Prices of goods in Sabah will shoot up with un-remedied minimum wage, says Star

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.

 

Which will it be: Najib or Umno?

Dissatisfied Umno members believe Najib Tun Razak and
Rosmah Mansor are the party's "main liabilities"
that threaten the future of Umno.

Source

The recent 66th Umno general assembly sent out clear signs of increasing dissatisfaction among delegates with Najib Tun Razak’s leadership and that a decision must be made before the 13th general election.

Since Najib took over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as PM in early 2009, the former’s leadership has been directionless. He has been inconsistent and indecisive with his policies.

Though Najib is not as weak as his predecessor, he has nothing better to offer – no good leadership traits and no political and economic models on nation-building.

Umno members, from top to bottom, are very concerned about the party’s future.

We don’t need Malayan leaders to preach unity

Leaders from Malaya should not teach Sabahans what is
the meaning of racial harmony as we in Sabah have had
the most harmonious relationship, says Yong Teck Lee.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA BELUD: Sabah Progressive Party president Yong Teck Lee has condemned political leaders from Peninsular Malaysia, including from the Pakatan Rakyat, who come to Sabah lecturing to the local people on how to unite and not be racial.

“Leaders from Malaya should not teach Sabahans what is the meaning of racial harmony as we in Sabah have had the most harmonious relationship,” he said.

“DAP leaders like Selangor Speaker Teng Cheng Kim who came to Sandakan recently should not tell us how to unite. It is in the peninsula that racial disharmony is prevalent,” Yong said in his speech at a family gathering of one of SAPP’s leaders in Kg Kebayau near here yesterday.

Jangan pandang rendah orang Sabah

Sumber

Kami tukar Usno, kami tukar Berjaya, kami tukar PBS,
kata seorang pemandu teksi rakyat Sabah.

PETALING JAYA: Ristol Nebeng agak kecewa kerana masih ramai rakyat Malaysia yang menganggap rakyat Sabah masih tidak matang berpolitik serta muda dibeli dengan janji-janji manis dalam pilihanraya yang bakal menjelang tiba.

Pemandu teksi yang berasal dari Sandakan ini memberitahu bahawa anggapan sedemikian sudah lama dilemparkan oleh pendududk dari Semenanjung termasuk rakan-rakannya sendiri.

Ristol berusia dalam lingkungan 40 tahun bekerja sebagai pemandu teksi sejak 15 tahun dan sekarang tnggal di Cheras di Kuala Lumpur. Beliau sudah berkeluarga dan mempunyai lima anak antara 10 dan 20 tahun. Isterinya berasal dari Tawau, sabah.

Of US President Harry Truman and Australian Bob Menzies

Thought you'd enjoy this!
It's one you want your Children and Grandchildren to read.

They won't believe this happened, but it DID.

Harry & Bess
(This seems unreal.)

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

Neither BN nor Pakatan good for Sabah, S’wak

Declassified documents pertinent to Borneo, found in
the British archives, indicate that Putrajaya's
policies may be running foul of the unwritten
constitution of Malaysia.

byJoe Fernandez

Former Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Harris Salleh has never failed to appear from time to time as a bundle of contradictions to the extent of even embarrassing his own party leaders.

Harris, in his defence, may be said to mean well and even acting in good faith but often this argument is nothing more than the proverbial fig-leaf.

The man simply can’t be allowed to get away with it too many times. It creates not just bad but dangerous precedents. Both Harris and former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad appear to be birds of a feather in more ways than one.

However Harris isn’t even facing the remotest danger of being hauled up by Umno — assuming he’s still a member of the party given his penchant for sponsoring mosquito parties including Usno 2006 which is awaiting “registration” — on disciplinary charges for bringing it into public disrepute. This Mother of All Charges, with apologies to Saddam Hussein, is sure to cook anyone’s goose for good.

Confidence tricks in Sabah politics

Former Chief Minister Harris Salleh's latest comments
are indicative of how disengaged Sabah leaders, both
past and present, are from the man on the street.

KOTA KINABALU: Ask almost anyone in Sabah, especially those in the Chinese business community, and they’ll tell you the state’s economy is in a bad way and will be so for the foreseeable future.

Sabah’s prized assets are in greedy hands. Its golden crop – oil palm – is losing its lustre in the commodities market, its tourism lure is messy, the prices of goods and services have gone up, property prices have sky-rocketed and where jobs are available wages are low and the infrastructure remains creaky and basic.

