Some state leaders are getting better paid than national leaders, and ADUNs getting more than MPs

But for the relatively poorly paid PM, DPM and other Ministers, the real situation is not what it seems, especially when we take into account the perks attached to their positions. MPs, on the other hand, must be feeling dejected, when their salaries are compared with the recent hikes in Sarawak and Selangor.

From Malaysiakini: Salary hike to stop lawmakers going for extra income:

'The salary hike for elected representatives of Selangor is meant to stop the lawmakers making extra income, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said today

"This income (hike) is suitable for the people's representatives and state executive councillors as they will no longer need to find extra income from outside. This has happened (before)," Khalid told the media at the state assembly complex today.'

'Khalid defended the remuneration increment as "not high" and "reasonable", if compared with wages in the private sector.

He said the state government has taken into consideration objections from the rakyat on this matter.

It therefore chose the salary of the Sarawak assemblyperson as a basis and worked out a 30 percent lesser rate on the new salary for the Selangor assemblypersons.

Though both states have financial reserves, Khalid said, Selangor was bigger than Sarawak in terms of economic performance.'

In Facebook:

SV Singam:

"Many people are commenting about this matter without first understanding some basic facts.

1. Khalid and his team, like good corporate leaders, first addressed the financial position of the organisation they were heading. With prudent spending, leakage elimination and cost control, they first built up a huge financial SURPLUS.

2. Having done that, they then adjusted the remuneration to a level compatible with the work being done, thereby enabling them to attract the best minds from the private sector (they don't want to hire monkeys and pay peanuts).

3. By thus increasing salaries, they have created a layer of insulation from the lucrative offers and bribes with which UMNO leaders and cronies have been assaulting the state leaders from day 1.

If the BN government had done something along these lines, there would be less outcry over any such salary increases proposed by them. But what they have done so far is to squander resources and funds, deliver poor performance, fail to get rid of shirkers... and still feel they are entitled to salary increases.

Don't forget, the stated salary of a BN appointee is but a small share of the real income they rake in through various unsavoury channels. If they dare to deny this, then why not openly declare their assets?"
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Caring Pharmacy cares ... for their own bottomline?

My wife was attracted to some cheaper prices quoted in Caring's advertisement. Since we had never been to one before, we found the nearest to us is at Aeon Station 18. We are not regular visitors to this shopping complex, so we just parked our car in front and looked for it. It so happened G02 is right at the other end!

What I found to be cheaper (some because of special offers for a limited few days):
Iron tablets for 28 : Rm20 instead of Rm25.90 priced by a competitor;
Dettol 1 liter + 550 ml : Rm16.90 compared with Rm21.90; Hair dye : 2 for under Rm48, compared with usual price of Rm28 each (this item was not on my list, never used it for > 20 years); and so on.

Because we visited Caring before the supermarket opposite it, my wife asked for our stuff to be kept at the counter for collection later. Being absent-minded, I was against the idea but went along.

Despite being careful, when we reached home, I could not find the Dettol. My first thought was that someone had taken it. I did feel something amiss when I took it from the cashier because I remember there was a heavy item. Back home, when I checked the bill, I realised that Dettol was not included. So there was no mistake other than the omission. Did the cashier intentionally exclude my Dettol? Cannot help being reminded of the Malay saying: 'Ajak ajak ayam' which means invitation without sincerity. Years ago, I read about 'loss leaders' in supermarket strategy to attract visitors, because they are likely to buy something else as they browse through the displays. For a fast-moving item like Dettol shower gel, there seemed a reluctance to sell at such an attractive offer price.

However, when I thought about it again, I realised it could also have been an attempt to exclude it so that the total bill was less than Rm150. I recall having seen a notice that for a single bill exceeding Rm150, there is a further discount of Rm8; > Rm300, discount of Rm16. Besides, among discount offers, there are differences between items: some saleable eg. Dettol, some slow-moving eg. hair dye. Was it a coincidence that it was the Dettol and not the hair dye that was excluded? I would have been happier had the hair dye been excluded instead. Perhaps, not surprisingly, what I had been through had also proven the effectiveness of the 'loss leaders' strategy mentioned earlier. The hair dye was an impulse buy influenced by the display, and I actually changed my mind about using it!
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Assessment hike should be justified by accountability

Mak Khuin Weng, in his letter to Malaysiakini, shows us how to ask the right questions, with MPPJ (now MBPJ) as a good example...

Highlights:

"Learning from others

"...After an ongoing six-month campaign to pressure the then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) to release the accounts, the council finally allowed the campaign leaders to look at (but not make copies) of the council’s accounts.

In the short two hours ratepayers were allowed access to the accounts, notes were taken with pen and paper. After studying the information, the residents revealed numerous problems with the council’s management.

For example, the MPPJ had invested RM6.8 million in state bonds in 2003. This amount was subsequently written off as a bad investment. Could DBKL have made such similar bad investments and must now make up the shortfall?

MPPJ accounts also showed that a whopping RM38.6 million in unpaid assessment bills were accrued from 1999 to 2004. This has been reduced under Pakatan Rakyat rule, mainly because the main culprits for this debt were various Government Linked Corporations (GLCs) and they were all forced to pay up. What is the amount of unpaid assessment bills for DBKL?

