Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Star

Saturday October 31, 2009

Task force to look into irregularities noted in A-G's Report

By DHARMENDER SINGH

PUTRAJAYA: A high-powered task force will be set up immediately to scrutinise wrongdoings reported in the recently-released Auditor-General’s Report, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

This is to ensure that those involved in any misappropriation of funds or abuse of power would not “get away with it” but face the consequences.

This is the first time that such a task force has been formed to look into irregularities as noted in the Auditor-General’s Report.

The Prime Minister said the task force to be chaired by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan will include Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, Public Services Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam and Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission would be called to join if necessary, he said.

The task force is to hold its first meeting on Monday and Sidek will announce its findings from time to time.

Najib said the decision to form the task force was made by the Cabinet at its meeting yesterday because it felt there was a need to look into any wrongdoings closely.

The Cabinet felt that serious action against those involved was needed to ensure that matters like abuse of power and misappropriation did not repeatedly appear in the annual report, he told a special press conference in announcing the setting up of the task force here yesterday.

“I want to state that the reason (for the setting up of the task force) is not to launch a witch hunt but to identify those who intentionally and openly committed offences because we (the Cabinet) felt that they should not be allowed to go without having any action taken against them.

“They will not necessarily face legal action. They might face administrative action like surcharge, demotion, having their promotions frozen or be transferred,” Najib said.

The task force, he added, would study in stages the irregularities reported and start with cases with clear signs of abuse of power or misappropriation.

Asked if setting up the task force was aimed an stopping corruption, he said: “Let’s be realistic, there cannot be absolute zero corruption but if we show seriousness (in going after those involved), I believe we can bring the numbers down considerably,” he said.

Najib also said the Government would be fair and act compassionately if there were mitigating factors that led to the actions of the offenders.

He said investigations by the task force, which would have the power to haul up and question any person it felt necessary, would also look at administrative staff in the departments concerned to ascertain if they issued inappropriate orders.

“In line with the high performance culture, we will have certain measures that I will announce later to recognise and reward those who do well, so it is not just punitive in nature,” he said.

At a function later, Sidek said the task force would make sure that those who deliberately did not follow the rules were brought to book.

He said this was part of the Government’s efforts in enforcing existing rules and regulations.

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Does that means no action? What i understand by the PM's statement

1)They will not necessarily face legal action=no legal action

2)They might face administrative action= no administrative action

Am i right?

Buying a notebook for 40k++ each and get away with it? Why don't they bill 4k for the notebook and say 36k is for the software or maintenance? How about those who buy notebook at 30k, 20k, 10k maybe?

Why dont our PM said They will face legal action and also administrative action? And then said we will publish all the name of these people in the newspaper, let them be ashamed of their action. We don't tolerate this kind of corruption. Muahahaha.....

This is the type of PM we all want.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Star

Published: Monday October 26, 2009 MYT 12:54:00 PM

FBM KLCI in the red at mid-day

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was down at mid-day, with major losses seen in property stocks following the annoucement of the imposition of capital gains tax on property last Friday

At 12.30pm,the FBM KLCI was down 5.26 points to 1,261.84. IJMLand lost 12 sen to RM2.37, SP Setia shed 6 sen to RM3.82 while E&O was down 8 sen to RM1.18.

"It's a negative for the sector as it would curb buying interst," Citigroup said today, of the tax imposition.

The government announced Friday that it would impose a 5% capital gains tax on property disposal from next year in order to bolster revenue.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 50.59 points to 10,333.58 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 379.21 to 22,589.73

At Bursa Malaysia, 124 counters were up, 434 were down while 183 others were traded unchanged.

There were 398 million shares done at RM286 million.

Crude palm oil 3-month futures were down RM13 to RM2,225 per tonne.

Nymex crude oil shed 79 cents to US$79.71 per barrel.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.38 to the US dollar.
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Ask the pharmacist

Sometimes i wonder if the reporter knows what is he/she writing about. Do he or she understand the stock market?

