Wednesday 10 July 2013

Corruption in Malaysia now at 3%, up from 1.2% in 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will work to put in place comprehensive good governance and anti-corruption measures following the latest Transparency International survey that showed Malaysia’s corruption as having risen to 3% from 1.2% previously.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low said he was committed to tabling the results of the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer to the Cabinet.

“We will work to put in place comprehensive good governance and anti-corruption measures – ministry by ministry – with the personal collaboration of each minister.

“As the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department overseeing integrity, good governance and human rights, I hereby commit to table the results of this survey to the Cabinet,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Low said the survey showed that corruption was not just peculiar to Malaysia but a global menace that must be recognised and addressed before it was too late.

“Encouragingly, the rakyat registered their strong willingness to support the fight against corruption,” he said, pointing out that an overwhelming majority believed that ordinary people could make a difference while almost 80% would report an incident of corruption.

On the continued perception that both the police and political institutions were the most corrupt, Low said this was consistent with worldwide results.

“Thirty-six countries viewed the police as the most corrupt, the judiciary in 20 countries and the political institutions in a whopping 51 countries,” he said.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said he would look into the results of the survey and try to use them to guide his men.

Earlier, Transparency Inter­national-Malaysia (TI-M) president Datuk Akhbar Satar said the survey, which was carried out in 107 countries between September 2012 and March this year, showed that corruption in the country had increased to 3% from 1.2% in 2011.

This was the percentage of the 1,000 people surveyed in Malaysia who stated that they had paid a bribe in the past 12 months. The global average for corruption is 27%.

“The police have been identified as the most bribed institution for the past 12 months,” he said, adding that 12% of those surveyed had personally experienced police bribery in the past year.

An observation by TI-M also showed that fewer people believed the Government’s moves in fighting bribery were effective – down to 31% from 49% – while those who believed that these were neither effective nor ineffective had grown to 44% from 27%.


SOURCE

Keganjilan angka pilihan raya

Keganjilan angka pilihan raya

KUALA LUMPUR: MENJADI satu perkara yang pelik apabila keganjilan dimasukkan dalam elemen seseorang individu. Keganjilan sifatnya negatif, mungkin juga boleh dikategorikan unik kerana kewujudannya yang bersifat hanya satu selain minoriti dan kebiasaannya akan dikaitkan perkara aneh.

Banyak perkara ganjil berlaku dan setiap keganjilan pasti menjadi tumpuan masyarakat di kawasan berkenaan membawa ke daerah berdekatan dan kemudian merebak ke seluruh negara.

Persepsi rakyat negara ini lazimnya memang suka kepada keganjilan, ada yang menganggapnya keramat, membawa unsur mistik, tahyul selain ada juga yang percaya setiap kejadian yang berlaku boleh membawa tuah atau malang dalam kehidupan mereka sehari-hari.

Mengambil contoh keganjilan yang pernah dilihat, didengar atau boleh dibaca di media massa dan agak popular tiga empat tahun kebelakangan ini adalah kes 36 sejadah `berdiri' di surau Sekolah Kebangsaan Tok Sangkut Pasir Mas Kelantan.

Sebenarnya bukan cerita sejadah berdiri mahupun sejarah, mitos atau apa sahaja berkenaan sejadah yang mahu dipanjangkan namun frasa berlawanan bagi ganjil di dalam konteks berlainan.

Saya bawa pembaca dan frasa ganjil ke alam matematik, dalam bidang matematik, nombor ganjil ialah nombor yang tidak boleh dibahagi dengan dua sementara nombor genap ialah nombor yang boleh dibahagi dengan dua - kira-kiranya nampak mudah sahaja.

Walau nampak mudah namun kuasa genap dan ganjil jika dibesarkan dalam konteks pemerintahan negara sebenarnya boleh mengubah struktur penguasaan wakil kerajaan dan pembangkang di Parlimen!

Saya kecilkan skop ganjil dan genap dalam isu pilihan raya kecil (PRK) kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) N1 Kuala Besut yang akan berlangsung 24 Julai ini.

Pilihan raya kecil Kuala Besut diadakan selepas wakil rakyat Barisan Nasional (BN) Dr. A.Rahman Mokhtar meninggal dunia pada 26 Jun lepas.

Impak seandainya BN gagal mempertahankan kerusi ini sangat besar. Di sinilah unsur matematik genap dan ganjil akan mula memainkan peranannnya.

PRK ini menjadi tumpuan kerana BN hanya mempunyai kelebihan satu kerusi saja ke atas Pakatan Rakyat di DUN Terengganu sekarang.

Jika BN kalah, pasti pilihan raya negeri terpaksa diadakan semula untuk menentukan pihak mana yang lebih layak bergelar kerajaan.

Tidak tahu pula jika ada mana-mana Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) yang akan melompat parti sebelum pilihan raya negeri diadakan jika ditakdirkan ada pemilihan baru kelak.

Namun keyakinan Ahli Parlimen Besut, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh bahawa BN akan menang selesa dalam PRK dengan alasan Kuala Besut ialah kerusi selesa BN mungkin boleh dibuat penanda aras.

