مهاتير محمد's Blog, page 52
January 9, 2014
AUSTRALIA’S AUTO INDUSTRY
2. It seems that GM is asking the Australian Government to guarantee support for five more years beyond 2015 with more than AUS$200,000,000 per year. The Government is not willing to do this.
3. The Holden is just not selling well. Australians prefer foreign made cars.
4. Once Japanese cars entered Australia the sale of the Holden went down. Then Australia decided to liberalise import through FTA. The expectation was that the FTA would result in bigger markets for Australian products.
5. But Australia found that its products could not compete with the products of its trading partners in terms of quality, design and price in the Australian market, much less in foreign markets. Holden cars were once sold in Malaysia. None is imported now.
6. Australia like the European developed countries believe in socialistic ideas including increasing wages and pay every year even when the businesses are not making profits. The productivity level relative to the wages is low. Price-wise the Australian products are not competitive even in Australia. The FTA aggravates the situation as foreign goods flood the Australian market without Australian goods penetrating foreign markets. Fortunately for Australia it has large reserves of iron ore, coal and other raw materials for export to China.
7. With the demise of the car manufacturers, the Australian vendors of components and parts have lost their market.
8. Not to worry. Malaysia has come to the rescue of these vendors. We have invited them to come and set up components manufacturing in Malaysia.
9. They will compete with Malaysian vendors. With cheap Malaysian labour, the Australians will become competitive. Malaysian vendors will lose their local market especially after TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement).
10. Australian investments will qualify as FDI. Malaysia welcomes FDI and will give incentives. Local investors need not be helped.
11. Malaysia encouraged FDI even before people knew the meaning of FDI. Our purpose in those early days was to create jobs for our people. We concentrated on labour intensive industries. We created so many jobs that we had to use foreign labour. Every year billions of Ringgits are remitted to their countries. Someone should study what this means to our economy. I don’t know.
12. A lot of FDI today is for the construction of buildings. They are huge but I don’t think they benefit Malaysia much. I don’t think they bring in technology which we do not have. We do not have workers so the benefit will go to foreign workers who will increase remittance out.
13. What we need to improve our income is to have investments in hi-tech industries, particularly by Malaysian investors. Better qualified Malaysians can work in these hi-tech industries. There must be many of these Malaysians as a few thousand vacancies in the Government attracted more than one million applicants.
14. For a country to become developed we need to diversify. Building spectacular buildings and shining skyscrapers alone will not make us a developed country whatever may be the per capita income or the GDP.
15. Our stress now is on making foreign goods cheaper for our consumers. This leads to outflow of funds, contributing to deficits. The diminished market for local products including cars may result in the cessation of production locally. The purchase power of the people will decrease and there would be less money to purchase imported goods. There would be less consumers and this will affect adversely the per capita and GDP. I don’t know whether this is good for growth.
16. It is time we define our objectives. Do we just want high income for some but low per capita as seen in some oil producing countries or do we want growth and development so as to qualify as a developed country?
January 7, 2014
PUTRAJAYA
2. Berkenaan dengan Putrajaya. Yang sebenarnya tujuannya ialah untuk mendiri sebuah Bandar pentadbiran. Kita mendapat ilham dari bandar-bandar dunia untuk tujuan ini.
3. Di antara yang mempengaruhi rekabentuk Putrajaya ialah ibu kota Perancis, iaitu Paris.
4. Yang kita pilih sebagai contoh ialah Champs Elysees, boulevard utama yang melintasi tengah Bandar Paris.
5. Boulevard ini mempunyai jalan tengah yang luas untuk lalu-lintas kereta dan dua buah jalan kecil antara jalan tengah dengan deretan bangunan di kiri kanan untuk pelawat ke kedai dan restoran.
6. Tingkat bawah bangunan-bangunan ini terdapat kedai-kedai makan dan barangan dan juga pusat hiburan seperti Lido. Memanglah restoran menjual barangan yang tidak halal.
7. Sesungguhnya Champs Elysees dipenuhi dengan pembeli-belah tempatan dan pelancong dalam dan luar negeri sepanjang masa. Ramainya mereka di sini kerana terdapat kedai dan restoran mewah. Lido mempunyai tarikan hiburan yang istimewa.
8. Kita tidak berhasrat meniru segala-galanya yang terdapat di Champs Elysees di Paris. Kita juga tidak ingin menjadi Putrajaya sebagai Bandar pentadbiran yang penuh dengan pejabat Kerajaan semata-mata.
