Rabu, 26 Januari 2011

Philosophy Politics Economics

Philosophy Politics Economics


Johor Water Tariffs Highest in Malaysia

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 08:22 PM PST

In a Bernama report yesterday, Dr Chua Soi Lek denied the fact that the water tariffs in Johor were the highest in the country.

However, it is odd that he did not at the same time specify which state actually has a higher tariff than Johor in the country. If the MCA president is convinced that Johor doesn't have the highest water rates, then it should be very easy for him to quote the state(s) with higher tariffs than Johor.

The fact of the matter is that Johor has the highest water tariffs with the first 20m3 of water being charged today at RM0.60 per m3 after a hike of 59% in 2010.

Selangor charges RM0.57 per m3 of water for the first 20m3. Despite being lower than Johor's new rates, the Pakatan Rakyat government has offered 20m3 of water free monthly to every household in the state. Penang on the other hand charges on RM0.22 per m3 or nearly 3 times cheaper than in Johor.

In fact if a household were to use 40m3 of water, they would be paying RM2.96 per m3 or 63% higher than the previous rate of RM1.82 per m3.

Hence Dr Chua should take to task the MCA state executive councillor for International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and Environment, Tan Kok Hong for failing to protect the interest of Johoreans by allowing the steepest possible increase in water tariffs in the state.

Tan Kok Hong and the state government must be taken to task for colluding with Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) to enable the latter to make exorbitant profits at the expense of the rakyat. MCA must explain to the people why SAJ was allowed to make the price increase despite the fact that the Federal Government has taken over most of the cost and assets of SAJ as part of the water restructuring exercise.

Dr Chua must not belittle the intelligence of Johoreans by claiming that the steep increase in water rates will only marginally affect the livelihood of the ordinary man-in-the-street. Instead he must tell Johoreans how he plans to convince Barisan Nasional to check the increase in prices and improve the livelihood of the people.

UMNO Hooligans in Tenang

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 05:19 PM PST

It is normal for a healthy democracy to have differing ideologies, policies and agenda for the different political parties. The purpose of a democracy to enable these political parties and its leaders have the necessary space to convey its views to the public and electorate for their consideration.

However, the brutish and thuggish behaviour of BN-UMNO hooligans last night at the Felda Chemplak Barat ceramah by PAS last night, intentionally arranged to "greet" the arrival of Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, proved that they are antithetical and alien to the concept of democracy.

These 30 UMNO supporters who are not locals spent the evening attempting to disrupt the proceedings of the evening with their loutish behaviour which crescendoed during Lim Guan Eng's speech. While some 20 policemen were present at the ceramah prevented these hooligans from physically disrupting the function, more should have been done to disperse their presence at the event.

This is a clear and blatant attempt by Umno to block and prevent Pakatan Rakyat leaders from presenting our case to the voters. It is also a mark of desperation by Umno that they are likely to fail their attempt to meet the Deputy President Muhyiddin's KPI of 5,000 votes. It also represents their fear that their attempts to divide their electorate by splitting the electorate by racial rhetoric.

UMNO by all counts is the biggest threat to democracy in Malaysia.

UMNO Fights MCA: BN in Disarray

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 06:15 AM PST

The open warfare between UMNO Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek on the simple issue of respecting an individual's religious sensitivity proves that the BN coalition is a 50-year marriage of convenience which is cracking at the seams.

Muhyiddin had to openly chastise Dr Chua to respect the choices of an individual, particularly one's religious beliefs, specifically with regard to the issue of Muslim women "shaking hands" with men. As the Pakatan Rakyat parties have all pointed out, and agreed by Muhyiddin, there are many other issues of importance to discuss in an election, than about whether a Muslim woman should shake men's hands.

Dr Chua in return, rebuked Muhyiddin for bringing the issue into the open instead of "communicating through internal channels". He told reporters yesterday that they could go and tell Muhyiddin what he just said. Instead of putting the issue to a close, he persisted by repeating his claim that "shaking hands" is "good manners", implying that the PAS candidate, Cikgu Normala Sudirman had bad manners for sticking to her religious beliefs.

