Kadir describe PM loneliness

1. A veteran journalist Datuk A Kadir Jasin jotted in his blog to confirm beyond a shadow of doubt that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak is not lonely.
2. Kadir said, in the first instance, nobody had said that PM was lonely or alone. In the second, the man himself told the high-level Invest Malaysia Conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 23 that he did not feel lonely.
3. This is how The Star newspaper in its April 24 quoted Mohd Najib: “Well, I can tell you that I don't feel lonely standing here in front of you today. And when so many respected international bodies, individuals, and institutions have confirmed their belief in Malaysia's success and have honoured us by rating us so highly - I don't feel lonely at all - in fact I feel in a very good company."
4. In his blog Kadir claimed that Mohd Najib had intended to take a swipe at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but as always, he got it wrong.
5. Kadir has no clue where the Prime Minister got this idea that people think he was lonely. Instead most Malaysians know just how merry and jolly their PM is.
6. The veteran journalist said Mohd Najib misunderstood what Dr Mahathir had written in his blog on April 13.
7. In that post, Dr Mahathir said “saya sedar saya keseorangan” (I realise that I am alone). Dr Mahathir was referring to his quest to seek the truth about 1MDB and the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
8. Unless Mohd Najib is speaking Kazak (the predominant language of Kazakhstan), he would have realised that Dr Mahathir did not say he was lonely.
9. He said he was alone. So when Mohd Najib said he did not feel lonely, he once again misunderstood what Dr Mahathir said. Still the people thank Mohd Najib for making doubly clear that he wasn’t feeling lonely.
10. Kadir said, PM wasn’t lonely as he had just returned from leading a glittering wedding party of his daughter with Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to Kazakhstan, which, according to Dr Mahathir, comprised some 300 merrymakers.
11. Also some 160 Umno divisional chiefs had pledged their unequivocal support for him. The Umno Youth had held him up so high up that he could see eternity. The Wanita Umno had wildly waved the “I love PM” banners and sang “1M4U”.
12. Kadir also not heard of Mohd Najib’s armies of advisers, consultants, special officers and hangers-on abandoning him, and would not dare suspect that any of them are playing “kayu tiga” with PM.
13. The mainstream media and the Mohd Najib-linked bloggers (ULB) - paid or voluntary, “bangang” or brilliant – continue to singing praises for him and maligning his critics. But some of them are saying that plots are being hatched in Umno to oust Mohd Najib although this was denied.
14. At the same conference Najib said prosperity must be shared but Kadir had a different view that in the last two decades Malaysia has become less equal.
15. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting nowhere but backward. Even some in the lower middle class are falling off the ledge.
16. That’s probably why Malaysians are only mildly happy. We are ranked 53 out of 158 countries featured in the most recent World Happiness Report published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The Switzerland is the happiest country and Togo is the saddest.
17. Apart from 1Malaysia People’s Assistance (BR1M), Mohd Najib recently shared the wealth of the country with fellow members of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara by agreeing to a hefty pay rise.
18. Lower House members had their monthly salary from RM11,500 to RM16,000 and those of the Upper House from RM7,000 to RM11,000. It happened almost at the same time as the rakyat – the wealthy and the pauper – are making sense of the GST.
19. According to an economist/researcher, that raise catapulted our Yang Berhormats to the top one-per cent of the income band – to be exact the top 0.6%.
20. Income inequality is growing despite the economy expanding at a respectable high rate, signalling the failure of the wealth distribution in the post-NEP period. The lowest paid civil servants earned under RM1,300 a month after adding cost of living and housing allowances. The situation is worse in the private sector and among the self-employed.
21. Yet Kadir said, the people were recently told by Rosmah Mansor that her hairstylist charged her RM1,200 for hair colouring at home and she blamed it on the GST. A society lady told me that its costs double that to do facial at a beauty outlet like Aster Spring. Today even men visit beauty parlours. Of course these are not the ordinary men in the street.
22. The 2014 report of the Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) showed that 72% of unit holders had an investment of only RM536. This represented a decline of 12.3% from 2012. The dividend they received was only RM45 a year or RM3.75 a month.
