 |
| Jalibin Paidi, STAR Divisional Head for Ranau |
RANAU : Consumers in Sabah should expect some unpleasant surprises
as the new year sets in with the Government's plan to implement the
minimum wage of RM800 per month across the board.
The direct immediate effect of this minimum wage
policy, to be in force from January 2013, are an increase of production
cost for all employers in the state, already burdened with the highest
cost of living in Malaysia.
Please expect increases of prices of goods and
services, anything from 20% to even 200% as the employers would
definitely pass the cost to consumers at large.
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 consumes would be the worst affected by this
policy as the gap from old wage to the new one will be incidentally the
widest as Sabahans are also the least paid in Malaysia. Many employees
in various sectors in Sabah are paid only a token RM400 or RM500 per
month which is a very sad story indeed.
We have reports from people familiar with the
restaurants, hotels, hard wares, and supermarkets sectors that prices in
almost all sectors would certainly be increased. There are to be
expected too that some would exploit the situation to increase cost at
whim and fancies but they are expected to respond to market forces once
competition set in.
We would like to know if indeed the government has
finalised its decision on allowing grace period until June next year
(2013) for employers with less than five employees on their payroll.
We are concerned on many fronts, while we support a higher
salary for our victimised workforce, 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.
Rural Development Minister Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin advised the people not to believe in rumours spread on the Internet or speculations about the current world situation such as doomsday.
ReplyDeleteHe said lately there had been a lot of rumours about the end of the world on Dec 21 or the world would suffer a blackout for three days starting from December 24, but all these had passed without anything happening.
Delete"Although we believe that someday the world will end, we don't believe in such rumours because only God knows when that day will occur," he added.
DeleteHe also advised the public not to spread rumours or speculations, as these would cause unnecessary fears and anxiety among the people.
DeleteHe said this while officiating at a Christmas Day event by a combination of 14 churches around Paus Paginatan Parish held at SIB Church Kg Paus, about 65 kilometres from town.
DeleteAccording to him, Malaysians are fortunate because there is no restriction to celebrate according to their belief, religions and customs.
DeleteEwon also assured that the needs of the church and its followers will always be taken seriously because every year the Government provides funding to be distributed to the followers of religions other than Islam.
DeleteIn conjunction with this, Ewon also approved an allocation of RM13,000 for building weekly schools for Christian children of the SIB Church Kg Paus.
DeleteAlso present at the event was Ministry Private Secretary Dallius Ubin and church leaders from a combination of 14 churches.
DeleteARE WE HEARING FROM AN UMNO CBYER ROBOT MOUTHPIECE?
DeleteReaders no one believes the drivel from any UMNO man or minister anymore after 50 years of broken promises!
It is encouraging to learn that the UMNO people are aware of the internet news about themselves- no need to warn off the people!
Pandai-pandailah menilai khabar angin yang disebarkan untuk menimbulkan kebimbangan.
DeleteJangan kita mudah terpengaruh oleh cubaan menghasut.
DeleteKhabar angin tanpa bukti yang kukuh memang tidak boleh di percayai.
DeletePembangkang tidak mengatisipasi boleh menawan kawasan yang ditandingi Umno, kerana mereka menganggap parti PAS dan PKR tiada kemampuan untuk merebut sokongan kaum bumiputera islam terhadap Umno.
ReplyDeleteKebanyakan kaum bumiputera masih lagi menyokong parti tempatan seperti PBS.
ReplyDeleteSabah masih lagi dalam pegangan kuat BN-UMNO. Tidak mudah merampas Sabah daripada BN.
ReplyDeleteRakyat Sabah akan menyokong BN, sebab BN akan sentiasa menunaikan janji kepada rakyat.
DeleteJangan percaya dengan perkara yang belum berlaku lagi.
ReplyDeleteso apa penyelesaian dipihak STAR? memansuhkan semula gaji minimum?
ReplyDeleteStar hanya pandai cakap saja,bising saja lebih.