Idris turut menolak kemungkinan kedudukan kerusi DUN akan terikat 16-16 selepas pilihan raya kecil ini dengan alasan BN tidak pernah kalah kerusi berkenaan sejak tiga pilihan raya yang lepas.

Di mana silapnya?

Pada masa kini, antara negeri-negeri yang jumlah DUNnya genap selain Terengganu ialah Kedah (36), Pahang (42), Pulau Pinang (40), Selangor (56), Negeri Sembilan (36) dan Melaka (28).

Agensi berkaitan pilihan raya perlu responsif selepas ini. Sikap tidak peka kepada kemungkinan situasi politik negara boleh diandai seperti peribahasa lama `Sudah terantuk baru tengadah' mungkin boleh dituju kepada pihak berkenaan.

Senario politik negara dan penguatkuasaan hampir sama rata kerajaan dan pembangkang di beberapa negeri harus diambil perhatian segera.

Bukan apa, kekuatan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) hari ini tidak boleh dipandang enteng. Sedikit demi sedikit penguasaan selain dakwaan mereka lebih popular dilihat petanda perubahan yang sedang bertiup pada gerakan akar umbi.

Mungkin kajian semula aspek persempadanan semula boleh dipertimbang selain memastikan pembahagian DUN yang akan dibuat selepas ini perlu dibuat dengan jumlah ganjil sahaja.

Jumlah ganjil menjamin susulan pilihan raya negeri sekali gus pemenang bagi kerajaan negeri boleh diputus dengan mudah (tanpa memikirkan kemungkinan ADUN lompat parti).

Realitinya, tiada siapa boleh menolak takdir dan ketentuan tuhan terhadap pertemuan, jodoh,kehidupan dan kematian.

Langkah perlu difikir segera untuk mencari jalan terbaik seandainya lebih ramai ADUN yang meninggal dunia sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) ke-14 berbanding sebelum PRU ke-13.

Segalanya mungkin terjadi...


Sumber: Wan Syamsul Amly @Astro Awani

Financing for your home Solar PV systems



When solar rooftop FiT scheme was introduced in 2011, many prospective applicants lamented the difficulty in getting financing for the installation of home solar PV. Although cost has gone down quite substantially, price for a typical 4kWp solar PV system is RM40,000, which is still expensive.


Here comes the answer, or at least an alternative

Recently, Alliance Bank Bhd came up with Home Complete Plus-Solar Panel Financing , a scheme developed jointly with the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA). It's a kind of personal financing scheme for solar panel.

While not in any way trying to promote the financing scheme, here is a brief overview and features of the loan (Kudos to Alliance Bank for taking the first mover’s risk by offering financing solution for solar PV in homes):

Competitive interest rate for installation of Solar Panel Up to 90% margin of finance Monthly repayment could potentially be set-off with Feed-in Tariff payment

Tenure                     : Up to 10 years
Age requirement      : 21 - 55 years of age
Minimum income   : RM3,000 per month
Loan limit               : Up to RM150k
Interest calculation : Term loan, Reducing balance

Financing type : Single borrower only
No collateral or guarantor needed
Landed property owner only


"I have been informed by SEDA Malaysia that for now, most of the houses which have solar PV systems installed and are able to benefit from the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme are those where the majority of the financing comes from house owners." - Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili during the launching.

Other than Alliance Bank, SEDA is currently in talks with Bank Negara on approaching another three banks, mostly local, to participate in the scheme.

Read more: http://www.thegreenmechanics.com/2013/06/loans-for-home-solar-pv-systems.html#ixzz2YdWS0F4o

Sole survivor of elephant poisoning, Joe, is doing well



Baby Joe being given a bath by his caretaker Augustine at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park in Kota Kinabalu.

KOTA KINABALU: Baby elephant Joe, the sole survivor of a poisoning that killed a herd of 14 Borneo pygmy elephants, is out of the woods.

The calf has gained weight and is now socialising with other elephants at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park here.

“He is very healthy and has gained over 100kg in the past few months, from 90kg when we rescued him, to almost 200kg now,” said Sabah Wildlife Department assistant director Dr Sen Nathan.

He said Joe, who is also called Kejora by some here, had even made friends with another rescued animal, four-year-old elephant Pikang, which was brought to the zoo after it was found with half its trunk missing during a wildlife operation in Lahad Datu six months ago.

Dr Sen said the animal was believed to have been injured when its trunk was caught in an old trap.

The story of Joe caught international attention after he was photographed nuzzling his lifeless mother at the Gunung Rara forest reserve, about 140km from Tawau, on Jan 25.

Dr Sen said investigations into the elephant poisoning incident were still ongoing although the authorities now know what poison was used to kill the animals.

“However, we are still unable to identify who the culprits are.” Dr Sen also said Joe could spend his whole life as a permanent resident of the zoo because he was now used to being around humans.

Nevertheless, Joe was a very happy elephant, he said.