23. And look at Tabung Haji, the pride and joy of Malaysian Muslims. The bottom 87% of savers have average investment of only RM567 in 2013 according to the UNDP Human Development Report 2013 authored by economist (Tan Sri) Kamal Salih, Dr Mohamed Abdul Khalid and Dr Lee Hwok Aun. Less than 40% of Muslims have accounts at Tabung Haji.
24. Then what has happened to Mohd Najib’s call on April 10, 2014 for better representation of gender, ethnicity and age in the Malaysian corporate sector? He said he would like to see a greater number of Malaysian-listed companies producing sustainability reports that include these features. Where is the update or is this another empty transformational promise?
25. 1MDB Stayed Away. The conference was organised by Bursa Malaysia with Khazanah Nasional Berhad and CIMB banking group being key participants. 1MDB was invited “to give its side of the story” but declined.
26. As a bona fide government strategic investment company it should not have shied away from the gathering whose keynote speaker was the Prime Minister himself. If 1MDB’s board of advisers, directors and management are so darn sure of their modus operandi and transparency, they should have attended the conference.
27. In another development, the company had declined to entertain inquiries from the media saying that “1MDB does not comment on speculation and market rumours.”
28. According to the report, The Malaysian Insider news portal had asked 1MDB to comment on claims that it had provided falsified bank statements concerning a subsidiary.
29. Maybe its President and Group Executive Director, Arul Kanda Kandasamy had learnt a bitter lesson when he told the Mingguan Malaysia on Feb. 15 (read here) that the talks of T.Ananda Krishman lending RM2 billion to 1MDB were “mere speculation”.
30. Then about six weeks later, on March 25, according to Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Ananda through his power company, Tanjong Energy Holdings, “had arranged the funding with the help of private investors.”
31. So what Arul Kanda said in the interview with the Malay newspaper amounted to lying. So rather than perpetuating the lies, it would be better for 1MDB to keep its mouth shut and open its books to the investigators.
32. Kadir  was taken aback when, a couple of days ago, several senior Umno leaders, including ministers, who were previously staunch supporters of the Prime Minister, told him a different story.
33. “One told me that some of them had seen and examined 1MDB documents, and are sharing the information with party members to ensure no further damage is done to government finances and the culpable parties be held responsible,” Kadir said.
34. So, while the Prime Minister does not feel lonely, Dr Mahathir too is not alone in his fight to get the Prime Minister to leave Putrajaya.

Selangor cuba perkecil isu Kafa dan salib

1. Kerajaan Selangor tidak mahu menaikkan elaun guru Kelas al Quran dan Fardhu Ain (Kafa) kerana tiada peruntukan dan menasihatkan umat Islam agar jangan memperbesarkan isu kecil itu.
2. Dalam pada itu sebuah gereja haram di Taman Medan PJ diarah meneruskan aktiviti walaupun Akta PBT melarangnya kerana tiada permit. Sekali lagi umat Islam diminta jangan kecoh kerana itu pekara kecil.
3. Remuk redam hati umat Islam dengan dua keputusan luar dugaan itu. Jika soal guru al Quran dan kemunculan gereja haram di kawasan 95 peratus penduduk Melayu dikatakan kecil, apa lagi yang boleh dikatakan.
4. Suatu ketika dahulu isu murtad di Selangor juga dikatakan isu kecil kerana bilangannya tidak ramai manakala pemeriksaan terhadap gereja Khatolik dianggap besar kerana ia dikatakan mencabuli hak masyarakat Kristian.
5. Lebih pedih lagi apabila kedua-dua keputusan itu (salib dan Kafa) dipersetujui pemimpin Islam yang mahu meneggakkan syiar Islam di bumi Selangor. Malangnya isu sebegini dianggap kecil dan remeh.
6. Bagi kes guru Kafa, seorang Exco dari PAS dengan rasa tak bersalah memberitahu guru Kafa bahawa pihaknya sudah menilai justifikasi dan dimuktamadkan kenaikan setara seperti yang dijanjikan tanpa membezakan tahun berkhidmat demi keadilan kepada semua.
