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Four measures to check abuse of subsidised fuels BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

Four measures to check abuse of subsidised fuels

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 11:57 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Four guidelines have been drawn up to check the abuse of subsidised petrol and diesel nationwide.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad said, firstly, supply for each kiosk in the east coast of Sabah would be limited to 600,000 litres of fuel monthly from July 1.

"Each of the 72 stations will only get 600,000 litres of diesel and petrol monthly in the light of rampant smugglings," he told a press conference here, yesterday.

Alias said the stations must apply to the Sabah KPDNKK director Severinus Tukah for additional supply.

Secondly, he said KPDNKK would decide the quota and approval of subsidised fuels for each petrol station, and not the oil and gas companies, from Aug 1.

"The second step is mandatory for all stations and they must submit a monthly sale report to the state KPDNKK for diesel and petrol RON 95," he said.

Thirdly, he said all tankers transporting subsidised fuels must be painted  blue with the words 'minyak subsidi' in large letters from Jan 1, 2015.

Fourthly, Alias said the ministry had decided to impose a condition on applications for additional special quotas to flipcards which were used for school bus, express bus, mini bus, state bus, rented car, taxi and ambulance. – Bernama

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Cabotage Policy burdens Sabahans – SCCC

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 09:33 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The Cabotage Policy in Sabah should be adjusted to match the income level of Sabahans, said Datuk Seri Panglima Gan Sau Wah, the President of the Sabah Chinese Chambers of Commerce.

"Everyone in Sabah, including all political parties and the non-governmental organizations (NGO), agree that the Cabotage Policy here is a burden to the people of Sabah and it should be looked into and adjusted to suit our income," he said during the opening of 68th Annual General Meeting of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) at the Shangrila Tanjung Aru Hotel, here, yesterday.

Gan said the Cabotage Policy had resulted in the increase in costs of business and living of the people of Sabah, and it affects the foreign invester interest considering the increase in business costs here.

"Our products' prices are not competitive in the market resulting in less business opportunities with other countries. Sabah's goods prices are also 30% higher than prices in Peninsular Malaysia," he added.

Gan said that the Cabotage Policy was designed to protect the shipping industry here.

They could not sacrifice the people of Sabah only to benefit a small group of people, he said.

"It is not fair to Sabahans and I hope the Government will consider canceling or adjusting the Cabotage Policy here," he stressed.

Meanwhile, Gan also said that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) which would be implemented next year is a good policy and that it will lead Malaysia to become a nation with more stable income.

"It is implemented by over 80 countries in the world and I believe that it will be beneficial to all, including Sabah. However, when Singapore first implemented GST, it started from 3% and adjusted the value gradually from that point, whereas in Malaysia, we are introduced it at 6% immediately," he explained.

Gan said Malaysia should be given more time to adjust to the new tax system and that most of the people do not have full understanding of GST yet.

"People are confused on which items will be charged tax and which will not. The introduction of a new tax system should be done gradually and given adjustment period to adapt to," he explained.

Gan stated that Sabahans would feel the impact of GST more than any other states because the people of Sabah have higher living cost than other states.

On the kidnapping incidents at the East Coast of Sabah, Gan said that the Government should put the Defence Ministry of Malaysia to handle the case directly, without any middle party.

"This is not a case of Sabah's security matter but it has become a concern for the whole country. I hope the Federal Government will consider allocating more security forces in the East Coast of Sabah," he added.

Gan also took the opportunity to express his hope that the Government would continue to give allocation for the Non-Muslim bodies and Chinese Education in Sabah and he hoped that the amount of allocation would be studied and adjusted according to needs from time to time.

Meanwhile, President of ACCCIM, Datuk Lim Kok Cheong revealed that the ACCCIM and overseas chamber of commerce had established a good relationship, and as of today, they had signed 52 Memoranda of Understanding and Economic Cooperation Agreement with overseas chamber of commerce and economic organisations.

"During the period under review, ACCCIM has received more than 30 visiting overseas delegations, organised four trade and investment missions abroad, and successfully co-organised two international EXPO in Phnom Penh and Yangon," Lim added.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Guest of Honour, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman, who was represented by Minister of Special Tasks, Datuk Teo Chee Kang.

