my wish for budget 2013

Budget 2013

Here are few small things that I think matter for the Budget 2013.

1. govt should start away with GST some time in mid-2013.  Your pay more tax if you shop more, and you shop less when you have little cash. I think it is very fair for any income level in this country to pay GST. Let the government raise more revenue from people with more money, and maybe we can try do away from subsidies

2. dump that sugar and cooking oil subsidies.. its indirect cost of sugar subsidies that is just massive esp on the medical cost...diabetes, obesity, heart problem etc etc...kalo terus mati, lain la citer,xde la govt nak kene tanggung korang nyer health problem .....Psl gula murah la taip2 kali nak order air i kene shout "mamak, teh O kurang kuraang kurrrangggg gula....."

3. kurangkan excise duty import kereta secara berperingkat.. not that i wanted a new foreign car (coz I still heart proton! )...  but i think reducing the duty import can help proton and perodua (and the suppliers) become more competitive in design n technology...

4. stop giving out all this cash handout BR1M etc etc ... bagi RM ribu-ribu pun x kan cukup Dato' Sri utk cover rising living cost, rising housing cost... income level yg kene raise kalo nak cover rising living cost. Ini common sense. kalo gaji xcukup, then ppl have to work extra job... ini x, ramai jer indon2, bangla2 keje mesia ni, bole jer diorg buat duit.... ada indon income ribu2 lagi keje cuci umah jer....  mcm kata pepatah tu.." org lapar beri kail, ajar mengail, bukan bagi ikan.."... zaman dulu, org xde kerja, tun razak bagi tanah utk teroka tanam2 buat lepas hidup, tgk sekrang peneroka felda idup OK jer..... xkan najib nak bagi RM500 jer, bagi la scholarships ker

5. i do think government should raise government servant salaries and perks, but only if it commensurate with higher productivity.. please please please... reduce the number of "staff sokongan" and increase human resources with ones with "the brain" and the "octopus hand"...  and ones that can really deliver... tolong la attract the right talent and pay them right ...  if you pay your staff below market price  then it is no wonder your staff is performing below market standard....  if cannot deliver, then put on the cold bench or ask to leave the public service.... it is tax payers money anyway! x payah la nak create2 special elite forces (ptd for instance)...  itu resam imperialist dah ketinggalan zaman dah pong...

6. government really have to find other mechanism to subsidise fuel price utk golongan yg memerlukan sahaja, drp bagi pukul rata utk semua...  tolong la cut diesel and fuel subsidies, instead spend more on
a) education, pre-school, primary-, secondary and tertiary education...

b) center for OKU
c) grant utk R&D
d) community centers - where family/society can do activities ie gaya hidup sihat

7. water treatment plant...  hmmmnnn... tolong la jgan privatise air, udara, keselamatan...

8. hways.... highway pantai barat bile nak start? PLUS highway dah terlampau tepu dah...

9. kaji balik system sungai, perparitan kita.. kalo heavy rain nonstop 5hrs jer dah banjir kilat... kalo ibukota kita kena macam Thailand last year macam maner?... Sediakan parit sebelum banjir!

10. rising property prices. here few suggestions
-raise RGPT for selling property less than 5 years utk kurangkan speculative prices.. manataw ada developer yg jual unit kat konco2 masa construction, then bile dah siap after 2 yrs property prices naik mencanak2... cthnya first owner beli RM230k time construction, dapat jer CF, owner jual harga RM320k, lps setahundua, second owner jual harga RM450-500k... byk condo2 kat KL ni mcm tue..
-utk first time house buyer, minta dihapuskan terus tax, stamp duty etc etc... nnti nak byr lawyer lagi... professional value lagi... on top of 5-10% deposit...anyway, i think ppl should have at least 5% of house price if they want to buy house, kalo 5% savings pun xde, maksud nya susah nak savings and most likely kurang berkemampuan utk memiliki rumah sendiri...
-allow house purchase only if rumah dah siap and dah dpt CF, strata title... kalo developer takde duit nak buat construction, jgn meniaga... tutup kedai.  Other way, developer bole issue bond 3 to 5 years. construction 2 thn dah siap.. 2-3 thn dah bole dapat pulangan. tlg la jgn ikut sgt cakap persatuan2 developer nih, diorg tu mmg monopoli, nak menang sajer.... developer ni org berniaga, kalo nak meniaga kene la berani tanggung risiko kenaikan bahan, etc etc... , kenaper pulak house buyer yg nak menanggung construction risk? .............rakyat didahulukan, pembeli diutamakan 


