Something Is Not Right With This Case In Singapore

Something like this was not supposed to happen in Singapore. Its a brilliant piece of investigative journalism by FT. Its also very sad for the family involved. The whole thing reads like a convoluted but brilliant movie script .... C'mon Singapore, come clean ...

The entire article is so very long like a mini novel but very gripping, read the rest at this link:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/afbddb44-7640-11e2-8eb6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2MGXpfB7d

February 15, 2013 1:10 pm

Death in Singapore

By Raymond Bonner and Christine Spolar

On June 24 last year, the body of a young US electronics engineer, Shane Todd, was found hanging in his Singapore apartment. Police said it was suicide, but the Todd family believe he was murdered. Shane had feared that a project he was working on was compromising US national security. His parents want to know if that project sent him to his grave

Shane Todd on a dragon boat in Singapore during an outing with friends and colleagues in 2011. This is one of a number of images featured on Shane’s Facebook page. The photographs of Shane Todd have been provided by the Todd family

Mary and Rick Todd were anxious about entering the apartment where their oldest son had lived and died. Late last June the couple had flown from Montana to Denver to Los Angeles to a colonial-era house in the Chinatown district of Singapore to try to make sense of an unthinkable loss: Shane Todd, a young engineer who had just wrapped up an 18-month stint with a government research institute known as IME, was dead – an apparent suicide, according to the Singapore police. Mrs Todd felt her heart pounding as she climbed the narrow staircase to his apartment and thought about what the police had told her two days earlier.

Shane had died a week before he was to return to the US. The police said he had drilled holes into his bathroom wall, bolted in a pulley, then slipped a black strap through the pulley and wrapped it around the toilet several times. He then tethered the strap to his neck and jumped from a chair. Shane, 6ft 1in and nearly 200lb, hanged himself from the bathroom door, the autopsy report said.

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So the Todds, along with two of Shane’s younger brothers, John and Dylan, were unnerved by what theydidn’t see as they crossed the threshold. The front door was unlocked and there was no sign of an investigation – no crime-scene tape, no smudges from fingerprint searches. “The first thing I did was make a beeline for the bathroom,” Mrs Todd recalled. She wanted to see exactly how Shane had died – and she saw nothing that fitted the police description. The marble bathroom walls had no holes in them. Nor were there any bolts or screws. The toilet was not where the police had said.

Dare to be Different

Many mentalities, or ways of thinking, color our world.  The way a person thinks determines not only her outlook on life, but also her relationship to other people and her perception of self.  A dictionary definition of mentality reads:

Noun The characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or group: "the yuppie mentality of the eighties". The capacity for intelligent thought.

Some of the common types -- pack mentality, herd or mob mentalities, crab mentality, bandwagon mentality,  victim mentality and even regional or country of origin mentality contribute to a way of thinking based on common methods, dispositions, economics and values.

Have you considered wife mentality?  Too many specific descriptions of a wife's way of thinking make outlining a wifely role harder to accomplish.  However, as wives, we exhibit the same descriptors as the mentalities noted above, and more.

A wife may see marriage through herd or mob thinking, following family and social patterns of a wife's role and not carving her own niche or taking a divergent path to better meet the needs of her specific relationship.  Or, a wife may see through the eyes of a pack member, organizing a support system that backs self against prey (husband/power), working to stay viable and strong as if her survival depends on her position.  A wife may act as a crab, pulling down a husband's self-esteem and value to rebel against his success at work, at home or in social circles in effort to keep him "in his place".

A wife on a bandwagon looks to another human model of success based on what she sees and hears; a surface-level, superficial assessment of success.  She attempts to copy/follow this model, hoping to achieve the level of success she detects on the surface, or from what the role model encourages or advertises.  On the bandwagon, wifehood looks like a brand that someone else sells.  The wife tries, buys and gives her loyalty based on overblown successes and the rallying cry of others on the same wagon.  Bandwagons do not promote independent thinking, relying on marketing and advertising to woo "members". 

