Jadual Gaji 2013

prices in almost all sectors would certainly be increased

Price rise in the offing for Sabah?

Luke Rintod

 | December 31, 2012

Implementation of minimum wage from Jan 1 looks set to also leave a mark on the prices of goods and services in Sabah.

RANAU: A senior leader of the State Reform Party (STAR), Sabah chapter, has cautioned consumers that price of goods and services in the state are poised to soar higher in 2013 with the imminent implementation of “minimum wage” law of RM800 across the boards starting Jan 1.

STAR’s Sabah state committee member, Jalibin Paidi, said consumers in Sabah should expect the unpleasant surprises as businesses are expected to pass on to them the extra costs of doing business.

“The direct immediate effect of this minimum wage policy will be an increase of production cost for all employers in the state already burdened with the highest cost of living in Malaysia.

“Expect increases of prices of goods and services (of) anything from 20% to even 200% as the employers would definitely pass the cost to consumers at large,” Jalibin said in his statement in Ranau today.

“Already we in Sabah STAR have been receiving reports from industries that increasing prices of goods and services would inevitably be an option to offset the extra cost for minimum wage of RM800 in Sabah.

“Sabah consumers would be the worst affected by this policy as the gap from old wage to the new one will be the widest as Sabahans are also the least paid in Malaysia,” he said.

Jalibin, who was a school principal before resigning to be active in politics, said that many employees in various sectors in Sabah are paid around RM400 to RM500 a month in the resources-rich but poverty-riddled state.

The party, he said, had been told by those familiar with the restaurant, hotel, hardware, and supermarket sectors in various parts of Sabah that prices in almost all sectors would certainly be increased following the enforcement of the minimum wage policy.

“There are also to be expected some business owners (out) to exploit the situation by increasing prices at (their) whim and fancy but they are expected to respond to market forces once competition sets in,” added Jalibin.

There has also been no indication that the government will allow for grace period until June 2013 for employers with less than five employees on their payroll to delay paying the minimum wage.

“We are concerned on many fronts. No doubt we support higher wages for our under-paid labour force, but we must also have the mechanism to check employers who might try to terminate older staff and take in fresh workers in order to offset costs.

“This will result in unemployment for many and would also affect the quality of services to consumers.

“We are already on the receiving end of many bad things in Sabah, it is only right that the government is cautious when implementing a well-intentioned policy,” he added.

avoid further confusion over the status of Bumiputra Christians in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU - The NECF Commission on Sabah Affairs (COSA) welcome the Cabinet’s decision to resolve with urgency the long standing dilemma of Bumiputra Christians in Sabah wrongly classified as Muslims in their MyKad.

“This is a step in the right direction to avoid further confusion over the status of Bumiputra Christians in Sabah,” said Datuk Jerry Dusing, chairman of the National Evangelical Christian fellowship Commission on Sabah Affairs in a statement today.

The statement also said the assurance by the State National Registration Department that the error in recording the religious status in MyKad can be resolved immediately is a positive move. COSA hopes with this, the injustice and the huge back log of unresolved MyKad cases can be cleared quickly without having to go through the Syariah Court.

Christians and not Muslims

COSA will immediately seek the intervention of both the Cabinet and the state NRD to remove the long protracted dispute from the Kudat Syariah High Court where it will have to determine whether three baptised Christians who have been Christians since birth and have never been Muslims are indeed Christians and not Muslims. After a series of postponements, the case is scheduled to be heard five days before Christmas.

The statement said COSA urge the authorities to act with utmost urgency to amend the error in the entry in their MyKad as Christians and not Muslims so that the Syariah Court is not forced to make any judgment or order which may further complicate the problem.

COSA said the controversy came to light when a test case was mounted by a 53 year-old widow of Banggi ethnicity, Intim binti Lambatan, and her two adult daughters, Norina binti Nuhudan,28, and Listin Nuhudan, 22, after they were classified as Muslims in their MyKad when all three are baptised Christians belonging to the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) denomination.

NRD refused to rectify error despite clarification

The statement said the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Agama Islam Negeri Sabah – JHEAINS - or the Sabah Islamic Affairs Department, had clarified their names are not on the department’s register, thus indicating they are not Muslim converts.

