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Firms mislead on GST – Ahmad BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

Firms mislead on GST – Ahmad

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:33 AM PDT

by Murib Morpi. Posted on August 15, 2014, Friday

KOTA KINABALU: Advertisement suggesting consumers should buy certain products before their prices go up after the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) are inaccurate and misleading, said Deputy Finance Minister Dato' Ahmad Maslan.

Ahmad lamented that many companies were wrongly using the soon-to-be implemented GST as a tool to fish for customers and urged the relevant authorities to act against them.

"This is simply not true, the claim that prices of goods will go up as a result of GST. The fact is that GST is not a new or additional tax. It is a better tax system that will replace the existing Sales and Services Tax (SST)," he said when presenting his talk, "GST: Between Reality and Perception", to workers of federal government agencies here, yesterday.

In fact, Ahmad said, GST will result in lower taxes to be paid by consumers as compared to what they are paying for now under the SST.

If the amount of taxes paid determines the prices of a product in the market, then taxable products should be cheaper once GST is in place.

"What they don't tell the consumer is that they are already paying 10 per cent taxes for the product under the current system and under GST they will only pay six per cent. Even primary schoolchildren know six is lower than 10.

"I hope the relevant authorities, including the Customs Department will monitor this kind of advertisements and action should be taken against them for misleading the public on GST," he said.

Ahmad said many people could be easily manipulated and fall for such claim on GST as they still do not understand the structure and implementation of the new tax system.

Many people also do not realize that they were paying indirect taxes or sales taxes for almost everything they buy, and therefore have a misconception that they will only start paying this tax when GST is implemented.

Traders knew this and, sadly, take advantage of it for their marketing gimmick, said Ahmad.

Ahmad in his talk stressed that the six per cent GST is not only lower than current taxes, many products including basic foods, agricultural products, livestock, seafood and domestic utilities, will also be excepted from taxes.

Although GST is expected to cause an increase of 1.8 per cent in consumer product index (CPI), this will only be a temporary effect and will subside in a few months or years as shown in other countries which has adopted GST.

He also noted that tight monitoring and enforcement will be carried out by all the relevant agencies to ensure greedy traders will not use GST as an excuse to increase their prices.

"Measures to control prices has been planned and will be carried out, starting with the publication of Shopper's Guide three months before and after GST implementation.

"Secondly, the Anti-Profiteering Act will be enforced rigorously. A Special Committee on Cost Of Living chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister will also swing into action," he said.

He urged the public to learn about GST and get accurate information about the new tax system from the right sources, namely the mainstream media and relevant government agencies such as the Customs Department and Ministry of Finance.

Information and explanation about GST can be found www.gst-customs.gov.my and www.treasury.gov.my

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Man’s long search for dad’s ‘lost’ wartime friend

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:32 AM PDT

by Amy Dangin. Posted on August 15, 2014, Friday

Many stories had been written about the Sandakan Death Marches. But here is an untold story about the son of one of the only six Prisoners of War (PoWs) who escaped and survived the death marches. He had spent his life looking for the family of the man who helped his father escape, and finally did, just in time for the story to be told as we mark the Sandakan Death Marches today.

THERE was an old photo of an Australian soldier in Alex Padua's late father, Loretto Padua's album that the children would often ask, "Who is this 'orang putih'? To which their father would tell them, "A friend."

Last Monday, Alex's family received an unexpected visit from an Australian professor, Dick Braithwaite Jr., who was about to tell them the untold story of an unsung hero who was their father, Loretto Padua.

It so happened that Dick Braithwaithe Jr, is the son of Bombardier James Richard "Dick" Braithwaithe, who was one of the only six surviving Prisoners of War (PoWs) of the Sandakan Death Marches in 1945.

Alex, now 53 and married with three children, together with his siblings grew up listening to stories about how their father helped many people in Kampong Sapi, Sandakan, during the Japanese Occupation.

But since their father only ever told them of the stories briefly, and some relayed to them by kampong people who knew of their father, they did not have the slightest idea how immensely important their father's contribution had been or the heroic acts his father had done for the people of the kampong he helped and for Dick Jr's late father.

It put an end to a 19-year search as Dick Jr – who grew up listening to stories about how his father survived and lived to the tell the world his accounts of the death marches – had been wanting to meet with the family of the man who helped his father escape, since his first visit to Sabah in 1995.

"My father knew Alex's father during the Second World War, for a brief but an intensely important time," relayed Braithwaithe as I began an interview with him together with Alex and his wife, Linda, last Tuesday, at the city centre.

"He was very keen to meet him again. So he took the chance when he was invited to be the guest for a memorial service by the Sabah Government, here in 1981, asking around for Loretto, or Abdul Rasyid as he was known by then. But no one could tell him the man's whereabouts. They told him that he might have died," recalled Braithwaithe.

