MCA Youth give full backing to new IGP

MCA Youth has pledged total support to new Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan in his mission to fight crime.

“The MCA Youth believe he has the intellect, professionalism, experience, sensitivity and humility to restore the pride of the force,” Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

He added that the IGP’s declaration of his commitment “to serve the people in the best way” was very encouraging.

Musa who took over as IGP on Tuesday said he wanted more personnel to patrol the streets, and speedier investigations.

He also intends to increase the pay of police officers and tighten the hiring process

Going wireless in JB

Imagine being able to check your email in the middle of a park, or doing your banking online while you are riding in a bus.

All this will come true in as Johor Baru gears up to become a “wireless” city.

“Just imagine, you can surf in an outdoor park, or in the middle of nowhere,” MSC Cyberport Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Ganesh Ku-mar Bangah told The Star recently.

He expects the whole Southern Johor Economic Region (SJER), spanning 2,217sq km, to go wireless in three years time.

The SJER stretches from the Causeway and northwards to the Senai airport and from the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in the west coast to Johor Port in Pasir Gudang in the east.

“The technology is already here, but at the moment the business model is not so viable,” said Ganesh.

According to him, two programmes would be rolled out under the wireless city plan.

The first adopts the popular Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity interface, which uses radio-frequency technology that allows laptop or computer users in the vicinity of a ‘hotspot’ to access the Web or corporate networks.

“We will be able to cover the whole of JB city with Wi-Fi in three years. But at the same time we would also be rolling out WiMAX,” said Ganesh.

WiMAX, or Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access, is a more powerful version of Wi-Fi that can provide wireless Internet access with a range of up to 50km.

“With WiMAX, you can have a higher bandwidth and longer range (of connectivity),” he said.

Ganesh said the MSC Cybercity in Kulai is scheduled to have WiMAX coverage in three years, and within five years, the technology will encompass the rest of Johor Baru.

Asked whether it was viable to make Johor Baru a wireless city considering the poor uptake of broadband and dial-up Internet services, Ganesh said this was due to a mismatch in supply and demand.

“Many work in Singapore, so they say they do not need a line here. And those who want to apply for a line may not even have a telephone line.

“Telekom cannot set up a (phone) exchange because some developers did not allocate land for them to do so.

“These developers are not interested in the lifestyle of people after they sell their houses,” he said.

“It is just a matter of time. Our neighbours are so much more advanced. It is an impetus for the technology gap to be narrowed,” he said.

A broadband stakeholder group was set up on Wednesday in the state, chaired by Johor International Trade and Industry, Energy Water and Communication Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong.

Tan said the state wanted to encourage more people to go online, adding there were only about 60,000 broadband accounts registered in the state under TM Net.

“Let’s not talk about making it compulsory for developers to provide this or that. But the government and the private sector are working together to help the people get connected.

“Some developers have made their homes broadband-ready,” he added.

Mixed reaction from users on sugar price

The Government’s announcement that fine sugar will become a controlled item from today has met with mixed reaction from major users and a consumer group.

The Federation of Hawkers Associations in Penang and Seberang Prai said the move would prevent any artificial increase in the price of food and drinks.

Its president Lam Tong Yin said hawkers would not have any reason to increase the price of food as the Government was doing its best to help stabilize the price of sugar.

“Whenever sugar stock is low, the price becomes very high. Many association members have complained about the matter and we hope it will help stop any more speculation over the price of the commodity,” Lam said.

The South Johor Small Medium Industries Association, however, said controlling the price of fine sugar made no difference to food manufacturers there.

Its president Teh Kee Sin said the main concern of its members was the supply of sugar, not the price.

He said the announcement did not really mean much to them because food manufacturers could use both coarse and fine sugar.

“Once dissolved for manufacturing, both kinds of sugar are the same. Our main concern is the shortage of sugar supply,” he said.

Teh said the cost of manufacturing coarse sugar was too high and the ministry should look into this problem instead.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) secretary-general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah said having a three-tier price control on both course and fine sugar could work.

Coins of turtles, dugong launched

Three more coins from a collectable coin series featuring endangered marine animals and reptiles were launched here yesterday.

The coins, featuring the Olive Ridley Turtle, Leatherback Turtle and dugong, are part of a 12-piece set.

Royal Mint of Malaysia managing director Datuk Azli Abdul Rahman said the coins, with a face value of 25 sen, would be sold at RM5.50 each.