9. Di Negara maju terdapat CBD – Central Business District yang penuh dengan pejabat-pejabat syarikat terkemuka di Bandar besar. Pada siang hari ramailah pekerja dan pelawat membanjiri CBD. Apabila pejabat tutup pada 5 petang, CBD menjadi senyap sunyi. CBD juga berbahaya pada waktu malam kerana ramai penjenayah merayau-rayau dan menyamun orang yang masuk kawasan ini.
10. Sudah tentu jika ramai orang terdapat di mana kawasan, kemungkinan penjenayah bermaharajalela akan berkurangan.
11. Saya cadang kepada pengurusan Putrajaya supaya diadakan kedai-kedai makanan dan barangan sepanjang jalan tengah Putrajaya. Dalam pada itu pusat hiburan ringan juga perlu diadakan.
12. Pada malam Sambutan Ambang Tahun Baru hampir 100,000 orang, kebanyakannya Melayu telah dihibur dengan lagu-lagu merdu dan tarian. Mereka tidak mungkin datang jika tidak ada hiburan.
13. Adanya hiburan ini tidak bercanggah dengan idea Putrajaya.
14. Saya tidak bersetuju jika diadakan kedai arak dan tarian bogel di Putrajaya. Tetapi jika diadakan sedikit hiburan tidak mengapa.
15. Saya tak pernah pergi ke Hard Rock Café. Mungkin ia tidak sesuai. Tetapi ia dan pusat hiburan lain boleh disesuaikan jika sanggup mengadakan hiburan yang tidak lucah. Kita perlu kepada hiburan. Jika ada acara persandingan di dewan-dewan di Putrajaya tidak ada larangan terhadap hiburan. Kenapa tidak pusat hiburan di restoran.
16. Perubahan sedang dilakukan oleh Tan Sri Aseh kepada Putrajaya. Saya lihat semakin ramai pelawat datang ke Putrajaya sebelah malam kerana perubahan-perubahan ini.
January 6, 2014
MULTIRACIAL MALAYSIA
1. Malaysia is a truly multiracial country. It is truly so because Malaysians retain their identification with their countries of origin.
2. Multiracial countries are almost never peaceful. More so if the races follow different religions, speak different languages and adhere to different cultures as in Malaysia.
3. But contrary to general expectations, Malaysia is relatively peaceful and stable. It is accordingly more prosperous than can be expected of countries which gained independence recently.
4. The reason for Malaysia’s peace and prosperity is because the people believe in sharing, sharing political power and economic wealth.
5. Unfortunately there are in this country people who wish to end this sharing concept. They see a possibility of dominating not just economic wealth but political power as well.
6. They dangle this bait before the Chinese in the 2013 elections. And this resulted in wholesale desertion of Chinese voters from the BN coalition to basically the DAP.
7. Fortunately the majority of Malays adhered to the sharing concept espoused by the BN. And so, despite this desertion the BN won, but won with a much thinner majority. The fact that the contribution to this victory is largely by Malays and other indigenous people reflects a rejection of the concept of inter-racial sharing by non-Malays.
8. I think the parties in the BN should be reminded that this is a multiracial country and it can only remain peaceful and prosperous if they uphold this ideal of sharing between the races.
9. The Malays must remember that they cannot rule and prosper this country on their own.
10. They need the dynamism and business skills of the Chinese. They need also the professional skills of the Indians.
11. The Chinese and Indians must also realise that they need Malay support if they wish to form a Government in Malaysia. And Malay support will not be forthcoming if the Chinese and Indians are not prepared to share and share fairly political power and economic wealth.
12. In multiracial Malaysia a strong Government is a necessity. We cannot afford a minority Government.
13. Having tried to stop sharing in the 2013 elections, those who deserted the BN should come back. They should return to the status quo ante.
14. Perhaps some adjustments should be made to the sharing formula. But there should be no threat, no holding others to ransom by any race. Any attempt to do so would kill the effort.
15. For more than 50 years the sharing formula brought development and prosperity to Malaysia. The whole world acknowledges this. The opposition will deny this of course but then the opposition needs to denounce all Malaysia’s achievements since they wish to have one dominant race enjoying political power and economic wealth. If they acknowledge the success of Malaysia there would be no ground for their existence.
16. But all others agreed that among the countries which gained independence after the war, Malaysia is the most peaceful, stable and prosperous. Its rate of growth is among the highest in the world. Even when its trading partners in Europe and America face regression, Malaysia is still growing.
17. Only the insane can think that Malaysia should have the kind of upheavals, demonstrations and the like that we see in the countries of the Middle East and elsewhere. Maybe we are not perfect but that is no reason why we should discard something that had largely delivered on its promise.
