DAPSY's resolution on Kedah and UMNO Youth

Media statement by DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) National Chairman and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook on Wednesday, 8 July 2009, at Petaling Jaya:

Kedah State Government and Kedah DAP Must Find the Best Reconciliatory Solution; UMNO Youth Reaffirms its Status as the De-facto Party of Hooligans

DAPSY National Executive Council in its meeting last night at DAP headquarters discussed at length various current political issues and resolved that;

1) The DAPSY national leadership urges the Kedah Pakatan Rakyat state government to be serious about finding a reconciliatory solution for the ongoing rift between itself and DAP Kedah.

DAPSY understood the circumstances that led to DAP Kedah pulling out of the state Pakatan Rakyat but we are of the opinion that both sides shall seek the best solution to resolve their problems with each other, and that breaking up the coalition is not a solution.

DAPSY wishes to remind Pakatan Rakyat governments that they have been entrusted by the Rakyat to serve people of all religious, cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds as an effective coalition. Therefore, Kedah state government must be sensitive to the needs of the non-Malays community in Kedah.

2) The DAPSY national leadership also passed a unanimous resolution to condemn in the strongest possible term the UMNO Youth hooligans who assaulted a number of people including DAPSY NEC member and State Assemblyman for Ayer Keroh Khoo Poay Tiong, DAP Malacca Chairman and State Assemblyman for Kesidang Goh Leong San and a bystander at a DAPSY voter registration booth in Malacca when trying to stop the activity.

UMNO Youth members have no right to stop other parties from providing voter registration services and to resort to violence when they don’t have it their way. DAPSY will not bow to such barbaric act. We fully support DAPSY Malacca and all other state DAPSY to be even more active in our voter registration campaign as we are doing a national service for our democracy.

After rudely confronting Karpal Singh in Parliament, UMNO Youth members were once again putting their gangster roots on display in Malacca. UMNO Youth has hence reaffirmed its status as the de-facto party of hooligans in Malaysia.

UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaludin should make an open apology for its members’ unruly behavior and the police should immediately charge the culprits.

-Loke Siew Fook- Read more!

MCA = sour grapes

When I hold the press conference 3 days ago regarding the top SPM scorer who got JPA scholarship, I knew our friends in MCA will jump. They have always thought that they have the monopoly over the issue of JPA scholarship and gave the impression that all Chinese students who failed to get one must go through them to have any chance to appeal for it. Well, somehow when a parent came out openly to thank the DAP for helping her daughter, this must upset MCA people.

The local edition of Chinese press today reported that my counterpart from MCA who was also my rival in the last GE, Dr. Yeow Chai Thiam claimed that it was MCA who helped Mo Ye Vonn to get the JPA scholarship. He said that it was MCA's "effort" of fighting in the Cabinet to increase the number of scholarships and "systematically" placed those who failed to get overseas scholarship to study locally. In short, it was MCA's effort who helped the student. DAP and me has nothing to do with it. We were just out there to claim "cheap political mileage". Sour grapes, isn't it?

I held a press conference to rebut him and told him that if he wants to claim credit for it, then I can give him all the credits he wants. Take it. But don't pressurize the student and her poor mother for not thanking the MCA. This is MCA. They have yet to realize why the voters dumped them in the last GE!

And for the information of Dr Yeow, I actually helped another student who was in the same predicament like Mo Ye Vonn and she also got JPA scholarship to study medicine in AIMST university. Her father is a MCA member in Yeow's Rasah division. And he just treated me lunch this afternoon with his wife and daughter as a kind gesture to thank me :) Read more!

JPA scholarship

As an elected rep, the biggest satisfaction is when we are able to give hope to someone. Well, I held a press conference this morning with a JPA scholar Mo Ye Voon and her mother as she succeeded in getting a scholarship from JPA to study medicine in AIMST university. She was one of the many top students nationwide who failed to get JPA scholarships in the first round. She appealed through various channels but did not get it too during the appeal period.

However, she was very determined to be a doctor and did not give up for the scholarship and came back to seek my help. Again, I wrote and brought her to meet the JPA director in-charge of scholarship and even brought her to meet up with Minister in the PM's department Datuk Seri Nazri. Her determination paid off and finally she got an offer from JPA to read medicine locally. She's quite happy with that.