A wife may think as a victim (**please know that anyone who falls victim to domestic abuse needs help and support by outside sources and by prayer.  The following description does not refer to that very real, involuntary situation).  This learned behavior comes in the form of a self-described and self-motivated "perpetual sufferer". This kind of wife thrives on sympathy for her marital predicament as she illustrates it, willing to describe her suffering (complaints, disappointment, anger, accusations/blame) in often dramatic detail. This wife speaks ill of her husband in his absence and berates, complains about, and nags him on multiple issues without many breaks in the diatribe.

Mentalities formed by culture can go along with any of the other types at the same time. Based on local, regional and national influences, these ways of thinking unite cultures and create social norms. Women can feel part of a sisterhood among other women, and can share cultural bonds specific to their environment. Positive and negative influences intertwine and create a fabric for that culture. Women may feel safe when shrouded in that fabric within that culture.

Do you notice one missing thread?  God.  Not one of these ways of thinking considers God's word, or hints at any biblical links in the chains that bind people to these ways of thinking.

I have taken on several of these mentalities at one time or another.  I held ideals prior to marrying and in our early years of marriage, that followed the herd.  I molded to family patterns and clung to them for familiarity, not understanding that marriage needs individual adjustment, and maybe (gasp) leaving tradition behind.   I left out God, except for about a 20-minute span at the altar.  Later, I took up with the crab way of thinking as I entered a season of unemployment and lack of support structures after moving to a new area.  When my husband began building relationships at work and in volunteer activities, I spent more energy trying to keep him at my level as I struggled with loneliness and feeling inferior (both unspoken).  And, I left out God.  I think I have jumped on a bandwagon here and there, in bits and pieces.  I'm not a joiner.   Nonconforming appeals to me.  Occasionally, a positive role model will appear and I feel enthusiasm building ... the desire to get me what she has.  Fortunately, God helps me discern where I should spend my time and energy when it comes to role models.  I have learned to observe, question and look for truth above all, and not fall for package deals.  I didn't bring God into those phases, either. 

In a cultural sense, I have a place in the world as an American Wife.  I think that this mentality seeks to have/do/be everything with style and a cucumber-cool aura.  I used to juggle activities and spin multiple plates, never allowing anything to hit the ground on my watch.  The American Wife has it all together and keeps the family schedule -- the one she has crafted -- running smoothly.  She signs the kids up for sports, lessons and Scout meetings and volunteers every time someone puts out a sign-up list.  She probably works full time, too, and has little energy at the end of the day to do more than few loads of laundry and get kids to bed with some time to spare to unwind.  She often puts her marriage last, if she even thinks about it as a living element of her life, in need of nurturing, growing and maintenance.  God doesn't have a standing invitation here, either.

How we think about our role as a wife matters.  No mentality fits any of us from the start -- we take them on only when we have decided to cope in a difficult situation or when we have taken the lead in our marriage and family. 

We need to find God's direction and become a Christian Wife.  We really do need to dare to be different.  Leave the herd, abandon the pack, swim away from the other crabs, jump off the bandwagon, end the complaining, and expand cultural norms by a God-sized measure.  Every one of us needs to find the pulse of our marriage and learn how little or how much we put toward its health and growth.  A marriage showing vigorous growth and excellent health has room to improve.  If your marriage has entered a coma-like state, just existing without quality of life, you have much more work to do, but you have to start somewhere.  You may be in the middle, finding a few issues to face, but not really facing them.  Face them -- start small, but face them.

None of the mentalities outlined here will ever help.  They may put a bandage over the wound, or take away a little of the ache, but they will never offer permanent relief and may, in fact, cause new symptoms of difficulty or failure.  They're human fixes and cause chaos in some form, usually appearing in the form of the human guinea pigs called "husband" and "children".  Human fixes work for a while, then exhaust themselves or twist into something different as we age, change and continue to learn. 

Then, there's God.  The never-changing, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present Creator of All. A God-focused mentality allows for oneness, depth, shared purpose, constance, intimacy, peace and growth as a couple.  God created marriage and stated from the start how it should work.  Man leaves his parents to enter life with his wife by his side.  Woman brings her strengths to meet his and support him as he leads her and the family they build together.  They become one flesh by sharing all of life together:  the emotional, the physical, the spiritual and the mental. 

Joining man-made groups that encourage coping, dominance or independence ensures defeat or short-lived success in marriage. Join something strong and permanent. Latch onto something that will carry you through every hill and valley of your marriage relationship, and will never leave you or forsake you. 