18. Political parties do not like to lose. But in Malaysia when the Government party lost, it had peacefully surrendered power. That this has not been seen at national level is the people’s will. But at state level it has given up power in six states. I believe it will give up power at national level if the people so wish.
19. But the will of the people must be expressed through elections, not through demonstrations or other means.
20. But they say the BN Government will cheat in elections. If it cheats it would not lose at State levels and it will not see opposition candidates win and take their places in Parliament at national level. But it has never happened that the opposition fail to win at all as happened in countries in which the Government cheats. We don’t have the 99 per cent victories for the ruling party in Malaysia.
21. 2014 will be a difficult year for Malaysia. We need stability in the country more than ever. The racially-based component parties in the BN should return to the sharing principle that had won them support for more than half a century. This will ensure stability. And with stability we can face all challenges and continue to grow the country.
January 1, 2014
FLOODS
1. Every year the east coast states would suffer from floods, with loss of property and lives. In Kuala Lumpur and other cities and towns flash floods following heavy downpours occur regularly several times a year.
2. We accept these floods as a climatic feature of Malaysia, as something which must happen. It is God’s will. There is no way we can stop them. And so we make preparation for the victims – food and evacuation centers. We commiserate with those who lost their loved ones.
3. The architects of Malaysia are not satisfied with just repairing the damage by the floods. In particular they want to prevent motor vehicles parked in underground car parks from being “drowned” as water pours down and fills up the multi-storied underground parking lots.
4. So now they build six-storeyed car parks above the ground. The residences and hotels have their first floor seven storey above the ground.
5. The cars are saved from the flood waters. But the buildings look ugly especially when no attempt is made to decorate architecturally the bare openings around the car parks to the outside.
6. A better and more attractive design would be to maintain the underground car parks but with the first floor of the building, (lobby or entrance hall) raised to about 12 feet or more above the level of the street or the road.
7. The building’s first floor must be about 12 feet plus from the road level with concrete walls surrounding the space below the first floor extending down to surround the car park bellow the building. The space between the wall and the road can be filled with earth and grown with grass and flowering plants.
8. A ramp must be built from the road to the entrance of the building at the first floor. Another ramp must be built for the cars to drive down into the multi-storeyed car park below. The car park must be enclosed by solid walls and floor. There must be good lighting and security.
9. The road or street will become virtual drains during floods due to rain or tide. This will help the flood waters to drain quickly into the canals or rivers as soon as tide goes down or rain stops.
10. On the east coast where floods regularly occur during the monsoon rain, the simplest solution is to go back to building houses on stilts like the old Malay houses. The first floor of the houses must be above the highest flood water mark.
11. The stilts supporting the houses must be sturdy and buried deep in the ground. Concrete should be used.
12. Steps can be built leading up to the first floor as in the old Malay houses. A ramp can be built so that the cars can be driven up for to the first floor during floods. There should of course be an entrance to the house from the raised porch for the car.
13. Government spends quite a substantial amount of money for flood relief. By insisting that houses be built on stilts this money would be saved. Part of the savings can be used to subsidize the cost of the stilts at least initially. The house-owners or occupants too would save money.
14. Architects can design these stilts so as to look attractive. In fact a competition for new styles of houses on stilts should be held if this idea is accepted.
15. In Malaysia the only town which built houses including shop-houses high above the road is Beaufort in Sabah.
16. Incidentally I was born in a house on stilts. The first floor of my Seberang Perak house is 4½ ft above the ground. The land is very low and during springtide river water used to flood the ground under my house and around it by a few inches. It does not do so now because of dams upstream and a barrage downstream.
17. But the northern plains of Kedah get flooded after heavy rains in Southern Thailand and North Kedah. Still the flood waters never reached the raised floor of my Seberang Perak house.
18. When I built my own house in Titi Gajah, I decided to raise the ground by about 2 ft. A concrete wall 2 ft high was built round my land and it was filled with red earth.
19. The ground floor of the house was at a slightly higher lever, about 3 ft. I decided to build a basement about 1½ ft lower. The window of the basement was about 4 ft above the floor. Outside the basement I heaped up earth to a level just below the windows. The kitchen was also at the level of the basement.
20. During springtide tide flood waters did not get into my kitchen or basement. But during big floods water did get into the kitchen and basement but not high enough to damage the hot plates or refrigerator.
21. The new housing estates in Kedah are all built on existing ground level. Where the ground is high they are safe. But those built on the low land areas will get flooded.
22. If we don’t do something, every year thousands will have to be evacuated and a few will lose their lives. And lots of money would be wasted on food, evacuation and repairing flood damage.
