I bought Guthrie shares at market price, says Khalid

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said his acquisition of shares in Guthrie Bhd was a commercial transaction.

“The idea of obtaining the share options was first suggested to me by the late Tun Ismail Ali in 1994 and it was agreed by the chairman of Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra (the holding company of PNB), then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“I acquired them at market price and it was a commercial transaction, not free or discounted shares. This matter remains in court and any further discussion should happen during the court proceedings,” he said in a press statement yesterday.

Khalid, also a former Permodalan Nasional Bhd chief executive officer, was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s claim on Wednesday that Khalid’s animosity for Barisan Nasional was because he had failed to acquire a 20% stake in Guthrie.

Khalid said he planned to sue Najib and those who had made false and unfounded statements about him.

“I have instructed my lawyers to prepare a lawsuit against Najib and all others who have been making false and unfounded statements. It is my intention to be transparent and straightforward in all my dealings.”

In a separate statement, Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was instructed by Dr Mahathir in 1994 to write a letter to allow Khalid to purchase Guthrie shares at market price.

“I have known Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for many years. During my time as Finance Minister, he approached me on many occasions for many issues, but never once had he ever asked for shares or allocation for his own benefit.

“I was and still am very impressed by Khalid’s honesty, integrity and his concern for the common people by introducing the Amanah Saham Nasional and Amanah Saham Bumiputra schemes in the country,” Anwar said.

Pensioners slam EPF move to cut contribution

KUALA LUMPUR: Civil service pensioners who join the private sector after retiring at the age of 55 should also enjoy the employers’ contribution of 12% to the EPF because they are experienced professionals, said the Malaysian Pensioners Association.

Commenting on proposed changes under the EPF (Amendment) Act 2007, which includes a 6% contribution by employers for workers aged above 55, association president Tan Sri Abdullah Ayob said: “We do not understand the rationale behind such a proposal and we have to study why such a low percentage was proposed.”

On Wednesday, EPF’s deputy chief executive officer Rusma Ibrahim said that once the Bill was approved, employers must contribute a mandatory 6% of salaries for workers aged 55 and above while these workers would contribute 5.5%.

Presently, those below 55 contribute 11% while their employers pay 12%.

Rusma said that under the existing rules, it was not compulsory for employers to make any contributions for staff aged 55, although many employers did so at their own discretion.

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohd urged legislators to be fair and humane when drafting Bills that affect older people.

“We cannot understand why there should be any kind of discrimination in so far as the contribution for the older people is concerned.

“This is against our proposal to the Government to increase the retirement age to 60 years,” he said.

Under the proposed amendments, contributors would also be able to top up the EPF savings for their spouses or parents with at least a RM50 monthly contribution from their salaries.

It would be compulsory for working members to contribute until they reach 75 but after that they would not receive dividends.

More flexible EPF withdrawals

KUALA LUMPUR: Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors can withdraw their savings in any amount and at any time after reaching 55 years of age once the Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2007 is approved.

Under the amendments, those aged 55 can opt to either withdraw in a lump sum, in monthly instalments or any amount at any time or a combination of both.

“About 1% of contributors who withdraw their savings in a lump sum, end up finishing it within three years,” said Rusma Ibrahim, the deputy chief executive officer for EPF’s organisational development body, while briefing MPs at Parliament here yesterday.

Also present at the briefing was Finance Ministry’s parliamentary secretary Datuk Dr Hilmy Yahya.

Rusma said that more perks were also in store for the 11 million contributors including having a basic savings “safety net”, allowing them to use part of their money for investment and topping up their spouses or parents’ account.

EPF is also cutting the red tape on administration matters to make it easier for members, said Rusma.

Once the Bill is approved, employers must contribute a mandatory 6% of salaries of workers aged 55 and above while these workers will contribute 5.5%.

Presently, workers those below 55 contribute 11% while their employers pay 12%.

Rusma said under the existing rules, it was not compulsory for employers to contribute 12% of salaries drawn by staff aged 55 although many employers did so at their own discretion.

On the RM5 optional employer’s contribution for foreign workers, Rusma said it was not new and had been implemented before in 1998.

1.1 million cheap tickets up for grabs

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians can now look forward to more cheap air fares as the country’s two rival airlines are offering some 1.1 million cut-price seats to domestic and international destinations.