But the NRD would not rectify its error and asked Intim to go the Kudat Syariah High Court for a declaration that she is not a Muslim. After several delays, the case came up for hearing on 29 Oct 2012 but both JHEAINS and the NRD did not turn up, forcing another postponement.

COSA cited press reports that the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the matter has been resolved at the Federal Cabinet level. He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has given the NRD the go-ahead (to rectify the errors) instead of having to go through the Syariah Court.

'Technical glitches'

Dompok, who is also the Plantation industries and Commodities Minister, said the Cabinet had also decided to appoint him as the “focal point” in Sabah while Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Unggah Embas was directed to monitor Sarawak. Dompok said that he will render the necessary assistance.

Meanwhile, COSA added that the Sabah state director of NRD Ismail bin Ahmad said the errors were caused by “technical glitches.” He assured those facing such problems that all they need to do is to go to his office and point out the error and it would be rectified.

Issued on behalf of National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Commission on Sabah Affairs

honour of Champion of Corruption.

Transparency International, ANI Washington, Hindustan Times and WSJ Live, to name a few, have all bestowed Malaysia the dubious honour of Champion of Corruption.

COMMENT

By Chua Jui Meng

For so long, Malaysia has been in the domestic and international limelight as far as corruption is concerned.

However, it has never been humiliated and shamed by the international community wholesale like today.

Transparency International, ANI Washington, Hindustan Times and WSJ Live, to name a few, have all bestowed Malaysia the dubious honour of Champion of Corruption.

Much have been written, reported and more than 100 financial scandals exposed since 1983, beginning with the then world’s biggest banking financial loan scandal – the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) which came with a murder suspense.

BMF’s internal auditor Jalil Ibrahim was found dead in a banana grove in Hong Kong in July 1983 when he was sent there to probe the scandal.

The federal government had to bailout BMF three times to a tune of RM2.5 billion to keep it afloat.

After 29 years, no one has been punished for the financial scandal and no one has been convicted for the murder.

That was 1983. What about today?

It is still the same as reflected by the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu who is linked to alleged corrupt financial practices over Malaysia’s Defence Ministry’s purchase of two French-made second hand Scorpene submarines at an inflated price of RM6.7 billion.

What is confirmed is that Altantuya was murdered by two police security officers who served Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Although the two policemen have been convicted for the murder and their case is pending appeal, what we amazingly still don’t know are these:

• What’s the motive for the murder. The presiding judge had the audacity to rule that the motive for the murder is irrelevant. Can any court in the world beat that?;

• Why did the murderers, after shooting Altantuya point blank on the head, need to use exclusive military grade C4 explosives to blow up her body. The plausible explanation for this is to destroy all DNA evidence as she was reported to be pregnant when she was killed. This begs the question: Whose child was Altantuya carrying?; and

• Why is the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government so fearful of the ongoing French court’s probe on alleged corrupt financial practices over the Scorpene purchases, to the ridiculous extent of barring French lawyers from entering the country to brief parliamentarians and Malaysians on the development of the case.

Rising federal debts

Malaysia is a country blessed with vast and rich natural resources, including oil and gas. But, after 55 years of BN-Umno rule, the country’s federal debt is at more than RM620 billion (including RM118 billion in off-budget liabilities or sovereign guarantees for private corporations like the Port Klang Free Zone and government-linked company loans ending 2011) against a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of RM881 billion or 70.4% of GDP.

This means the BN government is operating way above the legislated federal debt ceiling of 55% of GDP.

Although I have mentioned this many times over, there is surely a need to keep on reminding all Malaysians so that, when they go to the next general election, they can make an informed decision on what they must do to save Malaysia from an economic disaster of a bankrupt nation.

Congratulations Najib. The whole world now knows you are leading the most corrupt nation on earth.

Also read:

Malaysia is World Champion in Corruption

Chua Jui Meng is PKR vice-president and Johor state chief. He is also a former MCA vice-president and an ex-Cabinet member.

