PERWI

The basic idea in the minds of stimulus and economic pump-priming proponents is that it is cheaper to borrow money in a recession. People and firms are not confident in the economy, and so they are reluctant to lend money out to any random person. Fortunately, the government can soak up these surplus funds and invest them in something useful for a low cost.[more]

The Perak state legal advisor is trying to block state representatives from being notified of an emergency sitting of the state assembly on March 3rd.

According to DAP Perak chairman Ngeh Koo Ham, the legal advisor, Datuk Ahmad Kamal Mohd Shahid, has directed the house secretary not to send out notices of the emergency sitting.

Ngeh says that this obstruction is in “contempt of the house” and is liable for punishment under house rules.

“The legal advisor has no business to intervene in the process of the house,” Ngeh told The Malaysian Insider.[more]

So the government has put off the highway toll hike to the end of the year.

But before you rejoice, think about this: the government will have to pay RM287m in compensation to the concessionaires:

• Plus - RM195m
• Sprint - RM36m
• Akleh - RM27m
• Besraya - RM9m
• NPE - RM20m

That’s our money going straight into the concessionaires’ pockets. Easy money for doing nothing.

By the way, Plus Expressways Berhad made a profit before tax of RM1.5 billion for the year ended 31 December 2008 - up from RM1.3 billion the previous year.

Last year, the government paid RM245mil to Plus, Akleh and Sprint as compensation for a scheduled increase from January 2008 year that never took place.[more]

In a move aimed at pacifying commuters and consumer groups, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has stepped in, promising a cabinet review of the proposed toll rate hike on five of Malaysia’s biggest highways.

”People are having difficulties. The situation is not right for a toll hike,” Abdullah said. The cabinet will be meeting today.

Citing contractual obligations to the concessionaires, Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed had announced hikes of between five and 33 percent on the much-travelled North-South Expressway, Sprint Highway, Ampang Elevated Highway, Sungai Besi Highway and New Pantai Expressway.[more]

Liverpool win 1-0 at Real Madrid

Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso (left) heads the ball overReal Madrid’s Lassana Diarra (right) during a Champions League, Round of 16, first leg football match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid yesterday.

— AP pic

MADRID, Feb 26 ( Malaysianinsider — AP)

— Yossi Benayoun scored with a late header yesterday to give Liverpool a valuable 1-0 away win at Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 knockout match.

In a game of few chances, Benayoun powered Fabio Aurelio's curling free kick past Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 82nd minute to give the English club an all-important away goal.

Casillas denied first-half scoring chances from Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso, while Arjen Robben created the Spanish champion's best effort with a rising shot that went through the fingertips of goalkeeper Pepe Reina in the 71st but over the crossbar.[more]

A battle appears to be looming between the federal government and the state government of Selangor over the takeover of privatised water concessions in the state. At stake are billions of ringgit for the concessionaires and higher water tariffs for consumers.

The move to restructure the sector could also become a political flash point with the Pakatan Rakyat accusing the Barisan Nasional of bailing out its cronies to the detriment of the public.

In spite of its own designs to consolidate the sector, the central government had “gone off on its own tangent”, rather than work with the state, a panel set up for the reorganisation exercise said yesterday.

This “sabotage” occurred when a central government agency — which had agreed to state-led talks earlier — inexplicably announced on Feb 18 that it would take over the negotiations and deal directly with the concessionaries.[more]

I found this online calculator Web site to be very interesting. To get started, I recommend scrolling down to the Ready to Use section and taking the tour. It will walk you through the features for the calculator.

What I love about it is you don’t have to press Enter to get an answer. Also, you can use multiple lines to do more than one step in a problem!

To switch between styles of math you want to compute, use the drop down box on the calculator. Perhaps you need to do trigonometry or find a volume. If so, just switch it from Basic Math to whatever you need. [more]

“Any misunderstanding was between us, and is none of Barisan Nasional’s business,” he said during his debate on the motion of thanks on the Royal Address.

Karpal Singh also said the 100 police reports made against him recently were vicious.

“Tuan Speaker, this must be a world record – 100 reports, two bullets,” he said, adding: “Under the Internal Security Act, it is mandatory death sentence for a person who sends even one bullet.”[more]

Three out of four persons being investigated in relation to the infamous V. K. Lingam video clip case, have been cleared of graft charges, the prime minister told Parliament today.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi told Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) in a written reply that the three cases had been marked “NFA” — which means no further action will be taken.

The file on one of the four persons originally investigated remain open. The PM did not name any of the four persons.

Abdullah said there was insufficient evidence to charge the three persons under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.[more]

More irregularities at Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd are expected to be uncovered by auditors and will be disclosed to the press as they emerge.

Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today external auditors have yet to complete auditing the accounts of the state investment arm and told reporters that it was premature for them to lodge any reports with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“We are more professional than some other agencies and we will only take the necessary action after our probe is completed,” said Khalid, who was answering a question about yesterday’s revelations that senior PNSB officials were being probed for allowing unauthorised purchases and sales of apartments in Mecca.[more]

Pakatan Rakyat partner DAP has unveiled a proposal that can make the North South Expressway toll free by 2016.

DAP’s Restructure Toll Rates and Equity team - codenamed Restore - has called on called on Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed to study the proposal and include the plan under the mini-budget due to be tabled on March 10.

“It is a very creative proposal, we strongly we believe that it would work. It doesn’t cost the government anything and it brings tremendous amount of benefits for all Malaysians,” said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.[more]

Umno maverick lawmaker, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, continues to be a thorn to his party by taking a swipe at the three contenders for the Umno Youth chief post saying that their individual records have not inspired hope.

Blogging on his website www.razaleigh.com, Tueasday (24 Feb), Ku Li as he is popularly known pointed out that watching the TV debate among the three contenders – Khairy Jamaluddin, Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo and Mukhriz Mahathir, “ None of them has presented a consistent and principled orientation towards reform. Some views expressed in that debate actually called for reversion to bad old form rather than for reform. If the party continues on its present recourse, the question would be moot.”

“ Do you think these representatives of the future leadership are likely to embrace any necessary change?”

He said what happened in Perak recently has all the appearance of a desperate and ill-conceived grab for power, with constitutional consequences that are still being played out.[more]