11. kurangkan import duties... cth nye textile... knp kain2 ela kat malaysia ni mahal2 dr harga dari Indon, India, Vietnam? mcm maner la industry fashion/creative kite nak berkembang if we have to pay more for raw material.


takat ni jer dulu....mende2 kecik ni pun sure pening menteri kewangan.
 

 

 



 

Entrepreneurial Leadership for MAS and KTMB

Entrepreneurial Leadership for MAS and KTMB

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/8/4/business/9234368&sec=business

THIS may be stating the obvious but most of Malaysia's large government-owned transport organisations are in need of a serious overhaul. Two good examples are Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and KTM Bhd.
In MAS' case, it is interesting to know that rumours continue to swirl that a plan is being hatched to “do a deal” with that almost overpowering competitor, AirAsia, and its iconic entrepreneur-owner, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
The thinking is that what MAS needs is the entrepreneurial flair of someone like Fernandes to turn it around and rightly so. Fernandes clearly has credentials for the job.
Such a plan though, is mired with challenges. Firstly, how can Fernandes be given the task of running MAS while he is still the owner of AirAsia? Fernandes has his plate full with taking AirAsia to greater heights. Why would he give that up (including his ownership) to run MAS?
Then there's talk that AirAsia should acquire MAS. On paper, that is possible, especially if the latter's major shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, is keen on such a deal.
But a plethora of other issues would surface if such a deal is envisaged. In the event a share swap is being considered which would facilitate Fernandes to gain control over MAS there will be the sticky issue of pricing, considering that both companies trade at very different valuations, not to mention the outcry from some quarters over whether a national asset like MAS should go into the hands of someone like Fernandes.
Perhaps a more palatable solution may be for someone like Fernandes (read: not Fernandes) to be given the reins to run MAS. Someone with wide experience in the airline industry and with a successful entrepreneurial track record, including the ability to make quick and bold decisions. But in many instances, the most ideal structure for someone like that to perform at his best is to give him ownership of the company.
That kind of divestment theme has already been tested with some of Khazanah's other assets.
A controlling stake in Time dotCom Bhd has been sold to an entrepreneur who is taking the company to new heights. And recently, Khazanah managed a transparent divestment process to give control over Pos Malaysia Bhd to a private party, who was willing the pay the right price and with presumably the right action plan in hand, and one that does not jeapordise the social obligations of Pos Malaysia such as providing its service in rural areas.
Why can't the same model be tried out with MAS?
As for KTM, it has its fair share of financial problems too, but this is lesser known because it is an unlisted entity. But insiders say KTM still owes the Government hundreds of millions of ringgit; its cash reserves are dwindling and it continues to report losses. This column had earlier highlighted the many advantages from having an efficient rail service running in the country, including having a reliable, timely and quality inter-city travel mode that would then lead to less usage of the notorious express busses.
It does seem like KTM could also do with some fresh leadership to turn its operations around, ensuring quality and efficient services at reasonable prices and turning profitable in the process. Little is today known of the progress of previous plans to reshape KTM. Indeed, it is unclear why KTM continues to report losses when its freight business churns out a lot of earnings.
It was recently reported that KTM aims to rake in more than RM1bil in revenue from its cargo business in five years, and presently earns about RM200mil in revenue annually. It was also reported recently that KTM is segregating its core businesses under a two-phase restructuring plan, with the aim of being more efficient and profitable. Little has been revealed as to how this would help stem the huge losses or help KTM repay the huge loans it owes to the Government.

