Watch Astro Awani tonight!

I am invited to appear on Astro Awani live tonight to take part on the weekly TV debate programme "Sudut Pandang". I will be debating with Datuk Ruhanie Ahmad, former UMNO MP for Parit Sulong. The topic for tonight will be "Pimpinan Politik Mengharungi Krisis Ekonomi Dunia". The debate will be in Bahasa Malaysia.

The details as follow:

Date: 23 October (Thursday)
Time: 8.30 p.m.
Channel: Astro Awani 501

I will be giving my thoughts and the principles of DAP and PAKATAN in economics management. Catch me on Awani tonight! Read more!

Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Tuan Loke Siew Fook (RASAH) minta MENTERI KEWANGAN menyatakan secara terperinci semua aset dan tanggungan yang dimiliki oleh Khazanah Nasional Berhad dan 10 pelaburan terbesar yang sedang diceburi oleh Khazanah termasuk jenis industri, nilai pelaburan dan lokasinya.

JAWAPAN:

Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, jumlah aset dan tanggungan (liabiliti) Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Khazanah) bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Disember 2007 adalah seperti berikut:

Khazanah (peringkat syarikat) Jumlah (RM'000)

Jumlah Aset 41,218,484
Jumlah Liabiliti 24,271,807

2. Portfolio pelaburan Khazanah adalah pelbagai dari segi sektor ekonomi dan geografi. Lebih dari 85% pelaburan Khazanah adalah di Malaysia. Berikut adalah 10 pegangan pelaburan umum yang terbesar dan terpenting Khazanah, mengikut nilai pelaburan semasa:

Syarikat Industri Nilai pelaburan semasa* (RM billion)

1) Tenaga Nasional Bhd -Utiliti (11.551)
2) UEM Group -Konglomerat (11.058)
3) TMI Berhad -Telekomunikasi (10.430)
4) Bumi Commerce Holding-Kewangan (7.253)
5) Penabangan M'sia/MAS -Pengangkutan (4.101)
6) Telekom Malaysia -Telekomunikasi (3.853)
7) PLUS -Infrastruktur (3.644)
8) Lippo Bank -Kewangan (3.241)
9) Iskandar Investment -Hartanah (2.550)
10)Malaysia Airport -Pengurusan (2.528)

* mengikut nilai pasaran pada 31 Mei 2008 . Read more!

The cost for street lights from Nilai to Seremban

Tuan Loke Siew Fook (Rasah) minta MENTERI KERJA RAYA menyatakan berapa jumlah batang lampu jalan yang telah dipasang di antara Plaza Tol Nilai Utara dengan Seremban, kos setiap batang, jumlah perbelanjaan, siapa yang menanggung perbelanjaan tersebut, siapa kontraktor yang menjalankan projek dan jenis tender yang dilaksanakan. (15 Oktober 2008)


Butiran bagi perkara-perkara yang dibangkitkan:
1) Jumlah tiang lampu bagi Nilai Utara - Seremban adalah sebanyak 940 batang

2) Kos seunit tiang lampu (tidak termasuk kos kabel dan lain-lain kos) adalah
sebanyak RM2,400 satu batang tiang

3) Kos projek sepanjang 22 km ini adalah RM22.54 juta

4) Projek ini adalah sebahagian dari kerja-kerja pelebaran lorong ketiga lebuhraya
Seremban ke Ayer Keroh. Kerja ini diberi kepada PLUS sebagai kontraktor dan kos
projek ini ditanggung oleh pihak kerajaan.

The above is the answer from the Works Ministry. If you calculate 940 street lights X RM 2400 each, it will be amounted to RM 2,256,000 (2.25 million). That means the cabel costs and "lain-lain kos" are about RM 20 million!

I fully welcome the project to fully light up the KL-Seremban Highway especially the Seremban - Nilai part but the amount spent for the project is questionable. The ministry did not answer whether the project was awarded through open tender or otherwise.

Any street lights contractor out there who can give a quotation? Read more!

BOROBUDUR

Came back from Yogyakarta last night after a 2-days conference on social democracy. The direct flight by AirAsia departs daily at 4 pm local time so i have a couple of hours free in the morning. A few local Indonesians whom we met at the conference brought Janice Lee (SA for Teratai, Selangor) and I to the famous heritage site of Indonesia - Borobudur. The place was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site about 30 years ago. It is a Buddhist monument constructed in the 9th century! It is located between Jogja and Magelang in Central Java. It was about an hour drive from Jogja.