I'm happy for being able to help a young girl to be on the right path to realize her own dream - to become a doctor! Now, it's all depends on her own hard work in the years ahead to pass in all the exams and serve the society one day.

Even though i feel satisfied, i really hope that i need not do all these "appealing" work for top students in the coming years. If they deserved it, they should get it right away.

Our dear PM, it's time for you to show your political will to implement the "National Scholarships" based on merit now! Good luck to all the scholars. Read more!

DAP NS building

Finally, we have officially launched our DAP NS building last Sunday. This is a dream comes true for many DAP comrades and supporters in NS. We have launched the fundraising for the building 3 years ago and we managed to raise about RM400k. The cost of the building in Kemayan Square was RM345,000 and we have fully paid it. The balance was spent for some renovation, furniture, fittings and expenses for the opening ceremony.

Well, it was considered a grand ceremony for our standard. I saw many of you that day especially regular readers of this blog like wee tak, P130, etc. I'm sorry for not able to say hello to each and everyone of you. However, many thanks for your support.

I'm down with bad flu in the last few days and hopefully not that la... Read more!

Parliament: Old car owners can still buy 3rd party insurance

I have received many complains from the public especially old car owners in the last few months that they faced difficulties to renew their road tax as many insurance companies they approached refused to provide them with 3rd party insurance coverage. This is a problem for many car owners as they have to pay more for comprehensive insurance policy for their old cars.

I have brought up this issue in Parliament and the answer is below:

SOALAN:

Minta MENTERI KEWANGAN menyatakan mengapa syarikat-syarikat insurans tempatan enggan menawarkan perlindungan insurans kelas ketiga kepada pemilik-pemilik kenderaan lama dan apakah dasar Kerajaan terhadap insurans untuk kereta lama dan langkah-langkah untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini untuk meringankan beban pengguna.

JAWAPAN:

Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, kadangkala penanggung insurans menolak risiko-risiko tertentu termasuk kenderaan lama, yang dianggap berisiko tinggi memandangkan pengalaman tuntutan yang buruk bagi kategori kenderaan jenis ini. Walau bagaimanapun, memandangkan insurans motor adalah diwajibkan di bawah Akta Pengangkutan 1987, industri insurans am telah menubuhkan "Malaysian Motor Insurance Pool" (MMIP) yang bertindak sebagai penanggung insurans terakhir. Sebagai penanggung insurans terakhir, MMIP wajib menawarkan perlindungan insurans seperti yang diminta oleh pemilik kenderaan. Pemilik kereta boleh mendapatkan perlindungan insurans daripada MMIP melalui cawangan-cawangan dua penanggung insurans, iaitu sama ada melalui Multi-Purposes Insurans Berhad ataupun Uni. Asia General Insurance Berhad. Industri insurans sedang dalam proses mengkaji penambahan jumlah penanggung insurans yang menyediakan khidmat MMIP.

Bank Negara Malaysia tidak membenarkan penanggung insurans memaksa pemilik kenderaan untuk membeli perlindungan insurans yang tidak diingini oleh pemilik kenderaan, sama ada perlindungan Komprehensif mahupun Pihak Ketiga. Pemilik kenderaan yang menghadapi masalah ini bolehlah berhubung dengan Pusat Hubungan Bersepadu Bank seperti di bawah:

Alamat:
Pusat Hubungan Bersepadu
Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat
Bank Negara Malaysia
Tingkat 14, Blok B,
Jalan Dato' Onn,
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Telefon: 1-300-88-5465

emel: bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my . Read more!

Parliament: RM1 million yearly allocation for each Parliamentary constituency

Minta PERDANA MENTERI menyatakan sama ada pentadbiran baru akan mengubah dasar dalam pengendalian peruntukan khas kawasan Parlimen termasuk kawasan yang diwakili pembangkang dan berapakah peruntukan yang diberikan untuk setiap kawasan Parlimen untuk tahun 2009.

