Miros Director-General Among Seven Appointed In Spad

July 23, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Prof Dr Ahmad Farhan Sadullah has been appointed as one of seven members of the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad), effective Friday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Friday announced the names of commission members who will be serving for a three-year period.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, also appointed were Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) chief executive Datuk Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin and Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) council member Datuk Khalid Ahmad.

Also included were WZ Steel Berhad (formerly known Weng Zheng Resources Berhad) director Datuk Siow Kim Lun, the Finance Ministry's Economic Analysis and International Division secretary Datuk Dr Irwan Siregar Abdullah, Economic Planning Unit deputy director-general II Himmat Singh Ralla Singh and Special Officer to the Prime Minister, Wan Ahmad Shihab Ismail.

"All of those appointed represent the public and private sectors. They were chosen based on their knowledge and experience in various fields, as well as their ability to play an effective role in carrying out functions under Spad to realise the objective of its establishment," it added.

This follows the announcement on Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar's appointment as chairman and Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal as the commission's chief executive officer, effective since June 3, the statement said.

The commission, under the supervision of the Prime Minister, will be responsible for almost all aspects of land transport in Malaysia under the management of one main body.

The statement said that with the appointment, it believed that Spad will be able to improve the quality of public transport, which is one of the focus under the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) as announced by the Prime Minister last year.

Dr Ahmad Farhan was Dean of University Sains Malaysia's (USM) School of Civil Engineering prior to his appointment in Miros.

The PhD holder in Transport Studies from University of London, also acted as the Programme Chairman of Geotechnical, Highway and Transportation Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia and Coordinator of Engineering Innovation and Technology Development Unit (EITD) during his tenure as an Associate Professor at USM.

He has conducted numerous research specialising in transport such as Intelligent Transport Systems, travel behavior and traffic engineering, in addition to publishing numerous books and journals relating to transport in Malaysia.

Dr Mahani was the Director-General of ISIS from 2007 and 2009, after she left her position as the Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Higher Education.

In terms of academic qualification, Dr Mahani holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of London and her research interests are industrialism and economic transformation, international trade and regional integration.

Former Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Malaysia Advisory Committee president, Khalid was previously Executive Chairman of the Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and has also served as Managing Director of Syarikat Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3).

A lawyer by training, Wan Ahmad's responsibilities include research and monitoring of transport policy and issues relating to public transport. He is also a Director of the Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDec).

Backed by vast experience in economics and finance, Siow is also Director of XingQuan International Sports Holdings Limited and Citibank Berhad, as well as an Independent Non-Executive Director of UMW Holdings Berhad, while Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar has experience in the Ministry of Finance and the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department.

-- BERNAMA

New fuel, sugar prices

Motorists flocking to a petrol station to fill their tanks hours before the new prices for RON 95 and diesel are to be implemented. — NST picture by Aizuddin Saad

NST, 16 July 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: As the first step towards gradual subsidy rationalisation, the government announced yesterday a reduction in the subsidies for fuel, specifically petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as well as sugar.

Subsidies for RON 95 and diesel will be reduced by five sen per litre and LPG by
10 sen per kg. RON 97 petrol will no longer be subsidised but will be subject to a managed float, with the price determined by an automatic pricing mechanism.
The new price for RON 95 is RM1.85 per litre compared with RM1.80 per litre

previously. For RON 97, which accounts for 13 per cent of sales of petrol and diesel, the new price starts at RM2.10 per litre and will be reviewed monthly.

Diesel is now priced at RM1.75 per litre against RM1.70 per litre previously.

For LPG (cooking gas), the new prices are RM18.50 for 10kg (RM17.50 previously),
RM22.20 for 12kg (RM21 previously) and RM25.90 for 14kg (RM24.50 previously).

For sugar, the price has been adjusted upward by 25 sen per kg to RM1.90 per
kg (previously RM1.65 per kg). These new prices took effect at midnight.

“The government has made a difficult but bold decision,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said yesterday.

“By choosing to implement these modest subsidy reforms, we have taken a

crucial step in the right direction towards meeting our commitment to reduce the
fiscal deficit, without overburdening the Malaysian people.