“We had earlier launched four other coins, which are (those featuring) the Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Bottlenose Dolphin and Painted Terrapin.

“Five more – (featuring) the Siamese Crocodile, Whale Shark, Malayan Gharial, Indopacific Crocodile and Irrawady Dolphin – will be in the market soon,” he said.

Azli said only 40,000 pieces of each coin would be minted.

Don’t charge calls/SMSes, telcos urged

Telecommunication companies should waive the fee for calls or SMSes sent to Rakan Cop hotlines, said Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow.

Fu said the Rakan Cop hotline was meant to be a public service and, as such, it should be free of charge.

“It would also be seen as the telcos’ contribution to fighting crime,” he said, adding that he would meet the telcos soon

to discuss the proposal because the Rakan Cop programme had been getting good response.

Under the Rakan Cop programme set up in 2004, the public are the “eyes and ears” of the police, alerting the force on crime.

Fu, who was speaking to newsmen at the Parliament lobby yesterday, added that there should only be one number to call for all emergency cases.

“On the other hand, the line might get too congested, which could slow down the system and make it inefficient,” he conceded.

Civil Defence Department public relations officer Lt Kol Sharudin Md Zain said that between January and June this year, there were at least 372,096 crank calls out of the 395,459 calls made to the 991 number.

Meanwhile, mobile phone users can continue to call 112 to report emergencies.

In its latest public consultation with stakeholders, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said mobile phone users could call 112 even if their SIM card has been suspended.

However, 112 emergency calls cannot be made if the mobile phone has no SIM card, the SIM card has expired or the service has been terminated.

How firms cheat on tax returns

Some companies go to great lengths to try to cheat on their tax returns by creating documents to show a higher expenditure, according to Inland Revenue Board audits.

One of the devious ways is when the companies understate their sales receipts to show a reduced profit in their financial statements.

Others go to the extent of producing salary receipts of non-existent workers while there are companies which opened invoices for directors taking their families for fictitious holidays.

IRB chief executive officer Tan Sri Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid said its audit teams have come across an increasing number of companies using various ways to jack up their expenses.

“We have no choice but to fine such companies for under-declaring their income tax,” he said in an interview.

He said some audit firms also tend to close one eye on the companies’ deceitful ways due to competition.

“When our audit teams caught up with them, we will fine them for the malpractice and offences.

“It is unfortunate that the appointed auditors are dictated by the companies engaged by them,” he said.

Zainol Abidin said the public should not fear IRB’s nationwide tax audits and business surveys as they were the only ways to verify the accounts declared by companies.

“We want to carry out a tax audit on each taxpayer annually but this is impossible because of the lack of manpower,” he said.

“So, we are happy if we can do an audit every three to five years.”

Zainol Abidin assured taxpayers that they would not be penalised if found to have improperly filed their tax returns during the audit checks.

However, they could be fined for not declaring their income properly, he said.

“The tax audit is also a way for tax officers to communicate with taxpayers as we are believe in being helpful to our customers,” he added.

Abdullah and others at Asia-Europe summit observe silence for victims of 9/11 attack

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdulah Ahma Badawi and other leaders at a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit stood in silence Monday, remembering those killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks five years ago in the United States.

The heads of state - including those from the 25-nation European Union, China, Japan and South Korea - also vowed at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to stay the course in combatting terrorism.

The leaders rose from their seats and stood silent in a circle for about a minute in a large, red-carpeted meeting room in a huge Helsinki conference center.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao bowed their heads and kept their arms at their sides. The others generally looked forward and appeared solemn.

"These horrific attacks clearly demonstrated that terrorism is a threat to all states and to all peoples,'' the European Union said in a statement issued by Finland, which now holds the rotating EU presidency.

"It poses a serious threat to our security, to the values of our democratic societies and to the rights and freedoms of people, especially through the indiscriminate targeting of innocent people. No cause, no grievance, can justify acts of terrorism,'' the statement said.

Koizumi was cited by a Japanese official as saying that terrorism "continued to be as much of a threat as ever to mankind,'' and proposed hosting a conference of senior officials and experts on terrorism in 2007, Kyodo News agency reported.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he feared the recent Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon could lead to a growth in terrorism.

"I fear, in particular, that the recent excesses that have been committed during the attacks on Lebanon have added fuel which may increase the intensity of international terrorism and cause (it) to spread to countries and areas where they there are now no terrorist activities,'' he told the Finnish news agency STT.