NCR was in any event extinguished by legislation

Appeal Court reverses NCR verdict on turtle egg collection

Published on: Friday, December 14, 2012

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Kota Kinabalu: The Court of Appeal on Thursday allowed the State Government's appeals against the High Court's decision to grant customary rights to two traditional turtle egg collectors to collect the eggs at Pulau Sipadan.

The appellate court also dismissed the claim for Native Customary Right over the whole Sipadan island by one Haji Abdillah Haji Abdul Hamid.

Justices Datuk Ramly Haji Ali, Dato' Anantham Kasinather and Dato' Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim unanimously allowed the State Govern-ment's four appeals after hearing submissions from all parties.

The appellate court held that on the question of Native Customary Rights (NCR), they were not satisfied that both individuals (Ab Rauf Mahajud, 70, and Haji Abdillah) have established NCR.

"NCR was in any event extinguished by legislation," they ruled.

They also held that the collection of turtle eggs in the island is illegal by law and that the question of compensation does not arise.

The court further said that the possession of turtle eggs did not arise by way of NCR under Section 15 of the Sabah Land Ordinance and also not a property of Ab Rauf and Abdillah.

The State Government and the Board of Trustees of the Sabah Parks were appealing against Ab Rauf Mahajud in the first appeal.

In the second appeal, the Semporna Assistant Collector of Land Revenue (ACLR) and State Government was appealing against Haji Abdillah Haji Abdul Hamid, while the third appeal was by Ab Rauf against the State Government and the Board of Trustees of the Sabah Parks - all appeals on the issue of liability.

The fourth appeal was by the State Government and the Board of Trustees of the Sabah Parks against Ab Rauf, and the fifth appeal by Semporna ACLR and State Government against Abdillah, both appeals on the consequent issue of quantum.

State Attorney General Datuk Roderic Fernandez defended the State Government, Ab Rauf was represented by counsel Yunof Maringking while Abdillah was represented by counsel Alex Decena and Shireen Sikayun.

The High Court, which heard both Ab Rauf and Abdillah's suits together on the issue of liability, had on Dec. 15, 2009 allowed the application by traditional turtle eggs collector Ab Rauf and 70 family members to collect the turtle eggs around Sipadan.

The High Court also granted a similar claim by businessman Haji Abdillah on Native Customary Rights over 2.5 acres of ancestral land on the island to collect turtle eggs and ordered the Deputy Registrar to assess damages on both suits.

The High Court Deputy Registrar, who heard the assessment of damages of both suits, had on April 20, 2011 awarded damages of RM4,376,008.75 to Rauf's suit in respect of the right to collect turtle eggs and awarded damages of RM5,524,711.04 to Abdillah and also awarded damages of RM26,500,000 to Abdillah in respect of the loss of the tourist resort, which Abdillah would otherwise have developed on the 2.5 acres of native customary right land on the island.

The appellate court in Thursday's proceedings, also dismissed Ab Rauf's appeal against the part of the High Court decision which had dismissed his claim for native customary right over the whole Sipadan island.

Earlier, Roderic, among others in his submission, said that the collection of turtle eggs is totally prohibited on Sipadan island or anywhere in Sabah since July 31, 1998 and that the right to collect turtle eggs on Sipadan island is not a native customary right within the definition of Section 15 and 65 of the Land Ordinance.

The island had been reserved for public purposes particularly of a bird sanctuary since 1933 and no one can claim it even via NCR and both Ab Rauf and Abdillah had not established the NCR factually, said Roderic.

Sipadan on Sept 24, 1997 was declared a protected area under the Protected Areas Order 1997 and under the control and management of the National Security Division, which remains so until today, he said.

When Malaysia went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to challenge Indonesia's claim to the island, it was not Malaysia's argument on the continuity of occupation on the island as the ICJ judges found it on different principles, he said.

Meanwhile, Decena submitted among others that having established NCR under common law, Abdillah does have propriety rights over Sipadan island under the Land Ordinance even though the island had been reserved as a Bird Sanctuary and that despite the ban under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 on collecting turtle eggs in Sipadan and elsewhere in Sabah, the enactment does not extinguish Abdillah's NCR to collect eggs on the island, established under common law.

Even if the enactment does extinguish Abdillah's NCR to collect and sell eggs from the island, he is entitled to compensation for loss of the right, said Decena.