Take hold of faith in God, that he has all you need to bring your marriage to the right place.  The time to get there may not suit your taste exactly, but with prayer, study, and focus on God's plan for marriage, you will find the path, and when you do, the alternatives will turn to the dust they really are and sift away ... and the Truth will really set you free.

Believe it.  Thousands of marriages have found the way, and not one of them got there by thinking the way the "rest of the world" does!

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Bonding Through Blah

Marriage and family.

Not a fairy tale. Princesses never get sick, though they do fall into death-like sleep on occasion. Princes have a knack of arriving at just the right time to perform the necessary life-saving deed, sometimes requiring a battle with evil, but mainly, prevailing by planting a kiss on the fading princess in time to revive her.

This past weekend, we made it through a surgery (relatively minor, husband healing nicely), and four cases of the flu hitting within hours of each other.  Bam-bam-bam-bam!  The Quadruple Threat Flu of 2013.

We had planned the surgery, knew what to expect, and prepared accordingly. The flu hit without warning, marched along and took down each one of us systematically. We had no way to fight it, and even attempted to sequester healthy family members to try to thwart forces of fever and sickness from reaching them, to no avail.

Doesn't everybody have weekends, weeks, months or even longer seasons like these?

These times try our souls. They demand our patience and our energy even when we have little to offer. To feel absolutely wretched and bereft of any physical strength, yet still find a way to stumble to the aid of another family member means something big.

These times invoke the "in sickness and in health" vow, making me acutely aware of just what it means to give selflessly no matter how I feel, no matter how much I'd rather stay burrowed in and almost-comfortable on the couch after wrangling blankets from every bed and storage chest to divide among the fallen.

These times can bring out our worst.  I, for one, felt indescribably awful and haven't felt worse than this in recent memory.  I can't meter the illness level of the rest of my family, but my selfishness would like me to think I suffer more than anyone else.  Everyone else feels the same way, of course.  Sicker than thou.  "No one feels worse than I feel, so stop whining," resonates in our heads.

Even with our individual states of mind focused inward, we banded together in our queasy, exhausted, dizzy and shaky forms and tried to help whomever had a need.  We bonded in our suffering.  We felt each other's pain in a very direct way.  We pulled ourselves up a bit more than we might in different circumstances, not waiting to feel waited on because it wouldn't happen in our desired time frame. Misery does love company, and we had a wonderful weekend full of that kind of communion.

Near the end of our road to recovery, three of us benefited from the serving strategies of the youngest among us.  Our almost-12-year old son had taken the first hit of illness and recovered while the rest of still had a day or more to go.  For almost a full day, he filled water glasses, opened pill bottles for his dad and dispensed his doses, gathered and distributed blankets, passed tissue boxes, answered phones and prepared his own meals.  One meal consisted of Nutella and cookie sticks, but a hero does deserve some leeway when saving the day for the infirm and suffering.

Our boy's example of selfless giving gave us pride in his empathetic abilities.  His independence and sense of responsibility let us see glimpses of the future.  He helped fill our needs that day, but filled so much more than water glasses and miscellaneous requests.  He filled our hearts with love received in his actions.  He filled our minds with thoughts for the future.  He filled our souls with the gifts of a servant, the kind he has always given when a need arises. 

As we emerge from the fog of illness this week, we will remember the experience ... maybe even a little bit fondly.  None of us hopes to repeat the Quadruple Threat Flu of 2013, but we will recall the time together with less memory of the misery and more memory of the company.  We will remember that we bucked up and rose to the occasion, even when we did not feel up to the challenge.  We will think about the giving and less about the discomfort.  None of us held a position of royalty, but served each other out of our best, the same as we would for someone of high position.  We set aside our frailty to do for someone else in need.

I wish everyone a time of bonding like the one we had this past weekend.  I suggest skipping the flu experience and find other ways to serve each other.  Worth it.  Totally.

