KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: If Valuecap Sdn Bhd was launched in 2003 with RM10 billion in cash, why is the government now injecting another RM5 billion of taxpayers’ money to double its fund size? DAP’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang posed this question today, and said the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee should investigate and […]
Current Issues
Pakatan Rakyat unveils economic plan
By Deborah LohKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: The Pakatan Rakyat has proposed auctioning Approved Permits (APs), scrapping several mega-projects, and reducing government operation expenditure as ways to increase national revenue. The opposition coalition suggested these measures under a package of recommendations for the government’s 2009 Budget, which is currently being debated in Parliament. Announcing the recommendations today, […]
Minister asks why employers hold foreigners’ passports
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S Subramaniam is not amused that employers hold on to the passports of their foreign workers. Questioning the need for employers to do so, he reasoned that under the law, no one should keep another’s passport. “Fortunately or unfortunately, most foreign workers in the country […]
Government foots RM82,000 Bar Council dinner
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: The government spent RM81,965.75 on the Malaysian Bar Council dinner at an upscale hotel here in April, the Dewan Rakyat was told today. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the government agreed to bear the cost as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad […]
Malaysia lacks water despite resources
PUTRAJAYA, 23 Oct 2008: Malaysia faces a lack of water resources in many parts of the country despite its per capita renewable water being five times higher than in many other regions, a forum here was told today. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the country’s renewable water was about 5,000 […]
Anwar: Pakatan Rakyat not in hurry to takeover
By Deborah LohKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is no longer in a hurry for Pakatan Rakyat to take over the federal government, although he has not given up hope. “We are not in a terrible hurry because of the economic situation, we need to be engaging government leaders for solutions,” the Opposition leader […]
Karpal Singh suspended for two days from Parliament
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor member of parliament (MP) Karpal Singh has been suspended for two days from today from the Dewan Rakyat. The suspension came about after he claimed the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia was “fooling around” and “not serious” in conducting the proceedings of the house. […]
The dilemma of moral policing
By Khairil AnharIT was a Saturday night, and the band NRG was just wrapping up the last number at The Pub in Holiday Inn Glenmarie in Shah Alam when they heard shouts. Suddenly, the smoky and half-lit pub interior was splashed with bright lights before a troop of officers from the Jabatan Agama Islam (JAIS) stormed in […]
Nobel laureate banned after Iranian embassy protest
By Shanon ShahKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: The International Peace Foundation has never had its speakers banned from speaking in a country until the Malaysian government barred a Nobel laureate here. Shirin Ebadi (Courtesy of the International Peace Foundation) The foundation is behind the Bridges – Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace programme here and in Thailand […]
Kok demands Khir apologise, pay RM10 million damages
SHAH ALAM, 22 Oct 2008: Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok has issued a letter of demand asking former Selangor menteri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo to apologise to her and pay RM10 million in damages over the azan issue. The letter of demand claimed he had ruined her reputation by claiming that […]