Ab Rauf in his application on Dec 8, 2006 to seek an injunction against the State Government and Board of Trustees of Sabah Parks (defendants) from continuing to possess the island, said he is an heir of Maharaja Ligaddung Samang, who had the right to collect turtle eggs on the island which was recognised by the then British Government in letters dated Jan 25, 1916 and July 5, 1957, respectively.

He said the Federal Government had also recognised his grandfather's right to collect turtle eggs on the Island and the State Government had also sought his grandfather's cooperation to challenge Indonesia's claim to the Island in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled in favour of Malaysia.

He further said that the Tawau Syariah Court granted him an order on Nov 23, 1998 to inherit the right to collect turtle eggs for 40 nights a year.

The Sabah Government took over the island in 1997 and, without consent, licensed 12 tourism companies to run business there, thus his families were prohibited from collecting turtle eggs, said Ab Rauf.

Ab Rauf also wanted the court to rule whether the defendants are liable to pay compensation to his family for the loss of their right of use and occupancy of the Island under customary tenure resulting from the application of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 and or the licensing of 12 companies to do tourism business on the Island.

Meanwhile, Abdillah's ancestors had built, lived and maintained a house on the island and planted coconut trees and tapioca over 2.5 acres on the island and Abdillah, who inherited that NCR continued to collect and sell turtle eggs from the island and maintained the house and the 2.5 acres.

Kota Marudu: "Mini Karachi"!

Pakistani immigrants have Sabah benefactors?

Queville To

 | December 10, 2012

The recent murder of a teenager has brought the Pakistani scourge in Sabah into focus and its increasing threat to local native women and small businesses.

PENAMPANG: Racism is rife in Sabah and though chauvinism or xenophobia, if you will, has always existed here, it however seems to be gathering steam of late.

A mixture of politics, crime and other social problems related to demographic changes along with discussions and comments on the Internet has erupted into open simmering discontent between Sabahans and the newcomers.

The first to bear the brunt of discrimination and bigotry were the Filipino refugees streaming across the border from civil war-torn Southern Philippines and Indonesians. Now the focus is on Pakistani traders.

The unexplained death of Norikoh Saliwa, a 16-year-old student in Kota Marudu recently, and the subsequent detention of a shop manager of Pakistani origin have, however, stirred anger against immigrants in general and Pakistanis in particular.

Turn any corner in Sabah – even in the most unlikely and remote places in its poor northern reaches or the scrappy east coast of the state – one is bound to see a trader from the sub-continent happily attending to a small grocery store, clothing outlet or selling electrical items and cell phones.

Ask and many will cheerfully admit that they are from Peshawar or some area in the North-West Frontier Province, in northwestern Pakistan near the Khyber Pass on the border with Afghanistan.

They are quiet, polite, speak Malay fairly fluently and keep to themselves. Talk about cricket or any of the stars of the game and they become amiably animated.

All admit that they come from a hardscrabble background in their home country.

Sabah has been good to them and they have become wealthy beyond their dreams.

But questions are now being raised about how these immigrants from an impoverished background have had the funds to start businesses in the state.

Who has given them the money and the licences to operate? Do they have a benefactor at state and federal level?

Some of the shoplots they rent in strategic areas are not cheap. Rentals can be between RM2,500 and RM4,000, the wage of a middle income office worker.

Then there is the cost of the goods in the shop that can range from RM25,000 to over RM100,000.

Serious threat to locals

Where is that stake or seed money coming from?

Many say they have obtained loans but declined to reveal from who but, insist they can make ends meet and even turn a profit despite the interest on the loans.

With an eye on the general election around the corner and growing voter dissatisfaction over immigration, politicians have thrown caution to the winds and joined in the free-for-all immigrant-bashing.

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), a local opposition group, which is hoping to resurrect its fortunes on a Sabah-for-Sabahans agenda, expressed on Sunday its “grave concern over the increase in the number of Pakistani traders in the district over the years”.

Party information chief Chong Pit Fah warned that their increasing presence in the district, if left unchecked, could pose a serious threat to the socio-economic well-being of the local residents.