"We must realise that Muslims all over the world empathise with the sufferings of their fellow Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine,'' Abdullah was quoted as saying.

"They see the sufferings of these countries as resulting from the aggression against Muslim countries and as a persecution of Muslims.''

The two-day Helsinki summit opened Sunday amid pledges to step up counterterrorism strategies that include countering radicalism, preventing the financing of terrorist networks and promoting interfaith dialogue. - AP

Top pixman McCurry tickled pink by hot news

The Malaysian High Court judgment that ordered a Kuala Lumpur restaurant to change its “McCurry” name has got another McCurry tickled pink.

This McCurry – award-winning photographer Steve McCurry – was quite amused to find out about the judgment, which ordered McCurry Restaurant (KL) Sdn Bhd to drop the “Mc” from its name.

McCurry: ‘It is kind of funny but I guess what is more important is the quality of the food’
“It is kind of funny but I guess what is more important is the quality of the food,” McCurry, who has won four top prizes in the World Press Photo Contest, said.

One of his most famous pictures was a close-up shot of an Afghan girl with her haunting green-coloured eyes, which made it to the cover of the National Geographic magazine.

On Thursday, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur said “Mc” was distinctive of the McDonald's Corporation McDonald’s trademark either singularly or used in conjunction with items of food and it could, therefore, claim goodwill and reputation in its business in reference to the prefix.

It added that the curry house, by using the name McCurry and employing a signage that featured colours which were distinctive of McDonald’s, was indulging in acts that could give rise to confusion and deception.

McDonald's maintained that it had created the prefix as a trademark to enhance its business and commercial presence in 120 countries.

The Philadelphia-born photographer explained that McCurry was an ancient Scottish name.

“No one teases me about my name, though,” he said, adding that it was a good moniker, especially in India.

And true to his name, he loves curries. “I like beef curry, chicken curry, anything!” he added.

No stranger to Asia where curries are a staple diet in many countries there, McCurry said he had been to the region “hundreds of times.” The food in countries like Malaysia are wonderful, he added.

He was in Malaysia last December as a guest of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide's Kuala Lumpur office.

The “Mc” component, however, seemed not to have had an influence on McCurry's diet. He ate his last hamburger about 20 years ago.

Not so easy to get car loans due to stringent checks

It is harder now to get a loan to buy a new or used car – financial institutions have tightened conditions for all applications.

The banks are now verifying the credit standing of borrowers to reduce risks.

“We have no choice but to impose drastic measures because of the uncertainty in the automobile industry, particularly car prices, in the last six months,” said a senior credit officer with a major bank.

He said financial institutions were worried that falling car prices, which resulted in a glut of used cars, would result in more people buying cars if loans were “easily available.”

The new screening measures, adopted by all banks two months ago, were to ensure that borrowers could repay their loans and to weed out potential defaulters.

“Even when we repossess the cars from defaulters, we may not be able to sell the vehicles and recover the loans based on the current market situation,” the officer explained.

All loan applications would now be subjected to a financial rating system based on Bank Negara’s Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) and two private credit reference agencies – Credit Tip Off Service Sdn Bhd (CTOS) and Financial Information System (FIS) Sdn Bhd.

The officer said the applicant’s data such as name, MyKad number, occupation, salary, existing loans and other relevant details would be keyed into the system.

CTOS and FIS provide details of the individual’s credit standing with other banks, while CCRIS tracks a borrower’s repayment patterns, spending patterns and habits, as well as his credit card and other electronic transaction records in the last 10 to 20 years.

The collective data will then assign a credit rating – an A rating will render the applicant automatic qualification for the loan; a B rating means the loan can be considered; C means the application will be rejected but the borrower can appeal to the bank; while D means the rejection is final.

“If applicants don’t qualify instantly, chances are a higher interest rate would be imposed on them, or less credit will be offered with a shorter repayment period,” said the officer.

But in the current situation, banks are only looking at those with an A rating, he added.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association vice-president Dave Lim said the strict guidelines had adversely affected business.

“Many people don’t have good credit ratings, thus they are unable to borrow from banks to buy cars. If they cannot get the loans, we cannot sell our vehicles.

“This also applies to used cars. If people cannot sell their cars at a decent price, then they better not think about changing cars. And some people know that they will not be able to get a new loan for another car because of their bad repayment record.”

Lim said he could understand why financial institutions have adopted the new measures but “if they don’t relax the rules, the price of cars may drop further.”