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A wake-up call for Kosan

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 09:32 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Government-assisted cooperative, Koperasi Serbaguna Sanya Sdn Bhd (Kosan), can no longer afford to rely solely on government-awarded contracts for revenue and is in urgent need of new sources of income to ensure its survival.

A recent decision by the State Cabinet to cut allocations for the government school uniform and shoes assistance programme under Yayasan Sabah, on which Kosan is dependent for most of its income, was a big wake-up call for the cooperative.

Over 95 per cent of Kosan's revenue comes from supplying school uniforms and shoes that are given for free to government school students in the State by Yayasan Sabah, while the remaining  four per cent are derived from other activities such as property rental.

Concerned with how the cooperative has all its eggs dangerously kept in a single basket, the appointed chairman of Kosan, Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan wants the cooperative to look into other opportunities to complement its existing businesses.

"For over 30 years, Kosan has always been relying on this contract. This contract, however, is determined by government policy, which is beyond the co-operative's control.

"The initial proposal was actually to have Yayasan Sabah stop the allocation for the uniform assistance programme, but luckily for Kosan it was agreed to only reduce it by half.

"Should the government decide to reduce its spending by scrapping the programme altogether, Kosan would have been out of business as it did not have any other resources to fall back on," he said when officiating at Kosan's 31st Annual General Meeting here yesterday.

Kosan was set up 38 years ago with a vision of assisting towards the development of youth in the State, apart from operating as a business entity.

In line with this vision, the chairmanship of the co-operative is given automatically to the Youth and Sports Minister.

Kosan is currently the fourth biggest co-operative in Sabah in terms of annual turn over, having raked in RM18.5 million of revenue last year.

The biggest co-operative in Sabah is Ko-Sawit with RM41 million revenue in 2013 followed by Kopeks with RM31.9 million.

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, Tawfiq commended Kosan for managing to record a higher profitability last year despite recording lower gross revenue.

He said the higher profit was made possible by prudent spending and administration transformation that allowed for lower operational costs.

Tawfiq expressed confidence that with aggressive image re-branding and product enhancement, Kosan could soon realize its full potential and set its eyes beyond supplying products for government school assistance programmes.

"It is not impossible that Kosan could one day produce high quality clothing products that could compete with established products being sold at departmental stores and shopping malls.

"There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, particularly in terms of product quality. The biggest challenge is to change the widely accepted perception that Kosan products are no good, but nothing is impossible," he said.

Also present was Cooperative Commission of Malaysia Sabah Branch director, Omar Sarim.

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Limited diesel supply to Sabah fuel stations from July 1

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 09:31 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) will be implementing four new measures as part of its efforts to curb smuggling of subsidized diesel nationwide.

Its secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad when speaking to reporters here yesterday said one of the measures involved the 72 fuel stations in Sabah's east coast.

Alias disclosed that in light of rampant smuggling, diesel supply for each kiosk in the east coast of Sabah would be limited to 600,000 litres a month beginning July 1.

However, kiosks can apply for more if and when the need arises, he said adding that all applications must be sent to the Sabah ministry director Severinus Tukah.

"Our intention is not to cause problems for the industry but to prevent smuggling of subsidized diesel. By applying directly to the director, we will be able to carry out our enforcement in preventing smuggling of subsidized fuel," he stressed.

The state ministry, he said would decide the quota and approval of subsidised diesel for each petrol station from Aug 1, and not the oil and gas companies as the ministry found this to be more effective especially in carrying out its enforcement.

According to Alias, the state ministry also required all stations to submit a monthly sales report of diesel and petrol RON 95 sold.

Thirdly, he said all tankers transporting subsidised fuel must be painted blue with the words 'minyak subsidi' in large letters from Jan 1, 2015. This again will make monitoring and enforcement easier for the ministry, he said.

Fourthly, Alias said the ministry had decided to impose a condition on applications for additional special quotas to fleet cards which were used for public transportation such as school bus, express bus, mini bus, e bus, rented car, taxi and ambulance.

"Take for example buses, when their quota for subsidized diesel which they purchase at RM1.68 per litre is used up, they are allowed to purchase diesel at RM2 per liter which is also a subsidized price.

However they do not have a limit as to how many litres they can purchase and this has led to abuse where there have been cases of the diesel being sold to others, he said.

"So now all public transportation will be given a quota based on their needs after their initial quota is used up," he said.