Floods
1. Every year the east coast states would suffer from floods, with loss of property and lives. In Kuala Lumpur and other cities and towns flash floods following heavy downpours occur regularly several times a year.
2. We accept these floods as a climatic feature of Malaysia, as something which must happen. It is God’s will. There is no way we can stop them. And so we make preparation for the victims – food and evacuation centers. We commiserate with those who lost their loved ones.
3. The architects of Malaysia are not satisfied with just repairing the damage by the floods. In particular they want to prevent motor vehicles parked in underground car parks from being “drowned” as water pours down and fills up the multi-storied underground parking lots.
4. So now they build six-storeyed car parks above the ground. The residences and hotels have their first floor seven storey above the ground.
5. The cars are saved from the flood waters. But the buildings look ugly especially when no attempt is made to decorate architecturally the bare openings around the car parks to the outside.
6. A better and more attractive design would be to maintain the underground car parks but with the first floor of the building, (lobby or entrance hall) raised to about 12 feet or more above the level of the street or the road.
7. The building’s first floor must be about 12 feet plus from the road level with concrete walls surrounding the space below the first floor extending down to surround the car park bellow the building. The space between the wall and the road can be filled with earth and grown with grass and flowering plants.
8. A ramp must be built from the road to the entrance of the building at the first floor. Another ramp must be built for the cars to drive down into the multi-storeyed car park below. The car park must be enclosed by solid walls and floor. There must be good lighting and security.
9. The road or street will become virtual drains during floods due to rain or tide. This will help the flood waters to drain quickly into the canals or rivers as soon as tide goes down or rain stops.
10. On the east coast where floods regularly occur during the monsoon rain, the simplest solution is to go back to building houses on stilts like the old Malay houses. The first floor of the houses must be above the highest flood water mark.
11. The stilts supporting the houses must be sturdy and buried deep in the ground. Concrete should be used.
12. Steps can be built leading up to the first floor as in the old Malay houses. A ramp can be built so that the cars can be driven up for to the first floor during floods. There should of course be an entrance to the house from the raised porch for the car.
13. Government spends quite a substantial amount of money for flood relief. By insisting that houses be built on stilts this money would be saved. Part of the savings can be used to subsidize the cost of the stilts at least initially. The house-owners or occupants too would save money.
14. Architects can design these stilts so as to look attractive. In fact a competition for new styles of houses on stilts should be held if this idea is accepted.
15. In Malaysia the only town which built houses including shop-houses high above the road is Beaufort in Sabah.
16. Incidentally I was born in a house on stilts. The first floor of my Seberang Perak house is 4½ ft above the ground. The land is very low and during springtide river water used to flood the ground under my house and around it by a few inches. It does not do so now because of dams upstream and a barrage downstream.
17. But the northern plains of Kedah get flooded after heavy rains in Southern Thailand and North Kedah. Still the flood waters never reached the raised floor of my Seberang Perak house.
18. When I built my own house in Titi Gajah, I decided to raise the ground by about 2 ft. A concrete wall 2 ft high was built round my land and it was filled with red earth.
19. The ground floor of the house was at a slightly higher lever, about 3 ft. I decided to build a basement about 1½ ft lower. The window of the basement was about 4 ft above the floor. Outside the basement I heaped up earth to a level just below the windows. The kitchen was also at the level of the basement.
20. During springtide tide flood waters did not get into my kitchen or basement. But during big floods water did get into the kitchen and basement but not high enough to damage the hot plates or refrigerator.
21. The new housing estates in Kedah are all built on existing ground level. Where the ground is high they are safe. But those built on the low land areas will get flooded.
22. If we don’t do something, every year thousands will have to be evacuated and a few will lose their lives. And lots of money would be wasted on food, evacuation and repairing flood damage.
December 31, 2013
Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru 2014
Saya dan isteri saya mengucapkan Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru 2014 kepada semua rakyat Malaysia, khususnya pembaca blog ini. Semoga kedatangan tahun baru ini akan memberi kita semangat dan iltizam untuk terus menerus berusaha menjayakan diri kita sebagai rakyat Malaysia yang bertuah.
December 29, 2013
ORANG HALUS DAN HANTU JEMBALANG II
1. Saya amat tertarik dengan komen terhadap tulisan saya berkenaan tajuk di atas. Ada yang cuba takrifkan iblis, syaitan dan jin sebagai orang halus. Sebenarnya kita tidak diberitahu dalam Al-Quran besar atau kecilnya iblis, syaitan dan jin. Yang kita diberitahu ialah iblis dan syaitan cuba memengaruhi pemikiran kita supaya membelakangkan ajaran Islam, melakukan yang dilarang, yang tidak baik. Untuk menghalang pengaruh mereka kita membaca ayat-ayat Al-Quran supaya dikukuhkan iman kita semula.
