2015

Minister names new chairman and talks of changes in law for 'healthy cyber space'.

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia chairman Halim Shafie has been appointed the new chairman of Internet regulator MCMC for a two-year term, returning to the post he last held from 2006-2007.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who announced the appointent today, said one of Halim’s tasks would be to separate the role of chief executive from that of chairman of MCMC, the Malaysian Multimedia and Communications Commission, which oversees the Internet as well as broadcasting.

“I feel this is important for MCMC in ensuring continuity and the balance of power within the organisation,” the minister said.

Halim was also expected to review the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 towards a healthy cyber space.

Halim, 65, who is also chairman of Multimedia University, replaces Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, whose three-year contract as chairman was not renewed, after an 11-year career with the regulator.

There had been speculation within the industry that Sharil’s was removed for failing to take sufficient steps to clamp down on dissenting views on the Internet as demanded by pro-Umno factions.

Ahmad Shabery hinted of this when he said: “What happened during the East Coast floods last year should be prevented from happening again (in a possible reference to rumours and false alerts that were floated through social media).

“Although the law is not likely to prevent it fully, we hope that people will think carefully before they share information which is unverified,” said Ahmad Shabery.

In a crisis situation, this sort of irresponsible behaviour might cause chaos and make relief work more difficult, he added, Bernama reported.

The minister said: “This year, the focus will be on all aspects of digitisation for the country. I am keen to pursue a digital initiative which will cover both hard and soft infrastructure.

“We need this if Malaysia is to remain competitive as a nation. In addition to focusing on content development, we also need to constantly address issues like quality, speed and affordability.”

Ahmad Shabery also said that he would be expecting MCMC to play the lead role in implementing this and Halim’s wide experience in these areas would be an asset to the organisation, and in helping him progress this digital initiative.

“I had to persuade Halim to come out of his semi-retirement to help me with all these tasks. His first comment to me was that age was not on his side,” Ahmad Shabery said.

But the minister is confident that having served the nation for so long, Halim’s public service background, sense of commitment and dedication as well as his corporate experience gained in the last few years would augur well for MCMC and the industry.

“More importantly, once the MCMC Act 1998 is amended and the role of the chairman is decoupled from the role of the CEO, Halim will be helping me in the transition of the CEO post into the newly decoupled position,” he said.

On the former MCMC chairman, the minister wished him well for the future, thanked him for his efforts during his tenure and said, “we all appreciate his commitment to the job.”

Halim, who has a PhD in information transfer, has been a lifelong civil servant, from the Education Ministry to Intan, the civil service school. He was responsible for setting up the National Computer Centre and Management Technology Centre.

I am NOT Charlie,
I respect all religions,
I don't offend other religions,
I don't insult others on purpose.

I am NOT Charlie

By The Saker

Thursday, January 08, 2015

Okay, let's be clear. I am not Muslim. I oppose terrorism. I don't even support the death penalty.  I loathe Takfirism.  I oppose violence as a means to make a political or ethical point.  I fully support freedom of speech, including critical speech and humor.

But this morning I am most definitely NOT Charlie.

In fact, I am disgusted and nauseated by the sick display of collective hypocrisy about the murders in France.  Here is why:

Charlie Hebdo for the Darwin Awards?

The folks at Charlie Hebdo had it coming. Here is what I wrote about them in September 2012 when they published their famous caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed: Worthy of the Darwin Awards, if you ask me.  Excellent, the “gene pool” of the French “caviar-Left” badly needs some cleaning". Today I fully stand by my words.

Just a stupid dare?

Let me ask you this: what would be the point of, say, taking a nap on train tracks? You don't have to "agree" with the train which will run you over, but it still will, won't it? What about taking a nap on train tracks specifically to make a point? To prove that the train is bad? To dare it? To make fun of it? Would that not be the height of stupidity?  And yet, that is *exactly* what Charlie Hebdo did. I would even argue that this is how Charlie Hebdo made it's money, daring the "Muslim train" to run them over. You think I am exaggerating? Check out the caricature which one of the folks who got murdered yesterday had just posted. The text reads: "Still no terrorist attacks in France - Wait, we have until the end of January to send you our best wishes". The crazy person shown in the drawing is packing a Kalashnikov and wearing an Afghan "Pakol" - the typical "crazy Muslim" in Charlie Hebdo's world.  Talk about a stupid dare...

