Factories retrenching as output slips, minimum wage looms

By Lee Wei Lian

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Manufacturers in Malaysia are shedding workers due to uncertainty over the global economy and the impending start of minimum wage next year, says RHB Research Institute.

RHB said in a report yesterday that in line with a slowdown in sales, the manufacturers retrenched 4,609 workers in August compared to a recruitment of 441 workers in July. Unemployment was 3.1 per cent in July, with an estimated two million foreign workers employed in the country.

Nasha do not contaminate Sarawak with your religious extremism

By Francis Paul Siah

NASHARUDDIN Mat Isa is probably an unknown name in Sarawak. I doubt many people in the state know who he is, particularly now that he is no longer a PAS heavyweight but a party renegade.

But Nasharuddin has carved a name for himself in the political and religious circles in the Peninsula. He is the former deputy president of PAS and the serving Bachok MP.

By all accounts, Nasharuddin had a meteoric rise in PAS. He was said to be the prodigy of the late Fadzil Mohd Nor who was PAS president from 1989 until his death in 2002.

MP accuses NRD of double standard

KOTA KINABALU: An opposition MP has accused the federal government of applying a different set of procedures when dealing with Sabah-born Malaysians and foreign-borns registering for birth certificates in the state.

Sepanggar MP, Eric Majimbun said the procedures adopted by Kuala Lumpur marginalised and discriminated against the people of Sabah, particularly those in the rural areas where many children do not have birth certificates.

He said when these applicants, with the assistance of local community leaders, finally get their documents, the National Registration Department (NRD) will stamp, in red ink, the words “Late Registration”.

Poser over RM40m for Sabah Umno

By Luke Rintod of FMT

The highly reputed Hong Kong ICAC has washed its hands
off the RM40 million Musa Aman 'matter' and even
retracted its probe application with the Swiss Court.

KOTA KINABALU: The Umno-led Barisan Nasional government’s attempt to “clear” Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman of allegations of money laundering after some RM40 million had floated up out of nowhere, has raised more questions of how political parties are funded, said State Reform Party (STAR).

The party’s deputy chairman, Daniel John Jambun, said many are now questioning the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz’s statement as to why businessman Michael Chia “contributed” a whopping RM40 million to Sabah Umno.

Nazri yesterday said that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail had found “no elements of corruption” from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe on Musa regarding the RM40 million, which Chia was caught with red-handed in Hong Kong in 2008 as he was about to fly to Malaysia.

Jangan shiok sendiri

Source

And this is what happens when you close your mind and refuse to look at the bigger picture. You are just one person with one vote. You may even be amongst four million like-minded people. But then 10 million people will be coming out to vote in the 13th General Election. And how many of these 10 million are following the TV news every night? And how many of these 10 million have been swayed by what they saw on TV? 

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I asked you this question last week: are you guys and gals following the news on the mainstream media, in particular the TV news? Most likely the answer is ‘no’, and for obvious reasons -- because the mainstream media, in particular the TV stations, are government-owned/controlled. So you are boycotting the mainstream media plus you don’t trust what the mainstream media, in particular the news on TV, says.

Okay, I can understand that reason although not necessarily I agree with it. Basically, you are not interested in what ‘the enemy’ has to say. So you shut your eyes and ears to what you consider ‘government propaganda’.

No proof of graft on Musa, says Nazri

Source

The minister adds that the Hong Kong authorities
had also decided against taking any action
against the Sabah chief minister.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman has been cleared of allegations of laundering money purportedly linked to Umno.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz said the Attorney-General (Abdul Gani Patail) found “no elements of corruption” from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe on the Umno leader.

He said the money was only a “contribution” to the party’s Sabah chapter.

“It is not for the private use of the the chief minister,” he said in a written reply to Batu MP Tian Chua at Parliament today.

Anwar shadows Najib to drum change for Sabah

By Luke Rintod of FMT

Umno and BN leaders know that there is little love
lost in Sabah for the ruling coalition as people
continue to feel the effects of higher prices.

KOTA KINABALU: Wherever Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak goes, the silhouette of a senior Pakatan Rakyat leader is never too far away from him and the same will happen when he visits Sabah this weekend.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is due in Sabah this Friday on a weekend visit a day ahead of a two-day visit by the premier who will be in the state to shore up support for his Barisan Nasional coalition.

However, while the state administration has announced Najib’s itinerary in Penampang, Kundasang and Kudat, Anwar’s visit is lower-profile.

According to PKR vice president Tian Chua, he will accompany Anwar this Friday to visit the interior Sabah parliamentary districts of Keningau, Tenom and Pensiangan.

Sabah BN will win seats ‘by default’

Some analysts in Sabah believe that as many as 20 seats,
including five or six parliamentary seats, could go to
BN as a result of a split in opposition votes.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is set to see multi-cornered fights in most areas in the coming general election. This means that the ruling Barisan Nasional may have the edge.

At this stage, observers can conclude that the opposition parties in Sabah are giving Umno-led BN a “free advantage” to retain a majority of the Sabah seats.

At stake in Sabah are 26 parliamentary seats, including one in Labuan, and 60 state seats.

Sabah chairman of State Reform Party (STAR), Jeffrey Kitingan, said recently that his party is all but ready to announce the seats – parliamentary and state – it will contest.

Sabahans must wake up to the reality of being disenfranchised, marginalised citizens - Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan

STAR's Sabah Chairman, Dr Jeffrey Kitingan

Sabahans must wake up from their slumber and complacency and UNITE to defend their rights and their country from being taken over by outsiders, said Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah when launching STAR’s Roadshow entitle “POSIK with Agenda Borneo” in Kg. Purak, Papar yesterday which was attended by over one thousand supporters.

“POSIK” is the dusun word for ‘wake up’.

Why Chávez Was Re-elected - honest opinion from New York Times

By MARK WEISBROT
Published: October 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — For most people who have heard or read about Hugo Chávez in the international media, his reelection on Sunday as president of Venezuela by a convincing margin might be puzzling.

Almost all of the news we hear about him is bad: He picks fights with the United States and sides with “enemies” such as Iran; he is a “dictator” or “strongman” who has squandered the nation’s oil wealth; the Venezuelan economy is plagued by shortages and is usually on the brink of collapse.