The strain between the two race-based parties is completely understandable given that UMNO and MCA seeks only to draw the votes of Malays and Chinese respectively and do not care about the sentiments of the other communities. MCA for example, isn't bother about the impact of its comments on Malay Muslims because it will do all that is necessary, including playing on the fear of Islam to gain the votes of the Chinese. On the other hand, UMNO will not hesitate to play on the Malay's fear of losing political power to the Chinese to frighten the Malays into voting for UMNO.

The strategy is failing today because of a more instantaneous and open media catalysed by the online newspapers which transformed the media landscape which was previously controlled with an iron fist by BN.

On the other hand, it is the Pakatan Rakyat parties which have proven itself in slowly but surely disintegrating the racial barriers and silos with its leaders endorsing a Common Policy Platform, and criss-crosses all party ceramahs demonstrating on our ability to speak with a common voice. It is ironical that while the bonds of the 3 parties in Pakatan Rakyat, which is accused of being a marriage of convenience is only getting stronger by the day with increased understanding and cooperation, the Barisan Nasional is tearing at the seams with its leaders unable to see eye-to-eye with each other.

Chua Soi Lek Mocks 1Malaysia

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:14 AM PST

Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek sheer ignorance and arrogance confirms MCA as the Malaysian chauvinist association with utter disregard for other races, religion and culture and a complete failure of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's "1Malaysia"

In dismissing Muhyiddin's "instruction" to stop playing on the issue of handshakes, Dr Chua pleaded ignorance about the religious sensitivities by arguing that he does not practice Islam.

He was quoted saying "So what is so great about that? That is your religious value which I don't know. How am I to know about the religious values when I'm not practicing that religion?"

He further argued that "…I have a right to say that its basic manners to shake hands with people. That's my values. Understand? You must also value my value, which is good manners, which include shaking hands."

The fact that he claimed he is completely ignorant about Islam just because he is not a Muslim proves that the MCA President and his party are chauvinists who have little regard and respect for other religions and cultures.

Dr Chua makes a complete mockery of the Prime Minister's "1Malaysia" slogan by admitting that he is completely separated from the other communities in the country and is completely not interested in integrating with them through greater race and religious understanding. This is despite the fact that he has spent more than a decade as a senior Johor state executive councillor and a Cabinet Minister.

His statement that "you must also value my value, which is good manners" smacks of unbridled arrogance where he expects Cikgu Normala and other Muslims to accept and adopt his moral values, despite his own lack of understanding and interest in the values of other communities. It is difficult to a more bigoted statement than what Dr Chua told the press yesterday.

Chua Tee Yong Should Apologise to Normala

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:13 AM PST

Deputy Agriculture Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong shows he's not a man of his words for the unbelievable flip-flop over his baseless accusation that Cikgu Normala Sudirman questioned a coffee shop owner for selling alcohol.

The China Press reported that Deputy Agriculture Minister and MP for Labis Datuk Chua Tee Yong accused Cikgu Normala of questioning a coffee shop owner for selling beer during her walkabout. The accusation was obviously a ploy to scare the non-Malay community that PAS will curtail the rights of non-Muslims if they were to win the by-election.

PAS Johor had given Chua 24 hours to apologise and retract his false allegations or face the threat of a defamation suit. In an immediate response to The Malaysian Insider over the issue, Chua stood by his remarks by refused to name the shop.

Chua was quoted as saying "Of course I cannot name the shop. The owner wants to remain anonymous."

However, within a few hours after the above comments, Chua now denies ever having made the accusation. He explained that he was merely conveying the fact that a voter had asked him about a "hypothetical" situation should she win the by-election.

Even a twelve year old would have found his denial hard to believe. I strongly advise Chua to be man enough to admit to his mistake and apologise to Normala for having made the baseless accusation against her, instead of attempting to cover a lie with a bigger one, and as a result, digging a deeper hole for himself.

If he still insists on sticking to his new version of the story, then I call upon Chua to demand that both China Press and The Malaysian Insider to issue a correction to the story as well as an apology for the blatant and grievous error which has been committed. This is because if Chua didn't make the allegation against Normala, then both the reporters must have independently made up the story.

Should he try to evade the issue by remaining elegantly silent, that he has completely his credibility and integrity, and is unfit to be the people's parliamentary representative in Labis, much less a Deputy Minister.

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