2. Tetapi orang yang percaya kepada orang halus ini meminta izin daripada mereka ini apabila masuk hutan atau tempat-tempat tertentu. Air jampi disimbah kesana-sini. Ini bermakna kita memberi kuasa kepada makhluk ghaib ini. Al-Quran tidak menyuruh kita meminta perlindungan daripada iblis dan syaitan yang kononnya adalah orang halus dan makhluk ghaib.
3. Antara makhluk yang ghaib dengan ghaib terdapat perbezaan yang banyak. Kita tidak dapat lihat tuhan kita Allah s.w.t., malaikat, syurga dan neraka. Tetapi sebagai orang Islam kita terima adanya semua ini. Tetapi dalam fahaman orang Melayu ada pula makhluk lain yang kita tidak nampak tetapi berkuasa keatas kita. Janganlah cuba menyamakan hantu jembalang, pelesit dan orang halus dengan malaikat. Jangan cuba samakan orang halus dengan kuman bakteria yang membawa penyakit. Kuman memang halus tetapi bukan ghaib. Kita tahu penyakit tertentu yang dibawa oleh kuman tertentu. Kita boleh baca doa apabila diserang penyakit-penyakit ini tetapi Al-Quran menyebut bahawa Allah s.w.t. tidak akan memperbaiki nasib kita (menyembuh penyakit kita) melainkan kita berusaha memperbaikinya. Dan percubaan kita adalah dengan makan ubat atau bedah. Kita juga terima walaupun kita berusaha, tidak semestinya kita sembuh jika tidak diizinkan Tuhan.
4. Saya ingin cerita sedikit berkenaan kepercayaan orang Melayu.
5. Dahulu orang Melayu berperang dengan orang Siam. Kepercayaan orang Melayu ialah orang Siam mempunyai ilmu ghaib. Mereka percaya orang Siam boleh kebalkan diri dan meresap.
6. Apabila tentera Melayu berhadapan dengan tentera Siam, mereka naik takut kononnya melihat tentera Siam ini meresap, terbang ke sana sini dan tidak boleh ditembusi peluru atau senjata lain.
7. Dengan kepercayaan ini mereka percaya mereka tidak mungkin kalahkan pasukan tentera Siam. Dan mereka pun lari dikejar oleh tentera Siam dan ramai yang dibunuh.
8. Kita tahu sebenarnya tentera Siam adalah manusia biasa. Tetapi kerana kepercayaan yang tidak berasas ini kita naik takut. Sekarang ini pun ada sedikit sebanyak kepercayaan seperti ini. Fikirkanlah kalau tentera kita mempunyai kepercayaan seperti ini apakah dapat mereka mempertahankan negara.
9. Sebenarnya tidak ada orang luarbiasa yang boleh lindungi kita daripada makhluk ciptaan mereka. Yang boleh melindungi kita ialah Allah s.w.t. Kita perlu usaha tetapi jika Tuhan tidak menentukan kita akan pulih atau berjaya kita tidak akan pulih dan berjaya. Samada kita percaya akan pulih atau tidak, usaha kearah pemulihan dan kejayaan mesti dibuat.
10. Sampai bilakah kita hendak simbah air di keliling hospital dan pejabat untuk mendapat perlindungan daripada orang halus dan hantu jembalang?
11. Bukankah aneh apabila orang yang kononnya boleh melindung hospital daripada orang halus, apabila sakit mencari doktor juga, bukan di hospital yang telah disimbah air tetapi di luar negeri.
December 25, 2013
THE COST OF GOVERNMENT
1. Governments need money. It cannot function without money. It has to pay the people who work for it. It has to provide services and infrastructures. And now it has to provide more and more social amenities such as education, medical care etc. And of course it must defend the country and maintain law and order.
2. The funds are mostly raised through taxes on the activities of the people, on incomes, on profits, on the services provided by the government such as transportations, sewerage, water and power, ports and airports, approval processes and oversights etc.
3. Although there are many countries where people avoid paying taxes and rates, the people of Malaysia generally pay their taxes and other charges for services rendered by the Government. But as the cost of Government increase over time, the taxes and rates will need to be increased. Naturally tax and rate-payers do not like to pay more taxes and other charges. But they admit to a need for higher tax rates if for nothing else the rise in the cost of living when the wages and salaries of government servants need to be raised as well as the higher cost of Government procurements.
