'According to my calculations, if workers opt for a lower EPF contribution rate of eight percent, they will end paying more income tax due to a higher taxable income.'
On 'Workers, say no to 3% EPF reduction'
Da Mook: Let' assume your monthly basic salary is RM4,000.
If your monthly EPF contribution is 11% (RM440), then your taxable income = RM3560, and income tax payable = RM77.
If your monthly EPF contribution is 8% (RM320), then your taxable income = RM3, 680, and income tax payable = RM109.
Conclusion? If you choose to contribute 8%, you will end up paying more income tax to the government which will make the government richer.
Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak said this measure was meant to boost the slowed down market, but from this example we see that the money does not go into the market.
Instead the money goes directly into the government's pocket through the greater amount of income tax that we will have to pay.
Obviously this measure does not help the market at all. Do we still want this kind of government that doesn't have the best interests of the people in mind?
On Rafidah: We'll meet in the ring
Society Manner:
Yes! Meet in the ring. That is what it is supposed to be in an election in a democratic way. This ‘transfer of power' thing is nonsense though it is commonly practised in Malaysia.You are either voted in or out. There is no such thing as ‘she should not have challenged me'. There will be an answer at the end of the election and the one with the strong right hand will be in.
Should one be voted out, just walk out with head up. Anyway, get ready a ‘I lost' speech too to face the media. If voted out, don't go hysterical and say you did expect it.
No one owns any post and therefore should not claim ownership to one.
On Najib completes the 'Rahman prophecy'
Joe Fernandez: Mohd Sopiee once admitted, many years before he passed away, that he came up with the Rahman Theory as a lark when he was with Radio Malaya .
If it happens to come true, that's because many people believe that it was a prophecy. With every prophecy, there must be a prophet. In this case, who is the prophet?
The future does not exist. What exists is the present which will decide the future. There's nothing much that we can do about the past.
Ultimately, our lives are shaped by the choices that we make.
Feng shui experts, astrologers, palmists, numerologists, 10 % shophouse church padres and the like are scammers, prey on the more vulnerable among a gullible and superstitious public.
As the report above points out, Najib's first name is Mohamad.
Vishie: Malaysia has been a blessed land since time immemorial. Our real history without the distortion of Umno will attest to it.
Hence, by being such a blessed country, it should be the Rahmat Theory and not the Rahman Theory at work.
For me, this bountiful land is a blessing from God and hence, if in the particular business of prophecy, then ‘Rahmat' should prevail rather than ‘Rahman'.
As God excels in diversity, then Tunku must hold the ‘T', Razak the ‘R, Hussein the ‘H', Mahathir the ‘M' and Abdullah the ‘A'.
Going by that, we have ‘Rahmt' and only another ‘A' awaits to fulfill it. It can be Ali Rustam, Abdul Rahman Taib, Anifah Aman or Anwar Ibrahim.
The question is who now holds the reins of the rakyat ? The answer is quite obvious. Whoever fits that bill will be able to lead our blessed country up to 2012.
Then a new dawn will commence and the prophecy of ‘Rahmat' shall play its round over and over again.
This is something from the spiritual world for all to reflect on.
On Code of ethics for bloggers mooted
Dennis Madden: More legislation which nobody will police. Because it will be impossible to track down every little insult whether real or imagined
This is just the voice of another sensitive male ego which is incapable of dealing with criticism. A man who is desperate to control everyone with an opinion not aligned with his
Instead of trying to restrict everyone else, why not try the concept of Freedom of Expression that is so popular in free and democratic countries?
There is already adequate legislation to deal with real issues of libel and slander
On Inflation falls to 7.6 percent in October
Garry Khoo: Everything is down but not electricity. Because of fuel price increase, TNB claimed they had to increase their rates.
This is the fifth time petrol prices have decreased since at RM2.70, but the rakyat have yet to receive any news of a lowering of electricity tariffs which increased almost 100%.
Shahrir said that we are not communist country and will not force a company to reduce their rates. But something has to be done about TNB's high rates which are burdening the rakyat .
Last but not least, please do not insult a communist country. As I know, Asia has a country where the government system is still pretty much the same as a communist one but we are still behind them.!
On Floating mechanism to manage fuel prices
Soo: When our government wanted to raise the fuel price to RM2.70 in June, they just did it overnight. Then they promised the nation that petrol will always subsidised at Rm0.30/L!
Yet today, we have been reading daily that the government is making profits form what we are paying for petrol! Now our ministers forgotten what they promised before.
And TNB tariffs went up together with the fuel price in June. Now everything drops but TNB says coal prices are increasing.
And why does our country need to have a 40% electricity supply reserve while other countries like Japan only keep a single digit supply reserve?
Are our leaders doing the correct thing for the nation?
On Animal cruelty institutionalised in Malaysia
Dennis Madden: I'm partly agree with the writer on her statement. However, this is yet another example of Malaysians blaming someone else for their own inadequacies. This time it is the federal government which gets the blame.
The letter's title should read ‘Animal cruelty entrenched in Malaysia' because the cruelty that I see around me in a middle class PJ suburb has nothing to do with the federal government but more to do with the attitude of most Malaysians.
Too many of my neighbours think their dogs are beasts whose sole role is to protect their entrenched paranoias. I'm not suggesting that Malaysians become as besotted with their dogs as do the British.
But by any standards, keeping your dog tied to a one-metre leash 24 hours of the day is unethical. The lack of care of too many dogs in this city is appalling.
People who believe that a dog can live on a diet of rice and scraps and without any exercise should not be allowed to own animals.
In addition most dogs are uncontrollable or at least their owners cannot control them and that's where the fault lies - with the owners
Go to some areas and it is the same with cats - starving, disease-ridden animals everywhere especially around places where food is served
Malaysians' empathy with animals is almost non existent. Their first reaction when they see wildlife is to kill it and ask questions later.
Agriculturally, their understanding and empathy with their charges is dominated by fear and ignorance.
On Space programme cost RM40 mil
Star Wars I'm sure Malaysians by and large must have found it utterly disgusting that our so-called angkasawan charges exorbitant fees for talks given to companies and schools as part of his social obligations after having spent nearly RM40 million of taxpayers' money on a ticket in a Russian space ship.
Whether Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is paid RM8,000 or RM80 an hour for giving lectures to schools and corporations on spinning a top or making teh tarik in space is beside the point.
What is morally obscene in the eyes of the people is that our space traveler still has the gumption to charge ‘fees' for his ‘space talks' which would be the laughing stock of the US, Russian and even Chinese and Indian space fraternities who have real astronauts in every sense of the word.
It is high time that the ACA conduct an investigation to see if he is guilty of corruption, and the government which justified the nearly RM40 million space programme for him should not attempt a cover up to save its own face.