Dick Sr's wish never came true.

But Braithwaithe had never forgotten his father's stories and definitely not his wish. And so he asked around for Abdul Rasyid or Loretto Padua of Kampong Sapi, Sandakan, when he first visited Sabah in 1995. He was received with similar responses of how he might have passed on.

The search was almost in vain as he received no leads on Loretto's whereabouts, nor that of his family, throughout the next seven visits he made to Sabah.

It was in August last year, that his search ended, when the guide who took him from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan told him that he knew the Padua family. The guide connected Braithwaithe to Arlene Padua, Alex's younger sister, who took Braithwaithe to Loretto Padua's grave in Sandakan.

"Apparently he died in December 1980, which was just before my father came in 1981. He died in Manila but had his remains exhumed and brought back to Sandakan to be burried there.

"Arlene said I must come and meet the whole family, and so here I am, a year later," said Braithwaithe.

The union of Braithwaithe and the Padua family took them down memory lane as they exchanged stories about their fathers.

"The stories (of the war) had been written in so many books and there had been a paragraph or two about Abdul Rasyid (Loretto Padua). But I know a lot more to the story and I've learned much more in the last 24 hours too.

"He was an extraordinary man who was not a person who blew his own trumpet, not self-processing man, and who just quietly helped people without bragging about it.

"Both him and my father knew each other for a very brief time but they got along well and they liked each other because I think they are probably people with very similar values. Both were very principled men."

Apparently, Loretto Padua was a professional agronomist and forester from the Pihilippines appointed by the British government to provide education to the people in Sabah – North Borneo then – who had to disguise himself as a local Sandakan man, because he was hunted down by the Japanese soldiers for helping a prisoner of war escaped, and for organising another escape for some 800 people of the kampong he was living in, following threats by the Japanese soldiers.

Hence, the name Abdul Rasyid, the adopted son of Sasau bin Haji Arsad, one of the elders of the kampong.

He was the only one in the village of Sapi, Sandakan, who knew how to speak in English. And so when Braithwaithe Sr. was brought to the kampong weak and dying of starvation after he escaped from the Death March in June 1945, it was Loretto who became the intepreter for him and organised for six kampong men to take Braithwaithe to Pulau Libaran where Loretto knew that an American PT boat would come.

"They had pedaled non-stop for a 20-hour journey and waited for some time before they came to the point of seeing an American PT boat in Pulau Libaran, which would take my father to Tawi Tawi island in the Philippines.

"It was an emotional farewell, my father would tell me over the years," said Braithwaithe, adding that the story does not end there.

Loretto was betrayed by an informant who disclosed that he and the kampong people of Sapi had been helping a while soldier escaped. This led to a series of punitive threats by the Japanese soldiers. Loretto then organised for the evacuation of some 800 people to take them out of harm's way and safely to the nearby Pulau Libaran.

Braithwaithe will be attending the Sandakan Memorial Day in Sandakan, which is today. On August 15 every year, a memorial service will be held at the Sandakan Memorial Park, once the site of the Prisoners of War Camp, to remember the fallen heroes of the Australian and British PoWs who endured the Death Marches from Sandakan to Ranau in 1945.

After the war, which left much of the North Borneo destroyed and worn, leaving people to live in poverty, Loretto had written a letter to Braithwaithe seeking help in the form of clothing and food, on March 14, 1947.

"Loretto told of how terrble things were. And he did not forget to note of my father's letter earlier sent to him and the people of Kampong Sapi, through which he expressed concerns about their safety and welfare," said Braithwaithe.

"My father had never forgotten the people for without them my father would not have lived – then I would not have existed (laughs).

"And so when he received that letter from Loretto about two years after he had safely escaped, it brought much meaning, knowing that the kampong people were safe out of the harm's way of the Japanese.

"But more meaningful than that, was that it was signed, 'Your loving friend, Loretto.'"

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Rectify wrong classification of Christians – Archbishop

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:32 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah fully supports the call for freedom of religion by Sabah Catholic Archbishop John Wong and for the authorities to respect our rights to practise their faith as guaranteed by the constitution.

The Archbishop made this call at the "Mamangkis" gathering organised by the Perpaduan Anak Negeri (PAN) Sabah – the Native Solidarity of Sabah – in Papar last Saturday, August 9.

As highlighted by Archbishop Wong, "We call on JPN (National Registration Department) to immediately rectify the wrong classification of Bumiputera Christians in Sabah as Muslims just because they have 'bin' and 'binti' in their names.

"This wrong classification of their MyKad has brought untold misery to those affected. Christians wrongly classified as Muslims are unable to get married legally. Getting married in churches would not solve their problems as these marriages cannot be officially registered.

"Birth of their offspring also cannot be registered as their parents' marriage is in the first place is not recognised in law. This makes them illegitimate children.

