Today is the deadline to pay your credit card bill. After work, you drive all the way to the bank to make your payment via the cash deposit machine. And when you are in front of the cash deposit machine, the display reads:
THIS MACHINE IS CURRENTLY OUT OF SERVICE
OK, in some places, there are other nearby branches, but in some other areas, there isn’t any other nearby branches of the bank. You are now left with no choice but to make your payment the next day the earliest.
Currently, credit card holders who make full payment enjoy 20-day interest free on their usage up till the due date of the statement. If payment is not received by the due date, the bank will charge interest on the outstanding as well as a late payment fee.
Some banks do give a grace period of 2 to 3 days from the due date before a late payment fee is charged. However, I am not sure if this applies to the interest as well.
Other banks however, impose the late payment fee immediately on the next day if payment is not received by the due date.
Banks should provide a grace period of 2 to 3 days before charging interest and late payment fee. The above scenario could be a well-justified reason as it is of no fault of the customer, rather, the failure of the bank itself to ensure the cash deposit machine is online.
Press Statement by Lim Guan Eng in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 25 September 2008
As a result of the increase in the inflation rate to a 27-year high of nearly 9 percent in August, the BN Government must cut back on leakages in government.
The inflation rate in Malaysia is at a 27-year high with the CPI up nearly 9% in August. Food prices alone are up nearly 12%.
Malaysians desperately need help to cope with this higher cost of living, and therefore the Barisan Nasional government must cut back on leakages.
DAP proposes that the government distributes the RM107 billion in annual profits earned by Petronas to ordinary Malaysians by giving a RM6,000 annual bonus to all working Malaysian families earning less than RM6,000 a month. This will cost the government less than RM35 billion, which is less than one-third of the annual profits of Petronas.
The government can afford this if it cuts back on leakages. For example, the Tourism Ministry’s RM18mil move to operate Web TV services and produce 100 documentaries is exorbitant and a waste of public funds. Do tourists really want to watch 100 videos?
The cost is unjustifiably high too. Malaysiakini launched their Web TV operations with just RM20,000.This is just one of several examples where companies have gone into web TV services with very little funds.
Despite all the rhetoric about Malaysia’s anti-corruption drive, the leakages are not being plugged. This is evident from Malaysia’s drop in the rankings on Transparency International Malaysia’s Corruption Perception Index from 43rd place (out of 179 countries) in 2007 to 47th (out of 180 countries) in 2008.
Lim Guan Eng
Penang Chief Minister
DAP Secretary-General
Lim Kit Siang
Two ghastly news within 24 hours –the robbery-cum-murder of Thor Joo Lee, wife of former Penang State Assemblyman for Bukit Tambun, Lai Chew Hock at her Tambun Indah house in Penang and the robbery of Datin Chang Lee Lee, wife of former Penang Exco and Pulau Tikus Assemblyman Datuk Dr. Teng Hock Nan in her Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman house in Penang.
These two cases of robbery (and one murder) of the wife of two former Penang Assemblymen are horrible reminders of the terrible costs being paid by Malaysians for the failure by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to heed the important recommendation of the Police Royal Commission to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, professional and world-class police service to keep crime low in the country.
As a result, it has become an important factor why Malaysia is losing out in the international competiveness stakes to other countries in attracting foreign investment as low crime, personal safety and security of property always rank as one of the top considerations for any foreign investor in the important decision-making process whether to invest in a country or not.
I have no doubt that Malaysia would have broken the back of the worsening crime problem if the IPCMC had been fully accepted and started functioning from May 2006 as recommended by the Royal Police Commission, making Malaysia a safe haven not only for Malaysian citizens, but also for investors and tourists.
Abdullah has failed as Home Minister for eight years from 2001-2008 as he presided over a worsening crime situation in the country with Malaysians, investors and tourists unable to feel safe whether in the streets, public places or in the privacy of their homes.
The current Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar is also heading for another dismal failure as a Home Minister as he has not been able to inspire public confidence that his No. 1 responsibility is to reverse the rising tide of the crime index in the past decade to make Malaysia a safe country for her citizens, investors and tourists.
In his more than six months as Home Minister, Hamid has shown that he has a completely misplaced sense of priorities, misusing and abusing his powers whether under the Internal Security Act or in threatening newspapers with show cause notices.
After the Barisan Nasional’s “thrashing” in the March 8 general election, Abdullah had pledged to implement his many abandoned reform programmes, one of which is police reform and the establishment of the IPCMC.
There have been no signs in the past six months that the government is prepared to present in Parliament an urgent bill to set up the IPCMC without any delay.
Abdullah seems to be totally overwhelmed by the battle to fight for his political life instead of making life safe and a quality one for Malaysians, tourists and investors.
Malaysians have a right to demand that Abdullah and Hamid stop dilly-dallying and be serious about the intolerable state of rampant crime in the country, jeopardising the security of Malaysians and frightening away tourists and investors to Malaysia.
Let Malaysians get a clear-cut and forthright answer from Abdullah and Hamid – are they going to honour the pledge to establish the IPCMC immediately without any further delay?
Or is the IPCMC dead so long as there is a Barisan Nasional government and the only way an IPCMC could be established is to have a Pakatan Rakyat federal government?