"Spitting in people's souls"

There is an expression in Russian: spitting in somebody's soul. It fully applies here. Muslims worldwide have been unambiguously clear about that. They take blasphemy very, very seriously, as they do the name of the Prophet and the Quran. If you want to really offend a Muslim, ridicule his Prophet or his Holy Book.  That is not a secret at all. And when Charlie Hebdo published their caricatures of the Prophet and when they ridiculed him the a deliberately rude and provocative manner, they knew what they were doing: they were very deliberately deeply offending 1.6 billion Muslims world wide.  Oh, and did I mention that in Islam blasphemy is a crime punishable by death? Well, it turns out that of 1.6 billion Muslims exactly three decided to take justice in their own hands and kill the very deliberately blaspheming Frenchmen.    You don't have to be Muslim or to approve of the death penalty for blasphemy to realize that this was inevitable and that this has nothing to do with Islam as a religion. Offend any group as large as 1.6 billion and sooner or later you will find 1-5 folks willing to use violence to make you pay for it. This is a statistical inevitability.

Are some victims more equal then others?

So 12 deliberately "soul spitting blasphemers" were murdered and all of France is in deep mourning. The media worldwide does such a good job presenting it all as a planetary disaster that many thousands people worldwide say "I am Charlie", sob, light candles and take a "courageous" stance for freedom of speech.

Crocodile tears if you ask me.

The Emperor's freedom fighter

The fact is that the Anglo Zionists have carefully and lovingly nurtured, organized, armed, financed, trained, equipped and even directed the Takfiri crazies for decades.  From the war in Afghanistan to Syria today these murderous psychopaths have been the foot-soldiers of the AngloZionist Empire for decades.  But, apparently, nobody cares about their victims in Afghanistan, in Bosnia, in Chechnia, in Kosovo, in Libya. in Kurdistan, in Iraq or elsewhere.  There these liver-eating murderers are "freedom fighters" who get full support.  Including from the very same media which today is in mourning over Charlie Hebdo.  Apparently, in the western ethos some victims are more equal then others.

And when is the last time somebody in Europe shed a single tear over the daily murders of innocent people in the Donbass whose murder is paid for and directly directed by the western regimes?

How stupid do they think we are?

And then this.  Even a drooling idiot knew that Charlie Hebdo was THE prime target for that kind of attack.  And I promise you that French cops are not drooling idiots.  Yet, for some reason, they were nowhere to be seen that day.  Only a van with two (or one?) cop was parked nearby (hardly an anti-terrorist protection detail) and one poor cop was shot and then executed with an AK shot to the head while he was begging for mercy.  Is this the best the French state can do?
 
Hardly.
 
So what is going on here?  I will tell you what - the EU 1%ers are now capitalizing on these murders to crack down on their own population.  Sarkozy already met Hollande and they both agreed that new levels of firmness and vigilance need to be implemented.  Does that not reek of a French 9/11?
 
So no, I am most definitely NOT Charlie this morning and I am disgusted beyond words with the obscene display of doubleplusgoodthinking"solidarity" for a group of "caviar-lefties" who made their money spitting in the souls of billions of people and then dared them to do something about it.  And I am under no illusion whatsoever about the fact that cui bono clearly indicates that the French regime either organized it all, or let it happen or, at the very least, makes maximal political use of it all.
 
But most of all, I am disgusted with all those who play along and studiously avoid asking the right questions about all this.  I guess they really are "Charlies" all of them.
 
I am not.

The Saker

News > World   

Armed French intervention police are seen at the scene of a shooting in the street of Montrouge near Paris January 8, 2015.

CIA Behind France Attacks, Says Ex White House Official

Published 11 January 2015

Paul Craig Roberts, wrote on his blog Thursday that the atrocities were a "false flag" operation, similar to those carried out after WW II to frame communists.

Attacks carried out by alleged Islamic gunmen in France last week that left 17 dead were the work of the CIA, “designed to shore up France’s vassal status to Washington,” a former White House official has claimed.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and editor of the Wall Street Journal, Paul Craig Roberts, wrote on his blog Thursday that the atrocities were a “false flag” operation, similar to those carried out after World War II to frame communists.

“Muslims are going to be framed for an inside job designed to pull France firmly back under Washington’s thumb,” he wrote.