News editor Risen Jayaseelan can't recall the last time he took a long journey on a KTM train and wonders how many readers have such a recollection and what was their experience like.

Shasay:  Well, the article came in just in time...the lower level employee are nice but the top management are incompetence i think... maybe back then they were good bosses, but this generation they just can't keep up. Yesterday I call the call center of KTM to find out if I can at least make ticket reservation via phone, found out that I can't (It's ok coz I know there is no phone reservation mechanism in place anyhow). They insist I come to KL sentral to buy the ticket from the counter. But then when i enquiry later on the online ticketing, they say no, i cant do the online ticketing.. ..it means the web online ticketing is a hoax, it just there to show off to people (the managers are showing off to higher bosses) that they have the technology capability (but in actual it doesn't work, they ticketing system is all lies). Unbelievable....
Tipah Tertipu!!!

KTM Online Ticketing Sucks

Tak puas hati dgn website KTM. Flash ajer lebih.. tp info nak access pun susah sbb lembab (or berat) sgt.... walhal internet connection mmg xde masalah.. macam maner KTM nak maju, kalo macam ni punyer service.. bile nak bankrupt mintak kerajaan tolong.... tapi bile gomen bagi kuasa utk manage, service outtttt

Saya selalu naik keretapi untuk balik kampung ke Ipoh. Advantage naik keretapi ini, jimat minyak tol dan cost maintenance kereta sbb kalao dah ulang alik ke Ipoh dah berapa ratus kilometer dah tu....  lagipun, mungkin naik keretapi lebih mesra alam, kurang asap....

Tapi itulah, nak beli tiket online pun susah. takkan tiap kali nak beli tiket kene pegi kaunter ambik no. itu zaman bile punyer service tuh...  cuba belajar dari AirAsia, beratus/beribu customers access online, xde masalah pun (cuma waktu sale utk sejuta seat tu je, barulah congested).. ini website KTM baru 200++ user online, takkan dah congested kottt.... ETS tu pun samalah....  nak beli tiket, kene amik no beratur mcm zaman 60s.. adehhh.. .kalo beli online kan senang, ini intranet KTM asyik2 down sajer... dari awal tahun saya cuba nak beli online nak buat transaction online, tak pernah nak berjaya... tension dah la nie... Friday or weekend nak balik kampung, weekdays ni takkan nak pegi kl sentral sana tu beli tiket... saya keje kat jalan tun razak, nak naik LRT kat Ampang Park ke KL sentral dah amik at least sejam perjalanan pergi balik untuk beli tiket saje... macam maner tu?? tak convenient kan???  cuba bayangkan kalo pelancong luar negara nak melancong ker utara, nak naik keretapi tgk suasana luar kota, takkan dah smpi mesia baru bole beli tiket.. kalo bole beli tiket online direct dgn KTM kan senang pelancong nak plan travelling schedule diorg??? x ker???

Sya suke org KTM yg keje jaga keretapi (usher) kat platform semua baik2, friendly belaka, x double standard dgn pelbagai bangsa (malaysian or non malaysian)... tapi marketing department, mmg out lah... saper manager yg incharge tiket sales ni mmg la... tak patut keje kat KTM lagi kalao website (online service) continue sucks macm ni... cuba bagi statistics tengok berapa successful ticket sales through online transaction by month saya nak tgk...

CEO KTM, please la amik tindakan sket... contohi AirAsia/TGV/GSC website... catch-up la sket, jgn complacent jer.. ini dah tahun 2011, semua transaction pakai smartphone/iphone apps jer....baru lah public transport negara kite maju, industry pelancongan pun maju........  takkan nak komplen kat PEMANDU / TV3 etc etc baru nak amik tindakan....

Tom Hanks: Master of the human factor

Tom Hanks: Master of the human factor
The Edge Financial Daily 3-Aug-11 pg 20

 Sha favorite line on TH: " A guy so regular he makes Forrest Gump looks sophisticated,....."