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ~~Deuteronomy 15:10

E.U. Recovery Faces Huge Stumbling Blocks From Italy

Just when everything seems to be going hunky-dory, along comes the Italian Job. The election results is one of the worst you could get which could impede ECB's strategy for recovery. Italy could very well opt out of E.U. and adopt back the lira. Its ok to opt out if you are the weak link like Greece as opting out could help resuscitate your country better. To opt out, if and should Italy do so, one must question Italy's loyalty and sense of belonging in the E.U. .... Italy is basically opting out when it looks terrible for them. Let's boycott pasta!!!

-----------------------------------

Italy’s electoral earthquake is ‘‘a catastrophe for the euro and the European Union’’, according to Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn.

Italy is big enough to bring down the eurozone if mishandled. 

The verdict was much the same in chancelleries across the eurozone, especially in those countries already starting to feel the first wave of contagion.

‘‘The result touches us all,’’ said Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo. ‘‘It is a jump into the void that bodes well for nobody, neither for Italy, nor for the rest of Europe.’’

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Almost 57 per cent of the Italian vote went to parties that have vowed to tear up the EU austerity script. Together they control a majority of senate seats.

The Five Star movement of comedian Beppe Grillo, which won 25 per cent of the vote, has called for a euro referendum and has a return to the lira as one of its manifesto pledges, while ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi has threatened to pull Italy out of the currency bloc unless the EU switches to a reflation strategy.

Even if the centre-left leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, can put together a ‘‘grand coalition’’ with Mr Berlusconi, there is no going back to the hairshirt regime imposed by Mario Monti’s technocrat government at the EU’s behest over the past 15 months.

‘‘A deal with Monti is impossible,’’ said Mr Berlusconi yesterday. ‘‘His austerity policies have put the country into a dangerous recessionary spiral, with rising debt and unemployment, and the closure of a thousand firms a day.’’

The great fear is that the European Central Bank (ECB) will find it impossible to prop up the Italian bond market under its Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) scheme if there is no coalition in Rome willing or able to comply with the tough conditions imposed by the EU at Berlin’s behest. Europe’s rescue strategy could start to unravel.

Andrew Roberts, credit chief at RBS, said: ‘‘What has happened in these elections is of seismic importance.

‘‘The ECB rescue depends on countries doing what they are told. That has now been torn asunder by domestic politics in Italy. ‘‘The big risk is that markets will start to doubt the credibility of the ECB’s pledge.’’

It is a widely shared view. Luigi Speranza, from BNP Paribas, said: ‘‘We fear the markets could lose faith in the OMT’s effectiveness.’’

Bond buying under the OMT can begin only after countries in trouble request a rescue from the EU’s bail-out fund under strict terms.

This then requires a vote in the Bundestag.Germany’s ECB board member, Jorg Asmussen, backed the plan when it was unveiled in August, signalling the crucial acquiescence of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The concern is that Germany could withdraw that assent if provoked.

Mr Roberts said: ‘‘The big unknown is how much Germany is going to buckle over the next six months. German leaders want to keep up the appearance that the eurozone crisis has been solved, at least until their elections in September.’’

In one sense, Italy is in a weak bargaining position. It must raise 420 billion euros this year, making it acutely sensitive to the latest surge in borrowing costs. Yields on 10-year bonds surged 34 basis points yesterday, pushing the spread over German Bunds to 330, with traders eyeing the 400 level where stress begins in earnest. Italian bank shares tumbled in Milan, with Intesa Sanpaulo down 8.4 per cent on fears of losses on sovereign bonds.

Yet Italy is big enough to bring down the eurozone if mishandled. It is also the one Club Med country with enough fundamental strengths to leave EMU and devalue, if it concludes that would be the least painful way to restore 35 per cent of lost competitiveness against Germany since the launch of the euro.

It has low private debt and euros 9 trillion of private wealth. Its total debt level is 265 per cent of GDP, lower than in France, Holland, the UK, the US or Japan.

Its budget is near primary balance, and so is its International Investment Position, in contrast to Spain and Portugal. It could in theory return to the lira without facing a funding crisis, and this may be the only way to avoid a crisis if the ECB withdraws support. Any attempt to force Italy to knuckle down risks backfiring disastrously for EMU creditors.

The question is whether the election will prompt a radical rethink in Brussels and Berlin. Martin Schulz, the European Parliament’s president, said the vote had shown the intellectual bankruptcy of current EU policies.

‘‘People will make sacrifices, but not at any cost,’’ he said.

