The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The consumer price index for June surged 7.7% on-year and also recorded a 3.9% increase on-month, fuelled by the substantial rise in the price of petrol and diesel.

The Statistics Department said Wednesday the CPI for January to June increased by 3.7% to 109.0 compared with that of 105.1 in the previous corresponding period.

“Compared with that of the same month in 2007, the CPI increased by 7.7% from 105.3 to 113.4 and when compared with the previous month, the CPI increased by 3.9%,” it said.

The department said the main reason for this increase was the substantial rise in the price of petrol and diesel announced by the government commencing on June 5. The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages for June compared to the same month in 2007 showed high percentage change of 10.0%; meanwhile the index for non-Food increased by 6.7%.

It said for January to June, there were increases in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages of 6.1% and non-food 2.6%.

Compared to the previous month, it said the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 2% while the index for non-food increased to 4.9%.

Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) — PAS Youth will object any move to hold a dialogue or “muzakarah” with Umno if the objective is to form a political pact, the movement’s chief, Salahuddin Ayub, said Wednesday.

“There is no need to worry. PAS Youth will make sure that even if there will be a dialogue between PAS and Umno, it will not result in PAS joining the Barisan Nasional (BN) or sharing power with it and leave the Pakatan Rakyat,” he told a news conference here.

He said the decision was reach at the movement’s three-hour meeting yesterday.

Umno and PAS had met three times to discuss issues related to Islam and the Malays.

Salahuddin said PAS Youth did not want any group, especially the BN, to take advantage of the dialogue to create a split within PAS and between the party and its Pakatan Rakyat partners.

“In Pakatan Rakyat, we resolve problems internally. We will not betray our friends in Pakatan Rakyat,” he said, referring to the opposition pact comprising PAS, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP.

Salahuddin said Umno had yet to provide PAS with the dialogue’s details or agenda.

“This is up to Umno. PAS Youth will look at the agenda whether it is relevant. We will not agree to the dialogue if it is clear that the agenda is tailored towards power-sharing or forming political pact,” he said.

He added that it would be better for both parties to remain as a separate entity if the dialogue was to be held in the name of unity.

“Even though the discussion is about Malay unity, there is no need for PAS and Umno to be sitting under one roof because if both parties are to become one, then the people will lose confident in PAS and some may even think that its leaders are only interested in getting posts,” he said.

Asked whether the central PAS leadership concurred with the stand taken by the youth wing, Salahuddin said the movement was not bothered if there were groups or individuals who were not agreeable to it.

On claims by former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo that he had met PAS leaders to propose a cooperation between BN and the party after the last general election, Salahuddin said PAS Youth would also object any move to offer posts to PAS leaders.

“We are a party with principle and self-esteem. PAS leaders will not bow to the offer,” he said.

Dr Mohamad Khir wrote in his blog that he had once suggested that PAS be given the menteri besar’s, deputy menteri besar’s as well as four executive council’s posts as an incentive to form a PAS-Umno state goverment in Selangor.

– BERNAMA

Former Deputy Minister of Information, Fauzi Abdul Rahman who was also former MP for Kuantan and former state assemblyman for Beserah, Pahang joins Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), according to Malaysiakini.

PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim announced Fauzi’s entry into PKR at press conference held at the party’s headquarters in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya.

In the 8 March 2008 General Election, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition contested a straight fight with the Opposition in most constituencies, except for a number of independent candidates and failure between DAP and PKR to reach an agreement over avoiding multi-corner fights in Sabah and Sarawak.

In that election, the 3 main parties - DAP, PKR and PAS - had avoided contesting each other in the peninsula. Although DAP did not have any pact with PAS then, the arrangement was made via PKR where DAP and PKR first ironed out seats allocation with decision first made on which seats DAP would contest, and PKR will then iron out seat allocation with PAS.

Many voters who voted against the BN in the election voted DAP, PKR or PAS, depending on which party contested as the opposition candidate in a constituency.