Debt-Ceiling Deal is an Alarming Bipartisan Mess

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-02/congress-s-agreement-on-debt-ceiling-is-an-alarming-bipartisan-mess-view.html

Editorial-Bloomberg, 2-Aug-11: The deal reached by the U.S. Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling has spared the nation an immediate catastrophe while potentially setting a path for longer-term disasters.
Financial markets’ initial euphoria over the deal faded quickly. The S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks declined for the sixth day in a row, losing 0.4 percent Monday to close at 1,286.94. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen but declined to a record low against the Swiss franc.
The markets’ response underscores an unfortunate reality: While the government may have averted a self-inflicted disaster, it hasn’t solved fundamental problems and appears to have created new ones. What the U.S. needs is a deficit-reduction plan to address its long-term fiscal gap without weighing too heavily on a weak recovery.
Instead, it’s getting the opposite: immediate spending cuts that threaten the recovery in the short term but aren’t substantial enough to fix the long-term budget problems.
Under the deal the House approved Monday, the government must find $21 billion in new spending cuts next year, and possibly much more. If legislators fail to agree by the end of this year on at least $1.2 trillion in further deficit reduction, the country will face indiscriminate cuts in domestic and defense programs.
The cuts could hamper the recovery, especially given $250 billion in expiring unemployment benefits, the end of the temporary payroll-tax cut and the winding down of the stimulus program. Growth was barely evident in the first half, and a manufacturing report Monday showed a steep deterioration in both activity and hiring plans in July.

AAA Rating

A growing economy is crucial to fixing the government’s finances. Economic output is the denominator in the U.S. government’s debt burden, which currently stands at almost 100 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund -- the highest level since the aftermath of World War II.
Even if the economy doesn’t falter under the cuts, the deal provides far too little future deficit reduction to put the government’s finances on a sustainable path, and possibly too little to maintain its AAA credit rating. Economists estimate the U.S. structural budget deficit -- the gap that must be closed to achieve long-term stability -- at about 5 to 6 percent of GDP. The $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction envisioned in the compromise plan amounts to 1 percent of projected GDP over the next decade.

Political Will

Make no mistake: The U.S. is a wealthy country that can afford to solve its budget problems. Closing the fiscal gap will require political leaders to embrace more ambitious policies and to build popular support for the sacrifices they will entail. These tasks will only be more painful if markets ultimately force them on us.
Bold measures -- including overhauling entitlements, rethinking the uniquely dysfunctional U.S. tax code and considering a federal value-added tax -- must be on the table. At an estimated 30.5 percent of GDP in 2011, the total tax burden on Americans is the lowest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
In addition to fiscal restructuring, the U.S. needs political renewal. The debt-ceiling deal was nurtured in a hothouse of ideology and blossomed in a storm of political machinations that put the nation at risk. Having successfully held the economy hostage to achieve their aims, House Republicans established a template for the aggrieved, reckless and intractable partisans of any future Congress. The danger did not end with Monday’s vote.

Long-Term Dangers

The accord that resulted is almost wholly uninformed by the nation’s actual economy, demographic trends or social reality. In addition to stalled economic growth, we have an aging population and growing inequality, with roughly a third of the nation’s wealth controlled by 1 percent of our citizens. The deal amounts to complete denial of these by our political leaders.
That includes President Barack Obama, who has largely ignored the long-term dangers posed by deficits in his budget proposals and who failed, inexplicably, to endorse the sensible suggestions of his own deficit-reduction commission. The congressional committee charged under the new debt deal with finding additional budget savings is unlikely to produce anything comparably bold or intelligent.
This deal is an unholy and bipartisan mess. But it must be made to work. Congress should use the breathing room it provides to find creative long-term fiscal reforms that focus not just on avoiding crisis -- but on creating a government that’s smarter, fairer and more innovative. Done the right way, the boring work of crafting budgets can be an edifying national experience. We’ve seen quite clearly what happens when it’s done the wrong way.