4. But the tax payers cannot suddenly come up with the money to pay the new taxes and charges. Lately Malaysian individuals and businesses have to come up with more money because of the many increases in cost due to Government policy decisions. Firstly the increase in minimum wage to RM900/-. This increase cannot be limited to those earning less than RM900/-. Those already earning RM900/- and above will also need to be paid higher wages. With this the costs of doing business and producing goods and services have increased and in turn the cost of living for everyone has increased.
5. Over and above this the Government decided to reduce subsidies on petroleum products. Then the electricity charges are going to be raised. For the people of Kuala Lumpur new rates, some increasing by 2000 % are to be charged.
6. In 2015 the GST (Goods and Services Tax) will replace the sales tax. Obviously the Government wants to collect more than the revenue from sales tax, and this must add to the cost of goods and services.
7. We must accept that the Government needs more money with the passage of time. But should the increase be as big as the Government says. Should the taxes and rates come all at the same time?
8. In business there is a thing called “cost down”. When a business is faced with competition or its cost of production reduces its profits, it can either increase prices or reduce cost. To a certain extent the price can be increased. This might cause a reduction in sale and also profits. It is far better to reduce cost and maintain or minimise the increase in price.
9. When a business exercises cost down, what it does is to examine everything that it does which contributes to the cost of doing business. It examines the efficiency of the process, the material cost, the reduction of wastage, the speed and volume of production. Invariably some cost can be reduced.
10. The same can be done by Government. All its cost can be examined to determine which are truly necessary, which cost can be reduced, which service can be curtailed or modified etc. etc.
11. Government often waste money because it is not too concerned about the returns on its expenditure in whatever form. For example has a contract been given to the best offered price – though not necessarily the lowest. Every year the Auditor General reports on wastage through improper procedures and carelessness. Usually not much is changed so as to benefit from the Auditor General’s criticism. There is no doubt that much money can be saved if the AG’s criticisms are taken seriously. Even changing procedures can reduce costs.
12. If the Government is interested in reducing the cost of governance, it can do so and perhaps quite substantially. For example it can reduce the cost of electricity by switching to LED for street lights. The savings would be more than 50%. The subsequent reduction in the amount of electricity to be generated will reduce subsidy on fuel for power. But this has not been done by Government. The initial cost may be high but the savings will mitigate this.
13. With regard to taxes, the effect of the increase should be studied very carefully. Is it really true that the percentage fixed cannot be changed. It must always be remembered that increases in tax must contribute towards increases in the cost of living, the cost of doing business, the reduction in profitability and for the Government reduction in corporate tax on profits. Once a long time ago the Government was losing tax on goods brought in by travellers to Singapore simply because it was difficult to determine whether the costly watches, pens and jewellery items were bought in Singapore or worn by traveller when he went to that tax-free country. The Government decided to remove taxes on luxury goods. As a result tax-free shops sprouted in Malaysia and the Government collected more through corporate tax from these shops than it ever collected in import duty.
14. In another instance the government reduced corporate tax gradually from 45% of profits to 26%. More business was done and the collection in corporate taxes increased tremendously. Another case is the tax-free incentives for investments. With this investments increased. Indirectly the government could collect from income tax on executives. The nasi lemak eaten by workers increase the businesses of the rice wholesalers and the Government will collect corporate tax from them.
15. The public needs to find the money to pay the increased tax. Obviously it would be easier if the percentage is low, or spread over a longer period.
16. If the percentage increase is really necessary, cannot it be introduced in stages. For example the increase in electricity charges is fixed at 15%. That is a big jump. It will upset the cost of production of goods which all use electricity, some at a high percentage. Contracts which had already been made will result in losses and this in turn will reduce corporate taxes on profits .
17. Cannot the increase be in stages eg. 6 % per year for 3 years or longer. The losses on current contracts would be minimised. Future contracts would take into consideration the increases. There would be time for “cost down” and increase in contract prices.
18. At 6% per year for 3 years the rate would increase by 18% eventually instead of 15% now. But a 6% increase in the second year would be on 106% of original price and in the 3rd year would be on approximately 113% of the original price, therefore more than 18%. If this is too high, the yearly rate of increase can be reduced to 5%.
19. Clearly the Government would be getting more than the 15% of the current price. It will not really lose anything despite the delays in the increases.
20. Yes, Government needs more money with the passage of time. But with due consideration for the cost to people and business, the Government would really examine the tax rates to be introduced. It will not hurt the Government too much but it will gain a lot of goodwill from people. They might even remember in the next election.