With all this pointing to deepening economic woes, you’d think that the state’s politicians who have rarely been so unpopular would be cautious about throwing stones at glass houses that they are living in. But no, its still business as usual.

Stop PR stunts, get real with Christians

An NGO says this Christmas is the time for Najib
to ponder and really hear the Christians on the
issue of fairness and justice.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been asked to stop his “public relations stunts” and instead deal with the biased treatment his federal administration has meted out to Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Demanding that Najib “walk his talk”, a local NGO, Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo), said the PM’s “nice words” in his Christmas message yesterday, rang “hollow as far as sincerity and truth is concerned” when compared to the “real situation” in Malaysia affecting Christians.

The foundation’s president Daniel Jambun said that in Sabah especially, the “Christian community continued to be increasingly marginalised and victimised by loads of actions from Najib’s ruling party Umno.”

Sabah immigration dishing-out Mykads?

It apparently takes only two hours to process a
new Mykad at the Immigration Department in Sabah's
Federal Administrative Complex, claims DAP.

By Queville To

KOTA KINABALU: Why is the Immigration Department in Sabah processing new Mykads and change of addresses? And when did the National Registration Department (NRD) appoint the Immigration Department to handle Mykads in Sabah?

Posing these question, Sabah DAP said it was tipped off by the members of the public that the process of changing to the new MyKads and address could be done at the Immigration Department in the Federal Administrative Complex here and that the procedure took only two hours.

“It is being done at the Immigration Department, which is suppose to only handle passport and work pass. Since when is the Immigration Department also doing the job of the National Registration Department?”  the party’s Tanjung Aru chief, David Chong Ket Sui asked.

Dealing with the Borneo Agenda

Is it any wonder that poverty is still prevalent
in the resource rich states of Sabah and Sarawak
after 45 years in Malaysia?

History will tell us that alliances between states are entered into to serve strategic, economic and the national interest of their people.

More often than not these alliances are driven by political leaders who dream of greater glory and national advancement that the sum of such an alliance may bring.

History will also tell us that no nation can survive an alliance with another for too long when the interest of its people are exploited and taken advantage of by the another.

Such is the situation that the people of Sabah and Sarawak now feel they are in – the same Sabah and Sarawak that joined with Singapore and Malaya to form that new nation of Malaysia.

‘Can we trust Sabah BN leaders, anymore?’

The only reason Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is
desperately wooing Sabah is because Umno can no
longer rule Peninsular Malaysia without
Sabah and Sarawak.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

PENAMPANG: A veteran political activist who was once with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) said many among the Barisan Nasional leaders in Sabah had at many times told crowds that BN stands for “Barisan Nah Sial”.

Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, 71, who is now with opposition State Reform Party (STAR) said he could name these hypocrite leaders who are now heaping praises after praises on BN and its corrupt leaders.

“These leaders once referred to BN as Barisan Nah Sial but they are singing a different tune now because they are now ministers, they got projects and all the trappings of power,” he said in a statement here today in response to PBS Johnny Mositun’s statement yesterday.

Moderate but merry Christmas nationwide

KUALA LUMPUR: Christians celebrated Christmas in a moderate albeit merry atmosphere with some having to face the current floods in the East Coast.

As usual they attended church services in the morning before spending time with family and friends.

Traffic in the city was smooth as many people have returned to their hometowns for the festival or to finish off their annual leave.

Kuala Lumpur residents and foreign nationals took the opportunity to visit shopping malls such as Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

Sabah’s economy on ‘Death Row’

Sabah is slipping down on living standards as
families continue to feel the pinch of high
inflation and low economic revival.

By the time this article is published, the Mayan calendar phenomenon is probably way behind us and like any other hoaxes of the last century, there was no apocalypse or Armageddon.

Let us go for something more real and imminent:

Upon this coming Chinese Lunar New Year in 2013, the zodiac snake will once again dawn the world. With so many political and fiscal uncertainties staring Sabah in the face, will she ever survive the python squeeze or will asphyxia be her final fate?

Or will the worst be reserved instead for the ruling coalition which has hogged the nation’s seat of power for more than half a century of dividing the people and rule, when the celestial serpent finally devour the entire Barisan Nasional in an election tipped to be held in or around February?

Year-end visits to Sabah by Najib, Anwar

It is learned that both have scheduled their final visits to
the politically volatile state on Dec 28 and 29 respectively.

By Luke Rintod of FMT 

KOTA KINABALU: Come year-end, the country’s top two “rivals” in Malaysian politics – Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and opposition supremo Anwar Ibrahim – will once again slog it out in Sabah.

