Something must be wrong with the IRB

It is interesting to note that in spite of frequent letters of dissatisfaction and utter frustration at the IRB's snail like progress of refunding taxes overpaid and over deducted, to the taxpayers, What tax refund? and Speed up refunds the IRB has apparently come up with more work for the employers, and has also shifted the onus of computing accurate monthly deductions to the taxpayers themselves, Tax deductions – a better tomorrow?.. As reported in the column, " Employees can now ask employers to deduct less STD or more STD by submitting Borang PCB/TP1 (1/2009) (less deduction) and Borang PCB/TP2 (1/2009) (more deduction)..." and " For employers, it means increase in compliance costs, a familiar phenomenon in this day and age...." the 2009 Schedulat Tax Deductions (STD) are supposed to provide the mechanism for accurate deductions, and hopefully less clamour for quick refunds, but I can see that this effort is just like "trimming the golf course with a nail cutter", ie, doing more work less effectively.

If the IRB has included in making one of its KPI's as, .." All refunds of taxes of the previous year MUST be completed by September of the following year", we will not need that "fine tuning" that has been proposed and envisaged in the STD 2009. We have shifted to self assessment for about 10 years now, so I am at a loss to understand why it's still so difficult for IRB to pay refunds to the loyal taxpayers, especially those who are retired and depend on such refunds to survive, IN A TIMELY MANNER.. Maybe you should scrap the present computer system, and get a better one.?

Well meaning, but are we not sending out the wrong message

I have been listening to the same advert on the Radio (Lite&Easy), for some while now, and there has been a regular appeal on the radio that if we pay our parking or speeding tickets issued by the Police through an Online Portal (MyEg.com.my), we can get a 50% discount. While this strategy may encourage perpetual offenders to pay up, help the Government to collect some badly needed revenue, and at the same time, give the perception of 'improved' performance by a Govt department, I feel that such a gimmick is only sending the wrong message to vehicle owners. Police Tickets are issued primarily as deterrents and must be effective in eradicating or at least minmising such offences as illegal and inconderate parking and speeding. Giving discounts to offenders, whether they are first time, or repeat cases, gives the message to the guilty ones that it is not "painful" to commit an offence, AND that the enforcement is so weak that the Authorities see fit to give a discount to get the fines resolved. The Govt should be serious about monitoring the performance of all the departments, and a good measure of performance is the TIMELY collection of fines and compounds by these departments. Offering discounts is just a lazy way of solving the problem, and will never deter the inconsiderate driver at all...

The "route" that we all must take.....

Reading this letter Sometimes we have to leave old folks be by 'the sandwiched generation', I think this problem of the seeming lack of love of their parents by some Malaysians is just going to be more complicated and acute, by the day, as our population ages, and the size of the family unit dwindles because of high costs of living. Looking at ways out of the quagmire, we have seen views like legislating the non care of parents as a punishable offence as is being done in a neighbouring country, building more and better Nursing homes, keeping medical costs down for the aged, and lately I have even received the suggestion of a friend, that this is the time to make 'caring for the aged' a respected and 'high income' profession in line with Malaysia's objective to reach the next level of competence.

However, I feel that in all such discussions and in the case as addressed by 'the sandwiched generation', wherein, he, as a retired person having children to look after, and is suffering from cancer, while taking care of his disabled mother who requires very expensive medical treatment, we have not considered a more holistic approach to terminal patient care as practised by the Hospice Organisations in the country. Such organisations, led by Hospis Malaysia, offer palliative care to those who ask for them, in homes of the patients, and encourage communication between family members and the hospice person involved. Aged parents and terminally ill people need to be loved, they understand the difficulties faced by the persons looking after them and do not want to b a nuisance. Sending those who are ill or disabled by illness to homes are at best good only for the conscience, and at worst will subject to the loved ones being abused by care givers who may even be illegally employed by the Homes! The Government should raise the national awareness of the availability of the services provided by the hospices and the 'angels' who tirelessly work to make the aged and terminall ill feel they are still loved. The Government should also strongly support ALL Hospice organisations in the country, as they form a bridge between the sufferor and the sufferees, besides making medical treatment and palliative care affordable. In the long term of course, the government should ensure that ALL Malaysians are covered by medical insurance, though in this era of an aging population and merciless profit making insurance companies, I fear it will not be possible..

I would like to end this by quoting from the Hospis newsletter that a terminally ill person " only wants what is in your mind and in your Heart". Malaysians must learn to care more.....

TOWARDS SAFE CITIES

Reading this news, TOWARDS SAFE CITIES I must commend the Govt for its efforts to make our cities safe. The CCTV system that was launched under the enthusiastic gaze of the Home Minister, is impressive, and no doubt would be quite effective in curbing crime, if they are used and monitored regularly and positively. However, we know the Malaysians are notoriously 'famous' for their lack of focus and short attention spans to projects and tasks that require continuous care and maintenance, and I hope that this beautiful project will not follow the fate of many CCTV projects and Cameras installed at Traffic lights, which have sadly fallen into disuse, even during their guarantee periods. I would like to suggest that the Govt be proactive in this matter and include the Performance and Proper functioning of this system as part of the KPIs and KRAs of the Ministry and Departments involved, in short, the success of this project should be used to measure the performance of those involved with it, along with accompanying punishment for failure. Can we do that? Otherwise, I fear this will be just another "white elephant' in a year's time

Nation Building.... by an architect.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