Defenders of the Monti policy say in retrospect that it was an error to push fiscal tightening of 3 per cent of GDP last year when Italy was already in depression - and did not have a deficit crisis - and neglect the greater task of marshalling public support behind reforms.Critics are harsher.

Nobel economist Paul Krugman said the EU policies imposed on Italy and others has been ‘‘a disastrous failure’’. If there is no change in strategy, this election will be ‘‘just the foretaste of the dangerous radicalisation to come’’.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/catastrophe-for-euro--europe-frets-over-italy-20130227-2f4ua.html#ixzz2M4tGayvZ

Let's Get Serious - Pakatan's Manifesto

Can they govern? .... Of course they can, just look at the current cabinet, you tell me we cannot find capable people to replace them??? Gawd!!! As for some cynics who question as to how the missions will be funded or whether they are empty promises - seriously, I don't think they will be able to meet all that has been written in the manifesto, but I do think they can achieve at least 1/3 and maybe another 1/3 work in progress and the balance will be status quo, even then that will be 100x better than the administration we had for the past 50 years. Much of whats written below has to do with economics, but to me another key point which I am sure Pakatan can do and will do is restore credibility and independence to the judiciary ... and improve the regulatory and policing bodies - only when its fair can you live in our own country without fear or favour. Why is it that we Malaysians hesitate to talk about which political side we are aligned with??? Where did that fear come from? What are we fearful of??? Who put those things there? Why aren't things that are supposed to protect me of my rights  there to protect me when I need it?

Below is the summary of Pakatan's Manifesto:


THE FRATERNITY
OF THE PEOPLE 
1.  Eliminating discrimination
2.  Recognizing the contribution of women and senior citizens
3.  Developing the national education system and a rming all
educational streams 
4.  Respecting the position of Sabah and Sarawak within the Federation
5.  Preserving Orang Asli customary land rights and welfare
6.  Respecting the position of Islam as the o cial religion,
guaranteeing the freedom of religion
7.  Promoting culture as the foundation of community living

"It’s for the good of BN that we vote for PR and for better future for the people at the same time.   What happens when PR becomes the New Government? We have a New Government with Less Experience in CORRUPTION and SCANDALS..... good for people.  We have a STRONG and RICH Opposition with 50 years Experience  in matters pertaining to CORRUPTION and SCANDALS.  They know the ins and out of corruption and scandals, so they can better check the PR government...."


THE PEOPLE’S ECONOMY
1.  1 million job opportunities for the people
2.  Equitable productivity sharing through minimum wage
3.  One million school leavers trained as skilled labour
4.  Education reform to drive the economy
5.  Cultivating smart partnership of trade unions, employers
and government
6.  SMIs and innovation to drive the national economy
7.  Tax adjustment to promote equity
8.  Sustainable economy
9.  Defending military veterans’ economy and welfare
10. Making taxi entrepreneurs viable
11. R & D investments to reach 5% of GDP
12. Public transportation – the lifeline of the national economy
13. Breaking monopolies, encouraging competition


Pakatan Rakyat will increase the government contribution to the Armed Forces Fund Board (AFFB) from 15% to 20% to secure soldiers’ savings. An additional contribution of 5% will be administered in a special fund and separated 
from the pension fund contributions, to be used to finance funds and direct assistance to pensionable and non-pensionable soldiers.

Pakatan Rakyat will introduce a Soldiers’ Dividend which will remunerate non-pensionable veterans to the amount of RM2,000 per year, derived from supplementary governmental allocation and profit gains of AFFB. The estimated allocations needed to finance the Soldiers’ Dividend is RM400 million per year.



MAKING TAXI ENTREPRENEURS VIABLE
Pakatan Rakyat will abolish the system of granting taxi permits to selected companies who profit from taxi drivers’ labour. Taxi permits will be given directly to the taxi drivers in order to produce more taxi entrepreneurs.



URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
• Public transportation to be made free for differently-abled people.
• Remodeling the planning of the Klang Valley public transportation system from being MRT-centric, to an integrated plan involving MRT and buses to improve the existing network and access.
• Examining each contract awarded in the MRT package in light of updated legislation, to ensure it is corruption-free and cost-effective for the people.
• Additional investment of RM2 billion in the first year to double the number of buses and bus routes in the Klang Valley 

INTER-CITY PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM
Initiating steps towards building the first inter-city high speed rail system in Southeast Asia Pakatan Rakyat is committed to resolve the problem of traffic congestion in the Klang Valley and other major cities within 10 years 
of coming to power, with the aim of reducing congestion by 50% during its first term. Congestion problems have worsened due to policies which have neglected inter-city and intra-city public transportation systems. For a 
long time, investments in the public transport system were ignored until people had no choice but to use private vehicles.

Reliance on private vehicles has adverse effects on the economy. It increases subsidy expenditure, the economic burden on families, pollutes the environment and contributes to congestion.

Prudent and wise investment in public transport systems under Pakatan Rakyat will make public transportation a national economic lifeline.

"There is far too much subservience in our society. Observe functions where a minister turns up. Immediately there will be the sound of shuffling chairs as people stand up. Why should we do so? Why the grovelling and hand kissing? Democratically elected officials are just like any one of us and to afford them such obsequiousness is unseemly and an affront to the entire idea of democracy and equality amongst all people. - Azmi Sharom"

PUBLIC TRANSPORT – THE LIFELINE OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY MANIFESTO RAKYAT

BREAKING MONOPOLIES, ENCOURAGING COMPETITION
Monopolies are an encumbrance to economic growth and discourage competition. Allowing big companies to monopolise goods and services gives them the power to impose exorbitant and burdensome price increases. Monopolies impede competition and narrow the space for new businessmen and entrepreneurs to grow.

Pakatan Rakyat economic policy will focus on breaking up monopolies and encouraging competition. It will lower the price of goods from burdensome levels and build a resilient national economy that will produce many successful new entrepreneurs.

• Establish an Anti-Monopoly Commission and amend existing laws relating to competition to have more power to stop unfair business practices
• Establish a Public Contracts Commission to evaluate and act as arbitrator to ensure that all agreements between the government and private sectors are not biased or unfavourable to the people
• Dissolve 1MDB so that Khazanah remains the only state investment body
• Disposal and handover of government holdings in government-linked companies (GLCs) which are not involved in businesses of national importance. This will be done via management buy-out (MBO), with
the objective of producing more viable Bumiputera entrepreneurs
• Break up monopolies in communications, essential foods, pharmaceuticals, civil aviation and other key sectors
• Restructure unfair independent power producer (IPP) agreements to stop the enrichment of cronies via public funds
• Restructure the role of Ekuinas so that the agency assists in the takeover of GLCs by the management and qualified entrepreneurs
• Ensure overall implementation of procurement by open tender in the 
management of public entities






THE PEOPLE’S WELL-BEING 
1.  Alleviating the burdensome cost of living by        abolishing monopolies and reducing prices
2.  Restructuring automotive policy to reduce the people’s burden
3.  A ordable and comfortable housing for all
4.  Free education for all, abolishing PTPTN
5.  Abolishing AES, revoke AES summonses
6.  Justice for Felda settlers
7.  People’s safety
8.  Ensuring free basic health access
9.  Building a social safety network



THE PAKATAN RAKYAT GOVERNMENT WILL 
TAKE OVER THE HIGHWAYS IN STAGES FOR THE 
PURPOSE OF ABOLISHING TOLLS.
As promised in the Orange Book (Buku Jingga), Pakatan Rakyat will take over the highways with the intention of gradually abolishing tolls. The financing of the highway operations will be accommodated by using the RM5 billion fund that has been paid as compensation to the concessionaires. Abolishing tolls will help to reduce the price of goods


PRICES WILL BE LOWERED WHEN MONOPOLIES 
ARE ABOLISHED.
Monopolies held by several cronies linked with the present ruling party have allowed them to control product prices. As a result, monopolies have become 
the main cause of why product prices are rising in the country. Monopolies exist in many key sectors – from telecommunications to ASTRO, from rice prices to sugar prices. Pakatan Rakyat will abolish these monopolies to 
increase competition such that lower product prices will result.




