NAUTICA

Bajet BN lebihkan wakil rakyat dari rakyat

Hazayani Zakaria

KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Okt: Pakatan Rakyat sependapat elaun ahli Parlimen bukan keperluan utama untuk dinaikkan sebaliknya kerajaan harus menekankan integriti Parlimen itu sendiri.

Mengulas belanjawan 2012 yang dibentangkan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak petang tadi, ahli Parlimen Kubang Kerian, Salahuddin Ayub berkata, kerajaan seharusnya menekankan aspek ketelusan Parlimen untuk memerangi salah tadbir negara.

Budget 2012 fails to live up to PM’s reform pledges

OCT 7 — The expectations were high for a pre-election budget where Datuk Seri Najib Razak will stamp his “reformist” credentials. It is for the prime minister to put into action the various reform pledges made in his cornerstone policy blueprints — the New Economic Model (NEM), Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
However, the announcement of the budget left much to be desired as little has changed beyond tweaking the budget of the previous financial year. Instead what is perhaps the most worrying is that Malaysians are like the proverbial frog in hot soup — where the frog does not realise the soup is slowly but surely reaching boiling point.

Cash handouts for lower-income households, students

By Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Putrajaya today offered one-off cash handouts to low-income households and all primary and secondary school students nationwide, promising the move would reduce the impact of rising costs on Malaysians.
An estimated 1.3 million students in all private and local higher learning institutions here will also receive book vouchers worth RM200, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his Budget 2012 speech today.

DPM dismisses ‘Election budget’ charge

By Lisa J. Ariffin

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The deputy prime minister today dismissed the opposition accusation that the government’s budget announcement today is an election ploy.
“If there are parties who call this an election budget, then it’s their problem,” Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) told reporters today following the presentation of Budget 2012.

Perkasa unfazed by liberalisation of 17 subsectors

By Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Malay lobby group Perkasa said today that the government’s move to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of 17 service subsectors including healthcare and logistics will not damage Bumiputera businesses.

Its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali (picture) told reporters after the tabling of Budget 2012 that he expected the liberalisation to be implemented by stages and “for those sectors, I don’t see how it will affect the interests of Bumiputera businessmen.”
Perkasa has been at the forefront of calls for the government to ensure more Bumiputera participation in the economy including projects such as the RM50 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT).

1MDB’s KLIFD gets Budget boost

By Yow Hong Chieh

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) was given a boost in the form of tax incentives announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his Budget 2012 speech today.
KLIFD-status companies will be exempted from income tax for 10 years as well as stamp duty on loan and service agreements in a bid to jump start the RM26 billion project helmed by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) today questioned Putrajaya’s haste to open up the healthcare sector before setting up proper checks.
In an immediate response to the Budget 2012 announcement this afternoon, the MMA warned the government was taking a huge gamble with public healthcare as liberalising the sector could also see unqualified doctors treat patients.
MMA president Dr Mary Cardosa (picture) said the government must strengthen its enforcement capacities as well in order to ensure that whatever rules are in place, e.g. requirements for registration of a foreign specialist, are complied with before opening up the medical sector.