Deletejika di semenanjung boleh bayar gaji tinggi kepada pekerja tanpa perlu menaikkan harga barangan, kenapa di sabah tidak? sepatutnya STAR menuding jari kepada syarikat2 di sabah yang gemar mengambil kesempatan dengan meletakkan beban kos kepada pengguna..
ReplyDeleteKedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) akhirnya dibuka di Sabah, lebih satu tahun selepas dilancarkan di Semenanjung Malaysia dan enam buah lagi sedang dalam perancangan di seluruh Sabah tahun ini.
ReplyDelete“Kita telah mengenal pasti enam lokasi iaitu Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Semporna, Tuaran, Keningau dan sebuah lagi di Kota Kinabalu,” kata Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi, dan Kepenggunaan Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
DeleteBeliau berkata demikian selepas melancarkan KR1M pertama di negeri ini terletak di Inanam, di sini, Khamis. “Kita perlu pastikan terlebih dahulu mereka yang disenarai pendek itu mengurus KR1M dan jika boleh kita mahu kedai-kedai itu jauh dari kedai-kedai runcit atau pasar sedia ada bagi mengelak persaingan,” katanya.
DeleteMengenai harga KR1M, beliau berkata, kerajan telah menetapkan harga iaitu 30 hingga 50 peratus lebih rendah. “Dengan itu, kami menggalakkan pengguna termasuk pengusaha industri kecil dan sederhana mengambil peluang daripada harga lebih murah itu dan dapatkan bekalan mereka daripada KR1M.”
DeleteKR1M Inanam itu menerima sambutan baik daripada masyarakat sejak mula beroperasi pada 29 Jun. Antara mereka yang turut hadir ialah Pembantu Menteri Pembangunan Sumber dan Teknologi Maklumat Datuk Jainab Ayid yang mewakili Ketua Menteri Datuk Musa Aman.
DeleteBerikutan pengumuman itu, satu unit khas dikenali sebagai Unit Peniaga Kecil dan Penjaja ditubuhkan di bawah Bahagian Pembangunan perniagaannya dengan objektif merancang dan melaksanakan program dengan persatuan serupa yang lain di seluruh negara.
DeleteSekarang in, cawangan kementerian itu di Kota Kinabalu membuat rancangan untuk menubuhkan unit tersebut. Sehingga kini, Sabah mempunyai 1,730 ahli berdaftar dalam 34 persatuan peniaga kecil dan penjaja di bawah empat organisasi utama.
DeleteBarangan di kedai 1Malaysia sangat berpatutan dan dapat membantu rakyat.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWith the coming New Year, Susan said the vibrant housing industry would witness the start of the second wave of national transformation plan, with the New Economic Model and the Economic Transformation Programme.
She pointed out in her New Year message that the government has introduced a number of economic and investment plans to stimulate a more robust and strong economic growth.
ReplyDeleteIt focused on moderation policies to promote national goodwill and harmony, enhance the national education and income, improvement of infrastructure development and so on.
ReplyDeleteBank Negara remains resilient and continues to provide 90 percent loan margins to the homebuyers and bridging financing to the developers which are expected to continue making the property market stable and prosperous.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAlthough palm oil price has dropped which partially affected the investment climate, nevertheless, Sabah is lucky to be located geographically at the centre of Southeast Asia.
Tourism is booming and the natural resources are abundant. Kota Kinabalu’s international airport is the second busiest in the country with direct flights connected to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“Our house prices are much cheaper than countries such as Singapore, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong and a lot of investors from foreign countries are looking forward to investing in Sabah.
ReplyDelete“Because of this, it also attracted a lot of foreign and Hong Kong movie stars to Sabah’s housing and other investment opportunities,” said Susan.
In the past, people liked to invest in the stock market. However, due to the recent crisis in the stock market, a lot of people now chose to buy properties for their investments, she added.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“On behalf of Shareda, I would like to thank the Sabah State Government, especially the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, for giving a lot of assistance and support to the housing industry which have faced with many challenges. We hope to continue to have a close relationship with the State Government in order to maintain this cooperation,” said Susan.