Does DBKL have such skeletons in their closet? We will only be able to tell if ratepayers unite and form a coalition to pressure DBKL to release the accounts to the public."

Assessment rates

"The Local Government Act allows property owners to be charged these rates, which are derived from a valuation exercise on the rentable value of the property. The rates will be a percentage of this total value to be made payable, up to a maximum rate of 35%."

"This valuation list must be gazetted and the figures will be officially used for any rates chargeable to ratepayers. So, even if property prices were to soar ten years down the road, the valuation would remain constant. Unless, of course, there’s a physical change in the property like extensions, redevelopment or even land use change which would force a revaluation exercise straight away..."
"In the case of MPPJ, when the council announced an increase in assessment for landed properties back in 2006, the increase was done not by doing a new valuation exercise but by increasing the rateable percentage from 8% of the property value to 8.8%.

Rates can be changed yearly subject to requirements of the budget and approval from the state government, or in the case of DBKL, the Federal Territories and Urban Wellness Ministry."

"...A revaluation exercise however can only be done once every five years.

Obviously, even if the payable percentage was not increased, the value based on rental prices of property today would have increased tremendously from the past 20 years when the exercise was first carried out for many property owners.

While the law does allow the public to object, the valuers would have studied market rental rates and also through surveys asking owners what their property’s rentable rates were. So, whether you live in the said property and don’t intend to rent it out; whether you cannot afford to pay the new rates; or whether the council’s services has not improved and therefore does not justify the new rates are all irrelevant points. You have to prove that the rental rates in the area are below the value ascertained by the local council, which may be impossible since there are so many advertisements out there that would allow the valuers to reach a median value to affix to your property.

In fact, the point of the objection hearing is to allow you to present any evidence that the valuers may not have considered that would actually bring down the value of your property, like having your house located next to a cemetery or a sewerage treatment plant. Only then would the government consider a lower rateable value for your property.

Asking the right questions

Even though it might be pointless to protest against the rentable value, the ratepayer can still argue that the percentage of the rateable value be lowered by the local council. There is nothing stopping DBKL from reducing the chargeable rate to 3% or even 1% of the new property valuation to approximate the previous rate you paid.

But what ratepayers lack to argue for a lower percentage is information on the council’s operations and financial situation. As such, the ratepayers must demand that DBKL justify the need for the increase in revenue.

The problem is, none of the local councils produce annual reports – or even if they did, they do not make it publicly available. Nor are the accounts available for scrutiny."

More:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/247439

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Are you smarter than your smart TV?

Some of my less IT savvy friends have been lamenting that though they have smart televisions and mobile phones, they are not smart enough to use them.

Now, the real danger is that those smart televisions could be spying on their viewers! This is really scary and no one is safe unless he or she chooses to remain backward in technology.

My friend commented:

"This is scary, REAL SCARY !  Seems everything and anything that uses Smart technology, is used to spy on us consumers.  Smartphones, Smart TVs, SmartAss corporates, etc.

Just be wary and careful of what you put in your USB thumbdrive or external harddisk.  Like USA's NSA, the whole bloody world is spying on each other, and has gone bonkers!!!

So be smart!!.  Stay dumb and use dumbdevices, or just be careful with smartass devices.  No one is safe any more!!  Big Brother is Watching!!!"

Excerpt from an article:

LG Smart TV spying, owner claims his USB filenames posted on LG servers

A new LG Smart TV owner claimed that LG collects info from connected devices, like USBs, and uploads it to LG servers, even when collection of info is turned off; LG claims it's part of the Terms and Conditions.

After viewing ads on the LG Smart landing screen, DoctorBeet did some digging and found a "creepy corporate video" for LG Smart Ads, which claims to have an "intelligent platform" that analyzes users' favorite programs, search keywords and online behavior to best serve targeted ads; successful ads on LG Smart TV home page have been "proven by customer eye tracking tests."

He found a "Collection of watching info" option in the settings. Collection is on by default, but even after turning collection "off" and running traffic analysis, DoctorBeet discovered, "It turns out that viewing information appears to be being sent regardless of whether this option is set to On or Off."

More:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/lg-smart-tv-spying-owner-claims-his-usb-filenames-posted-lg-servers

According to the list, 'Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime', which include The Post Office; The Check (or cheque); The Newspaper; The Book; The Land Line Telephone; Music; Television; The "Things" that you own; and Joined handwriting, the last but not least of which is Privacy!

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Wives taking husbands for granted

Here's the proof...

There was a group of women gathered at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with your husband.

The women were asked, 'How many of you love your husbands?'

All the women raised their hands.

Then they were asked, 'When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?'
Some women answered today, some yesterday, some didn't remember.

The women were then told to take their cell phones and send the following text to their respective husband:

"I love you, sweetheart."

Then the women were told to exchange phones and read the responding text messages.

Here are some of the replies:

1. Eh, mother of my children, are you sick?

2. What now? Did you crash the car again?

3. I don't understand what you mean?

4. What did you do now? I won't forgive you this time!!!

5. ?!?

6. Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need?

7. Am I dreaming? ???????

8. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, you will die today...!!!

9. I asked you not to drink anymore!!

and the best one

10. Who is this?


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