Saturday, January 28, 2012

Why lead a Political Party if you don't want to be in Parliament?

PRU13: Hadi tawar untuk tidak tanding Oleh : FARUSH KHAN & W SAIDATUL FADZILAH W NAJEMUDIN Tarikh : January 27, 2012 MARANG - Presiden Pas, Datuk Seri Abdul hadi Awang mungkin tidak akan bertanding pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke- 13 (PRU13), yang dijangka akan diadakan dalam waktu terdekat.
Menurutnya, keputusan itu dibuat berdasarkan kepada khidmatnya yang disifatkan sudah terlalu lama menyandang jawatan sebagai Yang Berhormat. “Sudah lebih 30 tahun saya bergelar Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) iaitu bermula pada 1982 dan sudah berbelas tahun sebagai Ahli Parlimen,” katanya. Abdul Hadi berkata, sekiranya tidak bertanding mana-mana kerusi, beliau boleh bergerak ke seluruh negara untuk memantapkan parti. Bagaimanapun, Adun Rhu dan Ahli Parlimen Marang ini menawarkan bertanding satu kerusi sahaja sekiranya dipilih sebagai calon dalam PRU13 nanti. Beliau berkata demikian kepada Sinar Harian dalam satu temu bual eksklusif ketika ditemui di rumahnya selepas menyampaikan ceramah di Masjid Rusila, Marang, di sini. “Terpulang kepada parti untuk menilai kerusi mana yang sesuai untuk saya sama ada Dun atau Parlimen,” katanya yang menyerahkan kepada keputusan parti untuk menentukan sama ada beliau bertanding atau sebaliknya.
Beliau menganggap ramai pemimpin pelapis dalam parti itu yang boleh membantu membawa hala tuju parti pada masa depan. Katanya, pembabitannya dalam politik sezaman dengan bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “Saya kebetulan mengikuti parti sejak zaman Tun, zaman generasi kedua (Pak Lah) sampailah kini. “Saya diberi amanah kepimpinan dan kerusi pada usia terlalu muda, saya menjadi Naib Presiden dalam usia 30-an, sudah terlalu lama,” katanya. Sementara itu, beliau turut menolak desas-desus anaknya Mohammad Khalil Abdul Hadi, 30an, bakal dicalonkan dalam PRU13. “Biar dia jadi ahli biasa buat masa ini,” katanya. here

Why lead a party if you don't want to be in Parliament? I find this news Pelik bin Ajaib, a Party leader should lead the debate on behalf of his party, he must be confident to put forward his policy thoughts, defend them and shape the overall direction of the policy level thinking at the national stage.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

An Analysis of "Negotiation Skills" in Water Industry Restructuring: Tale of the Proofy AhBeng

It took the Government 88 days to respond on the "Highest Debt Reduction Effort in the History Of Malaysia" by none other than Mr Lim Guan Beng

PETALING JAYA: The DAP-run Penang Government was only able to record a positive budget because it shifted its RM630mil debt to the Federal Government, said the Finance Ministry. Deputy Minister Datuk Donald Lim, who disclosed this, said it was wrong for Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to mislead the public into thinking that the state had settled the loan on its own. The deputy minister explained that the state debt was actually transferred to the Federal Government following a water restructuring agreement that was initiated even before Pakatan Rakyat came to power in Penang.
Under the rationalisation scheme, the state must pay interest-free rental of RM14.6mil annually for a period of 45 years, he said. Lim said this in response to Guan Eng's claim that the Penang government had successfully reduced its debt by 95% from RM630mil in March 2008 to RM30mil in Oct last year through prudent and transparent financial management. here
88 days.

Monkey took 24 Hours after the Ahbeng tried to kencing go here in case lu masuk hutan baru keluar semalam.

Let us go back to the basic on this issue to understand what exactly is being negotiated and what is the framework of negotiation

In early 2003, the Federal Government stepped up efforts to reform the industry for the benefit of all stakeholders including the Federal Government, consumers and the State Government. It is an extensive process which included amendments to the Constitution and passing of new legislations to enable the Government to mobilize the reform.