It is reliably learned that both have scheduled their final visits to the politically volatile state on Dec 28 and 29 respectively.

Besides wooing potential voters here, the duo will be also be fighting for spaces in the local newspapers.

Media editors here have spoken of the “interesting” heat emanating from the political slugging and its reach to voters across the vast state of Sabah.

Many BN leaders once said Barisan "Nah Sial", says Star veteran

By Ezra Haganez
PENAMPANG : A veteran political activist who was once with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) said many among the Barisan Nasional leaders in Sabah had at many times told crowds that BN stands for "Barisan Nah Sial".

Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, 71, who is now with opposition State Reform Party (Star) said he could name these hypocrite leaders who are now heaping praises after praises on BN and its corrupt leaders.

Malaysia Agreement unconstitutional and illegal ?

Source

Check your IQ with today’s quiz:

Article I*

The Colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak and the State of Singapore shall be federated with the existing States of the Federation of Malaya as the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in accordance with the constitutional instruments annexed to this Agreement and the Federation shall thereafter be called "Malaysia". (emphasis added)

Question No. 1

Which one of the following descriptions best depicts the status of Sabah:

1)    The Federation of Malaysia shall comprise (a) the Federation of Malaya, (b) the State of Sabah, (c) the State of Sarawak, and (d) the State of Singapore.

2)    Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore have the same status as any one of the 11 states in Peninsular.

Najib gives KDMs a fair chance

PBS has urged its members not to gamble away the
future of the KadazanDusun and Murut (KDM)
communities by voting for Pakatan Rakyat.

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has reminded Sabahans that never before have they had such a “high representation” in the federal cabinet, including leaders from the KadazanDusun and Murut (KDM) communities.

PBS information chief Johnny Mositun pointed out that Barisan Nasional under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had been inclusive and had given every community a hand in policy-making and governance of the country.

“Just look at the representations in the federal cabinet. Of the three Sabahan federal ministers, two are KDM (Dr Maximus Ongkili and Bernard Dompok).

“Joseph Kurup is also a KDM and he is a deputy federal minister.

Mahathir silent on Najib’s plan to have MACC vet all BN candidates

by Joe Fernandez

 

Umno President and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Mahathir Mohamad plans to seek the help of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to vet the ruling coalition’s candidates for the forthcoming 13^th General Election.

There has been nothing but an ominous silence from former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to this reported Najib plan and with good reasons too.

Malaysian student jailed over anti-government protest

State news agency Bernama reported that a magistrate's court had found Umar Mohd Azmi guilty of obstructing a Kuala Lumpur City Hall officer during the protest against the government's university loan scheme in April.

The 23-year-old final year undergraduate had allegedly obstructed the officer from arresting a fellow activist on April 23, during a week-long occupation of a historic landmark in the Malaysian capital.

Sabah to get new constituencies next year

Several constituencies in the west coast of the state is
to be carved up due to rapid population growth.

PAPAR: Sabah is set to get several new electoral constituencies when the re-delineation exercise takes place next year.

Deputy State Speaker Johnny Mositun said he had met several high-ranking Election Commission officers here and in Kuala Lumpur and they had informed him that many constituencies on the west coast of the state would be carved up due to rapid population growth.

“I have been given to understand that Sabah will get some additional constituencies,” said Mositun who is also PBS information chief, while speaking at the PBS Bongawan Division annual general meeting here on Saturday.

Doomsday? Relax and think positive

I have been following “Countdown to Apocalypse” in the History Channel in Astro. It’s amazing the many theories and contingency preparations that people have taken as a survival plan for Doomsday.

Many religions, calendars and prophecies point to Dec 21, 2012 as the end of the world. Is this another “Theory of the Apocalypse” that will come and go like others we have seen, or is this one that we should be paying attention to?

This worldwide anxiety was also here in Malaysia. I have people talking about it every day in Facebook, and many of my friends had actually stocked up for the predicted emergencies.

STAR: This Time Let the People Win

With GE13 just around the corner, political scenario in Sabah becomes hot as usual with Veteran (old-political-minded) politicians ‘badmouthing’ each other all the way. That was what ex-UPKO turned APS chairman, Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburng did via his info chief, youth chief and secretary general towards Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan over who has the better solution towards the greatest rip-off of Sabah and its people.

Alternative Media Chief for STAR Sabah admits that it’s very disappointing indeed. "Why is APS resorting to maliciously derogatory comments of STAR and its warriors? How can they claim to be a leader of the people if they can easily believe rumours picked up from the streets?"

