May 23, 10 3:09pm
Kampung Tunku ADUN Lau Weng San issued a press statement today challenging Umno and Perkasa to voice their stand against the issuing of football betting licences by the BN government.
“I challenge members of Umno and Perkasa to make public their stand on whether they support the move to issue a betting licence to Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd, headed by (Berjaya Corporation chairman) Vincent Tan,” he said in his statement.He pointed out that during the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign, BN and Umno had publicly shamed Pakatan Rakyat candidate Zaid Ibrahim as a gambler and an alcoholic . They continued hounding Zaid endlessly despite the latter's public apology for his past.“In that case, if Umno is truly a champion of Islam, then I challenge them to stand up against the decision of the BN government to allow for gambling licences,” he said.He also threw the gauntlet to Perkasa and its head Ibrahim Ali, the Pasir Mas MP to do likewise.“Failing which, this only once again exposes the hypocrisy of Umno and BN, in that they only exploit such issues for their own political ends during the by-election, but are silent when the government which they lead does the same,” said Lau.He noted that “Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has until now been conspicuously silent on this issue, as if hoping that it will blow over.”
'All about the revenue'
He contends that the BN's motive in allowing the licence is crystal clear. “The BN obviously wants to collect the lucrative excise tax from the soccer gambling activities, under the pretext that issuing the licence will help to alleviate illegal betting.”He rubbished the effectiveness of the move to reduce illegal betting as “baseless,” citing the example of illegal betting of 4-D numbers, which he notes continues rampantly despite the issuing of several lottery licences. “Likewise with the illegal betting on horse racing,” the DAP member stressed.He concludes that the move is not made in the interest of reducing illegal gambling, but purely for the potential revenue. He quotes the government's estimates that the soccer gambling market in the county as worth RM20 billion, equivalent to 1.5 percent of national GDP.That translates, at a tax of 10 percent, to RM2 billion annually. This, he says, excludes income taxes due on the earnings that the government can collect above this.He concludes that the BN government badly needs the additional revenue to make up for its failure to properly manage the country's bountiful resources. In addition to stooping to collecting revenue on gambling to compensate for its mismanagement of the country's finances, Lau also points to the implementation of GST as another quick fix.“The issuing of gambling licences will only burden Malaysian society, particularly that of (non-Muslims),” he added.
'Rectify previous government's mistakes '
In another press statement yesterday Lau (below), a DAP member, hit out at another issue, the low cost housing fiasco by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ).He lauded the Selangor State Government's swift response on the scandal, and called for all unqualified owners to return their units to the state government.
“It is high time that the state government should do something to rectify as much as possible mistakes of the previous government in allocating low cost houses in the state, particularly in highly developed cities like Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Ampang Jaya,” he said.
“In fact, right after March 8, 2008, I have suggested to the state government to carry out a thorough audit in identifying the flaws in allocating low cost houses to the poor. “(This includes) conducting a house-to-house survey to identify whether the owners of the low cost houses are staying in the unit themselves, or merely renting the unit to outsiders, especially foreign labours for extra incomes.
“Worst still, the survey is also to find out whether the units were sold by rent-seekers to other party at a higher price,” said Lau.He stressed that investigation should extend not just to council staff but “politically connected individuals” who acquired the units.
'Zero squatter' scheme abused
In addition, he says the previous “zero squatter” programme in allocating low cost housing was seriously flawed, as not only squatters but low-income families were in need of affordable housing.
He also called for the criteria for issuing the housing be tightened to stop people from abusing the system. He noted that some “second family” recipients already had big houses elsewhere and were profiteering from the low cost houses.
Source from : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/132526
No comments:
Post a Comment