Come join us in our annual fund-raising dinner (halal) to support the DAP Petaling Jaya Utara Service Centre operations organised by the DAP Damansara Branch. The speakers for the evening will include: Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Menteri Besar Selangor Tony Pua, MP Petaling Jaya Utara & DAP National Publicity Secretary Lau Weng San, ADUN Kg Tunku & DAP Selangor State Secretary Hannah Yeoh, ADUN Subang Jaya & DAP Selangor State Treasurer Dr Cheah Wing Yin, ADUN Damansara Utama* Khalid Samad, PAS MP ..

Among the items raised during my Budget speech earlier in parliament was the issue of the dozens of hanky-panky items brought up by the Auditor-General on an annual basis. One of the "highlights" this year for 2008 is the purchase of pole-platforms worth RM990 by the Miri Industrial Training Centre (ILP) under the purview of the Human Resources Ministry for RM30,000 each. And at the Kepala Batas ILP, a cabinet worth RM1,200 was purchase for RM13,500. The Minister of Human Resources responded ..

One of the key recommendations of the 2004 Royal Commission of Inquiry on Police is the need to restructure the police for to be more aligned to its main objective of fighting, preventing and arresting crime. During the closing debate with the Home Minister, Dato' Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, I asked this question, why has there been no plans at all to restructure the force in the 2010 Budget. This is despite the so-called "Key Result Area" focus on reducing crime in the country. The reason for ..

Letter to the editor by Moaz Ahmad of TRANSIT , an NGO dedicated to public transport in the country. The time is right for Transport Council The members of the Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (TRANSIT) know that generally there are two major problems with public transport in Malaysia. The first major problem is a fragmented regulatory system, where regulatory, planning and enforcement powers are divided among 13 different agencies in 6 different government ministries. This ..

My earlier post " Home Minister Supports KPI Minister " focused on the fact that Dato' Seri Hishammuddin supports the thesis that the crime index will inevitably rise as the confidence in the police is returning to the people. One of the basis we rejected this thesis is the fact that the Home Ministry's own surveys indicated a total lack of confidence in the police force! Some of the survey results are as follows: Jul 09: Out of 9,319 responses, 95% felt that their safety is "not secured" Jul ..

We saw here how our KPI Minister, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon claimed that the crime index has risen not because there's actually increased crime , but because the people has gotten more confident with the police force, and hence are reporting crime which would not have been reported previously. This issue popped up again during the budget policy debate wrap up by the Home Minister on Wednesday night (along with many other issues of course), and he defended the views of our KPI Minister. Dato’ Seri ..

The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Abdul Razak has promised in April this year upon assuming the premiership that he recognised the toll concessionaire issue which is hurting Malaysians all over the country and has indicated that the EPU will complete its study on structuring toll concessionaires throughout the country within 3 months, i.e., by the end of July 2009. However, the EPU has failed to do so, and has indicated that the report will only be ready in December. However, the Minister ..

I forgot to mention this bit in my earlier post on ' UMNO: "Gated Community" is for "Exclusivity" not Crime ' about another laugh out loud interjection by the UMNO MP from Pasir Salak on the issue of the rise in number of "gated communities" as a result of rampant crime. Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak] : [...] Fikirlah, pihak pembangkang dia bercakap, buat cerita cuma hendak buat gambaran buruk kepada kerajaan. Itu sahaja. Ini “gated, gated, gated”. Berapa ramai sekarang ..

We have argued the case many times in the past, provided hard facts and statistics, including comparisons with many other countries, that the state of crime in Malaysia is both real and serious. It is so serious that residents have put up boom gates all around the residential areas to check rampant crime and to increase security, despite these gates being unauthorised and in many instances technically illegal. This issue was hotly debated in Parliament on Wednesday night when the Home Minister, ..