"This presents a major problem in registering them in schools and in applying for their own identity cards and eventually they cannot even get married as Christians.

"We have lodged an official complaint of 162 such cases of Christians wrongly classified as Muslims two years ago with JPN only to be told that all the files have been lost in the department itself and no further action could be taken," SIB president Datuk Jerry Dusing said in a statement yesterday.

They have also been told by JPN that the department would only rectify their religious status if they go to the Syariah Court to get a declaration that they are not Muslims.

"It is most ludicrous to subject Christians to the dictates of the Syariah Court.

"The Sidang Injil Borneo Sabah filed our case in court over the illegal confiscation of our Bahasa language Sunday School publications meant for the education of our children. That was seven years ago and we are still waiting for justice to be done.

"Malaysia is a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We, therefore, call on the authorities to respect and uphold this declaration, particularly Article 18:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

"As we prepare to celebrate the 51st anniversary of the formation of Malaysia on 16 September, we wish to remind the government that the cornerstone of Sabah's 20-Point conditions to the Malaysia Agreement is anchored on freedom of religion. We cherish this fundamental civil liberty and will defend it without fear or favour," Dusing stressed.

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Merdeka Month a platform to show gratitude – CM

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:31 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The 'Merdeka' month celebration is a platform that allows citizens to show their gratitude to the country and for the opportunity to enjoy the meaning of true independence, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman.

Launching the Sutera Harbour Resort 2014 National Day celebration at the Sutera Harbour Marina and Country Club near here yesterday, he said the National Day theme, 'Malaysia, here begins love' invites us to strengthen the spirit of patriotism and love for the country.

Musa who was represented by Deputy Chief Minister cum Industrial Development Minister, Datuk Raymond Tan stressed the importance of continually sowing the seeds of patriotism, unity, togetherness and cooperation among all Malaysians while driving the development of the country.

He commended the effort made by the management of the Sutera Harbour Resort to celebrate the National Day month and said that the corporate and private sector, particularly those in the hospitality and tourism industry had an important role to uphold the country's image to the outside world.

"The citizens of the organisation must demonstrate a strong patriotism spirit, are courteous and polite to look after the good image of the country and contribute to the rapid development in the tourism industry as well as the country's economy," he said.

During the event yesterday, there was also a march past by members from the Kota KInabalu City Hall, Police Volunteer Reserve Corporation, RELA and the 507 Territorial Army Regiment of Kota Kinabalu.

Carrying the flags into the covered tennis court was the security team of Sutera Harbour Resort accompanied by the Police Band from the Sabah Police Headquarters.

The spirit of Merdeka was caputured in the singing of the "Negaraku" and the "Sabah Tanah Airku" during the raising of the Jalur GEmilang and Sabah flag.

This was followed with the declaration of the Merdeka led by Tan.

After that, Tan performed the flag topping ceremony together with Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, City Hall director general Datuk Yeoh Boon Hai and the resort's chief executive officer Gilbert Ee.

About 600 members of the resort gathered to witness the launch. This was the 13th time the resort organised such an event in conjunction with the Malaysia Independence Day.

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‘Sinking’ problems at Taman Suria awaiting solution

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:31 AM PDT

by Mariah Doksil. Posted on August 15, 2014, Friday

THE developer of Taman Suria in Penampang is working closely with the Penampang district council (PDC) to seek the best solution to the problem of road depression and earth movement presently beseting the housing area, as the council awaits funds to repair the road.

A spokesperson for the developer said a report on the road depression has been handed over to PDC and effort to find the best solution to rectify the problem is still ongoing.

"The developer will take the next necessary action once PDC has given the necessary instruction to proceed. As of today, repair works are still pending, according to the spokesperson.

The road depression and earth movement problem is allegedly caused by drainage works undertaken by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) in the area that started last year.

The road depression and earth movement have apparently worsened day by day despite the discontinuation of the drainage works.

Public Hotline had previously received complaints regarding the matter from residents and business operators in the area, led by one of the residents who identified herself as Valerie.

Valerie, in her written statement, said the developer of the area mentioned had been carrying out work to close up the cracks, but the whole stretch of road in front of the shops is gradually moving towards the drainage site.

"It is generally known that construction work on slopes, whether steep or gentle, is somehow different from those on flat ground. The drainage work that was in progress, as I observed, is five metres wide and extends to a few thousand metres in length.

I cannot understand what direct and indirect benefits can derived from the ongoing drainage improvement work in the neighborhood. I do however remember seeing a report on television about vibrations caused by the falling down of a gigantic tree that brought about the same geological changes to the soil nearby," said Valerie.

The complainant said, as a result of the drainage improvement work, severe and far-reaching effects on the soil and geological profile of the surrounding area have come into play.

Public Hotline made efforts to contact the Penampang district officer, William Sampil, for more details and information but calls to his mobile phone was not answered.

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