21. Recently Francois Hollande, President of France decided to raise tax on profits to 50%. People left France to do business elsewhere. Far from collecting more tax, the Government may lose much when other businesses and business people emigrate.
The Cost of Government
1. Governments need money. It cannot function without money. It has to pay the people who work for it. It has to provide services and infrastructures. And now it has to provide more and more social amenities such as education, medical care etc. And of course it must defend the country and maintain law and order.
2. The funds are mostly raised through taxes on the activities of the people, on incomes, on profits, on the services provided by the government such as transportations, sewerage, water and power, ports and airports, approval processes and oversights etc.
3. Although there are many countries where people avoid paying taxes and rates, the people of Malaysia generally pay their taxes and other charges for services rendered by the Government. But as the cost of Government increase over time, the taxes and rates will need to be increased. Naturally tax and rate-payers do not like to pay more taxes and other charges. But they admit to a need for higher tax rates if for nothing else the rise in the cost of living when the wages and salaries of government servants need to be raised as well as the higher cost of Government procurements.
4. But the tax payers cannot suddenly come up with the money to pay the new taxes and charges. Lately Malaysian individuals and businesses have to come up with more money because of the many increases in cost due to Government policy decisions. Firstly the increase in minimum wage to RM900/-. This increase cannot be limited to those earning less than RM900/-. Those already earning RM900/- and above will also need to be paid higher wages. With this the costs of doing business and producing goods and services have increased and in turn the cost of living for everyone has increased.
5. Over and above this the Government decided to reduce subsidies on petroleum products. Then the electricity charges are going to be raised. For the people of Kuala Lumpur new rates, some increasing by 2000 % are to be charged.
6. In 2015 the GST (Goods and Services Tax) will replace the sales tax. Obviously the Government wants to collect more than the revenue from sales tax, and this must add to the cost of goods and services.
7. We must accept that the Government needs more money with the passage of time. But should the increase be as big as the Government says. Should the taxes and rates come all at the same time?
8. In business there is a thing called “cost down”. When a business is faced with competition or its cost of production reduces its profits, it can either increase prices or reduce cost. To a certain extent the price can be increased. This might cause a reduction in sale and also profits. It is far better to reduce cost and maintain or minimise the increase in price.
9. When a business exercises cost down, what it does is to examine everything that it does which contributes to the cost of doing business. It examines the efficiency of the process, the material cost, the reduction of wastage, the speed and volume of production. Invariably some cost can be reduced.
10. The same can be done by Government. All its cost can be examined to determine which are truly necessary, which cost can be reduced, which service can be curtailed or modified etc. etc.
11. Government often waste money because it is not too concerned about the returns on its expenditure in whatever form. For example has a contract been given to the best offered price – though not necessarily the lowest. Every year the Auditor General reports on wastage through improper procedures and carelessness. Usually not much is changed so as to benefit from the Auditor General’s criticism. There is no doubt that much money can be saved if the AG’s criticisms are taken seriously. Even changing procedures can reduce costs.
12. If the Government is interested in reducing the cost of governance, it can do so and perhaps quite substantially. For example it can reduce the cost of electricity by switching to LED for street lights. The savings would be more than 50%. The subsequent reduction in the amount of electricity to be generated will reduce subsidy on fuel for power. But this has not been done by Government. The initial cost may be high but the savings will mitigate this.
13. With regard to taxes, the effect of the increase should be studied very carefully. Is it really true that the percentage fixed cannot be changed. It must always be remembered that increases in tax must contribute towards increases in the cost of living, the cost of doing business, the reduction in profitability and for the Government reduction in corporate tax on profits. Once a long time ago the Government was losing tax on goods brought in by travellers to Singapore simply because it was difficult to determine whether the costly watches, pens and jewellery items were bought in Singapore or worn by traveller when he went to that tax-free country. The Government decided to remove taxes on luxury goods. As a result tax-free shops sprouted in Malaysia and the Government collected more through corporate tax from these shops than it ever collected in import duty.
14. In another instance the government reduced corporate tax gradually from 45% of profits to 26%. More business was done and the collection in corporate taxes increased tremendously. Another case is the tax-free incentives for investments. With this investments increased. Indirectly the government could collect from income tax on executives. The nasi lemak eaten by workers increase the businesses of the rice wholesalers and the Government will collect corporate tax from them.
15. The public needs to find the money to pay the increased tax. Obviously it would be easier if the percentage is low, or spread over a longer period.
