Female civil servants with the Selangor Government are now entitled to 90 days maternity leave starting this year.
Announcing this yesterday, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the extra days of leave was part of the state’s economic welfare programme.
“Husbands whose wives gave birth will also enjoy a 14-day paternity leave, up from a week previously. Female staff whose husbands pass away, will also get 30 days’ leave, compared to three days emergency leave in the past,” he told reporters after presenting appointment letters to more than 6,000 village committee members here yesterday.
The Pakatan Rakyat state government had proposed the extra days after it came into power last year.
On another matter, Khalid said Selangor was meeting with various groups, including insurance companies, to work out a plan to help the 300,000 to 400,000 senior citizens in the state to cope with their medical expenses.
Under the programme, senior citizens might only need to pay a maximum of RM5 each time they received treatment from a clinic, he said, adding that the elderly must, however, be registered with the state government to receive the benefit.
Khalid said Selangor would use its over RM50mil revenue from sand mining to fund various “people-centred’ activities and welfare programmes, adding that the state planned to introduce a coupon system which allowed for rebates.
Khalid said it was also looking into paying village committee members a work allowance for their activities, work and services, and would appoint more Indian leaders to head committees of villages with many Indian residents.
He said the state had identified about 40 villages to be headed by Indians and their appointment would be made next month.
[Star Online]
Geronimo's Take: Can you see the difference? While the PR is constantly looking at ways and means to ensure that the rakyat's welfare is well looked after, we have those UMNO fellas going on a spending spree on something as useless as that F1 thingy. I am really lost for words!!!
Couldnt help feeling this angry today. I know at my age, I am supposed to be mellowing out, looking forward to a nice chilled day and now what? I find myself with the same amount of righteous anger as I had when I was 16 – going through puberty and finding the world most unfair that my mum wouldnt allow me to have my first pair of cargo pants!
I was sitting in the banana leaf shop this morning having a roti and a coffee when a group of JAWI officers entered the premises. 10 officers to be exact, into this little shop. They spent a good 20 minutes going through the place (and it is a small place!) and finally one officer writes out a writ and gives it to the cashier. They then left. Curious, I asked the cashier what that was all about and he replied that they were not allowed to have their little altars and pictures of their deities in their shop “because otherwise, Muslims cannot come into their shops” . What utter nonsense! Are we still living in the Malaysia that is so “famed” for its “religious tolerance”?? The shop is not a mamak shop. It is an Indian Banana leaf shop. Why would it be surprising that they should have signs of their religious beliefs in their own space? I didnt think that sort of thing was illegal (please correct me if I am wrong). What is wrong with this picture? Will it come down to the point when my Muslim friends should not visit my home just because I have a cross or a chinese altar there? PLEASE!
Better yet, I discovered as I was leaving , that the JAWI personnel had targetted the other 3 banana leaf shops along that row of old shops (near the vets office – off Jalan Maarof). There were at least 4 nos of vans for the officers , ALL double parked on the main road and causing an inconvenience to the other road users. Is there a separate set of laws that govern these people? Notwithstanding the fact that they are trampling all over the definition of religious tolerance in this country , they also flaunt the general laws of the land. This makes me really angry and sad about the state of our country.
I now find it difficult to speak up for Malaysia when there are arguments comparing Malaysia to other countries. It is sad that we can have the once world tallest building and still think like we came out of the jungle yesterday.
My Personal Big Sad Day today
MS
Wait for the exposure of Hassan Ali's hypocrisy at the end of this post.
Also, Hassan Ali demonstrated a lack of understanding of how a democratic government has the power and right to exercise the parliamentary practices of institutions like Selcat. I really worry about an Islamic government under people like Hassan Ali!
Hassan had insisted that Selcat be chaired by judges – hahaha, and we in Malaysia know how that will turn out – but I suppose Hassan Ali wants it that way.
Teng Chang Kim, chairman of Selcat lambasted Hassan's pathetic lack of knowledge of parliamentary procedures to make such a silly proposal.
The way I look at it, Hassan seems more interested in shielding BN from the current embarrassment of the public knowing about its questionable financial management of public funds.
And then Teng gave Hassan Ali the final blast about the latter’s claim of wnatin g to protect the District Officers. Teng revealed that Hassan Ali had in fact wanted to replaced them,stating:
“Unknown to them, Hassan Ali had been pushing for all senior civil servants — including DO’s, heads of local authorities, the state secretary and state legal advisor — to be replaced during PR state meetings."