Prices as low as RM1 for domestic AirAsia flights and RM19 for domestic Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights will make passengers spoilt for choice.

AirAsia is also offering low-price seats for international destinations with one-way flights to Macau from RM61 and Chiang Mai from RM41. Flights to holiday destinations like Phuket will cost RM21 or to Hanoi from RM51.

MAS’ cheapest flight is for a one-way ticket to Penang, Johor Baru or Kuantan whereas the most expensive tickets are at RM139 to Labuan and Kota Kinabalu.

Watch TV on the Internet

KUALA LUMPUR: A new service that offers television via an Internet connection has been switched on.

Subscribers will be able to watch programmes from Indonesia and China, as well as local channels.

Viewers will need to log onto the worldip.tv website with a broadband-enabled personal computer or a 3G (third-generation) cellphone in order to get the live streaming and video-on-demand programmes.

The IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) service is being offered by Broadway Digital Media (BDM) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of music company Broadway Entertainment (M) Sdn Bhd.

Local channels available are TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9 while the foreign channels are Indonesia’s Metro TV and China’s Dragon TV.

The service is free until June, after which BDM would charge local customers RM10 a month while overseas subscribers will have to pay US$5 (RM17), BDM chairman Aziz Bakar said.

“With this service, you’ll never have to rush home to catch Bulletin Utama (or any other favourite TV show). You have the next 24 hours to watch it on our service,” he added.

Besides professionals who are always on the move, BDM is also targeting Malaysian students and expatriates.

“CNN would not normally show you news of floods (in the country). So if you are overseas, you can watch it on our portal. You can also get news about your hometown, from wherever you are,” said BDM chief executive officer Boon Tan.

BDM hopes to sign up Indonesian and Chinese expatriates and students who are in the country.

“There are 40,000 Indonesian students here, for example. They would want to stay abreast of events back home,” said Aziz, who is also a co-founder of budget airline AirAsia Bhd.

According to him, BDM would be adding more foreign channels to its services over the next few months.

“We are targeting 50,000 subscribers in the first year (of operation) and a 40% to 50% growth rate each year to hit at least 250,000 by our fifth year,” he added.

This is not the first IPTV service to be offered in the country.

Two years ago, MiTV Corporation Sdn Bhd launched a similar service with 50 channels, which required a set-top box connected to a TV.

Health Minister: Every hour, 6 M'sians suffer stroke

PETALING JAYA: Every hour six people in Malaysia suffer a stroke.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said stroke is a killer and the causes were hypertension, high cholesterol level, diabetes, smoking and obesity.

“It is surprising that a total of about 52,000 Malaysians get a stroke in a year when it is the most preventable of all life-threatening health problems.

“Most of the risk factors for stroke can controlled if people change their lifestyle to doing more exercise,” he said after launching National Stroke Association of Malaysia’s (Nasam) book on Understanding Stroke.

The book, published in Bahasa, Chinese and English, will be widely distributed to educate the public on stroke prevention and what to do in the event of a stroke. He commended NASAM for the publication of Understanding Stroke and educating the public on how to reduce their risk of stroke.

Dr Chua said one of the Ministry’s counter attack strategies on health related diseases like stroke is to organise health promotion activities.

Man claiming to be ‘God’ may face action

KOTA KINABALU: A man who reportedly claims to be “God” is liable to face criminal charges if his teachings are found to be seditious and cause disunity among the people.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said that although the Penal Code did not touch on religious practices, action could be taken against such people if they were found to have committed offences under the country’s other laws.

The Deputy Prime Minister added: “We have laws under the Penal Code to act against deviants of religions other than Islam.”

“If their teachings are found to be seditious and cause disunity, we can take action under criminal laws,” he said here yesterday.

Najib was commenting on a report in a Malay daily that a Johor man in his 40s was spreading teachings that denounced Islam, Christianity and Hinduism.

The man, a motivational speaker, has drawn many followers, who allegedly included professionals, those holding the title

of “Datuk” and at least a member of the royalty.

The man and his wife were allegedly emulating the Sky Kingdom cult that was founded by Ariffin Mohamad, also known as Ayah Pin, to start a new religious order.