Today 26/10/2009 is the public holiday for Hong Kong, to celebrate Chung Yeung Festival, so there is no trading today. The 379 points advance is on last Friday.... Market breath negative today.

Monday, October 19, 2009

IKANO Toy Car

She was so happy when she thought she got a new car

I think she ask me if i want to take a ride with her.. She cannot speak yet, so the words coming out from her is just eah eah...

Since nobody can fit in the passenger seat, she decided drive it alone.. i was surprised she know how to handle the gear and cornering...maybe from observing the way i drive..

And u probably had guessed, she refused to leave the car afterward...

Sunday, October 11, 2009

banana time with baby

Taken with Canon S3 IS direct flash.

Monday, October 05, 2009

I am going to stop my Astro Subscription


Yes. U heard me, i am going to stop my Astro Subscription if they increase the rental again. Why? I got this info from my remisier.

Sources say TM has hired a third party sports marketing consultant to bid against incumbent Astro for the exclusive broadcast rights to the EPL 2010/2013 season.This could set the stage for a bidding war that could see costs for the winner double to a shopping rm800 million.Total Sports Asia Sdn Bhd will be bidding on TM’s behalf against Astro in a couple of weeks for the rights.If Singapore’s experience is any indication, the bidding war for rights to the mega sporting league in Malaysia is expected to push the bids to well above RM500 million.

It is understood that Astro forked out some rm400 million for the exclusive rights to broadcast the current 2006/2009 EPL season, which was more than what it paid for in the previous season. It was then that Astro, for the first time, faced competition for the rights via a joint bid by TM and Media Prima Bhd. According to unconfirmed reports, SingTel’s winning bid was to the tune of S$400 million. Its win was a blow to Singapore’s incumbent integrated pay-TV provider, Sarhub.

Both TM and Media Prima have so far not ruled out completely the possibility of entering a bid for the EPL rights.TM’s rollout of its high speed broadband (HSBB) network is still at a nascent stage. It plans to cover 1.3 million households in the first three years of the rollout of its HSBB network. It is uncertain how much rollout TM can achieve by May 2010. Conversely Astro’s pay TV subscriber base was 2.78 million of Malaysian households as at end July 2009.

It is believed that Media Prima will be brought in because TM’s limited subscriber reach. Another industry source speculates that TM is likely to sell the EPL content back to Astro, should it clinch the rights (WTF!!!), to boost returns on the huge upfront investment for the rights.

TM has the lion’s share of Malaysia’s fixed line network, but most broadband ready lines in Malaysia can only deliver low definition pictures.

Moreover, the needs for TM to make sure it recoups its investment, should it clinch the EPL rights, given that it needs to generate enough cash flow to pay for the rollout of its HSBB network as well as honour its dividend commitment of at least RM700 million a year to shareholders. Without this dividend promise, there would be little reason to support TM’s current price given the competition it is facing in its traditional market and the uncertainty surrounding the pay back period from its huge upfront investment in HSBB.

And content is an expensive business to be in. Astro’s content cost was Rm1 billion for 2009 ended Jan 31.Come 2010, it will be another expensive year, content wise, for Astro which is spending some Rm200 million on upgrades to offer high definition TV. Besides the EPL rights, 2010 will see the start of the FIFA World Cup.

Considering the circumstances, the winner of Malaysia’s EPL broadcast rights may not have much to celebrate should a bidding war break out, especially when politics makes it hard to pass on all the cost increase to consumers.

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This bidding war will not benefit Malaysian as whole, i guess Malaysia consumers is treated like suckers.

Friday, October 02, 2009

Baby can change emotions in split second

Photo session with my father in law.

From crying

To nagging

To dancing

To happily singing

All done in less than 5 seconds.
In case u want to know what song is my old treo playing, it is "Nobody" by Wonder Girls. See her fingers moving like the video below.