I have taken the liberty to send you this feature Absolutely floored, ARCHITECHTURE INSIDE OUT,By MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI by Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin, in part because I know you will not have to time to seriously browse through the papers, given the mess that those MACC guys got you into, but also because I was surprised and very impressed to have read such views from an unexpected source, a feature on buildings and architecture. Nonetheless, I think we would agree with what he has said, {if we really WANT to believe in 1Malaysia} and I take the chance to extract some of his views for us to ponder. :

Extract.... " How can there be racial unity and tolerance if one ethnic group is sidelined right where they live?............But because town and city administrators are predominantly from one racial group, the sentiment seems to be “why should I help these immigrant groups”, or “my religion forbids me to help these people spread their religion”. Again, as a Muslim, I have to say that I feel such attitudes are far away from the true teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that I have come to understand..........Do you see why I wonder whether we’re serious about achieving racial unity? How can we say we are when we cannot even provide a proper neighbourhood gathering place?....."

Herein lies our problem. The attitudes of those in the administration are almost all against what your notion of 1Malaysia is about, and unless there is a revamp of thinking and attitudes at all those levels, Dato, you are bound to fail.I am no politician, only a humble old man, but I know you need more than just political backbone to change Malaysia, and I am reminded of a story about Gandhi.. In the midst of violent racial riots in India, a Hindu came to him and told him his son was murdered by Muslim mobs, and he wanted vengeance. And I understood that Gandhi instead took him aside, and told him to adopt a Muslim child whose parents have suffered a similar fate! In fostering multiracial unity in Malaysia, can we "adopt a child" of a different religion in our midst, say, can we see temples in the midst of a Malay kampong, and mosques in the midst of 'Chinatowns'? Can we have multiracial worhsipping places in schools, wherein no one religion has seemng superiority over the others? Of course it's not easy, and I never said it is. But if all those in the Administration do not want to "listen" to Gandhi, then I guess we can say goodbye to 1Malaysia, and Vision 2020, whatever that is...

Calling a spade, a spade.... Susmaryosep!!

Reading the letter in TheStar , Forced to be maids due to poverty... I have to say that I am amazed at the simple truths expressed so well by a person so looked down by our politicians, and I am pressed to quote from her... " I feel sorry for those who are willing to improve their knowledge by learning English because individuals like you are a hindrance to their efforts. With due respect, Sir, you are a perfect example of someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. " What is there for me to add, except that maybe the politician involved should be magnanimous enough to issue an apology to the offended party. Suffice to say that, giving all sorts of excuses and blame to parties who have absolutely nothing to do with one's inadequacies represent the thinking of a VERY shallow mind, which maybe improved by some voracious reading of English books?

Air New Zealand grabs attention...

I would like to think that, more than just attention grabbing, AIR NEW ZEALAND GRABS ATTENTION the airline must be also trying to improve Sales? I can't see how a 'naked' body will help me learn how to wear my safety belt, after having flown for more than 30 years; more likely I would forget to buckle up.... hohahah

The Perils of Screaming Sex

The Perils of Screaming Sex, or Soundproof your room!!! =))

"..................A 16-year-old girl thought she heard her mother being assaulted by her boyfriend and rounded up some friends who beat him up, only to learn later that the couple actually were having sex, the woman and police said. The girl misinterpreted the woman's amorous screams,..............""

This news reminds me of an ex neighbor, more than 25 years ago, whose wife makes long moaning sounds like a cat on heat.. At first, we neighbors thought it was just that, 2 horny cats making out, but when it got too long and too loud, we came out to check, and found out the moans came out of the window next door, (52 Jalan 11/10).. Susmaryosep!! Another neighbor, a lady, was quite embarrassed by it, and had to tell the newly weds to quieten down the music.

Miaaaooooo!

Import Skills, not Stupidity

I read the report Dr M: Govt can consider PR status for skilled foreigners to attract investments to Cuberjaya (by the way, where is Cuberjaya?), and as usual our ex PM Tun Dr M has again hit the nail on the head of our country's policy makers.

May I quote him.. " “If I were in the Government today, I will allow intelligent people to come in. Give them a permanent resident status then, maybe later on, citizenship....We don’t allow intelligent people to come in while we allow our intelligent people to go out. At the same time, people with less intelligence are coming in and with great numbers,” Mahathir said, adding that as a net result, Malaysia would become “more and more stupid.”

While I feel Tun M should bear a portion of the blame, for "all the stupid" people that have crept into the country legally or illegally, I think it's not too late that the present Govt heed his call. From what little I know of the labour policies of most countries, including that of the Philippines, these countries like Australia and the rest of the Asia Pacific region will only allow skilled workers to come into their countries to work, reserving all menial labour and those NOT requiring special skills for locals. In Malaysia, the reverse seems to be true, as the Govt prefers to allow businesses and homes to "import" foreign workers to work, often under 'slave like conditions'.. Try interviewing the workers in factories, restaurants and plantations and you will understand what I mean. On the other hand, I have a VERY senior Govt official friend whose foreign wife, a Phd holder was unable to get a job, even after residing in the country for more than 12 years, besides being pushed about annually on her PR status renewal. Malaysians, especially those in Govt., should really learn to like and trust all other races, and not feel that anyone who has a diploma will be a threat to our security and 'culture'. It is quite "stupid" thinking, to borrow Tun M's word, for Malaysians to accept certain types of foreign workers while distrusting the more 'intelligent' types.

Is it because Malaysians in their hearts, like to practise slavery? God forbid