Well, it was an interesting visit and it is a nice place to go for heritage lovers and avid photographers. Some pictures taken by my little N95 to be shared with you here :)
For those who are interested to know more about the place, just go to Google and type "Borobudur". Read more!

Anwar's maiden speech as Opposition Leader

I am in Yogyakarta currently to attend a regional conference on social democratic parties in Southeast Asia hosted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (a German political foundation that commits to the development of social democratic values). DAP’s political ideology is based on social democracy and therefore we are invited to share our recent electoral success.

I arrived here yesterday afternoon after attended the morning session in Parliament. I was eager to hear the maiden speech of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament in his capacity of Opposition Leader yesterday. Well, as usual Datuk Seri Anwar did it so confidently and “charmingly”. This is the charisma of a PM’s material. His choice of words was powerful and elegant. I only managed to follow 40 minutes of the speech as I have to rush to the airport. Not many in the BN’s bench dare to stand up to challenge him. The famous son-in-law just sits there quietly.

Anwar started off his debate by whacking the Finance Minister cum DPM for not present to listen to the views and criticism of the Opposition Leader. He jibed that maybe Najib was too occupied with his UMNO’s election campaign. He mentioned that when he was Finance Minister, he never left the chamber while the Opposition Leader (Kit Siang at that time) was debating the Budget

One key point he raised up was the projection of the government’s revenue for 2009 that is already outdated. When the budget was presented on 29th August, the revenue projection was based on the oil price of USD125 per barrel. 44% of our revenue derived from oil and gas related taxes and incomes. Today, the price of oil has dropped to below USD80 per barrel. That means our federal revenue will not be as high as projected.

With much smaller revenue, how are we going to finance our large government spending? This means our budget deficit will widen and be much bigger. This if not managed properly will surely have a big impact to our economy. It was a simple argument that everybody can easily understand.

The Opposition Leader urged the Treasury and the Finance Minister to table a fresh budget plan and take into consideration the current scenario and changes. All the projections for income and expenditure must be revised. Is that something too much to ask? It was a valid criticism but as usual BN will never take it seriously – in the words of Anwar – “keangkuhan kuasa” or pure arrogance of power!. Read more!

The end of Pak Lah's era

Our 5th Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced on 8th October 2008 that he will not be defending his UMNO Presidency hence will step down as PM by March 2009. What do you feel with his announcement? For me, I don't have much feeling. The sooner he steps down, the better. There is not much hopes left that Pak Lah can bring any goods to the country or realize the many promises he has made. When Tun Mahathir announced his retirement in June 2002, i did have some mixed feelings. Although he has done a lot of damages in our various branches of government, his contribution to the country's economic development in the 90s cannot be denied totally.

Pak Lah? Can anybody tell what Pak Lah has done to make Malaysia a better place in the last 5 years? He made a lot of "nice to hear" speeches in the first few months of his administration. Can you recall all these rhetorics?

"I want to heal the malaise of First World Infrastructure, Third World Mentality"
"Work with me, not work for me"
"All out war against corruption" "Pak Lah is Modern Justice Bao - courtesy of MCA's 2004 Election propaganda".

Did he delivers any of the above promises?

If he has done 50% of what he has promised, I doubt we can have 4 new state governments under Pakatan's belt in 2008. Pak Lah has not given up in his spins. He said that he will make full use of his remaining 5 months in office to push for his reform agenda; reform the judiciary, formation of a "Malaysian ICAC ala Hong Kong", etc..etc..

If he can't do it in the last 5 years in the height of his mandate and popularity, do you think he can do it in the remaining 5 months more so when he is considered a lame duck PM where nobody will really pay attention to?

We have now a new "incoming PM" - Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Do you think he can bring about genuine reform? My answer is NO
Do you think he is sincere to be a PM for all? My answer is NO
Do you think we can place our trust in this man? I don't think so
Do you think BN can ever change? You answer yourself

The only way forward for this country is the realization of a 2-Party system soonest possible. We must reach a stage where rival political parties must compete in terms of ideas, policies, trustworthiness, integrity and the ability to perform to win your votes. In short, we need the best men and women to govern the country! . Read more!

Guangzhou at night!

Sorry for not updating this blog for the past 2 weeks. I went to China with a DAP delegation 2 weeks ago and was back before Hari Raya. Rested at home during the Raya break and is now back into action. Hope everyone had a good holiday and "interesting" period is going to begin soon with Parliament resume on Monday!

Would like to share some pictures of Guangzhou at night with all of you. Just one word to describe the few cities i visited in Guangdong province - magnificent! Read more!