SAPP man appointed lawyer for Norikoh's family

KOTA KINABALU : Popular local lawyer Peter Marajin has been appointed counsel for the family of the murdered Norikoh Saliwa from Kota Marudu.

Marajin who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) supreme council member was appointed by the girl's father, Saliwa Madaya, as the counsel to act as "watching brief" for the family in any proceedings in court or for any matters relating to the case.

‘Sabah Umno reps only servicing Muslims’

Disgruntled Sabah Upko members are fed up with Umno YBs
and want a special programme to re-educate them on
their responsibilities to the electorate.

LAHAD DATU: The strained relationship between two Barisan Nasional components here has emerged into the open over the preferential treatment given to Muslim Bumiputera at the expense of the non-Muslims.

The United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) which is embarrassed that it has not been able to provide the same level of social assistance that Umno provides its supporters, this week accused the dominant BN party of granting assistance based on religious beliefs rather than on needs and creating a split where none existed before.

Is APS eating away into STAR turf?

Wilfred Bumburing's APS which Anwar Ibrahim tasked
to garner support for the opposition from the
natives is confident that the tide is turning.

KOTA KINABALU: Anwar Ibrahim may be a happier man these days with the positive sounds coming out of Sabah.

Going by what Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) speakers are saying at each of its roadshows held around the state since its formation on July 29, Pakatan Rakyat is on a solid footing and the Barisan Nasional’s fixed deposit state is very much in play in the coming general election.

APS headed by Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing which has been tasked by Anwar to garner support for the opposition, especially from the natives is confident that it has begun swinging support for the opposition coalition in Kadazandusun and Murut majority constituencies in the state.

Talks going on well with SAPP, says Anwar

Anwar Ibrahim today played down talks of tension
between the 'original' Sabah PKR members and
allies of Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today dismissed reports that talks were not going well with former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee’s Sabah Progressive People’s (SAPP) party.

He said Pakatan Rakyat, which he leads, has been “more successful with SAPP” as there has been a more active process of negotiations and “they have been attending our joint meetings”.

Anwar’s comments contradict a report on Tuesday quoting a SAPP insider who claimed that Yong had implied that SAPP could well be on a collision course with its “allies” PKR and DAP (Pakatan members) in many seats.

A Citizen Initiative for the Promotion of Free and Fair Elections

During an interview with NTV7 on 9^th Apr 2012, Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Razak assured us that elections will be free and clean. We have followed up with his assurances and a coalition of NGOs is putting forward a package of electoral reforms aimed at restoring the spirit and intention of the original Federation of Malaysia Constitution. To achieve this, we are proposing more than 204 amendments to the Enactments and Regulations related to the election systems and processes as well as to the relevant Articles of the Federal Constitution.

SAPP-Pakatan: It just ain’t working out

By Calvin Kabaron

SAPP president Yong Teck Lee is adamant that
the party must stick to its principle that
a Sabah-based party must take the
majority of the state seats.

KOTA KINABALU: Mistrust and uncertainty within Sabah’s opposition politics could well indeed translate into a free-for-all fight at the coming general election.

Yesterday, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) supreme council met in Likas near here and snippets leaked out indicated that things may not be going too well with its alliance with PKR-led Pakatan Rakyat.

Insider information noted that party president Yong Teck Lee implied that if things don’t work out as it should, then SAPP could well be on a collision course with its newly-found allies PKR and DAP in many seats.

Will SAPP-STAR finally deal?

Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) wants a public
commitment from Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)
and is no longer prepared to be left hanging.

KOTA KINABALU: Will today be the day that local Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) decides who it will bed with and openly declare so?

The party’s supreme council is scheduled to meet today and high on the agenda is its relationship with Sabah State Reform Party (STAR). Up until now, their ties have been “hanging”, with SAPP being seen as “non-committal”.

Currently, SAPP has a foot in Pakatan Rakyat and another in United Borneo Alliance (UBA), an umbrella body initiated by Jefftrey Kitingan as the political front for parties that subscribe to his United Borneo Front’s (UBF) Borneo Agenda.

Jeffrey, who is Sabah STAR chief, has kept the doors open to SAPP and its president Yong Teck Lee despite advice to the contrary from within and outside his party and circle.

Bumburing and Jeffrey in face-off

STAR is being accused of splitting the Kadazan, Dusun, Murut (KDM)
communities' votes in Sabah and handing BN a measure of
confidence that it can prolong its hold.