7. Bagaimanapun katanya, elaun guru Kafa tidak akan dinaikkan tahun ini memandangkan kerajaan negeri tiada peruntukan.
8. “Saya harap kontroversi ini dihentikan memandangkan ia bukanlah isu besar. Hasil kajian mendapati kenaikan elaun bukanlah suatu jumlah yang besar, meskipun membabitkan lebih 6,000 guru Kafa di negeri ini. Peruntukan tambahan itu RM18 juta setahun,” katanya.
9. Hancur perasaan umat Islam apabila Exco PAS mengumumkan sedemikian. Tidak adakah cara lain yang lebih lembut untuk menyampaikan keputusan itu?
10. Dan mengapakah ia (elaun guru Kafa) disebut sebagai isu kecil sedangkan tiada pekara yang lebih besar selain daripada meneggakkan syiar Islam dan mempertahankan al Quran.
11. Pada Sidang DUN 8 April lalu, seorang guru yang mewakili ribuan guru Kafa datang ke bangunan kerajaan untuk menuntut kenaikan elaun guru Kafa di Selangor sebagaimana yang dijanjikan ketika PR merayu undi dalam PRU yang lalu.
12. Guru itu menjelaskan manifesto PR semasa PRU13 telah berjanji untuk menaikkan elaun guru Kafa yang hampir 10,000 di negeri ini daripada RM1,300 kepada RM1,500 sebulan. 
13. Kerajaan negeri perlu mengotakan janji mereka berikutan kos sara hidup yang semakin meningkat setiap hari sehingga menyebabkan terdapat golongan guru Kafa yang terpaksa melakukan kerja tambahan bagi menambah pendapatan.
14. Banyak guru Kafa terpaksa bekerja di stesen minyak pada sebelah malam, menjual kuih muih malah ada yang bekerja sebagai tukang cuci semata-mata untuk menampung kos sara hidup.
15. Pendapatan elaun bulanan yang guru Kafa yang rendah itu turut meletakkan mereka dalam kumpulan isi rumah di bawah garis kemiskinan negeri Selangor iaitu kadar pendapatan kurang RM3,500 sebulan.  
16. Lebih menyedihkan kebanyakan guru Kafa di negeri ini masih bertaraf sambilan berikutan kekosongan jawatan tetap perkhidmatan berkenaan terlalu terhad.  
17. Malangnya tuntutan itu dilayan macam sampah sarap. Guru berkenaan dihalau oleh 10 pengawal keselamatan DUN Selangor daripada memasuki bangunan itu bagi menyerahkan tuntutan kenaikan elaun tersebut kepada 56 Adun Selangor termasuk Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.
18. Bagi kes kedua berkaitan kewujudan gereja baru di Taman Medan, umat Islam dapat melihat dengan jelas bagaimana PKR mengetepi peraturan PBT tanpa meminda akta yang wujud sejak sekian lama.
19. Dengan bersandarkan kepada keputusan Jawatankuasa Kerajaan Negeri Perhubungan Bukan Islam 2008, kerajaan Selangor membenarkan gereja itu beroperasi semula.
20. Ini kerana kewujudan gereja di premis komersial atau pejabat tidak lagi memerlukan permit tetapi cukup dengan memberi notis kepada penduduk. Ia berdasarkan artikel 11, Perlembagaan Persekutuan merangkumi kebebasan beragama.
21. Ternyata orang ramai bingung samada Akta 133 Seksyen 70 (12) sudah terbatal dengan wujudnya keputusan kerajaan negeri pada 2008, atau akta itu masih kekal kerana pemansuhannya belum diwartakan.
22. Sedihnya keputusan membenarkan gereja itu beroperasi semula datang dari meja Menter Besar Selangor dan diumumkan oleh exco yang beragama Kristian.
23. Melihat kepada cara kerajaan negeri menangani kedua-dua isu berkaitan (salib dan Kafa), umat Islam semakin bimbang dan curiga dengan dominasi Kristian DAP dalam pentadbiran Selangor.