PAS Youth delegates attend the wing’s congress at Bukit Gambang Resort, Kuantan today.
KUANTAN: A PAS Youth leader today said some veteran party leaders are unable to accept an alliance with Umno as they believe it is still the Umno of old.
Deputy Kedah PAS Youth chief Nasrun Othman said efforts to reach an understanding should be prioritised ahead of the next general election.
“PAS Youth is committed to ensuring victory in GE15, but we have to have a clear understanding with our friends from Umno,” he said at the PAS Youth muktamar here.
“We must also realise that these veteran members do not agree to working with Umno because they do not understand. They see Umno as the Umno of old, but we are confident that if there is an understanding, they can stand with us in the fight for Islam.
“We are willing to forget the past because we wish to govern the country with Islam.”
Nasrun said any decision for PAS and Umno to work together must be based on certain conditions.
These include making PAS the “captain” to ensure the continued defence of the Quran and sunnah.
“On what basis should PAS and Umno unite? For the sake of Islam. That is our goal, but we must make sure that such cooperation is truly sincere, as said by our Youth chief,” he said, referring to Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi.
He also warned members against chasing after positions and status, saying this would prevent PAS and Umno from truly uniting.
A general view of office blocks and condominiums in the Bangsar area in Kuala Lumpur. — Picture by Hari Anggara
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The real reason Malaysians aren’t buying property nowadays is because the units are priced beyond their pocket rather than the banks’ refusal to offer loans, the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) said today.
The think tank added that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s latest exhortations to commercial banks to loosen their home financing regulations is “dangerous” as it could create a mortgage crisis with the debt being passed around when the buyers default on their loans.
“We appreciate the Finance Minister’s focus on the real issues affecting Malaysians. However, this recent suggestion may be dangerous [as] the root of the issue is not financing but the affordability of houses.
“Providing financing options for homes that people cannot afford in the first place does not make sense. Since 2018, Bank Negara has warned that houses in Malaysia are unaffordable by international standards,” it said in a statement.
According to Cent-GPS, the average price of a home in Kuala Lumpur is RM773,000 as at 2018 while in Selangor it is RM497,000 in Selangor, meaning prices in these two areas had shot up over 100 per cent and 800 per cent respectively compared to 10 years ago.
It claimed that only a quarter of houses built in the greater Klang Valley since 2016 are priced below RM250,000.
“There is a huge mismatch between property prices and the average buyer’s income,” it said.
It added that even middle-income Malaysians would have to scrimp as a large portion of their income would go towards paying their mortgages.
Cent-GPS said it would be irresponsible to relax financing rules so Malaysians could buy property they could not afford in the first place, emphasising that it would lead to a mortgage crisis.
It added that the minister’s recommendation that banks make it easier for potential home buyers to get loans reflects an unhealthy perception over the freedom of conducting business in the country.
“Foreign investors and the market do not take kindly to news or hints that the ministry is trying to influence banks on how to manage their risk,” it said.
Yesterday, Lim had urged banks to ease up on loan conditions to first-time homebuyers as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises to encourage spending now that the country’s economy is improving.
He said the average Malaysian households now had assets higher than debts, which would help them deal with any financial emergencies.
<p>A PLUMBER has been sentenced to five years in prison by Ampang Sessions Court today after he pleaded guilty to two charges of abusing his three-year-old stepson leading to the child’s death, last year.</p> <p>Judge Azrul Darus sentenced Khairul Izaini Khairuddin, 32, also known as ‘Boy Tiger’, to five years imprisonment for each charge and ordered the sentences to run concurrently from the date of his arrest, November 12, 2018.</p>
<p>THE autopsy on all the 14 bodies and remains of the Bateq Orang Asli in Kg Kuala Koh, Gua Musang had been completed, said Kelantan police chief Hasanuddin Hassan.</p> <p>He said the police now assist the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa), and the Kelantan Islamic Religion and Malay Customs Department to process the reburial.</p>
Antara sepanduk yang dipamerkan ketika berkumpul dalam bantahan pemandu teksi seluruh negara hari ini.
PUTRAJAYA: Kira-kira 500 pemandu teksi dari kumpulan pemandu teksi seluruh negara berkumpul di depan bangunan Kementerian Pengangkutan enggan bersurai selepas desakan untuk bertemu dengan menterinya, Anthony Loke gagal dibuat.
Pada masa yang sama, kementerian itu menganjurkan sambutan rumah terbuka sempena Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Loke dijangka tiba pada jam 1.00 tengah hari.
Terdahulu, kira-kira 2,000 pemandu teksi berkumpul di perkarangan pintu masuk Pejabat Perdana Menteri dari jam 8.00 pagi bagi menggesa campur tangan Perdana Menteri Dr Mahathir Mohamad dalam isu yang melanda industri teksi negara.
