NAJIB FIGHTING FIT

The impending general elections have brought with it the first volley of dirty tricks for 2013 with unverified reports that Najib suffered a minor stroke over the weekend.

The source of the rumour is the Sarawak Report which, in an article dated 5 January, said that Najib suffered a minor stroke and that his doctors had to be put on stand by.   

The article milks this unsubstantiated hearsay for all its worth by suggesting that such an incident would be politically fatal for someone three months away from leading the government into a crucial election.

Anwar was not so easily convinced by the veracity of the article when he retweeted the link to the Sarawak Report story this morning, saying: “If it’s true, then I pray for his good health”.

Najib is reportedly fighting fit and is this morning attending the monthly gathering of the Prime Minister's Department in Putrajaya.

MUHYIDDIN APPEALS TO THE SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE

By Lord Haw-Haw

We should congratulate Tan Sri Muhyiddin on his leadership and the spirit of compromise with which he is striving for an agreement on the Selangor Water Crisis.

Muhyiddin’s comments yesterday stating his readiness to discuss the water issue with the Selangor State government were thoughtful and showed his concern for the long term interests of the state.

Tan Sri Khalid on the balance has proven to be unyielding, verging on obstructionist, in arriving at a lasting solution for Selangor’s water supply, preferring to defend his position of offering short term solutions at the expense of reaching a conclusive resolution.

At the heart of the issue is a failure of communication. Both sides have until now preferred to stand by their partisan views which have proven to be strongly prejudiced in favor of their respective causes.

It was Muhyiddin who crossed the political divide and appealed directly to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at a Luncheon on Wednesday given by the Speaker of the house.

Muhyiddin showed his political maturity by asking Anwar, in his position as economic adviser to Selangor, to press Khalid for an enduring resolution to the Water Crisis for the sake of the people of Selangor and not as a means of securing political mileage.

In light of this Muhyiddin’s appeal for compromise resonates like the first real voice of reason in this altogether prolonged and unnecessary fiasco.

 

THERE IS NO DEBT CEILING

The oft-quoted 55% debt limit does not exist in our lawbooks.

HishamH is forced to repeat himself again to remind readers that the debt to GDP limit is not bound by law, but is the government’s internal target.

Gazzetted in Malaysian lawbooks however is a 55% limit on the amount of MGS, GII and Treasury Bills that the government can issue. Currently it stands at 45% of the GDP.

This is not the first time that the economist has written about this, thus his crankiness comes at no surprise.

MALAYSIA PENGENDALI PUSAT KESIHATAN KEDUA TERBESAR DUNIA

Gambar dari artikel Utusan

Baca tak Utusan semalam ni (baca di sini).  Tak sangkalah dalam diam-diam Malaysia telah menjadi pengendali pusat kesihatan kedua terbesar dunia mengatasi Hospital Corporation, Amerika Syarikat. 

DUNIA ok, bukan Asia. 

Pengendali pusat kesihatan kedua terbesar dunia, iaitu IHH Healthcare Bhd ataupun IHH, adalah IPO kedua terbesar di Malaysia lepas FELDA, dan akan disenaraikan serentak di dua negara pula, Singapura dan Malaysia.

Kalau kita tinjau blog-blog dan laman-laman pelaburan dan pasaran saham memang riuh pasal penyenaraian IHH. Memang setiap butir maklumat dikaji dan mereka bincang. Itu tunjukkan betapa minatnya mereka pada penyenaraian ini.

Utusan menyatakan perancangan rapi Khazanah telah meletakkan Malaysia sebagai salah satu hab pelancongan kesihatan dengan rangkaian hospital terbesar di Asia merangkumi negara seperti Malaysia, Singapura, India, China, Brunei dan Emiriyah Arab Bersatu.

Dan adalah dijangkakan rangkaian penjagaan kesihatan IHH akan menarik minat lebih ramai pelancong kesihatan (medical tourist) ke sini, sehinggakan Kementerian Kesihatan anggar tahun depan sahaja pendapatan daripada industri ini akan capai RM600 juta.

Malaysia sehingga kini pun telah menarik ramai pelancong kesihatan terutamanya di rantau ini, yang perlukan khidmat pakar-pakar kesihatan.  Bagus untuk ekonomi kita…

Bukan saja hospital, industri perlancongan juga akan terlibat – hotel, restoran, teksi, van dan macam-macam lagi.  Berapa banyak peluang pekerjaan and bisnes yang akan disediakan.

Itu bab kerja dan bisnes.

Dari segi perkhidmatan, kalau kita tengok IHH yang bertaraf global, mestilah servisnya pun bertaraf globalkan. Mestilah dapat menarik ramai lagi pelancong kesihatan. 

Bukan saja pelancong kesihatan, malah rakyat Malaysia akan bertumpu, harap-harap taklah mahal ya, nama pun hospital swastakan.  Yalah sekarang ni macam-macam jenis penyakit, ada tu tak pernah dengar pun.

Rawatannya pun canggih, kalau dulu kepakaran doctor or human touch tapi sekarang  doctor dibantu oleh alat-alat canggih.  Kadang tu tak nampak pun kesan belah.