RESTRUCTURE THE AUTOMOTIVE POLICY TO 
REDUCE THE PEOPLE’S BURDEN
The ratio of car prices in Malaysia to average household income is one of the highest in the world. The lack of effective public transport facilities gives the people no choice but to buy their own cars.  As a result, car debts are the main financial burden incurred by every household. Every month a large portion of their income goes to servicing their car loan installments. To reduce the people’s burden and increase their disposable income, Pakatan Rakyat will 
restructure automotive policy as follows:

Car excise tax that is currently being levied is at an excessive 70 %, resulting in high car prices. Car excise prices will be lowered in stages with the 
intention of abolishing it in 5 years’ time in order that car prices can be more competitive.

150,000 affordable homes in the low-cost category (below RM75,000) and medium-cost category (between RM150,000 and RM250,000) will be built 
in the first term of the Pakatan Rakyat administration. A National Housing Corporation (PPN) will be established as the primary agency to build, regulate 
and develop affordable housing. PPN will be responsible for building houses for the people in order to balance the private sector’s exorbitant 
housing prices.

It will ensure the sustainability of the national housing industry by ensuring fairness to the buyers and developers, including implementing the ‘build and 
sell’ concept more extensively. 

Pakatan Rakyat will invest RM 5 billion in the first year to build affordable housing, followed by RM 2 billion funding every year from the second to fifth year.

Liberalising the national automotive industry will increase its competitiveness and add value for people. Pakatan Rakyat believes that a truly competitive 
automotive industry can produce cars priced as low as RM 25,000.


DIGNITY, PERFORMANCE & REPUTATION OF FELDA
Pakatan Rakyat will defend the dignity, performance and reputation of FELDA to ensure the economic position and land ownership of the settlers. This includes restructuring all ownership in Felda Global Ventures (FGV) with the aim of returning operation and ownership of FELDA land to the settlers and staff. FELDA settlers’ contribution to the country’s wellbeing is immense. Palm oil revenue will be used to fund other development projects.  Therefore, FELDA settlers are entitled to receive a fair and higher proportion of revenue sharing.

JUSTICE FOR FELDA SETTLERS FAIR EXTRACTION RATES 
Settlers are not paid their real income through manipulation of the Grade Extraction Rate (GER) by FELDA. Pakatan Rakyat will review all compensation 
claims as a result of the GER manipulation and pay appropriate compensation to affected FELDA settlers.

"I have said many times in the past that a clean electoral system is a diffuser of political chaos. When people feel that a party has won or lost fair and square, there is no need to take to the streets. There is after all the next time an election is called and you can make changes then. It is only in the face of a brutal and unfair system that anger spills over. It happened in the Philippines, in Indonesia, in Egypt and many other places where people felt they either had no voice or their voice had been disregarded by a flawed and corrupt election. A government that truly respects democracy understands this.They will be willing to lose an election in the hope and expectation that they will be able to fight another day and win back the power they lost if they have the right ideas. They will also understand that a lasting peace depends on a sound democracy. Only a government that is totally obtuse and totally uncaring about anything else except their own precarious clutch on power will fail to realise the importance of a fair electoral system. - Azmi Sharom"



THE PEOPLE’S SAFETY
The rapid increase in crimes throughout the country, whether in urban or rural areas, with victims of young and old, illustrates the immense failure of the policing system we have today. Pakatan Rakyat is determined to return the police personnels’ focus and responsibility to protecting the people and solving crime. This will restore the position and respect of the Royal Police Force of Malaysia (PDRM) in the eyes of the people.

The following measures will be implemented to restore the dignity of  police personnels and to protect the public:
• Aim to increase police personnels’ remuneration by 15% in stages through manpower rationalisation and resource reallocation from non-core duties to core duties of crime solving and ensuring people’s safety;
• Rationalising manpower and resource allocation will involve transferring and retraining of personnel in order to increase personnel strength of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), including reducing the size of General Task Force (PGA) and other non-core task forces; 
• Additional allocation of RM 50 million a year to build police posts in places of high public concentration;
• Extra allocation of RM 200 million a year to increase PDRM’s capabilities and effectiveness in forensic investigation.