Muslim voters who used to avoid voting DAP in the past, voted for DAP while non-Muslim voters who used to avoid voting PAS in the past, voted PAS.

These voters who voted for DAP, PKR and PAS wished to see a united opposition to play a check and balance role against the BN government. Many of them even hoped that the 3 parties can form the government, which is realized with the fall of the state governments of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor to the opposition coalition which was later known as Pakatan Rakyat.

Therefore, any attempt by PAS to form a coalition government with UMNO will be a betrayal of support given by the voters who voted them in. Voters either hope to see a strong opposition among DAP, PKR and PAS, or to see the 3 parties together forming a government, like in Perak and Selangor.

It is important to note that the majority of voters who voted DAP, PKR and PAS did not vote along racial lines. We are in fact sick of racial politics and it is time to move on to make Malaysia a role model of peace, justice and equality for everyone, subject to provisions of the Federal Constitution.

Forming an UMNO-PAS government is against the wishes of the voters. Not only supporters of DAP and PKR will feel betrayed if PAS forms a coaliition government with UMNO. Even supporters of MCA, MIC and Gerakan in BN will feel betrayed if UMNO forms a coalition government with PAS!

PAS should instead concentrate on their promises of a welfare government for the people and to establish justice for all. Don’t forget that UMNO campaigned against PAS while PAS campaigned against UMNO in the recent elections.

Opalyn Mok
The Sun

GEORGE TOWN (July 22, 2008) : The Penang State Assembly was told today the the previous state government had covered up the fact that some couplings for the Penang Bridge had been badly damaged and the bridge could have collapsed if not repaired.

“The previous state government kept this secret and the safety of the people was ignored,” state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh (DAP - Sungai Puyu) told the House today.

Phee did not give details on when the damage took place and when it was repaired. Couplings are devices that link the segments that make up a bridge.

“It is due to this that the Opposition should actually support the Penang second bridge project as we would need an alternative,” said Phee, who had interjected into Opposition leader Datuk Azhar Ibrahim’s (BN - Penaga) debate on the motion of thanks to the Penang Yang di-Pertua for his speech at the opening of the assembly.

Azhar, who was arguing against the need for a second bridge for Penang, then replied that the matter was kept secret because the previous state government did not want to create widespread panic amongst the people.

“We did the repair work. See! it did not collapse at all,” said Azhar, a former state executive councillor in the previous state government.

” We can’t be announcing to the whole world just because of a few cracks,” said Azhar who accused Phee of acting like a small child.

During the state assembly meeting in November last year, Jasmin Mohamad (BN-Sungai Dua) had asked for a full report as he had heard of serious structural cracks on the Penang Bridge.

Then Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon had said he had not received any report on cracks on the bridge and that the repair work on the bridge at that time was the usual maintenance work to replace the cables.

Contacted today, a spokesperson for Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd said the bridge undergoes scheduled maintenance and monitoring work annually.

“There were no such thing as cracks or anything of that nature at all,” she said, denying they had to repair cracks under the guise of maintenance work.

Earlier, Azhar said there are 1.78 million vehicles in Penang and if there is an additional bridge, it would cause even more congestion on the island.

To this, Public Works, Utilities and Transport exco Lim Hock Seng (DAP - Bagan Jermal) said there are actually 2.3 million vehicles registered in the state.

“The traffic congestion on the bridge is very serious now and if we do not build the second bridge, in one to two years’ time, we will not be able to use the current bridge without sitting there to wait for two hours,” he said.

Azhar said the figure of 1.78 million he quoted was obtained from the answer given to him by the current state government, to which Lim admitted he had miscalculated.

Meanwhile, Tan Cheong Heng (DAP – Padang Lallang) asked the government to explain why the cables in the middle of the Penang Bridge were being replaced now.

He noted that when the bridge was opened in 1985, it had been guaranteed to last 100 years.