“The business of the local tuck shop operators has been badly affected since these Pakistani traders started to come in to Penampang district in the last few years to set up their tuck shops in almost every nook and corner of the district right up to the Putatan sub-district,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after lodging a police report at the district police station here yesterday, Chong who, is also SAPP Kepayan chief, claimed that a recent random survey carried out by its Kepayan Youth wing found that there were more than 20 tuck shops operated by the Pakistanis in the district.

The survey, he said, was prompted by public concern over the increasing number of Pakistani traders in the district, following the alleged murder of Saliwa.

“SAPP felt compelled to lodge a police report to urge the police as well as the Immigration Department to conduct a thorough check on these Pakistani traders who are operating the tuck shops in the Penampang district.

“We strongly believed they could be abusing their social visit pass, or even having secured their stay and permit to do business through such dubious means like marriages of convenience with the rural native women, some of whom are single mothers,” he said.

BN polls tactic?

Chong claimed to have received numerous reports that many of the Pakistanis coming to the state are targeting rural young native girls for marriages of convenience so that they could secure a longer stay in Sabah as well as to apply for trading licences.

According to sources, the preferred entry point into Sabah for Pakistan nationals and others is an indirect flight from Kuala Lumpur via Labuan.

“The major concern among the native community in Sabah now is that some of these Pakistani traders had returned to their wife and children back in Pakistan for good, thus leaving behind their native wife and children here,” Chong said.

He also claimed that the district of Kota Marudu has a large population of Pakistani nationals and has been dubbed “mini Karachi”.

Chong, who was a former deputy chairman of the Penampang district council, said that the increasing number of Pakistanis in the district could be a government-sanctioned tactic to alter the demographics of various “troublesome” districts in the state in order to produce a favourable outcome for the Barisan Nasional government in any election.

He said there seemed no other justifications for the relevant authorities to allow such a huge number of Pakistani nationals to continue to come into Sabah.

“We know for a fact that the Filipino and the Indonesian workers are here because they are needed by the plantation and construction industries.

“But as for the Pakistanis… what have they contributed to Sabah? To help increase the population of Sabah and to ensure a perpetual rule by the Barisan Nasional?” he asked.

Making the report with Chong at the police station were several SAPP district leaders.

(Source: Free Malaysia Today)

government had not effectively addressed the root cause of corruption and its agencies suffer from redundancy and lack of focus.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) said that corruption in Malaysia is not as bad as what the public perceives.

KUALA LUMPUR: Discuss corruption issues in Malaysia with a pinch of salt. Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) said this in its interim research report on Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Malaysia which was launched today at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy.

Present at the launch was former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The report, titled Combating Corruption: Understanding Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Malaysia, said it was important for the public not to be influenced by perception alone when discussing corruption in Malaysia.

“Although the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) implies that corruption level in the country is bad, our data suggests the situation is not as bleak as the CPI score.

“Therefore, we need to be cautious and not throw blanket accusations denying the many good efforts initiated by the government to combat corruption,” the report said.

However, the report indicated several weaknesses in government’s effort to battle corruption such as lack of a cohesive approach by government agencies, private sector and the civil society to curb graft.

The report added the government had not effectively addressed the root cause of corruption and its agencies suffer from redundancy and lack of focus.

“And that’s why the public does not believe that the government is serious in tackling corruption despite its attempts to do so,” the report said.

Offering solution, the interim report urged the government to set up an inter-agency working committee at the federal level to help agencies to coordinate initiatives and strategies to tackle graft.

“Agencies monitoring the government’s National Key Results Area (NKRA) should improve its coordination capacity, especially when it comes to corruption, and not focus on Government Transformation Programmes (GTP) alone.

The report also said that the government should not ignore anti-corruption framework like the National Integrity Plan as it provides comprehensive long term framework in strengthening integrity and battling corruption.

“We also find that the Nazir Shah Alam report on corruption, done is 1958, is worth revisiting.

“Plus, the MACC should optimise it resources to improve detection and investigation capacity and allow the Integrity Institute of Malaysia (IIM) to focus on public education initiatives,”the report said.

The report is funded by MACC’s NKRA Anti Corruption Unit, plus several local and foreign funders.

Source: FMT