Alias also disclosed that the ministry will review the need to implement Ops Titik based on a new mechanism, which was expected to be implemented in September.

Ops Titik, he added would be continued until Dec 31 while the ministry would review the need to carry out phase two based on the current situation.

He said phase two would involve a more active and tight enforcement to overcome leakages of subsidised diesel and petrol.

"We also found a 30 per cent improvement and the flow of subsidised fuel has been under control since the start of the operation two months ago including no excess stock and inadequate fuels," he told a media conference here, yesterday.

Alias said Ops Titik, to combat abuse of diesel, had shown positive signs with 178 cases detected involving seizures of RM9 million since it was implemented on May 15. He said the integrated operation which was carried out by a special task force together with the Attorney-General's Chambers also saw 170 accounts totalling RM50.68 million frozen by Bank Negara involving offences under the Anti Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.

In the meantime, Alias stressed that the ministry would not hesitate to blacklist for life any firm or petrol stations which flouted the rules, effective immediately.

He said the ministry would also freeze errant petrol stations until investigations were completed and decided by the court, adding, nine cases were under investigation and two kiosks in Kedah and Kelantan had been frozen.

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Close shave for driver as car splits in two

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 09:31 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: A local man miraculously escaped with only minor face injury when his Perodua Kancil car split in two in a road accident at the Lintas traffic light, here yesterday morning.

It is believed that the victim, in his 20s, was on his way to Foh Sang from Kolombong when a Toyota Vios, coming from Lintas and heading towards Kolombong, rammed into the Kancil car at the traffic light intersection around 4.30am.

The Kancil car was destroyed, splitting into two, due to the impact.

The Kancil driver, however, managed to walk out of his badly damaged car with only minor face injury, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in an ambulance for outpatient treatment.

The driver of the Vios car, also in his 20s, was not hurt.

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Industrial accidents down, community mishaps up

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 09:30 AM PDT

TAWAU: National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye has urged schools and colleges to set up their safety committee.

He said it was important to ensure that students were aware of the dangers around them and how to avoid accident risks at their school or college.

"If there is a committee, there has to be training to apply the skills in the guidelines, risk assessment and risk control in all the activities carried out at school or college," he told reporters after attending the launch of the Occupational Safety and Health In School programme at the Vocational College, here yesterday.

Lee, who is also Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation vice chairman, advised the public to constantly be vigilant for their security.

"Various forms of crime have been reported recently and this should set the alarm for everyone to avoid becoming a victim," he said.

Earlier in his speech, Lee said NIOSH was well prepared to create awareness of safety and health in schools including vocational colleges through 'OSH in School Programme' as an early exposure to students before they join the workplace.

He said it would be a pilot voluntary programme introduced by NIOSH which does not involve any financial from the Malaysia Education Ministry.

He hoped the government and private agencies as well as the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should step out to help in this integrated programme.

Lee said the level of safety awareness was still inadequate and accidents were still happening around. Thus, NIOSH has taken the initiative to enhance the safety awareness either at the industrial sector or educational sector.

Ten years ago, industrial accidents have dropped from 63,423 cases (in 2002) to 35,907 cases (in 2013), about 40 per cent reduction. It was a positive expansion which should be emulated by other industrial operators.

However, community accidents were quite worrying which increased to 27,671 cases (in 2013) from 18,387 cases (in 2002).

The 'OSH in School Programme' was launched at Vocational College here yesterday by Second Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching.

Meanwhile, Lee said the programme would be launched in other schools throughout the state, and in even in the whole country from time to time.

"NIOSH is playing a social responsibility in carrying out training, counseling, Research and Development (R&D) and disseminating information to the public, particularly the young generations.

"I hope safety awareness could always be a living culture that binds the young generation to reduce accidents that happen anywhere. Safety education should also be put in practice continuously," Lee advised.

Touching on criminal issues, Lee, who is also the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) chairman, reminded the people not to just rely on the police or enforcement agencies in crime prevention, but it is a collective responsibility.

Indeed, the police have a major task in tackling crimes and their efforts should be supported by the people.

He said it was undeniable that many criminal cases had been reported in the print and electronic media, such as loss of children, stealing cars, snatching and so on.

"Everyone should be alert and keep away from being the victims of criminals," Lee said.

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