16. If the percentage increase is really necessary, cannot it be introduced in stages. For example the increase in electricity charges is fixed at 15%. That is a big jump. It will upset the cost of production of goods which all use electricity, some at a high percentage. Contracts which had already been made will result in losses and this in turn will reduce corporate taxes on profits .
17. Cannot the increase be in stages eg. 6 % per year for 3 years or longer. The losses on current contracts would be minimised. Future contracts would take into consideration the increases. There would be time for “cost down” and increase in contract prices.
18. At 6% per year for 3 years the rate would increase by 18% eventually instead of 15% now. But a 6% increase in the second year would be on 106% of original price and in the 3rd year would be on approximately 113% of the original price, therefore more than 18%. If this is too high, the yearly rate of increase can be reduced to 5%.
19. Clearly the Government would be getting more than the 15% of the current price. It will not really lose anything despite the delays in the increases.
20. Yes, Government needs more money with the passage of time. But with due consideration for the cost to people and business, the Government would really examine the tax rates to be introduced. It will not hurt the Government too much but it will gain a lot of goodwill from people. They might even remember in the next election.
21. Recently Francois Hollande, President of France decided to raise tax on profits to 50%. People left France to do business elsewhere. Far from collecting more tax, the Government may lose much when other businesses and business people emigrate.
December 22, 2013
ORANG HALUS DAN HANTU JEMBALANG
1. Filem dan T.V. cerita yang paling popular di kalangan orang Melayu ialah berkenaan dengan hantu, pelesit, orang halus dan berbagai-bagai makhluk ghaib. Mereka bukan sahaja suka lihat dan dengar cerita-cerita berkenaan makhluk ghaib ini tetapi mereka amat mempercayai adanya makhluk ini dan kuasa luar biasa mereka ke atas manusia. Mereka diberi kuasa yang kadang-kadang menyamai Tuhan yang mereka sembah. Mereka mencari jalan supaya dilindungi dari makhluk ghaib. Dalam usaha ini mereka kerap mengguna doa dari agama Islam yang mereka anuti. Walaupun mereka percaya Allah S.W.T. boleh melindungi mereka tetapi kepercayaan bahawa makhluk ini juga memiliki kuasa ke atas mereka bertentangan dengan ajaran Islam yang menekankan bahawa hanya Allah S.W.T sahaja yang berkuasa ke atas segala-gala yang ada di dunia dan akhirat.
2. Kerana percaya akan kuasa makhluk ghaib ini mereka sering mengadakan acara yang dicampur aduk dengan agama yang kononnya boleh melindungi mereka daripada diserang oleh hantu jembalang dan orang halus.
3. Dalam Al-Quran tidak ada disebut berkenaan hantu dan orang halus. Yang disebut dalam al-Quran ialah shaitan, iblis dan jin yang suka memesongkan orang Islam daripada membuat suruhan Allah S.W.T. Iblis dan shaitan boleh disangkal dengan membaca ayat-ayat tertentu yang boleh mengukuhkan semula iman dan pegangan kepada ajaran Islam.
4. Di masa-masa yang lampau ini kita dapati ramai yang berusaha untuk melindungi pejabat dan hospital Kerajaan dari hantu dan orang halus. Acara ini termasuklah menanam telor, menyimbah air dan membaca doa-doa tertentu yang telah dikenalpasti oleh bomoh-bomoh. Ada juga yang menanam botol air di sudut-sudut tertentu bangunan berkenaan.
5. Yang anehnya Mat Saleh yang tidak percaya kepada hantu dan orang halus ini tidak dikacau oleh makhluk-makhluk ini. Mereka tidak perlu jampi dan simbah air di keliling bangunan-bangunan mereka.
6. Saya ingin tahu dari ulama-ulama akan kebenaran adanya hantu dan orang halus ini. Dari mana mereka datang. Apakah kedudukan mereka dalam agama Islam. Jika kita percaya mereka berkuasa dan kita perlu layan mereka jika ingin selamat, apakah tidak kita memperduakan Allah S.W.T. atau memberi kuasa kepada yang lain dari Allah yang kita sembah?
7. Saya percaya akan kejahatan manusia dan betapa ganasnya mereka. Tetapi saya tidak percaya dan tidak takut kepada orang halus atau lain-lain makhluk ghaib. Saya juga tidak percaya ada cara untuk jadi kebal dari tikaman dan peluru.
8. Dengan kenyataan ini akan adalah percubaan oleh orang tertentu dengan “ilmu ghaib” mereka untuk mengajar saya. Saya cuma akan menuntut pertolongan dari Allah S.W.T terhadap orang seperti ini.
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