That's his sheer hypocrisy and treachery to the District Officers. One can only conclude that the beneficiaries of his demand for Selcat to be conducted behind closed doors would not be those District Officers.
[Source: KTemoc Konsiders]
Just like any other Malaysian, I am concern, very concern. We have not come out of the PKFZ woods yet, and there awaiting us, in the horizon, is yet another financial disaster, much bigger than the PKFZ scandal, waiting to erupt. For those of you who are not subscribers to Malaysiakini, I am happy to re-produce the following article by Dr Kua Kia Soong. Looks like our hard-earned money is going to be flushed down the toilet bowl once again but is UMNO and the white-haired Melanau raja in Sarawak worried? No! Do you know why? It's not theirs. It's 'Ah Kong's' [grandfather] money anyway, that's why!
Nearly 50 years after independence for Sarawak, we see a comparison with the 'Highland Clearances' in Scotland during the 18th century when the highlanders were driven off their lands for capitalistic sheep farming.
The English did it with brutality and thoroughness through “butcher” Lord Cumberland and even obliterated the 'wild' Celtic mode of life.
What we have seen in Sarawak recently has the same capitalist logic, namely, to drive the indigenous peoples out of their native customary lands so that these lands can be exploited for their commercial value and the indigenous people can be “freed” to become wage labourers. 
Well, there is a reason for this - the contract for the Sungai Asap camp had already been given out to a multinational company. After all, the whole Bakun area, which is the size of the island of Singapore and home to the indigenous peoples, had already been thoroughly logged...
All this happened while Dr Mahathir Mahathir was the prime minister. Wasn't he a liability to the BN government then?
I was part of the fact-finding mission to Sungai Asap in 1999 and even then we could see the destruction of so many unique indigenous communities and their cultures, including the Ukit tribe.
There was only one word to describe what had been done to these indigenous peoples and their centuries-old cultures... wicked!
Banned from my own country
As a result of my concern for the indigenous peoples and the natural resources of Sarawak, I was told at Kuching airport in August 2007 that I could not enter Sarawak. So much for 1Malaysia! So much for national integration! So much for nearly 50 years of independence! I was not even welcome in my own country.
How much does it cost to pay our 'mata-mata' (police) to investigate the alleged scandalous rape of our Penan women?
The contracts from building the Bakun dam and the undersea cable run in excess of RM20 billion. Malaysian taxpayers won't know the final cost until they are told the cost overruns when the projects have been completed.
But if the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal is anything to go by, the leaks and non-accountability all along the line will result in Malaysian taxpayers paying billions for the same kind of daylight robbery. 
Likewise today, if the government cannot monitor a project in Port Klang just half an hour from Kuala Lumpur, how can they assure us that they can monitor a project deep in upriver Sarawak and through 650km of the South China Sea?
How can we be assured that we will get to the bottom of politically-linked scandals when the Sarawak police tell us they don't have the resources to investigate the rape of Penan women and girls?
How can we be assured that the Sarawak state government cares about its indigenous peoples and its natural resources when NGO activists are banned from entering Sarawak to investigate a part of their own country?
It makes no economic sense
In 1980, the Bakun dam was proposed with a power generating capacity of 2,400MW even though the projected energy needs for the whole of Sarawak was only 200MW for 1990.
The project was thus coupled with the proposal to build the world's longest (650km) undersea cable to transmit electricity to the peninsula. An aluminum smelter at Sarawak's coastal town of Bintulu was also proposed to take up the surplus energy.
In 1986, the project was abandoned because of the economic recession although the then PM Mahathir announced just before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that this was “proof of Malaysia's commitment to the environment”.
So what happened to that commitment, Mahathir?
In 1993, with the upturn in the Malaysian economy, the government once again announced the revival of the Bakun dam project. To cushion the expected protests, then Energy Minister S Samy Vellu gave Parliament a poetic description of a “series of cascading dams” and not one large dam as had been originally proposed.
Before long, it was announced that the Bakun dam would be a massive 205-metre high concrete face rockfill dam - one of the highest dams of its kind in the world - and it would flood an area the size of Singapore island.