KOTA KINABALU: Two Kadazandusun opposition leaders here are going toe-to-toe over who has the more credible solution to what they claim is the great rip-off of Sabah and its people.

Maverick Sabah politician Jeffrey Kitingan has taken a hard line on ‘Malayan’ parties and has accused opposition leaders of being turncoats no better than the all-dominating Barisan Nasional ruling coalition they are castigating for rejecting his Borneo agenda that focuses exclusively on the rights of Sabah and Sarawak.

On the other side is Wilfred Bumburing, a MP who has turned independent and is leading Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), a opposition-friendly grouping that sees Jeffrey’s brand of Borneo-centric politics as out of touch with reality.

M'sia is world's No 2 in illegal capital flight

Steven Gan 8:01AM Dec 18, 2012

Close to RM200 billion of dirty money was siphoned out of Malaysia in 2010, putting the country second only to Asian economic powerhouse China in global capital flight.

Washington-based financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI), in its latest report which tracks capital flight, says the level of illicit flows from Malaysia in 2010 was the highest in 10 years.

GFI has introduced a new and more conservative methodology in its estimates of illicit financial outflows, which help to zero in exclusively on dirty money. As such, estimates from its previous reports have been revised.

Last year, GFI put the figure of illicit outflows for Malaysia in 2009 at US$46.86 billion(RM143.3). This has been altered to US$30.41 billion (RM93 billion).

DUMB DOWN for Islam - Is that what Pak Lah's IKIM is suggesting?

Written by  Joe Fernandez, Malaysia Chronicle 

The Institute of Islamic Understanding (Ikim), chaired by former premier Abdullah Badawi, recently came out with a strong statement warning Muslims against pluralism and liberalism on the grounds that such trends would "confuse them and undermine their faith". (scroll below for the Bernama report)

In short, the truth or otherwise  if there's any such thing isn't the crux of the debate, but to invoke "God" and keep society on a tight leash to ensure some sort of mindless social order for self-serving political reasons.

Banks robbing the poor….disgusting!!!

On 6 Dec 2012, PSM Kajang Branch received a complaint from Muniammah a/p Thambiram. She is 54 years old, illiterate, a widow and she is supporting her son who has been quite sick since last 4 years due to heart problem and an industrial accident. The son bought an apartment for the family in Oct 2001. Housing loan for RM78,318 was approved by AmBank and they started paying installment since Sept 2003.

It was not easy for them to pay the monthly installment which comes to about RM500-RM600 a month especially since the son, Thanasegaran is disable and surviving on SOCSO. They used up almost all their EPF money paying the installment. No doubt they were struggling as they was no stable income.

Wakil Rakyat cum Businessman

By: Datuk Tan Sri Tama Puyang
13.12.2012

In Oxford Dictionary, tells us the meanings of Politician (wakil rakyat), and the meaning of Businessman.

Let us start with “Politician”, what does it mean? In Oxford Dictionary, Politician means, “A person holding an elected government post.”

Secondly, what is the meaning of “Businessman” in Oxford Dictionary”? Businessman means “An occupation, profession, or trade; something that is someone’s duty or concern.”

Being your Tan Sri, I would like all of my Sarawakian to clearly understand the difference meanings between a businessman and a politician. Here you know how one person has to focus on making profits for his personal bank account, the other being elected during the election to lead the rakyat for 5 years.

Stop bullying NGOs, Sabah govt told

By Luke Rintod of FMT

A well known activists wants the Sabah state
government to stop harassing non-governmental
organisations in the state.

KOTA KINABALU: A long-serving Sabah human rights and social activist here has called on the Sabah government to be more accommodating to civil society groups in the state and not to apply unnecessary “pressure” on non-governmental organisations.

Patrick Sindu, said any “subtle pressure” from the government on these groups could be interpreted by the public and the international community, either rightly or wrongly, as interfering, manipulating, victimising or exploiting these NGOs in an effort to align them with the state government.

Frantic Najib in Sabah, again?

By Luke Rintod of FMT

The prime minister is expected to be in Sabah
tomorrow to shore up support for the Barisan
Nasional among the Christian community ahead
of the Christmas celebrations.

KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to visit Sabah twice this month, in what many here consider as an increasingly desperate effort to retain his coalition government’s grip on what is looking like a battle-ground state.

Najib is expected to arrive in Sandakan tomorrow (Dec 15) to open the annual congress of Sabah Barisan Nasional minor partner, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the following day.

On Dec 28, Najib is expected to visit rural Pensiangan where another tiny BN component, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), is holding its own annual general meeting.