THE PEOPLE’S GOVERNMENT 
1.  Reforming Islamic and religious institutions
2.  New remuneration and service packages for civil servants
3.  Clean, fair and transparent elections
4.  Reforming the judiciary, Attorney General's Chambers, MACC and PDRM
5.  Reforming Parliament
6.  Media freedom and restoring trust in media practitioners
7.  Abolishing UUCA and ensuring academic freedom
8.  Abolishing all anti-people laws
9.  Corruption Elimination Policy (DEBARAN)


CORRUPTION ELIMINATION POLICY (DEBARAN)
The war on corruption is at the centre of Pakatan Rakyat’s struggle. The Pakatan Rakyat administration will introduce the Corruption Elimination Policy (DEBARAN) with an integrated approach that is incisive and specific in order to eliminate corruption.

DEBARAN is based on two major principles, namely empowering MACC fully through leadership and administrative reforms so that it will earn the respect of the people and amending current legislations to enhance its effectiveness in combating corruption. For this purpose, through DEBARAN the Pakatan Rakyat administration will:

• Restructure MACC’s power and leadership in order to rebuild its integrity in the people’s eyes which may include giving MACC the power to prosecute
• Restructure the practices and processes of MACC to focus on investigation and prosecution towards big corruption cases that involve the public interest in order to dispel the perception that MACC only concentrates on small cases whilst being lenient on the big cases
• Tighten corruption-related legislation (including the Whistleblower Protection Act) to firmly implement anti-corruption laws that can tackle  significant corruption cases that involve the public interest

"Only when we have people in power, and by this I mean the legislature, executive and judiciary,  who have the aspiration of protecting rights as far as possible; who believe that human rights are an ideal, not an imposition on governments; and who have the conviction to live and make decisions according to these principles; only then can the Asean Human Rights Declaration have any meaning. Maybe I am not being pragmatic; perhaps the thin air in my ivory tower has made me light headed and foolish; but I don’t care, because the alternative to living without aspirations, ideals and principles is not worth contemplating. - Azmi Sharom"

In Search of Excellence

Exclusive from AsiansUK.com - The UK Asian Social Hub!

 

In Search of Excellence

 

"The Asian community continues to thrive despite the challenging times"

Ninder Johal 

Ninder Johal’s comments came as the Black Country Asian Business Association (BCABA) prepares to celebrate its 12^th Awards Evening.

Mr Johal, chair of the BCABA, which takes in 2,250 businesses, states:

“Given the threat of a triple dip recession, BCABA is the logical place for Asian businesses to turn to for assistance with innovation and access to finance.  We will be playing a central role in representing their interests to organisations such as the Black Country LEP and existing stakeholders such as the local authorities, export agencies such as UKTI and local colleges in order to tackle the skilling deficit in the region."

BCABA is going from strength to strength. Its aim is to provide a strong voice for lobbying, a platform for Asian businesses, and signposting to mainstream support and advice.  It offers an opportunity to network and share experiences, learning from successes, and minimising the risks involved in venturing into the uncharted waters of diversification.

The awards seek to celebrate and highlight the ever increasing importance of the Asian business community and its great contribution to the local, regional and national economy.  

From start up’s to established employers in the area, the Black Country has much to boast about. The awards dinner is the ideal platform to show the region and the country the best of the Black Country.

There is considerable publicity surrounding the awards dinner which have boasted speakers such as Lord Paul, Lord Bhattachariya, Mo Choudary, Stewart Towe CBE ( Chair of the Black Country LEP) and Parween Warsi CBE.

Award categories include Business Start up, Young Entrepreneur, Community Excellence, Regeneration, International Trade, Innovation and Enterprise and Business Person of the Year.

A fantastic opportunity for businesses, so make sure you enter before the deadline of the
15 March 2013!   The nomination form can be downloaded from http://bcaba.co.uk/

The prestigious awards eveningis due to take place on the 21^st June 2013 at the Wolverhampton Racecourse.

Sponsors for the event include KTC Edibles Oils ltd, Wolverhampton Business Solutions, Turkish Airlines and Walsall Council. The show will be hosted by BBC Asian Networks Tommy Sandhu.

For further information please contact :

Ninder Johal

Chair of the Black Country Asian Business Association

Email : ninder.johal@nachural.co.uk

Office : 0870 609 4401

Mobile : 07774116545
Website: http://bcaba.co.uk/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ninderjohal