“These measures are a demonstration of our fiscal responsibility. They will
enhance Malaysia’s financial stability, while also protecting the rakyat.”
In Alor Star, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the subsidy cuts would help the government reduce the fiscal deficit while the reduced subsidies
meant that more funds could be channelled towards national development for the people.

“We have many programmes under the National Key Result Areas and the National Key Economic Areas, which will be announced soon.

“I assure you the subsidy cuts are minimal and will not be a burden to the people. We will use the savings derived from the subsidy cuts to meet the needs of the people, especially in the rural areas,” he said after opening the Kuala Kedah Umno division delegates’ conference.

Even with these subsidy cuts, the government will still spend an estimated RM7.82 billion on fuel and sugar subsidies this year. The prices of fuel and sugar will continue to be among the lowest in the region.

By way of a comparison, RON 95 petrol is priced at the equivalent of RM4.12 a litre in Thailand and RM2.48 a litre in Indonesia. This subsidy rationalisation will, according to estimates, allow Malaysia to reduce government expenditure
by more than RM750 million this year.

Economists contacted by Reuters news agency generally agreed with the government’s move to cut subsidies. Enrico Tanuwidjaja of OSK-DMG in Singapore said the subsidy cuts suggested that the government was quite positive about the growth outlook.

“I think the amount itself is relatively small in the sense that people’s purchasing power may not be that eroded and may not be that inflationary.

“This is a good way to consolidate the huge negative in the fiscal position.
“Let’s see how consistent they are moving forward — that is the important part. They can afford to do so if looking at the oil prices now.

“Definitely, this is a point moving forward that they are going to embark on a more prudent fiscal approach.”

Irvin Seah of DBS Bank said the move signalled the government’s readiness to really go ahead with its rationalisation plan, especially with fuel subsidies.

“There will be some mild impact to headline inflation and we can expect to see, overall, Malaysian prices going up. The petrol price hike is an added bonus to lowering the fiscal deficit.

“We have, anyway, expected the fiscal deficit to fall this year on strong gross domestic product growth.” Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations president Datuk Marimuthu Nadason urged consumers to accept the small price increases, saying they would not have a huge impact.

He urged traders not to take advantage of the new sugar price to charge consumers more for their food products. Marimuthu said the reduction in subsidies would help to reduce the government’s spending and channel its resources to other areas to uplift society.

“The government will now be able to provide improved education and health services and facilities to the public.”

Selangor tables freedom of information Bill

Thursday July 15, 2010

By EDWARD R. HENRY, The STAR

SHAH ALAM: The Pakatan Rakyat Government in Selangor created history yesterday by tabling its Freedom of Information Bill 2010 at the State Legislature to strengthen the people’s right to access to information.

As expected, the Pakatan assemblymen supported the Bill while Barisan Nasional assemblymen opposed it during the debate after the Second Reading of the Bill.

Earlier, State Executive Councillor for Tourism, Consumerism and the Environment Elizabeth Wong, who had tabled the FOI Bill for the First and Second Readings, said the new law when implemented would promote transparency and accountability in the state government.

“We encourage all Selangorians to take full advantage of their right to access information and to make government open and accountable. It is only through open government as well as a well-informed and empowered citizenry that democracy can be broadened and deepened in Selangor.”

She said the state government was tabling the Bill to “enhance disclosure of information in the public interest, to provide every individual with a window to access information made at local councils and departments at the state level”.

The Bill provides for one information officer for each state government department to guide the public in accessing the requested documents. The officer has to respond within 30 days, or seven days in the case of life-threatening situations.

Ismail Sani (BN-Dusun Tua) objected to the Bill, claiming it was not relevant and infringed on the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 passed by Parliament.

“Selangor cannot table such a Bill, as certain information involves departments under the state that needs to obtain clearance from Parliament before it is declassified,” he said.

Sulaiman Abdul Razak (BN-Permatang) echoed the same sentiments, and warned that it could bring disaster to the state as political parties could use it for malicious reasons.

“All matters must be weighed carefully. We should not just come up with an enactment to project a transparent and accountable government, but which in reality would bring trouble,” he said.

The debate on the Bill continues today.