IHH juga mampu menarik kembali doktor-doktor kita yang bekerja di luar negara melalui peluang pekerjaan di rangkaian globalnya, di negara ini terutamanya.

Ini akan banyak membantu mengisi kekurangan doktor pakar negara. Jika peluang yang tersedia kompetitif dan setanding dengan apa yang ditawar hospital-hospital di luar negeri, sudah pasti doktor-doktor pakar ini akan memilih untuk berkhidmat di Malaysia.

Kehadiran IHH ini akan menaikkan taraf industri kesihatan di Malaysia, semestinya. Apa yang terhasil dengan perkembangan pesat IHH bukan sahaja manfaat ekonomi tetapi juga membawa kesan positif kepada tenaga kerja. Lebih banyak peluang pekerjaan tercipta, pemindahan kemahiran dan teknologi berlaku.

Tidak mustahil akibat pertumbuhan IHH ini, Malaysia akan menjadi sebuah gergasi kesihatan global.

Berhati-hati sebelum ke jalan raya

Susah betul sekarang ni, mana-mana kita pergi nak kena berhati-hati sebab takut nanti kena rompak. Bukan dekat shopping kompleks, tepi-tepi jalan je, nak keluar rumah pun kena tengok betul-betul, silap hari bulan kita kena ragut depan pagar rumah.

Depan pagar rumah! Bayangkan tak ke susah hidup kalau dekat kawasan perumahan sendiri pun kita tak rasa aman. Kalau macam saya ni, tak adalah hidup dekat kawasan yang bahaya sangat, dah lama la jugak duduk dekat area kawasan perumahan saya. Kitorang dekat sini semua orang biasa je, rumah pun teres je, tak adalah nak bersekuriti dekat jalan-jalan masuk, tapi dah bertahun-tahun saya keluarga di sini tak pernah rasa takut macam sekarang.

Tapi memang teruklah kalau sampai nak keluar rumah pun dah jadi benda bahaya. Ceritanya macam ni, baru-baru ini jiran saya nak seberang jalan dari rumah dia, tak adalah malam sangat tapi orang tak ramailah masa tu dekat atas jalan. Dia pun nak pergi kedai beli barang-barang rumah, tiba-tiba dia kena tahan dengan seorang lelaki yang suruh dia bagi duit yang dia bawak dengan dia. Mujurlah tak banyak duit dia pegang masa tu, tapi trauma jugaklah akak tu kena pau macam tu. Nasib baik dia tak kena lagi teruk.

Macam tu lah keadaan sekarang ni, saya pun tak tahu macam mana nak cakap sebenarnya. Nak kata negeri kita ini tak aman, tak betul sebab kita boleh lagi hidup kerja macam biasa, tapi kalau nak keluar rumah pun dah jadi satu cabaran, ada benda yang tak kena ni.

Pak Menteri kata kadar jenayah kat Selangor ni dah turun. Ok kalau betul kadar jenayah turun tahun lepas, kenapa kami dekat sini macam kadar jenayah dah naik berganda-ganda??? Di kawasan rumah saya ini, jarang-jarang sangat nak dapat tengok polis meronda, adalah sekali sekala seminggu. Dato’ Hishamuddin jangan asik-asik cakap pasal statistik jenayah tahun lepas turun dan ’cadangan-cadangan Makmal Jenayah berkesan’ saja,  tapi kami ni rasa tak selamat.

Polis ke, kerajaan ke, rukun tetangga ke, kena jaga betul-betul dan bagi suasana aman tu ada semula di kawasan-kawasan seperti kawasan kami. Macam saya kata tadi, kami ini bukan orang berduit, tak mampu nak pindah ke tempat-tempat yang bersekuriti jaga, jadi yang kami boleh harap ialah kerajaan polis dan jiran-jiran sama-sama jaga suasana kawasan perumahan kami ni.

TRICUBES ABORTING 1MALAYSIA MAIL?

I came across an interesting article in MalaysiaKini this morning. According to the article, the share price of Tricubes Berhad dropped 70% to 3 sen. Sounds like one of the big highlights of The 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 2012. 

I’ve checked Bursa Malaysia on Tricubes’ shares performance and true enough, the company is in deep sh*t. There's even a notice of suspension and de-listing.

For those who are unfamiliar with the company Tricubes Berhad, it is the company managing the 1Malaysia email service. The email service was introduced last year and was received poorly by the public. And today, nobody seems to remember about the silly 1Malaysia initiative.

The idea of 1Malaysia Email should not have materialized at all. To the public, the initiative is totally pointless. You can read the gist of the scandal at Wikipedia. And now, like a zombie, it has come back to bite the government in the @ss.

This 1Malaysia Mail project must have looked good on paper that got the government’s endorsement. Good initiatives on paper but lousy implementation. Where have I seen this before?

More thoughts should have been given before endorsing this initiative. And because of this, the opposition will have more ammo to attack the 1Malaysia initiative, which is a good initiative, by the way.

With Tricubes now hanging on a life support machine, perhaps it is about time for a review. Right now, I’m more interested in what the government has to say about it.