Sha: The level and intensity of republicans' ignorance on the current state of US economy, and the sheer arrogance, is astonishing! Democrats were ready to sacrifice the huge spending cuts in order to save today's economic mess (created partly by republicans under Bush's era anyhow) but the republicans.... ?!!! what is wrong about paying extra 1 dollar on tax with every 3 dollar spending saved (cut)?

Additional tax increase on american corporation would not cut job, if there is studies on it, i bet is republican's sponsored studies. Even if it cut 1 job, tax revenue will create more than 2 jobs if government spend the tax revenue on something more stimulating like education or skills training... rather than say burning the dollar on war (or defense).

Increase government spending on war, doesn't create actual (long term) job, does not stimulate the economy, only enriching a few that service the "defense industry". Portion of the spending on defense went to ashes, a portion goes to rebuilding nation that don't belong to the tax payers. How sad...

America need to re-industrialized its economy (and reform the tax code so that the companies actually pay taxes)... American infrastructure are among worst, ugly and outdated. Just look at the train, road, bridges... urghhh...  America need to produce some thing, sell some thing, not just buy buy buy all things... Get more tourist come in and shop on American products, bring in more foreign money to invest...  impose import tax if necessary, reform health-care and pension systems, those who work and pay get retirement benefits, those who did not work and contribute less get less (minimum) benefits... Subsidized health care only for poor and low-income people only.... Why prolonged ageing/death when it is costly ....  Don't get republicans brain wash on fear. Fear that foreigners/tourist are bad people to destroy the country.. Fear that paying extra taxes will be bad for economy ( it is not if the goal is to reduce deficit and to balance budget)... Fear to step out to other "less developed" countries and see and learn what they have done to stimulate their economy....

On news todays:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/19/nation/9128960&sec=nation
NEW YORK: Malaysian women are ranked 16th most stressed in the world, according to a recent study.
The study, which researched the buying and other social behavioural patterns of women in 21 developing and emerging economies of the world, reveals that women all over the world feel stressed out, with women in the so-called emerging countries facing greater stress than women in developed countries.
India has the world’s most stressed women, says the study prepared by information and media company Nielsen....

Sha: Just imagine if the study also came out with a statement that Malaysian men were ranked 5th most happiest in the world....

Greece on SALE!!

Greece is in trouble as they needed more than US$200bn to pay bondholders starting this month. . How did they get here in this mess?  The credit ratings agencies fiercely warned to place the nation on default list, and so the Greek scramble to avoid that. The dateline is just so soon, can't think of anything else but how to avoid the defaults.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone are so eager to help solving the mess. The french, the italian, and the german had to do it, for plenty of reasons. The rest of minorities in that economic zone sit on the sidelines, let the big boys play. The lenders are eager to help only because they have to save themselves. The big boys club perhaps hold the majority of Greek bonds and so they are most expose to the danger of the multiple defaults. Otherwise, come to think of it, the american  the chinese and the japanese would have jumping in.

The austerity measures and the roll over features were introduced. The financial "aids" that comes to Greek are not cheap. One of the aids condition is Greece have to sell country's assets. It is so massive they should just put a sign "Greece on Sale" on the world map. Even then, it is still not enough to pay off the debts. I wonder if the word sovereign would give any meaning to any Greek after this. The roll over features only buys the time to prolonged the debts and increase its financing cost , hence dragged the problems longer, and not solving it. The debt woes is almost as if a never ending story.

Given the limited (and expensive) choices Greece have to solve its debt woes, do they really need to avoid the "default list"? What's worst thing to happen if they do? If they simply just dont have the money, would the bondholders send an army to seize Greece assets? To Greek, will it pays to give up your future, your sanctity and sovereignity over one grave mistake?

The bondholders should have known the risk they are taking when they bought the papers.  I see there is no  win-win situation in this. When the maturity dates come in, both sides could have just admit the defeat (loss) and start over.