Have feasibility studies been done to see if there will be adequate local, regional and international demand for all these products?
Six years later, after the economy was battered by the Asian Financial Crisis, the government again announced that the project would be resumed albeit on a smaller scale of 500MW capacity.
Before long in 2001, the 2,400MW scale was once again proposed although the submarine cable had been shelved. Today we read reports about the government and companies still contemplating this hare-brained undersea scheme which is now estimated to cost a whopping RM21 billion!
More mega-dams to be built
The recent announcement that the Sarawak government intends to build two more mega-dams in Sarawak apart from the ill-fated Bakun dam is cause for grave concern.
Apart from the human cost, ultimately it will be the Malaysian consumers who pay for this expensive figment of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's wild imagination. Indeed, enough taxpayers' money has been wasted - Sarawak Hidro has already spent some RM1.5 billion on the Bakun dam project.
Apart from the economic cost and the wastage, how are investors supposed to plan for the long-term and medium term? What is the long-term plan for Bakun? Can Bakun compete with the rest of the world or for that matter, Indonesia?
The suggestion for aluminum smelters to take up the bulk of Bakun electricity have been mentioned ever since the conception of the Bakun dam project because they are such a voracious consumer of energy. Even so, has there ever been any proper assessment of the market viability of such a project with the cheaper operating costs in China? 
Sarawak's tin-pot government
Clearly, Bakun energy and Sarawak's tin-pot governance do not give confidence to investors. First it was Alcoa, and then Rio Tinto - both giant mining multinationals - had expressed second thoughts about investing in Sarawak.
Concerned NGOs have all along called for the abandonment of this monstrous Bakun dam project because it is economically ill-conceived, socially disruptive and environmentally disastrous.
The environmental destruction is evident many miles downstream since the whole Bakun area has been logged by those who have already been paid by Sarawak Hidro.
The economic viability of the Bakun dam project has been in doubt from the beginning and the announcement to build two more dams merely reflects a cavalier disregard for the indigenous peoples, more desecration of Sarawak's natural resources and a blatant affront to sustainable development.
When will Malaysians ever learn?
A son of a former private secretary to former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was charged in the Sessions Court here yesterday with possessing a handgrenade.
Muhammad Ezra Rusli, 27, a businessman, pleaded not guilty to having the handgrenade at a house at Kota Damansara at 1pm on Sept 8, an offence which carries a maximum 20 years jail on conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Shah Rizal Abdul Manan did not offer any bail because it was a serious offence.
Judge Aslam Zainuddin fixed Oct 19 for mention.
Ezra also pleaded not guilty in the magistrates’ court here to causing hurt and threatening to kill his father, Rusli Abdul Malik, 61, with a gun at the same place between 3.30pm and 5pm the same day.
The offence of causing hurt carries a maximum one year’s jail, RM2,000 fine or both, the whole threat offence carries a maximum two years jail, a fine or both.
Magistrate Aishah Hijriah Arshad disallowed bail and fixed Oct 19 for mention pending the court’s decision on whether Ezzra needed to be sent to Hospital Bahagia for observation and also for him to engage a counsel.
[Source: Bernama/Sept 19 2009]
Geronimo's take : Wait hold on a minute. For having a grenade which can maim or kill human beings, the penalty is only 20 years jail???? But for having a gun or drug, a person receives the death sentence. Something is not right with the law. Could it be that he is the son of a VVIP?? Any of my learned readers can help explain? Now read the second charge again. This fella threatened to KILL his father, you know ending the life of another person. But the offence is "causing hurt" and carries a fine of RM2,000? If my command of the English language serves me right, there is a vast difference between KILL and "CAUSING HURT". Slapping another person causes hurt. Kicking another person causes hurt. Punching a person in the face or stomach causes hurt, wife caught husband with another woman causes hurt and the list goes on. KILLING a person does not cause hurt, it causes DEATH! Somehow, I just don't feel safe with our justice system anymore.
The other question I would like to pose is, if Muhammad Ezra Rusli could have access to one hand grenade, could he have more in his possession? In the same vein, if he could have access to a hand grenade, could he also have access and holding a cache of fire arms? I wonder whether our mata-mata have checked this one out instead of busily arresting those participating in peaceful candle light vigils and those trying to hand in a petition to the authorities so that their grievances may be heard.
