Govt offers 2,000 permits and subsidised diesel to avert balik kampung travel crisis

STAR, Thursday September 4, 2008

PETALING JAYA: It is still uncertain whether all of the 2,000 temporary bus permits will be taken up despite the Government’s latest diesel subsidy offer to bus operators.

Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Ashfar Ali said he could not comment on whether school, factory and charter bus operators would lease out their buses, even with the subsidised diesel allocation.

Bus rush: An official of a bus company at the Hentian Putra bus terminal in Kuala Lumpur making a ‘time out’ sign with his hands as he tries to control the crowd rushing to buy bus tickets yesterday to balik kampung during the coming Hari Raya festive period. — AZMAN GHANI / The Star

“Some are willing to take on shorter routes while others are not willing at all,” he said.

He said he would have to study the details of the move announced by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad before commenting further.

Some 1,900 temporary licences were issued to school, factory and charter buses last year to cope with the Hari Raya crowd, but this year, there had been few takers so far despite the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Noh Omar setting aside 2,000 temporary permits.

Today, Noh is meeting with bus operators in Kuala Lumpur to resolve this looming crisis that could leave tens of thousands of people who travel by bus back to their hometowns to celebrate the Hari Raya Aidilfitri in a quandary.

Bus operators had earlier said that it was “not economically feasible” to lease school, factory and charter buses, as the costs of operations were high.

Ashfar, prior to government's announcment assured there would be 300 to 400 extra buses to cater to the balik kampung crowd, but it was insufficient to meet the demand.

“Usually, we have about 21% extra buses to fill in for buses that are undergoing maintenance. We roll out all of them during festive periods,” said Ashfar.

It is learnt that many express bus operators were previously unhappy that they are only receiving between 4,000 and 5,000 litres of subsidised diesel per bus on average.

SKMM: M'sia Today block order stands, probe underway

STAR, Thursday September 4, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (SKMM) directive to internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to the Malaysia Today portal still stands pending an investigation to determine if its editor should be charged.

SKMM chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, when contacted Wednesday, said an investigation was underway to determine whether or not to charge the portal's editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin under Section 211 or 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Section 211 states that no content applications service provider, or other person using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.

Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi - Filepic

A person who contravenes this is liable to a fine of not more than RM50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both, and shall also be liable to a further fine of RM1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

Section 233 is on improper use of network facilities or network service and related to communication that is obscene, indecent, false, menacing of offensive with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.

The offender is liable to a fine not more than RM50,000 or not more than one year's jail or both, and shall be liable to a further fine of RM1,000 for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

Mohamed Sharil said that access to website was blocked after the Commission deemed the postings had contravened the Act for inciting and being insulting against Islam.

He claimed the commission had received several complaints from the public, adding that the preventive measure was taken under Section 263 of the Act.

On criticisms that blocking access to the website was against freedom of the Internet, he said that SKMM was merely “doing its job."

“We want to promote ethical and responsible blogging. We want to make the online space better still, with fervent debates, but in a civil and responsible manner."

Raja Petra has said that blocking access to his portal was a breach of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) charter and that he would turn it into "a big issue."

Under MSC Malaysia's 10-Point Bill of Guarantees, it is stated that that Government promised to “ensure no Internet censorship” as part of its commitment to ensuring the success of MSC status companies.

Section 3 of the Act states quite explicitly, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting the censorship of the Internet.”

It is understood that only TMnet, the No 1 ISP in the country, has complied with SKMM's directive. Malaysia Today meanwhile has set up an alternate site that can still be accessed by TMnet users.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, while denying that the Government had instructed SKMM to issue the block order, claimed the site was being blocked because it had posted articles deemed insulting to Islam.

Mohamed Sharil meanwhile said that the Commission strongly advised members of the public not to forget that the law also applied in cyberspace.

MB: Takeover won't affect water quality

2008/08/28
New Straits Times

SHAH ALAM: The takeover of Selangor's water supply by Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad from Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) will not affect the service and quality of water in the state, said Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Abdul Khalid was responding to a memorandum by the Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Consumers Association to the prime minister, protesting the restructuring of the water industry in the state.

On Monday, the association presented a memorandum which included a petition signed by some 53,000 people in the three states asking the Federal Government to intervene in the state government's plan.

Abdul Khalid also maintained that the service and water quality would remain the same as Syabas would supply water to Selangor.

"The state government's restructuring of the water industry involves Syabas. Syabas will remain in the water industry and though the shareholders may be different, the duties of the company remain the same," he said after the weekly exco meeting here yesterday.
He said to ensure that water quality and services would not be affected, regular assessments of the industry would be done by the state government and relevant bodies under the Energy, Water and Communication Ministry.

"I'm sure the ministry is experienced in comparing the performances of water providers of all states. If they are efficient, it will be reflected in the revenue and operations cost."

Pahang to ask for broadband licence

2008/09/04
New Straits Times

KUANTAN: State government-owned Pahang Technology Resources Sdn Bhd (PTR) is going ahead with its application to the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission for a high speed broadband operating licence.

Chairman Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, who is also the menteri besar, said PTR should be given the opportunity to get involved in the sector even though the Federal Government had awarded the RM11.3 billion high speed broadband project to Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).

"We will write to the the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to provide us a licence to operate like TM," he said after chairing the state exco meeting yesterday.

Adnan was responding to newspaper reports yesterday that the Federal Government had given the tender to implement the high-speed broadband project to TM.