JAWAPAN: YB TAN SRI NOR MOHAMED BIN YAKCOP

Secara dasarnya, Peruntukan Khas YAB PERDANA MENTERI bagi kawasan Parlimen diberi pada setiap tahun kepada semua kawasan Parlimen walaupun kawasan tersebut merupakan kawasan Parlimen pembangkang. Jumlah peruntukan bagi setiap tahun adalah berbeza bergantung kepada kemampuan kewangan Kerajaan dan keperluan rakyat pada tahun tersebut.

Bagi tahun 2009, kesemua 222 kawasan Parlimen diperuntukan sebanyak RM1.0 juta oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk dibelanjakan bagi faedah rakyat di kawasan berkenaan.

For further reading and debate on this issue, pls click here Read more!

Letter to PSD Director General

I went to the Public Service Department headquarters in Putrajaya this morning to submit one specific appeal case from Seremban and submit another letter to the DG to solve the PSD Scholarship's problem. I felt great injustice to top students who failed in their application especially those who scored 12 A1 and yet did not able to get the scholarships.

To our dear Prime Minister, please prove us wrong that your "One Malaysia" slogan is just mere rhetoric!

My letter as below:


8 Jun 2009

Tan Sri Ismail Adam
Ketua Pengarah Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia
JABATAN PERKHIDMATAN AWAM MALAYSIA
Blok C1-C2, Kompleks C
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62510 W.P Putrajaya

Tan Sri,

ISU BIASISWA PROGRAM IJAZAH LUAR NEGARA (PILN) JABATAN PERKHIDMATAN AWAM 2009

Dengan segala hormatnya saya merujuk kepada perkara yang tersebut di atas.

2. Seperti yang Tan Sri sedia maklum, isu biasiswa PILN JPA pada tahun ini telah menimbulkan pelbagai reaksi daripada ibu bapa dan pelajar-pelajar yang mendapat keputusan cemerlang dalam SPM 2008 namun gagal mendapat biasiswa JPA. Walaupun saya sedia maklum bahawa keputusan untuk kes-kes rayuan telah diumumkan beberapa hari yang lalu, namun masih terdapat ketidakpuasan hati dan keraguan dalam isu biasiswa ini.

3. Isu yang paling meragukan ialah mengapa ada di kalangan pelajar-pelajar cemerlang yang mendapat 12 A1 gagal mendapat biasiswa tersebut. Keraguan ini disebabkan bahawa pihak JPA telah mengumumkan 20% daripada 2,000 biasiswa PILN atau 400 biasiswa ditawarkan berdasarkan meritokrasi iaitu melihat keputusan akademik yang paling cemerlang dan tidak mengambil kira faktor-faktor lain. Namun, mengikut statistik Kementerian Pelajaran, pelajar SPM 2008 yang mendapat 12 A1 ke atas adalah kurang daripada 300 orang pelajar. Jadi, mengapakah masih terdapat pelajar cemerlang 12A1 yang gagal mendapat biasiswa tersebut dalam kategori merit? Kita menyeru pihak JPA mengumumkan penjelasan dalam perkara ini dengan sejelas-jelasnya.

4. Pergerakan Pemuda Sosialis DAP (DAPSY) ingin membuat 2 cadangan kepada pihak JPA untuk menyelesaikan isu biasiswa pada tahun ini iaitu:

a) Menyiasat semula semua kes pelajar yang mendapat sekurang-kurangnya 12 A1 yang gagal mendapat biasiswa PILN dan menawarkan biasiswa PILN kepada semua pelajar tersebut yang masih tidak berjaya dalam rayuan mereka.

b) Semua pelajar cemerlang yang mendapat sekurang-kurangnya 9 A1 ke atas yang gagal mendapat biasiswa PILN 2009 ditawarkan biasiswa Program Ijazah Dalam Negara supaya mereka boleh terus menyambung penggajian di IPTA atau IPTS tempatan.

5. Kami amat berharap pihak JPA akan menerima cadangan-cadangan ini untuk menyelesaikan isu biasiswa JPA ini yang telah menimbulkan pelbagai reaksi negatif daripada pelajar-pelajar dan ibubapa mereka.

Sekian dimaklumkan. Terima kasih.


Berkhidmat untuk rakyat,


LOKE SIEW FOOK
AHLI PARLIMEN RASAH merangkap
KETUA PEMUDA SOSIALIS DAP

. Read more!