In January 2005, Parliament approved the amendments to the Ninth and Tenth Schedules of the Federal Constitution. The amendment to the Ninth Schedule involves the transfer of water supplies and services from the State List to the Concurrent List. In other words, the water supplies and services is now a shared responsibility between the State and the Federal Government. It is a pertinent move which gives the Federal Government authority over the water services in the States. The Tenth Schedule was also amended and as a result, the revenue from water supplies & services (previously assigned to the States) is now assigned to the Federal Government.

Consequently, with effect from 21 March 2005: - The Federal Government will regulate the water supply & services industry but ownership and control of rivers, canals & water catchment remains with the State. The State also retains power to declare & regulate water catchment areas, water sources and river basins. In July 2006, further to the amendments to the Constitution, Parliament passed two new legislations namely the Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara Act 2006 and Water Services Industry Act 2006 (WSIA). The former provides for the establishment of Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN) or National Water Services Commission as the technical and economic regulator and set out the function and powers of SPAN. WSIA, on the other hand, provides the legal framework required for the regulation of the water and sewerage service industry. The Acts were enforced on February 1, 2007 and 1 January 2008 respectively.

Separation of responsibilities: towards better efficiency The legislative process was only the tip of the iceberg. Given that the current business model adopted by most State water operators does not promote sustainability of the water services industry, the Federal Government had to reinvent the wheel. A new model was developed, targeting to resolve the financial woes of the water services industry, promote financial sustainability in the State water operators, and alleviate the Federal Government/taxpayers’ financial burden. In the long run, the Federal Government wants the state operators to achieve full cost recovery and attain financial independence. These efforts will ultimately lead to improvement in the quality of water supply and the efficiency of the industry’s services.

Under the new model, there will be a separation of responsibilities between water asset owners and operators. State water operators will no longer be responsible for developing water infrastructure and its funding so that they can concentrate solely on providing water services to consumer and improving their operational efficiency. The responsibilities of developing water infrastructure and sourcing for its funding will be transferred to Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB).

Sunday, January 8, 2012

A Proofy Bowl of Rice


Lim stressed that there is a need to address the weaknesses in the current system that is characterised by “corruption, crony capitalism and monopolies”.

He pointed out that Malaysia is the only rice-producing country that has privatised rice production and consolidated it into a monopoly under a “single crony capitalist company”.

As a result, while Thailand and Indonesia are self-sufficient, we are dependent on imported rice for one third of our consumption. And because of the monopoly, we are paying more for imported rice than even Singapore,” he said. Source here
I'm not quite sure where I should start today.

Let's start with Indonesia's "Self Sufficiency"

Indonesia Must Do More to Boost Rice Yields: IRRI October 06, 2011

 Indonesia must take more aggressive action to boost yields on its rice paddy fields rather than expand planting areas, if it is serious about being self-sufficient in the staple diet, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said. The world’s most populous Muslim nation was self-sufficient in rice in the early 1980s but then farmland was turned into housing for a booming population, while rampant smuggling put pressure on local growers.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which is forecast to produce 68 million metric tons of unmilled rice in 2011, has set itself an ambitious goal to be self-sufficient in rice in the next few years. “Yes, definitely Indonesia could reach rice self sufficiency by increasing its rice yield,” Robert Zeigler, director general at IRRI told Reuters late on Wednesday. “[But] They need to be able to increase the yield on the existing paddy field.

They do not need to expand paddy fields and they do not need to cut down forest to produce rice in paddy fields,” he added. “It is much better to increase the productivity on existing field using existing irrigation infrastructure, roads and farmers.”

Last week, the Indonesian agriculture minister said the self-sufficient rice target of 2014 was achievable, and that the aim was for the country to again become a net exporter. Source here


Take a look at Singapore's prices ( here and here) compare that with KL

But before you do that, please ask yourself if Singapore produces any rice domestically and if there is any need to protect its domestic farmers income by applying any tariffs on imported rice?

Now let us go into his main dish.

Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open. -Lord Thomas Dewer