For Malaysia, not only has foreign direct investment dropped, which was in line with the global trend, but our investment outflow has also increased and represents among the highest in the region. I posed this question to the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) when he was responding on behalf of the Ministry two nights ago in Parliament, as to whether to government will be taking steps to remedy the situation. Tuan Tony Pua [Petaling Jaya Utara] : Timbalan Menteri, ..

I was interviewed for my comments on the situation of public transport in Petaling Jaya by Star Metro. They carried a whole chunk of it a few days ago ;-) Below is an excerpt, or you can get the full article here ....Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua admitted that he was among those shocked at the high number of projects approved for PJ without careful consideration on the traffic impact, adding that the problem was compounded by a public transportation system that could not meet the needs and ..

After struggling for 8 years, the Government has only managed to achieve broadband penetration of approximately 24%. Hence the BN Government's National Broadband Plan target of 25% household penetration by 2006 and 50% by 2008, has clearly failed miserably. The Government has now set a new target , which has been endorsed by none other than the Prime Minister himself. I had sought clarifications from the Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Culture, Heng Seang Kie. ...saya hendak ..

The Deputy Minister for Information, Communication and Culture, Heng Seai Kie was wrapping up the budget debate policy stage for the Ministry yesterday. You can read her reply on issues relating to broadband in the Hansard here (pg 63 onwards) and decide for yourself if we have the right competence in this ministry (headed by Rais Yatim )The government was reiterating its commitment to achieve top quality broadband services and maximum penetration in the shortest possible time. Sri Gading said ..

Yes, that's exactly what our KPI Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said in Parliament yesterday. He was asked why was the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan given such high marks for his performance, when the crime rate in Malaysia has sky-rocketed over the past few years, during his winding up speech for his portfolio on the Budget debate. As per the Hansard records (pg 78) yesterday: Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon : ...Yang Berhormat Serdang. Puan Teo Nie Ching ..

Tun Ling Liong Sik must also be investigated for his role in the approval and implementation of the Port Klang Free Zone project which commenced under his watch The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal released last Wednesday has received ample media attention, with its specific references to the former Minister of Transport, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, the former Port Klang Authority general manager, Datin Paduka O C Phang, and to a lesser extent, the ..

This is the biggest question on many people's minds and as a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I'm obliged to ask each of the 3 Ministers of Transport whom we met as to whether they have received benefits from the developer company, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, which is owned by the Member of Parliament for Bintulu, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing. It is often telling, and highly interesting, the type of answers which you get from them. On 15 July 2009, we met with Tun Ling Liong Sik. His answers ..

Another letter from our local public transport activist, Moaz Ahmad ;-), this time with regards to potential plans for a public transport hub for Petaling Jaya to be located at Kota Damansara. Proposed 'Sentral' Terminal for Petaling Jaya The Association for the Improvement of Mass-Transit took note of the proposal for a "sentral" public transport hub for Petaling Jaya, mooted by a local developer and supported by the Petaling Jaya City Council. This proposed "sentral" station would be located ..

I had plenty of questions for the MACC Chief at the meeting with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when he finally turned up on the 23 Jun after skipping the earlier session .But it all came to naught as he stone-walled most answers with his "Seksyen 29(4) Akta Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia 2009" where he's not allowed to disclose any details. Unfortunately the answers which they refused to answer relates to questions about they lack of results (" case closed ") since the issue was ..

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was first summoned to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to clarify matters regarding the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on the 17 June 2009. However, the MACC Chief Commissioner, Dato' Ahmad Said Hamdan brushed off the PAC like we were a fly on his shoulder. He didn't even bother sending his Deputy Chief. Instead he sent his Director of Investigations, Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull with a letter informing of his absence. ...Dukacita dimaklumkan ..

A letter from our regular and fervent Public Transport activist, Moaz Ahmad on the proposed Public Land Transport Commission (SPAD) recently proposed by the Prime Minister. Will SPAD become a bureaucratic monster? In the 2010 Budget, Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib announced that the Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (Public Land Transport Commission) would be formed in mid-2010 as part of the government's committment to improve public transport. We know that the Public Land Transport ..