Prior to this, assisted suicide was illegal in Australia until the state of Victoria passed a new law to legalise euthanasia. (AFP pic)
MELBOURNE: Terminally ill Australians can for the first time apply to end their own life, after new laws went into effect in the state of Victoria today.
The country’s second most populous region made voluntary euthanasia legal under closely specified circumstances, a first for the country.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – who supported the bill after his father’s death from cancer in 2016 – said the laws were about giving patients a “dignified option at the end of their life”.
“We’ve taken a compassionate approach,” Andrews told commercial broadcaster Channel Nine, adding that he hoped it would bring people the dignity of a “good death.”
Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries and in Australia until Victoria state introduced laws to legalise the practice in 2017.
The scheme will be accessible only to terminally ill adult patients with fewer than six months to live – or one year left to live for sufferers of conditions such as motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis.
Multiple restrictions will be put in place, including residency requirements and assessments from multiple doctors, meaning around 12 people are expected to use the law this year.
Andrews said that up to 150 might use the law each year after that. An independent review board and a coroner will track and monitor all deaths.
Other states in Australia have debated assisted dying in the past, but the proposals have always been defeated.
But experts said other states will now be watching closely to see how the law is implemented and whether they should follow suit.
“Although over forty attempts to change the law in Australia have failed in the past, more recent reform efforts appear to be getting closer to laws changing,” Ben White from Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research said.
“Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia (states) all have inquiries considering change.”
The law has been criticised for being both too permissive and too stringent.
Prominent Australian euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke told Melbourne’s The Age that the safeguards were “too strict and onerous” and could result in “challenges to the law pressing to broaden access”.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said in a statement that the law was a “new, and deeply troubling chapter of health care in Victoria”.
“Pope Francis has encouraged ordinary Catholics everywhere to resist euthanasia and to protect the old, the young and the vulnerable from being cast aside in a ‘throw-away culture’,” the Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli and three other Victoria bishops said.
Construction workers lay roof tiles in a residential development in Puncak Alam, Selangor November 1, 2018. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Banks should ease the process of providing loans to first-time homebuyers and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help the economy grow, the Ministry of Finance urged today.
Its minister Lim Guan Eng also requested banks not to categorise business borrowers, who are not facing loan defaults but wish to improve their cashflow by restructuring and rescheduling loans, as “non-performing loans”.
“Given the positive development, banks should provide greater access to financing to first-time homebuyers, as well as to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in order to grease economic growth,” Lim said in a statement.
“Household debt on average is sufficiently backed by assets. According to statistics from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the level of household financial assets is 2.1 times household debt. “
He explained that this means households on average now hold more assets than they do debt, which would help them deal with any financial emergencies.
Lim said this should follow the recovery of household debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio which has dropped by 0.8 percentage points, from 83.8 per cent last year to 83 per cent this year.
The minister said Putrajaya has also provided financial assistance to lower-income households to help them deal with any financial surprises.
This included improved cash transfer programme Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH), the introduction of the free public health insurance scheme mySalam, and stabilising RON95 petrol and diesel retail prices.
In terms of economic growth, Lim said the increased spending of Malaysian households shows that the economy continues to grow.
Citing the Department of Statistics, he said retail sales had increased by 6.3 per cent to RM41.6 billion in April 2019, from RM39.1 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, the overall wholesale and retail trade sales in April 2019 increased by 5.3 per cent to RM105.1 billion from RM99.8 billion a year ago, which he said indicates high consumer confidence.
“Together with strong industrial production expansion and a low unemployment rate, these suggest that the economy is expanding,” he said.
Sabah police commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah believes the abductors are likely linked to the Abu Sayyaf militants based in the south Philippines. — Bernama pic
KOTA KINABALU, June 19 ― The authorities are treating the armed abduction of 10 Bajau Laut fishermen off Lahad Datu on the Sabah east coast as a kidnap-for-ransom despite not receiving any notice from the gunmen.
Sabah police commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah believes the abductors are likely linked to the Abu Sayyaf militants based in the south Philippines who have stepped up incursions into Malaysian waters looking for hostages.
“We have yet to receive any calls from the suspects so we are not sure the exact motive of this abduction though we highly suspect it is for ransom,” he said today.
He said that fishermen are usually not targets of kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) groups, unlike the tourists and businessmen whom the Abu Sayyaf have taken from Sabah previously as hostages.
But he said the abductors can still demand ransom from the fishermen’s employers or from the victims’ kin.
“There are a few groups of KFR and for now, those active are targeting fishermen and boat owners,” he said.
The families of the 10 fishermen have been informed of the abduction which took place at about 2am yesterday.
The 10 men were part of a crew of 16 on two fishing boats owned by Sabahans heading towards the town of Semporna during curfew hours when their vessels were hijacked by the unknown gunmen who were then said to have fled towards Sitangkai island on the Philippines side of the border.