The tragedy began when two heavily armed brothers burst into the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo Wednesday, killing 12. The drama continued with the murder of a policewoman, and two concurrent sieges, one in a kosher supermarket.

As evidence for his theory, Roberts drew on the revelation that the ID of gunman Said Kouachi was found on the scene, comparing it to the “undamaged passport of one of the alleged 9/11 hijackers (found) among the massive pulverized ruins of the twin towers,” another attack he claims the U.S. intelligence agency was behind.

Read more: France Hit by Charlie Hebdo Tragedy

The ex-Washington insider suggested that the motive could be to create greater dependence on the U.S. from France, whose president this week called for an end to Washington-imposed sanctions against Russia.

“This is too much foreign policy independence on France’s part for Washington,” Roberts wrote.

The publication of this version of events comes as Wikileaks posted a text Saturday that appears to be written by its founder, Julian Assange, which says the failure of the French authorities in the Charlie Hebdo massacre is so conspicuous, that questions about government links to the killers must be asked.

Among the author’s questions are: Why weren’t the  Kouachi brothers, both known to have extremist ties, not under surveillance?; Why were the Charlie Hebdo offices not better protected, given that the magazine regularly and strongly criticizes Islam?; and just how did two known terrorists get hold of semi-automatic weapons?

“Cherif Kouachi had already been convicted of terrorism offences and served 18 months in prison for it. Both brothers were already on terrorism lists. Far from hiding messages under rocks or using encryption, the alleged conspirators communicated hundreds of times before and during the attacks — on regular phones,” the article states..

Paris attack false flag ops

Malaysia, France and Norway seemingly experienced terror attacks after irking Israel, suggested Live Leak.

Malaysian planes started falling out of the sky after the Kuala Lumpur Tribunal found Israel guilty of genocide in late 2013, it said, referring to MH370 that went missing in March last year, and MH17 that was shot down in Ukraine in July.

"Just one month ago, France set off a stampede when its lower house voted to recognize Palestine.

"Suddenly "Islamic terror strikes France." Is Paris being punished for its pro-Palestine vote?" it asked in an article posted on its website.

Live Leak posted this following the Jan 7 shooting incident at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine office in France that allegedly killed 12 people.

Within two days French police eventually gunned down two suspects namely  Said and his brother Cherif Kouachi.

Live Leak also noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that France was making a grave mistake by recognising Palestine as a state.

In 2011, the youth wing of Norway's Labor Party wanted to impose a complete blockade on Israel. Suddenly the entire leadership of the Party's youth wing was slaughtered in a professional operation falsely attributed to a lone nut, Anders Breivik, reported Live Leak.

Critics are claiming that the Paris terror attack was another false flag operation.

Veterans Today senior editor Gordon Duff noted that there appeared to be no blood after a gunman allegedly shot French policeman Ahmed Merabet using an AK-47 assault rifle.

"Bullets of AK-47 have steel rods in them used to penetrate body armor. These rods take out baseball sized chunks out of concrete. None of this was seen! ," said Duff.

The death of French police commissioner Helric Fredow who was investigating the Charlie Hebdo shooting incident had also raised suspicion.
 
Fredow, 45, a regional deputy director, had purportedly committed suicide on Thursday night shortly after meeting the family of one of the Charlie Hebdo massacre victims. He purportedly died before completing the report.

Meanwhile Charlie Hebdo is planning to increase its print from 60,000 copies previously to one million.

Most of the cartoonists killed were old timers namely Jean "Cabu" Cabut, 76, Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac, 57, Georges Wolinski, 80, and Philippe Honore, 73.

The magazine's editor-in-chief Gerard Biard  was in London during the incident, while many other journalists reportedly escaped death because they came in late.

"Follow me, lead me, or get the hell out of way."

Every person subject to service law under this Act who, whether wilfully or through neglect, disobeys any lawful command of his superior officer/standing orders shall, on conviction by court-martial, be liable to imprisonment or any less punishment provided by this Act.

1. Death,
2. Imprisonment to a term not exceeding 14 years,
3. Dismissal with disgrace from His Majesty’s service,
4. Dismissal from His Majesty’s service,
5. Forfeiture of seniority of rank,
6. Dismissal of an officer from the ship he belongs to,
7. Fine,
8. Severe reprimand,
9. Reprimand,
10. In the occasion of expense, damage, or loss, stoppages.