"We are not upset with the decision by the Federal Government to offer the tender to TM. However, we hope the Federal Government would provide us an opportunity to be involved in preparing the infrastructure to be used by all the service providers."
Adnan said what upset him was that PTR was asked to brief the Federal Government on Aug 21 on its proposal, only to learn that the Ministry of Finance had already offered the tender to TM.

"Sources told me that the letter of offer was given to TM on July 25."

Adnan still hoped that the Federal Government would give PTR a licence, like it had to TM.

"This licence is not for me, but for the state government, as a source of revenue," he said.

Asked whether PTR would be competing with TM if it were given a licence, Adnan said that was not an issue. He said competition in an open market was not bad, but just the opposite in fact as it would result in better services to users.

Adnan also said he may contest the Umno Youth chief's post at the party elections in December after receiving support from members and friends.

Auditor-General's Report 2007: 70pc of govt agencies rated 'good' or better

2008/09/02
BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR: The financial management of the majority of government agencies at the federal and state levels is good, says the National Audit Department in the Auditor-General's Report 2007.

According to a statement by the auditor-general yesterday, of the 212 agencies that were given the Accountability Index (IA) assessment, 4.7 per cent were categorised as "very good", 66.5 per cent were "good" and 28.7 per cent were considered "satisfactory".

Federal agencies with "very good" financial management were the Prime Minister's Department, Public Service Department, Coordination and Implementation Unit, Sarawak Manpower Department, Attorney-General's Chambers and and Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit.

Federal statutory bodies which obtained a similar assessment were Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd and the Malaysian Deposit Insurance Corporation, while the state agencies were the Johor Corporation and Pahang Geoscience and Mineral Department.

Aspects of financial management assessed included operational management control, budget control, receipts control, expenditure control, trust funds and trust accounts/deposits management, assets and inventory management, investment management, loan management and financial statements.
The statement said the agencies were told of aspects of their financial management that needed to be improved.

"If the agency heads are fully committed to and consistent in implementing improvements, the prospect of them receiving a better rating is very bright," it said.

The government agencies can also make use of the IA rating system as a benchmark when assessing the progress of improvement efforts in their financial management from time to time.

The statement said the auditor-general had issued the audit certificate without reprimand on the financial statement of 115 federal statutory bodies and 44 state statutory bodies and 47 local authority financial statements.

Audit certificates with a reprimand have been issued for nine federal statutory body accounts, three state statutory body financial statements and two local authority financial statements.

In general, the preparation of financial statements of the Federal Government, state governments and federal statutory bodies was improving.

"However, it is still too early to give a view on the financial statements of state statutory bodies and local authorities because not all financial statements have been submitted for auditing."

There were delays in the submission of state statutory body and local authority financial statements for 2006 and last year.

The delays were caused by bodies not maintaining a proper accounting record. For local authorities, the law does not specifically fix a period when they have to submit their accounts for audit.

Fifty-seven performance audits have been done at the federal level and 76 at the state level to assess how far government activities and projects have been planned and to assess their effectiveness.

The Audit Department is urging government agencies to learn from their weaknesses in planning, implementing and monitoring the activities raised in the performance audit.

According to the statement, most issues raised in the Auditor-General's Report 2006 had been dealt with. -- Bernama

Move to block blog 'not govt directive'

NST, 30 August 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: The decision to block access to the Malaysia Today news website was not politically motivated.

Instead, it was done as the website had contravened Sections 211 and 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Both sections provide that a website's contents would be considered an offence if it was deemed to be indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive with intentions to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any persons.

Minister of Energy, Water and Communications Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said although the law states that there will not be any censorship of the Internet, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had to act as the sections were not adhered to.

"The MCMC swung into action after receiving numerous complaints about the site's contents," Shaziman said yesterday.
The website editor, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, already faces criminal defamation and other charges for his postings.

The decision to cut off access to the website was made on Wednesday and by late afternoon orders had been issued to all local Internet Service Providers (ISP).

"There's no specific directive from me or the government to block any website. I leave it to MCMC to run things on their own.

"I only told them that any action taken by them must be in accordance with the Act," he said.

Shaziman said this year alone, 127 blogs and websites were blocked by MCMC for contravening the Act. Among them were get-rich-quick schemes sites.

He, however, could not say if Malaysia Today, was the first political blog or website to face such action by the MCMC.

He said the commission would have studied all the implications before deciding to block access to the website.

"No point if they (MCMC) are around but they don't exercise what needs to be exercised. This action is not something new," he said.

Asked whether the commission informed him of their decision, he said it was mentioned to him.

"To be honest, I don't read the blog every day," he said.

Switch telco but keep your number from next month

2008/08/12
BERNAMA

KUCHING: From next month, mobile phone users in Kuala Lumpur will benefit from the "Mobile Number Portability (MNP)" system which allows them to switch service providers while retaining their numbers.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said users in the rest of the country would enjoy this benefit from October.

Telecommunication companies are allowed to charge a maximum of RM25 for the service.

Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan are among countries which have implemented this system.

Shaziman said the government intended to enhance mobile phone coverage from the present 92 per cent to 97 per cent by the end of 2010 through the "Time 3" programme.
Felda and Felcra sites, Orang Asli settlements, federal roads and new tourist spots will be covered.

Shaziman said through the "Time 3" programme, 1,250 telecommunication towers would be built in two phases.

Work on the first phase began last month and will be completed in December next year with 600 towers.

The second phase will involve the construction of 650 towers starting next July.

Work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

In the case of Sarawak, Shaziman said 39 towers would be built under the first phase and 614 in the second at a cost of RM244 million.

"Mobile phone coverage in Sarawak will be enhanced to 85 per cent by the end of 2010." -- Bernama